Political Calm Research Articles

Death in an Ordinary Time: Reflections from Rwanda.

Meanings and processes of death in Rwanda have changed dramatically in the 25 years followingimvururu, the Kinyarwandan term for "interruptions" that signifies the numerous episodes of violence between the late 1950s and mid-1990s. Reflecting on experiences of elderly Rwandans who witnessedimvururuin adulthood, this article traces how death is perceived and practiced in old age, a phase of the life course that is marked with relative political calm. Although traces ofimvururupermeate thepresent, these ordinary times-ibihe bisanzwe-afford opportunities for the elderly to alter their notions of death as an event by making it a personal process, reviving valued preparation practices from the past and creating new ones with the young. This peopled account invites alternative ways of thinking abouttime and recognizing death's role in infusing meaning back into life in contexts where accounts of the everyday remain frozen in an apocalyptic imaginary.[aging, death, ordinary, temporality, Rwanda].

Political Cohesion and Fiscal Systems in the Roman Republic

For over two centuries, the largest public revenue of the Roman Republic was a levy on property that was earmarked for infantry pay. It was collected by wealthy local landowners and redistributed to soldiers in the district. This article argues that the period oftributumwas largely one of political calm because the tax systems effectively reinforced social and political hierarchies. Within three to four decades oftributum's invention, intra-elite politics began to stabilize, and within three to four decades of its cancellation, intra-elite politics began to destabilize. With little role for a central bureaucracy, local elites across the countryside used their roles as tax collectors to derive bargaining power in politics, but also to control local economies and to demonstrate their high rank in a society that revered public leadership in service of the military.

ГРАВИТАЦИОННОЕ РАВЕНСТВО КАК БАЗИС АЛГОРИТМА ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВА В УСЛОВИЯХ ПОСТРОЕНИЯ НЕЗАВИСИМОЙ СБАЛАНСИРОВАННОЙ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ

This article presents an algorithm of economic development of state, focused on finding the optimal direction of foreign economic activity in the context of ensuring economic security of region. The developed mechanism makes it possible to take into account the gravitational affiliation of states on the basis of the created integral indicator of the strength of economic gravity. Based on a theoretical assessment of the variability of the paths of economic development, a conclusion is made about the effectiveness of bilateralism in the context of global economic instability. In the process of building macroeconomic policy, the state assesses the bilateral and multilateral aspects of economic activity. The multifactorial nature of economic activity forms the multitasking of country's economic development. Accordingly, solving economic problems requires a systematic approach. The main stages of the algorithm for choosing the path of economic development of the state: 1. Choosing a direction of economy optimization. 2. Assessment of the foreign policy position of the state, on the basis of which the choice of bilateral or international path is made. 3. Evaluation of bilateral optimization in accordance with the state of the economy. Bilateral optimization is carried out depending on the economic gravity of states, which determines the type of interaction of elements. When assessing the current level of bilateral economic relations and the formation of prospects for cooperation, it is necessary to use the index of economic gravity of countries, which takes into account a level of trade gravity of countries, an indicator of distance dependence between countries, a measure of political calm and an indicator of monetary and financial proximity of countries. The developed mechanism of economic actions of the state provides for the existence of an economic and political choice of the vector of economic development, taking into account the state national strategy. Reflecting systemic inversely proportional relationship between the rate of economic growth and country's economic sovereignty, the algorithm is focused on overcoming systemic interstate imbalances in the world economy.

Российское политическое пространство перед лицом цифровизации: основные риски

The present study analyzes five key trends in the digitalization of the Russian political space, which are clearly risky in nature. This is the possibility of “digital manipulation” of electoral processes, the chaos of political practices, the spread of new ma-nipulation technologies, the predominance of frag-mented emotional perception of political reality and the formation of numerous political simulacra, in-cluding virtual identities. Most of these risks have manifested themselves already nowadays, which contributes to the growth of conflicts in the Russian society and the crystallization of protest sentiments. In the conditions of mass fatigue from “bad” politi-cal news, a major role in the politics of the “post-truth era” will play the mechanism of emotional ar-rhythmia, when bursts of information activity alter-nate with political calm. It seems that each of the above mentioned risks has a significant potential to destabilize the political system of Russia, each of them is on an “upward wave” these days and will have a serious impact on the Russian political pro-cess in the 2020s.

