Party matters: the institutional origins of competitive hegemony in Tanzania

Electoral authoritarianism has emerged as a primary mode of authoritarian rule in the post-Cold War era. It is also a notably heterogeneous phenomenon, in terms of both its impact upon incumbents and the quality of contestation. This article investigates a specific type of electoral authoritarian outcome, a competitive hegemony. In competitive hegemonies regimes are able to dominate elections by large vote margins, but with comparatively much lower levels of electoral fraud and coercion. Using a case study of Tanzania and its ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), this article argues that distinct investments made under single-party rule into party institutionalization and the incorporation of subsistence-based peasants provided CCM with additional sources of elite cohesion, strong mobilization capacity, and therefore greater stability. The article shows how during multiparty elections elite defection has in fact been minimal, and voting patterns largely coincide with infrastructural investments made as part of Tanzania's socialist development programme, ujamaa. Moreover, while Tanzania's opposition parties have made important strides in recent years in terms of institutionalization, they are still precluded from competing effectively in large portions of the country where demand for new parties is low.     

Counter-hegemony in today's Belarus: dissident symbols and the mythological figure of Miron Vitebskii

Tackling the role of state symbols in negotiating national identity and political development, this research focuses on Belarus where the alternative white–red–white flag became instrumental in protests against the dominant political discourse. Since 1995, oppositional mass media have been reporting about cases of this tricolor being erected in hard-to-reach and/or politically sensitive places. These actions were mainly attributed to some “Miron,” whose identity remained concealed and served as a simulacrum of a national superhero in non-conformist discourse. The image of Miron immediately acquired multiple functions: condemning the Soviet colonial past, struggling for the European future, and creating a nation-state rather than the Russian-speaking civil-state of Belarus. Yet, first and foremost, Miron became a means for contesting the authority of the president who has been in power since 1994. Concentrating on the methods employed for the construction of the counter-hegemonic fakelore project of Miron and its aims, this article explores the vernacular response to its creation.     

Constructing and Conceptualizing “Interdependent Hegemony” in an Era of the Rise of the BRICS and Beyond

The paper aims to provide a framework for understanding the global impact of the rise of the “Second World” (emerging powers, such as BRICS) brought about by globalization and the transformation of international relations and international political economy. The paper takes the point of departure from one of Gramsci’s key conceptual categories and analytical apparatus, e.g. “hegemony,” to explore the extent that the upsurge of the emerging powers has reshaped the terrain and parameters of social, economic and political relations both at the national and global levels, and has exerted pressure on the existing international order in terms of both opportunities and constraints. The paper intends to examine the dialectical nexus between the role of the emerging powers as a counter-hegemonic, socio-economic and socio-political force for a new world order. The paper’s analytical approach is to combine neo-Gramscian hegemony theories with critical post-hegemony theories. The conclusion of the paper is to suggest that in an era of globalization and transformational capitalism it is impossible for the emerging powers to establish an alternative independent hegemony; rather, the world will witness a new era of “interdependent hegemony,” in which both the “First World” and the “Second World” are intertwined in a constant process of shaping and reshaping the world order in the nexus of national interest, regional orientation, common economic and political agendas, security alliance and potential confl icts.     

More continuity than change? US strategy toward Cuba under Obama and Trump

This article examines the policies implemented by both the Obama and Trump Administrations toward Cuba to evaluate the claim that the ‘Thaw’ of relations between Washington and Havana represents a significant change in US foreign policy toward the island nation. Despite the appearance that the change in policy is a fundamental shift, I argue that the changes in US policy toward Cuba under both Obama and Trump represent changes in the means for pursuing the same historical objectives pursued by the Washington for the past few decades. In other words, the overall strategy and objective of US hegemony in Cuba is the same, with the only change being the means for achieving these ends. The central implication of this is that the ‘Thaw’ in relations between Cuba and the US represents a new, more ‘consensual’ means to instigating the same objective of provoking American-orchestrated political, economic, social and ideological changes in the island nation.     

浅论娱乐“霸权”对未成年人权利的侵害

娱乐市场运作中,部分利益集团取得了一定范围内的娱乐“霸权”.娱乐霸权形成了单向文化趣味的隐患,冲淡了文化内涵及思想厚度,且在一定意义上直指未成年人这一庞大的消费群体,剥夺了他们的选择权利,并对未成年人成长和教育提出了新的挑战.大众文化有其存在和生长的必然性,并非代表其他文化就应销声匿迹,未成年人更加需要文化方式的多样性,需要精品文化的陶冶.因此娱乐“霸权”现象应引起关注.     

数字鸿沟与国际关系知识霸权

霸权是国际关系的伴生物。农业社会霸权国家具有明显的军事强权特性,工业社会霸权国家具有明显的工业强权特性,信息社会霸权国家初步显形知识霸权的特性。数字鸿沟的浮现使得国际关系中的知识霸权凸现,成为发达国家获利、强国和称霸的利器,科学的认识和探讨知识霸权对当代国际关系的影响具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

'Adorned with the Mix of Faith and Profanity that Intoxicates the People': The Festival of the Senhor do Bonfim in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 1930–19541

This essay looks at a formative period in the history of the festival of the Senhor do Bonfim, one of Salvador's most important religious festivals. The essay focuses on the public ritual washing of the Church of Bonfim and the tensions between the Catholic Church, who periodically banned the washing from the larger festival, and a variety of historical actors including politicians, journalists, authors and working-class Salvadorans whose efforts eventually contributed to the lifting of the prohibition once and for all in 1953. The author suggests that the defence of the washing both reflected and contributed to a larger hegemonic process taking place in Salvador after 1930, as actors within Salvador's dominant class accepted and even praised Afro-Bahian cultural practices, including them as integral parts of a larger Bahian identity.     

监狱警察权力场域研究

监狱警察权力是监狱警察为实现国家意志,组织管理囚犯在实现刑罚执行目标的过程中对囚犯理念、行为的影响力和控制力。监狱警察权力场域是其主体争夺支配性资源和价值评价话语权的空间场所。当下监狱警察"改造"话语霸权在表征现代行刑理性精神的同时,也遮蔽了监狱警察权力不断扩张的问题、意识形态权的单向度问题和权力私人化的问题。监狱警察权力去蔽的空间和权力制约的空间,应当是当下监狱警察权力自主建构的主要场域。     

霸权、话语建构、反极权主义:后马克思主义社会批判空间转向

处于"后现代主义"语境中的西方马克思主义,在20世纪60年代之后逐渐转向了一种"后马克思主义"的理论视域。以拉克劳和莫菲所代表的后马克思主义,运用"话语"、"霸权"等逻辑消弭马克思主义阶级主体的正当性,以此回应现实社会政治变化的趋势,从而提出了激进、多元的民主解放的蓝图。阿伦特的反极权主义理论在20世纪后期可谓独树一帜,体现出让人耳目一新的原创性和洞察力。而反对本质主义、反对极权主义也是后马克思主义的微观政治特征之一。     

浅论娱乐“霸权”对未成年人权利的侵害

娱乐市场运作中,部分利益集团取得了一定范围内的娱乐"霸权"。娱乐霸权形成了单向文化趣味的隐患,冲淡了文化内涵及思想厚度,且在一定意义上直指未成年人这一庞大的消费群体,剥夺了他们的选择权利,并对未成年人成长和教育提出了新的挑战。大众文化有其存在和生长的必然性,并非代表其他文化就应销声匿迹,未成年人更加需要文化方式的多样性,需要精品文化的陶冶。因此娱乐"霸权"现象应引起关注。