Diamela Eltit: Clearing space for critical performance

Reggaeton's success in the international music scene has incited heated debates about the genre's genealogy. The dominant framework for discussing reggaeton's origin often relies on and reifies nation-based claims to the genre, overlooking how reggaeton resists being fixed to any single locale. In this paper I discuss the emergence of the reggaeton subgenre bhangraton (a mix of bhangra pop and reggaeton) and point to some of the ways that it challenged nationalist claims to reggaeton. Reggaetonera and Hindi-vocalist Deevani, in particular, complicates claims about racial, ethnic, and sonic purity that circulate within reggaeton by highlighting how race, gender, and affinity are performed and felt and by calling attention to the genre's multiple circuits outside the nation.     

东北亚民族主义与地区安全格局

民族主义是影响地区安全的重要变量,甚至可以改变地区安全格局,研究并协调民族主义与安全格局的关系对于维护地区安全意义重大。在东北亚的地区安全格局中,以中、日、韩三国为代表的地区民族主义一直是困扰区域安全的重要因素,了解民族主义与地区安全之间的关系成为把握地区安全走向的关键。然而,民族主义内涵的不确定性阻碍了对这一问题的分析。所以,从民族情感出发,梳理民族主义的成长历程及相互关系,是理解东北亚民族主义现状的直接办法。在此基础上,明晰民族主义与地区安全问题的互动,进一步清晰民族主义在安全格局中的作用,才能为应对安全挑战奠定基础。另外,随着时代的发展,既有的静态分析民族主义与安全格局关系的方法已经不能完全满足现实需要,必然要以动态-进程的分析方法予以补充。这一分析方法,在论证民族主义与“安全困境”、安全格局、安全架构之间关系的过程中,体现出明显的优势,并可以说明安全架构理念能够从宏观、连续、整体的角度驾驭地区安全和民族主义,从而确定新视角下的东北亚民族主义与安全格局的关系。新的研究方法在对地区安全进展做出判断的同时,也不断发现新的问题和挑战。     

论经济全球化背景下大学生开放式爱国主义教育

爱国主义是中华民族的优良传统,是五千多年来鼓舞和动员全国人民团结奋斗的精神力量。爱国是体现在情感、思想、行动的相一致。应该说在现实生活中,很多人都是有爱国之情的,但是,现实中又出现如西安打砸事件等极端的现象。这是爱国情感与爱国思想、行动的背离,明显体现出很多人虽然有深厚的对祖国的热爱之情,但是在思想和行动层面经常出现"零"思维和"道德暴力"。在全球化不断推进的今天,在我们社会主义现代化建设的新阶段,面对新任务、新形势、新问题,爱国主义并没有过时,我们要在坚持爱国主义的同时,研究开放式爱国主义教育的实施路径,这对于抵制狭隘民族主义,拓展大学生国际视野,培养大学生理性爱国,凝聚大学生报国力量大有裨益。     

Citizenship,nation-building and diversity: What is the role of the media in all this?

Abstract

This article explores concepts and discourses regarding citizenship, nation-building and civic solidarity in particular with regard to diverse societies. Attention is given to diverging viewpoints on nation-building and different models on how civic solidarity could be achieved in heterogeneous societies. A distinction is made between Jacobinistic and syncretistic approaches to nation-building and citizenship, as well as between constitutional patriotism, liberal nationalism and deep diversity as models for achieving feelings of belonging, patriotism and social cohesion in heterogeneous societies. Nation-building in Africa and South Africa – and the implications thereof for sub-national groups – are furthermore considered. The role of the media in nation-building, on the one hand, and the accommodation of diversity, on the other, are also considered. The article ends with conclusions and recommendations on the role of the media in promoting discourses on diversity.     

Multiculturalism,recognition and the “Kurdish question” in Turkey: the outline of a normative framework

Despite the ever-growing literature on various aspects of the Kurdish question in Turkey, there are practically no normative discussions of Kurdish demands for the public recognition of their identities. This is all the more startling given the ascendancy of philosophical accounts in the literature on minority rights. This article will try to redress the balance by proposing a normative framework that could be used to justify Kurdish demands for recognition, drawing on the broader debates that revolve around Charles Taylor's seminal conceptualization of “the politics of recognition”. In this context, I will identify nationalism, a strategy used both by the state to suppress demands for recognition and by the minorities to put forward these demands, as the most serious hurdle in the way of the democratic resolution of the “Kurdish question” in Turkey and promote a form of recognition-based multiculturalism that (a) respects the basic rights of all citizens, not only those in whose name the said claims are made, but also those of the members of the majority against which the claims are voiced; (b) leaves room for alternative values or conceptions of the good life.     