The nature and potential of corporate governance in developing countries

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide detailed findings regarding the perceived role of corporate governance in Zambia. There have been no detailed studies of opinions in a setting such as Zambia, i.e. a nation which has experienced relative political calm and which has an abundance of natural resources – but where corporate governance failures have been blamed directly for economic difficulties.Design/methodology/approachThe study reports the results of a series of 24 in-depth interviews with Zambians, including politicians, regulators, senior business executives, transnational organisation representatives, academics and governance consultants. The discussions were conducted face-to-face and recorded in all cases.FindingsUnderstanding of corporate governance is at an embryonic stage in Zambia, but embedded corruption is likely to require addressing before any meaningful change is likely. A range of isomorphic forces appear to be prevalent and the study argues that root and branch change in structures and attitudes is a necessity if improvements are to be forthcoming. The paper concludes with a call for unity in purpose and recognition of current malignancies.Originality/valueDespite Zambia’s idiosyncrasies, the evidence suggests that a pan-African picture is emerging, with growing awareness of the potential benefits of improved corporate behaviour – but deep cynicism exists about the likelihood of these arising given corruption in reward structures. Such is the extent of embeddedness in power amongst those who benefit from current arrangements that both mimetic and coercive forces are argued to be ranged against any shift in extant systems and processes.

"Sub Tiberio quies?" La situación política en Judea bajo los prefectos (6-41 e.c.), entre realidad e ideología

Existen valoraciones llamativamente discrepantes sobre la situación política de Judea bajo la égida de los prefectos romanos (6-41 e.c.). Según una opinión, este habría sido un período de persistente agitación revolucionaria; según otra –más extendida–, habría sido tranquilo, de acuerdo a la aseveración de Tácito sub Tiberio quies. El presente artículo examina de nuevo críticamente las principales fuentes disponibles –en particular, la obra de Flavio Josefo, los evangelios canónicos y Tácito– con el objeto de ofrecer una reconstrucción histórica más fiable. El examen arroja resultados que ponen en cuestión nociones extendidas e insuficientemente matizadas acerca del período referido. A su vez, esto permite reflexionar sobre los factores extra-epistémicos que pueden contribuir a explicar la génesis de tales nociones.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu Howard Van Trease (bio) The relative political calm during the early weeks of 2011 was deceiving, given the controversy surrounding the change of government that had taken place the previous December (see Van Trease 2011). Having survived in office since the last national election in September 2008, a period that included several changes to coalition partners, the Vanua'aku Pati (VP)-led government under Prime Minister Edward Natapei was ousted in a vote of no confidence and replaced by his deputy, Alliance Group leader Sato Kilman on the afternoon of 2 December 2010, shortly after Natapei left the country, having received assurances from Kilman that the pending no-confidence motion was under control. That afternoon, however, once Parliament had convened, the Speaker took the unusual step of banning all media and the public from the chamber. At that point, Kilman and his Alliance Group crossed the floor to join the Opposition. The vote of no confidence was carried with 30 votes in favor, 15 against, and 7 abstentions. On first impression, Kilman appeared to have misled Natapei on his departure from Vila into believing that he could be trusted to defend their existing partnership in the face of the ouster motion. Several months later, however, Kilman revealed to the press that the turn of events in early December had not simply happened out of the blue but was the result of Natapei's failure to live up to an early promise to redistribute ministerial portfolios within the coalition more equitably. Several letters sent to the prime minister requesting action had been ignored. Kilman was obviously under pressure from his own people to act, and Natapei's intended absence at the moment a vote of no confidence had been tabled obviously provided the opportunity to resolve the problem (VDP, 28 April 2011). The events that followed would seem to indicate that there had been prior planning, and it is therefore understandable that Natapei and the VP leadership felt betrayed and deceived by Kilman's final words to Natapei on his departure that December morning. Political betrayal is not uncommon in Vanuatu politics, but the fact that this had occurred on such a personal level created an obvious desire for revenge that would lead to an unprecedented period of political instability in the months that followed. Rumors began to surface in January that moves were afoot to table a motion of no confidence against the new Kilman government, but the Opposition did not have the numbers to act, and the Union of Moderate Parties (UMP) dismissed the rumor that it would be leaving the government (VDP, 15 Jan 2011). However, the decision by the Council of Ministers [End Page 414] to postpone the first sitting of Parliament, which was to take place on 21 January, indicated growing concern that certain backbenchers could be looking for new opportunities and might be susceptible to offers from the Opposition (VDP, 20 Jan 2011). This was indeed the case. On 12 February, the two UMP ministers in the government, Serge Vohor and Charlot Salwai, resigned to join the Opposition, taking their members with them and complaining that the sharing of the thirteen ministerial portfolios permitted under the Vanuatu Constitution had not been done fairly. The UMP, with eight members of Parliament, the single biggest party in government, had been given only two ministries. The Alliance, the largest bloc (made up of Kilman's People's Progressive Party [PPP] with three members of Parliament and various other small parties and independents) had ten members in total and five portfolios. Ham Lini's National United Party (NUP), with only three members of Parliament, had two ministries—the same number as the UMP—and the Vanuatu Republican Party (VRP) had one ministry plus the position of Speaker. The Harry Iauko faction of the VP, with only three members of Parliament, had two ministries, and a group of independents had one (VDP, 12 Feb 2011). Kilman responded by hinting that he might seek a dissolution of Parliament rather than allow a new round of political instability (VDP, 14 Feb 2011). In anticipation of a successful challenge, Serge Vohor (UMP), Edward Natapei (VP), and Maxime Carlot Korman (VRP) signed an...

