The Michigan militia: Political engagement or political alienation?

The split within the Michigan Militia leadership highlights a disagreement between competing factions about the role militia groups should play in the political system. Norm Olson, the deposed commander of the group, rejects political participation entirely and focuses on the militia's paramilitary role. The leadership that replaced him under Lynn VanHuizen and Tom Wayne actively engages the political system, using tactics resembling those of modern interest groups. Despite continued challenges to VanHuizen and Wayne's leadership, the Michigan Militia has maintained this focus. Ada Finifter's classic conception of the multiple dimensions of political alienation is utilized as a framework from which to understand these different views of political participation. Strategies that restrict or stigmatize traditional forms of political participation by militia groups may, in certain cases, increase the likelihood of violence and should be carefully considered in light of this risk.     

Development agencies: Global or solo players?

This paper questions whether development agencies and their staff, at whatever level (community-based organisations, national or international NGOs) are sufficiently clear about their own values and roles, and seeks to analyse tensions and dilemmas that arise when roles are confused. Clarity about the roles of the people and agencies involved is essential for the development of a valid global citizens' movement that can interconnect local and global problems and actors, and work towards sustainable solutions.     

Australia's dilemma between geography and history: how consolidated is engagement with Asia?

Australia's relations with Asia have been variously envisionedas integration, enmeshment or engagement, and this relationshipdescribed as comprehensive, close, cooperative, positive andmultifaceted. Among its components, economic, political, socio-cultural,and military or strategic spheres have been distinguished. Theuse of several designations, and the emphasis of distinctivecharacteristics and components, has led to the appearance ofdifferent meanings and implications. In order to overcome thisproblem, this article aims to provide a conceptual frameworkin terms of which the process of Australia's engagement withAsia can be described, explained and predicted. Thus, a conceptualframework is developed, and tested empirically for the period1991–2001. This article argues that Australia is stillfar from achieving behavioral, attitudinal and institutionalconsolidation in its engagement with Asia.     

A transformation from political to criminal violence? Politics,organised crime and the shifting functions of Haiti's urban armed groups

In 2004, an unlikely combination of rural insurgent groups and urban gangs fought over the fate of President Aristide and brought Haiti to the brink of civil war. Ten years on, the country is still plagued by instances of armed violence. While most policy experts and practitioners seem to agree that over the last decade, violence transformed from a political into a criminal phenomenon, scholars remain divided over the question of whether Haiti's urban armed groups should be framed as a political movement or as hardened criminals. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and overt observation conducted during six months of fieldwork in Haiti in 2013, this article argues that it is crucial to refocus the analysis on the functions gangs fulfil on behalf of their politico-criminal sponsors. In contrast to the proclaimed internal shift from political to criminal motivation, this approach suggests that the constantly changing priorities of political entrepreneurs and organised crime groups shape the nature of the violent service offered by urban armed groups. The findings of this article mirror comparable dynamics in other countries in Latin America or sub-Saharan Africa and have crucial implications for international agencies working in the urban environment and dealing with urban armed groups.     

The Rise of China:The Sustained Development of the WorldSystem or the End of It? *

It has been a controversial issue in the past thirty-odd years in academiccircles at home and abroad whether China’s economic rise as a unique developmentmodel sustains and supplements the world system or brings an end to it. This articlemakes an analysis of the basic features of the three historical stages of the worldsystem established 500 years ago from the perspective of the relationship between theworld system and the rise and fall of countries. The analysis finds that the stages ofmercantilism (1500-1750/1800), liberal economy (1800/1850-1914/1945) and mixedeconomy (1945-2030) were mainly based respectively on “geographical discovery” and“colonialism,” “industrial revolution” and “free trade,” and “economic globalization”and “system innovation.” For the above-mentioned reasons, “geographical discovery,”“international trade and finance,” “science and technology” and “internationalinstitutions and mechanisms” are the four fundamental driving forces that the worldsystem has depended on for its existence for 500 years. The world system provideda context for the rise and fall of each individual country in the past 500 years, whilethe economic success China has achieved in the past three decades mainly benefitsfrom its constant integration into this world system still in existence today. Therefore,the challenge to China in its future development will come, to a great extent, fromthe world system and its impact on China’s domestic politics, economy and socialstructure.     

Microstate Democracy: Majority or Consensus; Diffusion or Problem-Solving?

While several studies suggest that small country size is conducive to democracy, the understanding of this link between smallness and democracy is still less than complete. By examining the nature and profile of microstate democracy in the year 2005, this article aims at promoting a better understanding. Two research tasks are pursued. First, the article investigates if microstate democracy is predominantly about majority democracy, or alternatively consensus democracy, or a blend of majority and consensus. Second, while testing the validity of diffusion and rationality assumptions for explaining country choices of democratic form, the article aims at drawing forth a better appreciation of the foundations of microstate democracy. The findings indicate that smallness is particularly conducive to majority democracy, and that diffusion goes a long way to explain this small state preference for majority rule. However, the microstates within the majoritarian framework are often inclined to resort to non-majoritarian choices, and elements of rationality are therefore in the picture as well. Small size does not appear to associate systematically with culture to the exclusion of rationality or with rationality to the exclusion of culture.     

