Convergence as political strategy: social justice movements,natural resources and climate change

Abstract

Critical scholars and activists have now been contending with a widely recognised convergence of global crises for a decade. The issues have intersected decisively, with staple food sources proving inaccessible for the world’s poor, banks foreclosing on the most vulnerable, fuel sources causing war and impacting migration, and climate change-related instabilities shaking low-income communities to their core. At the same time, agrarian, environmental, indigenous and fishers’ movements – among others – have used this moment to converge in their own right. This article explores this intertwining of social justice movements with an eye on such interrelated challenges. Its overall objective is, on one side, to provide some broad empirical brushstrokes on the intertwining of transnational social justice movements at the local, national and regional scales as they work with and trade frameworks of food sovereignty and climate justice. On the flip side, this article offers a set of tools to analyse and understand the politics of convergence as political strategy – as a means of advancing global social justice – against the rising tide of climate-related resource grabs.     

Russian NGOs and Their Struggle for Legitimacy in the Face of the ‘Foreign Agents’ Law: Surviving in Small Ecologies

Abstract

The essay investigates the survival strategies of foreign-funded Russian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the face of the so-called ‘foreign agents’ law of 2012. Conceptualising NGOs as autonomous social systems and drawing on two qualitative case studies of Russian NGOs in the fields of human rights protection, we show how these organisations manage to cope with the state’s withdrawal of legitimacy by creatively handling their diverse environmental dependencies. Through shifting the relative importance of different audiences and generating new sources of legitimacy, they have eventually created and maintained small supportive ecologies within the overall environment of a political regime that does not tolerate them.     

The legitimacy of Dutch do-it-yourself initiatives in Kwale County,Kenya

Abstract

Established development organisations face a long-standing legitimacy crisis for not living up to the expectations once set. Meanwhile, thousands of small-scale, voluntary development organisations – referred to as Private Development Initiatives (PDIs) – have joined the field of international development. In this article, I examine the legitimacy of their acts from a local government perspective based on an analysis of four dimensions of legitimacy: regulatory, pragmatic, normative and cognitive legitimacy. The study took place in May 2017 in the Kenyan coastal county of Kwale. A range of government officials were interviewed on how they perceive the interventions of international development organisations in general, and Dutch PDIs in particular, and on their cooperation with these development actors. The study shows that, although many of these PDIs operate in areas that fall under the responsibility of the local government, most of them have a rather limited cooperation with the local government, putting their legitimacy in the eyes of local government officials at stake.     

Don’t reinvent the wheel: possibilities for and limits to building capacity of grassroots international NGOs

Abstract

How can support organisations build the capacity of volunteer-driven non-governmental organisations (NGOs)? Citizen aid for relief and development has expanded rapidly in the twenty-first century, and the number of American aid organisations operating in the Global South has grown to nearly 10,000. These grassroots international NGOs – GINGOs – are small-budget, volunteer-driven organisations typically launched by Americans without professional experience in international development or nonprofit management. These groups prize the expressive and voluntaristic dimensions of development work, yet face challenges of amateurism, material scarcity, fragmentation, paternalism and restricted focus. We investigate whether support organisations, whose primary goals are to build the capacity of organisations and strengthen the organisational field, offer solutions to GINGOs’ inherent weaknesses. We draw on 15 semi-structured interviews with a stratified selection of support organisations, including associations tailored towards international development and towards nonprofit work at large. We find that support organisations offer resources to help GINGOs in managerial and administrative domains. Fewer support organisations help GINGOs build technical development skills, and fewer still push GINGOs to critically reflect on their role in development. We find that peer learning and online platforms could help engage GINGOs volunteers in networking spaces, even as their geographic dispersal in the US encourages their fragmentation and isolation.     

Fighting for the right to play: women’s football and regime-loyal resistance in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the scholarship on women and social change in Saudi Arabia through the case of female football players in Riyadh. Officially, there has been no women’s football in the kingdom, but beneath the surface women have been playing for more than a decade. The women are actively promoting and engaging in change and women’s opportunities to practise sport by building organisations, creating awareness, and negotiating norms and regulations. They are not in opposition to the regime, but supportive of reforms in favour of increased rights for women, while seeing conservative elements in the society as their opponents and the royal family as their allies. They are thus engaging in what O’Brian and Li termed ‘rightful resistance’, by deploying the language of the rulers to express their perspectives and aims, and are engaged in a three-party game with the rulers and conservatives, where divisions within the state and elite allies matter greatly.     

