Domestic Freedom Research Articles

Freedom of religion and places of worship during Covid-19

With reference to places of worship, this article considers the justifiable extent to which freedom of religion may be limited within the context of a global pandemic. While the article focuses on the 2020 South African case of Muhammed Bin Hassam Mohamed v The President of the Republic of South Africa, it also draws on five USA cases for comparative purposes. The article demonstrates that the judiciary in both jurisdictions relied on the jurisprudence of their domestic freedom of religion clauses to determine the outcome of their cases. During the earlier stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, it appears that the South African and USA judiciaries were inclined to sacrifice freedom of religion in the interests of the greater good. However, this was achieved at the cost of applying their jurisprudence on freedom of religion incorrectly. By doing so, they unjustifiably treated religious activities more harshly than secular activities. The later three US cases illustrate that, even during a global pandemic that has killed millions of people worldwide, the judiciary remains under an obligation to ensure that freedom of religion is protected, especially when less restrictive means are available to do so.

International actors as critics of domestic freedoms: the role of expertise and benefits

ABSTRACT When outside actors criticize domestic rights and freedoms, do voters take notice? We argue that messages coming from outsiders who condition resources on democracy, and who have expertise in democracy promotion, are more likely to change minds. We also argue that partisanship is a moderating variable when it comes to the impact of outside messages: partisan elites help amplify or lessen the impact of outside messages. We offer evidence from a series of survey-experiments we deployed in Turkey, focusing on the roles of the European Union and of the European Court of Human Rights as sources criticism of domestic freedoms. We show that emphasizing expertise and conditional benefits can cause more belief updating. We also show that pro-government voters are likely to change their minds but that opposition supporters may do so as well. Non-partisan voters show some evidence of backlash, possibly because they are disengaged and alienated from elites. The argument has implications for the ability of outside actors to influence domestic-level processes related to democracy in countries in imperfect democracies and in countries sliding towards authoritarianism.

СПРОБА СТВОРЕННЯ НОВИХ МУЗЕЙНИХ НАРАТИВІВ У ВИСТАВКОВОМУ ДОСЛІДНИЦЬКОМУ ПРОЄКТІ «ШЕВЧЕНКО МОВОЮ МІСТА»

Taras Shevchenko is one of the most researched and discussed figures in Ukrainian society. In each historical period receptions and assessments around Shevchenko` personality differentiates, depending on the public circumstances or prevailing trends in humanitarian discourse. These perceptions swayed between positive and critical judgment. Authors identified several key perceptions of Shevchenko in Ukrainian public space, for instance, «national hero», «father of the nation», «poet», «revolutionary democrat». In their opinion, modern Ukraine still faces the search for Shevchenko` new image. New forms of public honour (commemoration) are being developed, including through museum exhibition projects. Authors also analyze the significance of the museum narrative expositions and exhibitions for the creation of new public images, giving the example of the exhibition project «Shevchenko by the urban tongue», which took place in the Taras Shevchenko national museum from November 4th to January 31th in 2021. Curators attempted to explore how personal experience in the city changed due to the process of urbanization from the XIX-th century and how the urban space influenced the shaping of the Taras Shevchenko figure. Specifically, in the XIX-th century, cities ultimately transformed into an environment, which created trends, emphases of the global public development that influenced Shevchenko, since exactly in the city he gained domestic freedom, profession and widened his social circle. The city gave him a sense of understanding of the culture, its influence and importance not only for consumer purposes or acceptance but also for the creation of new meanings. According to the authors, this approach allows us to better understand the significance of Taras Shevchenko, his connection to modern Ukrainian realities and world context.

