Democracy and distributiveness: patterns of transition from hegemony in divided societies

Many culturally heterogeneous societies with functioning democratic regimes nonetheless fail to grant equal status to different ethnic and cultural groups within their borders. To a great extent, scholars discuss such inequalities within the analytical boundaries of the discourse on democracy and democratization. We argue that such discussions overstretch the concept of democracy. In this research, we offer a novel axis of inquiry, namely distributiveness. We define distributiveness as the egalitarian distribution of resources – political, material, cultural-symbolic, institutional, and territorial – among different ethnic, religious, or cultural groups which self-identify as collectives within society. The aim of this new conceptualization is to (1) restore conceptual clarity to the literature on democracy, (2) enhance our capacity to assess the allocation of resources within a given polity, and (3) elucidate the processes that lead to change in patterns of allocation.     

The Social Function of Carlos Fuentes: A Critical Intellectual or in the ‘Shadow of the State’?

This article seeks to raise meaningful questions about the role, or wider social function, of the intellectual within state–civil society relations in Latin America characterised by conditions of socio–economic modernisation. It does so by pursuing such questions through a detailed examination of the social function of Carlos Fuentes as an intellectual in Mexico. Through a focus on the social function of Carlos Fuentes, it is possible to distinguish the role intellectual activity can play in the construction and contestation of hegemony in Mexico. Most crucially, the article prompts consideration of the social basis of hegemony and the agency of intellectuals organically tied to particular social forces functioning through state–civil society relations in the struggle over hegemony. Put differently, it is possible to grant due regard to the mixture of critical opposition and accommodation that has often confronted the intellectual within Latin America.     

Probing Into Chinese Hegemony and the Indian Challenge in the Southeast Asian Landscape

China is on the rise in Southeast Asia with its giant economy, modern military, and influential diplomacy potentially establishing a potential Chinese hegemony in the region. If such growth is not challenged by another regional power, the balance of peaceful stability will be tilted and economic development hampered. Thus, another rising power, India must face the challenges that a powerful China brings to the table. With its developing economy well-equipped armed forces and subtle diplomacy, it has the tools and capability to balance the distribution of power in Southeast Asia. This study analyzes and dissects the influence of both India and China in Southeast Asia and its impact on the future of the region. It focuses on the tangibles and intangibles that India needs to hurdle and overcome to provide China with a worthy challenger. It also brings into perspective the role of ASEAN （Association of Southeast Asian Nations） as a catalyst in India-China relations. As a bloc, ASEAN has the potential to be a vibrant economy and important personality in the region. How ASEAN will be able to cope with a rising China and a fast-developing India will also be addressed in the study. Finally, how the development and stability of the region can be maintained in spite of the brewing rivalry between China and India is also an important aspect of this study.     

Language Use in Postcolonial Zimbabwean Alternative Theatre Performance

Abstract

This paper deploys the sociolinguistic concepts of indexicality and language ideologies to examine Amakhosi Theatre Productions and Rooftop Promotions’ use of language and linguistic frames as a performance resistive strategy in the postcolonial Zimbabwean landscape. These concepts offer a framework to critically appraise the political, social, ideological and cultural meanings latent in language/s used in alternative theatre performances, which have the ability to influence and define identities and ideological structures. From this lens, colonial residual hegemony, dominance and cultural subjugation expressed through English and/or Shona are challenged and re-framed through code- switching, translanguaging and language mixing. From an interpretive approach, this paper shows that the creative linguistic methods employed by Amakhosi Theatre Productions and Rooftop Promotions to reject normative and metropolitan power enforced by English purists (Ndebele and Shona in the context of Zimbabwe) over means of communication. In essence, this paper provides deeper insights into syncretic linguistic forms, and culture vis-à-vis colonial residual domination, hegemony and cultural subjugation in postcolonial Zimbabwean alternative theatre.     

The state as a political practice: Pakistan’s postcolonial state beyond dictatorship and Islam

Abstract

The emphasis since the 1990s in the neoliberal paradigm on the non-interventionist state, and the theoretical disinterest in the state by critical scholarship, has negatively affected the prospects for political and social change. The fragmented and dispersed social movements analysed by critical scholars have proven insufficiently counter-hegemonic. All this invites us to reconsider the postcolonial state at a new theoretical level to guide better choices for political practice. This article analyses the prevalent academic literature on the postcolonial Pakistani state. In these analyses, an omnipresent and omnipotent military state decides the fate of democracy, now and again replacing politicians at the helm and also promoting Islam. Political practice remains confined to inter-elite struggles for the restoration of democracy, whereas imperialist hegemony and the role of marginalised classes as reservoirs of counter-hegemony are largely missing. This article critically builds on the legacy of the renowned Pakistani scholar Hamza Alavi to show, historically and empirically, how imperialist powers (from the United States to China) have used the military as a seat of power to bring the local elite under their hegemony. A political theoretical practice and the building of a counter-hegemony which goes beyond and beneath inter-elite struggles is much needed.     