From Copenhagen to Geneva:New Problems Faced in Global Social Development──Summary of a multilateral symposium on Social Development with the Backdrop of Globalization

I. Background and Purpose or theSymposiumA multilateral symposium on Social De- velopment with the Backdrop of Globalization was jointly held by CAFIU and theFrench Lebret Research Center in Beijingfrom June12 to 14. Fourteen leading members of NGOs from such Asian, African,Latin American and European countries asthe Philippines, India, Vietnam, Republicof Korea, Cambodia, Madagascar, Togo,Uruguay and France were invited to attendthe symposium, together with 19 home participants …     

Is this a partnership or a relationship? Concern Worldwide maps the difference

Despite its adoption of a partnership approach within its countries of operation, Concern Worldwide has struggled to match its definition of partnership with the range of relationships in which it actually engages on the ground. A relationship-mapping diagram conceived during its Partnership Policy formulation workshop has now helped to bridge this gap between theory and reality. Country programmes have also found that the process and result of such mapping exercises help them to recognise what relationships they have, and in turn which relationships they need, in order to achieve results.     

The Negative Impact of Attorneys on Mediation Outcomes: A Myth or a Reality?

Mediators often do not welcome the presence of attorneys at the mediation table. Because of the apparent contradictions between both professions, many mediators believe that the presence of attorneys is prejudicial to the mediation process. Using empirical data collected from workplace mediation cases, we have explored the actual impact of the presence of attorneys. Our results indicate that the presence of an attorney does not significantly affect the outcome of a mediation, with two exceptions. First, the presence of attorneys in a mediation process reduces the parties' level of satisfaction with the mediator. Second, the presence of an attorney would appear to hinder the level of reconciliation possible between the parties.     

EUROSUR: saving lives or building borders?

This article analyses the origins and development of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) in order to better understand its functioning in view of its stated objectives. Particular attention will be devoted to the European Commission’s recurring claim that one of EUROSUR’s main goals is to save lives at sea. This contribution questions that assertion. It rather considers EUROSUR as representative of the steady, technocratic development of a European system for border management. The reliance on the exchange of information, the reinforcement of FRONTEX, the European Union’s agency for the coordination of operational cooperation between national border guards and the emphasis on cooperation with third countries support this claim.     

Understanding China’s changing engagement in global climate governance: a struggle for identity

Asia Europe Journal - This article offers a novel understanding of China’s changing engagement in global climate governance over the past decade. This article argues that China has embedded...     

Birds of a feather? UNDP and ActionAid implementation of Sustainable Human Development

By the 1990s, innovative ideas such as Sustainable Human Development (SHD) and People-Centred Development (PCD) had begun to shift the development discourse beyond economistic perspectives and the ideological (market versus state) debates of earlier days. This article describes how, despite their promise and the genuine efforts of international development agencies such as UNDP and ActionAid to put SHD/PCD ideas into practice, the conceptual deficiencies of the SHD/PCD paradigm, and internal organisational interests within the two agencies, have gradually displaced the agenda's core components.     

The securitisation of civil society: a case study of NGOs–State Security Investigations (SSI) relations in Egypt

This paper explores the changing role of the State Security Investigations apparatus in the context of an authoritarian regime faced with external pressures to democratise. It argues that in Egypt the State Security Investigations (SSI) has played a dual role of repressing opponents while creating and mediating political space for citizen voice and participation, eliciting a positive external image without representing a genuine threat to the regime. The SSI's role in civil society has expanded significantly, in particular since the mid-2000s, and its power is now exercised not only in a hidden form but also in a very visible manner. An increase in the SSI's visibility has increased its exercise of a more pervasive form of invisible power, as is evident from the examination of current SSI–NGO relations.     

Solidarity or hierarchy?: India’s identification with Africa and the postcolonial politics of race

The idea of solidarity between India and Africa has long drawn heavily from historical sources, including the anti-colonial legacies of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, and ongoing frustration with a hierarchical world order that subordinates them from international decision-making. In this article, I consider the historical ambivalence embedded within the ways in which India now identifies with and talks about “Africa.” I argue that elements of the Modi government’s political project is changing the meaning of India’s identification with “Africa.” After a brief theoretical discussion and a consideration of the historical context, I look at two recent examples in which India’s relationship with Africa was narrated: the 2015 India–Africa Forum Summit and the recent furor over attacks on African students in India. This has already caused upset between India and specific African states. Although still premised on shared resistance to hierarchy, there are signs that the idea of “India-Africa relations” itself can become a hierarchical discourse.