Study of the content of the concept by comparing its different-modal representations in the American language picture of the world

The article presents the results of the study of the content of the concept “Freedom” in the American language picture of the world, during which a new technique was tested. At the heart of this technique, there is a comparison of verbal and visual associations given to the stimulus “Freedom”. The verbal and visual associations obtained during the experiment are divided into core and periphery, and the following thematic microfields are revealed: Freedom as a socio-political phenomenon (rights given by the Constitution and the Bill of rights, freedom from oppression and ways of gaining freedom), Symbols of freedom, Basic principles and values of freedom, Domestic freedom (no restrictions and obligations, freedom of movement). As a result of comparison of verbal and visual representations of the concept “Freedom” the core and periphery are allocated. Associations, presented in both modalities, are related to the core. 63% of associations are included in the core of the concept of “Freedom”, this fact indicates a sufficient degree of its formation in the mass consciousness of the American people. The periphery includes associations represented in one way. The verbal and visual associations are also divided into conceptual, figurative and value components. The main component of the concept “Freedom” is figurative (60%), which indicates a certain “fuzziness” of the conceptual representation of the concept. It is found that the abstract concept “Freedom” is subject to visual representation. Differences in verbal and visual representations of this concept are revealed: absence of visual associations with units having opposite components of meaning; the presence of a large number of images of nature; exceeding the value component in verbal representation compared to visual.

Introduction, Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom

Ballot box voting is often considered the essence of political freedom. But it has two major shortcomings: individual voters have little chance of making a difference, and they also face strong incentives to remain ignorant about the issues at stake. Voting with your feet, however, avoids both of these pitfalls and offers a wider range of choices. In Free to Move, Ilya Somin explains how broadening opportunities for foot voting can greatly enhance political liberty for millions of people around the world. People can vote with their feet through international migration, by choosing where to live within a federal system, and by making decisions in the private sector. These three types of foot voting are rarely considered together, but Somin explains how they have important common virtues and can be mutually reinforcing. He contends that all forms of foot voting should be expanded and shows how both domestic constitutions and international law can be structured to increase opportunities for foot voting while mitigating possible downsides. Free to Move addresses a variety of common objections to expanded migration rights, including claims that the self-determination of natives requires giving them the power to exclude migrants, and arguments that migration is likely to have harmful side effects, such as undermining political institutions, overburdening the welfare state, increasing crime and terrorism, and spreading undesirable cultural values. While these objections are usually directed at international migration, Somin shows how a consistent commitment to such theories would also justify severe restrictions on domestic freedom of movement. That implication is an additional reason to be skeptical of these rationales for exclusion. By making a systematic case for a more open world, Free to Move challenges conventional wisdom on both the left and the right. The Introduction summarizes the core argument of the book and provides an outline of the chapters that follow.

Iran's Protests and the Fate of the Nuclear Deal

The Trump administration should continue to waive nuclear-related sanctions, lift the travel ban and support Iranian domestic freedoms.

Words in Motion: Language and Discourse in Post-New Order Indonesia KEITH FOULCHER, MIKIHIRO MORIYAMA, and MANNEKE BUDIMAN, eds. Singapore: NUS Press and Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2012, xi+312p.

