The bazaar in ruins: rent and fire in Barakholka,Almaty

ABSTRACT

Since 2013, there have been multiple fires in bazaars in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Most of these fires have occurred in Barakholka, the largest bazaar in Central Asia, known for wholesaling in apparel, shoes and low-quality household and office supplies. Ownership of Barakholka is opaque. Using recurrent Barakholka fires as my point of departure, this article contributes to scholarship by describing how the clearing of old bazaars is followed by new property developments and the imposition of new rent regimes. In doing so, I argue that fire – a form of ruination that not only destroys property but also severs networks and people's relationship to a place – is illustrative of how the bazaar, as a new institution within an emerging post-Soviet market economy, was moulded by private interests, and repeated, often ruinous assertions of control over property. I also argue that this process was embedded in a larger political economy that sought to ‘civilize’ the earlier marketplaces. This article is based on ethnographic interviews and repeated visits to the Barakhola between 2016 and 2018, and media accounts of the fires.     

"第二次转型"的理论向度与原社会主义国家转型的多样性——以普京时代的俄罗斯制度转型为例

对于俄罗斯而言,叶利钦时代与普京时代的转型既是一个延续的过程,但又呈现出截然不同的面貌,体现出一定的断裂性.自上个世纪90年代和本世纪初开始,俄罗斯改革的目标,至少在口头宣示上,与其说是从极权体制向民主制度以及从计划经济向市场经济转型,不如说是要从叶利钦时代转型形成的制度陷阱--非效率制度均衡中脱离开来,试图通过增加国家能力的途径建立新的效率制度均衡.运用"第二次转型"的理论范畴有助于全面认识发生在俄罗斯的由传统体制向现代民主政治和市场经济的转化以及与此相伴的社会转型进程,能够对叶利钦时代俄罗斯之所以败、普京时代俄罗斯之所以兴提供一种新的解释,同时,这也表明原社会主义国家转型具有丰富的多样性.     

The Russian Constitutional Court: The First Term

An American political scientist and constitutional scholar recounts the development, and analyzes the procedures and backstage activities, of Russia's highest judicial body. The study, based in part on personal interviews, traces the constitutional court's political influence up through the pivotal conflict between the Parliament's Speaker Khasbulatov and President Yel'tsin during the last week of March 1993. In addition to major decisions, notably that which followed 52 sessions from May 26 to December 16, 1992 devoted to the trial of the CPSU, the narrative focuses on the role of Chief Justice Zor'kin. Also discussed are the court's legislative mandate, its expanding caseload and legal shortcomings. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H11, K10, K41, P20.     

The 50th Anniversary of The Civic Culture

This article traces the origins of the concept of political culture within the study of comparative politics. After revisiting the circumstances under which it developed, the article highlights some of the key factors that set it apart from other studies in its era – its theoretical exploration of stable democracy, its systematically comparative focus and its use of sample surveys of public opinion. The article shows how these factors were refined and improved in subsequent work on political equality. Overall, it concludes that the basic formulation of The Civic Culture – of congruence between mass attitudes and the type of political system – will be retained and will continue to make a mark upon the future trajectory of comparative research on public opinion.     

The property question revisited: The restitution myth

The handling of the property question in the German unification process and Treaty has met with harsh criticism by east Germans and west Germans alike, unifying, for once, both radical and liberal left, as well as some conservatives. Conservative groups in the west were up in arms about the Treaty's recognition of the land reform under Soviet occupation, while the majority of people in the east and also the western left brandished the principle ‘restitution before compensation’ as a major obstacle to investment in the east. This article argues that restitution did not have the significance that is often claimed. In reality the situation was much more complex, and many other factors than the possible restitution of property were responsible for the slower than expected economic recovery of the east.     

Crisp,The Senate,And The Constitution

This essay explores the development of L.F. Crisp's understanding of the appropriate role of Australia's Senate in the national political system. A review of his widely‐used textbook over three decades reveals that, to Crisp, the Senate was conceived primarily to protect state interests, but that role was nullified almost immediately by the emergence of disciplined parties. Thereafter, the Senate usually was an ineffectual irrelevancy until the introduction of proportional representation transformed it into a threat to the constitutional system as it should operate. Crisp also appreciated that disciplined parties undermined effective control of government by the House of Representatives, yet he consistently failed to recognize in the Senate an institution capable of doing what the House of Representatives cannot: enforcing accountability on the government of the day.     

The Assyrians

Middle East

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