Political Setup Research Articles

Parallel Social Reality Construction of War Among Muslim and Christian Survivors in the Philippines

Conflicting notions of “the war” as experienced (subjective realities) surfaced in the study but generated “convergence” as these were correlated with the institutionalized beliefs of war (objective realities). Subjective realities include the victims’ psycho-social trauma and portrayal of “the other” culture as co-survivors of war. Divergent perceptions were anchored on the war victims’ age, religion, inter-marriage; the area’s political set-up, and economic climate among others. The victims’ reactions towards the prevailing issues of war (objective realities) are parallel despite distinct experiences. Many have shown disagreement towards the concept that the mass media help crystallize relevant issues, like the war in Mindanao. Majority also negated the belief that “Christians and Muslims can never co-exist peacefully, and that the 1974 war was a form of “jihad” or a religious war among Muslims. Here, communication clarified vital issues of the Mindanao conflict. It performed an emancipatory role that provided rhetorical and psychological relief to war survivors as they deconstructed their realities in a war-torn community like Sulu, Philippines.

Anti-Terrorism Laws: Distinguishing Myth and Reality

The aim of this paper is to analyze the various anti-terrorism laws with specific reference to India and draw out the reality in the present day situation. The paper also endeavor to point out American legislative response to terrorism in relation to the “wars on terror”. The main research question of the paper is whether a developing and a second highest populated growing country like INDIA should have stringent anti terrorism laws which can erase the issue myth and reality in order to create a scope which looks more better than before or will it still be destroyed by the country’s political setup which gives it a back lash.

The Moral Geopolitics of Exported Spatial Development: Revisiting Israeli Involvement in Africa

This article will analyse Israel's past involvement (1956–1973) in Africa, in the context of a wider theoretical conceptualisation of the role of spatial development in the construction of moral geopolitics. Re-thinking the relevance of postcolonial critiques, the paper examines the political and institutional setup underlying Israeli involvement in development in Africa, documenting the scope of this phenomenon by looking at policy makers, professionals and institutions, studying the role of spatial development and planning in the design of Israel's policies, and analysing the actual results of such projects. Despite considerable Israeli involvement and investment in spatial development projects in postcolonial Africa, the existing literature on the subject is narrow, dealing mainly with pragmatic political interests, and there is hardly any structured documentation of Israel's exported spatial development to Africa – its scope, qualities, successes or failures. Moreover, in the wider literature the analysis of spatial development as “exported” knowledge is perceived as a by-product of the polity between Empires and the Margins – an assumption that this paper aims to question. This article is dedicated to the memory of Sara Khinski, with whom my journey to Africa began.

Stabilising Afghanistan

This article comprises two parts: the first in which the author examines the ramifications of the process of stabilising Afghanistan and the second in which he discusses a possible role for the Russia, India and China (RIC) trilateral. The author cites the results of a survey conducted in all thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, which mainly concerns the attitude of the people and the national mood in 2004 and 2008. The results revealed very low levels of confidence. The crux of the problem was that the war cannot be won, nor the Afghan situation addressed by the military approach. The situation is extremely complex and tense mainly because of the lack of strategic coherence within the West and their attempt to promote a Western set-up in Afghanistan without heed to, or respect for, the Afghan condition. The focus has been only on capturing the Al-Qaeda through Operation Enduring Freedom. The role of Pakistan was also quite complex and the question was whether it should be seen as part of the problem or part of the solution. The American’s Afghan policy was insensitive to the geopolitical complexity in the region. Since all three countries were affected by the situation in Afghanistan, stability in this area was in the interests of all. It was necessary, therefore, to make the trilateral more relevant and the election in September 2009 provided a good occasion to look for a common agenda and adopt a proactive stance. The RIC could encourage the exploration of a new political set-up in Afghanistan by taking into account its national conditions. They could also stress a leading role for the United Nations and explore a regional approach, whereby the various organisations in the region could be interconnected to explore solutions.

