Process Of Political Change Research Articles

La reconfiguration des structures de pouvoir en Algérie

Les changements politiques d’un pays sont souvent explorés à travers des théories qui donnentun rôle prépondérant aux facteurs internes. Cet article postule en revanche que la dimension internationale est une variable très importante qui doit être incluse dans l’analyse du jeu des acteurs politiques internes. Les institutions locales sont le produit formel d’arrangements contrôlés par les acteurs locaux, mais sans être toutefois dans un vide politique international. L’accélération de la mondialisation rend cet argument particulièrement valide. À travers la construction d’une structure ouverte d’analyse de la politique nationale qui inclut des relations dynamiques avec la dimension externe, cet article explore en détail le cas algérien durant les trois dernières décennies.

Consolidación democrática y reforma institucional en México

El autor afirma en su contribución que la reforma institucional representa el eslabón faltante dentro del proceso de cambio político de México en su ruta de consolidación democrática. Para ahondar en esta posición, el autor toma como referencia, la iniciativa de reforma constitucional presentada por el presidente de la República en diciembre de 2009; al efecto, analiza, contextualiza y critica el documento, para concluir que es la primera propuesta de gran calado desde que comenzó la transición democrática en 1977, enviada al Congreso sin un acuerdo previo entre las fuerzas políticas, que sus ofrecimientos resultan disfuncionales, desde la perspectiva de un Estado constitucional, pero que se encuentra bien construida para los propósitos encubiertos que persigue: aupar el poder presidencial, disminuir el poder del Congreso, reforzar la irresponsabilidad política de los gobernantes, erosionar el pluralismo político, comprimir las opciones de representación política y facilitar los acuerdos cupulares.

The International Dimension of the Arab Spring

The Arab spring is a transition away from the long alliance between the West and the moderate Arab states, as well as a transition on the part of these states from being more or less passive clients of the US and the West to more or less vibrant democracies with an assertive agenda in the region. As elections take place, they will generate more democratically and Islamist-based governments, certainly more sensitive than previous ones to nationalist feelings and with foreign policy objectives more or less diverging from Western ones. This compels Western countries to revisit and possibly adjust foreign strategies and policies. In this perspective, American and European policy towards the Israeli--Palestinian conflict in recent years may remain a stumbling block in the West's relations with the Middle East and may make the ongoing process of political change in the region more difficult and uncertain.

El cambio de régimen político en América Latina : en torno a la democratización de los regímenes autoritarios

This paper analyzes, from a theoretical-methodological perspective, the processes of political change that have taken place or seem to have taken place in Latin America since the late 1970s, frequently defined as democratization (or redemocratization) processes. In this context, the factors that provoke, favor or accelerate such processes are of interest, without ignoring the opposing forces that delay, divert or totally impede democratization. Our interest in analyzing the processes and structures of political change is scientific and political at the same time. The political interest is centered on the democratic opening of authoritarian regimes, the most generalized form of political domination in Latin America in the 1970s.

Colonialism, Liberalism And Identity In Alan Paton’s Cry The Beloved Country

This paper examines how Alan Paton reveals the impact upon a traditional rural African community of the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation which arose out of colonialist capitalism. It focuses on the connection which Paton makes between the exploitation of the black urban migrants by the white minority, the loss of their traditional values and the social and psychological degeneration which arose out of the negation of the identity of the native as a human being. It examines Paton’s message that only through reconciliation and cooperation between the races can catastrophe be averted in South Africa, noting that Paton himself recognises that his solution leaves much to faith and human kindness. The paper examines evidence of paternalism in Paton’s attitude. In support of the idea that Paton’s solution, although well-intentioned, is too overtly Christian and over reliant on individual goodwill, the paper notes that, after a period in which Paton’s conciliatory ideas were unfashionable, they were revived in the 1990s by the integrationist government of the first black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, but as part of a process of political change, with their Christian context transcended through assimilation into the traditional inclusive African concept of humanism, “Ubuntu”.Keywords: South Africa; colonialism; capitalism; identity

From undivided state power to the system of deconcentrated and decentralised state power. The political transformation of Poland

