Imagining Islam in Kosovo - The social construction of the Kosovar Muslim subject among European political actors

ABSTRACT

Despite being a Muslim-majority society, Kosovo increasingly securitizes practising Muslims by politicizing the ostentatiously pious among them as a threat to Europe’s security and Kosovar identity. Given the EU’s significant discursive and political power in Kosovo, this article pursues the question of how European representatives conceive of pious Kosovar Muslims, and whether this image might explain their securitization. On the basis of 24 semi-structured interviews with various European officials conducted in 2018, I argue that they predominantly imagine pious Kosovar Muslims as influenced by foreign powers through indoctrination, material incentives or appeals to identity, which does condone their securitization. However, this image is in fact shaped by local Kosovar elites who instil such conceptions in European officials because such an image helps them in the pursuit of their own political agendas. The article exposes the intricate mechanism and power relations that underlie this process of policy-relevant knowledge production.     

The global threat of race in the decomposition of struggle

ABSTRACT

Many of the struggles that emerged in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis eventually experienced decomposition in the face of multiple internal and external threats. While movement composition and decomposition are inevitable in the natural cycle of popular struggles, this article argues that what David Theo Goldberg has termed “the threat of race” constituted one important factor that brought about the eventual demise of these popular mobilizations. By drawing on the cases of US Occupy Wall Street, European anti-austerity protests, and South African struggles against xenophobia, it points to global continuity in anti-blackness across disparate geographies. As these same regions currently confront the threat of righting authoritarianism, this article argues we must also take a self-reflexive look at the seeds of reaction embedded in otherwise progressive and left-wing formations in order to achieve a more sobering account of our present predicament.     

V.A.T., Taxation and Prostitution: Feminist Perspectives on Polok

Debates concerning the taxation of prostitution have occurred in taxation law and in feminist literature. This article will integrate the case of Polok v. C.E.C. [2002] E.W.H.C, 156; [2002] S.T.C. 361, within the feminist legal canon. The case is discussed in the context of the argument of the European doctrine of fiscal neutrality, which dictates that, regardless of legality as amongst member states, if an activity is levied to V.A.T. in one member state, V.A.T. should be levied on it in all member states. The doctrine of sovereignty accepts the possibility that the integrity of the V.A.T. system may be compromised by the levying of tax on illegal activities, in terms of the cooperation between tax and other aspects of the U.K.’s legal system. European law, feminist law, commodification and the marketplace are all considered within the context of these principles. The article also considers the place of Polok within standard feminist texts on prostitution. Different paradigms of prostitution define different aspects of prostitution as ‘problems’, and the article considers the implications within a feminist reconstruction of Polok of this. The article suggests that the challenge for a feminist analysis of Polok is to remain within the realm of European tax and competition law, and to render the perspective of the employees of the Polok taxpayers part of the substance of the deliberations of the case.     

俄欧经贸合作的动因、特点及发展趋势

俄罗斯与欧盟开展与对方的经贸合作的目的不尽相同,然而十余年来,俄欧经贸合作全面迅速发展,成效十分显著,尤其在能源领域合作成果更是令世人瞩目。展望未来俄欧经贸合作的发展趋势,短期内仍将维持以能源合作为主的稳定发展态势,中长期有可能实现建立“统一经济空间”的战略目标。     

公共财政框架下的国库集中支付制度改革

公共财政是与社会主义市场经济体制相适应的,其有别于我国传统"生产建设型财政"的内容和要求,进行国库集中支付制度改革是健全公共财政体制的应有之义和具体的实现途径。在市场经济条件下,我国传统的国库分散管理制度显露出种种弊端,与公共财政的框架格格不入。因此,实行国库集中支付制度的改革有许多重要的现实意义和积极作用。但此项改革涉及面广,需要相关配套改革措施的配合和及时跟进,才能取得应有的效果。     

International Law Enforcement Co-operation: A Critical Assessment

Almost all European countries are member countries of Interpol, the World Customs Organisation and the United Nations. Some of them are Benelux and Schengen countries, and 15 are EU Member States. With this in mind, Europe can be considered, in policing terms, as being made up of a series of concentric and overlapping circles. The map shows overlapping institutional sources, territorial remits, functional specialisations and strategic emphasis. This article focuses on recent developments in European police co-operation, as well as judicial co-operation. International law enforcement co-operation is more and more influenced by basic political developments. Based on a rather complex, and sometimes confusing patchwork of institutions, there is a growing influence of intergovernmental based new developments. In particular prevention and combating organised crime are the main reasons for new and more professional ways of improved horizontal co-operation.     

Party expenditure and electoral prospects: a national level analysis of Britain

The effectiveness of campaign spending is a hotly contested issue. Much of that debate concentrates upon predetermined or assumed campaign periods. Yet, in a party and electoral system such as Britain, parties are continually campaigning. Party expenditure may therefore have a constant and cumulative effect. This article examines whether increased party spending at the national level is electorally significant. It analyses annual data from 1959 to 1994 and concludes that there is insufficient consistent evidence wholly to support this proposition.     

Regional lobbying and Structural funds: Do regional representation offices in Brussels deliver?

In recent years regional representation offices have proliferated in Brussels. Among the many aims of these offices are influencing the allocation and securing the transfer of European Structural and Cohesion funds. However, our knowledge about whether they have succeeded in this goal is limited. In this paper, we assess whether regional offices in Brussels have managed to affect the commitment and payment of Structural and Cohesion funds beyond the officially stated economic criteria of eligibility. The paper uses a custom-made survey of Brussels offices, complemented by economic, institutional, and political data. The results of the analyses for 123 regions over the period 2009–13 highlight that the capacity – proxied by the budget and staff of the office – of the regional offices to influence the commitment and payment of Structural and Cohesion funds has been negligible, when not outright negative. Regional lobbying in Brussels does not lead to more funds or to an easier disbursement of regional development funds.     

浅谈消防部队建立新型经费保障机制的途径

目前,消防经费严重不足与经济、社会高速发展的矛盾,已成为制约消防部队发展的关键问题。为此,应积极探索建立消防部队新型经费保障机制的途径。     

破解农民融资难题——农作物与农产品抵押

农作物与农产品抵押为农民的融资难题提供了一个可行的解决方案。农作物抵押是不动产抵押,应由林木主管部门或者公证机构办理抵押登记。农产品既可以设定固定抵押也可以设定浮动抵押。然而,根据《物权法》的规定,只有农业生产经营者可以设定农产品浮动抵押,但农业生产经营者的概念并不明确,而且作为抵押物的农产品的范围也有待进一步廓清。与此同时,我们还需要解决好抵押权竞合的问题。