Abstract
65.3909 ÁGH, Attila —
The Ten Years' Anniversary of the EU membership gives a good occasion to analyze and evaluate the performance of ECE in the EU. This period has to be discussed in the larger framework of systemic change, but with special regard to the EU membership period. This paper concentrates on the socio-political aspect of the Europeanization and Democratization in East-Central Europe. The big international ranking institutions like the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Freedom House (and many others) have also evaluated and documented these democratic developments. They have also concluded that the ECE democracy has been in decline, especially in the last years. Thus, this analysis can be based on the large documentation of these databases, and also on the cooperation of the ECE experts within the CEPSA and elsewhere. [R, abr.]
65.3910 AHMAD, Aisha
In civil wars across the world, certain Islamist groups have competed exceptionally well against their rivals. Ideological and identity-based explanations tend to overlook the powerful economic influence that the local business class has over civil war outcomes. Civil war can be modeled as a market for security, wherein protection must be purchased from multiple sub-state rackets. Using this market model, a close investigation of the Somali case reveals why and under what conditions the interests of the profit-driven business class align with those of ideologically motivated Islamist groups. Security costs are of critical importance to businesses in a civil war, and Islamists are uniquely competitive in lowering these costs. The business-Islamist alliance is therefore driven by rational, economic considerations, which can contribute to the rise of Islamist power. [R, abr.]
65.3911 AKINOLA, Olabanji —
Boko Haram currently poses existential threats to the Nigerian state and its citizens. But defeating the group has proved very challenging for the Nigerian government. This is partly due to lack of understanding about the contributing factors relating to the emergence and continued existence of Boko Haram. Thus, this article examines how the interaction of Islamic fundamentalism, politics, and poverty explain the emergence and continued existence of Boko Haram in Nigeria. As a reflection of the hollowness within Nigeria's overall security architecture, the inability of Nigeria's security agencies to combat the current threats posed by Boko Haram is also analyzed. [R]
65.3912 ANDERSON, David M.; McKNIGHT, Jacob —
Kenya's invasion of southern Somalia, which began in October 2011, has turned into an occupation of attrition, while “blowback” from the invasion has consolidated in a series of deadly Al-Shabaab attacks within Kenya. This article reviews the background to the invasion, Operation Linda Nchi, and the prosecution of the war by Kenya's Defense Forces up to the capture of the city of Kismayo and the contest to control its lucrative port. The second section discusses Al-Shabaab's response, showing how the movement has reinvented itself to take the struggle into Kenya. We conclude that while the military defeat of Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia seems inevitable, such a victory may become irrelevant to Kenya's ability to make a political settlement with its Somali and wider Muslim communities at home. [R]
65.3913 ANTWI-BOASIAKO, Kwame Badu —
Many studies on utopianism tend to critique known political models such as capitalism, democracy, socialism, and dictatorship. Modernization theories, debatably, have assumed that the principles of modern political administration will become more important than other traditional institutions, yet these theories, ascribed [as] nonrepresentational, do not consider the practical realities of the consumers of those theories. Utopianism therefore is a myth, which can only be inspirational but not pragmatically achievable because of its intangible proposed theories. This paper focuses on IR theory and the marginalization of Africa in the context of the utopian debate. It concludes that in the absence of clear acceptable universal respect for all nations, cultures, and religions the quest for utopianism will continue to be a mere academic discourse. [R, abr.]
65.3914 BARTER, Shane Joshua —
This article provides some conceptual foundations for this special issue. If secessionist conflicts involve minorities resisting abusive, assimilationist states, leading rebel groups to embark on their own nation-building efforts, how does this affect the minorities of aspiring secessionist nations? How do the minorities of secessionist groups respond to secessionism? Despite many insightful studies of secessionism and rebel ethno-nationalism, scholars have yet to explore the ways that local minorities navigate secessionist conflicts. We suggest that the relationship between secessionists and second-order minorities depends on three key factors: whether minorities are territorially concentrated or dispersed, indigenous or migrant, and nation majorities or small national minorities. [R, abr.] [Part of a series of articles on “Second order minorities”, edited by the author. See also Abstr. 65.3954]
65.3915 BASTOS, Laura; BARRINHA, André —
2014 was a year of paradoxes in Turkey. Internally, Recep Erdoğan's power was reinforced by winning the two elections, local and presidential, with comfortable margins in spite of the antigovernment protests and the corruption scandals involving the government. This was a scenario feared by many who see Erdoğan an increasingly authoritarian leader. Externally, Ankara had to face the escalation of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the rise of the Islamic State, in a period in which Turkey seems to lack a coherent foreign policy strategy. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3876]
65.3916 BERTI, Benedetta; GUZANSKY, Yoel —
More than three years after the beginning of the Arab Awakening, it appears that the upheavals have, by and large, left the Gulf monarchies intact. While several dictators have fallen, monarchies across the region have shown considerable survival skills. But is this purported resilience likely to last, or are the monarchs next in line now that the “presidents for life” have met their demise? This article explores the various ways in which Gulf monarchies have experienced political and social mobilizations associated with the Arab Awakening and then analyzes the characteristics that have allowed these countries to weather the storm, focusing on both pre-existing structural and cultural factors, as well as political responses to the unfolding regional protests. [R, abr.]
65.3917 BOULLOSA JOLY, Maité —
This article explores the important process of ethnogenesis in the northwest region of Argentina. This is tied to the development of multiculturalism in Argentina and the passage of laws which have, since 1980, granted cultural, social and territorial rights to indigenous populations. This article looks at 40 years of social and territorial struggles as well as the strategies employed by landowners to delegitimize Indianists' arguments. Each group deploys profoundly different arguments which sometimes develop into violent conflict, according to the particular circumstances. These case-studies allow us to measure the progress made since the implementation of multicultural laws in the country, the valorization of indigenous identity that they have inspired, the rights that they have allowed to be reclaimed, but also to observe the limits and ambiguities of indigenous discourses. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3920]
65.3918 BROH, C. Anthony —
The author reviews S. Mettler's “Degrees of Inequality” and discusses the participation of private, for-profit institutions in higher education. He finds that several admissions and financial aid practices in all sectors of higher education stratify family choices while perpetuating economic inequality. [R]
65.3919 CALUWAERTS, Didier; REUCHAMPS, Min —
Recent scholarship claims that citizen deliberation can contribute to the quality of democracy and to the legitimacy of political decision-making. By including everyone who is affected by a decision in the process leading to that decision, deliberation is capable of generating political decisions that receive broad public support, even when there is strong disagreement on the values a polity should promote. However, if deliberative democracy wants to contribute to the legitimacy of the political system, it has to be legitimate. We refine the theory on deliberative legitimacy and determine the legitimacy of one particularly interesting deliberative event, namely the Belgian G1000. We argue that it is very difficult for deliberative processes to be high on all dimensions of legitimacy and that there is a trade-off between input and output legitimacy. [R, abr.]
