Crisis in Turkish–Israeli Relations (December 2008–June 2011): From Partnership to Enmity

Turkey and Israel had been strategic partners since the 1990s. Yet, there has been an unprecedented crisis between the two countries particularly since the winter of 2009. This article analyses the stalemate in bilateral relations, and argues that the Justice and Development Party's (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) Islamist foreign policy toward the Middle East and the 2003 Iraqi war ended the sources of strategic partnership between Turkey and Israel.     

Between parliament und government: the position of the President in the discussion about the new German Constitution (1918–19)

SUMMARY

In this article, Cristiana Scnigaglia analyzes how, when the constitution of the new German republic was being debated at Weimar in 1919, difficulties arose because there had been very little prior debate in Germany about a republican form of government, since the permanence of the monarchical system had been generally assumed. This gave great weight to the writings of Robert Redslob, the only senior academic authority who had discussed at some length the institution of a presidency in a republic. The article goes on to show how leading figures like Max Weber and Hugo Preuss, who were deeply involved in drafting the Weimar constitution, drew on Redslob's ideas in arguing for the solution that was eventually accepted, a State President directly elected by popular vote, who could act as a necessary constitutional balance by setting limits to the otherwise unlimited authority of the legislature and the central government.     

Letters to the President: participation beyond the public sphere in Argentina, 1989–1999

President Carlos Menem received thousands of letters from citizens during his two consecutive administrations (1989–1999). Most often Peronist and working class, they wrote to him to seek financial or material aid, praise, criticize, advise, communicate political opinions and invite correspondence. They injected their letters with intimate details of everyday life, their understandings of democracy, and their sense of the successes and failures of the state at meeting those criteria and forging a democratic identity for the Republic. This article provides contextualized readings of a sample of those letters in an effort to elucidate why their writers looked beyond the public sphere to express themselves, and chose the letter to the president as method. It argues that discursive participation in the public sphere remained elite-dominated, and mass mobilization did not provide the individualized results or political bonds that the letter writers sought. Furthermore, as an activity that Juan Perón had actively encouraged, writing to the president appeared an object lesson in good Peronist citizenship. The “mythical basis of the legitimacy” of Perón and his version of Justicialism had been his “direct contact with the people” (Plotkin). The letters reveal how citizens in the 1990s sought to reconstitute this imagined proximity with a Peronist president in a newly democratic context.     

The opposition Pakatan Rakyat in the twelfth Malaysian parliament, 2008–12, and parliamentary behaviour on the budget process

In the post-2008 Malaysian general election, the opposition political parties the Parti KeADILan Rakyat, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party and the Democratic Action Party started to gain currency, especially when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government was denied its two-thirds of the majority in parliament. The 2008 result indicated that there was a substantial shift in support from the incumbent BN to the opposition parties. The opposition later on was formed into a coalition known as Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The minor victory of the PR in the 2008 election suggested that it had secured a considerable number of seats in the twelfth Malaysian parliament. This article argues that the 2008 electoral outcome exhibited substantial competitive parliamentary behaviour despite the authoritarian nature of Malaysia. The article examines PR behaviour in the twelfth parliament with reference to the budget process. Besides elections, the Malaysian parliament is a very crucial indicator of the development of democratic governance in Malaysia. This article argues that the opposition PR is still relevant in the way in which it has fully exercised its legal parliamentary capability, especially its de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, in questioning and posing constraints on the ruling BN policies concerning the budget process.     

From Notary to Ruler: The Role of the President of the Republic during the Italian Crisis (2010–14)

During the period of political and economic crisis in Italy, the President of the Republic became the central institutional actor of the Italian parliamentary government. This led to a debate among party politicians and scholars of Italian politics concerning the role of the Head of State in Italian democracy. Focusing on the period from 2010 until the beginning of 2014, the article explains the growing power of the President by examining the conditions that allowed presidential powers to increase. It concludes by discussing the potential effects of the increase in presidential powers on the evolution of Italian parliamentary government.     

Beyond the Ballot Box: Changing Patterns of Political Protest Participation in Germany (1974–2008)

This article deals with the development of ‘unconventional’ political participation in Germany between 1974 and 2008. Our aim is to describe empirically the evolution of protest actions across time and differences between east and west. Moreover, we strive to unveil explanatory factors by analysing data from the Political Action Survey (1974/75) and the European Values Study (2008) in regard to lawful demonstrations. For this purpose, we draw on scholarly writing and test the causal effects of socio-demographic, social-structural and attitudinal factors. Our findings show that participation in lawful protest forms is not anymore a minoritarian, exceptional or unconventional act of political claims making, but a normal aspect of political behaviour. Demonstrations do not recruit exclusively a specific constituency with a clear social profile, but rather citizens from different social backgrounds and orientations. Moreover, our data suggest a gradual convergence between East and West Germany.     

The coup d'état in Spain: from the anti-liberal movements to the democratic revolution, 1814–1874

SUMMARY

In this article Mikel Urquijo seeks to explain the evolution of the coup d'état as a feature of the political history of Spain in the nineteenth century. The repeated interventions based on the armed forces, with a greater or lesser contribution from the civilian politicians, are seen as the method by which some alternation in government between the political factions was made possible. The article traces the development from the purely military coup, or pronunciamiento of the early years, intended to exclude civilian politicians, to the mixed coups of the mid-century. In the absence of a truly democratic political system, or a developed national and civic consciousness, in a system where the ruling party could decide the outcome of elections by executive action, the coup was the accepted method of changing the regime. But the increasing participation of civilian politicians in the process culminated in the coup of 1868, which had some of the characteristics of a democratic revolution, and overthrew for a time the Bourbon monarchy. This represents a true civic-military coup d'état.     