Public centric e‐governance in Jordan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the efforts made by Jordan in the direction of e‐governance and people's perception of corruption, trust, and e‐governance.Design/methodology/approachDesk research was conducted using secondary data sources followed by a field survey conducted with 412 sample respondents in three major cities of Jordan. Following the triangulation approach, the responses of university professors and the common people were also secured.FindingsThe Jordanian government's efforts towards e‐governance are commendable in the Middle East. However, there are certain impediments that are witnessed in the form of the digital divide, corruption, social bottlenecks, the stage of democratization, the lack of marketing to stakeholders, and the citizen's lack of adoption of technology. Educated people are aware of the merit of e‐governance contrary to the uneducated ones and perceive that corruption in the Jordanian public sector is increasing.Research limitations/implicationsThe study mainly reflects the views of the educated people. The views of the uneducated ones are secured through basic interactions as they expressed their inability to respond to the questionnaires. Somehow, the respondents are not very open to freely share their opinions or have abstained from participation‐since they consider this a sensitive issue within the Jordanian cultural and political setup. Further, asking opinions of members of the public might not be the ideal way of judging the level of corruption, or changes in it.Originality/valuePeople's perception is that Jordan is affected by a low level of corruption and that its citizens lack awareness of e‐governance. To remedy this, its citizens need to be motivated to trust and to participate in the process of e‐governance and to increase their understanding of the tools and technologies available.

A Comparative Institutional Analysis of Korean and Japanese Clientelism

Clientele networks are differently structured across nations, depending on the political institutional setup and the configuration of political and social forces. The political institutional setup, which is cross-nationally different, determines where clientele networks are formed, how extensive they are and how long they can persist. The configuration of political and social forces, which varies over time, defines who takes the lead in clientele networks and how effective they are for producing policy effects. A comparison of Korean and Japanese clientelism suggests that the Korean case represents a form of national-level, defensive, non-cumulative and high political-risk clientelism, while the Japanese case illustrates a form of local-level, cumulative and low political-risk clientelism. Korean clientelism is not a copy of the Japanese variant. Based on this analysis, the author suggests that not every social organisation is functional for democratic governance. He also points out that the gradual process of disintegrating clientele networks is on the move.

Political Accountability for Public Spending

This paper argues that legislative incentives to overspend are not confined to local public good provision, but also plague non-targetable (global) public good provision, such as public safety and public health. The channel for the second type of spending is different from the common pool logic, however. To identify this channel I model fragmentation of fiscal power in a political agency setup with legislative bargaining. First, legislators lack common pool incentives when benefits cannot be targeted. Second, fragmentation of agenda power in the legislature weakens voters' control over agenda setters by reducing the value of their office -- weak external accountability. This allows the government to initiate public projects with high unwarranted costs. Third, a check on their behavior is a larger number of legislators, creating internal accountability. I estimate the effects of fragmentation on budget performance by exploiting a state-mandated reorganization of Kentucky county governments at the end of the 1970s that substantially enhanced the power of the office of county executive. I present difference-in-differences estimates using a 1962-1997 panel that contains counties in the neighboring state of West Virginia as the control group. The results indicate that the centralization of executive power has led to significant reductions in several categories of county revenues as well as spending and in improvements in both budget balance and indebtedness position.

