Building a Model While Debunking Another: The Rivalry of Arab Nationalism between ‘Abd al-Karim Qasim and Gamal Abdel Nasser

Abstract

The decade of 1950–60 was unique in terms of the establishment of a supranational Arab union, known as the United Arab Republic. However, this union was ill born due to certain frictions between Arab states in the Middle East. There were divergences between the visions of Arab Nationalism for each state and this caused a troubling process for this supranational initiative. This study considers these frictions as the main reasons behind why the UAR was an unsuccessful attempt and further why the Arab Nationalism dissolved afterwards. The divergence between two competing visions of Arab Nationalism is symbolized through the competition between Iraqi prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim and Egyptian president Gamal Nasser. The domestic, regional and global circumstances for these two countries and their leaders are analyzed in order to illustrate how these frictions became a reality and divided the Arab stance.     

Die bindende rol van die nasionale pers in die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing

SUMMARY

Although “science” involves both theory and practice the significance of theory is often questioned in the field of communication studies. Some practitioners, for example, maintain that they need very little, if any, theory since their publics demand “results” and are not interested in theoretical debates. In similar vein it is argued that university students do not know how “to do the job” when they enter the field of communication practice. This article sets out to clarify some of the misunderstandings concerning the nature and role of theory in scientific practice and to show the need for a better understanding and closer cooperation between theorists and practitioners. Apart from suggesting a useful definition of theory for the purposes of the discussion, some common misconceptions concerning theory are addressed. It is argued that communicologists will only succeed in playing a meaningful role in a new South Africa if theorists and practitioners critically assess their own as well as each other's contributions and actively seek ways to cooperate in addressing critical issues in communication within the South African context. The article concludes with a discussion of some pressing problems currently experienced in the teaching of communication theory and offers some guidelines for selecting and presenting theory curricula relevant to communication and communication practice within the changing South African context.     

‘The Privileged Friendship’: Reassessing the Central Intelligence Agency Operation at Zaire’s Kamina Airbase

ABSTRACT

From 1986 to 1991, the United States Central Intelligence Agency funnelled arms to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola through Zaire’s Kamina Airbase. Recently declassified documents cast new light on the ways that facilitating this operation and protecting its covert status provided invaluable bargaining leverage for Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, who demanded political and economic concessions from Washington. As a rare Cold War precedent for the types of covert, temporary basing agreements that the United States is now establishing throughout Africa, the Kamina case thus warrants a substantive reappraisal.     

Re-imagining News Values and Labels of Controversies with Reference to Political Scandals

Abstract

Scandals involving heads of state are generally the staple diet of news media. Internationally, the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” sex escapades are some of the most memorable. In South Africa, scandals that marred former president Jacob Zuma’s term of office have continued to be the centre of attention long after he resigned as president. During his presidency, Zuma became one of the most covered (reported in the news) leaders across media platforms, in South Africa and beyond. This was largely due to allegations including corruption, his relationship with the Gupta family, and misuse of government funds to renovate his private property. Evoked in the media by various labels of controversy, the media frenzy dominated headlines in South Africa at the time. This article presents an account of how journalists actively construct labels for controversy associated with newsworthiness. The article makes a theoretical link between labels of controversies and news values, and argues that these labels are, in spite of their significance, the most understudied phenomena in mainstream journalism literature today. Fifty-eight news articles were examined by means of content analysis for the labels that journalists constructed.     

Media Coverage of Congress in the 1990s: Scandals,Personalities, and the Prevalence of Policy and Process

In this article, we provide a comprehensive, systematic examination of media coverage of Congress in the 1990s. Specifically, we content analyze over 2,600 congressional news stories from the New York Times and CBS Evening News from 1990 through 1998. We find that the news media covered substantive policy concerns and the legislative process quite regularly and that stories focusing on individual personalities and political scandals were comparatively infrequent. We also find that legislative maneuvering is a mainstay of congressional media coverage, and the democratic process is most often framed as conflict between parties and Congress and the president.     