Words in Motion: Language and Discourse in Order Indonesia KEITH FOULCHER, MIKIHIRO MORIYAMA, and MANNEKE BUDIMAN, eds. Singapore: NUS Press and Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Studies, 2012, xi+312p.This book is the outcome of a long cooperation between Australian, Japanese, and Indonesian scholars in the field of Indonesian language and discourse. Previously, books in Japanese (Moriyama and Shiohara 2009) and Indonesian (Moriyama and Budiman 2010) had already been published by the same editors. Some of the chapters in this current English-language edition are revised trans- lations of the earlier volumes.The book is divided into 12 chapters and a very interesting Introduction by Keith Foulcher, on Fluid Transitions in an Era of Reform. As one of the most accomplished scholars in the field of Indonesian literary and textual studies, Keith Foulcher situates in this chapter the actual con- tributions to this volume within the greater context of the drastic shifts in Indonesian intellectual discourse since 1998. It was not only new domestic freedom of expression after the downfall of President Suharto, but also Indonesia's now much more intense exposure to the global flow of information that Foulcher identifies as the main reasons for the fundamental shifts. As if the editors wanted to illustrate the drastic changes that took place with the reformasi movement in 1997 and 1998, interestingly, the slot of the very first chapter is then given to Untung Yuwono's contribution on Swear-Words in Contemporary Indonesian Youth Slang. The examples and the discussion in the chapter illustrate aptly some of the atmosphere of the grassroots movement that the reformasi once was. Manneke Budiman's analysis of Foreign Languages and Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Indonesian Fiction builds more on the second theme developed in Foulcher's Introduction: the wide range of international impulses before and after 1998. This topic is dealt with implicitly also in George Quinn's highly informative chapter on Post-New Order Develop- ments in Javanese Language and Literature. At the same time, Budiman's and Quinn's chapters are the only ones in this volume that deal with literature.As the book is not divided into parts or sections, readers might find the reasons for the exact sequence of the chapters not very clear: after the chapter on swear-words come two contributions on literature, then a number of case-studies on regional languages (Sundanese, Eastern Indonesia, North Sulawesi, Bali), then two contributions on the role of Chinese in post-New Order Indonesia. The final two chapters deal with media rhetorics (referring to the President in Indonesian media) and the politics of language standardization in Indonesia. Here, the editors could have helped the readers a bit by structuring the volume more clearly.Having said this, the interested reader will find the high quality of most contributions in this book very helpful. This is, for instance, particularly visible in the seven contributions by Japanese scholars on regional languages in Indonesia, which follow Quinn's chapter on Javanese language and literature. …

International Actors as Critics of Domestic Freedoms

When outside actors criticize domestic rights and freedoms, do voters update their beliefs on rights and freedoms in predictable ways? We help address this important issue by arguing that messages coming from outsiders who condition resources on democracy, and who have expertise in democracy promotion, are more likely to change minds. We also argue that partisanship is a mediating variable when it comes to the impact of outside messages: partisan elites amplify or lessen the impact of outside messages. We offer evidence from a series of survey-experiments we deployed in Turkey. The theory and evidence identify a significant potential for the international community to impact voters in liberalizing countries directly, on the issue of domestic rights and freedoms.

El automóvil y los mapas en la integración del territorio mexicano, 1929-1962

This article examines a new social geography opened by the use of the automobile and maps in the Mexican territory between 1929 and 1962. In this temporary scenery, the construction of roads during a considerable span of the 20th Century has been identified as part of the modernization plan of the revolutionary governments of Mexico. This infrastructure furnished the opportunity of getting to know the wide variety of landscapes of the country as never before. A set of new traveling experiences was offered to the middle class at the same time that such diversity of Mexican landscapes caused different emotions through the “pleasure” of personally contemplating the rivers, mountains, trees, vegetation, the sea, the hamlets, towns or cities.A central element of this perspective was occupied by the automobile; its presence in Mexico meant a cultural novelty with deep effects and changes in the Mexican society of the 20th Century. The new technological element worked as a new mechanism that started circulating by the roads to observe the landscape. Because of this, we propose the application of three key concepts of space analysis: the circulation territory, the visual territory and the experience territory. Each one of them represents the many sides of the landscape as one study object, and of geography interest, as described below.The territory of circulation came about when the railroads decline started in the twenties and consolidated in the sixties of the past century. That is why in this section we first place a comparative perspective of the motorization levels through the number of inhabitants per automobile in several Latin-American countries having available ordered historical statistics on the matter. Results show a long construction of the automobile culture in this geographic region; construction that incorporated new communication and evolution forms of social groups. This set of elements was later related with the construction of roads and the cartographic production. In the first case, Mexico took important steps to pass from ten thousand kilometers to almost sixty thousand in the study period. This evolution, between 1929 and 1962, was registered, in the second case, in a series of maps showing paved roads and the national scale. The set of maps registered the evolution of the country roads and broadened the conventional or domestic freedom of transit to adventure beyond the Mexican capital and immerse in the landscapes around the country's three main roads.In the following section, the visual territory was examined. This concept leads to inquire about the representation of the landscape in some guides for motorists published in Mexico between the twenties and sixties of the past century. Attention is focused, in this point, in the maps, the photographs and texts in the pages of these consultation materials that, as cultural products, have the capacity of changing what is far away and unknown of the landscape in familiar and desirable among a middle class public that was getting deeper into that territory. In this section, two points are remarkable: first the preference shown towards the Valley of Mexico in the guides selected, making it the first option before the travelers sight, that is, to know the closes landscape thus transforming this region in the “nation's visual emblem”. On the other hand, in each studied guide, the car's departure was placed in the central gate of the National Palace, where the National Roads Commission fixed the starting point of all the roads constructed in Mexico. Thus the center was set in the ancient Vice-royal building associating this historical site with the geographical origin of the country. This cultural reference was established as the place of national identity and the automobile as the icon of mobility disseminating modernity through Mexico.In the last section, the territory of experience was presented. Through it, the impressions of some travelers were identified as part of the traveling experience, the expanding horizon and the new visual experiences arising from a variety of landscapes crossed by the automobile, in the mountains, and towns of destination after hours of driving. For this part, traveler's testimonies have been selected that originating in Mexico City, enjoyed and appreciate the landscapes in the three main open roads of the country: the Pacific one, and the North, and West ones. This perspective of granting more attention to the automobile and the maps is integrated to the processes of homogenization and integration of the territory in the Mexican 20th Century.

Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws

Investment treaties and arbitral rules traditionally impose few legally binding duties on States to release investment treaty awards. Despite this, possibly in light of the growing recognition of a human right of access to public information, recent efforts towards transparency in investment arbitration proceedings have led to significant changes in both legal instruments and State practice. However, many States remain reluctant to commit to transparency obligations, or to comply with transparency obligations where they already exist. This article reviews the utility of one lesserknown tool, domestic freedom of information (FOI) laws, in promoting transparency in the particular context of investment arbitration. The article focuses on the Republic of Poland, a State known to be holding a sizeable number of unpublished investment treaty awards. The Polish experience discussed in this article suggests that, despite the many problems encountered, domestic FOI laws do have the potential, even if qualified, to constitute a factor in the growing trend towards transparency.

Corruption: Transcending Borders

Is corruption capable of spreading across national borders? This paper uses panel data for 120 countries from 1995 to 2012 to evaluate whether the corruption levels of neighboring countries, as weighted by the relative joint border length, affects domestic corruption. Including country fixed effects allows us to control for unobservable country specific aspects and our results suggest a positive and statistically significant relationship. In general, a ten point increase in the weighted freedom from corruption index of neighboring countries is associated with a one point increase of the domestic freedom from corruption index. This result is robust to a variety of alternative specifications, such as a GMM estimation or including additional control variables. The proposed effect becomes stronger as income increases and the relationship is only positive for countries with a GDP per capita above US$1,600 (in 2000 US$). For the richest countries, the estimated coefficient rises up to 0:43.

PERAN SAYYIDAH ‘AISYAH DALAM PEMBENTUKAN HUKUM ISLAM BERWAWASAN GENDER

Islamic law and women are one of mostly debated discourses bycontemporary Islamic thinkers particularly those who are gender issuesproponents. That discourse grows due to the accuse towards Islam thatthis religion is the source of gender inequality for women through outmuslim world especially in education, fairness and domestic freedom aswell as social welfare in the family. The assumption is that Islamic law ismale-based law. Therefore, it is a need to explore the note on Islamic lawdevelopment which is perceived from the role of women in the early age oflaw construction not from the aspect of the thought of classical ulama inthe middle age. This paper tries to explore and to discuss mainly the role ofSiti Aisyah as the teacher and the transmitter of hadith as the foundation ofIslamic law construction to underline women’s position and contributionas the law maker that it will prove that Islamic law is not merely men-basedlaw as the assumption grows.

