Terrorism Research: Past,Present, and Future

Research on terrorism and counterterrorism draws on many disciplines, including Politics, History, Sociology and Anthropology. Yet there are concerns about scope, methodology, impact, and the level of public debate. An agreed definition of terrorism is unattainable: there should be more focus on particular acts rather than labelling whole movements. The threat of terrorism should be kept in proportion. Understanding its causes, and associated belief-systems, is crucial to conducting effective counterterrorist operations. Evaluations of the effectiveness of both terrorism and counterterrorism need to encompass more factors, including terrorism's deadliest legacies: wars on terror that fail, and a habit of violence.     

Privileged Exclusion in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan: Ethnic Return Migration,Citizenship, and the Politics of (Not) Belonging

This article explores issues of citizenship and belonging associated with post-Soviet Kazakhstan’s repatriation programme. Beginning in 1991, Kazakhstan financed the resettlement of over 944,000 diasporic Kazakhs from nearly a dozen countries, including Mongolia, and encouraged repatriates to become naturalised citizens. Using the concept of ‘privileged exclusion’, this article argues that repatriated Kazakhs from Mongolia belong due to their knowledge of Kazakh language and traditions yet, at the same time, do not belong due to their lack of linguistic fluency in Russian, the absence of a shared Soviet experience, and limited comfort with the ‘cosmopolitan’ lifestyle that characterises the new elite in this post-Soviet context.     

Cash Transfers and Citizenship: Evidence from South Africa

Theoretical research has assumed a role for cash transfers in forging a state-citizen contract, yet evidence is scarce regarding whether social protection promotes citizenship among claimants in practice. The article explores the implications of cash transfers for notions of citizenship in the narratives of transfer recipients in Johannesburg, South Africa. Cash transfers created a space for state-citizen exchange, helping topersonalise views of the state, and giving citizens grounds for holding the state accountable. However, boundaries between state and citizens' responsibilities were contested, suggesting that expectations of a contractual relationship with the state were weak. Cash transfers are an important but partial means of promoting citizenship.     

State,Citizenship and Religious Community: The Case of Indian Muslim Women

Thos article argues that granting citizenship rights to the minorities cannot help to instil a sense of confidence in them to participate as equal citizens in the public sphere. Rather the state has to create necessary conditions both through institutional mechanisms as well as through creating a democratic and egalitarian environment where those rights can be enjoyed. A liberal democracy can accommodate both individual as well as group rights and allow for legal pluralism by desisting from imposing any law that can result in the loss of identity for a minority group. But at the same time a liberal democracy is to ensure that individual rights are not jeopardised while safeguarding the minority rights. If particularistic demands do not conflict with basic individual liberty and dignity, they can and should be accommodated within the universalistic framework of citizenship.     

Belonging and Political Participation: Evidence from the 2011 President Election in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

This study examines the effects of social embeddedness on interest in politics and electoral behaviour using data from a nationally representative survey conducted shortly after the 2011 presidential election in Kyrgyzstan. We find that interest in politics is positively associated with community trust, public sector employment and a sense of national belonging. Controlling for the effects of interest in politics, community trust and public sector employment are also positively associated with voting in this election, whereas evidence on ethno-cultural inclusion is mixed. These findings highlight the role of social embeddedness in political participation in young post-communist democracies.     

Irrigation and Water Management in Turkmenistan: Past Systems,Present Problems and Future Scenarios

FOR THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC OF TURKMENISTAN agriculture is the single most important economic activity in that more than 40% of the population is directly in its employ. For a greater number of people it represents a major secondary income source, which in the economic crisis of the post-independence period has assumed even greater significance. With agriculture in Turkmenistan being almost totally dependent on irrigation, access to water is essential and the control and management of the region's water resources has long been an important factor in Turkmen history. Archaeological and historical records indicate that the amount of land irrigated in the region has varied considerably over time. During periods of political stability, often when a single polity ruled over the area, irrigation flourished, but declined after periods of invasion or when internal political conditions were unstable. It was during the 70 years that Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union, however, that the region's irrigation network reached its greatest extent with the construction of huge, highly integrated systems which allowed large tracts of desert to be cultivated. But what are the implications of the collapse of the Soviet Union for irrigated agriculture in Central Asia? Will there be, as has been seen in the past, a decline in irrigation now that there is no longer centralised management and funding or can Turkmenistan buck the trend and maintain its irrigation network which is so essential to the republic's economy? In this article we assess the impact of the break-up of the Soviet Union on water management strategies in Turkmenistan. In particular we focus on the Karakum canal, which is the world's largest irrigation canal and feeds an area of approximately one million hectares. The problems of managing such a system are highlighted and some of the different ways in which future management may be directed are discussed.     

