A Review of “Culture Jam: Hijacking Commercial Culture”

Abstract

Can the Internet and nondemocratic rule coexist? A number of key features of the Internet can be corrosive to nondemocracies. In particular, the scope and ease of obtaining information on the Web, as well as the communication capabilities available to users, provide the means for undermining the pillars of nondemocratic rule. Furthermore, the decentralized nature of the Internet complicates the task of state control of the medium. Nevertheless, despite the risks that may exist from joining the global computer network, nondemocratic regimes have not shunned this technology because it promises to be the key to development, prosperity, and influence. However, their strategies of containment may prevent a complete usage of the capabilities of the Internet. The case of China illustrates the attractions of the Internet, the measures the ruling Chinese Communist Party has implemented to make this technology politically reliable, and the impact of these measures on the full use of the Internet.     

A Household Full of Bodies: Neoliberalism,Care and “the Political”

This article explores “the political” of political economy through an analysis of neoliberalised care. Borrowing Glyn Daly's metaphor of the political economy as a disorganised household, where the “political” disrupts the neat order of the oikonomia, we argue that in neoliberalism care is a central site of the political. Through Foucauldian biopolitics we define commodification as a central logic in the governance of care, and situate it in the wider context of neoliberal governmentality. Conceptualising care as a corporeal relation, and following Annemarie Mol's logic of care, we show how, despite the constant attempts to domesticate it, the hegemonic discourse fails to fully subsume care within the “order of the household”. Examining the ruptures produced when care resists its governance, the article demonstrates how the corporeal relatedness of care continues to open up spaces for the political, hence ensuring that the economy remains political.     

L. Louër,Transnational Shia Politics: Religious and Political Networks in the Gulf

If one analyzes Austrian integration policy, a range of repeating elements becomes visible. Starting with the 1950s, continued efforts to intensify economic and trade relations with the Common Market can be witnessed. This occurred in the form of step by step cooperation with European institutions. Since 1955 Austria's integration policy had been accompanied by the maintenance of and focus on 'permanent neutrality'. Among the EFTA states, Austria was the country the EEC sympathized with most, for it was important with regard to foreign and trade policy in the context of the East-West conflict. Austria was of central geostrategic significance. With regard to Russia's attitude, Austria succeeded in underlining its 'special case'. Austria's policy of going it alone failed in 1967 for several reasons, not only because of Italy's veto. There were also French reservations and Russian objections. Bridging the gap to Brussels revealed wishful thinking that was only to become true in 1972. An arrangement of bilateral tariff and trade treaties with different EFTA states and the EEC and ECSC came into force.