Recent land cover and use changes in Miombo woodlands of eastern Tanzania

Forest and wood land ecosystems in Tanzania occupy more than 45% of the land area, more than two thirds of which made up of the Miombo woodland. The main form of land use in the Miombo region has long been shifting and small-scale sedentary cultivation. The lack of infrastructure and prevalence of deadly diseases such as malaria and trypanosiomiasis have long limited extensive clearance for cultivation, livestock farming and settlements. However, due to positives changes in the socio-economical, political and technological setup in miombo region, the types and intensity of land use are now changing. This paper discusses preliminary results from a study conducted with the aim of contributing to the understanding of dynamics of land cover and use changes in miombo woodlands of eastern Tanzania. The study area comprises four villages around the “Kitulangalo Forest Reserve”, 140 km west of Dar es Salaam on either side of the Morogoro-Dar es Salaam highway. Landsat MSS satellite images of July 1975, Landsat TM satellite images of July 2000 were used to assess land cover changes between 1975 and 2000. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), questionnaire survey and checklists for key informants were the major methods used for collecting socio-economic data. The land cover/use class of woodland with scattered cultivation has recorded the highest percentage of change between July 1975 and July 2000. While all other classes have registered positive changes, only the closed woodland class has had negative change meaning that this class has been decreasing in favour of other land cover/use classes. Recent land cover and use changes are drastic in the study area. These changes have been triggered largely by varied factors including mainly increased population density and subsequent economic activities. Economic activities including charcoal business, shifting cultivation, opening up of improved highway and pastoralism in the study area have greatly contributed to deforestation and woodland degradation. In light of these findings, there is need for: (1) Adequate land use planning and survey of village lands so as to avoid exacerbation of land use conflict and environmental degradation in the study area. (2) Agrarian reforms to eliminate open access regimes to natural resources. (3) Enforcement of fiscal policies related to the extraction of natural resource products such as timber and charcoal so as to reduce pressure on woodlands. Keywords: land use – cover change – Kitulangalo – miombo woodlands

Pension Reforms in Europe and Life‐course Politics

AbstractIn recent years, somewhat drastic pension reforms have taken place in all European countries. The pension systems developed in the last century are no longer considered to be suited to the changing demographic constellations in European countries, and the financial sustainability of these systems is under threat. Moreover, the changing political and economic set‐up in European countries is also used to justify reforming the different pension systems. Different reasons can be given to explain the various pension reform measures without, however, there being any integrated coherence. We suggest that a politics of social policy, and of pension policy in particular, based on a life‐course perspective, facilitates the understanding of the whole range of pension reform measures. In the past, the elaborated pension systems were attuned to a normative standard biography. A new standard biography, with different phases and more transitions and combinations, enables one to understand the variety of the ongoing pension reform measures. Such a life‐course perspective integrates sequences of learning, working and caring considered necessary for the polity. In other words, it is based on a conception of human potential, and it integrates, to some extent, the previously separate domains of labour market policy, education policy, care policy and pension policy. However, recent theoretical and empirical studies of the life course lead to a critical evaluation of the new standard biography, with the conclusion that the new standard is one‐sided and scientifically unsound, entailing challenges for social policy.

Quality of Life in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata): Measuring Indigenous People’s Satisfaction Regarding Political/Administrative Setup

Satisfaction of the common people remains the most important element in the policies for proper and smooth functioning of a government. Growing tensions and frustrations in FATA are viewed from various aspects by the researchers and experts. This paper identifies the satisfaction level of the indigenous people of FATA regarding the administrative and political setup, so that the conclusions may be properly utilized by the policy makers and the common people may be served in a manner that increase their satisfaction level resulting into the decrease of tensions and frustrations. This paper tries to test several variables regarding the administrative and political setup in FATA and also tests two hypotheses regarding the correlation between age and qualification and their impact upon the satisfaction level. The important outcomes of the study are that the common people are not satisfied from the public services and the political and economic opportunities available to them in the region.

Embedded Activism and Political Change in a Semiauthoritarian Context

This article provides a theoretical introduction to the other contributions in this special issue. The emergence of social movements is generally seen as an indicator of democratization. The article argues that such a view overlooks the nature of political change in China, which entails a more gradual transition. In this light, the collection of articles is organized around several questions. What does the limited political space imply for the development of a social movement in China? Is the possibility for a social movement a precondition for the development of civil society? What are the prospects for the emergence of a social movement in China, and how would it relate to international forces? These questions are explored by focusing on one of the most active areas of civil society in contemporary China: the environmental realm. The argument linking the articles in this special issue is that China's semiauthoritarian political setup in association with increased social spaces for civic action has created a milieu for embeddedness in social movement. Contrary to totalitarian control, the semiauthoritarian environment is restrictive, but paradoxically, it is also conducive to nationwide, voluntary collective action.