65.3920 CANESSA, Andrew —
Bolivia is a clear example of a country which has put multiculturalism at the very center of its political ideology: not only does the current Morales administration endorse the politics of multiculturalism but the very principles of a multicultural and pluriethnic nation are enshrined in the new Constitution. This article explores some of the paradoxes at the heart of this multicultural nation where the new language of indigeneity — through which much of the ideas of multiculturalism is articulated — serves to liberate the subaltern masses but also excludes others with less access to state discourses of power. I suggest that when indigeneity moves from the language of protest to the language of governance it can exclude as much as it can liberate, and a critical analysis of indigeneity is necessary to distinguish between competing claims under its label. [R] [First article of a thematic issue on “Paradoxes and ambiguities of multicultural policies”, edited and introduced by Carlos AGUDELO and Maité BOULLOSA JOLY. See also Abstr. 65.3164, 3917, 3925, 4020]
65.3921 CAVATORTA, Francesco —
North Africa has gone through dramatic events since the eruption of the Arab uprisings in Tunisia in late 2010. Despite sharing similar characteristics that were central to the uprisings, they have known different political and institutional trajectories since then. The article provides an appraisal of the contributions to this special issue focusing in particular on the peculiar situation of countries where no genuine democratic change has occurred and where there is little authoritarian continuity as well. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3997]
65.3922 CELSO, Anthony N. —
This article contends that takfiri jihadist groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State exhibit tendencies consistent with J. Kaplan's fifth-wave-of-terror theory. Beyond placing these groups within Kaplan's framework, this essay also discusses them within the context of takfiri precursors, like the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Contrary to Kaplan's argument that Islamist groups are not part of the fifth wave, this article concludes that his theory does pertain to takfiri jihadist groups and underscores why this is an important distinction. [R]
65.3923 CHAN, Andrew, et al. —
Mao Zedong sought both to destabilize existing institutional categories for ordering meaning, and impose new ones, initially through the Great Leap Forward and subsequently during the Cultural Revolution. The paper explores the institutional work that made this process of radical change possible. At its core was the construction and deployment of a set of binary categorization devices. These are explored to argue that persistent and morally sophisticated institutional work is necessary to make radical change possible. Macro, meso and micro processes of institutional work operate in parallel, reinforcing each other and articulating utopian desire with local possibility. There is no single revolutionary event, no central scene to be represented. Together, leaders and followers at several levels participate in the processes of categorizing and managing the result of such categorizations. [R, abr.]
65.3924 COSTALLI, Stefano; RUGGERI, Andrea —
How does violent mobilization affect post-conflict elections? This article studies the impact that violent collective mobilization has on local electoral behavior after domestic conflict. We argue that post-conflict democratic politics at the local level can be dramatically affected by local experience of civil war. The use of violence during the war and especially local political entrepreneurs who have emerged from the conflict can influence post-violent politics. We use as case-study the civil war that took place in Italy during the last phase of World War II. Using new spatially disaggregated data on armed groups' location and violent episodes, we assess the impact of the violent mobilization on the 1946 elections, which took place after the conflict. [R, abr.]
65.3925 CUNIN, Elizabeth; HOFFMANN, Odile —
Belize is usually described by observers as well as administrators and rulers in terms of cultural diversity and multiplicity of ethnic groups which compose it. However, since independence (1981), the Government of Belize has not implemented multicultural policies that would grant differential treatment to individuals because of their ethnicity or racial background, as is generally the case across the Americas since the 1980s. From this observation, this article is built around a double questioning on the modalities for the implementation of a national project: how has the Government of Belize managed the legacy of the “divide-and-rule” colonial policy aimed at segmenting the population? How has it adapted to the “multicultural turn” of the 1980s and its logic of recognition of diversity? [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3920]
65.3926 DAYEZ-BURGEON, Pascal —
The tragicomedy of the massive hacking attack on Sony studios in December [2014], followed by the decision to stop the release of a movie that North Korean head of state Kim Jung-un judged offensive — a decision that was subsequently reversed — left everyone quite perplexed. What does one really know about this regime that has ruled the tiny country of 24 million inhabitants with an iron hand for nearly 70 years? Every possible term has been used to describe North Korea, from a police state to an open-air concentration camp, where desolation and famine reign. Yet the Pyongyang regime is also a complex mechanism that is continually adjusting its inner workings to survive, regardless of the means. Terror is one of these means. But the Kim dynasty also seeks to charm and convince. [R, abr.]
65.3927 DE GIORGI, Elisabetta; GRIMALDI, Selena —
This special issue analyzes how the Italian political system has changed in the last 20 years and, depending on the outcome of this analysis, (re)locates Italy in the context of contemporary democracies. We explore the main structural changes that have taken place in Italy over the last 20 years by examining, on the one hand, the transformations on the first Lijphartian dimension — transformations that tend towards the majoritarian pole — and, on the other, the evolution of some indicators belonging to the second dimension, ones that push Italy towards the consensus pole, though more ambiguously. We analyze the never-ending attempts to reform the electoral system, the transformations in the party system and the evolution of the relationship between the government and parliamentary opposition. [R, abr.] [Introduction to a thematic issue of the same title, edited by James L. NEWELL and Maurizio CARBONE. See Abstr. 65.3165, 3181, 3217, 3291, 3478]
65.3928 DOCHARTAIGH, Niall Ó. —
This article offers a new analysis of the Northern Ireland peace settlement through an examination of the pivotal relationship between two key actors: the British state and the Provisional Republican movement that included Sinn Féin and the IRA. It traces the negotiating relationship between these key parties and argues that the ending of violent conflict in the 1990s can best be understood as the outcome of a long bargaining process between these two actors that was conducted both tacitly and explicitly over a span of more than two decades. It concludes that the development of a cooperative relationship between the British state and the Provisional leadership and the active coordination of British policy and Republican strategy were the crucial elements in securing an end to violence in the 1990s. [R]
65.3929 DÜLFFER, Jost —
World War I was a global event, just like the commemorative year 2014. But nowhere was the war commemorated more excessively than in Germany. The succession of publications and debates recalled the deployment plans of the general staffs in 1914. J. Leonhard submitted the best synthesis, but C. Clark drew the most attention with his volume The Sleepwalkers. The latter book seems to have been read as evidence that it was time to relieve Germany of any particular guilt for the start of war. Fortunately, political demands were seldom derived from this. [R] [[See Abstr. 65.3824]
65.3930 EDRES, Nijmi —
In Israel, where Palestinian identity is often omitted and Arabic language is reduced to a precarious level of ethno-linguistic vitality, the efforts undertaken by the Islamic Movement in the educational field are particularly interesting. The activities carried on by the Israeli Islamic Movement aimed at the recovery of Israel-Palestinians' national history, culture and identity. As a result, this caused the convergence between Palestinian nationalism, historically represented by the secular PLO, and political Islam. [R]
65.3931 ERIKSEN, Jens-Martin; STJERNFELT, Frederik —
A summary of central events in the French Revolution and a closer look at Jonathan Israel's treatise on the intellectual currents within the Revolution demonstrate that, as early as the first moment of the left-right distinction, there was considerable confusion as to what it really meant to be “left”. While it is correct that what Adamson et al. discuss in their essay on J. Herder forms an ideal-type describing a strong and important current in what has been called the “left” ever since the French Revolution, they commit an error when identifying this ideal type and this strong current with the left as such. [See Abstr. 65.3094]
65.3932 FELDMAN, Shelley —
Despite a positive economic outlook in 2014, political tensions and income inequalities continue to challenge the country's democratic image. Power has been concentrated in the executive, state violence has increased, and there is pressure to improve working conditions and infrastructure in the garment sector. For the re-elected Awami League government, addressing employment issues is essential, given its focus on attracting foreign investment. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3933 GENTILONI SILVERI, Umberto —
This introduction explains how the contributors to this special issue draw on interdisciplinary approaches to explain why after 1992–1994 Italy never experienced a true transition and why the crisis has become systemic, affecting the entire Italian political, economic, financial and institutional system with far-reaching consequences for Italian society and its future. [R] [Introduction to a thematic issue of the same title. See Abstr. 65.3179, 3428, 3934]
65.3934 GENTILONI SILVERI, Umberto —
In the early 1990s, Italy was drawn into a spiral of unprecedented transformation precipitated by changes both inside Italy and internationally. Financial, political and institutional crises brought into question the survival of the whole Italian system. World geo-political relations were shifting dramatically and radically changing established relations, attitudes and policies and marked the beginning of a long period that is often described as a “transition”. But since the outcomes still remain far from certain, it is necessary to consider how accurately this term describes what has been taking place in Italy over the last two decades. More careful identification of the different phases and components of the crisis enable us to understand why the upheavals of 1992–1994 led to a systemic crisis of the Italian economy and politics. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3933]
65.3935 GHOSHAL, Baladas —
Democracy in Thailand is a recent phenomenon, but also periodic and short-lived. It is not democracy and political legitimacy of elected leaders that has held the country together and provided political and economic stability, but deep reverence for the monarchy, fear of the armed forces and the strength of the civil service. Thailand's political system is in a state of atrophy in the midst of irreconcilable differences between those who want to cling to power through constitutional means, fair or unfair, of elections and populist policies and those who believe that constitutional means have brought about a tyranny of majority and unbridled corruption, which they want to reform through extraordinary measures, including suspension of electoral democracy and an unelected People's Council. [R, abr.]
