Subaltern connections: Brazilian critical geographers,development and African decolonisation

Abstract

This article explores the relations to Africa and African decolonisation of three key figures in Brazilian critical geographies and development studies, Manuel Correia de Andrade (1922–2007), Josué de Castro (1908–1973) and Milton Santos (1926–2001). Based on an analysis of their works and unpublished archives, I argue the radical Third World perspectives these intellectuals expressed anticipated later critiques of development as a neocolonial device. Drawing upon current literature on decolonisation, international conferencing and anti-racist solidarity networks, I discuss these matters in relation to these authors’ interest in cultural diversity and internal colonialism. Crucially, they developed this sensitivity in the Brazilian Northeast, a region especially shaped by Afro–Brazilian and Indigenous cultural legacies. While supporting anti-imperialist nationalisms in the Third World, these Brazilian scholars fostered multilingual, internationalist and cosmopolitan activism and scholarship. This is revealed by the study of the transnational networks they developed during exile and the various persecutions that many of them suffered after the 1964 military coup. Finally, I argue these works can substantiate recent claims to ‘decolonise’ geography and development studies, on the condition that these fields of study take seriously their anti-imperial traditions and their ‘voices from the South’.     

Tracing connections between comparative politics and globalisation

This article focuses on connections between globalisation and comparative political analysis. Traditionally the latter is concerned with domestic political actors, especially states. Globalisation, on the other hand, emphasises the variable significance of a variety of border-crossing, including transnational, actors. I argue that since the end of the Cold War five key developments—a large number of new countries; widespread political changes, especially in the Third World; global entrenchment of capitalism; increasing regional economic integration; and the growth of transnational civil society—collectively underline the importance of globalisation for comparative political analysis. It is now difficult plausibly to argue that what goes on politically within countries is unaffected by globalisation. The article is structured as follows. First, I trace the traditional (domestic) concerns of comparative political analysis and argue that, because it neglects the impact of globalisation, it is analytically inadequate. Second, I examine four key aspects of globalisation: technological, political, economic and cultural globalisation, and suggest how they influence comparative political analysis. Third, to assess differing views of how globalisation affects domestic politicalÐeconomic terrains, I examine competing arguments of the hyper-globalisationist, globalisation sceptic and structural dependency approaches.     

Recreating the Third World Project: possibilities through the Fourth World

Abstract

In this paper, we make a theoretical argument that the Third World be returned to its political origins to inspire an updated Third World Project (TWP), revived as a global movement for progressive, anti-imperialist forces, through the Fourth World movement, which highlights internal colonialism. Both the TWP and the United Nations recognise only nation states as full members. We examine how a Third World strategy that brings in the Fourth World, or indigenous, minority and/or stateless groups, can help oppressed groups gain more autonomy and rights through a transnational solidarity rooted in empathy. We trace the intellectual roots and history of the TWP and consider obstacles in bringing together the TWP and the Fourth World movement. A Fourth World strategy corrects the TWP’s implicit approval of an underlying imperialism, and the TWP provides the Fourth World movement a model to accomplish its goal of resisting uncritical modernity.     

Fiftieth Anniversary of Decolonisation in Africa: a moment of celebration or critical reflection?

This article deploys the concept of coloniality of power to critically reflect on the decolonisation process, using a ‘colonial difference’ perspective which enables a critical reflection on the limits of decolonisation from the side of the ex-colonised ordinary citizens of Africa. Three principal arguments are advanced. First, celebration of the decolonisation process as the proudest moment in African history obscures the continuing operation of the colonial matrices of power in maintaining Africa's subaltern position in global politics. Second, decolonisation resulted only in politico-juridical freedom, which is often conflated with freedom for the ordinary peoples of Africa. Third, celebrations of decolonisation are belied by the fact that ordinary African citizens engaged in new struggles for freedom soon after decolonisation aimed at liberating themselves from oppression by the inherited and imposed postcolonial African state. The article delves into the genealogical, ideological and ethical elements of decolonisation, alongside its political assumptions and implications. This facilitates the decoupling of ideas of liberation from notions of emancipation, which are often considered the same thing. It also enables critical engagement with the character of the postcolonial African state imposed on Africans without being fully reconstituted and decolonized institutionally. The article provides a fresh appreciation of ordinary citizens' ongoing struggles for liberation from the postcolonial state exemplified by the current North African popular uprisings against dictatorial regimes.     

The Long Road to Civilian Supremacy

This article analyzes civil-military relations in Chile, focusing on the period between 1990 and 1998. It analyzes military interests and civil-military channels. The four main cases examined in this article are situations when civilians sought to make decisions the military opposed that affected core military interests. They shed light on the degree to which formal institutions were able to function effectively in very tense situations. The cases are the military movements of 1990 and 1993, the 1995 imprisonment of Manuel Contreras, and the 1998 constitutional accusation against Augusto Pinochet. The ability of the Chilean military to pursue its interests successfully by circumventing formal channels in the face of opposition from civilian policymakers demonstrates that the road to civilian supremacy is long and the end is not clearly in sight. Gregory Weeks is assistant professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of articles in Hemisphere Journal of Third World Studies, andThird World Quarterly. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999.     

