State marionettes,phantom organisations or genuine movements? The paradoxical emergence of rural social movements in post-socialist Russia

Of all the rural social movements in the world, those in post-socialist Russia have been considered to be among the weakest. Nevertheless, triggered by the neo-liberal reforms in the countryside, state attention to agriculture and rising land conflicts, new social movement organisations with a strong political orientation are emerging in Russia today. This sudden burst of civil activity, however, raises questions as to how genuine and independent the emerging organisations are. Our research shows that many rural movements, agricultural associations, farm unions and rural political parties lack constituency, support the status quo and/or are actually counterfeits (what we call ‘phantom movement organisations’). With this analysis, we aim to explain the nature of social movements in the post-Soviet countryside and offer an original contribution to the theory on and practice of rural social movements.     

The evolution of industrial relations in Nepal: a biological evolutionary perspective

ABSTRACT

A great deal of literature focuses on exogenous forces transforming industrial relations in liberal and neoliberal contexts. Further, most scholars claim that the transformation occupies a similar trajectory of convergence across the globe. However, very little is known about the evolution of industrial relations in Nepal. Therefore, this paper considers the labor movement of 1947, the royal coup d’état of 1960, the ban on the trade unions, and the alliance of the trade unions with the political parties and political economy as endogenous drivers in explaining the evolution of industrial relations in Nepal. Thus the objective of the paper is to investigate the evolution of industrial relations in Nepal through an evolutionary perspective. This analysis shows that the evolution of industrial relations in Nepal is a ‘punctuated’ (discontinuous or revolutionary) one compared with a traditional, incremental model, which employs the construct of the institutionalization of industrial relations, using a standard, union-based paradigm of employment relations against the growing nonstandard employment model of more flexibility and irregular work that is growing in the West and Asia. Further, the theoretical contributions are put into perspective in the context of the broader industrial relations backdrop.     

社会治理视野下的工会转型与政府角色研究——以浙江省YW市工会维权模式为个案

当前社会转型给政府带来了职能转变的需要,也使中国工会的角色和功能发生了变化,即由“行政附属机构”逐渐转为承担“治理”功能的社会组织。但工会转型步履维艰,主要表现为旧的工会体制对新的治理需求的不适应。本文以浙江省YW市工会维权的新实践为例,认为相对于转型时期的发展中国家而言,工会转型的一条可能性路径是借助政府的力量,在现有的组织资源和熟悉的制度框架内整合利益关系,实现社会的治理化需求。     

Re/visioning the women's movement in Israel

Current literature on the women's movement argues that in recent decades, a schism based on the politics of identity has divided women and led to the weakening of the movement. This process, intersecting with the escalation of neoliberal trends and the ‘NGOization’ of civil society, has resulted in the depoliticization of the women's movement and the waning of its influence as a political force. The present paper seeks to examine whether this argument is consistent with the situation in the Israeli women's movement of the early twenty-first century. Based on the history of the women's movement in Israel, the paper posits a twofold argument: (a) the women's movement in Israel has not disappeared but has been restructured as a result of its NGOization; (b) despite criticism of the movement in the literature and on the part of activists as the result of its NGOization, the movement's political messages have remained intact and even expanded to embrace questions of social justice, including novel thinking on matters of peace and security.     

The Evolution of Political Violence: The Case of Somalia’s Al-Shabaab

This research investigates the development and expansion of the al-Shabaab movement in Somalia from 2000 to 2013. Initially a marginal player in Somalia, by 2013 al-Shabaab had transformed into the most formidable armed opposition to challenge the nascent Somali government and its allies. During this time period they administered territory domestically, while expanding their tactical repertoire and geographic scope of attacks. After analyzing the historical conditions (2000–2006) from which al-Shabaab emerged, I explore the evolution of this organization through the use of historical process tracing. This entails looking for critical junctures on a global, national, and local level that had a dramatic impact on the future trajectory of the insurgency. The results show that harsh foreign interventions had many deleterious consequences, acting as an initial impetus for armed resistance, while also acting as a continuous source of controversy which al-Shabaab exploited to gain new recruits. Moreover, irreconcilable intra-organizational schisms also contributed to altering the future organizational decisions made by al-Shabaab. The culmination of these results engage and expand the theory of categorical terrorism, offering observations to help scholars and policy makers alike begin to re-conceptualize ways to study terrorism and political violence.     