Fin-De-Siècle Budapest as a Center of Art

AbstractThis article discusses the emergence of Budapest as an art center as an integral part of the greater project of the making of the Hungarian capital after the Compromise of 1867. In the political setup of the Dual Monarchy, major cultural institutions were founded and a distinct urban culture, centered around cafés, was born in Budapest. It was there that actual or potential patrons, as well as receptive audiences, of the arts were to be found, which in turn led the city to also become a magnet for artists. "Artists' tables," subject to great public attention and the source of coffeehouses' reputations, became sites of casual networking and the cultivation of personal relationships between artists, patrons, and various mediators in the arts.

Political Dynamics of Regime Transformation in Japan in the 1990s

The 1990s is perceived in Japan as a lost decade, but it also was a decade of profound political, economic and institutional transformation. Books and articles reviewed here analyze this unprecedented change from diverse angles. Authors are in agreement that Japanese political economy has undergone major transformation in the 1990s. However, over the issue of how much and in what area those changes have occurred, authors take different standpoints. Also as to what would be the shape of future political setup, they provide us with divergent scenarios.

Khasi Women and Matriliny: Transformations in Gender Relations

This paper examines the link between matriliny and gender. Focused on the Khasi of Northeast India, it shows that while women have comparative security under matriliny, they are not entirely free from subordination. The egalitarian principle, which underlines matrilineal descent, is subverted by men’s lust for power and the hierarchical political structures from which women as a rule are excluded. This paper brings into sharp relief how men use their position to produce an ideology that subjugates women. To counter the steamrolling effect of modernization and change and the threat these engender to their identity, men are increasingly using the state machinery to come up with measures that distort the matrilineal system. The arguments they use are also steeped in fundamentalist and patriarchal ideology. Women’s traditional exclusion from politics has effectively aided men in this regard. This paper observes that with the Khasis’ accession to the Indian Union and the political modernization of the region, the link between ethnicity, patriarchy, and the state, which was lying dormant in the traditional political set-up, has come to the fore.

P.R. Brahmananda. Growth/ess Inflation by Means of Stockless Money: A New Classical Treatise on Rising Prices. Bombay: Himalaya Publishing House. 1981. pp.xvi+471. Price: Rs.9S.00.

Traditionally inflation has been seen as a purely economic problem. In recent years studies have emphasized that the present day inflation is more than an economic problem. It has deep roots in the political and social systems which have strong connections with the economic mechanism of society. Inflation is analysed and conceptualized as :I problem in political economy. It is a worldwide phenomenon but it has become most pertinent in the case of developing countries where the socio-economic fabric of the society is far removed from that of the developed countries on whose experience the prevalent economic theories of inflation are based. As such when the theories completely divorced from reality are applied in the developing economies they aggravate the situation further. The book under review is free from this blemish as it examines the problem of inflation with reference to the socio-economic and political set-up of the developing countries in general and to the Indian situation in particular.

