Islam,ethnicity and the state: contested spaces of legitimacy and power in the Kurdish-Turkish public sphere

ABSTRACT

The pro-Kurdish nationalist mobilization in Turkey was mostly built on the right to self-determination aligned with the Marxist-Leninist ideology for the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the early 1980s and ethnic minority rights for the secular-leftist pro-Kurdish legal parties in the 1990s. The Turkish state mostly framed the legal and illegal pro-Kurdish mobilization as ‘the enemy of the state’ and ‘the enemy of Islam’ in its counter-insurgency efforts. However, in the 2000s, the PKK and the pro-Kurdish legal parties became more tolerant and inclusive toward Islamic Kurdish identity by mobilizing their sympathizers in events such as ‘Civic Friday Prayers’ and a ‘Democratic Islamic Congress’. This move aimed to function as an antidote to the rising popularity of the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Kurdish Hizbullah in the early 2000s. In other words, Islam and pious Muslim identity has increasingly become contested among Turkish Islamists, Kurdish Islamists, and the secular Kurdish nationalists. This article seeks to unpack why, how, and under what conditions such competing actors and mechanisms shape the discursive and power relationships in the Kurdish-Turkish public sphere.     

Politicians without Parties and Parties without Politicians: The Foibles of the Peruvian Political Class, 2000–2006*

Since the collapse of the Fujimori regime in November 2000, the Peruvian political system has experienced considerable turbulence, which has focused attention on the capabilities and comportment of the country’s elected politicians. While some analysts hold that ‘there is no political class in Peru’, others maintain that since Fujimori’s demise a ‘resurrection’ has occurred in the fortunes of both parties and politicians who occupied centre stage during the 1980s. This article examines these claims, arguing that despite appearances to the contrary, the core of Peru’s political class operates in a rational and responsible fashion.     

A Concise History of the Arabs

This paper is an attempt to analyse the contentious role of drone strikes in the context of the options available in the on-going fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and the Af-Pak region. There are significant legal issues here, both in terms of human rights and in terms of state sovereignty and independence, though there are those who argue that the concept of a “just war” provides adequate justification. Pragmatists focus on effectiveness. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, there are many individuals who lend their support to the drone attacks because they see no other alternative(s), given that the prospects for dialogue seems so unpromising. But however many jihadist leaders are killed, in drone strikes, other effective counter-insurgency action may provide a better option.     

The Role of the Peruvian Guerrilla in Che Guevara's Continental Guerrilla Project

The Peruvian guerrillas of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN, National Liberation Army) played a key role in Che Guevara's continental guerrilla project. When Guevara left from Africa, his idea was to strengthen this organisation that was supposedly fighting in the department of Ayacucho. After the defeat of this guerrilla in 1965 he turned his eye on Bolivia. The Peruvian guerrillas of the ELN maintained their importance in Guevara's project as evidenced by their attempts to build a guerrilla force nearby the border of Bolivia. This article sheds light on the role of the Peruvian ELN in Che Guevara's continental guerrilla project.     

Marching for Progress: Rituals of Citizenship, State and Belonging in a High Andes District

This article explores processes of citizenship and state formation in the Central Peruvian Andes in the wake of the armed conflict through the lens of a public ritual, the celebration of a district anniversary. The celebration is a reservoir of practices from past forms of state formation and may be read as a claim for recognition as full‐blown members of the nation‐state. While practices of citizenship as rights are emerging, the celebration is permeated by the association between citizenship and civilization, with discipline playing a major role as an instrument of modernisation and progress.     

Why this Charity Begins Abroad: Comparing Nigeria’s Foreign Peacekeeping Undertakings and Domestic Counter-insurgency Operations

The Nigerian state has had a turbulent history and even more worrisome present. Its sovereignty has been flagrantly challenged and its territorial integrity undermined by domestic non-state actors. The contemporary security challenges and indeed the incapacity of the security apparatuses to contain them contrast sharply with their past records, especially in peace enforcement abroad. Thus, this paper seeks to account for the apparent gulf between past strengths and current weaknesses of the Nigerian security machinery. It explores the country’s involvement in external peace support operations and domestic counter-insurgency efforts. The author identifies the politicisation of and corruption within the military establishment as plausible explanations for the disconnect between the recorded past (victories) and the inadequacies of today. From the standpoint of this author, to address these issues there is the need for a holistic security sector reform in Nigeria.     