World Bank Technical Assistance: The Relational Dynamics of Policy Movement

The World Bank has been widely critiqued as a global governance actor capable of coercing and persuading its developing member countries to accept its policy recommendations. This article contributes to academic discussion by drawing upon the policy transfer and policy mobilities literatures to analyse the World Bank's two main pillars of technical assistance (TA): TA components (advisory services contained within lending operations) and stand‐alone TA projects (loans and credits that solely finance TA). Beginning from the constructivist position that ‘development’ is a social construct, the article argues that relational dynamics between TA provider and recipient affect the perception of the legitimacy of policy norms transferred from the ‘international’ to the ‘domestic’. The value added of the article is thus that policy legitimacy is not simply conferred by whether advice is technically sound but moreover through the social and political interactions—the relationship—between TA provider and recipient. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Political activism in Iran: strategies for survival,possibilities for resistance and authoritarianism

This article examines mobilizations and activism in authoritarian settings by considering the case of Iran. By focusing on the transformation of activism since the 1990s and the green movement, it advances an explanation of how oppositional political groups have been able to survive and produce forms of resistant subjectivity despite authoritarian constraints. In order to do so, the article brings together two scholarly traditions, namely Social Movement Theory (SMT) and the study of subjectivity and resistance as framed by Sari Hanafi. SMT explains how activists have been able to navigate repression and create opportunities for mobilization while shifting between formal and informal politics. The study of subjectivity helps conceptualize the type of subjects or political citizens that authoritarian environments generate. The article builds on field research with activists conducted in Iran and Turkey between 2007 and 2016. It argues that authoritarian constraints allow autonomous activism to flourish while emptying of meaning the regime-sanctioned political infrastructures.     

邓培与唐山工人运动

邓培是唐山工人运动的领导者、组织者和实践者。20世纪20年代,邓培以京奉铁路唐山制造厂为基地,从事工人运动,创建中共唐山党团组织,创办唐山工人图书馆、工人补习学校,领导唐山各厂矿工人开展革命斗争。     

从国际比较的视野看中国工会的特点和发展趋势

在以资本为主导的全球化的冲击下,整个国际社会呈现出强资本、弱劳工格局,世界工会运动的整体环境和令人堪忧的形势要求用比较的方法来分析中国工会。应在对比研究中,分析把握中国工会运动的现状及其发展趋势。就当前和今后的相当一个时期看,工会的改革是怎样切实代表职工利益,履行维护职工权益的法定职责,使工会成为名符其实的工人阶级群众组织。     

领导干部创先争优要体现在研究和解决实际问题上

深入扎实地开展创先争优活动,是当前和今后一个时期加强党的建设的一项重大活动。学习领会中央和省委的部署精神,我认为,要把解决实际问题、推动工作发展作为创先争优活动的出发点和落脚点,作为检验创先争优活动成效的最重要的标准,领导干部创先争优要体现在研究和解决实际问题上。回顾我们党在革命、建设、改革各个历史时期对学风问题的重要论述,我们可以清晰地看到,理论联系实际,注重解决实际问题,是我们党始终强调和坚持的一个重大问题,是我们党的优良作风;从山东的实际看,贯彻落实科学发展观,实现省委提出的经济文化强省建设的宏伟目标,要求我们必须坚持理论联系实际,善于研究和解决实际问题。领导干部要努力提高解决实际问题的能力,在创先争优活动中作出示范、当好表率,这就要不断加强理论武装,提高思想理论水平;牢固树立服务大局、服务群众、服务基层的理念;注重调查研究,掌握实际情况;努力把握事物发展规律,以科学的态度解决问题;始终保持不畏困难、百折不挠的精神状态,在创先争优活动中体现先进性。