The Balkan Entente in Turkish–Yugoslav relations (1934–41): the Yugoslav perspective

By discussing the role of the Balkan Entente within Turkish–Yugoslav relations, this article endeavours to reflect the extent to which the Entente guaranteed security to Turkey and Yugoslavia. It deals with the 1934–41 period, which starts with the formation of the Balkan Entente and ends with the German invasion of Yugoslavia. The article is written mainly based on Yugoslav archival documents and aims to provide an alternative narrative that contests the conventional Turkish view. It also demonstrates that although the political leaders in Turkey and Yugoslavia became more optimistic about the future of the region after having signed the Balkan Entente, their perception of threat changed over time during the period of increasing instability in Europe.     

A parliamentary reception (of sorts): the Russian mission of 1645–46

The arrival of a Russian emissary, Gerasim Semenovich Dokhturov, in London in the midst of the English Civil War created a dilemma for parliamentarians who did not want to offend the Tsar’s envoy and risk losing privileges in the northern trade to the Dutch. With King Charles I absent from the capital and George, Lord Digby (later, the second Earl of Bristol), Secretary of State, having fled the country, the reception of the envoy devolved on Parliament. The focal point of the story of that reception is a decorated letter signed by the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament, William Lenthall (Commons) and Edward Montagu, second Earl of Manchester, which was sent to Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich in June 1646. The experience of the envoy, the preparations by Parliament and the sending of the letter itself to the Tsar can be seen as a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the new role that Parliament would play in state receptions after the execution of King Charles I in 1649.     

Romioi–Armenian friendship in the Ottoman Empire during the Armistice period (1918–1923)

The Romioi–Armenian friendship, which emerged after the signing of the Armistice of Mudros in October 1918, portrays a unique chapter in the history of Romioi–Armenian relations. During this distinct period, the two communities forged strong bonds over their mutual opposition against the Ottoman state. They drafted common political plans and strategies, established friendship organizations in Istanbul, organized gatherings, and the Armenian and the Ecumenical Patriarchates even entered into a discussion to unite the two churches. Thus, the relationship between the Armenian and the Romioi communities during the Armistice period holds significance in the broader context of the history of Greek–Armenian relations. This article explores the extent of the Romioi–Armenian friendship during the Armistice period through an extensive collection of primary sources including Armenian and Ottoman Turkish newspapers in order to demonstrate how the community leaders worked to improve relations between the Armenian and Romioi communities.     

Deliberative democracy and the politics of traditional leadership in South Africa: A case of despotic domination or democratic deliberation?

A heated debate developed in South Africa as to the meaning of ‘deliberative democracy’. This debate is fanned by the claims of ‘traditional leaders’ that their ways of village-level deliberation and consensus-oriented decision-making are not only a superior process for the African continent as it evolves from pre-colonial tradition, but that it represents a form of democracy that is more authentic than the Western version. Proponents suggest that traditional ways of deliberation are making a come-back because imported Western models of democracy that focus on the state and state institutions miss the fact that in African societies state institutions are often seen as illegitimate or simply absent from people's daily lives. In other words, traditional leadership structures are more appropriate to African contexts than their Western rivals. Critics suggest that traditional leaders, far from being authentic democrats, are power-hungry patriarchs and authoritarians attempting to both re-invent their political, social and economic power (frequently acquired under colonial and apartheid rule) and re-assert their control over local-level resources at the expense of the larger community. In this view, the concept of deliberative democracy is being misused as a legitimating device for a politics of patriarchy and hierarchy, which is the opposite of the meaning of the term in the European and US sense. This article attempts to contextualise this debate and show how the efforts by traditional leaders to capture an intermediary position between rural populations and the state is fraught with conflicts and contradictions when it comes to forming a democratic state and society in post-apartheid South Africa.     

A Precarious Path: The Evolution of Civil–Military Relations in the Philippines

Abstract

In the Philippines, the armed forces have played a major role in the country's authoritarian past. Yet despite the advent of democracy, vestiges of authoritarianism have continued to linger. This article analyzes the successes and failures in the efforts of Philippine civilians to gain authority over their military in five areas of political decision making, with the objective of achieving consolidated democratic rule. The article argues that in the Philippines, civilians have made genuine progress in curtailing the influence of military in certain areas, while in others, the armed forces continue to challenge civilian prerogatives. The article concludes that the ability of the Philippine military to continue acting in breach of civilian supremacy in certain areas reflects an impediment to democratically elected authorities' power to govern effectively.     

Construction of Gender and National Identity in Turkey: Images of the First Lady in the Turkish Media (2002–7)

This article analyses the conception of womanhood and nationhood in Turkey through images of the First Lady in the media. It demonstrates that while there is a struggle between the secularist and Islamist media on issues such as Turkish national identity and public visibility, the secularist and Islamist discourses overlap when it comes to gender roles. In both cases, the private sphere is designated as the primary domain of women and the agency of women in the public sphere is limited by the symbolic duties they are expected to perform in accordance with the national imaginary.     

From the rebellion of the Prussian league to the autonomy of Royal Prussia: The estates of Prussia and Poland in the years 1454–1526

Summary

This article examines the successive stages in the conflict between Prussian particularism and royal centralism after the separation of the Prussian League from the Teutonic Order and incorporation into the Polish Crown in 1454. The Incorporation Privilege, though interpreted on the one side as a purely personal union and on the other as a real incorporation, remained a point of reference regulating the public and legal relationship between Royal Prussia and Crown Poland for three centuries. It is argued that the years up to 1526 can be considered as a period of consolidation of Prussian particularism and autonomy, although from the 1510s a new policy of participation was beginning to emerge in the Estates, reflecting the interests of the Prussian nobility and their increasing expression in the political arena.