Becoming Global (Un)Civil Society: Counter-Hegemonic Struggle and the Indymedia Network

In this article we ask how ‘civil society’ actors and organizations can become constructed and treated as ‘uncivil society’. We contest the notion that ‘uncivil’ necessarily equates with the dark qualities of violence and organized criminality. Instead, we take a Gramscian perspective in suggesting that what becomes ‘uncivil’ is any practice and organization that substantially contests the structuring enclosures of hegemonic order, of which civil society is a necessary part. To trace this, we consider ways in which a global grass-roots media network called Indymedia has established and maintained itself as a counter-hegemonic media-producing organization. In this case, a conscious positioning and self-identification as counter-hegemonic has been accompanied by the framing and sometimes violent policing of nodes and practices of this network as ‘uncivil’ by cooperating state authorities. This is in the absence of association of this network with organized violence or crime. We intend our reflections to contribute to a deepening theorization of the terms ‘civil’ and ‘uncivil’ as they are becoming used in social movement and globalization studies.

En este artículo preguntamos cómo pueden los actores de la ‘sociedad civil’ y las organizaciones llegar a configurarse y ser tratados como ‘sociedad incivil’. Nosotros refutamos la noción de que lo ‘incivil’ necesariamente equivale a las características oscuras de violencia y criminalidad organizada. En cambio, tomamos una perspectiva de Gramscian, sugiriendo que lo que se vuelve ‘incivil’ es cualquier práctica y organización que refuta sustancialmente los confinamientos estructurados del orden hegemónico, del cual la sociedad civil es una parte necesaria. Para rastrear esto, nosotros consideramos las formas en que una red de medios de base popular llamada Indymedia se ha establecido y mantenido a sí misma como una organización contrahegemónica de producción de medios. En este caso, un posicionamiento consciente y de autoidentificación como contrahegemónica, ha sido acompañado por la configuración y a veces por vigilancia violenta de nodos y prácticas de esta red como ‘incivil’ al cooperar con las autoridades estatales. Esto es en ausencia de una asociación de esta red con la violencia o la delincuencia. Nosotros pretendemos que nuestras reflexiones contribuyan a profundizar la teorización de los términos ‘civil’ e ‘incivil’ en la medida en que se están usando en los estudios sobre movimientos sociales y globalización.

在本文中我们设问“公民社会”的行为者和组织如何被建构并被视作一个“非公民社会”。本文对“非公民”必然等同于暴力和有组织犯罪的黑暗性质这一概念提出质疑。本文取而代之采用一种葛兰西式的分析,即认为造成“非公民”的是本质上挑战霸权秩序（公民社会是其必要部分）的任何行动或组织。为了求证,我们考察一家叫“独立媒体”的全球草根媒体网络确立并维护其作为一个反霸权媒体生产组织的方式。其中,伴随着一种反霸权的刻意定位和自我认同的,是与之合作的国家当局形塑甚至有时狂暴地管束这一网络的节点和实践,视其为“非公民”。这表明该网络和有组织暴力或犯罪之间缺乏关联。本文意在当“公民的”及“非公民的”概念被用于社会运动和全球化研究时,使我们的反思在能有助于加深这两个术语的理论化。     

Present in the World Economy: Québec's Students in the Springtime

Abstract

On February 13th, 2012, a coalition of student federations in Québec called for an unlimited general strike against government plans to increase university tuition fees by 75% over 5 years. Charged by a sense of themselves as actors on a global stage, social forces in Québec made common cause of their struggle – precipitating what grew into the most significant season of social protest in Québec's modern history. Fearing the ghost of global crowds, governments reacted with impolitic intransigence, leaving themselves exposed and with no other recourse but to reach out of the encounter and call a general election.

The printemps québécois is an event that took place in its own time and fashion, in the context of a world-wide wave of protest against neo-liberal world order. Looking into it, we are offered an opportunity to think more generally about the possibilities of resistance to neo-liberal disciplining.

En febrero 13 de 2012, una coalición de federaciones de estudiantes de Quebec, convocó a una huelga general ilimitada contra los planes del gobierno de subir las matrículas universitarias en un 75% durante 5 años. Las fuerzas sociales en Quebec hicieron de su lucha una causa común – sintiéndose ellos mismos como actores en una escena global, precipitando lo que se convirtió en una de las temporadas más significativas de protesta social en la historia moderna de Quebec. Temiendo por el fantasma de las multitudes globales, los gobiernos reaccionaron con una intransigencia impolítica, exponiéndose y sin otro recurso que mantenerse fuera del encuentro y convocando una elección general. La primavera de Quebec es un evento que tuvo lugar en su propio momento y estilo, en el contexto de una ola de protesta mundial contra el orden del mundo neoliberal. Analizándolo, se nos ha ofrecido la oportunidad de pensar más generalmente sobre las posibilidades de resistencia a la disciplina neoliberal.

2012年2月13日,魁北克学生联合会的一个同盟呼吁无期限大罢工,反对政府计划在未来5年让大学学费增加75%的计划。以全球舞台上的行动者自据,魁北克的社会力量集体斗争——引来了在魁北克现当代历史上最有意义的社会抗议季节。 由于担心示威扩大到全球,政府做出不让步的反应,使得魁北克的社会力量别无选择只得放下工作并号召大罢工。Printempsquébécois指的是在世界范围的抗议新自由主义世界秩序浪潮中发生的一个事件。 通过考察这一事件,我们提供了一个更进一步地思考抵制新自由主义统治的可能性的机会。.

?? 13 ??????/???? 2012? ??? ?????? ????????? ???????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ????? 75 ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?????. ??? ??? ????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???? ?????????? ?????????? ?? ????? ????? ??????. ??? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ???????? ??????? ??? ???????? ????. ????? “???? ?????” ????? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????????? ??? ?????? ???????????? ?? ??????. ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????? ????????????.

