The politics of purity: discourses of deception and integrity in contemporary international cricket

The International Cricket Council and civil prosecutions of three Pakistani cricketers and their fixer brought player corruption in cricket to public scrutiny once more. A range of English media commentators and the sentencing judge referred to cricket’s loss of innocence because of the deception of the Pakistani cricketers. However, commercialisation, racism and dealings with corrupt political regimes have all exposed cricket as less innocent than many of its English defenders would admit. Furthermore, the demonisation of Pakistani cricketers as cheats blurs the boundary between individual responsibility and cultural characteristics with negative consequences for Muslims in the post-9/11 world.     

Quality of Political Management and the Role of Corruption: A Cross-Country Analysis

Using the Bertelsmann Transformation Political Management Index (PMI, 2008), which measures the role and quality of political leaders, this study empirically investigates the relationship among corruption, economic freedom, and political management, controlling for the underlying socio-economic and cultural factors that shape the success of a country's political leadership. The results suggest that corruption significantly affects the quality of political management and that the effect is dependent on the level of economic freedom.     

The Tribes that Bind: Yemen and the Paradox of Political Violence

Beset by multiple security challenges, not least the emergence of a powerful Al Qaeda franchise, Yemen appears the antithesis of the “Weberian” state model. But while these challenges are acute, they should be seen as part of a wider “political field,” dominated by powerful tribes and conditioned by patrimonial networks that have long framed the modes of political exchange between the center and periphery. This remains crucial to understanding the wider eddies of tribal politics in Yemen, and in turn, the limits of a purely military response by Washington as it seeks to confront Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.     

Islamic Fundamentalism and Women's Economic Role: The Case of Iran

It is commonly believed that Islamic fundamentalism is responsible for the low female employment rate in the Middle East and North Africa. I earlier presented evidence from Indonesia indicating that the deteriorating conditions of women's economic role in the 1990s was related to the economic circumstances of the Asian Crisis, not to the rise of political Islam (Bahranitash, 2002). In fact, in Indonesia, increasing support for the Islamic movement was itself spurred by the Asian Crisis. As a contrasting case, I here examine Iran, a country where political Islam has been in power for over two decades. If commonly held views about the impact of the Islamic religion on female employment were true, one would expect a steady or sharp decline of the female employment rate in postrevolutionary Iran. The empirical data show the reverse. Women's formal employment rates increased in the 1990s and did so much faster than they had during the 1960s and 1970s, when a pro-Western secular regime was in power. This sharp increase in women's employment seriously challenges the view that religion explains women's economic status in Muslim countries. The evidence from Iran indicates that the situation of women's employment there has followed a common pattern of elsewhere in the South—an overall increase in female employment. This fact then suggests that the forces of international political economy, rather than religion, appear to be a determining factor in the state of women's economic role in Iran.     

Women's Coalitions as a Strategy at the Intersection of Economic and Political Change in Venezuela

This essay presents an overview of women's coalitions during economic and political crises. Evidence suggests that success can be explained by opportunities opened by crises, international funding and agendas, and threats to previously won rights. The paper considers the decline of women's organizing in the late 1980s and early 1990s; the shift from civil society initiatives to greater involvement by politicians and femocrats; the emergence of short-term, more focused coalitions; and a rhetoric that became more clearly feminist throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium.     

Participatory Initiatives and Political Representation: The Case of Local Councillors in Sweden

The health of political parties and the institutions of representative democracy have been extensively questioned during the last decade due to evidence of a widespread decline in voting turnout, political trust, and party membership as well as identification. An often-proposed, but also often-questioned, strategy to strengthen representative democracy is for political institutions to offer alternative forms of political participation through so-called participatory initiatives. The literature suggests that participatory initiatives will have little impact on representative democracy if no adaptation among political representatives is apparent. This paper explores the consistency between participatory initiatives in Swedish municipalities and the attitudes, practices and role-taking of local councillors, comparing pioneer municipalities where extensive numbers of participatory initatives have been executed vis-à-vis hesitator municipalities where few initiatives have been implemented. The study indicates that local participatory initiatives may stimulate political representation by creating new channels for citizen input and communication between citizens and representatives that are supported by local councillors in the pioneer municipalities. However, the core roles of parties and councillors in representative democracy appear not to be challenged by these initiatives, being similar in both groups of municipalities. The article is concluded by a discussion of the implications of these results for the function of participatory initiatives in local democracy.     

How Migration Experience Affects the Acceptance and Active Support of Refugees? Philanthropy and Paid Work of Hungarian Migrants in the German Immigrant Service

Abstract

The paper examines migration experience and migrant solidarity within a differential migration system. The paper unfolds how Hungarians living in Germany have become involved in refugee support (either in form of voluntary or paid work), and how their engagement relates to their own experience of migration. Concerning applied methods the paper is based on a quantitative online survey and qualitative interviews.     

