Deliberative democracy and the politics of traditional leadership in South Africa: A case of despotic domination or democratic deliberation?

A heated debate developed in South Africa as to the meaning of ‘deliberative democracy’. This debate is fanned by the claims of ‘traditional leaders’ that their ways of village-level deliberation and consensus-oriented decision-making are not only a superior process for the African continent as it evolves from pre-colonial tradition, but that it represents a form of democracy that is more authentic than the Western version. Proponents suggest that traditional ways of deliberation are making a come-back because imported Western models of democracy that focus on the state and state institutions miss the fact that in African societies state institutions are often seen as illegitimate or simply absent from people's daily lives. In other words, traditional leadership structures are more appropriate to African contexts than their Western rivals. Critics suggest that traditional leaders, far from being authentic democrats, are power-hungry patriarchs and authoritarians attempting to both re-invent their political, social and economic power (frequently acquired under colonial and apartheid rule) and re-assert their control over local-level resources at the expense of the larger community. In this view, the concept of deliberative democracy is being misused as a legitimating device for a politics of patriarchy and hierarchy, which is the opposite of the meaning of the term in the European and US sense. This article attempts to contextualise this debate and show how the efforts by traditional leaders to capture an intermediary position between rural populations and the state is fraught with conflicts and contradictions when it comes to forming a democratic state and society in post-apartheid South Africa.     

Second chamber, ‘congress of ambassadors’ or federal presidency. Parliamentary and non-parliamentary aspects in the European Council's rules of procedure

The development of the European Union (EU) regime, with the frequent changes of institutions and their competencies by treaty revisions, allows for new opportunities for parliamentary studies. This article discusses the role and competencies of the European Council (EC) in the EU regime, using the heuristic and methodological resources of procedural commentaries, parliamentary rhetoric, conceptual history and political regime analysis. This study is a textual analysis, based on the 2009 Lisbon Treaty and especially on the EC's rules of procedure. The Lisbon Treaty and the respective rules of procedure serve as key documents that fix the rules, the framework and the margin of manoeuvre for the EU's institutions. This is particularly relevant in the European Union as a ‘polity in the making’, as continuous changes in institutional competencies are the rule. These changes both leave room for and are shaped by acting politically between and within the institutions. Taking Quentin Skinner's thesis that ‘political life itself sets the problems for the political theorist’ as a point of departure, it is suggested that these ongoing challenges in power relationships between the EU institutions also lead to interesting theoretical and conceptual moves. From this perspective the authors discuss possibilities to extend the conceptual apparatus of parliamentary studies to such quasi-parliamentary institutions focusing especially on the EC.     

Politically Alienated Through Low‐Wage Work? Evidence from Panel Data

Does low‐wage work lead to political alienation? Even though low‐wage sectors have grown in the advanced industrialized world, empirical evidence so far is sparse. This paper uses household panel data to investigate the effect of low‐wage work spells on political alienation. We argue that repeated low‐wage work spells lead to preference divergence between a low‐income and the median‐income earner, leading to withdrawal from democratic politics among low‐wage earners. Using Swiss household panel data and fixed‐effects regressions, we show that the accumulation of low‐wage work spells decreases systemic trust. In a second step, we demonstrate that an interaction of eroding systemic trust with low‐wage work is associated with increased individual abstention probabilities. These results highlight the threat of a systematic under‐representation of low‐wage workers in the political sphere.     

How important is participatory constitution-making? Lessons from Timor-Leste and Bougainville

How can fragmented or divided post-conflict societies best be accommodated and adjust to state structures in order to achieve sustainable peace? Reflecting on the contrary experiences of Timor-Leste and Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, this article argues the answer to this question rests partly on the role that participatory constitution-making can play in state-building, nation-building and peace-building. Constitution-making can play a central role in state-building, because constitutions provide the operating system that establishes state institutions and regulates state power. It can also play a nation-building role by defining the political bond between the people, and a peace-building role by encouraging reconciliation and embedding state institutions in society. This article draws on liberal political theory to argue that public participation in constitution-making can enhance the likelihood that the constitution produces legitimate and effective state institutions, generates a unifying sense of national identity and establishes sustainable peace. It finds that extensive public participation in Bougainville played a positive role by creating a sense of common identity, reconciling many of the most severe societal divisions and creating institutions that are relatively legitimate and effective. In contrast, minimal public participation in Timor-Leste meant that the constitution-making process did not play a positive role; it did not create a unifying national identity, left certain societal divisions unreconciled and exacerbated others, and created institutions that were largely illegitimate and ineffective.     