This paper is not an attempt to present the process of political changes that occurred in Poland after the end of the Second World War. Its aim is to indicate and explain the characteristics of the process of political change which after 1945 turned Poland into a totalitarian socialist state, and from 1989 led to the construction of the democratic state. The fate of Poland and other Eastern European countries was decided by the strategic interests of the great powers. The memory of the victims of war and democratic axiology gave way to the calculations and domination of force. Many nations were deprived of subjectivity and the possibility of sovereign choice in their future development. In Poland the place of the sovereign nation had been taken by a small group of politicians who became the plenipotentiaries of the Soviet leadership. The creation of the totalitarian system was an essential precondition for the implementation of the Stalinist model of society entirely dominated by the Communist Party, the state described as socialist, and its apparatus of repression. The rule over the nation, although it was called the dictatorship of the proletariat, was a dictatorship over the enslaved society. Only the gradual erosion and finally the collapse of the centre of communist world, created in this part of Europe the possibility to choose freely the model of collective life. The victory of the Polish Solidarity and the fall of Berlin Wall alike symbolize the overcoming the post-Yalta order and the return of these nations to the European, democratic idea of social order. After 1989 the political solutions in which power is protecting the needs, interests and aspirations of each individual as well as the common good, considered the summum bonnum, were chosen. This power is by its very nature decentralised.

E-Governance: A Way Forward to Digital Bangladesh

Digital governance models bring with them the potential to result in far-reaching changes in governance structures in developing countries. The approach to it however has to be cautious and well-thought, and should take into consideration the existing situation in developing countries, such as high rates of illiteracy, lack of private means to own an ICT connection, and poor infrastructure availability. Simple replication of popular e-governance models of the North will not be effective and may end up marginalizing people who are on the wrong side of the digital divide.The creativity lies in the use of information and blending it with the potential offered by ICT to create customized low-cost digital governance models. Understanding of the political environment is therefore a must. Solutions may often emerge by analysis of reasons behind governance failures by the people themselves and then imaginatively using digital governance models to focus on the weakest spot in the bad governance cycle to bring gradual improvements. Small successes therefore become significant landmarks in the path to transformation to good governance. Last but not the least, the existence of a civil society that is intolerant to bad governance is of no less importance. A civil society which is content or tolerant to the ways of current governance processes and refuses to engage in the political change process will find digital governance models to be of little use. “Digital Bangladesh” in its current iteration would benefit the urban middle classes and could bring significant progress. But this should not be at the expense of other provisions, which must be a priority in any event: including rural schools (chairs and tables and books and pens and fans and light bulbs and all), as well as other essential services the rural poor have been denied for so long. The two types of project are not mutually exclusive, nor need they be in competition with each other. In fact, a successful “Digital Bangladesh” would need a more literate population. A mass computer-literacy program or even a government-sponsored computer course, offered perhaps as an incentive for every student who completes his or her secondary-school education, would benefit everyone. If there is will - backed by investment - there is a way.

Learning the Hard Way

The Honduran coup d'etat of 28 June 2009 triggered a series of measures by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the international community to restore ousted President Manuel Mel Zelaya to office and return the country to its previous democratic constitutional order. These international actions included forms of diplomatic isolation, such as the suspension of Honduras's membership in the OAS, as weU as economic sanctions imposed by the luces ofthe European Union, the Inter- American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Central American Integration System, and the Central American Bank of Economic Integration, in addition to individual countries such as the United States. Nonetheless, international efforts failed to dislodge the interim government headed by former President of Congress Roberto Micheletti and installed by the coup conspirators. Indeed, Micheletti and company were so successful at resisting international pressures that they were able to hand over power with impunity to President-elect Porfirio Lobo seven months later, on 27 January 2010. Michelletti enjoyed congressionally approved political amnesty to boot.Almost predictably, analysts criticized the OAS for yet another seemingly dismal defence of democracy in the Americas. According to some critics, Honduras represented a resounding failure of the inter-American democratic charter. To others, Honduras signified the triumph of realism over principles in international relations. Moreover, the incident seemed to prove once again that external actors had a negligible influence on domestic processes of political change. Honduras was also deja vu with regard to the OAS' s repeated failure at preventive diplomacy.1The Honduras debacle, however, was more nuanced than it seems at first glance. Certain elements of the international intervention were praiseworthy. For one thing, there was an international effort at preventive diplomacy, albeit a belated one. For the first time ever, a head of state - Zelaya - invoked article 17 of the inter- American democratic charter, the so-called self-help clause, to trigger an emergency meeting of the OAS permanent council just days before the 28 June coup. In contrast to past crises, such as in Bolivia (2003, 2005), Haiti (2001, 2004), Venezuela (2002), or Ecuador (2004-05), there was also little or no hesitation in the Honduran case to resort to the democratic charter. In fact, Venezuela and its allies put aside their prior resistance to endorse strongly the use of the democratic charter. The residual tensions in US-Latin American relations inherited from the Bush presidency (2001-09) did not impede a rapid response by the OAS once its member states decided to act. The diverse array of isolation measures and sanctions imposed by the OAS and the international community is likely the most formidable set of punitive measures adopted against any coup government in the two-decade-long history of the inter- American collective-defence-ofdemocracy regime. And lest we forget, the response to Honduras, at least initially, was also an unprecedented display of international consensus vis-avis the pariah Micheletti government.Accordingly, the OAS's efforts in Honduras were not a total disaster. Instead of dismissing international efforts to defend democracy outright, and in the interest of getting it right next time round, it is more fruitful to seek to understand the paradox of why the Micheletti de facto government did not buckle despite the rapid, determined, united, and powerful international response. Micheletti and his supporters held on for seven months even though international sanctions took a punishing toll on them. According to Honduras's new president, Porfirio Lobo, the sanctions took effect to the tune of US$2 billion dollars in a country notorious for its aid dependence.2In this article, I identify six lessons that, in combination, help explain the Honduran paradox, as well as where the OAS and the international community need to improve their efforts in order to defend democracy more successfuUy in the future. …