65.3936 GRAY, Caroline —
Bilateral Spanish-Basque relations over the Basque model of near fiscal autonomy (Concierto Económico or Economic Agreement) have been characterized by more tension than harmony since the 1980s. The main source of discord lies in different conceptions of the model: While the Basque nationalists seek increasing fiscal autonomy verging on sovereignty within Europe, Spanish governments see it as a form of fiscal decentralization within Spain remaining subordinate to Spanish legislation. These different conceptions cannot easily coexist in a loose relationship of mutual tolerance because the development of the model continues to bring them into conflict, feeding into the broader political clash over how best to accommodate the Basque region within or with Spain. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3476]
65.3937 GREIFF, Tobias; GREIFF, Jacquie L. —
This article critically engages with the need for success, a deep structure influencing not only the outcome of international peace interventions today, but the very ways we think, understand, and evaluate interventions. We engage with this deep structure through a deconstructive double reading of the representations it creates and the influence of those representations on the everyday life of those exposed to it in the city of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. [R]
65.3938 GURSES, Mehmet —
Turkish Islamists have long attributed the root causes of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey to the anti-religious Turkish nationalism promulgated by the secular Kemalist republican elite in the 1920s. As a result, they lay emphasis on “Islamic brotherhood” as the glue that holds numerous ethnic nationalities together. This article examines this claim and argues that Islam's role as a peacemaker has been overstated. The data from in-depth interviews with dozens of Kurdish Islamists in Turkey conducted in the summer of 2013 indicate that Kurdish Islamists in principle agree with the peacemaking potential of Islam. Distrustful of the “Islamic brotherhood” discourse however, they describe this allegedly new policy as yet another tactic to undermine the Kurdish struggle for equal rights. [R]
65.3939 GYIMAH-BOADI, E. —
Since the mid-2000s, democratization in Africa has faltered, in large part due to its elites' waning commitment to democracy. [R]
65.3940 HABIB, Adam —
Too many scholars within and without the continent believe that Africa's experiences warrant no theorization and as such, have nothing to teach the world. Here, the author contends that studies like his and many others about experiences in Africa, are relevant for other parts of the world and have the potential to enrich comparative reflections and discourses in the global academy. This essay provides some reflections on how an analysis done for a study in this current journal, engages with the existing literature on democratization, development, and conflict-resolution. [R]
65.3941 HAGSTRÖM, Linus —
Drawing on a relational concept of identity, and the distinction between norm and exception, this article argues that the “abnormality-normalization nexus” can be understood in terms of three identity-producing processes: (1) the process whereby the Japanese Self is socialized in US/”Western” norms, ultimately constructing it as an Other in the international system; (2) the process whereby the Japanese Self imagines itself as “legitimately exceptional” (what is called “exceptionalization”), but also “illegitimately abnormal” — both of which are epitomized by Japan's “pacifism”; and (3) the process whereby both the Self's “negative abnormality” and China/Asia are securitized in attempts to realize a more “normal” (or super-normal) Japanese Self. How Japan is inter-subjectively constructed on a scale between “normal” and “abnormal” enables and constrains action. [R, abr.]
65.3942 HAMAYOTSU, Kikue —
In 2014, Indonesia inaugurated as president the former Governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, or “Jokowi”, raising public expectations for reform especially among people outside the powerful political and business elite circles. It is uncertain to what extent, and how, the new government will achieve his reform agendas. Moreover, a relatively weak economy and declining civil liberties may pose an additional challenge, despite Jokowi's avowed commitment to structural reforms and good governance. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3943 HAMMERSLEV, Ole —
The transformation of the Eastern European countries from communist states to EU members was supported by massive investments in Western discourses and social science knowledge and export programs from the West to the East. A market for discourses and knowledge-production professionalized and intertwined with institutions that exported specific forms of policy visions of US modes of the State. In the East, the importation of discourses and knowledge became pivotal in the struggles for power of modeling the state and its institutions, and thus as knowledge tools to guide and legitimize the path towards democracy and EU membership. Based on the notion of co-production, this study focuses on how leading American and European lawyers, think tanks and different agencies were involved in the reorganization of the Bulgarian field of power. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3652]
65.3944 HÄNEL, Michael —
Twenty five years after his death, everything seems to have been said about Andrei Sakharov. For some, he is a saint, for others, a traitor, and for many, a trouble-maker. In the West, he was suspect to both the anti-nuclear movement and those who were skeptical of progress. For authoritarian and orthodox communists of all stripes, he was a dangerous free spirit. Astonishingly, his life's work to this day awaits critical historical analysis. In his personal freedom and responsibility, Sakharov is exemplary. Human rights are still being violated on a daily basis. Sakharov has lost none of his relevance. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3824]
65.3945 HASHIM, Ahmed S. —
There has been a scramble by policy-makers, militaries, intelligence officials and journalists from around the globe to understand the ISIS phenomenon, resulting in a profusion of unverified and contradictory information. The careful study of a multitude of open sources allows for a concise overview of the origins, ideology, goals, and military operations of ISIS in Iraq and Syria from 2003 to the present. Such a detailed analysis would help governments, the US in particular, understand and deal with the ISIS phenomenon which did not appear out of the blue. Its development can be traced from the obscure militant group Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad back in 2000 through Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's joining Al-Qaeda to the Sunni-Shia rift and the Islamic State in 2014.
65.3946 HAYES, Peter; CAVAZOS, Roger —
In 2014, North Korea neither overcame its isolation due to its nuclear weapons and hostile geostrategic posture nor reformed its economy. Kim Jong Un learned on the job, consolidated his leadership, avoided military risk, and opened new channels to South Korea, Japan, and Russia to reduce dependence on China. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3947 HEBERER, Thomas —
In 2014, China's development was characterized by a search for structural reforms in both domestic and foreign policies. Domestically, focal issues included the fight against corruption, the implementation of reforms of China's development model, and a tightening of internal (antiterror) measures. In foreign policy, traditional paradigms are now under scrutiny, and the regional rivalry with the US has intensified. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3948 HENRY, Nicholas —
Networks of trade union activists working as part of the global union movement have played a central role in political change in Myanmar. In response to trade union advocacy, compliance with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards was made a key condition for the lifting of sanctions on Myanmar, leading the current civilian government to pass revised labor laws allowing the formation of independent trade unions. Union activists have taken advantage of this new freedom, with a rapid growth in registration of local union organizations since 2011. Based on recent fieldwork in Myanmar, including interviews with union leaders and ILO officials, this paper presents an empirical analysis of political relationships formed by local and international union organizations in the context of multi-level political change. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3906]
65.3949 HINNEBUSCH, Raymond —
This article provides a comparative macro-level overview of political development in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. It examines their evolution from the colonial period through several distinct phases, showing how differences in their origins were followed over time by a certain convergence towards a common post-populist form of authoritarianism, albeit still distinguished according to monarchic and republican legitimacy principles. On this basis, it assesses how past state formation trajectories made the republics more vulnerable to the Arab uprising but also what differences they make for the prospects of post-uprising democratization. While in Morocco the monarch's legitimacy allows it to continue divide-and-rule politics, in Egypt, the army's historic central role in politics has been restored, while in Tunisia the trade union movement has facilitated a greater democratic transition. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3997]
65.3950 HO, Benjamin —
As a branch of Chinese political thought, Chinese exceptionalism has recently been the subject of renewed scholarly analysis. By stressing what is unique about China, claims about Chinese exceptionalism seek to provide a different approach to the challenge of global governance, one not dominated by the liberal traditions of the US and the West more generally. This article argues that Chinese exceptionalism — as understood by the Chinese themselves — represents a nationalistic discourse that attempts to navigate the political and sociological contours concerning what it now means to be Chinese. By stressing what is “good” and “great” about China, Chinese exceptionalism seeks to provide Chinese policy-makers substantial traction and legitimacy in the manner in which they choose to frame China's interactions with the outside world. [R]
65.3951 HOLBROOK, Donald —
A. al-Zawahiri and his allies have focused on the excessive violence perpetrated by ISIS, and sought to present al-Qaeda as a more moderate alternative. [R]
65.3952 HOLZMAN, Marie —
The Chinese economic miracle is running out of breath … literally. The vertiginous development of the world's most populous country over the past twenty years has gone hand in hand with horrific pollution. The myriad factories, mines and construction sites that continue to mushroom all over China are an absolute calamity for the environment. The air in large cities is unbreathable, the rivers are clogged with industrial waste and the soil is poisoned, with the result that most foodstuffs are toxic. By going all out for unfettered growth, has the country sold its future down the river? A flicker of awareness of the problem's enormity seems to be starting to dawn, including — tentatively — among China's politicians. But it might already be too late. [R, abr.]