The Kuomintang and the democratization of Taiwan

Theoretical considerations rebuilding the party on Taiwan political calm and slow change Chiang Ching-Kuo's break from the past liberalizing the political system inner-party conflict and the emergence of democracy testing democratic reforms in Taiwan concluding analysis - the Kuomintang and political development in Taiwan.

The Philippines in 1989: A Good Year Turns Sour

The political calm and economic progress that had marked the year in the Philippines came to an abrupt end on the morning of December 1, 1989, when members of the Philippine military attempted a violent overthrow of the Aquino government. When the bloody rebellion finally ended a week later, much of the progress the country had made during 1989 and previous years had been undone. As a result, rather than beginning the new decade with a secure government and an improving economy, Filipinos are faced with a degree of uncertainty reminiscent of the situation in late 1986 and early 1987.

Al‐Hajj Amin and the British in world war II

The attitude of the British authorities towards al-Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husayni was characterized, from the beginning of their rule in Palestine, by an ambivalent mixture of respect and mistrust. On the one hand, many a British official regarded him with suspicion, surmising that his activities were inimical to the interests of their government. They were nonetheless aware, as of the late 1920s, of his influence with the Arab population in Palestine and of the fact that that population or part of it at any rate viewed al-Hajj Amin as its representative, and later as its leader. The reasoning therefore which came to prevail was that if they could contrive, by investing the man with power and some influential positions, to harness him to their chariot, they would be able to restrain and moderate his activities, could purchase political calm, and through him would be able to do an efficient job of running the Palestinian Arab community. There was no lack of occasion for this ambiguous approach to find expression. At the beginning of the 1920s High Commissioner Herbert Samuel and his aides were at pains to have al-Hajj Amin elected Mufti of Jerusalem and for his appointment as President of the Supreme Muslim Council (SMC). Yet even after his election his name occupied a place of pride at the top of the secret 'political black list' of the Public Security Department.' The basis of his power and influence with the Arabs of Palestine broadened, producing a progressively more acute polarization between the British distrust for him as opposed to their esteem. While theoretically a government official, a public servant receiving his salary from the Treasury, al-Hajj Amin controlled tremendous monetary reserves. The powers he wielded and the things he did could directly affect the way of life and the welfare of close on a million Muslims in Palestine. The authorities therefore handled him with kid gloves and the High Commissioner refrained from taking any steps whatever against him, even when complaints became rife as regards the Supreme Muslim Council and the man heading it.2 Throughout the 1930s, and even after the outbreak of the Arab rebellion, the authorities continued to be torn between the desire to 'clip the Mufti's wings' because of the way he was accumulating power and putting it to use, and the fear of 'raising of the religious cry'.3 As the British dithered, the Mufti moved on to take his place at the head of the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) and to initiate anti-government activity ranging from civil disobedience to violent revolt. It was not before the end of September 1937, after the murder of Lewis Andrews (Acting District Commissioner, Galilee), that the British abandoned forbearance and declared martial law. The SMC was dispersed, the AHC was outlawed and those of its members who were in the country were arrested.4 But even at this critical juncture, the Palestine government avoided an out-and-out confrontation with the Mufti. The authorities had tried to arrest him in July 1937, but he managed to evade

