Promises of an impossible compromise: conceded constitutions in Europe, 1814–1906

The enactment of a constitution through the method of ‘concession’, as it was used in Europe between the Napoleonic wars and World War I, indicates that a hitherto absolute ruler understood the need for a higher level of institutionalization and collective exercise of state power, but mistrusted institutionalized and collective processes, which would define the level needed. In other word, a ‘concession’ comprehended an imminent contradiction. Drafting an enduring constitution is a complex and difficult task, which requires consensus- building on a wide scale through collective procedures. However, a ruler who ‘concedes’ implicitly denies any kind of collective constitution-making, which could get out of the ruler’s control. Instead rulers preferred a non-inclusive approach, using court advisors and/or ministers appointed by the ruler, to draft the constitutional text. The European experience analyzed in this article shows that popular involvement through representative procedures (such as the election of a constituent assembly) in the making of a constitution can improve its chances for endurance through time and create a political environment more favourable for the constitution to achieve normative quality, instead of remaining essentially a false promise.     

The ‘heart’ of Eurasia? Kazakhstan's centrally located capital city

In a world still dominated by a geopolitical system of territorial states, one tool in the state- and nation-building repertoire is the strategy of moving a capital from one city to another, and to an ostensibly more ‘central’ location of a geometrically conceived territory. From Ankara to Brasília, the technique has been used in a variety of places around the world, and Kazakhstan's new capital since 1997, Astana, is one more recent iteration. Taking a Foucauldian approach to analysing political technologies of government, the author examines the strategy of the centrally located city and considers how it has been instrumental to simultaneously producing a ‘state effect’ and a ‘territory effect’ in newly independent Kazakhstan. Part of a larger mixed-methods study, this article draws on a diverse range of methods, including data from interviews, participant observation, textual analysis, focus groups and a country-wide survey.     

The foreign policy and diplomatic attributes of a developmental state: South Africa as case study

With South Africa having declared itself a developmental state, this paper posits that if a developmental state is one that drives development, then the foreign policy of such a state should pursue development as one of its most important goals. Similarly the diplomatic corps of such a state should prioritise economic, commercial, para- and public diplomacy as drivers of diplomacy. In answering the question, ‘What should be the foreign policy and diplomatic attributes of a developmental state?’, the authors, through an exploratory approach, seek to analyse how well the state has fared in achieving this objective. To be a successful developmental state, a strategic capacity should exist and a clear strategic conception of the state's national interest should be formulated. Old paradigms about the role and functions of the diplomatic corps are challenged and a meritocratic diplomatic corps is strongly advocated to support the state's declared developmental goals.     

The Shifting Tides of Pacific Regionalism

Abstract

The current state of Pacific regionalism is faced with a range of external and internal factors that are acting to reshape the region and which call for a rethinking of Pacific regionalism. Within this context a range of new and in some cases reinvigorated groupings of political actors have emerged, seeking to influence and shape the region. Interpretations of this plurality of political groupings differ, with some authors seeing it as a direct challenge to the previously existing regional order, while others argue it signals a return to a foundational Pacific voice in regional politics. This article suggests that the present plurality is more than resituating a ‘Pacific voice’ and is not necessarily a challenge to the existing order. Rather, the Pacific’s experience mirrors global trends in the evolution of regionalism as a practice, in which network diplomacy or coalition-building across the plethora of actors will become a predominant feature of new regionalism. Further, the authors argue that the Framework for Pacific Regionalism provides the platform for effectively navigating this new context through facilitating the politics of networks and coalitions to drive the shared interests of the region, and presents a shared platform to test paradigm-shifting ideas.     

Ambiguities of xenophobia in a border town: inner city informal traders and Ekasi shopkeepers in the city of East London,South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the livelihoods, experiences and identities of immigrant informal traders and shopkeepers in the Buffalo City Metropolitan area, which encompasses the centres of East London, Mdantsane and King Williams Town. We primarily use a socio-spatial perspective to analyse informal activity, and offer a particular perspective on how informality has encouraged a type of ‘informal citizenry’ among traders. We argue that informal trading has a very particular history in the region, and that East London’s notoriety as a ‘border city’ and a regional frontier has created a fractured space, which is best expressed through the experiences of migrants and entrepreneurs. We point out that informality is a driver of economic empowerment and equality among traders, but also of xenophobia and difference.     

Even honey may become bitter when there is too much of it: Islam and the struggle for a balanced existence in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan

In Kyrgyzstan, as in the rest of Central Asia, recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Islam. What is perceived as a growing ‘religiosity’ is often seen as a symptom of post-Soviet chaos and excess, but people equally tend to see Islam as an important source of well-being, for themselves and for society as such. It is argued that a general feature of the Islam many Muslims strive for – and occasionally experience glimpses of – is one that expresses, embodies and enables a balanced existence: a balance between well-being in this world and in the afterlife; a balance between the acceptance of one's fate and the attempt to improve one's situation; or a balance between adherence to abstract dogmas and respect for local moralities.     