65.3953 HSIEH, John Fuh-sheng —
Taiwan in 2014 was eventful. In the Sunflower Student Movement early in the year, students occupied Parliament for 23 days. In local elections in November, the ruling Kuomintang was dealt a crushing blow by the electorate. President Ma Ying-jeou will face more difficulties in the remaining years of his term in office. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3954 IMTIYAZ, A.R.M.; MOHAMED-SALEEM, Amjad —
This study [examines] the recent mobilization against the Sri Lankan Muslim community by Sinhala-Buddhist organizations. It adds to the discussion about the relationship between second-order minorities and the state and how identities can be manipulated pre- and post-conflict. States, led by majority ethnic groups, may choose to work with second-order minorities out of convenience in times of crisis and then dispose of them afterwards. The article looks critically at some state concessions to Muslim political leaders who supported successive Sri Lanka's ruling classes from the independence through the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009. It also examines the root causes of the Sinhala-Buddhist anti-Muslim campaigns. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3914]
65.3955 JAMAL, Amaney A., et al. —
Systematic investigation of attitudes expressed in Arabic on Twitter towards the US and Iran during 2012–2013 shows how the analysis of social media can illuminate the politics of contemporary political discourses and generates an informative analysis of anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Using a novel events-based analytical strategy, we examine reactions to specific events, including the removal of M. Morsi in Egypt, the Innocence of Muslims video, and reactions to possible US intervention in Syria. We also examine the Boston Marathon bombings of April 2013 and Hurricane Sandy. Our findings reinforce evidence from polling that anti-Americanism is pervasive and intense, but they also suggest that this animus is directed less toward American society than toward the impingement of the US on other countries. [R, abr.]
65.3956 JARA GOMEZ, Ana M. —
The religious component has often been used by opponents in armed conflicts both for self-identification and to identify the enemy. At the very heart of Europe, the case of the former Yugoslavia shows how the war has had unquestionable consequences for existing religions. This is true even for Kosovo, where the majority religion did not play a prominent role in the conflict. Using the theoretical notions of nationalism as a starting point, this study shows how religions served in Yugoslavia as an ideological bridge connecting nationalist political strategies with the daily life of citizens. In societies where ethnic and religious identity and nationality go together with state institutions, religious monopoly is more likely to be maintained as a natural political order. This phenomenon, in its specific Balkan variant, is called “ethnoclericalism”. [R, abr.]
65.3957 JOHANSSON, Anna; VINTHAGEN, Stellan —
This article applies our earlier proposed theoretical framework on everyday resistance in the case of Palestinian Sumūd (steadfastness) in relation to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Our original framework rests on the dimensions of: (1) repertoires of everyday resistance; (2) relationships of agents; as well as the (3) spatialization and (4) temporalization of everyday resistance. The already existing complex theoretical debates as well as the rich body of empirical work regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict give us an opportunity to illustrate and explore the possibilities as well as the limits of the proposed framework. Our hope is that in this way, we encourage more systematic research on and a more nuanced understanding of everyday resistance. [R]
65.3958 JOSHI, Madhav —
This article develops a conceptual framework to explain that a rebel group, in war-to-peace transition, is likely to use violence in contested areas in order to reclaim its control over territory and populations. The decision to use violence, however, depends on whether post-accord elections are held prior to the demobilization of rebel combatants. Use of violence would still be a preferred strategy for a rebel group should the participation in elections fail to produce the expected outcome. Violence influences post-conflict elections, and when the use of violence determines an electoral outcome, parties involved in the peace process may find it difficult to reconcile their differences on peace agreement implementation. District-level data from Nepal are used to test the arguments, and the effect of post-accord violence on peace processes is evaluated in a comparative perspective. [R]
65.3959 KANG Liu; CHU Yun-Han —
Measuring the perception and attitudes of the world's public toward China has gained new momentum in recent years. In 2009, Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Institute of Arts and Humanities for the first time inaugurated a China-based National Image Survey Project, including a US survey (2010) and 12 Asian countries and regions (2011–2012). Authors in this special issue engage in interpretations and analysis of the data; one of the most significant lessons is that public opinion, attitudes and perceptions of China's rise are the outcome of dynamic interactions and an assemblage of factors, a synergy of material interests, ideational and emotional reactions, and values, ideologies and principles, unraveling themselves against a highly volatile, precarious and contentious geopolitical backdrop, in which the interests of nation-states and individuals have become intertwined and inseparable. [R] [Introduction to a series of articles on “International images of a rising China (I): American attitude survey reports”, edited by the authors. See also Abstr. 65.3366, 3412, 3541]
65.3960 KAYA, Ayhan —
Referring to the linkages between neoliberal social policies and religious forms of governmentality, this article analyzes the Islamization of Turkey under the rule of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) since 2002. It discusses the strategies, discourses, and policies deployed by the AKP to take control of the state, with a particular focus on the changing environment of social policies. The focus is on the growing importance of the family, faith-based voluntary organizations, charities, education, and Islam for AKP rule. It concludes with brief reference to the Occupy Gezi movement, which was partly a response to the Islamization pursued by the AKP government. [R]
65.3961 KOSHEL, Alexei —
Political integration of the EU members and also of potential members is achieved within other integration structures — the Union State of Belarus and Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Today, the CIS and EEUU are not quite effective yet there is always hope that successful political cooperation within these structures will be used at the next (political) stage of integration of members of the developing Eurasian Economic Union. [R]
65.3962 KRAMER, Steven Philip; YAPHE, Judith S. —
The Arab Spring may be a historical turning point similar to the revolutions that swept Europe in 1848. The latter also began as a seemingly invincible wave demanding democratic reforms but turned into inglorious struggles with uncertain outcomes, replacing multinational empires with the relatively new concept of nationalism as the defining principle of governance. The Arab Spring of 2011 could do the same in the Middle East, where states are still defined according to the imperial principles laid out in World War I secret agreements. If 1848 proves anything, it is that the significance of great revolutionary upheavals emerges long after the barricades have been torn down. It is too early to tell how the Arab Spring will end. [R, abr.]
65.3963 KU, Samuel C. Y. —
Laos improved its economy in 2014, although its human rights record continues to receive critiques from international society. With frequent visits of Lao leaders to China and the opening of the fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, Laos deepened its relations with China in 2014, despite the emerging challenges that China faces. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3964 KUCHINS, Andrew C. —
After a fine start to 2014 for Russia with the Sochi Olympics, things quickly went rather bad. A collapsing oil price and Western sanctions after the annexation of Crimea crippled the ruble; a crisis in December left the currency's value almost halved. Amid growing anxiety about Moscow's intentions among its Central Asian neighbors, Russia is facing possibly its deepest economic crisis since 1998. Relations with Europe and the U.S. are worse than at any time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3965 LARISE, Dunja —
The disintegration of the former Yugoslavia posed challenges for the universal concept of the Yugoslav Muslim nation, for which several development paths were imaginable [in] the new circumstances. The concept of Bosniakdom, initially developed to address the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina, gradually grew to become a new and coherent national program to include all the Muslims of former Yugoslavia, primarily due to its new pan-Bosniak orientation. This article traces the conceptual history of the national ideas of Muslimdom versus Bosniakdom within the former Yugoslav states, as well as the conceptual and institutional history of the pan-Bosniak idea and movement during the 1990s and 2000s. [R, abr.]