Negotiating Natural Resource Conflicts: A Study of State Practices,Peasant Mobilisation and Sub‐National Government in the Peruvian Andes

This article explores the dynamics of natural resource conflicts and local government in the Peruvian Andes. Recent publications have found that efficiency and democratic accountability in local government are key variables for mitigating conflict. By focusing on the ethnographies of two conflicts and as participant observers within local government, we argue that by re‐framing the analytical focus within local histories and current practices of natural resource conflicts, we can better make sense of the dynamics of current land politics. The article presents a sequential framework that explores key moments of the relations between the state and peasant communities during natural resource conflicts. Through this framework, we argue that natural resource conflicts are negotiated in a sphere of politics that transcends the state's institutional and legal limits.     

Reconstructing the New Regulatory State in Germany: Telecommunications,Broadcasting and Banking

What was largely accomplished by the conservative governments in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, that is, the re-modelling of the role of the state in the economy, seems under way now in Germany. However, it is not yet clear whether one may speak here of 'a new regulatory state' as well. In this article, an analytical framework is proposed to analyse the change of statehood, paying particular attention to regulation. It is argued that regulation is not a new form of governance, but rather a general form of state-societal interference. As such, it represents a valuable category for state analysis. Focusing on three sectors, namely telecommunications, broadcasting and banking, it is concluded that the kind of change we observe in Germany is, in many respects, both less spectacular than in Britain as well as much more heterogeneous and sector-specific. While the public interest has been amazingly constant, regulatory modes and institutions have been subject to major shifts. Yet, there is hardly any sign for the emergence of 'the' new regulatory state at the turn of the millennium.     

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。     

The Peruvian press under recent authoritarian regimes, with special reference to the autogolpe of President Fujimori

Among the many controversial actions of President Fujimori the autogolpe of April 1992 is one of the most widely known, appearing for a time to provide other beleaguered South American presidents with an alternative model as to a possible course of action. By means of textual analysis and interviews with the editors of newspapers and news magazines this paper examines the military and economic pressures exerted on the Peruvian printed media during Alberto Fujimori's first term in office, and relates them to the historical situation of the press in the country.     

From rural rebellions to urban riots: political competition and changing patterns of violent political revolt in Uganda

Violent political revolt has been common in independent Uganda. For a long time, such revolts were exclusively expressed as rural-based rebel groups fighting the government. Since the mid-2000s, however, this seems to have come to an end. Instead, urban riots, very rare in the past, have become much more common. This article analyses these changing patterns of types and location of violent political revolt in Uganda under the National Resistance Movement government. It argues that the earlier prevalence of rural rebellions can be explained by the combination of a coercive and militarised state, and weak and ethnically factionalised political forces who took their violent resistance to rural regional bases. Over time, however, government counter-insurgency became more effective and the conditions for insurgency were undermined by withdrawal of external support. Furthermore, the reintroduction of multi-party politics in 2005 opened up new avenues for political expression. The changes to the political system were, however, more nominal than real in many respects. While the rebel option had become less attractive and feasible, a series of social, economic and political grievances remained which were only partly channelled through party politics. They also found expression through sporadic urban violent revolt.     

The Philippines Discovers its Maritime Domain: The Aquino Administration’s Shift in Strategic Focus from Internal to Maritime Security

With China’s naval expansion in the South China Sea, the Philippine government has eased up its counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism campaign and has vigorously pursued instead the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) particularly in developing the deterrence capability of the Philippine Navy (PN). However, slow-paced and hampered by scant resources, the naval build-up will hardly deter China’s encroachment on the Philippine maritime territory. Faced with this predicament, the Philippines has resorted to forging new security partnerships with the United States and Japan, two major naval powers in East Asia. The paper concludes that maritime security will remain the Philippines’ priority concern way into the third decade of the 21st century.     

Additional source materials on Philippine radical movements

Abstract

William Pomeroy's bibliographical essay is useful for future scholarship. I would, however, like to offer some supplementary information based upon my research and writing about radical peasant movements in the Philippines for the 1944-56 period. There is a wealth of information to explore, both in the Philippines and in the United States, and there is hope that radical movements in the Philippines will be given the proper recognition they deserve. In particular, the post-World War II Huk movement has been pictured for too long simply in terms of a counter-insurgency problem for the Philippine and United States governments. Using alternative sources, the Huks can be seen from the perspective of the participants themselves.     

