Understanding ethnicity-based autonomy movements in India's northeastern region

Soon after independence, India's northeastern region was swamped in a series of conflicts starting with the Naga secessionist movement in the 1950s, followed by others in the 1960s. The conflicts intensified and engulfed the entire region in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in the 1990s, following reclamation of ethnic identities amid gnawing scarcities, the conflicts slowly turned into internal feuds. Consequently, alliance and re-alliance among the ethnic groups transpired. In the 2000s, it finally led to the balkanization of ethnicity-based autonomy movements in the region. Unfortunately, the state's ad-hoc measures failed to contain protected conflicts and, instead, compounded the situation and swelled hybrid ethnic identities.     

Putin's struggle for federalism: Structures,operation, and the commitment problem

This article provides an analysis of the institutional mechanisms that are required to ensure the effective functioning of federalism in Russian politics. A common contention in the literature on federalism is that, in addition to fundamental requirements such as the constitutionally defined division of powers between the federation and its constituent units, and the supremacy of the federal constitution, some ancillary structures are necessary. Of particular importance are institutions of inter-governmental co-operation, transparent means for the mobility of officials between the centre and the regions, and integrated systems of national parties. The functioning of these institutions must also reflect the culture and ethic of federalism. This article examines how well these three factors have been implemented in Russia in the course of Putin's reforms. It is shown that a preliminary network of such institutions has been created. However, their operational ethic, and in particular the lack of commitment to federal values, it is argued, could act as an impediment to the successful evolution of the federal state in Russia.     

Away From Home: Somali Women's Mediated Entry Into the United Kingdom

Based on in-depth interviews with 26 Somali women refugees, this article discusses structural arrangements around their settlement in the United Kingdom (UK). Their “male-centered” migration can be viewed as a specific form of patriarchal institution where men control women's trajectories. Based on Bourdieu's concept of social capital, I introduce a new category of knowledge capital—supplementary capital—to discuss sociocultural/political stratifications that affect integration of my informants in the UK. I show how a lack of familiarity with the dominant language became central to their integration difficulties. These underexamined problems are key factors in immigration processes.     

Ethiopian taxicab drivers: forming an occupational niche in the US Capital

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the relative roles of cultural and structural factors in the emergence and solidification of taxi driving as an ethnic occupational niche among Ethiopian immigrants in the Washington DC metropolitan area within the wider context of globalization and immigrant integration. An ethnic occupational niche is the concentration and specialization of members of an ethnic group in a particular occupational activity. Using data from the US Census Bureau and in-depth interviews with 25 (male) Ethiopian cab drivers and three Ethiopian cab company owners, it examines the factors that affected the entrance of first-generation Ethiopian immigrants in this occupation since the 1980s. This research demonstrates that mixed embeddedness or the interplay of structural factors such as blocked mobility as well as cultural factors such as the strong social networks that exist among Ethiopian immigrants were important in the induction of new immigrants into taxicab driving. The demographic composition of the Washington metropolitan area and policies of the DC Taxicab Commission that allow for fairly easy entry of new drivers in the taxicab business also facilitated the emergence of this occupational niche.     

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land

ABSTRACT

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church community has had a presence in the Holy Land for at least several hundred years. Throughout most of this period it was composed of a small ecclesiastical corps of monastic clergy who sought to protect the national church’s rights at various holy places in the region of Christianity’s birth. Only in the twentieth century, were these clergy joined by lay people. In this paper, I discuss the way the type of food served at church celebrations and the rhythm of fasts and feasts emphasize the shared national origins of the small diaspora. At the same time, where people sit when eating, and in what order they are served, expresses distinctions within the ranks of the clergy, between clergy and lay people, between men and women, and between Ethiopians and their former compatriots from Eritrea.     

Practice,Pirates and Coast Guards: the grand narrative of Somali piracy

In this article I develop a practice–theoretical account to provide the first systematic investigation of the justification of Somali piracy. Arguing for an understanding of piracy as a ‘community of practice’, I show how this community is organised by a ‘grand narrative’ that projects piracy as a quasi-state practice of the protection of sovereignty against foreign intruders. Paying attention to narrative provides an explanation for the persistence of piracy and assists us in understanding the phenomenon. Relying on publicly available interviews with pirates, I deconstruct this grand narrative and detail the different functions of the narrative in the light of situations in which it is told. The article develops an alternative perspective on piracy based on the study of practice, narrative and situation that provides new avenues for the study of clandestine, illicit or violent practices.     

Local government in post-communist poland: A study of federalism and executive authority in plock

This article examines the establishment of local government in post-communist Poland. Its purpose is to examine the realignment of central state and local government authority established through the Polish National Assembly's (Sejm) 1990 reforms and to provide an assessment of developing local government autonomy and executive authority in the new city government structure.

The conceptual framework is comparative, using an American perspective to examine issues of local government autonomy and executive authority.     

Ethiopian female labor migration to the Gulf states: the case of Kuwait

ABSTRACT

International labor migration is one of the most salient features of the modern globalized world. However, the phenomenon has its roots in some earlier periods in human history. Africa is traditionally a sending continent of all types of migrations, voluntary or forced. This study examines the above-mentioned issues through the mounting phenomenon of migration of single independent women in search for better economic, social, or political conditions across the boundaries of their home countries. In the past, African women migrants were only spouses or dependent family members. But as modernity swept most African societies, with rising unemployment rates, there is evidence everywhere in Africa that women labor migration is a growing phenomenon that deserves to be understood in the context of current gender-related research. This work explores these issues further, focusing on the experience of Ethiopian women labor migrants to Kuwait, within Gulf Cooperation Council, an area with a shared socio-economic background. In addition to numerous difficulties already facing labor migrants, Ethiopian women suffered greater degrees of gender-based violence, underpayment, and trafficking, to mention only few aspects of human rights violations. This situation could be attributed to the fact that most of these women fall under the category of unskilled and/or illiterate migrants, as irregular migrants who are employed within the private sector, outside the purview any legal or labor regulatory authorities.     

