Criminal Violence and Democratization in Central America: The Survival of the Violent State

Why does Nicaragua have less violent crime than Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras? All these countries underwent political transitions in the 1990s. Many explanations point to the legacies of war, socioeconomic underdevelopment, and neoliberal structural reforms. However, these arguments do not fully explain why, despite economic reforms conducted throughout the region, war‐less Honduras and wealthier Guatemala and El Salvador have much more crime than Nicaragua. This article argues that public security reforms carried out during the political transitions shaped the ability of the new regimes to control the violence produced by their own institutions and collaborators. In the analysis of the crisis of public security, it is important to bring the state back. The survival of violent entrepreneurs in the new security apparatus and their relationship with new governing elites foster the conditions for the escalation of violence in northern Central America.     

African modernities and the critical reappropriation of indigenous knowledges: Towards a polycentric global epistemology

ABSTRACT

While the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU/NEPAD) strives for both plurilateralism and regionalism, there are ideological and practical conditions that challenge the feasibility of a fully fledged regional integration institution in Africa. This article examines the AU/NEPAD in relation to Africa's ideological back-loading, while it explores how the programme reconciles Western-dominated economic plurilateralism with Africa's developmental regionalism. It highlights the ideological changes that helped with the modernisation of Western countries and how these developments become a challenge to Africa's economic development efforts. Africa has always been an ideological back-loader and a delayed integrator into global interdependence. During the mid-20^th century, at the time Western countries (in particular Western European countries) were adopting regionalism, Africa was engaged in the same phenomenon for political and economic independence. While the economic crisis of the mid-20^th century following the Second World War (WW2) enabled the industrialised countries to adopt embedded liberalism for socioeconomic development, at decolonisation Africa sought to espouse what turned out to be the dependency paradigm as the economic development strategy for Africa. In the 21st century, developed regions are transcending regionalism and gearing towards plurilateralism while most African leaders remain fixated in traditional regional integration on the continent. As the neoliberal ideology dominates the contemporary international political economy of the 21^st century, albeit questionably, Africa's politico-socioeconomic realities are also premised on the same embedded liberalism. However, economic plurilateralism by industrialised countries with Africa challenges efforts towards regional integration on the continent. It would seem that the AU/NEPAD provides a viable compromise between developmental regionalism and economic plurilateralism on the continent.     

Towards a critical realist perspective on African conflicts

With various attempts being made to address religious, ethnic and political conflicts in Africa, one question which continues to feature in public discourses concerns the contributions which the African academic community could make towards the understanding and resolution of conflict. This article demonstrates that ontological issues need to be critical in any attempts at effectively analysing conflicts. The merit of the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar, with its ontological concerns, is presented as an important analytical and resolution model which the African academic community can fall back on, to look for effective solutions to conflict on the continent. The thrust in this article is that the properties of the critical realist approach to social research make it practically adequate for analysing conflicts.     

From Secessionist Conflict Toward a Functioning State: Processes of State- and Nation-Building in Transnistria

How have the Transnistrian authorities sought to consolidate de facto statehood in the absence of international recognition? Starting from the idea that the time factor will eventually transform secessionists into state-builders, this article traces how the processes of state- and nation-building promoted by the Transnistrian de facto authorities have evolved since the early 1990s. Drawing on official sources, interviews, journalism, and the political science literature, the domestic dimensions of state- and nation-building in de facto state conflicts are examined. These include fulfillment of basic requirements of state-building, development of economic viability, and nation-building processes that attempt to create a unifying identity.     

Ethnic Conflict and State Building in Burma

Commentaries on contemporary Bangladesh give increasing attention to the role of religion, particularly its more “fundamentalist” forms, in public politics. Here we offer an alternative analysis that explores the significance of religion in people's everyday lives, concentrating on its articulation in community politics. We draw on an important local distinction between dharma understood as a moral foundation for life and dharma understood more narrowly as “religion.” Our empirical analysis suggests that it is the former sense of dharma which has greater relevance for the moral order of the community, and is used to evaluate and structure its social and political institutions, including those identified as “religious.” This perspective furnishes fresh insights into the dynamic relationship between religion, politics and social change in modern Bangladesh.     