Economic Reform and Social Change in China: Past, Present, and Future of the Economic State

China's socioeconomic crisis before 1978 and its success over the past two decades can be viewed as a zigzag process of politicization and depoliticization of the economic state. By summarizing the Chinese experience, this article shows the importance of a specific pattern of general public policy (GPP) in determining the nature of a policy system. China's economic and serialized reforms since 1978 are reviewed in order to illuminate the current situation and future direction of the nation. The changes have undermined the economic state by creating a trend of de-economicization in the Chinese government. If economic reform and social change are to continue smoothly, another transfer of state emphasis to more balanced development is required.     

西方霸权的竞争者:过去与现在——作为一种全球治理视角

近年来,人们常常听到对于中国何时能超过美国成为世界头号经济体的各种预测。高盛首席经济学家吉姆·奥尼尔在最近的一次评估中认为,就目前的增长率而言,中国将在2027年超过美国。就在同一年,金砖四国GDP总和将超过目前的七国集团。     

Political Instability and Export Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa

The political landscape of post-independent sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been one of rampant coups d'etat. Existing evidence suggests such elite political instability (PI) has been growth-inhibiting even when exports are accounted for. In the light of the increasing interest in the role of export-promotion strategies in fostering economic growth, however, the present paper examines the impact of PI on export performance in these economies. The paper explores the hypothesis that the lack of a stable political environment adversely influences export performance via competitiveness, and that PI may actually play a more crucial role in export than in overall GDP growth. Based on detailed data on the incidence of coups in 30 SSA countries, real export growth over 1967-1986 is regressed on a principal-component of the various forms of coup events - "successful" coups, abortive coups, and coup plots - as well as on export structure, terms of trade, production capacity, and exchange rate misalignment. The results support the above hypothesis of an adverse impact of PI on export growth, and further suggest that PI has been even more deleterious to exports than to overall GDP.     

外国党旗党徽纵览——南非

南非非洲人国民大会南非非洲人国民大会(简称“非国大”)成立于1912年1月8日,是南非执政党和第一大党,现任党主席为西里尔·拉马福萨。党旗非国大党旗为黑、绿、金三色长方形旗面,党旗中央印有党徽图案。黑色代表世世代代为自由而战的南非土著民。绿色代表哺育着南非土著民,但曾长期被殖民者和种族隔离政府霸占的土地。金色代表属于所有南非人民的矿产及其他自然资源。     

Citizenship in Pakistan: state,nation and contemporary faultlines

The research investigates young Pakistanis' self-articulation of their relationship with the state and what factors play a role in determining their views. The article argues that beyond the issues traditionally seen as causing the instability of the Pakistani state (which include sectarian and ethnic faultlines as well as the role of the army), there is another – between ordinary citizens and the state. Although there are provincial differences, people at large feel alienated by the state and the concept of citizenship has become hazy as it is often mixed up with the issue of identity. Given the paucity of rights and responsibilities and the lack of political participation, the problems across Pakistani society are ever increasing. The research used a mixed methods approach and 1300 questionnaires were collected in 27 different education institutions across three provinces. On aggregate response the research found that there is a high sense of belonging to the nation, yet paradoxically also a high sense of alienation with regard to the state. Whilst most of those surveyed professed awareness of their rights and duties, as well as political awareness, political participation was very low. The qualitative section of the questionnaire exemplified the level of alienation and anger felt by many across the various institutions and provinces.     

Party Politics,Political Competition and Coming to Terms with the Past in Post-Communist Hungary

This article considers processes involved in coming to terms with the past in the early years of post-communist Hungary. It addresses the impacts of ‘soft’ late socialism, ‘negotiated’ post-socialist transition, and the intense inter-party and intra-party competition in which Hungary’s first democratically elected government operated. It concludes that claims that Hungary failed to confront the past in the early 1990s miss the mark. The past was confronted openly and aggressively by political actors, but the public will, as reflected in parliamentary legislation, was in favour of measures that resonated with ‘soft’ late socialism and a smooth post-socialist transition rather than political retribution.