South Africa's Iran policy: ‘Poster child’ meets renegade

Compliance with universal norms is one of the most important aspects of the global order. Iran, through the conduct of its nuclear programme, is seen as a challenger of the global non-proliferation norms, which enjoy almost universal recognition. South Africa's policy on Iran has been extremely puzzling — a rising power in the international system, subscribing to a global norm of nuclear non-proliferation, but challenging the interpretation and application of that norm. This contribution asks why this is the case, and demonstrates that South Africa's policy towards the Iranian nuclear programme has been clearly marked by a strongly held belief regarding the value of negotiations, a distrust of the global North, and a preference for a wide multilateral approach in institutions.     

印尼华人的同化及其前景

印度尼西亚华人同化于主体社会的历史告诉我们 :民族通婚、一个民族的经济和文化素质、国际环境以及国家的民族政策是影响民族同化进程的四个主要因素。比较而言 ,国家民族政策是具有决定意义的因素。只要印度尼西亚政府能够制定明智而现实的国家政策 ,实现真正的民族平等 ,印度尼西亚各民族所期盼的民族统一、和睦相处的崇高目标就一定会达到。     

Challenges to decentralisation in Ghana: where do citizens seek assistance?

Decentralisation in Ghana, and across sub-Saharan Africa, faces a number of challenges to successful local governance provision because there are a number of formal and informal actors to choose from. Citizens may take problems they want a governance provider to solve to a member of parliament or a district assembly person, a traditional chief or a police officer, a neighbour or an NGO. In this article we report on a four-constituency survey administered to explore and understand how citizens choose between the options of local institutions available to them in order to solve a problem important to their community or themselves. We find that formal national (Parliamentarians) and informal traditional (Chiefs) institutions are where respondents turn for assistance most often instead of constitutionally described local modes of governance (District Assemblies). We consider the implications of this finding in terms of decentralisation in Ghana and the need to build institutions that are context-sensitive and reflect how citizens understand political options.     

GEORGE W. BUSH AND ASIA: IN THE SHADOW OF 11 SEPTEMBER

Traditionally seen as a President consumed by the war on terror, George W. Bush is frequently portrayed as being relatively uninterested in Asia, and unable to outline a vision or a strategy to China, America’s Asian allies and Asian multilateral mechanisms. This article will revisit Bush’s policy on Asia and show a president who guided the United States with a policy that balanced the need to combat global terrorism and locate a focus on Asia. He faced the dilemmas of building cooperative relations with a rising China while trying to foster American alliances and partnerships in Asia, and managing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Utilizing qualitative content analysis as the main research method, the article will demonstrate that the Bush administration had not a lack of focus on Asia and that Bush’s diplomacy to Asia should be recognized as one of the most significant achievements of his presidency.     

Paisaje antes de la batalla. Notas sobre el contexto de la guerra contra las drogas en México

Mexico’s security crisis and Felipe Calderón’s (2006-2012) security strategy had its roots in drug trafficking, the prohibition of drugs, contraband and the border shared with the United States. Standard accounts of the violence experienced in the country, which reduce it to confrontations between drug cartels, are of little use. This article presents part of the context in which the security crisis developed, putting it in a historical perspective, and attempting to take a step towards a more nuanced interpretation. It holds that drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States is a complex, many-sided reality which admits dense symbolic elaboration. Apart from the very concrete shipping of drugs, drug trafficking is part of Mexico’s relation with the United States, a register that imbues the asymmetry between both countries with meaning, a space of political negotiation and a resource of American global diplomacy which is crystallized in a clandestine foreign policy system. Furthermore, through the demystification of the imagery that envelopes organized crime, corruption and contraband are examined, conceiving these two as phenomena that are integrated organically into borderland society.     

柬埔寨艾滋病治理成效及其原因评析

作为典型的弱小国家,柬埔寨在艾滋病治理上为世界树立了一个重要的榜样。经过20多年的努力,柬埔寨的艾滋病治理取得了显著的成效,主要表现在:艾滋病感染率大大降低,每年新增艾滋病感染人数大幅减少,艾滋病患者接受治疗的比例不断提升。取得这种成效的原因首先是柬埔寨政府对于艾滋病的安全化定位与实践,树立了政府治理的决心与魄力;其次是非政府组织对艾滋病治理的积极参与,奠定了艾滋病治理的社会基础;最后是国际社会的援助为柬埔寨艾滋病治理提供了强大的动力。这三个因素构成了柬埔寨艾滋病治理取得显著成效的三驾马车。     

The political knowledge of Libyan university students: Sirte and Omar Al-Mukhtar universities as two examples

This article reports on a study measuring the political knowledge of a sample of students at the Sirte and Omar Al-Mukhtar universities in Libya in 2015–2016. Variables such as the university attendees, gender, residence, type of faculty, family’s economic condition and parents’ educational level were factored into the analysis, and a sample of 400 students from the two universities was selected to provide survey data. Findings indicate that acquiring political knowledge, as a whole, requires great effort to accommodate Libya’s current circumstances. Variables of gender, residence and university type make a difference in the level of political knowledge. While income and the level of parents’ education do not determine the extent of political knowledge, the value placed on citizenship was found to have a strong effect on the variation in legal and political knowledge and on the students’ understanding of the political process.     

