Rural Mobilisation and Agrarian Political Economy in Argentina, 2001–2020

In this article, we reconstruct the mobilisations of rural actors both from ‘below’ and from ‘above’ and their connections to Argentina's agrarian political economy between 2001 and 2020. We divide the analysis into three periods and review key protest events and the actions of movements and organisations, paying special attention to two dimensions. First, we consider how rural movements and organisations engaged with institutional politics and the state. Second, we analyse the collective identifications and claims at the basis of coalitions forged within and beyond the rural sector.     

The Soviet and the Post-Soviet: Street Names and National Discourse in Almaty

Abstract

While discussing Kazakhstan's post-Soviet identity, scholars treat ‘Kazakhisation’ as a given, and the substance of the process of developing such an identity is usually ignored. This article gives an insight into this process by analysing the politics of street names in Almaty and its relation to collective memory in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It is argued that the so-called ‘Kazakhisation’ of the country has been shaped primarily by the Soviet legacy, and it is in no sense pursuing the elimination of the Soviet past, or moving essentially anti-Russian lines. In fact, the post-Soviet discourse of the Kazakh nation is not a rupture but a continuation of Soviet discourses.     

Literary Journey from North to South: The Reception of Nordic Women Writers,Their Books and Ideas in the Slovenian Literary System

This article discusses the previously unresearched reception of Nordic women writers in the Slovenian cultural space. The first part presents the early reception of Nordic women writers in the nineteenth century up until the First World War. It analyses both the passive reception (the presence of books by Nordic women writers in library catalogues, references in the press and in egodocuments) as well as the active reception (literary influence). The second part of the article details the case study of Sigrid Undset’s reception, which is very intense and is still ongoing today (the most recent translation is from 2015). Through the methods and approaches of translation, intercultural, polysystem, and gender studies, this article explores the impact of Nordic women writers in the Slovenian literary polysystem and the influence of gender in the reception process. The article concludes that the writings of Nordic women writers brought representations of women’s lives to the Slovenian cultural space. Moreover, this has been of great interest for the Slovenian reading audience since female characters rarely serve as protagonists in Slovenian literature (except in some works written by Slovenian women writers). Slovenian feminists regarded Nordic women writers as role models and legitimized their own feminist demands by quoting the works of Nordic women writers and by referring to their successful writing careers. Therefore, the writings of Nordic women writers fill in a gap in Slovenian literature and supplement and enrich it.     

Between NATO and a hard place: defence spending debate in Germany and Czechia

Defence spending has become a primary issue in the context of NATO. The question of fair burden-sharing and development of new capabilities in reaction to the changing security environment led NATO members to aim to spend 2% of GDP on defence by 2024. While some allies have managed to reach the level quickly, others seem not to be able or willing to do so. We know little, however, how the international commitment is reflected and referred to in individual member states. This article shows how size played a role when the 2% pledge was discussed in domestic politics, even if the resulting policy may be very similar. Based on expert and political debates in Germany and Czechia, it demonstrates that external expectations and the question of status play a crucial part in the small state’s reasoning whereas it is mainly internal drivers that shape the big state’s decisions.     

Debating Capitalist Dynamics and Unfree Labour: A Missing Link?

Abstract

Examined here are recent contributions to an important and longstanding debate in political economy, about the link between capitalist development and the employment of unfree labour. These contributions maintain that, because Marxist theory failed to understand the centrality of unfreedom to modern capitalism, a new explanation of this link is needed. However, it is argued here that many of these new characteristics are in fact no different from those identified earlier by Marxist theory. The exclusion of the latter approach from the debate is thus unwarranted.