The crisis of governance in New Subsistence States

In the sixty years since the establishment of the United Nations on 24^th October 1945, societies across the world have endeavoured to reshape themselves in accordance with the model of the modern state. Whereas the institutions of the modern state have proved appropriate for societies with historical experience of the production and administration of large surpluses, the adoption of state institutions presents an ongoing challenge for many other societies. Only a minority of states operate free from foreign aid, and weak states composed of stateless societies with minimal surplus generation capacity continue to face particular difficulties as they seek to adapt to the modern state system. Like other New Subsistence States, East Timor possesses grass-roots administrative capacities grounded in its village social structures. Short of the skills and resources necessary to support its formal justice system, East Timor has the option to formally integrate elements of its traditional mediation and conflict resolution capacities into the structure of the state.     

The Plants of Empire: Botanic Gardens,Colonial Power and Botanical Knowledge

In this article, the multifaceted relationship between colonial power and scientific knowledge is analysed. The specific focus is on untangling the contested and symbiotic connections between colonialism and the emergence and consolidation of aspects of botanical science. Colonial imperatives and the social consequences of colonial rule in India constituted the context for the idea and project of botanical gardens that facilitated the global transfer of a variety of plants to India. It was in the process of dealing with the problems of the transfer of plants across very diverse ecological and social contexts that natural history was eventually transformed into formal botanical science both in India and in Europe. Particular forms of scientific knowledge and institutions were indispensable for the consolidation of empire even as they facilitated new imperial concerns and projects that constituted the structural context for the development of new forms of scientific knowledge, practices, institutions and power. Without reducing science to nothing more than an appendage of colonial power and imperatives, the significance of empire in the rise of botany as a formal science is analysed in this article.     

The interplay between formal and informal institutions in Turkey: the case of the Fethullah Gülen community

Supporters of the Fethullah Gülen community, an informal institution with an influential role in Turkish political life, have formed an international chain of schools and student dormitories, and a communications web that includes newspapers, journals, television and radio channels, as well as other companies and finance institutions. Although the community has no formal structure, its followers have established these formal institutions to integrate it into formal systems like education and the economy. This paper focuses on the community's educational organizations to argue that, since the community has preferred to pursue its goals within Turkey's existing formal framework, rather than by challenging it or breaking its rules, it can be defined as an accommodating informal institution rather than complementary, competing or substitutive.     

东亚经济地区主义的终结?——制度过剩与经济整合的困境

冷战结束以来,东亚的经济地区主义虽然取得了一些进展,但至今仍然没有发展出一个成熟稳定的区域制度框架来推动区域经济进行深度整合。该地区多重制度框架相互竞争,造成了一种"制度过剩"的特殊格局。这导致东亚地区在经济整合的过程中,缺乏有力的制度推动和有效的区域治理,具体表现为该地区至今仍难以建立有助于提高经济绩效的经济要素完全自由流动的统一经济区;难以采取集体行动,共同应对来自外部的各种经济风险和冲击。本文认为,东亚地区多重制度竞争的背后,是由于与该区域相关的主要行为体对塑造东亚经济秩序有着不同的利益偏好和战略诉求,他们各自极力推动对自身有利的区域机制,从而形成"制度过剩"。主要行为体在东亚的主导权竞争以区域制度竞争的形式展开。随着金融危机之后中国经济的加速崛起以及美国决心重返东亚,东亚经济整合中制衡与反制衡的矛盾将日益突出,从而带来更加激烈的制度竞争,这是东亚经济地区主义遭遇挫折而非取得成功的标志,东亚地区将因此继续沦为经济全球化进程中的"碎片"。     

