‘National Machineries’ and Authoritarian Politics

Abstract

Why do authoritarian states adopt ‘state feminist’ policies, and what are the effects of these initiatives? This article expands our understanding of state feminist institutions in non-democracies by examining the development of a women's national machinery in Cameroon. It argues that the Cameroonian state has adopted a national machinery because: (1) it provides low-cost international legitimacy; (2) it attracts international assistance; (3) this assistance fuels domestic patronage networks; and (4) the national machinery channels women's activism toward state-delineated projects and goals. These motives undercut its ability to promote women's advancement. National machineries in authoritarian contexts are not just plagued by technical problems and funding shortages but also by competing agendas within the state apparatus and a lack of a commitment by high-level government officials to improving women's status in society.     

1000 Years Before Parsons: Vocational Psychology in Classical Islam

One characteristic of professionals is that they reflect on the nature of their discipline; attention to the history of one's discipline is an important way of doing this. Efforts to trace the historical roots of vocational theory have been successful only as far back as late Renaissance Spain and southern Europe, notably in Chabassus and Zytowski's (1987) discussion of Sanchez de Arevalo's (1468) Speculum Vitae Humanae (Mirror of Human Life). We locate some recognizably modern concepts in a 10th-century Iraqi text, the Rasa'il Ikhwàn al-Safá wa-Khillan al-Wafa, or Treatises of the Brothers of Purity (Ikhwàn al-Safá, 955/1928).     

THE POLITICAL ECONOMICS OF THE ARAB SPRING

There were large differences in the responses of Arab dictators to the Arab Spring protests. To understand these differences, I present a stylized model of how a dictator responds to mass protests for democratization in a polarized country with two ethnic or religious groups. In this model, the dictator's response crucially depends on oil revenues and his affiliation to either the majority or the minority group. I document that the model's predictions are consistent with the observed differences in the Arab dictators' responses. Hence, ethnic politics and religious divides may play an important role in political transitions and regime changes. (JEL D72, D74)     

The impact of the Arab Spring on democracy and development in the MENA region

In evaluating the consequences of the Arab Spring 8 years later, this paper not only focuses on the short‐term consequences of the uprisings that swept through a number of countries in the Middle East and North African region but also analyzes the long‐term prospects for democratization and development in the MENA region. The impact of the Arab Spring, despite its promises and the expectations of the rest of the world, has been dismal. While only Tunisia made a successful transition to a democratic polity with a constitution guaranteeing the basic rights of the people, the rest of the Arab Spring countries remain in the grip of the authoritarian rule, and countries such as Syria, Libya, and Yemen have been degenerated into bloody civil wars with dwindling hope of peace and freedom. On economic front, the growth has been tardy, showing little difference with countries that were unaffected by the Arab Spring. Yet, the paper concludes, echoing historian Eric Hobsbawm's view, that revolutionary outcomes need not be judged as failure too quickly as they are likely to be partial success in the long term. The impact may be observed in the area of social opening, newer class alliances, and the emergence of a less rapacious, reformed, hybrid authoritarianism.     

Global Human Rights and State Sovereignty: State Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties, 1965–20011

This research seeks to understand the factors that lead nation‐states to ratify international human rights treaties in the contemporary world, despite their potential cost for state sovereignty. We argue that normative pressure from international society, along with historical contingencies during the Cold War, encouraged many states to ratify these treaties. We present an event‐history analysis of ratification of seven key international human rights treaties in 164 countries in the period between 1965 and 2001. The results lend support to the world society argument as well as to our historical argument and also specify that normative pressure and imitation have been important factors shaping states’ decisions to ratify international human rights treaties.     

The Jewish community in Iraq, 1920–50: A failed attempt at integration

At the end of the First World War, the Iraqi Jewish community numbered about 85,000. With the establishment of the Arab Iraqi state in 1920, the leaders of the community advocated the integration of Iraqi Jewry into the national Arab society. Jews held important positions in all fields ‐ economic, social and cultural. Compared to Israel, Iraq was for them a paradise. There they hoped to build their future, which then promised to be bright. Arab Iraqi society, too, expected the Jewish minority to become a part of it and to contribute its talents to the consolidation and strengthening of the state.

