Real socialist societies between neo‐traditionalism and modernity: The case of yugoslavia

The present article argues that the breakdown of the real‐socialist systems and their movement towards a ‘capitalist ‘‐oriented post‐socialist stage of development can be best analyzed within the general framework of the theory of modernization. The partial and deformed modernization characteristic of the (ex) real socialist societies in conjunction with the prevasive amongst the Eastern Europeans of a traditional unqualified egalitarian belief syndrome makes the transition to modernity and welfare‐state democracy even harder.     

The politics of health: the case of smoking control

The policy of the United Kingdom government towards the control of smoking has been characterized by a non-interventionist approach such as persuasion and industrial self-regulation, as opposed to more direct intervention through fiscal policy or control over tobacco production and sales. The effectiveness of the policies adopted by the UK government is difficult to assess, although there has been a reduction over the last ten years in the proportion of smokers in the population. However, evidence from other countries shows that a more comprehensive programme including direct legislation controlling tobacco advertising has a much stronger impact on tobacco consumption. The determinants of the UK government's policy position are analysed and the evidence suggests that this policy position is determined in part by the power of the vested interests in the maintenance of tobacco production, as well as the confusion of interests within the government itself.     

Online collective identity: The case of the environmental movement

Social movements are making extensive communicative and organizational use of the Internet in order to identify social problems and bring about change. We present a model of an online social movement, where actors exchange practical and symbolic resources through hyperlink and online frame networks. Our positioning of these exchanges within a continuum of conscious and unconscious expressive behavior informs our framework for the empirical analysis of online collectives. An application using data collected from the websites of over 160 environmental activist organizations reveals significant fragmentation in this field of contentious activity, which we suggest reflects offline social divisions.     

Nationalism in America: The case of the Populist movement

As a marker of national identity, the term American is culturally meaningful but also difficult and contradictory. In the first part of this article, we develop the claim that analyzing nationalism as discourse provides a meaningful lens for the study of this boundary-making process. In particular, the distinctions between civic/ethnic and inclusive/exclusive forms of nationalism have proved nettlesome for a consideration of American nationalism. In the second half of the article, we use data from the Southern Populist movement of the late nineteenth century to provide both relational and cultural analyses of the use of the term American. Although its use was primarily civic, it had important but complex racial implications.     

阿拉伯世界的世俗主义与世俗化

阿拉伯世界的世俗主义是受西方的影响而产生的.19世纪中叶到20世纪中叶是阿拉伯世界世俗主义发展的第一阶段,首先在阿拉伯基督教信徒中间产生,并为阿拉伯基督教信徒和穆斯林共同发展.凯末尔领导的土耳其世俗化运动,使作为非阿拉伯国家的土耳其以其世俗主义模式影响了阿拉伯世界,很多阿拉伯国家随之走上世俗化道路.但从20世纪70年代开始,现代伊斯兰主义兴起,作为非阿拉伯国家的伊朗以其伊斯兰革命影响了阿拉伯世界现代伊斯兰主义的发展.作为对现代伊斯兰主义的回应,阿拉伯世界的世俗主义进入了第二阶段,福阿德·宰凯里亚的思想最具代表性.     

Globalizing social movement theory: The case of eugenics

Transnational social movements are affected not only by national-level factors, but also by factors that operate at the global level. This article develops two conceptual tools for analyzing global factors: international political opportunity and global culture. The conduciveness of both factors appears to be important in understanding eugenics activity, which this article examines as a transnational social movement. The lack of international political opportunity before World War I and the hostile climate of global culture after World War II hindered eugenic mobilization during these periods, while the emergence of opportunities and cultural conduciveness during the Interwar period was associated with movement growth and effectiveness.     

