Can twitter change the Iranian legal landscape for women?

ABSTRACT

This article explores the effectiveness of international social media (Twitter) campaigns, as a modern form of transnational advocacy networks, seeking domestic legal change in Iran for women’s rights. Using the spiral model of human rights change and second wave normative theories, the article critiques current thought on social media as an advocacy tool using evidence from two Iranian campaigns. Gathering empirical data from the #stopstoning and #letwomengotostadium campaigns, the research finds that Twitter campaigns may be linked to regression in some areas of women’s rights. Early evidence indicates that social media may lead to amplified government backlash, lack of campaign persistence and foreign overshadowing of domestic voices, which all contribute to the ongoing problematisation of the role of transnational advocacy networks in domestic human rights change.     

新中国成立初期上海妇女工业技术革新：国家推动下的妇女解放新道路

20世纪50～60年代的技术革新运动是一场开展广泛、影响深远的群众性运动，妇女作为重要的劳动力参与到这场运动并发挥了不可忽视的作用。妇女参与技术革新不仅为满足生产需要、推进工业化进程作出了重大贡献，而且通过技术革新也向社会展示了自身的独立性和创造性，提升了妇女作为社会主义建设者的自豪感和自信心，对妇女解放有着极为重要的意义。     

论女性学专业学生法律素养的培养--基于“法理学”或“法学概论”的教学思考

女性学是最具有女子高校特色的专业，法律是我国妇女争取自身解放的武器。基于女性学专业自身的学科特点、毕业生今后就业的主要方向及作为其他专业课程的基础等多方面考虑，培养该专业学生的法律常识、权利意识、法律思维等法律素养非常重要，而开设“法理学”或“法学概论”课程则是其最主要的路径。它作为女子高校女性学专业的必修课，不同于法学或其他文科类专业的同名课程，具有该专业独特的特点。因此在教学过程中应根据本专业特点，精心选取教学内容、增强学科知识融通，不断提高教学效果、提高学生法律素养，培养出合格的女性学专业人才。     

新加坡华文旧体诗的作者构成、写作特点及其影响

东南亚华文文学的研究领域中,关于新加坡华文旧体诗的论述极少。事实上,新加坡有大量华文旧体诗的文本,这些旧体诗的作者主要由新加坡的"过客"、新加坡的"流寓"者和土生土长的新加坡人 3 类人构成。他们的写作特点体现在:一是新加坡地域文化风貌的体现;二是语言的杂糅;三是受中国文化的影响。这一类诗作的研究具有比较文学和文化交流的意义,同时也是新加坡本土文学的重要组成部分。     

Does conflict begin at home?—using family dynamics to understand The Hindu-Muslim conflict in British India; 1907–1947

ABSTRACT

Despite common use of the term ‘sibling-rivalry’ for Hindu-Muslim conflict in British India, there are few or no attempts to explain this phenomenon from a proper theoretical foci. By employing an indigenous interpersonal conflict model, this article seeks to examine Hindu-Muslim conflict in the pre-partition period. This draws on the dynamics of intimate rivalry among family members to explain Hindu-Muslim conflict dynamics from a fresh psycho-cultural perspective. The institution of joint-family is the most pervasive and the most influential institution in the subcontinent shaping certain views regarding the functioning of other institutions in society; including in the political sphere. People use the concrete knowledge learned inside their families to reason about more abstract phenomena such as group conflict. Therefore, the conflict dynamics associated with the family institution are extrapolated onto intergroup conflicts.     

Domestic political institutions in Ukraine and Russia and their responses to EU enlargement

This paper examines the roles that key political institutions play in formulating Ukraine’s and Russia’s responses to European Union (EU) enlargement. It provides a structured comparison of how EU-related policies are designed in the two countries. It shows how the differences in institutional setting, mindset of political actors occupying these institutions, and the character of the party system affect the variation in presidential, cabinet, and parliamentary terms of involvement in EU-related matters. It demonstrates that the variation in these terms of involvement has a lasting effect on the nature of policy output in this specific policy area.     

Undermining the transatlantic democracy agenda? The Arab Spring and Saudi Arabia's counteracting democracy strategy

Saudi Arabian foreign policy is often declared to be countering the possible democratic transitions of the Arab Spring. As such, Saudi Arabia has been cast as a “counter-revolutionary” force in the Middle East and North Africa. This article explores the extent to which this has been the case in Egypt and Bahrain, and the extent to which Saudi foreign policy has challenged United States and European Union democracy promotion efforts in those countries. The article highlights how the transatlantic democracy promotion strategy is complicated by a conflict of interests problem, which leads them to promote democracy on an ad hoc and incremental basis. As a result, their efforts and larger strategic thinking are undermined by Saudi Arabia in Egypt. However, in Bahrain, transatlantic democracy promotion is itself muted by the strategic interest in containing Iran. As a result, Saudi Arabia can be seen as a regional countervailing power but this is implicitly in line with transatlantic policy. Tensions with Saudi foreign policy in Bahrain are over how best to manage the uprisings and maintain the status quo, rather than a conflict over political transition.     

Spoiler or facilitator of democratization?: Russia's role in Georgia and Ukraine

In the post-Soviet space, Georgia and Ukraine are broadly perceived as exceptions to the growing authoritarianism in the region owing to the far-reaching political changes triggered by the so-called Colour Revolutions a decade ago. This article examines Russia's reaction to political changes in Georgia and Ukraine in light of the interplay between the democracy-promotion policies implemented by the EU and US and domestic patterns of democratization. We argue that despite the relatively weak impact of EU and US policies vis-à-vis domestic structures, Russia has responded harshly to (what it perceives as) a Western expansionist agenda in pursuit of reasserting its own hegemonic position in the post-Soviet space. However, coercive pressure from Russia has also unintended, counterproductive effects. We argue that the pressure has actually made Georgia and Ukraine more determined to pursue their pro-Western orientation and has spawned democratization, thereby supporting the objectives of the Western democracy promoters.     

Promoting competition or cooperation? The impact of EU funding on Czech advocacy organizations

What impact does European Union (EU) funding of advocacy organizations have? To address this question our article turns to the post-communist Czech Republic, an ideal laboratory for studying externally dependent non-governmental organizations. Employing social network analysis, the main objective of this article is to analyse the effect of EU funding on the cooperation networks of Czech advocacy organizations. Our source of data is a survey of these organizations. We aim to figure out whether there is an association between the dependency of advocacy organizations on EU resources, and their cooperation with other organizations. Contrary to the prevailing interpretation based on the competition argument, our hypothesis is that the greater the dependency on EU funding, the greater the cooperation capacity on the part of advocacy organizations.     

Not as bad as it seems: EU and US democracy promotion faces China in Africa

The rise of China in Africa is often described as a major challenge to the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) democracy promotion policies. China is accused of providing important volumes of loans, development aid, trade and investments without “political strings” attached, thereby undermining the US and the EU's possibilities to set material incentives for reforms. This article investigates Ethiopia and Angola as two cases where one would expect that the growing presence of China has made it more difficult for the EU and US to support reforms. Empirical findings presented in this article go against this argument. In both countries, the EU and the US face substantial difficulties to make the respective government address governance issues. However, the presence of China has not made it more difficult for the US and the EU to implement their strategies. Instead the empirical analysis suggests that domestic factors in Ethiopia and Angola, notably the level of challenge to regime survival both governments face, influence both governments’ willingness to engage with the EU and US.