Somewhere else: social connection and dislocation of Ethiopian migrants in Johannesburg

ABSTRACT

The meaning of personal relationships for Ethiopian migrants to Johannesburg is shaped by individual connections, by imported social networks that are adapted in the host city, and by the particular conditions of livelihood creation in the emerging Ethiopian entrepreneurial enclave of ‘Jeppe’. In their migration individuals experience both rupture and reconnection – with relatives, as well as through relationships and networks that constitute social capital in Johannesburg. The social world of Ethiopian migrants in this entrepreneurial enclave is complex. Many social connections and dislocations are affected by the life choices in which income generation and economic relations are the primary aim and social relations are necessarily secondary. Others are influenced by the strength of informal social networks that serve the needs of Ethiopian migrants. And, far from ‘here’ and ‘there’ being connected through the use of technology and advanced connectivity, ‘home’ and Johannesburg are experienced as quite separate and different places.     

Active Private Sector Development Policies Revisited: Impacts of the Ethiopian Industrial Cluster Policy

We analyse impacts of a cluster policy aiming to increase firm growth through maximising agglomeration benefits and improving production facilities. Firms located in a natural cluster were incentivised to move to a new government-created cluster. A limited number of firms were allowed to move, and many similar firms, also eager to move but could not, formed our comparison group. Controlling for selection, and employing difference in-difference estimation, we find large negative effects on job-creation and firm performance. The policy hampered the firms’ business and knowledge networks, reduced trust among firms, increased transaction costs and curbed market information.     

Redemocratization and economic liberalization in Turkey: The limits of state autonomy

Liberalization policies implemented in semi-industrial countries are based on a common theoretical framework and embody a standard set of policy instruments. Yet, countries differ widely in terms of their capacity to implement liberalization programs, the extent to which liberalization programs are applied as measured by deviations from “orthodox norms,” and, finally, the degree of success generated. The article proceeds from the premise that the institutional characteristics and the policy environment of a country are of crucial significance in accounting for both the nature of the adjustment process and the subsequent economic performance. The organization of the state and society as well as the degree of centralization of the state constitute key components of the domestic structures that help to illuminate why we observe differential responses to a common external shock, namely, an identical economic strategy. Turkey’s patrimonial state tradition has strongly conditioned and modified the nature of economic liberalization as well as the process of democratic consolidation during the 1980s. This article seeks to elucidate the fundamental paradox concerning the weakness and vulnerability of a highly centralized state which, in turn, embodies negative implications for both economic liberalization and the process of democratic consolidation.     

The expansion of the public sector in federalism: a comparative analysis of a macro level governing structure and government size

ABSTRACT

Utilising Oates’ fiscal federalism theorem, the Tiebout model and Berry’s common pool model, this paper examines the effects of four characteristics of a macro level governing structure on public sector employment using a mixed method approach. Regression analysis explores the individual effect of fiscal decentralisation, spatial fragmentation, interjurisdictional competition and jurisdictional overlap on the levels of local public employment; and the qualitative comparative analysis explores the complexities between the four macro characteristics and their combined relations to the levels of state public employment. The results of the statistical analysis suggest that more labour inputs are required to produce public goods and services to meet the needs of local residents. Moreover, the qualitative comparative analysis reveals causality asymmetry between these characteristics and highlights how different interactions of characteristics of a macro level governing structure affect different levels of public sector employment.     

Rethinking the future-seeking narrative of child migration: the case of Ethiopian adolescent domestic workers in the Middle East

ABSTRACT

Recent research on child migration has largely departed from the early trafficking narrative and has tended to highlight young people’s agency and the ways in which children’s migration can play a key role in their ‘future-seeking’. While we acknowledge that Ethiopian girls migrating to the Middle East in order to undertake domestic work primarily move voluntarily for economic reasons, our research – which used a multi-layered, qualitative research approach with girls and their families in the West Gojjam and North Wollo Zones of the Amhara National Regional State – found that the financial, physical, and psychological costs of such migration can far outweigh the benefits. Indeed, we conclude that the earlier trafficking narrative may, in this case, represent the most appropriate lens through which to view girls’ choices and experiences.     

The political economy of the cycles of violence and non-violence in the Sikh struggle for identity and political power: implications for Indian federalism

This paper presents a critique of the essentialist notions of any community as a pacifist or militant community by examining the long history of the cycles of violence and non-violence in the evolution of the Sikh community in the Indian subcontinent. The theoretical premise of the paper is that communities' resort to violence and non-violence is determined by their strategic perspectives to achieve their politico-economic goals and not from any doctrinal adherence to violence or non-violence. The paper attempts a panoramic view of over 500 years of Sikh history (1469 – 2006) and offers a reinterpretation of that history by locating cycles of violence and non-violence in their historical context. It then provides a politico-economic perspective on violence and non-violence in their struggle for identity and political power. It focuses more on an analysis of the recent political conflict between Sikh militants and the Indian state, and concludes by drawing out the policy implications of that analysis for the politics of the modern Indian state regarding the Sikhs of Punjab. It identifies federal arrangements and human rights as issues of key importance in the political economy of this relationship.