Towards a military doctrine for humanistic intervention in African conflicts

Abstract

The article is presented against the background of the need for African military forces to deal with the complexities that come with leading and participating in multinational military operations in Africa. The research problem that guided this research is: What should the doctrine of military forces in Africa be to enable them to work together as part of the multinational forces while serving African interests? The aim is to investigate the possibility of a military doctrine that would serve African interests in the context of the reality of a multinational approach to military intervention. This aim has been achieved by offering theoretical assumptions on military doctrine, multinational military intervention and humanistic values in Africa to form a theoretical framework for deploying the argument. An in-depth discussion of African military practice prior to colonialism, the multinational and humanistic nature of military operations since the end of the previous century, as well critical reflections on the quest for a military doctrine that reflect the humanistic values of Africa resulted in some important findings. The main finding is that the people of Africa have accumulated a wealth of military knowledge over many centuries that is sufficient to develop an endogenous (home grown) military doctrine that can serve the African people. An endogenous military doctrine would be based on the principles of people-centredness; flexibility; collectiveness; affordability and institutionalisation to place African humanistic values and continental policies at the forefront in strategic decision-making and implementation. Taking into consideration the above-mentioned principles some practical measures are recommended.     

Towards an Afrokology of knowledge production and African regeneration

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of the scientificity of studying and generally investigating historical phenomena in which African achievements are properly recognised and appropriated as such by all humanity. This approach is not necessarily African‐centric or Afrocentric. It is a universal scientific approach that goes beyond Eurocentricism. It recognises other sources of knowledge as valid within their historical, cultural or social contexts, and seeks to dialogue with them. It recognises tradition as a fundamental pillar in the creation of such cross‐cultural knowledge in which Africans can stand out as having been the forebearers of much of what is called a Greek or European heritage. This scientific approach is provisionally called Afrokology, which encompasses the philosophical, epistemological and methodological issues, all seen as part of the process of creating an African self‐understanding that can place Africa in today's global world, and in which it is recognised as a full partner and forebear of much of the human heritage.

African scholars must pursue knowledge production that can renovate African culture, defend the African people's dignity and civilisational achievements and contribute afresh to a new global agenda that can push humanity out of the crisis of modernity as promoted by the European Enlightenment. Such knowledge must be relevant to the current needs of the masses, which they can use to bring about a social transformation out of their present plight. We cannot just talk about the production of ‘knowledge for its own sake’ without interrogating its purpose. There cannot be such a thing as the advancement of science for its own sake. Those who pursue ‘science for its own sake’ find that their knowledge is used for purposes which they may never have intended it. Eurocentric knowledge is not produced purely for its own sake. Its purpose throughout the ages has been to enable them to ‘know the natives’ in order to take control of their territories, including human and material resources (Said 1978) for their benefit. Such control of knowledge was used to exploit the non‐European peoples, to colonise them both mentally and geo‐strategically, as well as to subordinate the rest of the world to their designs and interests. This article adopts and explores Afrokology, a philosophical, epistemological and methodological approach that emphasises that Africa's achievements are recognised.

The issue of an African Renaissance, which has been advanced politically, especially by the South African President Thabo Mbeki, cannot be viewed as an event in the politics of the African political elites, although that may be their purpose. It has to be taken up, problematised, interrogated and given meaning that goes beyond the intentions of its authors, and involve the masses of the African people in it if it has the potential to mobilise. It can be used as an occasion for beginning the journey of African psychological, social, cultural as well as political liberation. It can also be used as a mobilisation statement and the basis for articulating an African agenda for knowledge production that is not only relevant to African conditions, but also sets an agenda for the reclaiming of African originality of knowledge and wisdom, which set the rest of human society on the road of civilisation.     

俄格冲突:地缘政治框架下的分析

2008年8月爆发的俄格冲突是相关各方地缘政治博弈背景下的产物,它反映了俄罗斯与格鲁吉亚、俄罗斯与美国以及欧亚地区三个层次的地缘政治冲突的现实.冲突也相应地在三个层次上产生了反映地缘政治冲突的力量格局和平衡的现实结果.俄格冲突也在地缘政治层面对今后国际局势产生了重要影响,其中包括对当前美国主导的国际秩序的冲击,对北约未来发展的冲击以及对国际能源局势的冲击.     

美国对华战略及其内在矛盾

美国对华战略可分为对华安全战略、经济战略、人权战略和对台湾问题的政策.冷战结束以来,美国对华战略经历了一个演变过程.该战略存在严重的内在矛盾,包括战略目标与心态之间的矛盾、战略框架与政策选择之间的矛盾、美国对台政策的内在矛盾、自由贸易与贸易保护主义之间的矛盾等.这些内在矛盾实际上也成为制约这一战略的因素.     

