Turkish civil society divided by the headscarf ban

The headscarf ban at universities and public offices in Turkey caused many debates over women's rights and freedoms. Civil society organizations, which are known as agents of democratization, have been an important part of these debates. Drawing on the literature on the relationship between civil society, democracy, and Islam, this article investigates how Islamic, Kemalist secular, and non-Kemalist secular organizations support their stance towards the headscarf ban and react to critical developments regarding the ban. The discourse of the organizations is analysed using their press releases and in-depth interviews with the presidents of the organizations. By declaring the headscarf as anti-secular, anti-modern, and oppressive, Kemalist secular organizations reproduce official state ideology. The various ways in which Islamic organizations frame their stance on the headscarf issue on the other hand suggest that Islamic organizations could be just as democratic as many other secular movements. Furthermore, the fact that non-Kemalist secular organizations are critical of the headscarf ban makes them much closer to Islamic organizations than Kemalist secular organizations.     

马克思创立共产党的伟大历史贡献——纪念马克思逝世130周年

创立共产党是马克思的伟大历史贡献。共产党是科学社会主义同工人运动相结合的产物,也是马克思为人类解放的理论的和实践的活动的结晶。中国共产党能够成为执政党和长期执政的党,应当归功于马克思主义和发展着的马克思主义,归功于为共产主义奋斗的一代又一代中国共产党人。     

社会整合与协商民主

伴随着社会阶层的分化,不同的利益集团表现出了不同的利益诉求.社会利益分化是协商民主的动力,和谐社会构建是协商民主的目的,它回答了为什么要健全协商民主的问题,而组织创新和制度创新,则回答了怎样协商的问题,规范化、制度化、实效性则是回答怎样更好地协商的问题.     

Socialism,knowledge, the instrumental valuation principle and the enhancement of individual dignity

Abstract

Socialism is frequently associated with central planning, public ownership, anathema to markets and the emasculation of the individual. Recent market socialist contributions attempt to overcome socialism's seeming resistance to markets. However, such contributions are frequently undermined by Hayek's invocation of fragmented knowledge. This article endeavours to contribute to a broadly conceived socialism that is not grounded in a particular array of institutions, but one which, via the instrumental valuation principle, the capabilities approach and Dewey's conceptualization of knowledge, offers the prospect of enhancing individual dignity. The instrumental valuation principle is viewed as key to socialism's engagement with dignity as it provides the framework for the enhancement of egalitarianism, democracy and the undermining of invidious institutional arrangements.     

Carbon democracy

Abstract

States that depend upon oil revenues appear to be less democratic than other states. Yet oil presents a much larger problem for democracy: faced with the threats of oil depletion and catastrophic climate change, the democratic machineries that emerged to govern the age of carbon energy seem to be unable to address the processes that may end it. This article explores these multiple dimensions of carbon democracy, by examining the intersecting histories of coal, oil and democracy in the twentieth century. Following closely the methods by which fossil fuels were produced, distributed and converted into other forms of socio-technical organization, financial circulation and political power, the article traces ways in which the concentration and control of energy flows could open up democratic possibilities or close them down; how connections were engineered in the post-war period between the flow of oil and the flows of international finance, on which democratic stability was thought to depend; how these same circulations made possible the emergence of the economy and its unlimited growth as the main object of democratic politics; and how the relations among forms of energy, finance, economic knowledge, democracy and violence were transformed in the 1967–74 oil–dollar Middle East crises.     

The human rights and 'Asian values' debate in Southeast Asia: Trying to clarify the key issues

This article investigates the validity of the concept of 'Asian values' in Southeast Asia, and attempts to explain and reconcile where possible some of the key differences between the position on human rights of ASEAN, which has remained semi-united despite internal tensions, and 'the West', particularly the US, and the non-governmental organizations' (NGOs) in the ongoing 'Asian values' debate. The article explores differences over the issues of the changeability of values and hence rights as these affect the 'universality' argument, the relevance of timing and sequence, the omission of crime by agencies other than the state as a source of human rights violations, and the controversial issue of the use of conditionality by the West. It is argued that, in fact, the debate principally concerns the question of what constitutes 'good government' and the 'good society', and takes the position that the question of how to achieve these is significantly influenced by the values of a government and a society.     