Labour Demands,Regime Concessions: Moroccan Unions and the Arab Uprising

This article investigates how public employee unions mobilised to take advantage of Morocco's Arab uprising. Leveraging their positions as operators of public institutions, these unionists exploited the unrest to strategically advance their interests. Two points emerge from this account of state—labour relations in Morocco. First, a spike in labour contestation began in early 2010, presaging the unrest that rocked Moroccan cities in 2011. Second, the unions secured their demands through traditional tactics of labour mobilisation—joining street protests, exaggerating material demands, and threatening negotiation walkouts. This strategy, however, became more efficacious during the Arab uprising. Fearing urban riots that had historically grown from labour protests since the 1980s, regime elites conceded to union demands, many of which they had previously rejected in the 2000s.     

Leadership Traits and Ghana’s Foreign Policy: The Case of Jerry Rawlings’ Foreign Economic Policy of the 1980s

This article examines Ghana’s foreign policy-making with reference to internal and external determinants (structural/systemic). Besides these determinants, political actors (primarily, presidents/heads of state) have shaped the country’s foreign policy outcomes, but this field of enquiry (i.e. the individual-level analysis) has not, received much attention in the literature. To enhance the understanding of leadership and personality traits in foreign policy-making, this study draws on the theory of Leadership Trait Analysis to examine Jerry John Rawlings and Ghana’s foreign economic policy in the early 1980s. It argues that the leadership traits of Rawlings to some extent shaped Ghana’s foreign economic policy decisions in the early 1980s.     

The Commonwealth,Apartheid, and the Role of Micro-states

In the 1980s, the debate surrounding South Africa apartheid consumed the Commonwealth. While superficially this discussion might appear to have had little relevance to the interests of micro and small state members of the Commonwealth, the behemothic nature of apartheid presented significant challenges to such states. This article attempts to assess the varied ways in which South African apartheid affected the diplomatic strategies of micro-states within the political landscape of the Commonwealth, and how it could be perceived as both a hindrance to their agendas, as well a potential tool in the fight to amplify their voices. Micro-states used the egalitarian structure of the Commonwealth and combined it with the prominence of apartheid in international debate to both elevate their status and even to garner support for their own personal concerns. Apartheid’s reframing of the international conversation had broad reverberations which affected Commonwealth responses to a variety of seemingly disparate issues. This culminated in the ejection of Fiji from the Commonwealth in the aftermath of the 1987 coup due to concerns over racial discrimination, emblematising the all-pervasive nature of the apartheid debate within the Commonwealth.     

The Impossibility of Party Unity in Peru: Party Affiliation,Subnational Electoral Competition and Party Discipline (2011–2019)

Party division in Peru is a constant event and has become an expected feature of Peruvian parliamentary politics. For instance, in 2016, the elected Congress was composed of six parliamentary groups, and at the moment of its dissolution, that number doubled. This article explores the factors that produce such rapid division in the Peruvian Congress during two parliamentary periods (2011–2016, 2016–2019). It argues, through quantitative analysis, that there is a direct and negative relationship between the fragmentation of parliamentary groups and party discipline due to party affiliation and the dynamics of subnational party competition.     

Behind the ‘Miracle’: Non‐Traditional Agro‐Exports and Water Stress in Marginalised Areas of Ica,Peru

Expansion in the non‐traditional agricultural export sector following neoliberal reform has precipitated an economic transformation in Peru. Non‐traditional agricultural export growth has brought environmental, social and distributive costs. This article critically examines the Peruvian asparagus boom and the impact of this on water availability among marginal groups. Based on primary case study fieldwork, the paper asserts that the agro‐export model is causing the over‐exploitation of important groundwater supplies in the Ica Valley where almost all of Peru's fresh asparagus is produced. This reveals wider issues concerning neoliberal development and the political economy of natural resource allocation in Latin America.     

The 1934 Southern Railway Strike in Peru

This article examines the 1934 Southern Railway Strike, a largely neglected yet important episode in Peruvian labour history. The strike, which pitted the British-owned Peruvian Corporation against its workforce, resulted in victory for the company. Drawing on a variety of original primary sources, I examine the factors that shaped the development and outcome of the strike. I pay particular attention to the strategies developed by the company managers to defeat the workers. The success of these strategies, I suggest, owed in no small measure to the volatile political situation created by the insurgency tactics of APRA and the Communist Party, which made victory for the workers politically impossible, and to the capacity of the Peruvian Corporation managers to draw on 'imperial connections' in their dealings with the Peruvian government.