‘State of exception’ or ‘state in exile’? The fallacy of appropriating Agamben on Palestinian refugee camps

To refer to Palestinian refugee camps as states of exception, appropriating the paradigm of Giorgio Agamben, is definitely tempting. Agamben argues that in times of crisis, individual rights of citizens are diminished and entire categories of people kept outside the political system. Nevertheless, there are flaws in applying Agamben’s perspective on Palestinian camps. It acquits the camp residents from the autonomy over their own political agency. Historically, in Lebanon, camp residents experienced an almost limitless access to free political organisation. But this access has not been converted into the development of representative, legitimate political structures.     

The failure of democratisation by elections in Cambodia

This article questions the explanatory power of the theory of democratisation by elections. This approach to democratisation argues that elections in authoritarian regimes constitute part of a metagame between ruling elites and opponents, which involves a competition for votes inside a larger competition over the nature of political power. The cumulative effect is that even flawed elections raise the costs of repression and lower the costs of toleration in ways that eventually bring about democracy. When applied to the most likely case of Cambodia, however, electoral democratisation has resoundingly failed to occur. Instead, this article argues that neopatrimonial inhibits the transformative power of elections by preventing the emergence of resolute democratic ideals, reform-minded elites and pro-democratic institutions. In this way, the distribution of party-state patronage constitutes a method of co-optation; and flawed elections represent a mechanism to renew and reinforce the historical roots and structural basis of state authority. Using the case of Cambodia, this article develops an account of neopatrimonialism in authoritarian elections and explores implications of the Cambodian experience for the democratisation by elections theory more broadly.     

Three dilemmas of hybrid regime governance: Russia from Putin to Putin

This article investigates how hybrid regimes supply governance by examining a series of dilemmas (involving elections, the mass media, and state institutions) that their rulers face. The authors demonstrate how regime responses to these dilemmas – typically efforts to maintain control while avoiding outright repression and societal backlash – have negative outcomes, including a weakening of formal institutions, proliferation of “substitutions” (e.g., substitutes for institutions), and increasing centralization and personalization of control. Efforts by Russian leaders to disengage society from the sphere of decision-making entail a significant risk of systemic breakdown in unexpected ways. More specifically, given significantly weakened institutions for interest representation and negotiated compromise, policy-making in the Russian system often amounts to the leadership's best guess (ad hoc manual policy adjustments) as to precisely what society will accept and what it will not, with a significant possibility of miscalculation. Three case studies of the policy-making process are presented: the 2005 cash-for-benefits reform, plans for the development of the Khimki Forest, and changes leading up to and following major public protests in 2011–2012.     

Neopatrimonialism and beyond: reassessing the formal and informal in the study of Central Asian politics

Neopatrimonialism has emerged as the central conceptual label applied by scholars to understand the politics of the Central Asian republics. Like the use of neopatrimonialism in other regional settings, this article argues that the concept has become susceptible to concept misinformation and stretching. Adopting a critical perspective, this article highlights three significant problems with the application of neopatrimonialism in the study of Central Asian politics: its appropriateness and operationalisation; the difficulty in ontologically and empirically untangling the formal and informal; and an inherent normativty in its application. While not advocating an abandonment of the concept, the article considers instead how it can be used better in conjunction with additional analytical approaches and/or concepts. The article proffers that a focus on either formal-institutional structures; discourses of power; and the concept of ‘multiple modernities’ would aid comprehension of the region and resolve the three issues highlighted in this work.     

Crises and critical junctures in authoritarian regimes: addressing uprisings’ temporalities and discontinuities

Abstract

In this article, we aim at sharpening common understandings of the notion of political crisis to better explain the trajectories of authoritarian transformations during popular uprisings. We make three major claims. First, we propose a definition of crisis as brief moments of institutional fluidity and openness in which a process can take different directions. We delineate the crisis concept from the concept of critical junctures and outline how our approach contributes to the methodological debate on ‘near misses’. Second, we indicate how the de-institutionalisation processes leading up to a crisis are to be analytically distinguished from within-crisis moments. We argue in favour of a discontinuity approach that takes into account the different temporalities of gradual lead-up processes and rapid within-crisis dynamics. Finally, we illustrate our theoretical and analytical reasoning with concrete cases from the authoritarian crises of the Arab uprisings, whilst suggesting that our argument can travel to other areas of research in which crisis narratives have gained prominence.     