Norm diffusion and the limits to forestry governance reform in Southeast Asia's new democracies

Abstract

The return of the World Bank Group (WBG) to Burma after some 25 years’ absence, along with other international financial organizations, follows a series of extraordinary political reforms that have taken place in the country since 2010. Burma has made a transition from 50 years of authoritarian rule to what its leaders call ‘disciplined democracy’. This paper examines the likely consequences of the Bank's return for the forestry sector in Burma and the potential outcomes in forestry governance given the evolution of its development agenda over the past 25 years. While measures to address deforestation have been applied in Southeast Asia, the success of forestry governance reforms depends to a large extent on their endorsement and adoption by local power structures and political figures, as well as on the nature of the political regime itself. The record on forestry governance in Southeast Asia is particularly poor and international financial organizations continue to neglect the local political economy of deforestation. Comparatively, few studies have attempted to investigate the relationship between types of political regimes and rates of deforestation. The paper examines two other new democracies in Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Cambodia), and the impact that governance reforms have had on their deforestation trends and land use, in order to contextualize the potential impact of the WBG's return to Burma. In Southeast Asia, powerful vested interests continue to outweigh the support inside governments or civil society for the forestry governance norms promoted by international organizations. The cases of Indonesia, Cambodia and Burma illustrate that deep patrimonial interests operate within the region and that local politics cannot be ignored by international organizations designing policy reforms. The WBG should effectively engage wherever possible with the local communities and a broad range of civil society groups before developing further initiatives.     

What really matters is which camp goes dirty: Differential effects of negative campaigning on turnout during Swiss federal ballots

Using individual data on Swiss federal ballots (VOX data) and an original dataset on the evolution and content of political campaigns, this article elucidates how negative campaigning influences individual turnout during Swiss federal ballots. It hypothesises that the effect of negativism on turnout depends on ‘which camp goes dirty’ and, specifically, on the direction of the political campaign (‘status quo’ versus ‘policy change’ campaigns). A series of multilevel models provide strong support for the hypotheses, by showing that high negativism in ‘status quo campaigns’ decreases individual turnout, whereas high negativism for ‘policy change campaigns’ increases it. It is argued here that this could depend on the emotional responses triggered by negativism in political campaigns.     

Reforming the Spanish Senate: Mission Impossible?

Attempts in recent years to reform the Spanish Senate have proven futile. Using an institutionalist approach, this article highlights some of the weaknesses of the Spanish Senate in terms of its constitutional design and institutional development. The article explains how attempts at reforming political institutions are influenced by the historical context in which the institution was originally designed and the political context in which it has subsequently developed. The debate over Senate reform is analysed by examining the Senate's institutional setting and its relationships to broader political settings such as the legacy of the transition to democracy, political party discourse, and a competitive culture in Spain's system of intergovernmental relations.     

Discomforts of Victory: Democracy,Liberal Values and Nationalism in Post-Communist Europe

This article tries to identify the main threats to post-communist liberal democracies, especially those perils related to the weakness of pluralist traditions, institutions, and values and the rise of movements and ideologies rooted in cultural and political malaise, ressentiment, and disaffection. Nine such perils are identified in the second half of the article, including Leninist legacies, salvationist popular sentiments, the rhetoric of reactionary nostalgia, the fluidity of political formations, the crisis of values, authority, and accountability, and the tensions between individualistic and communitarian values. The concern here is with a diagnosis of the main vulnerabilities of Eastern Europe's post-communist states in order to evaluate prospects for further democratic consolidation and risks for the rise and affirmation of ethnocratic parties and movements. Understanding the post-communist political and cultural situation, including persistent isolationist, anti-globalisation, populist and nationalist trends, is of critical importance for interpreting the main directions these countries will pursue in their efforts to join the European Union institutions.