The rise of a hesitant EU host? Examining the Greek migrant integration policy and its transformation during the crisis

Greece lately, as a result of the crisis, has been transformed from a migrant receiving (host) country to a simultaneously migrant sending and receiving one. At the same time, processes of migrant de-integration from the economy and society have been manifesting too. This paper attempts to draw light on Greek migrant integration policy, which through the years has been characterized by a contradiction between policy narratives and concrete actions on the ground. More specifically, this paper brings to the fore a policy change that occurred during the period 2012–2015 and possibly continues up to now. According to this policy shift, special emphasis was put on the acquisition of the European long-term resident status from the part of already settled migrants as a passport to their intra-European mobility. Politically speaking, such developments were heralded as a win–win situation for both migrants, but also, Greece as a host country. Nevertheless, this rise of a hesitant EU host, who turned its integration policy into a managing migration endeavour, might be indicative of broader tendencies and trends within an expanded EU migratory landscape that includes both migration, but lately most importantly, asylum too.     

Chick lit politics in a post-truth era: tricksters,blessees and postfeminist girlpower in Angela Makholwa’s The Blessed Girl

The possibility of an emancipated politics in chick lit novels remains a contested question among postfeminist critics. Drawing on definitions of postfeminism as a transnational sensibility, this article examines South African chick lit in relation to what has been termed post-truth or trickster politics in the context of the rise of politicians, such as Donald Trump. I read Angela Makholwa’s novel The Blessed Girl as an example of African chick lit that features a blessee narrator, a young woman who lives a luxurious lifestyle financed by older men, who is deeply influenced by a Trumpian mode of self-making. By employing a trickster aesthetic and narrative strategies, such as unreliable narration and reader address, the novel, I argue, however also unsettles established parameters of neoliberal girlpower, moving beyond its assumed anti-politicalness, as well as a simple understanding of the blessee figure through either a lens of victimhood or amorality.     

Exiting Capitalist Globalisation: Westra’s Unoist Approach

Published in 2015, Richard Westra’s Exit from Globalization employs a variation of Kozo Uno’s levels of analysis approach to the comprehension of economic life under capitalism and beyond. The approach has three elements. First, a dialectical pure theory that simultaneously exposes both the logic that capital and its impersonal society-wide competitive market employed in its largely successful attempt to regulate and reproduce material/substantive/real economic life and capital-labour relations during liberal capitalism and the economic norms that all historical societies must observe by whatever means so as to continue to reproduce material economic life. Second, a stages theory (mercantilism, liberalism and capitalist imperialism) of capitalism’s historical development. Finally, empirical studies of aspects of historical capitalism, informed by the pure and stages theories and a knowledge of general economic norms, may be conducted. Following Albritton, Westra advances a theory of a final fourth stage of capitalism that Uno, who died in 1977, never contemplated. He theorises the ongoing disintegration of consumerism and capitalism itself in the present era. In fleshing out a model advanced by Sekine, Westra theorises the functioning of a vibrantly democratic, partially relocalised eco-socialism.     

What explains the rise of majority–minority tensions and conflict in Xinjiang?

ABSTRACT

In the past few years there has been a rise of inter-ethnic violence in China. While ethno-cultural repression and ineffective state policies are correctly attributed as key culprits behind this reality, this article suggests that socio-economic factors play a fundamental contributory role as well. Using the Xinjiang case, the article maps ethnic tensions and violence as a manifestation and expression of a growing and heightened ethno-cultural consciousness stemming from ethnic minorities’ low socio-economic status due, in part, to internal Han migration, and a labour market process – involving agency and structure – that has shaped a split and segmented labour market.     

论德川身份等级制中的“差别”现象

德川身份等级制既是统治秩序,又是职业体系。由于其在政治与经济领域、权力与财富领域的二元分离,使士、农、工、商四个等级间的差别与各等级内部的差别呈现出各不相同的特点。德川身份等级制具有浓厚的封建色彩,严重禁锢了人们的思想和行为,但它内部却酝酿着有利于社会发展的积极因素。     

习近平主席访韩与中韩成熟性战略关系发展构想

中国国家领导人习近平2014年7月访问韩国,以及中韩建立成熟的战略合作伙伴关系,标志着双方关系进入了一个新的高度。这种关系发展现在处于一种非常有利的时机与地区环境中,要确保这种关系成为真正的战略合作伙伴关系,双方领导人、学界、舆论界需要有一种超越朝鲜半岛的远见与远景,把动力、机遇转化为互利与可持续的合作进程。这种努力包括:在务实认识朝鲜无核化问题面临的困境基础上,寻找协调解决问题的中短期现实目标;积极协调与合理平衡中美韩、中日韩两组三边关系;严峻面对日本右倾化对东北亚地区秩序产生的战略危害,并共同采取应对措施;以战略性、客观性的胆识抓住中国"丝绸之路经济带"与"亚洲基础设施银行"的倡议,推动中韩在地区框架内的全方位经济合作。