Citizenship in Pakistan: state,nation and contemporary faultlines

The research investigates young Pakistanis' self-articulation of their relationship with the state and what factors play a role in determining their views. The article argues that beyond the issues traditionally seen as causing the instability of the Pakistani state (which include sectarian and ethnic faultlines as well as the role of the army), there is another – between ordinary citizens and the state. Although there are provincial differences, people at large feel alienated by the state and the concept of citizenship has become hazy as it is often mixed up with the issue of identity. Given the paucity of rights and responsibilities and the lack of political participation, the problems across Pakistani society are ever increasing. The research used a mixed methods approach and 1300 questionnaires were collected in 27 different education institutions across three provinces. On aggregate response the research found that there is a high sense of belonging to the nation, yet paradoxically also a high sense of alienation with regard to the state. Whilst most of those surveyed professed awareness of their rights and duties, as well as political awareness, political participation was very low. The qualitative section of the questionnaire exemplified the level of alienation and anger felt by many across the various institutions and provinces.     

Learning from the Philippine occupation: nation‐building and institutional development in Iraq and other high security risk nations

Outcomes of armed conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq indicate that the U.S. has been unprepared to fully address problems related to establishing social and economic stability, security and governance in the aftermath of war. This is unfortunate, given that U.S. policy makers' nation‐building efforts to achieve stability, security and good governance in these nations do not reflect what they should already have learnt about organisational and institutional development from past experiences providing significant development assistance to highly unstable nations. Based on the analysis rendered in this article, ‘smart practice’ development administration in such nations comprises the following key points that link nation building to institutional/organisational development:

• Nation building (creating new national sovereignty) is different from, and harder than, building government capacity (creating or strengthening institutions and organisations).
• Given that building government capacity typically requires years of patient assistance and financing, it is better to build on existing indigenous institutions like the civil service and military.
• The time and expense of development assistance to high security risk nations means that it is advisable to establish a multi‐lateral development assistance plan and a multi‐national, multi‐institutional framework for financing development to pay for all that is necessary over a long period of time (i.e. 20–50 years).
• Policy makers should emphasise social stability and stable economic growth under self‐governance to prevent actual or perceived economic exploitation.
• Policy makers' diplomatic efforts should secure accommodation of various stakeholders sufficient to permit compromise leading to formation of an independent government.
• Where occupation appears necessary to achieve security and stability, policy makers should allocate enough troops and money to do the job, and accurately assess and report all costs of military occupation and nation building.
• Once occupation has occurred, policy makers should not withdraw military support in a way that would increase the likelihood of civil war.
• Premature withdrawal of security, economic and political support prior to the point where high security risk nations are capable of governing themselves will cause a power vacuum, and may result in fragmented regional leadership by warlords. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

制约我国民族地区与周边国家开展区域经济合作的主要因素及对策

我国周边地区正在建设的中国-东盟自由贸易区、上海合作组织和将要形成的中国-东北亚经济合作区都地处少数民族聚居区,这一区域将是我国新的经济增长极。民族地区应尽快制定全面实施向外开放,与周边国家开展区域经济合作的发展战略,抓紧出台相关政策和措施。国家应尽快制定《区域经济合作开拓法》,与周边国家签订《区域经济合作投资保护协定》,建立多级对话与合作机制,推进民族地区与周边国家实现全方位、多种形式的经贸合作。     

论中华民族凝聚力的当代提升

在当代,提升中华民族凝聚力具有十分重要的价值。但是,中华民族凝聚力的当代提升面临着不少新问题:思想文化和价值观念多样化、社会结构分化与利益分化、民族分裂主义分化活动日益明显、部分党员干部的腐败现象造成恶劣影响。要提升中华民族凝聚力,就必须正视这些问题,寻求以下基本途径:一是在坚持社会主义核心价值体系的前提下,贯彻百花齐放、百家争鸣的方针;二是贯彻落实以“构建社会主义和谐社会”为目标的和谐发展新理念;三是妥善处理好民族问题;四是加强执政党建设。     

The Soviet study of the Barefooted Flight of the Kazakhs

The defeat, devastation and exile of the Kazakhs in the early eighteenth century, commonly known as the Barefooted Flight, was the nation's most distressing pre-Soviet calamity. Kazakh nation-building and official remembrance projects – commemorated in state ceremonies, public education and popular culture – portray an uninterrupted, centuries-old practice of tribute to local heroes who challenged the foreign aggressors. Twentieth-century Kazakh and Russian intellectuals in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras studied and enshrined these events based on published, secondary sources, rarely giving attention to the thin trail of documents preserved in state archives. The historiography of the Barefooted Flight exposed a trend in how politically convenient historical lessons shaped the interpretation of events. By the end of the Soviet Union, some archival material was introduced, it was but misquoted so as not to challenge the current interpretation.     

