Shaking off the neoliberal shackles: “democratic emergence” and the negotiation of democratic knowledge in the Middle East North Africa context

ABSTRACT

There is a general assumption in democracy promotion that liberal democracy is the panacea that will solve all political and economic problems faced by developing countries. Using the concept of “good society” as analytical prism, the analysis shows that while there is a rhetorical agreement as to what the “good society” entails, democracy promotion practices fail to allow for recipients’ inclusion in the negotiation and delivery of the “good society”. Contrasting US and Tunisian discourses on the “good society”, the article argues that democracy promotion practices are underpinned by neoliberal parameters borne out from a reliance on the transition paradigm, which in turn leave little room to democracy promotion recipients to formulate knowledge claims supporting the emergence of alternative conceptions of the “good society”. In contrast, the article opens up a reflective pathway to a negotiated democratic knowledge, which would reside in a paradigmatic change that consists in the abandonment of the transition paradigm in favour of a “democratic emergence” paradigm.     

Putting Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects First: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Indigenous Mexico

This article argues that whilst indigenous people are central to the Mexican president's official developmentalist discourse of bringing prosperity to the country's marginalised and poor, their needs during the COVID-19 pandemic have not been met and their interests have been sidelined. Whilst experiencing serious loss of trading revenue, negative impacts of misinformation, and lack of access to appropriate healthcare, indigenous Mexicans also faced the aggressive advance on their territories of large-scale infrastructure projects, which have become the backbone of the president's strategy for countering the economic recession caused by the pandemic. The discontinuation of relevant legal means to challenge the advance of the megaprojects during the pandemic effectively threatened indigenous people's democratic rights to protect their land, identities and way of life.     

‘Let's Win this Game Together’: Children's Rights Violations,Macro‐Securitisation and the Transformative Potential of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Sport's transformative potential is known to support marginalised children, to deal with traumatic experiences and instil positive values; yet hosting mega sporting events (MSEs) can have negative impacts. Drawing on participatory research with favela‐based children during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, this article argues that MSEs bring a macro‐securitisation of urban life, which causes considerable harm. This paper also suggests that the inclusion of children's voices in advocacy debates can challenge top‐down securitisation and might allow MSEs to foster further positive social transformation. Therefore, juxtaposed with causing harm, macro‐securitisations can open opportunities for children to take action and have their voices heard.     

Bringing the Falklands/Malvinas Home: Young People's Everyday Engagements with Geopolitics in Domestic Space

This paper draws on recent research examining feminist and everyday geopolitics to focus on the relatively neglected domestic sphere as a space where geopolitical events like the Falklands/Malvinas war are learnt, (re)produced, remembered and contested by young people. It presents qualitative data drawn from interviews with young people from Argentina (Río Gallegos) and the Falkland Islands (Stanley), locations with intimate connections to the 1982 war. It argues that research in domestic environments that engages the familial relations, objects and practices that embody geopolitical pasts can help make sense of how young people (are able to) express geopolitical agency.     

知荣明耻 服务人民

“八荣八耻”为核心内容的社会主义荣辱观的提出具有重大的意义:它是新形势下继承中华美德,发扬革命传统,弘扬时代精神的战略任务;是确立我国改革转型期的主导价值观:是统一思想,凝聚社会力量,促进社会和谐,全面建设小康社会的强大力量;是提高党的执政能力和执政水平的迫切需要。领导干部怎样做到服务人民,而不背离人民:领导干部在权力运用,工作决策的过程中有始终以人民的利益为出发点和落脚点;领导干部在权力的运用时,不能为官与民争利,要“慎权”,“慎欲”;领导干部要坚持群众路线,相信群众,依靠群众,且勿独断专行;领导干部要加强理论修养,提高自己的政策水平,强化领导能力和领导水平。     

程序的多重视角

程序是法学(法律)的一个独立范畴。由于语境不同,中西方对“程序”的理解有较大的差异,国内学者对法律程序进行解释时存在误读现象。完整地认识程序,需要完整的观察视角。只有从人权、法治、民主和经济等多元视角来诠释法律程序的价值和功能,才可能较完整地认识实体权利和程序权利的相互关系。     

正确认识和处理新时期农村人民内部矛盾

正确认识、及时化解人民内部矛盾是真正代表农村最广大人民群众根本利益的必然要求,也是保持农村社会稳定的必要条件。农村人民内部矛盾的产生原因是多方面的,要正确处理这些矛盾,必须在正确认识的前提下,善于运用经济的、行政的、法律的、思想教育的等各种手段,及时化解矛盾,解决纠纷,确保广大农村社会稳定。     

简论以法治腐--学习邓小平反腐倡廉思想

邓小平反腐败思想的一个重要特点就是把治理腐败与民主法制建设紧密地结合起来,这不仅为我们指出了防治腐败的根本方法,也为我国政治现代化建设提供了一个整体思路.     

政治化角度与中国20世纪30年代文学论争

30年代是中国20世纪学发展中的重要转折时期，在其后相当长的历史时期内的学论争，学讨论乃至学批评中，都能发现30年代学论争中所形成的一系列特点的遗存，因此，本的探讨对加深理解30年代乃至整个20世纪学的发展均有着重要的意义。章分别从学论争的起因，论争中各方所关注的重心、论争各方的心态，对话的基本方式以及看问题的角度等等方面，论述了中国20世纪30年代一系列重要学论争的最基本的也是最显的特征，并进而分析了这些特征得以形成的30年代特殊的政治化语境的根源。     

浅议邓小平的民主法治思想与人本发展观

崇尚法治,反对人治是邓小平法治思想的基础和核心,民主法治思想与人本发展观的完善是邓小平理论的结晶,它的立法、执法、守法等基本思路对维护社会主义市场经济的新秩序,具有广泛深远的意义。