How post-imperial democracies die: A comparison of Weimar Germany and post-Soviet Russia

While socioeconomic crisis – like in Germany after World War I and in Russia after the Cold War – is a necessary precondition for democratic erosion resulting in a breakdown of democracy, it is not a sufficient condition. We identify, in the cases of Weimar Germany and post-Soviet Russia, a post-imperial syndrome that includes nationalist irredentism and an ambition to return to the status quo ante of a “great power” as a main reason why democratization faces specific and enormous challenges for former “great powers.” A slide back to authoritarianism in post-imperial democracies takes a high toll. It is facilitated by international political conflicts, including annexation and wars, with new neighbouring states that harbor territories perceived as external national homelands like the Sudetenland or Crimea.     

Electoral theocracy and hybrid sovereignty in Iran

Post-revolution Iran is uniquely based upon the contradictory principles of divine and popular sovereignty but with ultimate authority delegated to jurists. At the same time, the theocratic basis of clerical dominance is rooted within a pluralistic and decentralised theological tradition peculiar to the Shiite establishment. Despite the tutelary institutional arrangements engineered by the ruling clergy, elections have generated unexpected outcomes and unleashed power and policy shifts. Emphasising the political dynamic generated by elections, this paper examines the uncertainties stemming from electoral processes that have been constructed by conflicting electoral and theocratic principles. In developing the concept of electoral theocracy, the paper highlights the paradoxes underpinning the hybridity of Iran’s clerical and electoral authoritarian system of governance. These hybrid features have remained largely neglected in the literature on electoral authoritarian regimes.     

Influence of public administration and environmental management performance of cement manufacturing in Malaysia

Environmental issues have become critical concerns of businesses worldwide where environmental obligations have grown substantially and companies have to be environmentally responsible. Malaysia has enacted the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and subsidiary Environmental Quality （Clean Air） Regulations 1978, Environmental Quality （Sewage and Industrial Effluent） Regulations 1979, Environmental Quality （Prescribed Activities） Order 1987 and Environmental Quality （Scheduled Waste） Regulation 2005. ISO 14001 environmental management system （EMS） standard designed to introduce environmental improvement into every aspect of a company＇s operations. ISO 14001 assists companies in creation of structured mechanisms for continuous improvement in environmental performance. There is a complex and dynamic relation between profitability and environmental concerns. The paper evaluates how ISO 14001 aids cement companies in operating continuous environment protection programs to minimize significant environmental impacts. This study analyzes the relationship between adoption of ISO 14001 to business performance and competitive advantage of Malaysian companies that provides insights into motivations and results. ISO 14001 has a positive impact on companies＇ performance, specifically on perceived environmental impacts. The companies recognized the need for ISO 14001 as an internal tool to maintain operations and management competitiveness. To adopt the ISO 14001 environment elements, it is necessary to have corporate culture that support complex operational activities in line with the top management commitment of the ISO 14001 policy and regulatory-compliant. ISO 14001 implementation was crucial in bringing about reduction of damage to the environment at operational level, and effective environmental management at management level, as well as improvement of the company＇s image and competitiveness at strategic level. Companies that export their products are expected to implement the ISO 14001 in order to maintain their competitive edge in the global market place.     

民主化视角下的俄罗斯政治发展模式

政治发展模式是研究俄罗斯政治转型的核心问题.苏联解体后,俄罗斯处于政治转型进程中,其政治发展模式随之经历了激进民主、可控民主、主权民主及延续发展阶段,呈现出权威主义的基本特点.在民主化视阀下探讨俄罗斯的政治发展模式,有助于明晰俄罗斯政治发展的轨迹.     

海峡经济区竞争性区域体系构建研究

竞争性区域是拥有独特“地方品质”的区域,以创新和知识作为其发展的催化剂,成为国家乃至全球最具发展活力的区域。竞争性区域的构建过程集中体现为提升区域竞争力的战略政策要点和与此相配套实施的多级治理措施的高效统一。从竞争性区域构建理论视角考察,海峡经济区作为两岸经济整合的独特区域,其基础设施网络连接性、产学研互动合作、产业集群培育、城市经济协同发展方面亟待推进,竞争性区域特质尚不发育。今后应从基础设施的协调与衔接、区域产业分工协作体系建立、厦金特区和福马特区创建、经济运行机制衔接、台湾海峡城市联盟缔结、开展以政府政策协调为中介的公私合营等方面着力推进,以构建海峡经济区竞争性区域配套体系,推动海峡经济区迅速崛起成为中国乃至世界新兴的竞争性区域。