Parroting the past: historical continuity and change through cultures of cruelty in Brazil

ABSTRACT

In the recent Brazilian Netflix series 3% (Aguilera 2016), international audiences were presented with an array of visual reminders about the legacy of historic human rights abuses in Brazil. With the image of the pau de arara as a point of historic and semiotic reference, this paper adopts evidence and ideas from New Capitalist History to extend the interrogation of the historical memory of torture in Brazil in particular, to the rise and predominance of coercive practices in workplace cultures in free societies in general. This interrogation demonstrates the need for paradigm shifts within Western academic disciplines. First, to re-locate historically modern slavery in political philosophy as central to conceptions of “evil,” and second to overturn the notion of discontinuity and incompatibility between slavery and capitalism. Throughout this interrogation, a short story by Machado de Assis and Lissovsky’s critique of processes of memorialisation of human rights abuses open up the possibility of revisionist thinking about technologies of power, under slavery, military rule, and democratic regimes in Brazil; an approach which suggests systematic and sustained “cultures of cruelty” past and present (Giroux).     

Paid military service at the intersection of militarism,nationalism, capitalism,and (hetero)patriarchy: escaping without leaving ‘manhood’

The variety of the political standpoints of governments that have initiated exempted military service for several times in Turkey is a sign of a general agreement on its legitimacy. However, Turkey is a country where conscientious objection is almost a taboo. I try to decipher the assumptions behind what is (il)legitimate, and their manifestations in the sociopolitical life from a gender perspective informed by the feminist theory. I argue that what lies behind these is the interconnection between militarism, nationalism, patriarchy, and capitalism. I show how they reciprocally support each other through a critical discourse analysis of the debate on legitimacy of paid military service and illegitimacy of conscientious objection. I conclude that the nature of these debates leads to a reproduction of the hegemonic definitions of manhood and womanhood, together with the reproduction of the masculinization of the political sphere at the expense of the exclusion of and discrimination against other identities.     

Why Democratic Allies Defect Prematurely: Canadian and Dutch Unilateral Pullouts from the War in Afghanistan

Why do some democratic allies prematurely withdraw from ongoing military US-led coalition operations? Why are some democratic allies more reliable than others? This article proposes a multifactorial integrated framework consisting of several causal mechanisms drawn from ideological, domestic, and alliance explanations of premature defection. It compares and contrasts two neglected case studies, namely the Canadian and Dutch withdrawal of combat troops from NATO’s counterinsurgency mission in southern Afghanistan. The comparative analysis finds that democratic institutional designs, parliamentary war powers, leadership turnover, as well alliance dependence and threat perceptions did not play a meaningful role in both cases of premature defection. It rather finds that domestic elite consensus interacted with electoral calculations to account for pullout choices. Right-wing ideological beliefs held by state executives also slowed down the decision to withdraw, and alliance pressures interacted with domestic elite consensus to account for commitment renewal into a noncombat mission. The article concludes with some implications for the theory of democratic alliance reliability.     

Technology and Politics: Have the ICTs Turned into a Domain for Civil–Military Relations in Turkey?

The implications of technology have been widely acknowledged in international relations. Studies ranging from the causes of war and military effectiveness to terrorism and nuclear proliferation have explored how technology shapes international politics. However, the implications of technology in domestic politics have not been scrutinised much. This paper helps fill this vacuum through an analysis of Turkey’s civil–military relations. Although civilian control over the Turkish military has improved in the past decade, this process has not been smooth. With a focus on the recent court cases involving the military, the 2007 e-memorandum and the transfer of electronic military intelligence apparatus to the civilian authority, this paper demonstrates how technology has become an important domain for civil–military relations in Turkey.     

Military frames and Canada’s Conservative government: from extending to transforming perceptions of Canadian identity

This article looks at framing strategies behind the recent Canadian Conservative government’s rhetoric on the military. Critics argue that Conservative rhetoric has politicised Canadian history and overemphasised the armed forces. Few scholars, however, have looked at the specific forms this rhetoric took and the strategies it suggested. The article presents the results of a systematic analysis of Conservative rhetoric between 2005 and 2015. It argues that three key frame alignment strategies were at the heart of the Conservative Government’s rhetoric: extension, consolidation and transformation, with truly transformative rhetoric transpiring only in the last phase. While agreeing with critics that this emphasis on the military aimed to alter perceptions of Canadian identity, the article shows that Conservative rhetoric was far from and monolithic.     

中国军事历史研究之断想

以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人历来重视中国军事历史研究。改革开放以来,中国军事历史研究成绩斐然,形成了一支老中青相结合、军地相结合、军事院校与科研单位相结合的科研队伍;出版和发表了一大批学术专著与论文;创办了专业刊物,展开了广泛的学术交流。同时也暴露了队伍建设、研究成果及学风等问题上的不足和缺失,亟待进一步加强和克服。     

省域视野下的晚清“兵权下移”现象——以浙江为例的考察

晚清“督抚专权”的问题学界素有争议，而“兵权下移”是其重要的论述内容。以浙江的个案来看，光绪朝中后期的巡抚们对军队的掌控虽有突破规制之处，但没有到达“专权”的地步。真正的“兵权下移”主要缘于清廷对新军的失控，缘于新军的地方化与革命化。与受人瞩目的北洋新军、湖北新军不同，浙江新军的“平庸”反而更能反映一般省份新军的时代特征。     

军事法价值论

军事法价值是包含着人的价值预期的军事法,在与人发生相互作用的过程中所表现出的对人的作用;军事法价值的要素包括主体、客体和要素三个方面;价值取向就是在价值方面的选取方向和目的性追求,我国军事法的价值取向包括三个方面的内容,即文明、责任和道德。     

Democratically consolidated,externally threatened,and NATO aligned: finding unexpected deficiencies in civilian control

It has long been presumed in the literature that consolidated democracies that face serious external threats or are NATO-aligned should feature strong, civilian control institutions and personnel. This study of Israel, India, Taiwan, Spain and Poland reveals otherwise. Utilizing biographical data compiled by the authors, we researched civilian personnel within each country’s defence ministry – the organizational hub of civil-military relations. Rather than finding evidence of strong civilian control, what we found instead were ministries with serious deficiencies: they did not have effective power; they failed to engage in defence planning or provide strategic guidance to the armed forces; they were led by military personnel and staffed by civilian employees not properly qualified to handle defence affairs. To explain these discrepancies, we argue that long-standing deficits in civilian expertise spur the delegation of ministerial defence positions to more knowledgeable officers. Comparisons are made with benchmark states that have achieved civilian ministerial control.     

“天基丝路”助推“一带一路”战略实施——军事安全保障视角

"一带一路"战略充满各种安全风险,军事安全挑战与威胁就是其中之一。"一带一路"战略应该针对最坏的军事安全威胁来进行谋划。作为军民双用的天基资产,理应超越公共产品的范畴,承担起保护"一带一路"军事安全的重任。在可预见的未来,构筑"天基丝路"的方向是继续增加天基资产数量,促进"一带一路"沿线基础设施的互联互通;另外,从保护"一带一路"战略的军事安全来看,要增加先进侦察卫星数量,明了沿线的各种军事安全威胁;适当增加天基对地攻击武器和中远程导弹,实施快速军事反应。"天基丝路"的建设,也需要有"战略支点",即在关键地区、国家建立卫星地面站点。这又是一个棘手的政治问题,需要用政治智慧来解决。