Reluctant terrorists? Transcaucasian social-cemocracy, 1901 – 1909

This article discusses the development of Transcaucasian social-democratic terrorism from 1901 to 1909. For two reasons the ‘psychohistorical’ model emphasising the subjective and irrational aspects of terrorism has only limited value for the Transcaucasian case. First, the significance of the contextual factor is powerfully underscored by the phenomenon of workers' ‘economic terrorism’. It was not uncommon even, for workers to blackmail reluctant party organisations into supporting the killing of their enemies. Secondly, the social democrats were not driven by irrational urges but followed a rationally motivated and selective terrorist strategy. They attempted to limit or prevent workers' terrorism from below, the ‘anarchist’ potential of which they considered a threat to the organised mass struggle. They set their hopes on a division of labour, with a militant but mostly peaceful workers' movement and terrorism as the prerogative of the party.     

Bush/revolution: theses on the challenges that gatherers and hunters pose to dominant structures

Abstract

This article argues that bush people deserve greater attention in revolutionary thought and action, both for the strategic value of their struggles against extraction at capital’s periphery and the emancipatory social values they continue to embody. But bush struggles cannot be borrowed for other purposes: the agenda of bush people for respect and cultural survival must respected in its own right.     

From global workers to local entrepreneurs: Sri Lanka’s former global factory workers in rural Sri Lanka

Abstract

Working in Sri Lanka’s urban free trade zones (FTZs) introduces Sri Lanka’s rural women to neoliberal ways of fashioning selves, which subsequently not only shape village entrepreneurial activities but also initiate negotiations in kinship, marriage, domestic arrangements, and community relations. The knowledges and networks that they develop while at the FTZ allow former workers to connect with global production networks as subcontractors, making them part of the cascading system of subcontracting that furthers the precarity of regular FTZ work. This article explores how these former workers manipulate varied forms of capital – social, cultural and monetary – to become local entrepreneurs and community leaders, while simultaneously initiating changes in rural social hierarchies and gender norms. When neoliberal economic restructuring manifests within local contexts it results in new articulations of what it is to be an entrepreneur and what it is to be a worthy, young, married woman. Overall, the paper sheds light on the fragmented and uneven manner in which neoliberal ethos take root in rural South Asia.     

Conceptualising technical change in the third world in the 1980s: An interpretive survey

Abstract

The third wave of democratisation has been accompanied by the spread of new institutions that allow citizens to directly participate in shaping policy outcomes. Leading international organisations, such as the World Bank and UN Habitat, have disseminated ‘best practice’ programmes identified with ‘good government’ policy reform efforts. One of the best known programmes, participatory budgeting (PB), was first adopted by an entrepreneurial government in 1989 as a means to promote social justice, accountability, and transparency. Yet, when these programmes are copied by policy advocates and pro forma adopters, the political pay-offs for government officials are smaller, which leads them to provide weaker support for the adopted policy. This article demonstrates that policy entrepreneurs are more likely to provide greater resources and support to innovative policies than their policy advocates and pro forma adopter counterparts due to the types of political payoffs available to them. The article concludes by considering when it might be most appropriate for international funding agencies and nongovernmental organisations to promote best practice policies.     

Culture and revolution: Bakhtin,Mayakovsky and Lenin (disalienation as [social] creativity)

Abstract

The article shows the dialectic of the relationship of revolution and culture as two sides of creativity - social and art. In a dialogue with the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin, the authors reveal culture as the removal of alienation (disalienation) in the process of subject-subjective dialogue, in which a qualitatively new reality is created – Truth, Beauty, Good, a new person is born - a man-creator, and as such, culture is revolutionary. The second side of this connection - the revolution as a culture - is revealed by the authors on the example of the social creativity of revolutionary Russia, the poet of which was Vladimir Mayakovsky. The article gives a panorama of the historical practices of art and social creativity of the 1920s. The authors show that the counterpoint to these practices was the relationship of conformism, bureaucracy and other forms of social alienation which led the Soviet project to the dead end. The authors conclude that disalienation in the social and cultural spheres is possible only to the extent that the sociopolitical revolutionary changes are carried out in unity with the liberation of the cultural potential of the masses, and art creativity is interfaced (united) with social creativity.     