美国“长臂管辖”与中美经贸摩擦

在全球化时代,国际经贸领域的域外管辖权问题进一步凸显。作为回应,美国采取了滥用域外管辖权、单方面依据国内法强行管辖他国机构或公民的政策,这种行为被称为"长臂管辖"。"长臂管辖"的形成和发展与美国霸权护持战略密切相关,是美国在国际经贸领域压制竞争对手的重要工具。美国立法、司法与行政执法部门依靠本国综合实力与政治理据,相互协作,建立了一整套完备的"长臂管辖"机制。特朗普政府上台以来,视中国为霸权挑战者,挑起中美经贸摩擦。为了达到遏制中国发展的目的,美国在贸易与科技领域对中国实施了严厉的"长臂管辖"。这些"长臂管辖"存在严重的程序公正与透明度等问题,极大地损害了中国的国家利益,也加剧了中美战略竞争。从推动全球治理秩序改革发展的大局出发,中国必须坚决反对美国以霸权推行"长臂管辖"、以"长臂管辖"护持霸权的错误行为。     

“东北亚区域秩序研究”笔谈

进入21世纪,东北亚国际关系波谲云诡,成为全球地缘政治的热点。如何透过纷繁复杂的现象,探寻东北亚区域秩序变迁的历史轨迹,三篇文章试图从不同的视角回答这一问题。"从帝国到霸权:东北亚区域秩序的现代转型"以帝国与霸权为切入点,解读了两者在东北亚区域秩序的形成及转型过程中发挥的作用;"后冷战时代东北亚的民族主义与区域秩序"从民族主义入手,探讨了东北亚各国民族主义对塑造东亚均势秩序的影响,以及走向法理秩序的可能;"中华帝国转型与东北亚区域形成"回溯近代以来中华帝国与区域世界的互动,中国从农业帝国向现代主权国家的转变是东北亚区域形成的核心动力所在。     

Reproducing ‘hegemony’ thereafter? The long-term political effects of the Gezi protests in Turkey

ABSTRACT

This study examines an understudied aspect of the Gezi protests: its long-term effects on the hegemonic politics of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi, AKP) government. Building on the insights of Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Stuart Hall on hegemonic struggles and populism, it contends that the Gezi protests forced the AKP to reformulate its hegemonic strategies by deconstructing the relation formed contingently between the AKP and democratization, and thus, exposing both the limits of the neoliberal and Islamic/conservative hegemonic politics of the AKP, and the authoritarian tendencies of this government. The article maintains that the AKP, in response, turned to focus its efforts on becoming not hegemonic, but dominant by adopting a full-blown authoritarian populism, which, rather than entailing the closure of all democratic channels, favours retaining some for mobilizing popular support for its increasing authoritarianism. It is demonstrated that this popular support has been secured by the AKP through the articulation of a discourse that ignites fear and anxiety among the conservative religious and conservative nationalist segments, by portraying all opposition as detrimental to their interests and lifestyles. The article concludes that counter-hegemonic movements like Gezi may lead to significant political changes in the long run, even if they are repressed.     

青年亚文化的新形态：哈狗帮现象解读

有大量粗口的哈狗歌,从台湾到大陆风靡一时,其消费群体为青少年,女性青少年也在其中扮演着重要角色。同时,该消费群体具有组织性、排他性和偶像崇拜等特点。从心理学和歌词文本两个角度分析,哈狗歌有其流行的必然原因。作为一种青年亚文化,哈狗帮现象引起了社会的普遍恐慌,但却很难禁止哈狗歌的流行。充满大量粗口的哈狗歌是青少年面对社会问题的一种集体解决的方式,实际上这是不成功的解决办法。只有改变青少年的社会认同,并且加强青少年的媒介素养教育,采取更加积极的措施,才能减弱哈狗歌对社会造成的不良影响。     

"数字资本主义"依然是资本主义

当代资本主义因建立健全了国家创新体系而获得生产力的超速发展,但是它的生产关系依然停留在资本主义制度的基本结构上,从而使当代资本主义的基本矛盾转化为知识的公有性与知识创新的私人占有之间的对立统一,因此数字资本主义依然是资本主义。