65.3966 LEZINA, Evgenia —
Memorial is one of the oldest NGOs in Russia. Sometimes, it seems as if Memorial is better known abroad than at home. Memorial's successes in working on Russia's historical memory are beyond dispute. However, important goals have yet to be met: the Soviet state's use of terror against its own people was never officially condemned, nor was a lustration of the perpetrators ever carried out. And to this day, there is no central memorial for the victims. All this foundered due to the political environment. The authoritarian state determines not only the limits of historical investigation, but is also trying to force an association such as the human rights center Memorial to register as a “foreign agent”. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 65.3824]
65.3967 LLERA, Francisco J.; LEONISIO, Rafael —
This article presents the first systematic database, based on documentary information, about the circumstances around the kidnappings committed in Spain by ETA and its related organizations. Its main purpose, therefore, is to make the database itself publicly available for the academic community by offering free access to it in the website of our research group. We also provide a first utilization of the database by analyzing its different variables, which gives us a better understanding of the phenomenon of Basque nationalist terrorism, whose violent action has been present in Spanish society over the past decades. [R]
65.3968 MAINWARING, Scott; PÉREZ-LIÑÁN, Aníbal —
A survey of the region yields a patchwork result, with democratic governance faring well in some countries, at a standstill in others, and in the most worrisome cases actively eroding. [R]
65.3969 MALESKY, Edmund; MORRIS-JUNG, Jason —
The May 2014 entry of a Chinese deep-water oil rig into Vietnamese waters deeply shocked Vietnam. This year-end article chronicles the impact of the controversial action on (1) power struggles among elite politicians, (2) alterations in foreign policy orientation, and (3) popular opinion regarding economic reforms and emerging inequality. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3970 MALLINSON, William —
Both Greece and Cyprus have been political footballs in a dangerous game between outside powers and outside players: this is a fact of life of the Eastern Mediterranean geopolitical chess game. Fear of Russia abounds (see Ukrainian debacle) in the minds and actions of the British and the Americans. The upshot of this obsession for Cyprus is that the US is pushing hard for a “solution” to its political problem, worried at the prospect that as long as unoccupied Cyprus has its own foreign policy, there will always be a danger that it will move closer to Moscow. Importantly, in the minds of the Americans, Turkish-Israeli strategic cooperation in the Middle East, particularly on Syria, is an even greater priority to the US than a re-unified Cyprus. [R, abr.] [Part of a thematic issue on “Cyprus: the way forward”, edited and introduced, pp. 23–35, by Aris PETASIS. See also Abstr. 65.3790, 3809, 3849]
65.3971 MARCIC, Sinisa —
The countries of the Western Balkans have achieved significant progress in protecting civic freedoms and political rights, that is, formal democracy. However, the region's performance is lagging behind other consolidated democratic post-communist countries with strong formal institutions. By following the theory of impartiality (B. Rothstein and J. Teorell, “What is quality of government? A theory of impartial government institutions”, Governance, 21(2), 2008: 165–190; Abstr. 58.7431), this paper contributes to our understanding of citizens' perception of informal institutions in the region, and support for a democratic regime with impartial public administration. We employ a quantitative online survey in three countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The findings indicate that citizens consider formal institutions as very ineffective and hence embrace informal institutions as the lesser of two evils. [R, abr.]
65.3972 MARGOLIN, Julius —
Not only can Nazi and Soviet camps be compared, they should be compared. Comparison is a method of obtaining knowledge. In both cases, we are dealing with prison facilities where millions of people died. They cannot be equated, but their similarities and differences have to be specified. The methods and speed of killing in Hitler's death camps and in the Soviet camps were not the same, but they exhibit striking similarities. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3824]
65.3973 MASOUD, Tarek —
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, democracy in the Arab world seems farther away today than at any point in the last 25 years. If it is to ever arrive, it will likely be through a more evolutionary and elite-driven process. [R]
65.3974 McCARGO, Duncan —
During 2014, Cambodia moved from violent confrontation between government and opposition forces to an uneasy compromise. The turning point came in July, when opposition legislators agreed to take their seats in the National Assembly, which they had boycotted. The long-ruling Cambodian People's Party worked to polish its tarnished image. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3975 MEJÍAS, Sonia Alda —
This article aims to explain, not so much the existence of organized crime and violence in Latin America, but its scope and degree of influence of criminal networks. The focus is on the complicity of certain state authorities with organized crime. This complicity explains the “success” of organized crime's illegal business. It is mainly due to the impunity provided by the existence of institutionalized corruption, largely in security forces, and the judicial and penal systems. Corruption enables the exemption from compliance with law. This is one of the circumstances that reproduce the weakness of the state in Latin America, a state structure with sufficient authority to sustain and maintain security forces, and judicial and penal systems, but not to avoid the complicity of these institutions with crime. A weak state provides more advantages to organized crime than a failed state. [R]
65.3976 MIRONOVA, Vera; WHITT, Sam —
An enduring question for the social sciences is whether increasing contact and exposure between in-groups and out-groups enhances prospects for social tolerance and cooperation. Using dictator experiments with ethnic Serbs in post-war Kosovo, our research explores how norms of altruism are impacted by proximity to former rivals. In the aftermath of violence, proximity appears to amplify solidarity with the in-group but also increases empathy toward former adversaries. Based on a March 2011 study of 158 ethnic Serbs from regions across Kosovo with varying degrees of contact and separation from ethnic Albanians, we find that both out-group bridging and in-group bonding norms increase with exposure to the out-group. The inclusion of extended controls and matching for displacement by violence and other forms of victimization helps alleviate concerns about sorting and selection driving our results. [R]
65.3977 MOCKO, Anne; PENJORE, Dorji —
Both Nepal and Bhutan formed new parliamentary governments in 2014. In both cases, a new party took control, but major policies remained unchanged. Many people experienced hardships in buying basic commodities (because of inflation in Nepal and a subsidy dispute in Bhutan). Nepal faced three natural disasters. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3978 MOLNAR, Andrea Katalin —
Reports of the diplomatic row with Australia and anxiety over Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's prospective resignation dominated 2014. Articles of a highly controversial Media Law were declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal in September. Timor-Leste hosted the 10th Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3979 MOTWANI, Nishank; BOSE, Srinjoy —
The ongoing international military withdrawal from Afghanistan has set the stage for energizing the activities of Afghanistan's external stakeholders to re-evaluate their activities. The possible return of the Taliban in some form could compel Afghanistan's current external partners — Iran, India and Russia — to turn into limited spoilers. The absence of an international guarantor in Afghanistan from December 2014 is likely to encourage Pakistan — a greedy spoiler — to intensify its meddling as a means to reposition the Taliban — a total spoiler — at the helm of Afghan affairs. The combination of limited, greedy and total spoilers threatens to undermine security and state-building processes. [R]
65.3980 MUNGIU-PIPPIDI, Alina —
Institutional choices matter in the postcommunist world, but geopolitical and civilizational boundaries still set the horizons of political possibility. [R]
65.3981 MURTAZASHVILI, Jennifer Brick —
Labeled the Year of “Transition”, 2014 was a watershed in modern Afghan history. It marked the first peaceful transition of power in more than a century, when [President] H. Karzai handed over authority to A. Ghani on September 29. The transition was not seamless, and the country teetered on the brink of a coup following the June presidential runoff. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3982 NATHAN, Andrew J. —
As China's power grows, will it seek to remake the world in its authoritarian image? For now, China shows no such missionary impulse, but the ways in which it pursues its interests can still threaten the fate of democracy. [R]
65.3983 NAUCLÉR, Elisabeth —
The independent states are becoming less and less independent and more dependent on international co-existence, but, paradoxically, the interest for independence is increasing and resulting in a fragmented world. Facing the threat of fragmentation, other forms of living together must be analyzed. Instead of hastily declaring independence, there is a need for an alternative. Some states consider autonomy as just a step toward independence, and therefore unacceptable as an alternative. In this respect, the autonomous statute of the Åland Islands, tailor-made by the League of Nations in 1921, and resulting co-existence with Finland for almost 80 years should be analyzed. I describe the co-habitation between Finland and the Aland Islands. [R, abr.]
