马来西亚“伊斯兰国”与民族国家:争论、影响与趋势

伊斯兰党在20世纪80年代转型后,致力在马来西亚建立"伊斯兰国"。"伊斯兰国"与巫统主导下的民族国家建构是完全不同的建国方向,两者在最高权力的来源、统治阶层、意识形态三方面有着显著的差异。伊斯兰党现阶段重提伊斯兰刑法后,引起马来西亚两线制的重新分化与组合。由于政党之间的建国理念相异,马来西亚未来的建国方向大体上有三种:马来人主导下的民族国家、伊斯兰国和多族群国家。另外,伊拉克与大叙利亚伊斯兰国组织在中东的崛起,令身处伊斯兰世界的马来西亚民族国家体制也面临着来自外部的强烈冲击。     

马来西亚伊斯兰教国理念、实践与政党政治

马来西亚是东南亚伊斯兰教国家之一,伊斯兰教国议题成为执政党巫统和反对党伊斯兰党争取马来选民支持、寻求政治合法性和打击对手的重要手段之一.华人政党也加入伊斯兰教国的争论,因为这关系到国家政体、民主、种族平等和多元宗教等大问题.在马来西亚政党架构、政党斗争、多元宗教和多元种族的特定条件下,伊斯兰教国议题成为近年马来西亚伊斯兰教政治化的集中体现.     

Understanding the War in Syria and the Roles of External Players: Way Out of the Quagmire?

With Western commentators, media and think tanks still being the predominant determinant of the global international relations discourse and therefore also of the discourse relating to Syria, discerning actual realities coherently from the fog of a very biased narrative presents great challenges. Deciphering the complexities of West Asia has never been easy and the situation in Syria is particularly complicated. This article argues inter alia that the Commonwealth as an entity needs to add its efforts, voice and prestige to the global effort to prioritize the restoration of peace in West Asia in general and Syria in particular.     

马来西亚伊斯兰金融系统发展研究

目前,马来西亚已建立起完整的伊斯兰金融体系,它与传统的金融系统一起被称为"双系统".马来西亚广义的伊斯兰金融系统包括伊斯兰银行市场、伊斯兰保险市场和伊斯兰资本市场,系统性和完整性是其重要特点.马来西亚持续发展伊斯兰金融体系的努力,使得其成为伊斯兰金融发展的领跑者.     

Economic Governance Beyond State and Market: Islamic Capital Markets in Southeast Asia

ABSTRACT

Islamic finance has become an integral part of the financial systems of the Muslim-majority countries of Southeast Asia. At the same time, Southeast Asia has witnessed the emergence of new capital market governance practices and arrangements that are both multi-scalar and multi-sited. This article suggests that rather than only looking at the scale and rescaling of capital market governance in the region, more attention needs to be paid to the shifting balances between regulatory expertise, market practice and societal expectations. Indeed, for governance practices to be considered effective, they have to straddle at times competing demands of authority and legitimacy. This dynamic is nowhere as visible as in the case of Islamic finance, which explicitly involves Shariah experts, trained in Islamic law, in its governance structures. This article explores the novel forms of governance to which this new market has given rise. It argues that Islamic finance – rather than the product of privately held beliefs – has become increasingly bound up with the state apparatus. This facilitates the embedding of Islamic financial principles and ethical concerns throughout capital markets in the region. Yet, Islamic finance has also become increasingly submerged within national development and competitiveness agendas.     

The transformation of Turkey’s Islamic media and its marriage with neo-liberalism

ABSTRACT

The Islamic press in Turkey started at the beginning of the 20^th century as a reaction to the secularist Young Turks’ revolution of 1908. In the Republican period, Sufi orders and other religious communities maintained internal communication via periodicals despite being interrupted by the 1960, 1971 and 1980 coup d’etats. In the 1990s, the first private Islamic TV channels were opened and soon were targeted by the Turkish Armed Forces through mainstream media in the run-up to the 1997 military memorandum. Only after Erdo?an came to power did the Islamic media find favourable conditions to flourish, lining up with Erdo?an’s AKP. However, there are still small dissident groups who struggle for an independent identity.     