Consistency in constitutional design and its effect on democracy

ABSTRACT

Does the art of crafting and amending a constitution lead to an internal consistency among constitutional provisions, and if so, what effect does that have on countries’ democratic performance? Drawing from theoretical claims on the separation of power and electoral legitimacy, this article develops a concept that identifies the institutional characteristics of consistency and inconsistency in the constitutional design with the example of the presidency. Empirically, this concept is focused on aligning or counterbalancing the mode of presidential election and the de jure power of the president. Based on a comparative perspective of republican parliamentary and semi-presidential systems, the article focuses on the empirical trends of consistent and inconsistent design and addresses their effect on democratic development. The findings show a balance between consistent and inconsistent design in terms of quantity. The influence on democratization varies considerably across different measures but I find significant support for a positive effect of inconsistency on liberal democracy, freedom, horizontal accountability and the rule of law.     

Pioneers of peace research — Lewis Fry Richardson: Apostle of math

Most studies of economic sanctions have concluded that they are ineffective as instruments of foreign policy. In a previous effort, we applied the spatial model of bargaining to the question of sanctions effectiveness to identify the‐conditions under which sanctions can be expected to “work.” In this paper, we refine that analysis by examining the impact of domestic politics in the state that is the target of the sanctions. Sanction episodes may be examples of two‐level games in which the domestic game within both parties affects the international game and vice‐versa. Here, we take a first cut of applying this approach to the analysis of sanctions effectiveness. We extend the spatial model to focus on how sanctions affect the internal political bargaining within the target state. From this, we determine how state policy should change (or not) as a result of the sanctions. We use the basic model to identify general hypotheses regarding the nature of sanctions and their effectiveness and we evaluate some of these hypotheses using cases in which the United States imposed sanctions on Latin American countries for human rights violations.     

Who is (South) African? A re-reading of Thabo Mbeki's ‘I am an African’ speech in the context of the banned (later unbanned) Nando's ‘diversity’ television commercial

Abstract

In 2012 flame-grilled chicken company, Nando's, released a 52-second advert showing people of various races and ethnicities vaporising into thin air, one after the other, leaving a lone San Bushman wearing a xai who declares: ‘I'm not going anywhere. You f*#@ng found us here.’ Broadcasters SABC, DStv and etv initially banned the advert, citing fears of a xenophobic backlash. In 1996, former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who was deputy president at the time, delivered what has become known as the ‘I am an African’ speech at the adoption of the South Africa Constitution Bill. In the speech Mbeki appears to codify ‘Africanness’ into a consciousness not just of history, but a shared history. The conceptual reach of his speech seems to imply that everyone who may share South Africa's history is somehow South African and African. This article argues that the Mbeki speech and the Nando's advert, taken together, draw attention to the simultaneous richness and poverty of citizenship in South Africa, and the potential benefits and contradictions of claiming citizenship in the sense preferred by the two texts. The context is supplied by a sampling of 22 randomly selected online comments centering on the censored advert.     

Political posturing and the need for peace journalism in South Africa: The case of Julius Malema

SUMMARY

On February 2, 1990 the media emergency regulations were rescinded by the state president, mr. F.W. de Klerk. This has lead to the idea in some quarters that the media in South Africa are now totally free. Contrary to this belief the author shows that at the start of 1991 a plethora of restrictions are still being placed on the media in South Africa. These restrictions are indicative of National Party media policy that has been formulated since 1948. In view of this, the general objections of the African National Congress (ANC) with regards to the present media system in South Africa are spelt out from a media policy perspective. The merits of these objections are evaluated, after which the Manoim-debate concerning future policy formulation is briefly dealt with. This debate was mainly conducted in the print media in 1990. The possible lessons that a future independent black press could learn from the demise of the Daily Mail are set out. To conclude, the idea is put forward that the media in South Africa should immediately start to agitate for positive media policy stipulations (a broad media policy framework). Some of the media policy issues that governments of the future will have to address, are also identified.     