When Being “Native” is not Enough: Citizens as Foreigners in Malaysia

Why do the natives of Sabah oppose the internal migration of natives from the rest of Malaysia? Why is being not enough? The hostility is in direct contrast to what most scholars know about Malaysia: a multiethnic country with successful preferential policies for its natives-the sons of the soil. In a plural state like Malaysia, there are competing native claims on citizenship. Here, regional natives (Kadazandusun from Sabah) contest claims by federal natives (Malays). The conflicts over culture, economy, and political power fracture a citizenship into its regional and federal parts, pitting native against native. In particular, regional natives empower the notion of a regional citizenship by supporting restrictions on the internal migration of fellow citizens. As a consequence, Malaysia's goal of a national citizenry fashioned on native Malay norms is undermined. Malaysia offers important insight into the enduring dilemma of modern plural states: how to create a common citizenship. Key words: Malaysia, nationalism, democracy - East Asia Introduction: Citizenship in a Multiethnic Society [I]n a plural society the basic problem of political science . . . is the integration of society. J. S. Furnivall, 19441 In 1999, I was standing in a queue at the immigration office in the Malaysian state of Sabah (East Malaysia) when I noticed Malaysian students from Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) filling out immigration forms.2 We were providing the same biographical details, such as our name, sex, age, address, race, and residential status, and were going through the same immigration procedures, yet I was an international visitor to Sabah and they were Malaysian citizens. The experience seemed counterintuitive to the common view of Malaysia as an integrated multiethnic union, and led me to reflect on the broader implications of migration in Malaysia, especially in regard to the rights of outsiders. Freedom of movement, according to the literature on plural democratic societies, is a fundamental right for all citizens, yet Sabah was treating citizens and foreigners on an equal footing when it came to internal movement within the country.3 Why were West Malaysians excluded from this citizenship right in their own country? If democratic societies provide for the equal movement of all citizens regardless of race or ethnicity, why is Malaysia different? What can the Malaysian case tell us about the scope and limitations of citizenship in pluralistic societies, and the justification of specific regions to control migrations (both internal and external)? At a time when most states facilitate domestic freedom of movement as a fundamental right, and large regional organizations such as the European Union call for the removal of internal barriers to mobility, Malaysia continues to restrict internal migration to Sabah (and Sarawak). These practices contradict conventional wisdom about immigration, which focuses overwhelmingly on the regulation of international migration.4 Restricting the internal movement of citizens to a region within a country challenges traditional accounts of membership in which citizenship is thought of as a nationally unifying force, and reveals potentially dangerous fissures between federal authority and state rights. The contest between federal-state regulatory measures uncovers a regional citizenship doggedly regulating both internal and international migrants. What we see in Sabah, Malaysia is the formation and perpetuation of a regional citizenship, founded on historical claims to territory and sovereignty, and the preservation of a native cultural identity. Immigration restrictions on fellow citizens from Peninsular Malaysia undermine the formation of a federally- defined citizenship. Analyzing the competing visions of citizenship in Malaysia is essential to tracing the future trajectory of federations like Malaysia. Opposition to international immigration is a rising global phenomenon. …

Europe's Jihadist Dilemma

Various conditions have facilitated Europe's rise as a 'hub' of global jihad, especially the presence of a nucleus of foreign Islamist activists, a large pool of potential recruits, and the freedom to operate with few, if any, restrictions. The Iraq war has prompted a revival of the jihadist network in Europe. In response, European policymakers need legal reforms, increased institutional cooperation and sustained efforts to engage with European Muslim communities. The threat is both urgent and profound, and it will be necessary to embark on considered long-term strategies which may require European leaders to re-examine some of the tacit arrangements that have allowed European societies to enjoy an unparalleled degree of domestic freedom, peace and prosperity.