65.3984 NYALUKE, David —
Since its rise to a prominent position as a key approach to understanding and explaining African politics, governance, and political economy, a number of critiques have been published on neopatrimonialism and its perspective on African politics. This essay contributes to the emerging criticism of the neopatrimonial approach by addressing one of the key arguments of the theory concerning the intrinsic nature of African politics, its cultural underpinnings, and the ideas which form the basis of democracy and politics for the common good in Africa. Although the underpinnings and ideational basis exist and are central to the dynamics of African politics, the neopatrimonial approach has treated them as nonexistent. This essay also describes the sources and vital influence of African ideas on democracy and the common good in African states. [R]
65.3985 O'HAGAN, Jacinta; HIRONO, Miwa —
There is an ever-growing demand in the world for humanitarian action in response to the suffering caused by complex emergencies and natural disasters. Part of the power and appeal of humanitarianism is the idea that humanitarianism is premised on cross-cultural moral truths and principles and a concern for the alleviation of suffering of humankind, regardless of differences. This universality, however, is being called into question as expressions of humanitarianism and humanitarian actors become increasingly diverse. Western states and organizations no longer dominate the international humanitarian order (IHO), with non-Western governments and societies becoming increasingly important and visible contributors to international humanitarian assistance. These new IHO players are contributing to a broader range of perceptions of what constitutes legitimate humanitarianism; it is clear that the response to suffering may differ across cultures. [R, abr.]
65.3986 PEARCE, Justin —
This article considers the politics of memory and memorialization in Angola today in the light of existing scholarship on this theme elsewhere in southern Africa. I examine young anti-government activists' preoccupation with history, and argue that this can be understood only with reference to the MPLA government's own renewed concern with history since the end of the civil war in 2002, and its attempts to recast the nationalist narratives of the pre-1990 era. Since 2002, the government has sought to contain the threat posed by democratic opposition by claiming an exclusive role for the MPLA as the defender of the nation and by silencing critical discussion of events from the one-party era — most notably the mass killings of May 1977. [R, abr.]
65.3987 PEARSON, Sevan —
The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina instituted ethnic quotas between Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats: the three “constituent peoples”. This institutionalization of ethnicity, criticized by some contemporary authors, is often seen as a creation of the peace agreement. Interestingly, several scholars deem such proportional representation a legacy from socialist times. But the existing literature lacks a historical perspective on the question of ethnic quotas. In addressing this issue, this paper reminds one of the existence of ethnic quotas, called the “national key”, during socialist times. A deeper analysis of the “national key” in the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the ethnic quotas in the last two decades shows, interestingly, more differences than continuity. [R, abr.]
65.3988 PEKKANEN, Robert J.; PEKKANEN, Saadia M. —
It was all about Shinz Abe in 2014. With few intra-party challengers, a divided and weak opposition, and a huge victory in a December snap election gamble, Japan's Prime Minister Abe finds unusual scope to lead the nation both domestically as well as internationally in his chosen course of “proactive pacifism”. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3989 PHILLIPS, David L. —
The Islamic State's rise has shaped the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, as well as shifting alliances between the US and countries in the region. Rather than try to placate its adversaries, Washington should cooperate more closely with the Kurds. Kurdish militia in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria have shown the commitment and capability to confront ISIS. In addition to security assistance — air support and the supply of sophisticated weapons — Kurds deserve diplomatic and political support. Iraqi Kurdistan is emerging as the world's next newest nation and America's best friend in the region. [R]
65.3990 PING Lee Poh —
The year 2014 saw four significant developments in Malaysia: the mishandling of the missing flight MH 370 jetliner; rejection of the use of the term “Allah” in a Malay-language Christian publications; an anti-sedition blitz; and the resignation of the Selangor chief minister. However, Malaysia managed its foreign and economic affairs reasonably well. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3991 POKALOVA, Elena —
Frozen conflicts have become a persistent phenomenon in the international arena. At the same time, very little research has focused on the factors that have prevented conflict-resolution in such cases. This paper focuses on the case of Nagorno-Karabakh [Armenia-Azerbaijan] and analyzes the role of timing for peace initiatives in frozen conflicts. The paper investigates how political, economic and foreign policy institutions that have emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh have consolidated its features of a de facto state and how that in turn has affected the peace process. The findings from the Nagorno-Karabakh case demonstrate that as a de facto state consolidates, the pool of acceptable peace alternatives becomes increasingly limited, eventually leaving the only option for conflict-resolution — the recognition of de facto independence. [R]
65.3992 PRASIRTSUK, Kitti —
Following the massive political demonstration that had shut down most government agencies in Bangkok since the end of 2013, on May 22, 2014, the Thai military launched a coup in an attempt to break the deadlock. Coup leaders vowed to solve the political impasse and reform the country. Several political and economic challenges lie ahead. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.3993 PRIEBUS, Sonja —
The general elections in Hungary in April 2014 brought another landslide victory for Prime Minister V. Orbán and his Fidesz party. This victory, however, could be achieved only through a series of institutional changes in advance. The election campaign was dominated by scandals rather than actual content. Fidesz and its ally, the Christian Democratic People's Party, did not even submit an electoral program but campaigned under the slogan “We'll continue”. In domestic as well as foreign policy, no paradigm shift can be expected of the third Orbán government. But there are changes in the structure of the new government which will have far-reaching domestic and foreign policy implications. [R, abr.]
65.3994 PYYKKÖNEN, Miikka —
Although there was no focused administration of ethnic minorities in Finland until the last decades of the 20th c., there was a variety of rationalities, techniques and practices of governance used for their conduct. I analyze how the governance of the Roma and the Sámi — the two biggest minorities at the time — changed after the mid-1800s, when the new ethno-cultural understanding of population spread throughout administration and governing bodies. This Foucauldian analysis concentrates on the descent of this “event”, the social and political conditions of its emergence and the actual changes it entailed in the governance of these minorities. [R]
65.3995 RAINNIE, Al; GOODS, Caleb; FITZGERALD, Scott —
Ecological modernization (EM), in theory and practice, has increasingly become central to contemporary state environmental reform agendas. EM's allure lies in its central tenet that the contemporary institutions of capitalism can be ecologically adapted to achieve “win-win” economic and environmental outcomes. How government policy can best accomplish this aim is contested, however, with weak and strong EM approaches advocating different roles for the state in facilitating ecological restructuring. The latter approaches argue that for EM processes to be successful, state intervention via ecological industrial policy is required. This article assesses the manner in which EM was conceptualized and implemented within the Australian government's automotive industry policy between 2007 and 2013. This analysis raises issues about the institutional capacity of states to pursue either weak or strong forms of EM. [R, abr.]
65.3996 RICH, Ben; CONDUIT, Dara —
Jihadist foreign fighters have become common in civil conflicts in Muslim countries. While research exists on the impact they have upon returning home, less attention has been given to their influence on the opposition cause that they mobilize in support of. This article looks at the impact that jihadist foreign fighters on the Chechen and Syrian resistance causes, evaluating their influence on oppositional cohesion and ideology, domestic and international perceptions of the movements, and on governmental narratives regarding the conflicts the foreign fighters engage in. We conclude that foreign fighters have overwhelmingly damaged the Chechen and Syrian opposition movements, making the likelihood of opposition success more remote. [R]
65.3997 RIVETTI, Paola —
While the scholarship on the Arab uprisings is increasingly complex and intellectually refined, this special issue considers an aspect that so far has failed to attract sustained scholarly attention, namely continuity and change. This introduction provides the framework underpinning the special issue as a whole and discusses all the articles composing it, while elaborating on the scientific contribution that the examination of continuity and change before and after the uprisings can make to our understanding of politics in the region. [R] [Introduction to a thematic issue on “Continuity and change before and after the Arab uprisings in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt”, edited by the author and Rosita DI PERI. See Abstr. 65.3193, 3270, 3400, 3531, 3565, 3590, 3695, 3921, 3949]
65.3998 ROOGAN, Julian; WALDEK, Lise —
The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) has provided a relative decline of violence in Honiara for over a decade. However, the combination of customary cultural practices utilized in negotiating status and power in Solomon Islands society with ongoing demographic and economic processes exacerbated by the period of foreign intervention has perpetuated underlying drivers of violence that are likely to reignite once RAMSI fully departs. The use of practices of social reciprocity and compensation in order to gain and effectively wield key resources such as cash, access to jobs and access to land is ongoing in Honiara. This article examines the use of these forms of negotiation in Honiara. [R, abr.]