阿拉伯世界的世俗主义与世俗化

阿拉伯世界的世俗主义是受西方的影响而产生的。19世纪中叶到20世纪中叶是阿拉伯世界世俗主义发展的第一阶段,首先在阿拉伯基督教信徒中间产生,并为阿拉伯基督教信徒和穆斯林共同发展。凯末尔领导的土耳其世俗化运动,使作为非阿拉伯国家的土耳其以其世俗主义模式影响了阿拉伯世界,很多阿拉伯国家随之走上世俗化道路。但从20世纪70年代开始,现代伊斯兰主义兴起,作为非阿拉伯国家的伊朗以其伊斯兰革命影响了阿拉伯世界现代伊斯兰主义的发展。作为对现代伊斯兰主义的回应,阿拉伯世界的世俗主义进入了第二阶段,福阿德·宰凯里亚的思想最具代表性。     

The politics of counting and reporting conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence: the case of Myanmar

ABSTRACT

Scholars, states and international organizations have begun to systematically count, document and compare sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in conflict-affected countries. Qualitative and quantitative studies point to a “tip of the iceberg” phenomenon, where there is a high prevalence but low level of actual reporting of SGBV. We investigate the conditions in which SGBV is reported or, more significantly, is not reported to discover the trends of reporting in politically oppressive environments where SGBV is thought to be occurring. We ask how the power to report in local conflict-affected areas is affected by national political tensions and pervasive gender discrimination. Reporting of SGBV in Myanmar, a country that has experienced multiple, protracted conflicts since independence, is examined. Analysis of open-access reports over a fifteen-year period reveals a pattern of silence that we argue is rooted in pervasive discriminatory civil and physical practices against women. Engaging with the deeply politicized and gender discriminatory context of conflict-affected societies enables us to see the anomalies of SGBV data and to highlight significant gaps in our knowledge about SGBV.     

The right to be different: Multiculturalism and the racialization of scandinavian welfare politics; The case of Denmark

‘Multiculturalism’ as an influential ideology for structuring ethnic relations has become exposed to increasing critique also in the Scandinavian context. The paper discusses a racialized political debate, legislation, and institutional practices, taking Denmark as the prime example. An increasingly ‘dual welfare’ is becoming legitimized through a hegemonic culturalized language, consistently interpreting ‘the right to be different’ as ‘being different’, and ‘being different’ as being ‘non‐integrated’. In a society where public debate on ethnic and racial discrimination is less than rudimentary, tolerant claims of multiculturalist relativism are effectively turned upside down in the service of neo‐racism, the preachings of which are imperceptibly becoming adopted as the conventional wisdom. This calls for a discussion on ‘politics of recognition’ which brings the debate on the universalism and particularity out of the abstract, while focusing on the vicissitudes of contemporary democracy in a changing welfare state.     

Rumour and decertification in exile politics: evidence from the Egyptian case

ABSTRACT

Does exile affect activism and if so how? In this paper, the case of Egyptian activists exiled in England is taken as illustrative of processes typical of exiled activism. The case study draws on primary and secondary sources including a series of biographical interviews with exiled activists. The analysis compares activism in Egypt with exiled activism in England using the participants’ critical self-reflections to explain the mechanisms mediating the changes. Contrary to reasonable expectations that exile is a spontaneous response to a change in political context, the conditions for exile predate banishment and lie within the institutions of dictatorship which decertify activism. Decertification continues throughout the exile process as fear of repression becomes internalized within the movement. Within the sanctuary of the host country, a process of brokerage counteracts decertification expanding and modifying the exile repertoire.     

Midwifery in Colorado: A case study in the politics of professionalization

This paper uses documentary evidence, interviews, and participant observation to examine the professionalizing activities of lay midwives in Colorado. It shows that professionalization for midwives is primarily a political process. In order to gain state recognition and professional autonomy, lay midwives were forced into the political arena, where they encountered resistance from economic competitors. I argue that medical dominance over childbirth practices and professional segmentation between lay midwives and certified nurse midwives were the primary reasons Colorado lay midwives failed to achieve professional status.I would thank the Colorado midwives for their cooperation in this study. My thanks also to the reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts.     