The County Community in Stuart Historiography

The 1635 ship money writ elicited a “common feeling of dissatisfaction” throughout England. It was the general belief that the tax contravened “fundamental law,” and that in its imposition Charles “had deliberately treated the nation as a stranger to his counsels, and that if his claim to levy money by his own authority were once admitted, the door would be open to other demands of which it was impossible to foresee the limits.” Contrast this account by S.R. Gardiner with a more recent analysis of the response to ship money provided by J.S. Morrill, a scholar who has acknowledged a substantial intellectual debt to Alan Everitt, the progenitor and leading exponent of the concept of the “county community” in seventeenth-century England. “The King's right to levy the rate was rarely questioned in the provinces. Ship money was hated for its costliness and its disruptive effects on the social and political calm of the communities … Above all,” the levy was detested because “it exemplified the government's insensitivity toward localist sentiment and belief.”In these divergent accounts, a fundamental difference emerges between the traditional school of English historians and the county community school of local historians. For Gardiner, seventeenth-century Englishmen were fully aware of and vitally concerned about the actions of their national rulers, actions they evaluated against the touchstone of constitutional principle. Everitt and Morrill insist, by contrast, that even the gentry were “surprisingly ill informed” about “wider political issues”; they were “simply not concerned with affairs of state.”

Spain's Democratic Transition—a Progress Report

To many Spaniards the country's journey back to democratic rule probably seems like a wild toboggan ride. The hectic succession of developments this year has done little to belie that impression.During December, 1978, Spain's post-Franco constitution was adopted and the parliamentary elections that took place within three months, on March 1, resulted in major changes in the political balance. Then, on April 3, came the first municipal elections Spain has held since the Thirties, producing unprecedented gains for the Left. By May what little political calm the country managed to preserve was diminished even further by the onset of a severe crisis within the Socialist Workers' party, the country's second most important political force. The midyear negotiations between Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez and the major political groups did arrive at long last at an accord on autonomy status for the Basque and Catalonian regions, a development that served to break up a major political logjam.

From revolution to apathy ? American student activism in the 1970s

The contrast between the widespread activism of the 1960s and the relative calm of the 1970s in the American universities is dramatic. In general, American students are not now politically active, although there have been a small number of demonstrations. The political traditions of American students are important to understand in order to analyze the current situation. The first period of widespread activism was during the 1930s, with the decade of the 1950s returning to political calm. The sixties was the zenith of American student activism, and the impact of the counter culture and of some of the political struggles of this period continues to influence the campus. The lack of a clearly threatening foreign policy issue, economic problems, disillusionment with past politics and other factors have all contributed to the political quiet of the seventies. The paper concludes with a description of current campus trends.

The Conflict between the Irish Administration and Parliament, 1753–6

The history of eighteenth-century Ireland prior to the Volunteer movement is remarkably uneventful, but two episodes ruffled its political calm. They were the Wood's halfpence dispute of 1723–5, and the conflict between the Irish administration and parliament, 1753–6.It was the extent and vehemence of the opposition experienced by the administration in 1723–5 that led to the evolution of the undertakers—powerful members of parliament who undertook to conduct government business through the house of commons in return for a share in the disposal of patronage.