Kādambarī as a source for contemporary administrative history

Unfortunately, not much evidence is available regarding the administrative system of Harṣa. Although we have direct sources like the travel accounts of Huien-Tsiang, the Harṣacarita of Bāṇabhaṭṭa, the Baṇskhérā and Madhubana copper-plate grants, and inscriptions of contemporary rulers, these fail to provide a comprehensive account of Harṣa's government and the political set-up of his time. We therefore supplement our knowledge with the records of the Gupta rulers. This lacuna can be filled, to some extent, if a careful study of Bāṇa's Kādambaī is made. The late V. S. Agrawala's study on Kādambaī in Hindī has a cultural bias rather than a political one. On going through the pages of Kādambaī, it appears that it is complementary to the Harṣacarita. For example, while in the Harṣacarita the picturesque account of the royal palace is mainly confined to its entrance and first block, in Kādambaī the remaining parts are dealt with at length. Similarly, while in the Harṣacarita a detailed account of all the rites which are performed on the eve of a campaign is given, in Kādambaī we get merely an indication of these activities. Thus several scenes which could not be described in the Harṣacarita owing to its limited scope, have been skilfully incorporated by the poet in Kādambaī, thus avoiding duplication. An attempt, therefore, has been made in this paper to study the political and administrative information in Kādambaī.

The General Elections in Goa

Few election results in India have caused a greater sensation than the results of the elections held in the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu in December 1963. In the first democratic elections ever held in the former Portuguese possessions, the Congress Party, which claimed to be the principal architect of liberation, was completely routed, securing only one seat in the 30-member legislative assembly, and that too from Daman rather than Goa proper. In Diu an independent candidate supported by the Praja Socialist Party was successful, while the 28 seats in Goa were shared by the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak and the United Goans parties. The former, which wants immediate merger of Goa with the adjoining State of Maharashtra on the basis of linguistic affinity and which had a working alliance with the Praja Socialist Party, secured 16 seats; the United Goans Party, a Union of four Roman Catholic parties, which advocates statehood for Goa within the Indian Union, captured the remaining twelve. Both the seats allotted to the Territory in the Union Parliament were annexed by the pro-merger Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. These results were wholly unexpected. The Congress leaders, who had been confident of securing a majority and of forming the first elected government of the Territory, were rudely shaken. Barely twenty-four hours prior to the poll, K. K. Shah, then General Secretary of the Congress, claimed that his party would carry 18 seats while the remaining 12 would be equally shared by the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak and the United Goans parties.' But even the victors must have been surprised at their success because the leaders of both opposition parties had, in their last minute assessments, conceded a majority to the Congress. The voters obviously had other ideas, however, and in exercising their franchise had helped set up the first non-Congress government in an Indian state since Kerala returned the Communists to power in 1957. It has also made obsolete the view that favored postponement of the decision on the future political set-up of the Territory 'until the economy of the region had stabilized and until changes consequent upon merger with India were facilitated.' By lending urgency to the merger vs. statehood issue on which emotions have run high in Goa, the elections have crystallized the opposition between the two principal components of Goan society-the Hindus and the Christians. More than a half-year later, the controversy is still raging fiercely. The elections in Goa, Daman and Diu were held under the provisions of the Government of the Union Territories Act, 1963, which envisaged a

COMMENTS ON DZIEWONSKI AND WROBEL

I t gives me a great pleasure to discuss the papers of the two dist inguished Polish scientists, Professor Kazimierz Dziewonski and Dr. Andrzej Wrobel, on the fundamental concepts of region and regional s t ructure , a subject of mutual in teres t to geographers and regional scientists. Before discussing the main ideas presented in the two papers under discussion, I would like to comment briefly on the Polish post-war experience in the field of regional development and policy which is presented in the first pa r t of Professor Dziewonski 's paper. National experiences in regional developmen t are of special interest , since one of the most pressing problems which modern nations have to face today, i r respect ive of their political and institutional set-up, is to narrow down exist ing regional dispari t ies in income levels and production opportunities. In Poland, as in the case of the other central ly planned economies, the Sta te by v i r tue of i ts control on the use of pract ical ly all investible funds has a grea t power to influence the relat ive ra tes of increase in productive and employment capaci ty of different regions of the country. The post-war Polish longterm plans and par t icular ly the Six-Year Plan 1950-55, reflect a concrete policy to locate new industrial plants in a way leading to a more even dist r ibut ion by regions of industrial act ivi ty. According to Professor Dziewonski, however, the doctrine of equalization among the regions reflected in the first longterm plan had soon to be res t r ic ted in its application since it was recognized tha t the potential i ty for economic growth is not the same in all par ts of the count ry as natural resources are not evenly distr ibuted. Polish planners soon faced the di lemma whether to give preference to the national goal of achieving the most efficient use of the nat ion 's available resources or to regional goals of equalizing the levels of income and production among regions. The recognition of the fact that social costs of production are heavily dependent on the avantages of organization and urban location, joint location and size of operations, gradual ly led to the location of a large number of new industrial p lants-or ig inal ly earmarked for erection in the poorer regions-in a l ready industrialized districts. The problem of speeding up economic development in the poorer areas received new emphasis since 1955 when economic policy became more decentralized. As Professor Dziewonski points out, new natural resources were discovered in some of the poorer par ts of Poland and their exploitation benefited the country as a whole. A serious problem remains, however, in the case of regions which are par t icular ly poor in natural resources and other economic advantages . Here Professor Dziewonski raises questions which are, so to speak, of international