Everyday politics,social practices and movement networks: daily life in Barcelona's social centres

The relations between everyday life and political participation are of interest for much contemporary social science. Yet studies of social movement protest still pay disproportionate attention to moments of mobilization, and to movements with clear organizational boundaries, tactics and goals. Exceptions have explored collective identity, ‘free spaces’ and prefigurative politics, but such processes are framed as important only in accounting for movements in abeyance, or in explaining movement persistence. This article focuses on the social practices taking place in and around social movement spaces, showing that political meanings, knowledge and alternative forms of social organization are continually being developed and cultivated. Social centres in Barcelona, Spain, autonomous political spaces hosting cultural and educational events, protest campaigns and alternative living arrangements, are used as empirical case studies. Daily practices of food provisioning, distributing space and dividing labour are politicized and politicizing as they unfold and develop over time and through diverse networks around social centres. Following Melucci, such latent processes set the conditions for social movements and mobilization to occur. However, they not only underpin mobilization, but are themselves politically expressive and prefigurative, with multiple layers of latency and visibility identifiable in performances of practices. The variety of political forms – adversarial, expressive, theoretical, and routinized everyday practices, allow diverse identities, materialities and meanings to overlap in movement spaces, and help explain networks of mutual support between loosely knit networks of activists and non‐activists. An approach which focuses on practices and networks rather than mobilization and collective actors, it is argued, helps show how everyday life and political protest are mutually constitutive.     

Time to go home? The conflictual politics of diaspora return in the Burmese women’s movement

ABSTRACT

The initiation of political reforms and a peace process in Myanmar has fundamentally altered the conditions for Burmese diasporic politics, and diaspora groups that have mobilized in Myanmar’s neighbouring countries are beginning to return. This article explores how return to Myanmar is debated within the Burmese women’s movement, a significant and internationally renowned segment of the Burmese diaspora. Does return represent the fulfilment of diasporic dreams; a pragmatic choice in response to less than ideal circumstances; or a threat to the very identity and the feminist politics of the women’s movement? Contrasting these competing perspectives, the analysis offers insights into the ongoing negotiations and difficult choices involved in return, and reveals the process of return as highly conflictual and contentious. In particular, the analysis sheds light on the gendered dimensions of diaspora activism and return, demonstrating how opportunities for women's activism are challenged, debated and reshaped in relation to return.     

The lie of race: the politics of evil

Abstract

This is a paper about a world without racism; it addresses the tenacity of racism as equivalence to privilege. The biology of love as a conversation is explored. Organization theory is juxtaposed as a system of Others. Some language of quantum theory is used to present a hypothesis about why systems of privilege are created and conserved through self-reference. The God metaphor is posed as the penultimate organization enabling privilege. This is offset by seeing that love is not a choice, thus freeing both gods and humans to the universe of possibilities. Threads for further research in organization theory are suggested.     

The transnational politics of the Tomato King: meaning and impact

Abstract In this article we deploy transnational ethnography to explore the transnational electoral politics by which Andrés Bermúdez, a successful tomato grower and labour contractor from Winters, California, who came to be called ‘the Tomato King’, was elected mayor of the municipality of Jerez in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. We seek to explain the meaning of his transnational electoral victory and its impact on the role of ‘the migrant’ as a new social actor in Mexican political development. We thus situate the Bermudista phenomenon in the context of the literature on migrant transnational politics. We hope to move the literature on migrant political transnationalism forward by advancing an agency‐oriented perspective that incorporates both the politics of representation of ‘el migrante’ in transnational electoral campaigns and the emerging dynamics of transnational coalition politics. Our approach underlines the need to carefully historicize the relationship between transnationalism and citizenship ‐ namely, to map the contingency and agency underlying the changing practices of states, migrants, and transnational institutional networks vis‐à‐vis questions of transnational citizenship. This is best done by paying close attention to the actual social and political practices whereby human agents pursue historically specific political projects that extend the practices of citizenship across borders.