Change and Continuity after the Arab Uprising: The Consequences of State Formation in Arab North African States

This article provides a comparative macro-level overview of political development in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. It examines their evolution from the colonial period through several distinct phases, showing how differences in their origins were followed over time by a certain convergence towards a common post-populist form of authoritarianism, albeit still distinguished according to monarchic and republican legitimacy principles. On this basis, it assesses how past state formation trajectories made the republics more vulnerable to the Arab uprising but also what differences they make for the prospects of post-uprising democratisation. While in Morocco the monarch's legitimacy allows it to continue divide-and-rule politics, in Egypt the army's historic central role in politics has been restored, while in Tunisia the trade union movement has facilitated a greater democratic transition.     

Violent Uprooting and Forced Migration: A Demographic Analysis of the Greek Populations of AsiaMinor,Pontus and Eastern Thrace

This article systematically examines the historical demography of Greek refugees from Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace from the beginning of the 1910s until the aftermath of the signing of the Convention of Lausanne and even later until 1928 when the first general census after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922 took place in Greece. In this context, the article focuses firstly on a comparative examination of the available sources concerning the number of Greeks living in Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace before the outbreak of the First World War, and secondly on the number of refugees pouring into Greece before and after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922. It is argued that the Greeks of Asia Minor and Pontus suffered numerous losses because of the persecution by the Turkish authorities and because of their violent uprooting from their homelands. On the other hand, it is argued that the Greek population of Eastern Thrace was in general much less affected by the Turkish atrocities despite the fact that even this population was obliged to seek refuge in Greece after 1922.     

Conflict Management and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Importance of Capturing the "right Moment"

Professor Jacob Bercovitch of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and S. Ayse Kadayifci from the American University in Washington D.C., argue that the current conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians can be best understood as an example of a complex intractable conflict. Such conflicts are usually managed through the intervention of mediators at the "right moment," otherwise they risk failure and further conflict escalation. In contrast to the literature on "ripe moments," the authors argue that it is possible to have more then one right moment in the life cycle of a conflict, which can even be created by mediators. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there was such a moment in 1993, which was subsequently lost. In the following article, the authors analyze the Oslo Process from this "ripe moment" perspective, and suggest an integrated third party approach to create a perception amongst the parties involved that a moment of opportunity is at hand.     

Police Drones and the Air: Towards a Volumetric Geopolitics of Security

The paper explores the aerial dimension of policing and surveillance. It does so by drawing upon select results from a large‐scale survey conducted in 2017 among professional (public and private) drone users in Switzerland. Focusing in particular on the police, the paper shows that the technology not only generates novel ways of looking down from above, but also of looking up from below, thus instilling a kind of air‐mindedness among the police. In making the airspace explicit as an object, and stake of imaginaries, concerns and practices, drones mediate novel ways of relating to the air, understanding it, approaching it and acting in relation to it.     

The Anzac Citizen: Towards a History of the RSL

This article examines the early years of the Returned Sailors’and Soldiers’Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA, later RSL). It argues that ideas of citizenship were pivotal to the world view and activism of the RSL as it sought to advance the interests and outlooks of its members. The RSL claimed that its members had served the nation and empire to such an extent that their citizenship status was enhanced, while that of those who had not served was diminished. This philosophy provided the underpinnings and justification for the RSL's campaigns for better pension rights, employment opportunities and access to land, often at the expense of those the RSL believed were of lower civic status through a lack of war service.     

属灵的冲突来自属物的冲突--东南亚宗教冲突初探

宗教问题和民族问题将是21世纪困扰人类社会最复杂的问题,东南亚是一个多宗教的地区,婆罗门教、佛教、伊斯兰教、天主教都曾经在东南亚盛行一时,东南亚国家在独立以后,一些国家内部的宗教冲突一直连续不断,特别是20世纪60、70年代泰国南部地区穆斯林和佛教徒之间的冲突;70、80年代菲律宾南部的穆斯林和天主教徒之间的冲突和90年代末印度尼西亚马鲁古群岛穆斯林和基督教徒之间的冲突,导致社会的激烈动荡,带来了经济、文化等方面的重大损失.本文通过分析60年代到90年代在东南亚地区发生的不同宗教教徒之间的冲突,阐释产生冲突的历史渊源,并从制度的角度观察精神世界的冲突.笔者认为属于精神层面的宗教冲突在很大程度上来自一些制度层面的失误.因此,解决宗教冲突的关键并不是单纯地针对精神层面的因素,解决宗教冲突的外部原因比解决宗教的内部原因更为重要.