Nervous Confessions

AbstractBy focusing on two memoirs recently published by former officers of the 1968-1991 Malian military regime, Dembele’s Transferts definitifs and Soungalo Samake’s Ma vie de soldat, this essay examines a new autobiographical practice, which aims to uncover some of the most troubling episodes of Malian history, and raise questions about individual complicity, collective responsibility and amnesty. This essay demonstrates how these narratives engage with the culture of memory dominating current Malian sociopolitical life since the 1991 democratization, and complement the more visible and celebratory public forms and institutionalized initiatives of remembering and examination of the past. By inducing further and deeper reflections on the tremendous transformations brought by the mass demonstration of 1991, the determinations and processes of political changes, these narratives contribute in an unexpected manner to the discourse of national reconciliation in contemporary Mali.

How Political Change Paved the Way for Indigenous Knowledge: The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act

This paper highlights the process of political change that led to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA), an attempt to recognize the legitimacy of indigenous knowledge in resource management. Evidence from ethnographic interviews shows the importance of involving indigenous knowledge holders in local land and resource management decisions, which are grounded in land-claim settlement processes. However, the authority of the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada minister acts as a barrier to genuine involvement of indigenous knowledge and its holders in resource management. True capacity building in the Northwest Territories cannot succeed without devolution of power from the federal government to territorial and First Nations governments.

From Limited to Active Engagement: Mexico's Emigration Policies from a Foreign Policy Perspective (2000–2006)

Mexico's emigration policies – including the state's engagement with the diaspora, the discourse in relation to emigrants, the responses to U.S. migration policies and legislation, and the priority given to the issue in the national and bilateral agendas – have undergone a process of transformation since the late 1980s and particularly after 2000. From a history of generally limited engagement in terms of responding to U.S. policies and a traditional interpretation of consular protection activities, Mexico has gradually developed more active policies in relation to the diaspora and began a process of redefining its position on emigration. In addition to the processes of political change in Mexico and the growing impact of migrants’ transnational activities, changes in Mexico's emigration policies are also a result of transformations in foreign policy principles and strategies, mainly as a result of the evolution of U.S.-Mexico relations since the late 1980s and particularly since NAFTA. These findings demonstrate the significance of international factors – namely host state – sending state relations and foreign policy interests, discourse, and traditions – in the design and implementation of migration policies and the need to develop multi-level analyses to explain states’ objectives, interests, and capacities in the management of migration.

Interstate Competition and Democratization

Previous theories of globalization have examined factor mobility’s effect on the political conflict between social classes. But factor mobility also increases competition between state rulers in providing services for citizens. I ask how this interstate competition affects the process of political change. In a simple model, interstate competition substitutes for democracy, by forcing rulers to invest in public goods so as to avoid capital and labour leaving the country. As a result, citizens are less willing to struggle for democracy, and rulers are less willing to oppose it, when interstate competition is strong. Therefore, there is less conflict over the level of democracy. The theory is tested on a post-war panel of countries, using neighboring countries’ financial openness as a proxy for factor mobility. As the theory predicts, states experience fewer democratizations and coups when their neighbors are financially open.