The “Imperial Minority”: An Interpretative Framework of the Russians in Kazakhstan in the 1990s

This article is the fifth and final in a Nationalities Papers series providing an overview of the development of Romani political group representation and administration, from the arrival of Roma to Europe up to 1971, the landmark year of modern transnational Romani politics. The article concentrates on the period between the Second World War and 1970 and the emergence of the following phenomena which distinguish this period from those covered in the previous articles: some limited Romani participation in non-Romani mainstream political or administrative structures, an international Romani evangelical movement, reconciliation between Romani political representation and the Catholic Church, national institutions created by various governments to aid the administration of policies on Roma and rapid growth of non-governmental organizations addressing Romani issues.     

Development's Paradox: is Washington DC a Third World city?

This article examines an urban centre in the heart of the First World through a critical development lens. It contends that traits of the Third World entail certain characteristics which remain consequential as axes of analysis for a variety of economic, political and geographic settings, including new applications in contexts that are typically excluded from the focus of international development practice and scholarship. The article discusses characteristics of ‘third worldality’ in relation to Washington DC. It posits that, despite being emblematic as a power centre, the city exhibits many of the characteristics of a Third World city. Highlighting disenfranchisement, socioeconomic inequality, and environmental health issues, the article reveals a paradox: underdevelopment in the heart of the ‘developed’ world. The article calls for greater recognition of the paradoxes of development theory and practice so as to confront persistent problems of orientalism and lack of self-reflexivity in the field of international development.     

Literatures at the intersections of national territories: Iranian-Azerbaijani ethnic entrepreneurs in a transnational historical space

This article is an attempt to explore the territoriality of languages in the context of ethno-national mobilizations. It maps the transnational interplay between linguistic spaces that overlap national frameworks. This makes it possible to scrutinize the horizontal and vertical differentiation processes that contribute to the definition of a distinctive literary field. In order to study these processes, we favor a strong empirical anchorage by referring to the notion of transnational historical space, defined as a configuration which covers both spatial and temporal dimensions, bringing territories into contact and linking various temporalities. Our case presents a large geographic space formed by Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Iranian Azerbaijan. This unusual scale of analysis helps in understanding how ethnic entrepreneurs can capitalize symbolic resources in their strategies to make their ethnic idiom into a national language and to invest the political field with ethnonational claims.     

Corruption in India: Control measures and consequences

Much has been written on corruption in the Third World. Studying the phenomenon of transactional corruption, however, is fraught with many shortcomings. The insidious corruption of subverting the regimes or abusing the constitution for political or partisan gain is paid little attention. This article analyses corruption in India within its social, cultural, and political contexts. The workings of the various anti‐corruption measures are also examined. The concept of regime corruption is studied. The article concludes that curbing corruption largely depends upon the social attitudes. In particular, the political parties should not only take the blame for the current situation, they should also play an active role in correcting the pernicious practice of corruption.     

Using and abusing the concept of the Third World: geopolitics and the comparative political study of development and underdevelopment

This article argues that, while the notion of a ‘Third World’ retains relevance and usefulness in the context of geopolitical analysis, generalisations about Third World politics are no longer helpful or justifiable. It begins by reviewing the historic rationales for the notion of the Third World together with criticisms made of these arguments. It then considers reasons why the term may retain some value at a geopolitical level: in signalling a major axis of inequality, providing a symbolic basis for collective action and, possibly, as an alternative to less attractive perspectives. The article then turns more specifically to the field of comparative politics, suggesting that in the past the notion of a Third World could be justified pragmatically as a response to the insularity of Western political science and because there was, up to a point, a common paradigm of Third World politics. Such justifications have been undermined by the growth in specialist knowledge of individual Third World countries or regions together with increasing differentiation among them.     

Globalising the Zapatistas: from Third World solidarity to global solidarity?

The 1994 Zapatista uprising in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas found extraordinary resonance beyond Mexico's borders and generated a range of transnational solidarity efforts. The Zapatistas retain many emancipatory ideals of earlier progressive groups, but formulate their social critique in a manner that is more democratic and global than that of most groups during the Cold War. As a consequence, their interpretation of contemporary social and political problems does not build on the distinction between first, second and third worlds so common in earlier decades. This is evident in the way solidarity is understood by the Zapatistas and transnational activists. The solidarity relationship between the Zapatistas and transnational activists is highly globalised and based on mutuality. In contrast, solidarity relationships in the cold war period, including Third World solidarity, had more of a one-way character in which there was a clear distinction between providers and beneficiaries of solidarity.     