65.3999 ROŽIČ, Peter —
While political psychologists and philosophers have extensively analyzed Foucauldian interpretations of authoritarian state control, little research has explored domination through surveillance in potentially paranoid political systems. Combining the clinical and non-clinical approaches to paranoia with a philosophical model of post-totalitarian legitimacy games, this article develops a normatively significant theory of the paranoid state. The application of the theory to the study of Belarus uncovers four elements sustaining the paranoid state: excessive order, rumination (dwelling on paranoid suspicions without expressing them to others), emulation (of others who behave in a paranoid way), and memory abuse. The article examines strategies to exit the state of paranoia, such as the diversification of arts and historical memory. [R]
65.4000 SALAMEY, Imad —
This paper advances the proposition that post-Arab-Spring politics are a product of globalization's economic and social liberalization. The global market and privatization have fundamentally deconstructed centralized autocratic rule over state and society, while facilitating corruption and selective development, culminating in public outrage. The political order of the Middle East and North Africa since the Arab Spring synthesizes globalization's dialectic duality, in which economic integration has contributed to the demise of national authoritarianism, inciting communalism and political fragmentation. This paper analyzes emerging political trends and challenges based on a comparative analysis of Egypt and Tunisia. [R]
65.4001 SCHELLENBERG, Renata —
This paper investigates the state of post-war memory in the Croatian city of Vukovar. It addresses the recent resurgence of Croatian nationalism, manifested through the implementation and subsequent vandalism of civic bilingual (Latin/Cyrillic) plaques. It examines the culture of commemoration that has come to define Vukovar since Croatian independence in 1995 and that has remained powerfully persuasive to this day. Considered a national symbol and an emblem of sacrifice, the city of Vukovar has become encoded by the rhetoric of its wartime past, allowing little opportunity for future development and growth. This paper argues that while such observance and remembrance are elements crucial to the formation of national identity, collective memory itself must remain in flux, constantly changing to remain useful for the generations to come. [R]
65.4002 SCHENK, Susanne; BURCHARDT, Marian; WOHLRAB-SAHR, Monika —
Sociologists interested in religious change and state-church relations have, by and large, ignored how regimes of religious diversity and secularism interact with factors that are seemingly external to religious dynamics such as cultural notions of the welfare state and its neoliberal restructuring. This article fills this lacuna by exploring the social dynamics around secularity and religious diversity as they emerge in contestations around educational reforms in Sweden. The authors show that the language of “consumer choice” that pervades discourses around public service provision in many late capitalist societies coalesces with human rights driven legal demands for greater religious freedom in justifying religious pluralism in education. [R, abr.]
65.4003 SCHNELL, Felix —
In 1946, J. Margolin wrote his Puteshestvie v stranu ze-ka (Journey to the land of the camps). The book belongs to the early autobiographical accounts of the Gulag. In 1950, he addressed the comparability of Nazism and Stalinism and com- pared the form and purpose of the camps. Margolin took the first steps towards a theory of totalitarianism. As a method of obtaining knowledge, comparison remains indispensable. The camps in the Soviet Union were a functional and integral element of the political and economic system; the Nazi camps, especially the extermination camps, followed their own rationality; economically and politically, they were, strictly speaking, dysfunctional for Nazi rule. The Gulag and the Nazi camps represent the grotesque side of inhumanity, which claimed millions of victims. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3824]
65.4004 SCHWEICKART, David —
Viewing contemporary China from the perspective of Economic Democracy, a stylized model of market socialism featuring workplace democracy, social control of investment and an entrepreneurial capitalist sector, I argue that China is not capitalist, and will not likely “go capitalist”. [R] [Part of a thematic issue on “The end of US hegemony”, edited and introduced by Jerry HARRIS. See also Abstr. 65.2798, 2844, 3369, 3605]
65.4005 SHAH, Aqil; ASIF, Bushra —
A year after assuming power, Prime Minister N. Sharif's government faced a political crisis fomented by the pro-military opposition leader I. Khan, who mobilized his supporters to protest alleged electoral rigging in the 2013 poll. Khan had to call off the protests after the Pakistani Taliban's grisly terrorist attack on an army-run school in retaliation for the army's offensive against them in North Waziristan. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4006 SHEVTSOVA, Lilia —
The system of personalized power that has long ruled Russia now faces a new crisis, and it is trying to avert decay through the reassertion of empire. [R]
65.4007 SIDEL, John T. —
The year 2014 in the Philippines witnessed President B. Aquino's administration moving forward with initiatives on multiple fronts, including foreign relations and the peace process in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, even as leading opposition politicians experienced increasing difficulties in the face of anti-corruption charges. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4008 SIMON, Joshua —
The disparities in per-capita wealth and national productivity that divide the US states and Latin America today have often been understood as results of institutional variations introduced during each region's period of imperial rule. According to this interpretation, path-dependent processes preserved institutions installed by Britain, Spain, and Portugal across the centuries, propagating their positive or negative economic effects, and eventually producing a marked “development gap” in the hemisphere. This article improves this account by highlighting the direct and indirect economic effects of the success or failure of the political unions established after independence in both the US and Latin America. It demonstrates that influential political theorists throughout the hemisphere understood the developmental advantages to be gained from unifying former colonies and employing the political authority newly at their disposal to abolish the stifling institutional legacies of European rule. [R, abr.]
65.4009 SNÉGAROFF, Thomas —
H. Clinton is expected to become the first woman to occupy the Oval Office. The reason for being so affirmative is that Hillary has four major assets for 2016 that make her victory much more probable than during her first attempt in 2008: (1) the creation in 2010 of “super PACs” (political action committees) authorized to spend massive amounts of donor money to support the ideas of a candidate and criticize the programs of their political opponents, giving her a huge war chest; (2) at 69, she is a figure whose experience reassures Americans during these times of crisis; (3) her past as Secretary of State gives her undeniable authority in the foreign policy arena; and (4) her liberal positions on societal issues are in phase with a significant percentage of voters. [R, abr.]
65.4010 SNEYD, Adam —
African cotton has been an engine of immiseration. Since 2002, development policy and decision-makers have attempted to treat aspects of this unwelcome condition by focusing official poverty-reduction efforts more explicitly on cotton. While these anti-poverty palliatives have doubtless been well-warranted, the preferred poverty pain-relievers have under-performed. This article argues that poverty-reduction efforts undertaken for African cotton at multiple levels over the past 13 years have been overly infused with neoliberal ideas. Many experts have simply not cottoned on to the possibility that prescriptions steeped in neoliberal predispositions might only alleviate some of the symptoms that their African “patients” experience every day. [R, abr.]
65.4011 SOOLIMAN, Quraysha Ismail —
The May 2014 national elections in South Africa delivered another “victory” to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Considering South Africa's “unfinished liberation”, the compromised negotiation at Codesa which is now raising the ire of many African activists and intellectuals, and the growing tension over the ANC's disrespect for voters through its continued practice of cadre deployments; the elections when analyzed from a voter apathy perspective indicates a shift in the political landscape. For many young South Africans, the question that is now being asked is “what is this ‘democracy’ that South Africa is supposed to have achieved?” considering that the only real benefit that has accrued to the majority of South Africans post-2014 is political freedom. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3876]
65.4012 STEPAN, Alfred —
Does the electoral victory of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party signal that the world's largest democracy may be following Sri Lanka toward a politics where the will of the majority is exalted above minority rights? [R]
65.4013 TAN, Kenneth Paul —
In the “new normal” following the 2011 general election, Singapore seems poised for further development toward liberal democracy. However, the ruling People's Action Party is attempting to reinvent itself and regain its hegemonic position, which requires finding credible solutions for very challenging problems to do with policy, communication, and public image. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4014 TEZCÜR, Güneş Murat —
According to theories of nonviolent resistance, violence is counterproductive and undermines the ability of a movement to achieve mass support. At the same time, studies of ethnic insurgencies suggest that violence is the only available method of mobilization in political systems characterized by entrenched ethnic hierarchies. Engaging with these arguments, this article addresses a historical puzzle: What factors explain the timing and ability of the PKK's (Partiye Karkerên Kurdistan) rise as the hegemonic Kurdish nationalist organization in Turkey between the late 1970s and 1990? The article argues that studies that identify Kurdish nationalism as a reaction to repressive policies of the Turkish state without paying attention to prevailing social conditions and oppositional strategies fail to provide a satisfactory response. [R, abr.]