Democratização e reforma do Estado: o desenvolvimento institucional dos tribunais de contas no Brasil recente

Este artigo analisa as transformações das últimas décadas nos tribunais de contas no Brasil, à luz da discussão da temática do desenvolvimento institucional. Essa perspectiva analítica permite olhar os processos de mudanças nas arenas políticas, no longo prazo, enfatizando não só a resistência dos atores institucionais ou sociais com poder de veto e os mecanismos de path dependence, mas igualmente as conjunturas críticas que permitem levar adiante as transformações, mesmo que de forma incremental. No caso em estudo, a conjuntura crítica da democratização e da Constituição de 1988 trouxe mudanças, mas estas foram neutralizadas pela capacidade de veto da elite dirigente especialmente em alguns tribunais. Por outro lado, a nova conjuntura crítica representada pela Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal, de 2000, alterou a dinâmica política e institucional, permitindo que, até muito recentemente, as mudanças que permaneciam bloqueadas começassem, a partir de então, a ser efetivadas diante da menor capacidade de exercício de tais vetos.

The More Things Change…

A line-up of Arab leaders in 1991, the year the Cold War ended and a wave of democ ratization started to gather momentum around the globe, would look almost identical to a line-up of Arab leaders today. A few kings and emirs have died and have been duly replaced by their legitimate heirs. The long-ruling Syrian president, Hafez alAssad, has also since died and been replaced, less legitimately, by his son, Bashar. In Algeria and Lebanon, there has been much drama, but while presidents and prime ministers have been replaced, the underlying systems remain unchanged, with the same political dynasties controlling the life of Lebanon and a leader of the 1950s war for independence still running Algeria. The Arab world has been bypassed by the process of political change that has marked much of the post-Cold War period in many other regions of the world. Virtually nothing changed in the 1990s in the Middle East. After a brief period of ferment and hope in the early and middle part of the present decade, democracy (or even less farreaching, political reform) appears an ever more distant prospect, as opposition parties, including Islamists, lose ground in elections and incumbents re-establish a firm grip on the status quo. This is bad news for Arab citizens, because for the majority of them, particularly outside the Persian Gulf, the status quo does not hold much promise. On the political front, the status quo means the perpetuation of regimes that do not believe in accountability or participation and put much greater emphasis on regime security than on human security. On the economic front, the perpetuation of the status quo in all but the richest oil-producing countries means difficult living conditions, high unemployment, poor education, fraying health services, and, in many cases, decaying urban infrastructure overwhelmed by population growth. In a perverse way, though, the stress the status quo imposes on human security also contains the possibility that the seemingly dead process of political reform will revive before long. Protests over economic and social conditions are spreading in Arab countries. It is mostly organized on a strictly local basis, so far without any sign of overall coordination or even clear goals, a seemingly endless stream of small protests and critical blogging. There appears to be no underlying ideology or organizational structure unifying the disparate episodes in each country, let alone across the region. Indeed, attempts by leftist or Islamist political parties to join protests or take control have not been well received. But even such small-scale action is

Prospects for Middle East Security-Sector Reform

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1See Ellen Laipson (ed.), Security Sector Reform in the Gulf (Washington DC: Henry Stimson Center, May 2006), http://www.stimson.org/swa/pdf/StimsonSSRGulf.pdf, and diverse publications from the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces at http://www.dcaf.ch. 2For a useful discussion of the challenges to Palestinian security-sector governance, see The Role of the Palestinian Security Forces – Political and Legal Challenges, workshop report, The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the Palestinian Institute for International Humanitarian Law at Al-Quds University, Abu Dis/East-Jerusalem, February 2007, http://www.ssronline.org/edocs/palestiniansecurity.pdf. 3Statement by US Security Coordinator Lt–Gen. Keith W. Dayton before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 15 March 2006. 4Testimony before the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, 21 March 2007. 5Department of Defense, Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, Report to Congress in accordance with the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2007, 2 March 2007, http://www.defenselink.mil/home/pdf/9010_March_2007_Final_Signed.pdf. See also Robert Perito, ‘Reforming the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Policy and Facilities Protection Services’, United States Institute of Peace Briefing, February 2007, http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2007/0207_iraqi_interior_ministry.html. 6See, for example, La Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior, Political Change in the Gulf States: Beyond Cosmetic Reform? Democracy Backgrounder 5 (Madrid: FRIDE, November 2006), http://www.fride.org/File/ViewLinkFile.aspx?FileId=1211. 7See http:// www.nato.int/ici/home.htm. 8See Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2006,available at http://www.freedomhouse.org. 9See Amr Hamzawy, ‘Amending Democracy Out of Egypt’s Constitution’, Washington Post, 2 April 2007. 10For excellent coverage of prospects for reform in Egypt and democracy promotion efforts of the United States, see Michele Dunne, Time to Pursue Democracy in Egypt,Policy Outlook No. 30 (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, January 2007), http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/Dunne_Egypt_FINAL2.pdf. 11The cases of Korea and Taiwan are often cited; in the 1980s, military-led governments initiated a process of political change, which led to significant overall and security-sector reform. See also Steven A. Cook, The Unspoken Power: Civil-Military Relations and the Prospects for Reform,Analysis Paper No. 7 (Washington DC: The Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, September 2004), http://www.brookings.org/dybdocroot/fp/saban/cook20040901.pdf. 12See Emile El-Hokayem and Matteo Legrenzi, ‘The Arab Gulf States in the Shadow of the Iranian Nuclear Challenge’, Henry L. Stimson Center Working Paper, 26 May 2006, pp. 6–8, http://www.stimson.org/pub.cfm?id=298. Additional informationNotes on contributorsEllen LaipsonEllen Laipson is the President and CEO of the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington DC. She served in the US government for 25 years; her last position was Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council.