Executive overstretch: South African broadcasting independence and accountability under Thabo Mbeki

Abstract

In this article I examine the extent of the South African broadcasting sector's independence and accountability since Thabo Mbeki became president in 1999. I trace how the independence of two institutions – the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) – has been eroded over this period. While initially the government justified this erosion as being necessary to attain developmental objectives in the context of a globalising economy, more lately there have been attempts to justify greater state control of content. Icasa has been subjected to greater direct executive control, and there are attempts to intensify this control, while the executive exercises indirect control over the SABC. Greater accountability to the state has been accompanied by a decline in public accountability. I conclude by arguing that the experiences with Icasa and the SABC give credence to the argument made by several international NGOs that media freedom in South Africa is declining, in spite of official protestations to the contrary. I also argue that this control has damaged the integrity of these institutions, and that this integrity must be restored now that Mbeki's presidency is coming to an end.     

Grievance mediation

Conclusion In sum, grievance mediation is a highly successful alternative to labor arbitration. It shares with expedited arbitration the capacity to reduce the time and cost of arbitration, and is more likely to produce mutually acceptable outcomes than is a conference procedure in which the neutral retains decisional authority. It is also more likely than either of those procedures to improve the parties' dispute resolution ability and ultimately their entire relationship.To be sure, not all grievances can be successfully resolved through mediation. Still, its advantages are so great, and its costs so low that an effort to resolve grievances at mediation should be a required step preceding arbitration in all collective bargaining contracts. Stephen B. Goldberg is Professor of Law at Northwestern University Law School, Chicago, Ill., 60611. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and president of Mediation Research and Education Project, Inc.This article draws in substantial part on material contained in the author's recent book (with William L. Ury and Jeanne M. Brett),Getting Disputes Resolved: Designing Systems to Cut the Costs of Conflict (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988).     

The Europeanisation of Arms Export Policy in the Czech Republic,Slovakia, and Poland

Abstract

The article examines British, French and Italian parliaments’ roles in overseeing the European Union's external military operations, Concordia and Artemis. It shows that a democratic deficit exists in European security and discusses factors shaping differential performance. The British European Scrutiny Committee approved both operations a posteriori. The French Parliament was involved through the use of the emergency examination procedure that required the president of the Delegation for the European Union to approve operations as an individual. The Italian Parliament had no say on Artemis and approved Concordia on the same day the operation was launched, three months after the Italian Government had agreed to its mandate and planning in the European Council. British parliamentarians asked qualitative questions, others did not.     

Grief reactions and effective negotiation

Conclusion In the event of death, society has in place a wide range of rituals and supports designed to help mourners deal with their grief. It may be that assigning blame and seeking legal recourse has become a significant ritual for those who have sustained other types of losses and, in some situations, loss through death as well. However, unlike societal death rituals, which guide the mourners, no guidelines exist to help negotiators address the impact of grief on their clients. Thus, in this article, insights gleaned from studies of grief, loss, and separation have been examined in an effort to develop an awareness of the impact of grief reactions on the parties to negotiation.Grief reactions—ranging from denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and guilt to acceptance—serve a useful purpose for those who have sustained grievous losses. Consequently, a better understanding of grief factors may be advantageous to negotiators and, more importantly, to their clients. Such considerations may help challenge perceptions of other parties that may otherwise be prejudicial to one's client (as in the Lindy Chamberlain case) and assist negotiators in trying to anticipate, and thus protect their clients from, grief-related reactions of other parties. In the large number of cases where negotiation and settlement discussions are not only critical but also decisive, grief theory may provide negotiators with better insight into client, and other party, interests and may help them to formulate advice and intervention strategies that take the impact of various grief reactions into account. Nancy Lewis Buck is an attorney and social worker, currently completing a doctoral dissertation at Yale Law School. Her mailing address is 9 Surrey St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138.     

Master of the Game: The Relationship between the United States and Iran Revisited, 1969-1972

ABSTRACT

How and why did the Richard Nixon Administration end up with an Iran policy more in line with the preferences of the Shah of Iran than of the United States? At its onset, the Administration did not have a clearly defined or formalised Persian Gulf policy. Attempts to create over-arching guidelines regarding American conduct toward Iran were of little consequence, as the pro-Iranian inclinations of leading decision-makers led to day-to-day decisions that strongly favoured the Shah. This limited room for manoeuvre amounted to little more than acceptance of what was already established procedure. The Shah’s strenuous lobbying of American decision-makers, using their common Cold War considerations to his advantage and the effective sidelining of critical voices within the Nixon Administration, explain this outcome.     