Russian Non-Profit Organisations in Service Delivery: Neoliberal and Statist Social Policy Principles Intertwined

Abstract

The essay examines the social policy principles underlying state funding schemes that shape the functioning of non-profit organisations in service delivery in Russia. Scrutinising federal and regional financial tools, the analysis reveals that some non-profit organisations are engaged with a neoliberal logic promoting state funding based on competitive grant processes and a means-tested approach to clients, while others seek privileged access to state resources to secure a statist and stratified service provision for their members. The essay argues that neoliberal principles are extended through contracting-out and are undermining statist practices; however, a situation is emerging within competitive outsourcing procedures in which selected organisations are still receiving privileged treatment from the state.     

Social Entrepreneurs and Social Inclusion: Building Local Capacity or Delivering National Priorities?

Abstract

Western governments have increasingly sought to tap the potential of the voluntary and community sectors in delivering neighborhood-based initiatives to combat social exclusion. The particular attributes claimed for the ‘third sector’ include closeness to the community and a capacity for flexibility and innovation. In-depth evaluation of the UK’s Neighbourhood Support Fund, a ‘flagship’ program designed to combat the social exclusion of disaffected young people living in deprived inner urban areas, demonstrates that to operate successfully in the current policy environment, community-based projects not only need these skills but must also acquire managerial capacity. In particular they have to be able meet the increasing demand from central government for detailed performance data. Successful community based projects therefore not only need to have the capacity for entrepreneurial activity but must now also have managerial skills not traditionally associated with the ‘not for profit’ organisations.     

Local Politics Online: The Influence of Presumed Influence on Local Politicians’ Online Communication Activities in Germany

Abstract

How extensively local politicians use online media to communicate with others and the factors that influence their online activities have rarely been examined. In particular, it is unknown whether local politicians use online media more extensively when they believe that online media has a strong political influence on others. To examine this, a standardised survey among German local politicians was conducted (n = 608). The results showed the following: The stronger the politicians perceive the influence of facebook and Twitter on journalists to be, the more extensively they spread information via these social media networks. However, the presumed influences on the public or on other politicians do not affect those online activities. Thus, local politicians apparently do not pursue a disintermediation strategy – they do not try to bypass journalism by directly addressing the public. Rather, journalists seem to be an important target group for local politicians’ online communication efforts.     

Being here and there: migrant communities in Sweden and the conflicts in the Horn of Africa

Abstract

The largest migrant communities in Sweden come from Africa's most troubled region, the Horn. These are the Somali and Ethiop-Eritrean communities. This paper examines the not-so-obvious ways in which Ethiop-Eritrean and Somali communities in Sweden influence the political developments, particularly the conflicts at ‘home’. Many of these immigrants living in Sweden keep up with social and political developments in their countries of origin almost on daily basis and remain engaged, to a large extent, in the affairs of both their families and communities ‘out there’ while they ‘are here in Sweden’. This article therefore focuses on the particular forms of engagement that have either intended or unintended impact on the intractable conflicts in which the societies in these countries are engaged. I argue that ‘nostalgia underpins the immigrants’ sense of commitment to the affairs of their countries of origin, and therefore, providing moral and material support to warring groups derives the impetus largely from the affective dimension of migration.     

At the Borderlands of Informal Practices of the State: Negotiability,Porosity and Exceptionality

Abstract

Using local land registration practices in four ‘gray’ settlements in South Africa, I demonstrate a host of local state practices. These can be seen as falling into one of three typologies – negotiability, porosity, and exceptionality – and demonstrate the highly negotiable nature of engagements between the local government and informal communities. Furthermore, the cases speak back to the idea of informal practices of the state, showing its utility and limits at the micro-scale and offering insight into the motivations of the state for engaging in such practices and their potential for offering more progressive forms of engagement.     