Awareness and perceptions of Islamic microfinance among microfinance clients in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

This study examines the level of awareness and sources of demand for Islamic microfinance among the clients of microfinance institutions in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The research question is whether the source of demand is based on religious beliefs or the assumption of interest-free Islamic-compliant products. The field research uses a sample of 150 clients of several conventional microfinance institutions in these two countries. Although many analysts still maintain that there is a demand for Islamic microfinance in many parts of the world, the current qualitative and quantitative research indicates no clear demand for these products in these two countries. The relevant question for future research is whether microfinance users will demand Islamic microfinance instruments.     

The manufacturing of Islamic lifestyles in Tajikistan through the prism of Dushanbe's bazaars

ABSTRACT

This article traces the multiple ways of ‘manufacturing’ Islamic lifestyles in the urban environment of Tajikistan's capital city, Dushanbe. The city's bazaars serve as a lens through which to observe the conjunction of its booming trade business with Dubai alongside its growing Islamic commodity culture and a religious reformism that is inspired by the materiality and non-materiality of a progressive and hybrid Dubai Islam. Bringing together long-distance trade, urban consumption practices and new forms of public piety in the mobile livelihood of three bazaar traders and sellers, the article provides insights into how the commodification of Islam informs notions of urbanity and modernity in Tajikistan. These notions correspond to the launching of urban renewal and the meta-narrative of Dushanbe's future as a modern city on the rise. Furthermore, the article illustrates the ways in which Dushanbe's Muslims turn bazaars into an urban laboratory for religious agency and cultural identities.     

The contested terrain of land governance reform in Myanmar

State control of land plays a critical role in producing land dispossession throughout the Global South. In Myanmar, the state’s approach towards territorial expansion has driven the country’s system of land governance, resulting in widespread and systemic land grabbing. This article investigates ongoing land governance reforms as key terrains for contesting such abuses of power. Employing a relational land governance approach, we view reform processes as shaped by changing power-laden social relations among government, civil society, and international donor actors. Legal and regulatory reforms in Myanmar potentially act as sites of meaningful social change but in practice tend to maintain significant limitations in altering governance dynamics. Civil society organizations and their alliances in Myanmar have played an important role in opening up policy processes to a broader group of political actors. Yet, policies and legal frameworks still are often captured by elite actors, becoming trapped in path dependent power relations.     

The Politics of Welfare State Reform

This article presents and discusses the state of the art in political science research on welfare state reform. While scholars first aimed at explaining the emergence and growth of the welfare state, national variation in its development, and crises of welfare state regimes, more recently the focus has shifted to the persistence and reform of the major welfare state institutions. Research in this direction has typically adopted an institutionalist perspective, stressing how institutional settings affect the feasibility and direction of reforms. These studies have shed light on important aspects of the question, in particular by demonstrating the role of path dependency and veto players in reform processes, but suffer from two main problems, namely the difficulty of defining the dependent variable in an appropriate way, and the neglect of the importance of power resources.     

作为中亚转型国家参考模式的发展型政权

苏联解体20年后,几乎所有的前共产主义国家都程度不同地完成了从计划经济向市场经济的转型.然而,仍然有些转型国家在这一进程中落在后面,其中就有前苏联的5个中亚加盟共和国.对于这些既不同于俄罗斯和东欧,更不同于西方发达国家的国家来说,实现转型没有明显的参照模式.本文的目的就是分析在东亚地区取得成功的"发展型政权"是否也能够为中亚经济体的发展提供一个参考模式.     

Democratisation, External Exposure and State Food Distribution in The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with a 'failed' state, requires regular financial assistance from international funds and remains exposed to external economic pressures. State food distribution in the country, however, adheres to traditional statist policies and institutions that disappeared elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean during the 1980s and 1990s. Relevant literature arguably does not anticipate this outcome. This article proposes that political institutions associated with Dominican democratisation since the late 1970s, particularly strong presidentialism, a stable, non-ideological party system and high voter turnout at elections, provide incentives for a status quo, clientelistic policy in this strategic area of social policy.     

第二波改革的起跑线——印尼苏西洛总统2010年国情咨文评析

印尼总统苏西洛2010年年度国情咨文颇具新意.咨文不仅回顾和总结了过去一年印尼发展中的得失,还梳理了印尼进入民主转型时期以来的成就和问题,明确提出印尼已进入第二波改革的新阶段.咨文强调为确保第二波改革的成功,印尼应加速发展,建立起富强、民主、公正三大支柱.咨文还提出印尼要实行"全方位外交",拓展更加广阔的外交空间.     

