From Leninism to Karimovism: Hegemony,Ideology, and Authoritarian Legitimation

A political theorist examines the way in which President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan has attempted to legitimate authoritarian rule since the transition from communism. A comparison is made between late-Soviet modes of authoritarian legitimation and those of the Karimov regime, and the success of the project at the conceptual level is examined. The article closes with a consideration of the implications of this study for evaluating Juan J. Linz's classical thesis on the relationship between authoritarianism and ideology and some general propositions on the structure of authoritarian legitimation.     

Winning Friends,Influencing People: Soviet Cultural Diplomacy in Australia, 1928–1968

This article draws on largely unpublished archive materials to examine the strategies employed by the USSR to manage its cultural relations with Australia as a means of extending its influence beyond its traditional supporters in trade union and socialist movements. The activities of key players like the All‐Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS), the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies (SSOD) and the International Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers and their interaction with Australian organizations and individuals identified and cultivated as contacts of influence are reviewed in the context of the changing international situation and an often problematic bilateral political relationship.     

From Heroes to Whingers: Changing Attitudes to British Migrants, 1947 to 1977

Shifts in attitudes towards British migrants from the late 1940s to the late 1970s chart the development of a non-British Australia. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, British migrants were accorded a special prestige based on a belief that Australia and Britain had fought to defend shared imperial British values. Although British migrants protested at hostel conditions, public sympathy remained on the side of the migrants. The rise of the Whingeing Pom stereotype around 1960 reflects the declining weight of British wartime experience and a strengthening of the idea of an independent non-British Australia. The 1970s saw the ending of British preference, and the debate surrounding British activism in Australian trades unions raised the question of whether British migrants were now merely an ethnic group within a multicultural Australia.     

Rwanda, ten years on: From genocide to dictatorship

Ten years after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda is experiencing notdemocracy and reconciliation but dictatorship and exclusion.Although the government led by the Rwanda Patriotic Front hasachieved rapid institutional reconstruction and relatively goodbureaucratic governance, it has also concentrated power andwealth in the hands of a very small minority, practised ethnicdiscrimination, eliminated every form of dissent, destroyedcivil society, conducted a fundamentally flawed ‘democratization’process, and massively violated human rights at home and abroad.The Rwandan army twice invaded neighbouring Zaire-Congo, whereits initial security concerns gave way to a logic of plunder.It has caused protracted regional instability and derailed thetransition process in the Democratic Republic of Congo. TheRwandan government has succeeded in avoiding condemnation byastutely exploiting the ‘genocide credit’ and byskilful information management. The international communityhas been complicit in the rebuilding of a dictatorship underthe guise of democracy. It assumes a grave responsibility inallowing structural violence to develop once again, just asbefore 1994. In years to come, this may well lead to renewedacute violence.     

Subjects to citizens: From non-voting,to protesting,to voting in Estonia during the transition to democracy

Abstract

The political behaviour of ethnic Estonians and Slavs during the Soviet and transition (1989–1991) years reflects differing political orientations towards and grievances with the Soviet regime. Survey data from Estonia show that the reasons for non-voting during the Soviet era vary between ethnic Estonian and Slavic non-voters with ethnic Estonians choosing not to vote for system rejecting reasons. Estonians who did not vote in elections from 1983 to 1988 were more likely to be young, to live in urban areas and to have had a family member repressed. They were also much more likely to engage in petitioning, picketing, and meetings and demonstrations in support of independence between 1986 and 1990, especially if they did not vote for system rejecting reasons between 1983 and 1988. Non-voting among Slavs in the 1980's was not only much rarer than for Estonians with few citing system rejecting reasons for not-voting, but it had no relationship with later protest activities. Estonian non-voters joined independence organizations and increasingly voted during the transition years 1988–1990. But non-voting increased among Slavs in 1989 and 1990 during the transition, and some of this non-voting was clearly a form of protest against increasing Estonian influence over the state.     

从布什主义到新帝国主义

布什政府以“失败国家论”为舆论幌子 ,推行单边主义 ,崇尚武力政策 ,出台安全新战略 ,退出反导条约 ,追求美国本土的“绝对安全”,无限制扩大反恐战争 ,表明“新帝国主义”论已经成为布什政府的外交政策实践     

From Cape to Kampala

The following address was given at a joint meeting of the RoyalAfrican Society and the Royal Empire Society on April 28, 1955Lt-Col. Sir Stewart Symes, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., D.S.O. took thechair.