Sacral Defense of Secularism: The Political Theologies of Soroush, Shabestari, and Kadivar

This paper discusses three post-revolutionary dissident political theologies in Iran. They all question the absolutist theology of the ruling clerics and utilize indigenous sources of scholarship to oppose the clerical hegemony. They have complementary emphases: whereas Soroush highlights the variable nature of religious knowledge, Shabestari and Kadivar underline its limited and multiple nature. They represent the maturing of the dialogue of the Iranian-Islamic thought with Western social and political philosophy, and as the coming of age of the indigenous Islamic political theology reclaiming its pluralistic and democratic elements. Together, they attack the totalitarian Islam, and call for a guarded and objective secularism, while preserving Islam's spiritual and cultural identity.     

美国“Z世代”大学生政治认同两极化及其原因

美国“Z世代”大学生的政治认同呈现明显两极化、主体向左的趋势。一方面,这种两极化与两党意识形态、政策立场保持高度一致;另一方面,两极化也显示出新的代际特征,即鲜明的道德色彩与强烈的对抗性。从社会心理学角度看,政治认同两极化的原因包括信念激情期的周期性再现、美国大学校园成为政治认同极化的孵化器、安全空间建构与微侵犯观念隔断大学不同政见者的沟通与交流、社交媒体强化“Z世代”同一阵营内部的政治认同等。“Z世代”大学生以“对抗共同敌人”的方式参与2020年美国总统选举并使投票率创下新高,这成为其政治认同极化公开表达的明证。这一态势引起了专家、学者等的警惕,重建大学校园政治生态成为美国社会的共识。大学生政治认同两极化也给未来的中美关系增添了不确定因素,社交媒体的运用将使“Z世代”大学生对华民意更具敌意,受害者心理将使美国舆论在人权等相关问题上对中国持更负面的评价,安全空间防线将使中国对外文化传播受到进一步干扰。“Z世代”大学生政治认同两极化趋势及大学校园政治生态将是评估美国政治未来走向的重要参考因素。     

Political Entrepreneurs and Public Administration Reform: The Case of the Local Authorities' Unification Reform in Israel

This article examines a specific institutional change in Israel. In 2003 the Israeli Knesset implemented the local authority unification plan, an unprecedented reform in the structure of local authorities in Israel. This article is about a local government reorganization taking place in a unique political culture. This article tries to integrate the role of political entrepreneurs within an Institutionalist and “learning” perspectives to offer an explanation to a local government structure, thus politicians influence and are influenced by a wide range of institutional norms and practices in a complex process of design and determination of institutional change.     

Neo-liberalism and Domestic Capital: The Political Outcomes of the Economic Crisis in Thailand

The 1997 economic crisis in Thailand provided an opportunity for a reinvigoration of neo-liberal economic policies. International financial institutions, together with Thailand's Democrat-led government, emphasised further market reforms, liberalisation, deregulation, decentralisation, privatisation and a reduced role for the state. The deep economic downturn saw a popular rejection of such policies, meaning that the neo-liberal interregnum was short-lived. The 2001 landslide electoral victory of the Thai Rak Thai Party symbolised the intensity of opposition to neo-liberalism. It also showed that national governments remain critical in shaping markets and that domestic economic actors continue to have significant political roles. In Thailand, far from neutering domestic capital's political capacity, the crisis and opposition to neo-liberalism saw this enhanced. One reason for this was that neo-liberal restructuring was not simply about the efficient operation of the market. Rather, it demanded a fundamental transformation of the operations of government and of the ways that business was organised and conducted. This threatened domestic capital. Its economic survival required that it seize the state so that it could control economic policy-making. This was achieved through the Thai Rak Thai electoral victory and its subsequent rule, where the protection of domestic capital's interests was achieved through a re-negotiation of its social contract with other classes.     

Oligarchic rule and best practice migration management: the political economy origins of labour migration regime of the Philippines

The Philippine labour migration regime has been praised as one of the best examples of government-led migration management in the developing world, with some of the most extensive policies and bureaucratic organisations to manage and protect its citizens working abroad. However, not much knowledge has been accumulated that explains its origins or why it emerged in the Philippines and not in other large-scale migrant-sending countries. Contrary to current explanations that emphasise the economic benefits of labour migration and civil society mobilisation, this paper highlights the migration regime's compatibility with the political economy interests of the country's ruling elites. Bringing together the country's two important political and economic features, oligarchic rule and labour export, this paper suggests that the unique genesis of the Philippines’ migration regime casts doubts on the replicability of the Philippine model in other labour-sending countries as currently pursued by the international development community.     

The Correlates of Corruption in India: Analysis and Evidence from the States

Robert Bartley, Chan Heng Chee, Samuel P. Huntington and Shijuro Ogata, Democracy and Capitalism: Asian and American Perspectives (Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies, 1993), 81 pp.

Charles Hirschman, Charles F. Keyes and Karl Hutterer (eds.), with the assistance of G. Carter Bently, Southeast Asian Studies in the Balance: Reflections from America (Ann Arbor: The Association for Asian Studies, 1992), 146 pp.