America Beyond Capitalism : Emerging Context and Key Issues

America Beyond Capitalism : Emerging Context and Key Issues Gar Alperovitz (bio) Many of the thoughtful issues raised by Hsieh, Hussein, Ollman and Williamson concern problems of political-economic context and possibility, on the one hand; and, on the other, of larger systemic goals and outcomes. Although my basic position on these points is stated in America Beyond Capitalism, the book contains only a rather short summation of a much larger argument, especially in connection with context. 1 This will be presented at length in another volume now in progress. However, a slightly expanded statement may help sharpen the central questions which must be confronted: ABC holds that we face a long term (and unusually structured) systemic crisis, not simply a political crisis. It argues that the emerging era is one in which truly fundamental values—equality, liberty, meaningful democracy, ecological sustainability—are all increasingly being thwarted by real world practices. Given the emerging constraints on traditional politics, it suggests, both liberal reform and genuine conservatism are likely to continue to falter. In addition to growing social and economic pain, accordingly, we are entering a long term period in which the classic elements of a legitimation crisis may well be slowly beginning to emerge. One of the critical points to grasp is that the American labor movement is in the process not simply of decline, but of radical decline. At its peak in the mid-1950s unions represented just over 35% of the workforce. They now represent a little over 12% nationwide; and a mere 7.2% in the private sector. The overall trend is down. This (along with America's unusual racial and ethnic divisions) is one of the most important reasons why the book judges that many social-democratic proposals like those urged by Hussein based on European precedents are extremely unlikely to be achieved in more than marginal ways in the United States. 2 I agree with Williamson here: Although I would welcome whatever can be done, the traditional hope of reforming capitalism following the best welfare state and corporatist precedents is simply not likely to be realized. The book's main argument also rests on the judgment that we do not face a crisis which can be described in any easily recognized 'classical' form: The system may not be capable of major reform; but it is also unlikely to collapse. (Among other things, government now stabilizes roughly 30% of the economy; far more, given economic multipliers.) What we are beginning to experience, ABC suggests, is a process of slowly increasing decay, one in which attempts at reform do achieve occasional gains, but in which long trends of growing inequality, failing democratic accountability, family instability, deepening and unchanging poverty, ecological degradation, greater invasions of liberty (and long trends of growing imprisonment, especially of minorities)—all these continue to slowly and quietly challenge belief in the moral integrity of the overall system and its governing elites. Surveys demonstrate that whereas thirty years ago three out of four believed the government does what the citizens wish, now roughly three out of four believe it does what the rich, the corporations, and the special interests urge. It is quite possible, ABC suggests, that a long term process of occasional gain, large-order stalemate and failing belief will simply mean the continuation of long term decay: Rome declined. Period. It is also possible that domestic violence, terrorism, or both will lead to repression and some form of fascism. On the other hand, ABC notes, Chile survived Pincochet, and the critical questions all still remain: First, might there be ways to build forward a process of political change aimed at progressive values in these very constrained circumstances? (And what might its chief characteristics be, given the blockages facing traditional approaches?) Second, and importantly, what long term structural arrangements—beyond the current faltering arrangements—might one day hope to realize and sustain the key values? Finally, how do these two questions relate to one another? Let us focus on the second question first: The central intellectual problem at the heart of ABC is whether it is feasible even in theory to develop an institutional architecture which might allow for true democratic control of the...