The pogrom of 1941 was a turning point in the history of Iraqi Jewry, leading to the establishment of a Jewish underground. The worsening situation in Palestine prompted the Iraqi government to adopt a policy of repression and discrimination against the Jews, putting an end to the attempt by the Jewish minority to integrate into Arab Iraqi society. Jews began to seek ways to leave the country. The underground proved instrumental in helping some 121,000 Jews to flee Iraq and make their way to Israel.     

Britain and the Jewish community of Iraq, 1948–51: An aspect of British policy in the Middle East

British policy after the Second World War was designed to maintain her influence in the Middle East. As a result, she worked to prevent any destabilization of the region's nations and especially to preserve the existent pro‐British regimes.

The Iraqi royal government was weak, depending mainly on its army. The riots of January 1948 proved how tenuous the government's position was. Here Britain invested great efforts in preventing conditions from damaging the regime or destroying it. This explains why the British were not active on behalf of the Jewish community, which at the time suffered from a policy of discrimination and persecution.

The British assumed that the problem of the Jewish minority in Iraq could not be divorced from overall Jewish‐Arab relations or those between Israel and the Arab states, and that the Iraqi Jewish community's fate was inevitable given the events in Palestine. Moreover, despite the pressure from extremist quarters in Iraq to banish all the Jews and expropriate their property, the Iraqi government's policy was not that extreme, and it sought at least to defend their lives and prevent a recurrence of the June 1941 pogrom. Despite this, Israel exploited the Iraqi Jewish community's situation to attain her own political and economic ends.     

The Image of the City in Modern Arab Painting: Artists Recreate Their Own Cities

The subject of the city in Arab art, as far as I know, has never been studied by art critics and historians. This has apparently not happened because of the strong influence of western modernism and its theories. This article uncovers the importance of the city in early and later modern Arab painting. Examples from the late 1930s and 1940s reflect the less developed cities in terms of their social and structural aspects. This is very obvious in the two paintings by Said (Alexandria, Egyptian) and Nazar (Baghdad, Iraqi). The Arab paintings from the second half of the twentieth century present a different mode of expression as the political and social circumstances of Arab countries are reflected in them. Paintings from this period by Arab artists presenting images of their cities such as those of Haddad and Jabbour (Beirut, Lebanese), Idrees (Jeddah, Saudi), Shammout (Alled, Palestinian), Talib and Al‐Attar (Baghdad, Iraqis), and Alhamzah (Utopia, Jordanian), are very expressive and loaded with meaning. It appears that the relationship between the artist and the city is so intimate, that the artist’s life intersects with the city’s life. The paintings discussed show that the Arab artists’ cities in most cases are not realized as hoped so they tried alternative ones. The artist sees her/himself as a savior by criticizing the state of the beloved city calling for a better one. In this sense the image of the city becomes a representation of the painter’s own artistic reservoir as a form of offerings.     

Jewish-Arab Relations in Iraq: From the British Occupation to the Mass Exodus (1917–51)

From the establishment of the Iraqi polity under King Faisal I in 1921 the Jews were anxious to integrate into Muslim Arab society and become an integral part of it. However, with the end of the British Mandate in 1932 the Jews' relations with Arab society took a turn for the worst, reaching its climax in the 1941 pogrom. The struggle to determine the fate of Palestine and later the establishment of the state of Israel created an unbearable situation, which ultimately pushed the Jews out of Iraq, during the early 1950s. This study analyzes Jewish–Arab relations during that period, focused mainly on the circumstances which led to this change – from an attempt to integrate to Arab policy of controlled oppression.     