The growth of multinational banking,the Euro‐currency market and their effects on developing countries

This paper describes the recent rapid growth of transnational banking and lending, as well as it causes. Since the early seventies, a growing proportion of this lending has been oriented towards developing countries. The principal causes for this trend are outlined, and the changes in the mechanisms of the ‘Eurodollar market’ which made access to it easier for developing countries are described. The trends prevailing in developing countries’ financing throughout the seventies are then examined. Finally, the economic and political effects of the rapid growth in lending by private banks to the Third World are discussed.     

Civil war and the coalition government of democratic Kampuchea

This article explores the relationship between the politics of international development and the reproduction of global inequality. I argue that contemporary discourses about— and the practices of—‘development for developing countries’ represent an attempt to reconstitute the political utility of the ‘Third World’. In an era of globalisation the deployment of the notion of a Third World of ‘developing countries’ which require immediate, systemic attention through the discourse and practice of international development continues to provide a way of both disciplining and displacing the global dimension of social and political struggle. I refer to this dynamic in terms of the political utility of the Third World, which, I argue, has been conducive to the organisation of global capitalism and the management of social and political contradictions of inequality and poverty. I develop this argument by drawing on the historical implications and legacy of ‘international development’ as practised in and on the Third World and through a critical analysis of the methodological premises that constitute international development. I illustrate this by drawing on a key strategy aimed ostensibly at development: the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (prsp) approach, promulgated by the World Bank and the imf, which I discuss in relation to the ‘development agenda’ inaugurated during the 1999 wto meeting in Doha (Qatar). I argue that the ideology and practice of the global politics of international development reinforce the conditions of global inequality, and must be transcended as both an analytical framework and an organising principle of world politics. While the prsp and related approaches are currently presented as key elements in the building of the ‘architecture for (international) development’, what is emerging is a form of governance that attempts to foreclose social and political alternatives.     

Peripheral states and conformity to international norms: the dilemma of the marginalised

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the seemingly paradoxical behaviour of states of the Global South, which on one the hand conform to transnational norms in order to integrate into the international society and on the other hand (sometimes simultaneously) differentiate themselves from them. To that end, this article develops the dilemma of the marginalised in order to show that conformity and differentiation become two paradoxical strategies for marginalised actors to pursue the same goal: equality with powerful states. The transformation of the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union, where significant changes in Africa’s policy vis-à-vis global powers took place, serves as a case study to illustrate how marginalised actors struggle between conformity and differentiation in order to claim their place in the international arena. It also shows how the dilemma of the marginalised can be compelling to help us understand the predicaments of marginalised actors across vastly different situations of structural inequality. Acknowledging the dilemma helps us understand their behaviour rather than to dismiss it as irrational, thereby recognising Third World agency in shaping the international system.     

Introduction

The idea of the Third World, which is usually traced to the late 1940s or early 1950s, was increasingly used to try and generate unity and support among an emergent group of nation-states whose governments were reluctant to take sides in the Cold War. These leaders and governments sought to displace the ‘East–West’ conflict with the ‘North–South’ conflict. The rise of Third Worldism in the 1950s and 1960s was closely connected to a range of national liberation projects and specific forms of regionalism in the erstwhile colonies of Asia and Africa, as well as the former mandates and new nation-states of the Middle East, and the ‘older’ nation-states of Latin America. Exponents of Third Worldism in this period linked it to national liberation and various forms of Pan-Asianism, Pan-Arabism, Pan-Africanism and Pan-Americanism. The weakening or demise of the first generation of Third Worldist regimes in the 1960s and 1970s coincided with or was followed by the emergence of a second generation of Third Worldist regimes that articulated a more radical, explicitly socialist, vision. A moderate form of Third Worldism also became significant at the United Nations in the 1970s: it was centred on the call for a New International Economic Order (nieo). By the 1980s, however, Third Worldism had entered into a period of dramatic decline. With the end of the Cold War, some movements, governments and commentators have sought to reorient and revitalise the idea of a Third World, while others have argued that it has lost its relevance. This introductory article provides a critical overview of the history of Third Worldism, while clarifying both its constraints and its appeal. As a world-historical movement, Third Worldism (in both its first and second generation modalities) emerged out of the activities and ideas of anti-colonial nationalists and their efforts to mesh highly romanticised interpretations of pre-colonial traditions and cultures with the utopianism embodied by Marxism and socialism specifically, and ‘Western’ visions of modernisation and development more generally. Apart from the problems associated with combining these different strands, Third Worldism also went into decline because of the contradictions inherent in the process of decolonisation and in the new international politico-economic order, in the context of the changing character, and eventual end, of the global political economy of the Cold War.     