S. Gordon Redding, The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism, (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1993), 267 pp.

Zhongguo Quanli Jigou yu Lingdaoren (Power Structure and Leadership in the People's Republic of China) (Hong Kong: Ming Pao China Study Research Unit, 1993), 277 pp.

Robert Cottrell, The End of Hong Kong: The Secret Diplomacy of Imperial Retreat (London: John Murray, 1993), xi, 244 pp.

John Andrews, The Asian Challenge ‐ Looking Beyond 2000 (Hong Kong: Longman, 1992), 218 pp.     

The Politics of Competitive Tendering: Political Orientation and Attitudes towards Contracting Out among Finnish Local Politicians

Using survey data on Finnish local politicians (n = 364) we examine the extent to which political orientation affects attitudes towards and perceptions of competitive tendering in social and health service provision. Expectation of cost benefits turns out to be the most important factor accounting for willingness to increase the usage of competitive tendering. The perceived positive impact of tendering on local democracy is also related to local politicians' readiness to implement reforms. However, political orientation does have a strong effect on politicians' perceptions. We also consider whether there are mitigating factors that could mask the relationship between political orientation and attitudes towards tendering. We identify one such factor, municipal employment: public-sector employees form a kind of informal ‘interest group’ resisting public-sector reforms in municipal decision making. In general, our results suggest that macro-level studies on competitive tendering underestimate the effects of political ideology on local decision making.     

Health Care Versus Border Care: Justification and Hypocrisy in the Multilevel Negotiation of Irregular Migrants’ Access to Fundamental Rights and Services

Abstract

Providing—and also not providing—public services to unlawful residents implies a certain cost for host societies, and both inclusion and exclusion involve localized renegotiations of fundamental rights, legitimate needs, and social membership. Based on original qualitative research data, this article compares how, why, and under which conditions irregular migrants are granted or denied access to healthcare services provided in London and Barcelona. From a multi-level perspective and by drawing on organization theory, I highlight key differences in how the responsible governments deal with the underlying contradictions and thereby either help or hinder effective policy implementation.     

Economic Reform and Social Change in China: Past, Present, and Future of the Economic State

China's socioeconomic crisis before 1978 and its success over the past two decades can be viewed as a zigzag process of politicization and depoliticization of the economic state. By summarizing the Chinese experience, this article shows the importance of a specific pattern of general public policy (GPP) in determining the nature of a policy system. China's economic and serialized reforms since 1978 are reviewed in order to illuminate the current situation and future direction of the nation. The changes have undermined the economic state by creating a trend of de-economicization in the Chinese government. If economic reform and social change are to continue smoothly, another transfer of state emphasis to more balanced development is required.     

Public Employment in the Economic Downturn: The Case of an Australian State

Employment has been severely affected by the global financial crisis (GFC). This research considers the effects of the GFC on an Australian state public service workforce, reviewing trends before, during, and in the aftermath of the GFC. The workforce continued to grow, but at a slower pace, and with changes in inflows and outflows of employees. The workforce profile changed, with some decrease in the proportion of more vulnerable groups and some retention of stronger groups perhaps seeking a refuge during the GFC. Significant decentralization of workforce responsibility has meant comparatively little central effort to effect change during the GFC.     

Political transitions and commissions of inquiry: the politicisation of accountability in Ghana

Abstract

What role does a commission of inquiry (COI) play in delivering accountability? In theory, when the public delegates power to political leaders to formulate and implement policies, they seek political accountability in return. Using Ghana as a case study, this study examines how the operations of COIs may deliver accountability. Principal–agent theories of accountability and African conceptions of legitimacy are incomplete on their own and need to be integrated into an explanation of political accountability that takes into consideration political transitions and the role of COIs in delivering a minimalist form of accountability. This study argues that a COI is an instrument of regime legitimatisation. The demands by citizens for political accountability in Ghana correlate with political transitions. Accompanying each power alternation was a different model of political accountability. To understand the predominant applications of accountability, we emphasise the politicisation of accountability.     

The unbearable lightness of membership: Bulgaria and Romania after the 2007 EU accession

This paper focuses on the current political and socio-economic situation in the two most recent EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania. Overall, the post-accession period in both countries has been comparable to that in the East-Central European members that had joined the Union on 1 May 2004. However, there have been some significant differences in the post-accession path of Bulgaria and Romania, which set them apart from the rest of the EU-10, as well as among themselves. For instance, the problem of corruption has been a particularly salient theme for the political elites of both countries and it led to the paralysis of the cabinet in Romania during the first year of its membership and to the rise of powerful populist alternatives in Bulgaria. What has probably been even more distinguishing in the cases of Bulgaria and Romania is their apparent inability to swiftly deal with the political and social challenges emerging after accession, as well as to adequately respond to the process of Europeanization. The main reason for this has been the unfinished political and socio-economic transformation of both countries, accompanied by the consolidation of certain ‘reserve domains’, occupied by the former secret services and semi-mafia structures.