Right-wing populism against diploma democracy. The evolution of parliamentary elites in Austria,Italy, and Switzerland

Are the sociological profiles of radical right-wing populist parties' (RRPPs) representatives really unlike those of their counterparts in mainstream parties? Once RRPPs occupy positions of legislative power for an extended period, do their MPs' profiles increasingly converge with those of more mainstream parties? This paper examines three right-wing parties in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland (FPÖ, LEGA, and SVP), and shows how RRPPs' MPs persistently contrast the “diploma democracy”, that is the increasingly dominant high-educated trend in political representation. Inspired by the current scholarship's diachronic and comparative perspectives of political elites and MPs, the analysis focuses trends since the 1980s.     

Covid-19 Pandemic,Social Mitigation and Taxation: The Open Veins of Inequality in Latin America

The pandemic of Covid-19 has exposed the veins of inequality in Latin America. With a socioeconomic disaster looming, social emergency policies seemed inevitable. Yet while governments argue over the continuity of such policies and whether the fiscal rules in place should be respected, no sustainable response has come out. This essay problematises whether the pandemic could represent a critical juncture to forge ahead with political narratives that highlight tax exemptions and privileges enjoyed by the rich. We analyse the mitigation measures adopted by Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay and their repercussions on the debate surrounding progressive tax reforms to fund social schemes.     

中国国际关系理论研究的现实思考

世纪之交 ,中国国际关系理论研究愈来愈重要。就现状而言 ,中国国际关系理论研究仍处于草创和摸索阶段 ,尽管取得了重要的进展 ,但还存在一些不尽人意之处。冷战结束后 ,中国国际关系理论研究更是面临着新的课题、新的挑战。     

资源民族主义语境下日本能源外交的新策略

在石油价格高企时代,资源民族主义日益膨胀。比邻而居的日本在能源外交之路上推出了诸多新举措：一是快速提升与中亚国家的合作关系,以期进一步拓宽能源进口源;二是在保持与中东传统友好关系基础上,通过合作方式和合作项目等方面的策略创新,寄希深度强化双方关系;三是积极与中、印等能源消费大国合作,以求提升国家形象。日本能源外交战略上的新策略,既非一朝一夕的构想,亦非既定方针,而是其外交经验的“积渐所至”。     

The phonology of Slavic loanwords in Lithuanian

Since 9/11, Washington has viewed the new Europe as a protégé of the United States, whose role is to repair the political bridge across the Atlantic. Whereas the lure of the United States has started to weaken in Central European countries, the Baltic states have remained the most trustful new Europeans from Washington's point of view. Nonetheless, the Balts have not felt comfortable with the new European label. They have seemingly begun to define themselves as something special and have aspired to a voice of their own. Instead of being merely protégés of the United States, the Balts are transforming themselves into intermediaries between Brussels and Washington.     

The Changing Role of NGOs in Rural Chile After Democracy

Abstract — The article examines how NGOs in rural Chile operated during the dictatorship and how their role changed after the return of democracy. An NGO (OPDECH) in Southern Chile is used as a case study. During the Pinochet regime, NGOs maintained a critical distance from the government by creating a niche for opposition researchers and activists. They provided a possibility of economic survival for professionals whilst working on alternative proposals to address the socio-economic needs of the poor majority. External funding from international agencies provided much needed resources but created as well a culture of reliance and a clientelistic middle class of professionals. The NGO in Southern Chile became a nucleus of resistance and expertise on regional development by safekeeping democratic tradition and providing a range of solutions to local development problems. After the restoration of democratic government many professionals joined the government. NGOs exchanged their altruism for a more pragmatic, opportunistic and, in some cases, more efficient role as executors of government programmes. The case study in Southern Chile illustrates this trajectory well. After municipal elections a collaborative role with local government was sought by OPDECH that aimed to implement local initiatives as well as advise local and regional governments on environmental and developmental issues. Given the NGOs historical commitment to grassroots development, it remains to be seen what role they can play in supporting local government while forging a new role for themselves in a democratic context.     

Relational Goods and Endurance of Voluntary Associational Participation: The Case of the Indigenous Mapuche in Santiago de Chile

This article analyses the reasons for the continuing membership of Mapuche associations in Santiago de Chile after the promulgation of the Indigenous Law in 1993. By following a relational goods approach, the article suggests that the constructed nature of ethnicity leads the Mapuche to create and join ethnic associations in an urban milieu. This study reveals that the main motivations for sustaining an active associational engagement are threefold: identity recovery struggle, leaving an identity legacy and bonding with their ethnic peers; all of these identified as relational goods. This investigation is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over eight months.     

Purifying Suffrage: The Conservative Attack on Voter Registration in Pre-Violencia Colombia

This article aims to contribute to the new electoral history by examining a specific practice of democracy, the voter registration card, known in Colombia as the citizenship card (cédula). After pursuing the themes of electoral reform and universal suffrage in a broader sense, the article outlines the card's history from its inception in 1929 to its role in the polemics over electoral corruption by the Conservative Party, which ranged over the period before the Violencia. While national-level politics are emphasised, the impact of the card at the municipal level also is suggested, as the critical link between the national and the local.     

Working On,Through and Around the State: The Deep Marketisation of Development in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

This article describes an important new push by international financial institutions towards broadening and deepening capitalist social relations in the underdeveloped world in ways well beyond Washington Consensus structural adjustment or even post-Washington Consensus forms of institutionally-oriented “participatory neo-liberalism.” Described here as the “deep marketisation of development” (or simply “deep marketisation”), this process is attracting increasing resources that are formally allocated directly to private actors around states, while also demanding and promoting shifts in state form and function that relate to cultivating “enabling environments” for capital and facilitating “access to finance.” The article begins by conceptualising deep marketisation and placing it in historical and political context. The second section presents examples of deep marketisation in action in the work of the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, in the Asia-Pacific. The article concludes by highlighting some serious concerns with the deep marketisation agenda.     

The use of oral data on life and thought in independent Latvia: A proposal for research

This article provides both historical and ethnographic views of Eastern religion in Lithuania. The historical component is an examination of the evolution of Lithuanian interest in Eastern religions from nineteenth-century studies of Indo-European comparative linguistics and mythology, which linked pre-Christian Lithuanian religion with India and Hinduism, to increasing literary, scholarly and popular interest in India and Asia in the twentieth century, before, during and after Soviet occupation. The ethnographic aspect utilizes fieldwork and interviews to examine three Eastern-inspired religious movements, (Pagan) Romuva, (Hindu) Krishna Consciousness, and (Buddhist) Diamond Way, demonstrating three different adaptations of Eastern religion in Lithuania.     

Surviving Financial Crises: The Chinese Overseas in Malaysia and Singapore

This article analyses key elements of the Thaksin government's public sector reform program since 2001 in the context both of a longer history of public sector reform in Thailand, and of Thaksin's style of political rule. Carefully chosen instruments of new public management reform such as budgeting for results and performance management have been accompanied by an agenda of wholesale restructuring of the bureaucracy. However, these instruments do not include many familiar items of the public management reform agenda. The reforms are best viewed as part of a politicisation strategy aimed at asserting political control at the centre. Managerial reforms are being deployed to reshape the bureaucracy into an instrument of the Thaksin government's political program. In the process, the traditional power of the bureaucracy is being challenged and undermined. The long-term impact of the bureaucratic modernisation program on administrative performance is less certain.