International assistance and democracy: Assessing efforts to assist post-communist development

This article surveys political development frameworks for analyzing the post-Communist transition to political democracy. Parallels with postcolonial events in Third World countries should caution against overoptimism about the prospects for mutually reinforcing economic and political development. In general, the study of Third World political development suggest that rapid regime transition with low mass participation is unlikely to result in sustainable democratic politics, especially where severe economic dislocations are present. High rates of participation during regime change may lead to rapid disillusionment with the performance of postrevolutionary government. It is thus argued that states wishing, for various reasons, to assist in smoothing the transition from communism should pay heed to the cautionary experience of Third World development assistance and monitor the political dimensions of the transformation, such as the stability of coalition governments, electoral turnout, ethnonationalism, as well as the orthodox economic indicators like inflation and rates of domestic investment. With respect to international assistance to the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the article shows that the capacity of the Group of Twenty Four (G-24) donors to aid economic recovery is well below what is requested, or needed. Despite hosting a donor summit, the United States is taking a far less prominent role in the post-Cold War donor community than was the case in the analogous program for post-World War II recovery. This is having an impact on both volume and coordination of assistance. Finally, a strong, possibly ideological, preference among donors for finding private sector recipients for the bulk of assistance may erode the capacity of the post-Communist states to provide both infrastructure and political stability needed for investor confidence. Those making decisions about levels and modes of Western assistance should look beyond economic indicators of privatization as criteria for continued support and retain, where possible, political development objectives in both financial and project assistance. While we must not assume that the record of supporting democracy in Central and Eastern Europe will prove to be any better than in many Third World regimes, the greater security salience of Eastern Europe’s stability adds urgency to the task of applying political development lessons to the post-Communist experience. Malcolm J. Grieve specializes in political development and international political economy and in his current research is exploring the connections between the two fields with regard to analysis of the post-Communist transition. Recent publications include “Economic Imperialism”, in D. Haglund and M. Hawes, eds.,World Politics: Power, Interdependence and Dependence (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990) and “Debt and Imperialism: Perspectives on the Debt Crisis,” in S. Riley ed.,The politics of global debt (Macmillan 1993). ...in Central and eastern Europe, we are seeking to demonstrate in practice the idea that free government can mean good and stable government, and that free enterprise can mean economic opportunity for all.U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, 27 February 1991. There is nothing more difficult to arrange, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through, than to initiate a new order of things.Machiavelli, The Prince     

Entering the global dealing room: Reflections on a rights-based framework for NGOs in international development

The human rights framework cuts across different aspects of development. It has a universal appeal which is increasingly supported by a stronger social, political and cultural global rooting. NGOs have made important contributions to this growing global culture of human rights. The potential of human rights as a normative instrument to further shape and form the political and human quality of globalisation can hardly be underestimated. Human rights offer NGOs the possibility to strategically position themselves at the crossroads of emerging transnational relationships between different actors in the state, market and civil sector. This will strengthen enforcement of human rights, shared among and across different levels of institutions and decision making. But in order to enter the global dealing room, the function of NGOs must be grounded more firmly in the United Nations framework, which gives human rights their principal global legitimacy.     

The ‘Neo-Taliban’ and Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan

Reporting on the growth of volunteer tourism, a recent Time magazine article explains, ‘Getting in touch with your inner Angelina Jolie is easier than it used to be!’. In myriad ways celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna have made international volunteering sexy. These women and their adopted children from the so-called ‘Third World’ have come to symbolise popular humanitarianism in the West. This paper addresses the cultural politics of female celebrity humanitarianism and the corollary implications of this practice for 20-something female volunteer tourists in northern Thailand. Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I argue that the cultural politics of gendered generosity in these encounters overshadows the institutional and historical relationships on which the experience is based and that, in a neoliberal sleight of hand, the political is displaced by the individual with celebrity sheen.     

Integrating Rijeka into socialist Yugoslavia: the politics of national identity and the new city’s image (1947–1955)

This article investigates the politics of national identity implemented in Rijeka after World War II, when the city was integrated into socialist Yugoslavia. These national and political transitions posed various challenges to the consolidation of the Yugoslav Communists’ power. The nationalities policy embedded in the slogan “Brotherhood and Unity” was the official answer to the national question, promoting collaboration among the Croatian majority, the Italian minority, and other national communities in the city. This article focuses on the definition of postwar Rijeka’s image, investigating the relationship between Yugoslav socialism and national identities in everyday political practice. The negotiation of the representation of national identities in a socialist society led to ambivalences, contradictions, and contentions expressed in and through Rijeka’s public spaces, highlighting the different orientations of cultural and political actors. The process of building socialist Yugoslavia in this specific borderland context reveals the balance and tension between the multinational framework and the integrative tendencies pertaining to the legitimization and consolidation of the socialist system.