Missionaries with Attitude: A Women's Mission in Northwestern China

Recent research on women in mission service has deepened our understanding of the overall impact of Christian missions in China. At the same time, it has drawn attention to the contributions of thousands of women who, by 1900, comprised some 60 percent of the Protestant missionary presence there. Although women at first played a relatively minor role in the leadership and decision-making processes of most mission societies, their presence was nonetheless vital to the work of all Protestant missions and today is recognized as such. Context Despite this recognition, however, there are still relatively few studies of women who were influential or prominent in mission service in comparison with the number of studies chronicling the lives of their male counterparts. The studies that we do have show us the value of focusing on women: their lives were, and are, an intrinsic part of the Christian missionary presence in China. As such, they help us to examine important processes such as conversion, the impact of the social gospel, and historical changes in gender relations, particularly as they relate to the place of women in the Christian church and the missionary impact on China. For historians of modern China, the examination of Protestant missions also provides perspectives on the process of political change, particularly after China became a republic in 1912. It was my effort to understand the dramatic political shifts in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region during the republican era (1912‐49) that first led me to the books of three British women who served with the China Inland Mission (CIM): Mildred Cable and the sisters Evangeline and Francesca French, all of whom spent years in northwestern China. The women’s publications proved valuable because they provided details not found in other sources on village life, trade, and contemporary political figures. Despite my interest in the women, other writing projects intervened, and it was not until several years ago that I decided the time had come to write about the women themselves, in part to understand why they had chosen to travel to the northwestern provinces of China in the 1920s, but also to understand how they had managed to survive the many dangers inherent in such a venture. Some aspects of the women’s lives were as I had expected, but I also discovered much that I did not anticipate. As missionaries, their purpose in China was to preach the Christian Gospel. But as I soon discovered, these women not only had strong belief in God but also had strong opinions on the issues of their day. As will be seen, their beliefs occasionally placed them at odds with their male colleagues and their mission society. Indeed, as my research on the women progressed, I began to refer to them as “missionaries with attitude,” a rather irreverent way of characterizing the women, who were unwilling to have their views or

Ecological Theory in Practice: Illustrations From a Community-Based Intervention to Promote the Health of Recent Mothers

We present a qualitative case study where we used four principles of ecological theory from community psychology as a template to assess the dynamics about how a preventive community intervention was transacted in eight communities in Victoria, Australia. The principles were cycling of resources, interdependence, adaptation, and succession. Ecological thinking focuses on key resources in communities. That is, the people, events, and settings that are the foundations of thinking about communities as systems. The data set consists of field diaries kept by and serial interviews with nine community development workers over a 2-year period. We found that the analysis highlighted a process-oriented way of representing the intervention, one that sees beyond the intervention's technical components (or packaged elements) to the complexities of the cultural and political change processes occurring beneath. The value of this is the attention focussed on likely project sustainability.

Comrades no more: the seeds of political change in Eastern Europe

In 1989, Soviet control over Eastern Europe ended when the communist regimes of the Warsaw Pact collapsed. These momentous and largely bloodless events set the stage for the end of the Cold War and ushered in a new era in international politics. Why did communism collapse relatively peacefully in Eastern Europe? Why did these changes occur in 1989, after more than four decades of communist rule? Why did this upheaval happen almost simultaneously in most of the Warsaw Pact?In Comrades No More, Renee de Nevers examines how internal and external factors interacted in the collapse of East European communism. She argues that Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union were necessary to start the process of political change in Eastern Europe, but domestic factors in each communist state determined when and how each country abandoned communism. A demonstration effect emerged as Hungary and Poland introduced reforms and showed that Moscow would not intervene to prevent political and economic changes.De Nevers analyzes the process of change in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. She traces the pattern of reform in each country and shows how these patterns influenced their postcommunist political evolution.

The Struggle to Be Seen: Social Movements and the Public Sphere in Brazil

This paper analyzes how community movement activity in three popular neighborhoods in Belem, Brazil, shaped the dynamics of contention in the public sphere. Popular social forces, elite actors, and the state mutually influence each other across three moments of public interaction: it clarifying popular discourse, it the struggle to be seen, and routine politics. The article reverses the usual picture in movement research, which emphasizes movements as organizational outcomes to be explained, and instead builds on a body of research that explores how movements can contribute to broader processes of political change.