“This Maze of History and Fiction”: Conservatism, Genre, and the Problem of Domestic Freedom in Jane West’s Alicia De Lacy

“This Maze of History and Fiction”: Conservatism, Genre, and the Problem of Domestic Freedom in Jane West’s Alicia De Lacy

Political choice and the multiple ?logics? of capital

The issue of whether one sees the constraints on domestic freedom of action as economic or political has important practical consequences. If one accepts the position that reforms such as the expansion of social welfare actually interfere with the fundamental logic of a capitalist order, it becomes very difficult to defend those reforms from conservative attack. One can argue that over the long term the only way to protect those reforms is through a break with the capitalist system, but this does not provide much strategic guidance in the short term. On the contrary, since the left is agreeing that these reforms contribute to the problems of the economy - inflation, slow growth, unemployment - it follows that the citizenry is acting rationally when it supports the right-wing attacks on the reforms. In a context in which the immediate transition to socialism is not possible, it follows that the best way to enhance the collective welfare is by trading off the reforms for the promise of faster economic growth.

Reality Theater in Chicago

A true theater is a fix, a mainline shot that infuses itself into reality, turning reality upside down, producing alterations in the structure and in the elements of the real. A grandiose claim. But is this not precisely what we have always been assured was the case in the Theater of Dionysus and in Shakespeare's Elizabethan theater? Is it disturbing that our authorities have inadvertently taught us the truth? Perhaps all real theater, and any real art, can only be revolutionary. Whatever is new ultimately must be a metaphysical argument. The Reality Theater that is evolving today cannot be stopped. It cannot be stopped because Mayor Daley exists on the same plane as all impersonations and fictions. The city of Chicago itself is in its way only a kind of ontological rhetoric, a hyperbole, a form of make-believe. If this statement seems far-fetched, it is only because we have chosen to believe in the metaphors of our rhetoric. Which is not to say that Mayor Daley and Chicago are not real-they are all too real, but it is the nature of that reality which needs examining. A Real theater can be achieved. It was the vision of this which turned Yeats to the ritualized forms of the Japanese Noh plays; and in the failure to translate successfully from the images in his mind to the concrete space of the stage lies, perhaps, a negative verification that the metaphor behind the vision was at least always true. Artaud was certainly right to this extent: a real theater must be a dangerous place, or else it is a meaningless one. The crucial mistake of Yeats was in his idea of where a theater had to be located; that it was necessary to be outside ordinary reality, in a special place and a special time, and that reality could come to it for enrichment. There can be no separation of the two: they must be coincident with each other, they have always to occur together. As far as the state of American theater is concerned, it is obvious that we have not had one for a long time. We have had moving plays, but this is a peculiarly formal issue, and plays which simply make us emote are not by that fact alone connected with formal issues at all. They cannot change anything, and a real theater must. We are going to have a theater, and it is going to be real. Broadway can never be taken seriously. It is too expensive. It can afford to cater only to the few, to those who demand to be entertained and who can afford to pay the price of entertainment. Then there are the many houses throughout the country which offer professional of classic plays. They are certainly related to theater and ought definitely to be supported, but they have affinities at best with an immediate past; essentially they belong to another age. Insofar as a true theater can be said to exist in this country at all, it is found off-off Broadway, where for the most part it speaks to and for a subculture of East Villagers whose psyches have been fashioned by the myths of a million grade-B movies and then acted out again after the movies in the kitchens of a billion immigrant families in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Harlow and Maria Montez are its divinities, and Gorilla Queen is perhaps its most serious expression. But there is another movement in the theater, as legitimate at least, and, I think, more likely to have serious historical consequences. Popularly it has become known as Guerrilla Theater, and companies have sprung up throughout America. For the most part they address themselves to issues connected with the non-war we are waging in Vietnam. Obviously it is only a matter of time before a broadly based Black Guerrilla Theater forms, interesting itself less in the war than in issues connected with the suppression of domestic freedom. In Chicago, a group of students at the University of Chicago have been attempting a variant of Guerrilla Theater, have put on some productions already and have a great many planned for the coming months. (Another company has formed at Northwestern University, but as of this writing I have no information about them. …