日本非婚生子女的法律保护

日本非婚生子女法律保护制度完善而具体,历史上曾具有重要的进步意义。但二战后其相关制度发展缓慢,许多规定已明显不符合国际亲子法的发展趋势。为全面了解日本非婚生子女的法律保护制度,需要从非婚生子女的确认规则及其权益保护规则两方面全面解读日本相关法律,并深入分析其存在的理论基础及面临的现实问题。对这一问题的研究,将有助于解决中日民间交往中可能出现的子女婚生或非婚生地位的争端。     

Élites in Omsk

A French sociologist provides a detailed analysis of the politics, economics, and political elite of Omsk oblast' in Western Siberia. Analysis covers oil politics, reactions to the August 1998 financial crisis, relations with Moscow, the role of entrepreneurs in politics, and the communist and nationalist oppositions. Focus is on the role of the governor and his relations with diverse political forces. The article also examines the gap between formal institutions and actual social and political practices.     

Book Reviews

The increase of multiculturalism in European societies poses challenges to citizenship education, which, in formal education, relies on national values and neglects the emergence of cosmopolitanism. This article compares the patriotic and cosmopolitan values of Russian-speaking students in Estonia, Latvia and the Russian Federation using the data of two large surveys. The analysis revealed that Russian-speaking adolescents in Estonia and Latvia demonstrate higher support of cosmopolitan values than the Estonians, Latvians, and students in the Russian Federation. A worrisome finding is that students in the cosmopolitan cluster do not firmly favor democratic values and are not interested in improving their civic knowledge.     

Influencing votes,winning elections: clientelist practices and private funding of electoral campaigns in Albania

ABSTRACT

The present article is part of a broader effort to understand and analyse the relationship between formal and informal norms and institutions in the Balkans. Free and fair elections are a central component of any functioning democracy and, in the case of Albania, an essential element of its EU accession process. Elections can also be affected by political clientelism, which puts their outcomes’ credibility into question. Political clientelism is a principal sector of informal relations and practices and informal and/or illegal funding of electoral campaigns are identified as its key mechanisms. This article addresses a number of issues related to clientelist practices and private funding of electoral campaigns, focusing on the general parliamentary elections of June 2017. The main research question investigates the ways in which private funding of electoral campaigns works in practice. Based on data gathered through ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, reports on the electoral process, and other secondary sources, we argue that informal clientelist practices permeating private funding of electoral campaigns enable political parties to further and strengthen clientelist relations and to influence the electoral result.     

New Security Dimensions in the Asia–Pacific

The rise of China provides a major challenge to the United States, the undisputed hegemon in the Asia-Pacific region since the second world war. This development provides regional states with an opportunity to shape the regional security architecture by adopting an inclusive approach to China. The role of the Association of Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) tends to be under-estimated by Western scholars who often see the European model as the only approach to regional integration. This paper discusses the significant achievements of ASEAN in serving as a catalyst for the establishment of regional institutions. Such institutions could serve as instruments for the management of China's relations with Japan and India. It is contended that the emergence of Asian powers, especially China, will result in a challenge to the Washington Consensus of Western norms and values focusing on individual rights which have governed international institutions. The rise of China is likely to see the application of a Beijing Consensus emphasising the balance between individual rights and social obligations, which would resonate positively in the region. In the twenty-first century, global institutions will need to reflect the norms, values and practices of global society and not just Atlantic perspectives.     

Contemporary functions of ilobolo (bridewealth) in urban South African Zulu society

The functions and meanings of bridewealth in African societies have been analysed extensively in anthropological and historical studies. Although bridewealth remains widely practised in Southern Africa, few studies have examined the custom in a contemporary context. This paper addresses the paucity of research by focusing on South African Zulu society where, among all cultural traditions, the payment of bridewealth (ilobolo) continues to be one of the most salient. On the basis of recent qualitative research data collected in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we argue that ilobolo practices among urban Zulu people are multifaceted and its contemporary functions debated and contested. However, there is also broad consensus about the obligation to uphold the custom based on a complex web of cultural and spiritual motives, socio-economic considerations and collectivist identity politics.     