Constructing national history in political discourse: Coherence and contradiction (Moldova, 2001–2009)

History is one of the many instruments available for the persuasive construction of a nation. In Moldova, the Party of the Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), in office from 2001 to 2009, advocated for a Soviet-based version of the Moldovan nation. This “Moldovanism” boasted of the existence of a “Moldovan People” and was relied upon to justify the independence of the former Romanian province. Vladimir Voronin, the party's leader and president of the Republic during this period, promoted this “civic” Moldovan nation and created what seemed to be a coherent and ad hoc construction of an independent Moldovan nation.

This paper focuses on communist political discourse during this eight year period. Through the use of Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper focuses on the discursive construction of the Moldovan nation. It is based on Voronin's official speeches and messages from key occasions such as Independence Day and Victory Day.

This paper demonstrates the varied use of history in these speeches which improves understanding of the process of the construction of a nation. Moreover, it demonstrates that this construction, far from being coherent, was also sometimes contradictory. Indeed, discourse was adapted to the immediate context and audience. Finally, the paper explains how an explicitly “civic” discourse can be implicitly and, sometimes even explicitly, “ethnic” and “exclusive”.     

Language,nation and citizenship: contrast,conflict and convergence in Estonia's debate with the international community

This paper investigates the clash of (language) ideologies in Estonia in the post-Communist period. In an analysis of changing Western recommendations and Estonian responses during the transition of Estonia from Soviet Socialist Republic to independent state, we trace the development of the discourses on language and citizenship rights. Different conceptions of the nation-state and of how citizenship is acquired, together with different approaches to human rights, led to disagreement between Estonian political elites and the political actors attached to international institutions. In particular, the Soviet demographic legacy posed problems.

We use a context-sensitive approach that takes account of human agency, political intervention, power, and authority in the formation of (national) language ideologies and policies. We find that the complexities of cultural and contextual differences were often ignored and misunderstood by both parties and that in their exchanges the two sides appeared to subscribe to ideal philosophical positions. In the following two decades both sides repositioned themselves and appeared to accommodate to the opposing view. In deconstructing the role of political intervention pressing for social and political inclusion and in documenting the profound feeling of victimhood that remained as a legacy from the Soviet period and the bargain that was struck, we hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of the language ideological debates surrounding the post-Communist nation-(re)building process.     

Globalization and the future of the nation state

This article addresses the issue of whether the nation state has a future as a major locus of governance in an increasingly ‘globalized’ economic and social system. It begins by considering the development of the sovereign state and argues that international agreements between states were important in establishing the power of the state over society. It goes on to consider the changing capacities of the state in the modern world. Extreme versions of the 'globalization' thesis are then challenged, and it is argued that national-level economic processes remain central and that the international economy is far from ungovernable. Major nation states have a pivotal role to play in creating and sustaining such governance. However, their role is less than as autonomous national macro-economic managers, than as agencies that are representative of their populations and sources of legitimacy for new forms of governance. The central function of the nation state is that of distributing and rendering accountable powers of governance, upwards towards international agencies and trade blocs like the European Union, and downwards towards regional and other sub-national agencies of economic co-ordination and regulation.     

论“失独者”权利的国家保护

"失独者"已然成了新的"特殊群体",其养老、返贫、疾病和心理是他们面临的主要问题,这些问题亟待政府从制度层面予以解决。但无论是国家层面还是地方层面,该问题的立法状况都不容乐观。"失独者"是因为国家义务而致,所以,作为一个人权主体,政府必须有相应的法律政策来保护他们。政府亦可将社会抚养费作为履行了计划生育义务的失独者养老费用。     

Imagining the Economic Nation: The Scottish Case

The impending Scottish referendum on independence raises the question: what is a nation? This article addresses this question in terms of ‘economic nationhood’. Tracing the development of the Scottish economy over the last century and a half, it shows how the extraordinarily ‘globalised’ economy of pre‐1913 Scotland slowly evolved into a much more self‐reliant entity. Today, Scotland has a de‐industrialised and substantially de‐globalised economy, with a very large public sector about which key decisions are made in Edinburgh. Scotland has become much more of an economic ‘community of fate’ than ever before in its modern history.