65.4015 THAN Tin Maung Maung —
Myanmar saw some progress in efforts at constitutional amendment and ceasefire negotiations, both pressing issues. Attempts to introduce proportional representation failed in the lower house of Parliament. Critics pointed out stalled reforms. The economy achieved high growth, and foreign direct investment increased. Myanmar reveled in its role as ASEAN chair and host for [US] President B. Obama's visit. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4016 THURSTON, Alex —
This article traces how Muslim politics played into Shari'a [Islamic law] administration in Kano, northern Nigeria's most populous state, and argues that governmental bureaucracies created for the purpose of administering Shari'a became sites of political contests over the meaning of public morality in Islamic terms. Shari'a bureaucracies featured as prizes in unstable political alliances between Muslim scholars and elected Muslim politicians. Politicians' appointments of Muslim scholars to bureaucratic positions, and their empowerment or disempowerment of certain bureaucracies, posed fundamental questions concerning who would control the Shari'a project and what its content would be. The maneuvers surrounding Kano's Shari'a bureaucracies reflect broader trends in northern Nigerian politics. [R, abr.]
65.4017 TOLIMIR-HÖLZL, Nataša —
The article presents the state of play of post-election Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the elections in October 2014, it became clear that voters have again opted for a stronger nationalist government, which means that each of the constituent peoples voted for one of their ethnic representatives. A slight exception concerns the Serb candidate for presidency — supposedly more moderate than his predecessor. After the protests in February 2014, changes were expected, however, without visible results so far. For a closer insight, current publications and online-blogs were analyzed in this article, students from Banja Luka were asked for their opinion. [R, abr.]
65.4018 TRIFUNOVIĆ, Darko; MIJALKOVSKI, Milan —
The decade-long armed conflict in the Balkans from 1991 to 2001, greatly misrepresented in the Western public, were the biggest defeat for the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, a great defeat for Europe — but a victory for global Jihad. Radical Islamists used the wars to recruit a large number of Sunni Muslims in the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania) for the cause of political Islam and militant Jihad. Converts to Wahhabi Islam not only provide recruits for the “White Al-Qaeda”, but also exhibit growing territorial claims and seek the establishment of a “Balkan Caliphate”. Powers outside the Balkans regard this with indifference or even tacit approval. Radical Islamist activity is endangering the security of not only Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also Europe and the world. [R]
65.4019 UMOH, Ubong Essien —
The democratic peace theory has made a lasting impression in the field of war and peace studies. While the theory has been mostly applied to the “peace zones” of the Global North, the “conflict zones” of the Global South have been left in relative theoretical neglect, as it relates to peaceful interstate relations. The Nigeria-Cameroon crisis over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula provides a sensitive case study in the Global South for laying a foundation for a non-democratic peace theory (NDPT). Why did the Nigeria-Cameroon conflict over the strategic oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula not degenerate into a sustained full-scale war given the nondemocratic foundations of the participant countries? This paper lays the building blocks for an NDPT for Africa. [R, abr.]
65.4020 VÉRAN, Jean-François —
Nação Mestiça is a political movement born in the poor suburbs of Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas, in response to the “ethnoracial” public policies nationally implemented since the early 2000s. [To examine] the logical point of view from which its activist question Brazilian democracy, the article first shows how Nação Mestiça defends miscegenation — in contradiction to the ideological deconstruction through which the concept has been gradually removed of its legitimacy at the national political level. I then argue that this position should be understood from a pragmatic mestiça experience, in which a particular conception of the relationship between democracy and miscegenation is rooted. I show how the movement moves the debate on “affirmative” policies on by re-territorialization it within the practical space of microlocal issues. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3920]
65.4021 VOGT, Manuel —
Over the last decades, indigenous movements have propelled the political empowerment of historically marginalized groups in Latin America. The Maya struggle for ethnic equality in Guatemala, however, since its reawakening during the peace process, has reached an impasse. Based on field research consisting of dozens of elite interviews, this article analyzes the patterns of and obstacles to present-day Maya mobilization. It combines movement-internal and -external factors in an overarching theoretical argument about indigenous movements' capacity to construct strong collective voices. In the Guatemalan case, organizational sectorization, the lack of elite consensus on key substantive issues, and unclear alliance strategies compromise the effectiveness of horizontal voice among Maya organizations. [R, abr.]
65.4022 WICKRAMASINGHE, Nira —
The year 2014 witnessed a few cracks in the government of the United People's Freedom Alliance in the face of internal and external challenges. Still, anti-Muslim violence, setbacks in provincial elections, and mounting concerns over the coalition's human rights record failed to disrupt continued high economic growth. The surprise was the 8 January 2015, election: defeating the incumbent, former Health Minister M. Sirisena was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4023 WYATT, Andrew —
The much anticipated general election produced a majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of N. Modi. The new administration is setting out an agenda for governing. The economy showed some signs of improvement, business confidence is returning, but economic growth has yet to return to earlier high levels. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4024 YAP, O. Fiona —
The Sewol ferry tragedy revealed weaknesses in South Korea's politics, economy, and society that had been sidestepped during economic development and political transition. The split in local elections, the Saenuri Party's sweep in by-elections, and the installation of critics of President Park as leaders of the ruling party all underscore the public's rejection of political stonewalling or politicking-as-usual. [R] [See Abstr. 65.3885]
65.4025 YOUSUF, Abu Salah Md.; JASIM UDDIN, Mohammad —
India is emerging as a global economic power and expanding its military capabilities. Its maritime posture in the Indo-Pacific has made it an important stakeholder in the Asia-Pacific strategic ambiguity. The country is invited to almost all global forums and encouraged to play an active role in the international affairs. By contrast, India is yet to take strong footholds in several global issues, while negotiating with international powers, e.g., the US and China. Some major challenges of the global emergence of India are its foreign policy predicaments, neighborhood compulsions and China bogey, compulsions of energy import, limits of its soft power capabilities, internal security threats and domestic underdevelopment. This paper [asks]: which factors indicate India as an emerging global power? And, what are the challenges for India's global emergence? [R, abr.]
65.4026 ZANKER, Franzisca; SIMONS, Claudia; MEHLER, Andreas —
Power-sharing agreements have become a blueprint for efforts to end violent conflicts in many parts of the world, particularly in Africa. Such agreements, however, rarely include territorial power sharing — at least, not according to the formal, rather unhelpful narrow definition that includes federalism and decentralization. This article argues that the concept of territorial power sharing needs to be broadened in order to account for the manifold informal or indirect manifestations of such arrangements. Drawing on extensive fieldwork data from the DRC [Congo Kinshasa], Liberia, and Kenya, the article analyzes the history of spatiality and power in Africa in order to explain why formal mechanisms of territorial power sharing are rare and why more subtle types of informal territorial power sharing are much more common. [R, abr.]
65.4027 ZHANG Weiying —
I argue that the perspective of institutional change is fundamentally problematic because any institutional change cannot be well understood without taking into account two crucial factors: (1) ideas about the direction of the institutional change and (2) leadership under which the institutional change takes place. I analyze China's economic and political transition to a liberal society by taking these two factors into account, explaining what happened in the past 35 years of the reform and predicting what will happen in the future. [R]
65.4028
Articles in German by Christoph NEIDHART; Annette SCHAD-SEIFERT; Detlef REHN; Martin SCHULZ; Bernhard BARTSCH; Cosima WAGNER.