Historicising Activism in Late Colonial and Post-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite Africa's reputation as a place of political repression and limited popular agency, activism and popular mobilisation have been central to political change in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The social and cultural identity of activists has been neglected by historians, who have commonly studied activism through imposed normative frameworks (e.g. class struggle or decolonisation) that have not always been central to the motivations of activists themselves. This article identifies and analyses specific phases of popular activism. Mass mobilisation was crucial to the success of anti-colonial nationalism, but did not commonly result in governments that addressed the aspirations or grievances of activists. From the 1970s, African governments became vulnerable to popular pressure, in the form of urban riots and uprisings, but attempts to establish more institutionalised pressure groups for change were not generally successful. The pro-democracy movements of the early 1990s again utilised mass mobilisation to achieve their aims, but the advent of multi-party democracy across the continent did not translate into meaningful popular reform. Since 2000, popular movements have expressed discontent with neo-liberal economic policies and authoritarian governments. The Arab Spring has inspired new waves of activism, but it remains unclear whether this will bring about significant political change across the continent. Two underlying linked themes will be analysed in the paper. Firstly, the interaction between local activism and broader ideological movements and influences (nationalism, socialism, religious belief, etc): to what extent have these ideological frameworks, commonly introduced by external agents, assisted or hampered in the development of discourses of resistance or activism? Secondly, African activists, in contrast to their western counterparts, have commonly operated in relationship to both local state and western or international elites, including colonial governments, multinational corporations and international donors. The paper will examine the extent to which these relationships have shaped the ideas and behaviour of African movements.     

论中东形势对俄罗斯的影响

俄罗斯对中东事态的基本态度是:同情阿拉伯国家反对派、支持国际制裁、反对西方军事干涉、主张政治解决。俄罗斯领导人在决策和表态时,注意维持同世界主要大国,首先是同西方大国和"金砖国家"的平衡,维持同阿拉伯国家和非洲国家的平衡,维持当事国当权派和在野派的平衡。在阿拉伯世界维持适度乱局,既有利于推高油气价格和刺激军火出口,改善俄罗斯国际收支状况;也有利于提升俄罗斯在西方心目中的地位,改善同西方关系。俄罗斯不存在强大的反对派,民众赞同现行发展方针,重稳定甚于重改革,主体民意反西方,不容易受"阿拉伯之春"的影响。     

The role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in light of repertoires

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in the context of collective level emotions in mobilizations. Emotions are understood as a catalyst whose mechanism of action is performed through repertories. This article seeks to answer how emotions, having a triggering role, are performed through repertoires while accelerating mobilization against authoritarian orders, creating the intersection of individual and collective level emotions in public spheres of Tunisia and Egypt, and thus affecting the transnational diffusion of emotions. The significant reason to address emotions is to explain what stimulated the Arab Spring and how it spread over the region starting from Tunisia and Egypt. This article synthesizes two literatures: International Relations (IR) and social movements studies in light of emotions and components of repertoires which are as follows: collective action, collective identity, symbolic politics, network society and information politics.     

The willingness to emigrate in six MENA countries: The role of post-revolutionary stress

This paper studies the determinants of emigration from six Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries in light of the Arab Spring of 2011. The aim is to determine if the economically unfortunate events which occurred as a result of the Arab Spring, resulted in a brain drain for many countries. The paper's analysis is conducted using the Arab Transformation Project dataset of the year 2014 by employing an ordered probit model. The paper's main conclusion is that sentiments of unhappiness appear to be the primary determinant of the willingness to emigrate. Other post-revolutionary feelings include lack of trust and political and democratic discontent, which highly encourage the willingness to emigrate. In addition, socio-economic factors, such as being young, male, and highly educated, contribute to the willingness to emigrate. However, married individuals are less likely to consider emigration.     

Post‐Authoritarian State Formation in Argentina: Transitional Justice as the Accumulation of Symbolic Power

Looking at the transitions to democracy in Latin America during the late 20^th century, a number of scholars observed that human rights and transitional justice had become the central legitimizing axis of the new, post‐authoritarian order. But the question of how human rights and transitional justice measures became such powerful sources of legitimacy in the first place was left unexplored. In this article I use Bourdieu's concept of symbolic capital along with Mara Loveman's explanation of the accumulation of this capital to explain how transitional justice came to function as a form of post‐authoritarian state formation in Argentina.     