The power of Trump-speak: populist crisis narratives and ontological security

Abstract

For most observers, the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States (US) came as a shock. This has been widely recast as the culmination of the American public’s long-standing dissatisfaction with the political elite and deep-seated frustrations with broader socio-economic conditions. We argue that the Trump campaign’s success also stemmed from its effective use of an emotionally charged, anti-establishment crisis narrative. With insights from political psychology, we examine the socio-linguistic mechanisms that underlie the effectiveness of ‘Trump-speak’ through both quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Trump’s communications toolkit during the 2016?US presidential election campaign. We show that his leadership legitimation claims rest significantly upon ‘crisis talk’ that puts his audience in a loss frame with nothing to lose and explain why ‘crisis talk’ impacts on political behaviour. As we demonstrate, the crisis stories that political agents tell simultaneously instil ontological insecurity among the American public and serve to transform their anxiety into confidence that the narrator’s policy agendas are the route back to ‘normality’. Through these rhetorical mechanisms, the Trump campaign manipulated individuals’ ontological (in)security as a tool in the politics of reassurance at the broader, societal level.     

Where Will Russia''''s Domestic and Foreign Policies Go under the "Medvedev-Putin Tandem"?(detailed abstracts)

Why is it called the "Medvedev-Putin Tandem"? Russia's constitution stipulates that president is the head of state who shall be responsible for defining and supervising the implementation of the political,economic,diplomatic,and security guidelines and policies,while prime minister is the head of government who shall be     

Agenda-Setting and Priming in Prime Time Television: Crime Dramas as Political Cues

The effects of agenda-setting and priming are well established in regard to the news media. Considerably less attention has been paid to these phenomena in entertainment media, in spite of the fact that entertainment media enjoy larger audiences than do news media and often address political topics. This article argues that the psychological mechanism hypothesized to lead to agenda-setting and priming effectsthat is, changes in construct accessibilityapplies as equally to entertainment media as it does to news media. Moreover, we contend that the frequency, consistency, and duration of entertainment media treatments of political issues encourage chronic accessibility of those issues. We test these hypotheses looking at television crime dramas as a source of political information. Using data from two controlled laboratory experiments and the 1995 National Election Study Pilot Study, we demonstrate that viewing crime dramas significantly increases concerns about crime and that these concerns significantly affect viewers' opinions of the president. The NES Pilot Study data suggest that these effects are restricted to frequent viewers of crime dramas, supporting a chronic accessibility model of agenda-setting and priming. These findings extend our growing understanding of how non-news sources of political information contribute to the construction of political attitudes.     

A grass-roots experiment to resolve workplace problems

Leaders from the business, labor, academic, religious, and ADR communities in Massachusetts have gotten together to form a workplace network to encourage the use of ADR mechanisms in the resolution of workplace disputes and problems. The Massachusetts experiment may serve as a model for other states. Current ADR initiatives of the new Network focus on discrimination cases, health and safety issues, and education and training. Susan C. Eaton is a Ph.D. student in industrial relations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a research fellow of the Massachusetts Workplace Network, c/o Sloan School of Management, MIT E52-532, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.Thomas A. Kochan is the George M. Bunker Professor of Management at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the past president of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA).     

Lean models,complex realities: elite interactions in post-conflict democratisation at the local level

Abstract

This article argues that accounting for the complexity of interaction in post-conflict democracy promotion is important to understand how interactions influence post-conflict democratisation. Using the case of democracy promotion in Kosovo, the article uncovers two aspects in interaction processes where accounting for complexity is particularly useful: domestic goals and actor constellations. Taking into account the variety of domestic goals helps to understand how democratic reforms are subverted by domestic elites for the sake of their own domestic agenda. Disentangling the complexity of actor constellations demonstrates that interaction dynamics are shaped by the leverage and the number of international actors involved in the negotiation. The article draws on fine-grained local-level data from Kosovo to illustrate the argument.