The right-wing populism of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (and why comparativists should care)

Despite the vast amount of comparative research on right-wing populist parties over the past decade, there has been little work on non-European parties (as opposed to leaders). In this article, we argue that the international literature on populist parties has largely overlooked a significant non-European case: India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP – Indian People’s Party). Following the ideational approach to understanding populism, we examine whether the three distinguishing features of right-wing populism – its conceptions of “the people”, “elites” and “others” – are reflected in the views from interviews we conducted with BJP officials and representatives. We find that they are and so then consider whether they have been manifest in actions and statements while in power or whether, as some scholars claim, governing parties like the BJP moderate their populism. We conclude that the BJP can be very fruitfully included in comparative research on right-wing populist parties and propose a series of concrete ways in which this could be pursued.     

The Politics of History and the “War of Monuments” in Estonia

Early commentators on the newly independent Belarusian state of the 1990s indicated that there was something lacking in Belarusian identity. The people did not seem to respond powerfully to the new symbols of the state, use of the national language intermingled with Russian, and economic concerns appeared to trump popular concerns with promoting Belarusian language or culture. Other former Soviet states were embracing ethnic national ideals, and as such, many assumed that Belarus should follow a similar path. However, as an examination of the history of the Belarusian territory demonstrates, a national ideal based on ethnicity was problematic in Belarusian society, and as such, the ethnic notions of Belarusian identity forwarded by some Belarusian elites failed to appeal to the masses. Instead, Belarus seems better suited to a more inclusive civic identity than an exclusive ethnic one. This research examines the nature of contemporary Belarusian identity, with particular attention to the civic versus ethnic aspects of that identity. We argue that although Belarusian identity is obviously in flux and subject to heavy debate, it is currently demonstrating more civic aspects than ethnic ones. This finding is based on original survey data obtained in Belarus in 2009 and 2010.     

Politicization of identity in a European borderland: Istria,Croatia, and authenticity, 1990–2003

In most studies of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, identity politics focuses on nationalism. Unfortunately, very few examine regional identities and how they too are politicized in similar ways for similar reasons. Istria provides a good example of how identity is politicized and how and why individuals adapt it to both internal and external influences. While in the past local and regional identities were politicized in response to colonization, more recently national divisions became more prominent. However, in the very recent past, Istrian identity again became politicized as many natives drew lines between themselves and what they saw as an external national influence emanating from Zagreb. In the 1990s, a renewed Croatian national movement competed with an Istrian regional movement. Istrian regionalists, seeking to justify taking and maintaining regional power and hoping to more quickly bring Croatia into the European Union, used this new political tactic against the nationalizing Croatian government. While both the nationalists and the regionalists claimed the other side's ideology was foreign to Istria, in actuality both have historical roots in the region. Though the competition was not as virulent as in past episodes of nationalist tension between Italians and Croats, it does fit a pattern of continuity in the region.     

Threads intertwined: German national egoism and liberalism in adolf fischhof's vision for Austria

Bulgarian majority and Turkish minority relations have remained peaceful in the post Communist era despite a significant potential for civil strife. These antagonisms were a product of Bulgaria's historical political development.The most recent episode of forced assimilation policies under the Communist regime was a critical grievance contributing to the democratic transition in 1989. Unlike in neighboring Yugoslavia, communal ethnic conflict did not escalate to violence with political liberalization and the emergence of democratic political competition. A critical factor in the political formula for maintaining interethnic peace in Bulgaria has been Turkey's comparatively constrained behavior as a “motherland state” with regard to the Turkish Diaspora in Bulgaria.     

Attitudes Toward Reform Among Provincial Russian Politicians

An American political scientist presents the results of a survey of 1, 280 oblast' and city deputies in five provinces of central Russia. The survey conducted in 1992, assessed support for reforms aimed at development of a market economy and a more democratic political system. Five scales, two economic (including one to determine views on accumulation of wealth) and three political, were developed to measure deputies' attitudes. In addition, the respondents' age, education, occupation, gender and incumbency were used to determine whether attitudinal variation could be explained by demographic factors. The findings are related to the current struggle over control of local resources. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H70, P20, R59.