Motivations behind citizen aid: Norwegian initiatives in The Gambia

Abstract

Little is known about citizen aid initiatives originating in Norway, and they are not recognised as part of the official Norwegian development aid. Citizen aid initiatives are personal and small, and by themselves they do not raise large sums of money, nor do they individually have a large-scale development impact. But collectively, their influence on sponsors in Norway and on aid beneficiaries in the Global South might be substantial. Through qualitative interviews, this study explores the motivations of Norwegian founders of citizen aid initiatives, who run small development projects in The Gambia. The study finds that they are motivated by the very characteristics of these citizen aid initiatives which set them apart from formal development organisations. These include the initiatives’ small size, which allows for a personal closeness to and control over the projects. These features are often interconnected with motivations stemming from the founders’ personal experiences. The study finds that, inasmuch as the founders see the need for beneficiaries to be supported, they also experience a need to help themselves. The founders’ identities, as helpers and givers, are both formed and continually reinforced by their personal involvement in this specific type of aid work.     

Trafficking of Ethiopian women to Europe – making choices,taking risks,and implications

ABSTRACT

This piece focuses on the Ethiopian women victims of trafficking – the agency of these women in the whole trafficking process, and issues of choice – ‘trying a chance’, or just taking a risk to get out of poverty or difficult social circumstances, considering that they are lured, tricked, coerced, or even forced into the hands of traffickers by a wide range of circumstances and people, including family and friends. Traffickers target girls with economic, social, and family problems. Most of the trafficking of women and girls from Ethiopia is carried out through the use of service ‘agencies’ and human smugglers who facilitate the process of migration through a number of routes. Many of those who use the ‘desert route’ often begin from Sudan to North Africa from where they cross to Europe. The data for this contribution were generated in a study – ‘Captured in Flight: Experiences of violence among African women in Sweden’ – funded by the Swedish crime prevention agency (Brottsoffermyndgheten). The research for the project has been carried out in Sweden, but the women whose case studies are presented here have been in the Middle East, Turkey, Italy, Finland, and Greece before coming to Sweden.     

Cacophonies of Aid,Failed State Building and NGOs in Haiti: setting the stage for disaster,envisioning the future

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti was a catastrophe not only for the loss of life it caused, but also because it destroyed the very thin layer of state administrative capacity that was in place in the country. This article argues that the fragility of the Haitian state institutions was exacerbated by international strategies that promoted NGOs as substitutes for the state. These strategies have generated a vicious circle that, while solving immediate logistical problems, ended up weakening Haiti's institutions. However, the article does not call for an overarching condemnation of NGOs. Instead, it explores two cases of community-based NGOs, Partners In Health and Fonkoze, that have contributed to creating durable social capital, generated employment and provided functioning services to the communities where they operated. The article shows that organisations that are financially independent and internationally connected, embrace a needs-based approach to their activities and share a long-term commitment to the communities within which they operate can contribute to bringing about substantial improvement for people living in situations of extreme poverty. It concludes that in the aftermath of a crisis of the dimension of the January earthquake it is crucial to channel support towards organisations that show this type of commitment.     

Terrorist Organization Typologies and the Probability of a Boomerang Effect

Since the 1970s, many researchers have proposed typologies to sort the phenomenon of terror into different categories and to divide terror organizations into groups based on various characteristics of their activities. These typologies were designed to facilitate understanding of the phenomenon of terror and of terror organizations’ processes, structures and operative methods. They relied on a variety of diagnostic criteria such as: motives for using terror, targets of the attacks, terrorists’ demands, organizational structure; arenas of operation; and more. This article surveys major typologies of terror, notes the differences between them, presents a model to combine the different classifications of the typologies into a single typology, and proposes a new typology that sorts terror organizations by the variables that limit their activities. The proposed typology makes it possible to analyze terror organizations’ behavior and even to forecast their reactions to a situation in which they are attacked by the enemy state—the boomerang effect.     

Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev and the idea of Muslim Marxism: empire,Third World(s) and praxis

Abstract

This paper revisits the idea of Muslim Marxism, as espoused through the life and work of the Tatar Muslim and Bolshevik intellectual and revolutionary Mir-Said Sultan-Galiev (1892–1940). I argue that Sultan-Galiev’s oeuvre – a unique synthesis of Marxist, Muslim modernist, anti-colonial and Third World praxis – represents a path-breaking take on Muslim selfhood and practices of belonging.