Citizens on the Shop Floor: Negotiating Class,Citizenship and National Identity in a Turkish State Factory

ABSTRACT

This paper examines discourses on citizenship and nation at shop floor level through Bak?rköy Cloth Factory – a state-owned factory in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded as a private enterprise in 1850, Bak?rköy became the State Industrial Office’s property in 1932 and of Sümerbank, the young Turkish state’s bank and industrial holding company in charge of textile production in 1933. Having survived such a drastic regime change, the factory’s first two decades under Sümerbank were shaped by the ruling classes’ zealous and simultaneous efforts of nation-building and industrialization. In the ruling classes’ popular projection, the alleged conversion of an unproductive industrial relic of the imperial past into an example of Republican hard work and patriotism provided opportunities for workers to repay their debt to the nation and its forefathers. In the context of the displacement and mediation of class conflict via nationalist discourses, this study explores how this industrial national space became the site of discursive struggles on national belonging and citizenship. Material from parliamentary debates and media coverage is linked with workers’ files to offer a micro-historical perspective on the interactions between class and nation.     

The Deep Roots of Libya’s Security Fragmentation

Abstract

Six years after the 2011 revolution that toppled the Gaddafi regime, the political transition in Libya is at a standstill. The fragmented security landscape fuels chronic local conflicts, lawlessness, and insecurity, and paralyzes the political transition with destabilizing consequences on its neighbors. What explains the rapid, profound, and lasting security fragmentation that affected post-Gaddafi Libya? Notwithstanding the manifest failures of the international intervention during and after the 2011 conflict, this article argues that the security fragmentation in post-Gaddafi Libya is deeply rooted in domestic economic, cultural, and political factors. In particular, the Libyan economy offers almost no employment opportunities, and the country lacks a unitary government and functioning state institutions that it needs to redistribute its oil wealth. Under these circumstances, Libyans attempt to cope with economic hardship, insecurity, and lawlessness by turning towards their family, tribe, neighborhood, or ethnic group, thereby fueling the fragmentation of security. Libya’s current security fragmentation and instability can be seen as part of the messy historical process of state formation. During this phase, political and security agreements are brokered and institutionalized through localized processes of rebel governance whose realm of possible arrangements are determined by contextual economic, political and cultural constraints.     

The welfare systems of the Baltic states following the recent financial crisis of 2008–2010: expansion or retrenchment?

ABSTRACT

This article aims to uncover major social security system reforms that were implemented following the recent financial and economic crisis of 2008–2010 and the post crisis period. Additionally, it explores the dynamics of the socioeconomic situation during the last 10 years, looking at how Baltic states compare with each other and how they compare with other central and eastern European countries in the EU. The findings show that retrenchment is difficult even during times of crisis. Although the Baltic states were affected by the crisis, especially Latvia and Lithuania, their social security institutions did not experience any structural shift.     

Northern theories,Southern movements? Contentious politics in Africa through the lens of social movement theory

ABSTRACT

The article examines the extent to, and the conditions under which theoretical approaches from Social Movement Studies, mainly developed based on empirical experiences from the Global North, are appropriate for analysing contentious politics in the South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to answer this question, the article discusses whether social movements in Africa differ fundamentally from those in other world regions. Four main approaches from social movement theory are examined: resource mobilisation, political opportunity structures, framing, and collective identity, to find out how suitable they are for explaining empirical phenomena in Africa. It is argued that social movements in Africa are not principally different from those in other world regions. Approaches from social movement theory prove helpful in explaining phenomena in the South, although they suffer from the same weaknesses and limitations to their scope as they do regarding movements in the North.     

Women of protest,men of applause: political activism,gender and tradition in Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT

Tradition has come to play an important role throughout Central Asia in a number of new ways since independence, but has been predominantly investigated regarding nation building. In this article, we show how tradition is being used operationally in the context of activism and political conflict. We expose the various motivations and tactics pursued by aksakals (lit., whitebeards) and by a movement of mature women called OBON (lit., Women Units for Special Purposes) as they participate in politics, and the role tradition plays in these activities. We argue that aksakals actively draw on tradition even in the political realm to avoid being derogatorily labelled ‘elders on duty’, whereas OBON women position themselves as economic and political actors but are subjected to discourses and practices of tradition by others. While both aksakals and OBON women have been central to political action in Kyrgyzstan in the last two decades, this article is the first to compare and contrast these two categories of unusual activists. The comparison reveals a perpetuation of culturally recognized gender roles even when these actors go beyond their ‘traditional’ realms of competence.     

Vota por tu Futuro: Partisan Mobilization of Latino Voters in the 2000 Presidential Election

Over the past two presidential elections, the major parties have been making a push at appealing to Latinos, airing over 3000 political advertisements in Spanish in the 2000 presidential election. In this paper, we ask whether the political ads used in the 2000 election had any effect on Latino turnout. We argue that the effectiveness of ads on the likelihood of turnout depends on how targeted the ad is to Latinos and the individual’s process of acculturation. We test our hypotheses using data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, merged with data from the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey. We find that the effectiveness of the ads on the likelihood of turnout was mediated by the individual’s dominant language, which is taken as a proxy for the process of acculturation.

试析“网络民主”特征及其对民主政治发展的影响

网络已成为具有广泛性的社会联系和交流媒介.由于网络中"电子人"其心理、思维、行为方式发生变异,使"网络民主"产生不同特征,从而对民主政治发展发生作用和影响.     

邓小平对政治合法性的维护

合法性是关系到党和国家政权生死存亡的根本问题。"文革"结束后,维护党和国家政权的合法性问题凸现出来。邓小平在对待和处理党的执政合法性问题上表现出了一个伟大政治家的远见卓识。他正确处理了毛泽东的意识形态遗产,开辟了建设法理型权威的道路,并通过促进经济发展和反腐败树立政府形象的方法维护了执政党的合法性。     

关于新时期高校学生思想政治工作的思考

以党的十六大精神为指导,剖析在新时期高校学生思想政治工作领域呈现的新问题、新形势,提出加强高校 学生思想政治教育工作的新思路、新方法;按照党建新理论的要求,努力把"三个代表"落实到高校学生思想政治工 作的实处。     

斡旋受贿犯罪浅析——有关国家工作人员与家属共同受贿问题

斡旋受贿是一种特殊形式的受贿犯罪。在斡旋受贿罪的案件之中,国家工作人员利用职权为他人谋利,由其家属收受他人财物的情况屡见不鲜,成为某些国家工作人员规避法律制裁的手段,本文将对这类共同受贿如何定罪处罚等问题谈谈个人见解。