Britain and the Common Market

WAS at The Hague in the spring of I948 when Sir Winston Churchill, against the background of a great thunderstorm, called upon the nations of Western Europe to unite. There was plenty of ardor and enthusiasm at that meeting. Those pres ent felt that they were at the birth of a great movement. My own committee (on economic unity) labored long and hard, and did not quail at sitting on hard chairs-with no refreshment-until 6 a.m. on the final night to complete our draft. In one sense the impetus was the negative one of fear. At that time the Russian situation looked extremely menacing. Here were these ancient countries, having between them sufficient popula tion and resources to match the Russians, finding themselves in fact completely at their mercy. In the actual situation, the oppo sition to a Russian aggression could be but feeble. Even if one put the best possible complexion upon Russian intentions, it was not pleasant to be in an exposed position, to be dependent on the good will of a strange and, to all outward appearances, hos tile Power about which little was known. Yet if these countries could get together quickly and act as one, their relative strength could be radically altered. It would be wrong to say, however, that the meeting was solely animated by fear of Russia. There was a more positive feeling of pride in the European heritage, and a sense that the countries concerned had fallen into a sorry plight through lack of resolution and cooperation. As individuals, the citizens of Europe were as vital and resourceful as they had ever been; but their political setup failed to galvanize their energies. The proud and ancient civilizations, which had given so much to the world, seemed to be crumbling under our eyes. Revival could not be achieved on too narrow a base. Europe, nothing less, must be the watchword in future. And our thoughts concerned the future. Though pride in past achievements formed a background to the thinking, the spokes men at The Hague represented a wide popular movement which believed that cooperation could bring greater efficiency, higher living standards and quicker progress. On the wave of enthusiasm, very far-reaching plans were dis

British Trade Unions and the Labour Government

In order to understand the role played by British trade unions in the present political setup in Britain, it is necessary to go back some way into the history of the British Labour movement. Not many people in Great Britain besides specialist historians, and very few in the United States, realize that the British trade union movement of today is not the first but the second trade union movement to arise in this country. The first movement was revolutionary in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word. It was a reaction of the starving and downtrodden to the horrors of the second generation of the Industrial Revolution. Its best known names are Robert Owen the Socialist and the Chartist Feargus O'Connor; it thrived on secret ritual, torchlight processions, and mass enrollments which were political and even religious in their inspiration; and it was completely beaten by the triumphant bourgeoisie in the thirties and forties of the last century. The appeal of the Communist Manifesto, Workers of the world, unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains! was in effect made to the British working class long before Marx had uttered a syllable; but those who listened to it--though their numbers ran into millions--were decisively defeated, first in 1834, when Owen's Grand National Union fell to pieces and the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sent to Botany Bay, and again in 1848, at the final Chartist fiasco on Kennington Common, only one year after Marx's manifesto had been drafted. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)