Political steering: how the EU employs power in its neighbourhood policy towards Morocco

Although the European Union’s engagement beyond its borders is ultimately about power, the concept remains under-utilized in empirical analyses of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). This article therefore proposes political steering as an analytical framework to conceptualize and track the empirical use and entanglements of diverse forms of power, highlighting genuine soft mechanisms. These bind actors to discursive practices because formalized sanctions or institutions are absent. This case study of the EU’s human rights and rule-of-law promotion in Morocco reveals how such soft mechanisms are intertwined with indirect steering mechanisms to achieve technicalization of policy reform at the governmental level and parallel politicization at the societal level.     

Pre-colonial centralisation,traditional indirect rule,and state capacity in Africa

What explains contemporary variation in state capacity across African states? Recent research has focused on the possible role played by colonial and pre-colonial institutions. This paper investigates the way in which colonial and pre-colonial institutions interacted to affect the public legitimacy and coercive capacity of African states on independence. A coherent configuration of historical institutions, pre-colonial centralisation combined with colonial indirect rule through traditionally legitimate rulers, contrasts with the incoherent and comparatively illegitimate configurations of pre-colonial decentralisation with traditional rule and pre-colonial centralisation with colonial non-traditional or direct rule. The paper tests the theoretical expectations in a historical instrumental-variables framework.     

Gorbachev's Wage Reform

The wage reform, an aspect of perestroyka, is described as it affects industry, and changes in the wage system are outlined. To stimulate better work, wages are being raised and differentials increased; to induce economies in labor, wage increases are to be financed from the enterprise's income. Self-financing and implementation of the reform to date are addressed as well, as are inconsistencies between the wage reform rules on self-financing and those of the Law on the State Enterprise. Finally, problems such as enterprise footdragging and unemployment and prospects for continued reform, inflationary pressure, and worker morale are considered. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 124, 824.     

Value-oriented public management in vulnerable societies: assessing the impact of Public Value Management practices in three Caribbean countries

Innovative public management practices can greatly benefit citizens, but often fail due to a mismatch with the societal context. Public Value Management was developed in North America and Western Europe, emphasising public leadership, stakeholder involvement, and information sharing. This article examines whether these practices advocated in resilient societies which are large, egalitarian, and high trust also work in vulnerable societies which are small, hierarchical, and low trust. The article compares management practices at 16 public utilities in 3 Caribbean societies, concluding that Public Value Management can improve outcomes when applied comprehensively. Partial implementation, however, leads to worse outcomes instead.     

Medical Practice in Early Colonial Spanish America: A Prospectus

This paper outlines the current state of research on medical practice in early colonial Spanish America. It argues that medical practice in Spain was more diverse than generally supposed, and that this complicated the exchange that occurred between Native American, African and European medical traditions in the Americas. Control of medical practice in Spanish America was exercised not through the establishment of state institutions, but through the close working of the state and the Church that on the one hand promoted medical care as a charitable activity and on the other sought to suppress practices that were incompatible with Catholic beliefs. However, due to the shortage of trained medical practitioners, the authorities were relatively tolerant of alternative medical practices and this enabled a process of exchange and fusion. The paper illustrates these processes with respect to medical practice in Cartagena de Indias in the early seventeenth century. It concludes with suggestions of avenues for future research.     

Consociationalism and Centripetalism: Friends or Foes?

Two schools dominate the literature on democracy in divided societies: consociationalism and centripetalism. The first advocates group representation and power sharing while the second recommends institutions that promote multi‐ethnic parties. Although often presented as mutually exclusive choices, in reality many new democracies display a mix. Drawing on the experiences of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Fiji, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Northern Ireland, this article examines the empirical and theoretical relationship between centripetalism and consociationalism. The aim is to explore the conditions under which they reinforce each other (friends) or work at cross‐purposes (foes). A better understanding of the interaction between consociational and centripetal elements in post‐conflict societies not only yields a more nuanced picture of institutional dynamics, but also holds lessons for institutional design.