New Labour in the global economy: partisan politics and the social democratic model

Drawing on a framework developed by Geoffrey Garrett in his recent book Partisan Politics in the Global Economy , I examine the 'policy space' that is available for the social democratic project in the United Kingdom. Garrett is optimistic about the possibilities for reformism: he emphasises the ability of an 'encompassing' labour movement to exchange wage restraint for reformist policies. Given the absence of such an encompassing labour movement in the United Kingdom, his conclusion apparently offers little support to those seeking reformist measures in these circumstances. I discuss three reasons why Garrett's model may still be applicable in the British context. First, social democrats may be able to offer policies desirable to capital. Second, wage moderation may be possible without the existence of an encompassing labour movement. Third, and most ambitious, it may be possible to develop an encompassing labour movement within the United Kingdom. My tentative conclusion is that a variant of the Garrett model is potentially a plausible one for a reformist party in the United Kingdom.     

Che,Chevys, and Hemingway's Daiquiris: Cuban Tourism in a Time of Globalisation

In Cuba over the past two decades, diverse and apparently contradictory aspects of tourism have emerged along with state‐led development and market‐driven initiatives. This ethnographic account examines the complex ways in which Cubans and international visitors experience tourism as an economic and cultural force. Despite the unintended consequences of tourism, which has produced growing social inequality and illicit trade, tourism has met surprising success in appealing to desires for both pre‐revolutionary pleasures and enduring revolutionary culture and politics.     

Discourse rights and the Drumcree marches: a reply to O'Neill

In a recent BJPIR article Shane O'Neill uses Habermas' discourse theory of rights to argue that the conflicts over marches in Drumcree can be resolved rationally in the nationalist residents' favour. I question this conclusion via a critique of Habermas' theory. Habermas' apparently unexceptionable requirement that political outcomes win universal acceptability is bought at the cost of vagueness: it fails to specify how acceptability is secured, or how the requirement itself is derived. So it cannot justify the exceptions to equal civil rights which O'Neill wants, such as exceptions to rights of freedom of expression or movement. Unionists can claim that their position respects Habermas' universal acceptability requirement. This exposes the limitations of attempts to impose abstract principles such as Habermas' on real political conflicts. A possible alternative to this is a form of Schmittian decisionism, in which rules either prove indeterminate, or are confronted with exceptional cases that call for executive intervention outside the framework of rules. Sensitivity to political context requires not derogations from rights, but respect for the autonomy of political processes.     

Political opposition and the challenges of a dominant party system: The democratic alliance in South Africa

The African National Congress enjoys a position of leviathan-like dominance in South Africa. In official opposition stands the Democratic Alliance whose support has risen considerably since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. The white electorate strongly favours the party over its main rival, the Freedom Front Plus. The coloured community in the Western Cape has also given the Democratic Alliance its support. Although the party has done well in attracting the support of ethnic minority groups it has not been so successful among the African electorate. In accounting for the success of the Democratic Alliance this article considers three themes: firstly, the reasons why white voters, especially Afrikaners, shifted their support to the party; secondly, the brand of South African patriotism now used by the party to promote the primacy of a non-racial South African identity; and finally, the party's understanding of political opposition and the obstacles that exist to it making further electoral progress.     

On the limits of liberal peace: Chiefs and democratic decentralization in post-war Sierra Leone

Liberal peace, the explicit merging of international securityand development policy, has arrived fairly late on the scenein Sierra Leone. One of its primary foci is regimes of customarygovernance and sociality associated with chiefdom administration.Many international agencies consider these regimes irredeemablyoppressive towards the rural poor and a root cause of the recentcivil war. While the present government of Sierra Leone remainssupportive of chieftaincy, international donors are supportinga fast-track decentralization programme that, it is hoped, willsupply a new system of democratic governance to a rural populacealready straining against the leash of ‘custom’.This article, drawing upon the author’s recent fieldworkin Sierra Leone, undertakes a critical examination of this policy.It is argued that, popular grievances notwithstanding, chieftaincyis the historic focus of struggles for political control overthe Sierra Leonean countryside. Both the national elite andthe rural poor remain deeply engaged in these struggles, andmany among the latter continue to value customary authorityas a defence against the abuse of bureaucratic power. Fast-trackingdecentralization in the war-ravaged countryside may thereforeonly succeed in shifting the balance of political power awayfrom the poor.     

Pseudo‐democratic politics and populist possibilities: the rise and demise of Turkey's Refah party

Within the span of only a few years, Turkish politics witnessed the dramatic rise and fall of the Refah Party. This transformation from relative obscurity to the head of a ruling coalition and eventual banning was caused by a combination of features inherent in the Turkish political system and the party itself. Turkish democracy features the continued interference of the military in domestic political affairs on the one hand and a preponderance of largely centrist and bland ‘mainstream’ parties on the other. Nevertheless, the existence of ostensibly democratic institutions such as elections or a parliament enable potential political aspirants who are outside the mainstream to make bids for power through officially sanctioned channels. The Refah's rise was a product of the perceived uniqueness of its ideological platform and its unparalleled focus on grass roots voter mobilization. Its fall, however, came when the military considered it to have overstepped the bounds of acceptable political behaviour within the country's narrowly defined democracy.