2012? 2? 13? ?? ??????? ?? 5? ?? ?? ???? 75% ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?????. ??? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??? ?????. ??? ????? ???? ??????, ??? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ???, ??? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ?????. ??? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ? ???? ??? ???? ? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????. ??? ?? ??? ??? ??, ??? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? ? ? ????? ??? ? ?? ??? ?? ??.

13 февраля 2012 коалиция студенческих федераций в Квебеке призвала к неограниченной всеобщей забастовке против правительственных планов увеличить плату за обучение в университетах на 75% в течение 5 лет. Ощущая себя актерами на глобальной арене, социальные силы в Квебеке действовали сообща в их борьбе – осаждение, что превратилось в самый существенный сезон социального протеста в современной истории Квебека. Опасаясь призрака глобальной толпы, правительства реагировали с нецелесообразной непримиримостью, оставляя себя незащищенными и без другого выхода, кроме как выйти из столкновения и назначить всеобщие выборы. Кленовая весна Квебека, в контексте всемирной волны протеста против неолиберального мирового порядка, является событием своего времени и моды. Изучая его, предоставляется возможность думать больше и шире о возможностях сопротивления неолиберальной дисциплине.     

Talks on tracks - debating urban infrastructure projects ∗

This paper retraces and analyzes the debate around a major infrastructure project in central Stockholm, the construction of a third railroad track over the islet of Riddarholm. Using the analytical framework of the New Rhetoric (Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, 1958), it shows that the debate is not only a matter of diverging views about the necessity or the impact of the project but, as well, a matter of epistemology. Whereas both sides tend to refer to similar values and make use of matching rhetorical devices, they differ quite radically as to which knowledge they regard as valid and as to how they have organized their approach to the debate. Demonstration faces argumentation, the New Rhetoric suggests, as its contribution to our understanding of the genesis of urban projects.     

Are organizations bicycles? On hosophobia and neo‐gnosticism in organizational thought

Organization has a very complex relationship with contamination in the sense that they both need and fear it. We define this ambivalent or paradoxical characteristic of organization as hosophobic and argue that some forms of contamination are deemed to be dangerous whereas other forms, most notably the contamination of people, are considered as more than welcome. Using some philosophical sources (Deleuze, Sloterdijk, pataphysics, neognosis), we explore the organizational ambivalence towards contamination and ask whether other, new, unexpected forms of contamination are imaginable in organizations. We claim that the hosophobic nature of organizations should be understood within the broader context of a cultural ambivalence in our society towards dirt, hygiene, infection, and immunity.     

Spatial Distribution of Knowledge-Intensive Industries in Hungary

Knowledge-intensive industries have attracted a great attention nowadays in researches because of its contribution to the development of knowledge-driven economy. They generate positive effects on the regional economy and have increasingly high importance in less developed regions, like Hungary. The identification of spatial distribution, the geographical co-location of knowledge-intensive economic activities is substantial to define potential leading industrial branches in regions. This paper aims to identify the spatial coherence and concentration of knowledge-intensive industries nationwide in Hungary at subregional level, and presents results using Ellison-Glaeser geographic concentration index and the measure of spatial autocorrelation with Moran index.     

Parent Involvement Practices in Child Protection: A Matter of Know-How and Attitude

Modern view of child protection services implies that to help young people, simply intervening on their behalf is not sufficient. It suggests that involving parents in the assistance process is essential in order to ensure that they are most likely to play their role as parents to their children in the fullest possible way. Although several articles have dealt with the issue of parent involvement, very few have attempted to document the practices used by practitioners to encourage such involvement. This article presents the findings of a study on child protection practices for involving parents in a child protection context. It is exploratory in nature, and uses a qualitative methodology. The study population is made up of 38 child protection service workers. An analysis of the practitioners’ discourse reveals that the behaviour and attitudes used by them to encourage parent involvement are very diverse. There also appear to be key moments in securing their involvement, that is, making contact, setting objectives and means of action, and applying the case plan. In addition to corroborating earlier studies on the issue of parent involvement, our findings indicate that the majority of the caseworkers interviewed practice an approach that aims to empower clients.Funding of this project was provided by le Fonds Richelieu de recherche sur l’enfance.Marie-Christine Saint-Jacques, Geneviève Lessard, and André Beaudoin are affiliated with School of Social Work, Laval University, Quebec, Canada. Sylvie Drapeau is affiliated with Department of Foundations and Practices in Education, Laval University, Quebec, Canada.     

Generalized externality games

Externality games are studied in Grafe et al. (1998, Math. Methods Op. Res. 48, 71). We define a generalization of this class of games and show, using the methodology in Izquierdo and Rafels (1996, 2001, Working paper, Univ Barcelona; Games Econ. Behav. 36, 174), some properties of the new class of generalized externality games. They include, among others, the algebraic structure of the game, convexity, and their implications for the study of cooperative solutions. Also the proportional rule is characterized for this class of games.     

Regression Analysis of Multivariate Fractional Data

The present article discusses alternative regression models and estimation methods for dealing with multivariate fractional response variables. Both conditional mean models, estimable by quasi-maximum likelihood, and fully parametric models (Dirichlet and Dirichlet-multinomial), estimable by maximum likelihood, are considered. A new parameterization is proposed for the parametric models, which accommodates the most common specifications for the conditional mean (e.g., multinomial logit, nested logit, random parameters logit, dogit). The text also discusses at some length the specification analysis of fractional regression models, proposing several tests that can be performed through artificial regressions. Finally, an extensive Monte Carlo study evaluates the finite sample properties of most of the estimators and tests considered.