当代俄罗斯政党财政及其对选举的影响——以第七届国家杜马选举为例

《俄罗斯联邦联邦会议国家杜马代表选举法》对选举基金有专门规定:政党参加选举一定要建立政党选举基金.政党选举基金全部经费支出最高不超过7亿卢布.政党的自有资金不可超过选举基金限额的50％,即3.5亿卢布,对公民和法人捐赠的条件和金额也有相应限制.通过对参加第七届俄罗斯国家杜马选举的全部14个政党的选举财政情况进行研究可得出以下结论:选举基金的支出与第七届俄罗斯国家杜马选举结果没有直接的因果关系;意识形态因素对杜马选举发挥着重要作用,"统一俄罗斯"党和俄罗斯联邦共产党这两个党具有更多的选举竞争力;在第七届国家杜马选举中,最终获得进入俄国家杜马资格的4个主要政党除俄罗斯联邦共产党之外,都有募集到直接的政治献金,这些政治献金在俄罗斯是合法的;进入国家杜马中的政党在印刷宣传品方面的选举支出所发挥的作用要比其在电视宣传方面的选举支出发挥的作用大.     

泰南冲突的文明模式

泰南冲突是文明冲突的典型例子.为研究泰南冲突的文明模式,本文基于塞缪尔·亨廷顿的文明冲突论,并对亨氏断层线战争的一般结构模式进行借鉴和修正,提出泰南宗教与民族冲突的文明模式,认为泰南冲突是冲突双方都没有文明核心国家的宗教与民族冲突.该模式提供了将冲突控制在最小范围和最低烈度、避免升级为国际战争的方法,可以为其它类型的文明冲突提供思维方式和参考模型.     

The role of epistemic communities: local think tanks,international practitioners and security sector reform in Kosovo

ABSTRACT

Security sector reform (SSR) in Kosovo remains complex and challenging. The existing approach is heavily driven by international agencies. This article addresses the question: What role is played by local research in Kosovo’s SSR? This study focuses on the challenges that local research poses to internationally led SSR in Kosovo, and the contribution that local researchers make to the decision-making of international practitioners. In Kosovo, local research organizations produce research analysing and critiquing international SSR and offering alternative approaches. The study builds on existing studies of epistemic communities and research use in policy-making and new evidence based on the author’s interview survey of researchers and policy-makers in Kosovo. The article argues that focusing on the interaction between local researchers and international policy practitioners provides valuable insight into the construction of Kosovo’s SSR. The study deconstructs the structures, processes and agencies at the heart of the local/international relationship. It explains how local research on topics of security, justice and rule of law, and its interaction with international practitioners, challenges international SSR and contributes to international SSR decision-making.     

The African state and the failure of US counter-terrorism initiatives in Africa: The cases of Nigeria and Mali

Counter-terrorism initiatives are failing across the African continent. A major reason for this failure lies in the state-centric and military-focused nature of many counter-terrorism initiatives. In Africa, the state is often the source of insecurity for ordinary citizens. Any military strengthening of an illegitimate African state by the international community not only serves to bolster a predatory state but also undermines the human security of citizens. More importantly, such an approach conflates sub-state and international terrorism and serves to bolster the latter, thereby undermining regional and international security further. Put simply, current counter-terrorism initiatives are counter-productive. This paper focuses on counter-terrorism efforts in Nigeria and Mali with a special focus on US initiatives to combat terrorism in the region.     

The Wang Lixiong prophecy: ‘Palestinization’ in Xinjiang and the consequences of Chinese state securitization of religion

ABSTRACT

In Your Western Regions, My Turkestan (2007), Chinese dissident Wang Lixiong warned of the ‘Palestinization’ of the Xinjiang question, defined as reaching ‘a critical point in time’ where Uyghurs and Han Chinese enter an interminable ‘ethnic war’. Following the knife attack on Han civilians in Kunming (2014), seen by many as an act of Uyghur terror, Wang reminded us that he had foreseen this trajectory seven years earlier. This article outlines Wang’s six interpretations of ‘Palestinization’ in the Xinjiang context, then shows how tightened regulations on religion and intrusive religious policing was the main catalyst for local retaliatory violence in 2012–2015. I contend that state securitization of religion was counterproductive, heightening societal insecurity and promoting inter-ethnic conflict between Uyghur and Han communities. In Chen Quanguo’s era of ‘de-extremification’, the state’s purported attempt to ‘purify’ Islamic practice continues to be experienced on the ground as violation of pure, halal space.