The Representation of Arab America in Betty Shamieh’s Roar and The Black Eyed

Abstract

This article gives an analysis of Betty Shamieh’s Roar and The Black Eyed. In these plays, Shamieh presents Arab Americans as victims of Orientalism. She puts Arab Americans within the context of immigrants’ sagas in the United States in an attempt to give their experience validity and identification within larger ethnic experiences. Conversely, Arabs in the two plays are presented as victimizers and politically blamed. This confusion over the representation of the cultural and the political results mainly from Shamieh’s reluctance to offend the wide/white readership market, which is more interested in reading and watching the western stereotype of the Arab. Shamieh’s failure to stage a coherent positive picture of Arab America confirms that Arab Americans are still looking for artistic freedom and that literary censorship is still limiting their productions.     

Deciphering the modern Janus: societal multiplicity and nation-formation

ABSTRACT

How to theorize the nation’s Janus-like form, its simultaneous modernity and antiquity? This paper provides an original answer to this longstanding question. It argues that nations arise from the interaction of ‘societal multiplicity’ and the expansionist tendency of historical capitalism. The emergence of capitalism super-adds a modern inflection to the inherently relational process of collective identity formation by generating modern sovereignty as an abstract form of rule. Crucially however, just like its emergence, capitalism’s expansion also refracts through societal multiplicity. Non-capitalist societies are therefore pressured into ‘nationalist’ projects of emulative self-preservation in which the nation’s political form (i.e. the sovereign state) is forged before its sociological content (i.e. primitive accumulation). Thus, the original site of this process, France, produced the modular nation-form that unlike Britain’s imperial nationhood could be globalized. The paper therefore shows that IR’s premise of multiplicity may be the key to one of social sciences’ most enduring puzzles.     

什叶派集体认同与黎巴嫩民族国家构建

19世纪中叶以来,现代黎巴嫩民族国家逐渐形成。黎马龙派、逊尼派和德鲁兹派接受了以黎巴嫩为“永恒祖国”的原则,并将之作为构建黎巴嫩民族国家的基础。但黎什叶派传统的以封建家族首领为核心的教派认同,在经历了阿拉伯民族主义的挑战后,转变为以什叶派政治组织和民兵武装为基础的新什叶派教派认同。这种集体认同所具有的亲伊朗和叙利亚的属性,对构建黎巴嫩民族国家形成挑战。     

Totalitarian Paranoia in the Post-Orwellian Surveillance State

Most commentary on the Edward Snowden affair and other recent accounts of government spying leaked in the media has focused on individual privacy concerns, while overlooking how contemporary neoliberal modernity has created a social order in which new surveillance technologies grant the state a degree of power unthinkable to past generations – exceeding in reach and complexity even the totalitarian state imagined in Orwell's dystopian account, 1984. Any critical analysis of the modern surveillance state must move beyond documenting abuses of state power to address how government repression has been allowed to proceed unchecked, and even to flourish, through its support of an antidemocratic public pedagogy produced and circulated via a depoliticizing machinery of fear and consumption. In the USA, repression works through the homogenizing forces of the market as well as a corresponding loss of public memory and political identity to encourage the widespread embrace of an authoritarian surveillance culture. The state and corporate cultural apparatuses now collude to socialize everyone into a surveillance regime, even as personal information is willingly given over to social media and other corporate-based sites as people move across multiple screens and digital apparatuses. It is no longer possible to address the violations committed by the surveillance state without also analysing this broader regime of security and commodification. The authoritarian nature of the corporate–state surveillance apparatus in the USA can only be fully understood when its ubiquitous tentacles are connected to wider cultures of entertainment, commerce and punishment, and the increasing labelling of democratic dissent as an act of terrorism. If democracy is to have a future in America, then it is imperative to organize social movements capable of recovering public memory and reclaiming dissent as essential features of responsible citizenship.     

The Arab Spring and Revolutionary Theory: An Intervention in a Debate

The so-called Arab Spring of the 2010s that toppled six dictators has spurred productive debates about the character of these political happenings and their implications for revolutionary theory broadly. One such debate that appeared recently on the pages of Historical Sociology questions whether or not we are moving into a fifth-generation revolutionary theory. This essay is an attempt to partake in this conversation, not only because my work is under discussion but because I wish to engage with some of the key arguments in the debate to clarify some misunderstandings and suggest ways that the Arab Spring allows for a new thinking about revolution and revolutionary theory. Whether or not new perspectives have emerged may be contested, but there is surely a need for them.