Islam,ethnicity and the state: contested spaces of legitimacy and power in the Kurdish-Turkish public sphere

ABSTRACT

The pro-Kurdish nationalist mobilization in Turkey was mostly built on the right to self-determination aligned with the Marxist-Leninist ideology for the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the early 1980s and ethnic minority rights for the secular-leftist pro-Kurdish legal parties in the 1990s. The Turkish state mostly framed the legal and illegal pro-Kurdish mobilization as ‘the enemy of the state’ and ‘the enemy of Islam’ in its counter-insurgency efforts. However, in the 2000s, the PKK and the pro-Kurdish legal parties became more tolerant and inclusive toward Islamic Kurdish identity by mobilizing their sympathizers in events such as ‘Civic Friday Prayers’ and a ‘Democratic Islamic Congress’. This move aimed to function as an antidote to the rising popularity of the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Kurdish Hizbullah in the early 2000s. In other words, Islam and pious Muslim identity has increasingly become contested among Turkish Islamists, Kurdish Islamists, and the secular Kurdish nationalists. This article seeks to unpack why, how, and under what conditions such competing actors and mechanisms shape the discursive and power relationships in the Kurdish-Turkish public sphere.     

Rohingya Boat Refugees at Bay of Bengal and Obligations of the South East Asian States Under Soft Law

Liverpool Law Review - The 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol are the only binding international instruments under which the parties of the instruments agree to protect refugees....     

Intimate Partner Violence in the African American Community: Risk,Theory, and Interventions

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is devastating to individuals, families, and communities. IPV is considered the most prevalent type of violence in families (Owen et al. in Journal of Family Violence, 24(7), 433–445. doi: 10.1007/s10896-009-9239-2, 2009; Williams et al. in Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 16(3), 296–310. doi: 10.1080/10926770801925726, 2008a). Unfortunately, IPV occurs far too frequently within African American families. Research suggests that African Americans are more likely to report experiencing IPV than any other racial groups (Bent-Goodley in Health & Social Work, 29(4), 307–316, 2004; Hampton and Gelles in Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 25, 105–119, 1994; Rennison and Welchans 2000). Despite this, there is a paucity of research that highlights the specific factors that may contribute to the high rates of IPV within the African American community. This article will explore the risk factors associated with IPV in this, while highlighting the way in which psychoanalytic theory can be used to understand these rates. Treatment approaches that use a multicultural framework will also be discussed.     

Jihad: a South African perspective

The India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) established in 2003 brings together three like-minded, democratic, market economies of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character, sharing a broadly similar economic, political and development situation. At the time of its formation IBSA was widely regarded as representing a novel form of South-South cooperation, transcending older models rooted in the logic of North-South confrontation in the post-colonial, Cold War world. However, now, as the respective countries prepare for their tenth anniversary summit in India, the forum seems to face a growing sense of irrelevance, perhaps even an existential crisis. There has been a proliferation of other forums—notably BRICS and the G20—which means that IBSA needs to differentiate itself if it is to endure. This paper suggests a common vision for IBSA, based on the concept of international liberalism, implying an open international market, well-regulated capital markets and tailored domestic policies such as social policy, health policy and education policy, may well increase the weight IBSA can gain in different international forums.     

Kuwait's economy,the economic status of the GCC in general and bilateral relations between the GCC and SADC

Focusing more on South Africa's international cultural‐political‐economic strengths and weaknesses than on current domestic affairs, as it moves away from apartheid, this article examines the new South Africa's chances for ascent (development) or descent (underdevelopment) within the world system. Politically, the State will remain weak by international standards. Economically, it is in decline, largely because it is uncompetitive internationally; and these negative trends well pre‐date the unrest and sanctions of the mid‐1980s. It is concluded that the new South Africa will be fortunate to maintain its present position in the medium‐term.     

Nepad: Questions of ownership

Is Nepad doing enough to ensure the buy in of the people whose support it needs to succeed?