Land grabbing,social differentiation,intensified migration and food security in northern Ghana

This paper argues that large-scale land appropriation is displacing subsistence farmers and reworking agrarian social relations in northern Ghana. The recent wave of farmland enclosure has not only resulted in heightened land scarcity, but also fostered a marked social differentiation within farming communities. The dominant form of inequality is an evolving class of landless and near-landless farmers. The majority of households cope with such dynamics by deepening their own self-exploitation in the production process. The fulcrum of this self-exploitation is gendered property rights as part of the conjugal contract, with men exerting a far greater monopoly over land resources than had previously been the case. Due to acute land shortages, women’s rights to use land as wives, mothers and daughters are becoming insecure, as their vegetable plots are being reclassified as male-controlled household fields. The paper further documents the painful choices that landless farmers have to make in order to meet livelihood needs, including highly disciplined, yet low-waged, farm labor work and sharecropping contracts. In these livelihood pathways, there emerge, again, exploitative relations of production, whereby surplus is expropriated from land-dispossessed migrant laborers and concentrated with farm owners. These dynamics produce a ‘simple reproduction squeeze’ for the land-dispossessed. Overall, the paper contributes to the emerging land grabbing literature by showing geographically specific processes of change for large-scale mining operations and gendered differentiated impacts.     

An Analysis of Political Ambition in Britain

Representative democracies require sufficient numbers of citizens to put themselves forward as candidates for political office. Existing studies have shown that political institutions are not representative of the population as a whole, suggesting that political ambition is not evenly distributed across all potential candidates. We discuss evidence from the first systematic study of political ambition in Britain, examining the question of who is interested in putting themselves forward for political office. We find patterns in the distribution of political ambition that help to explain why British political institutions do not look like the British people as a whole and include a gender gap, a social class gap, an education gap, a north–south divide, and a personality gap. We discuss the implications of our findings for political parties, arguing that they need to adjust practices of candidate recruitment in such a way that minimises the effects of these biases.     

Class,Politics and the Progressive Dilemma

This article considers contemporary class inequalities and how they might shape a progressive politics in the UK. Drawing on findings from the BBC Class Survey, it outlines changes in the class structure, class mobility and class identities. It is argued that the class structure is increasingly polarised and fragmented, with a wealthy elite, a vulnerable precariat and fragmented middle and working classes in between. Declining upward social mobility is a source of anxiety for middle‐class and working‐class parents alike. Class identification, especially working‐class identification, has weakened over time, although class snobbery is far from dead. Class has changed and the class basis of politics is changing now too. A progressive politics is possible if the political parties of the centre‐left appeal to the majority of the electorate rather than one class, acknowledge common concerns and worries and appeal to shared hopes and dreams that straddle class boundaries.     

Young adults’ conceptions of ‘good’ citizenship behaviours: a latent class analysis

Democracies need an active civic society, and early adulthood is a significant period in life for becoming an engaged citizen. The research reported on here categorized young Australians according to their conceptions of good citizenship using latent class analysis. Half of the sample were characterized as either ‘engaged’ or ‘duty-based,’ suggesting that there is more to consider when talking about citizenship norms and value changes, as the other half comprised ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘subject’ citizens. Prior participation was almost unrelated to those citizenship norms. The findings provide implications for an active citizenry, and the discussion addresses limitations and directions for future research.     

One of all the others – a life course study of scouts,social capital,and stratification in the Swedish ‘Folkhem’

This longitudinal study shows that scouts have higher incomes than others 14 years after their participation when controlling for social background, sex, and individual cognitive tests. But scouting has no significant effects on future criminality. Social exclusion and criminal behaviour are so marginal that they require more specific types of explanations. The results can be interpreted as signs that taking part in scouts significantly contributes as a step in the social pathway to the upper classes of society. By supporting scouting, the welfare state seems not to prevent problem behaviour but runs the risk of contributing to social stratification.     

Leaderless Resistance and the Loneliness of Lone Wolves: Exploring the Rhetorical Dynamics of Lone Actor Violence

“Leaderless resistance” and “lone wolf terrorism” are concepts that have steadily gained importance in the study of oppositional subcultures and terrorist groups, being used to describe the operational realities of a variety of terrorisms, from groups like Al Qaeda to Anders Breivik. In this article, I seek to describe leaderless resistance as a rhetorical construct, a meaning-conferring “ideology of effervescence” that lifts the spirits of both movement progenitors who advocate the strategy as well as incipient lone wolves who consider responding to their exhortations. Through an examination of the case of Wiebo Ludwig and the EnCana pipeline bombings of 2008–2009, I show how these rhetorics emerge in the interactions between activists and their political enemies. With this conception, we can (a) understand more fully the discursive/rhetorical dynamics involved in asymmetrical struggle, (b) problematize the acceptance of the organizational reality of leaderless resistance in the terrorism literature, and (c) question the assertion of some terrorism scholarship that refers to leaderless resistance and other ideologies of effervescence as hallmarks of the “new terrorism.”     

Policing neoliberalism in Egypt: the continuing rise of the ‘securocratic’ state

This article examines the increasing power of the police, their centrality to the reproduction of the neoliberal global order and their dynamic relationship with various elements of the ruling elite. It focuses on the case of the post-2011 uprising in Egypt to examine how the police institution has taken advantage of the uprising to increase its power and relative autonomy. The article demonstrates the centrality of the police to the Sisi regime’s efforts at reducing political discourse to an inflated and simplistic concept of ‘security’ in an attempt to establish its long-term legitimacy.     

Counterrevolution,the countryside and the middle classes: lessons from five countries

This contribution focuses on five societies that experienced successful counterrevolutions. It looks at how the dialectic of revolution and counterrevolution operated in Italy, Indonesia, Chile, Thailand and the Philippines. It seeks to understand the motion of different classes in periods of great political fluidity. It explores the dynamic relationship between conflict in the countryside and the overarching conflict of classes and their political representatives at the national level. Finally, it probes the relationship between domestic counterrevolution and global geopolitics.     

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。     

构建节约型社会艰苦奋斗的延安精神不能丢

艰苦奋斗的延安精神是我党的传家宝,是中华民族宝贵的精神财富。党在新时期提出要构建节约型社会,无论是从我国宏观经济发展上看,还是从经济可持续发展上看,艰苦奋斗的延安精神都不能丢;从干部选拔任用,到教育下一代青少年,艰苦奋斗的延安精神更不能丢。艰苦奋斗永远都不过时,任何时候都不能丢。