Radical Leader Research Articles

The evolution of Al-Qaeda: between regional conflicts and a globalist perspective

The article analyzes the prospects for the evolution of the odious terrorist group of modern times, «al-Qaeda». This topic is relevant, since the ongoing conflicts in the middle East, Africa and Asia continue to serve as an «ideal» environment for the development of radical groups and ideologies. Based on a detailed study of the history of the formation of this organization, its ideology, goals, objectives and strategy, the authors consider the possibility of «al-Qaeda» becoming the dominant force in the global extremist movement in the coming years. The article examines the main stages of activity of this group, presents the results of a comparative analysis of the tactics of «al-Qaeda» and its main competitor «ISIS». It is concluded that the strategic goal of «al-Qaeda» is to strengthen unity among foreign fighters of the global extremist movement. By engaging in some conflicts that are both fundamental and highly symbolic, «al-Qaeda» can further strengthen its image as the «true» vanguard of Islamist insurgents. The article focuses on the relationship between «al-Qaeda» and its affiliates in Iraq, Algeria, Yemen, and South Asia. The authors ' conclusions are based on the analysis of publications and speeches in the media space of the radical leader, A. al-Zawahiri. The authors conclude that modern «al-Qaeda» is a decentralized, networked transnational terrorist organization. The conclusion is made about the possibility of «al-Qaeda» entering a new phase of activity, which will include strengthening territorial control, expanding recruitment and high-profile terrorist attacks around the world.

"ИЗ МУХИ СДЕЛАЛИ СЛОНА": С.И. МУРАВЬЕВ-АПОСТОЛ И СЕМЕНОВСКАЯ ИСТОРИЯ 1820 Г.

The article deals with the soldiers’ unrest in the Semyonovsky Regiment in 1820, which, according to many researchers, was a kind of “prelude” to the Decembrist uprising. After the soldiers’ unrest in October 1820, the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment was disbanded and its officers were transferred to the army regiments. The article explores the causes of soldiers’ and officers’ dissatisfaction with the regiment’s commander, Colonel F.E. Schwartz, the course of the riots in the regiment, and the behavior of the officers. In addition, the article investigates the case of Semyonovsky Regiment officers, D. Yermolaev and I. Scherbatov, accused of sympathizing with the soldiers and attempting to meet with the punished instigators of riots. The Semyonov history is considered in connection with the biography of one of its participants, the future Decembrist S.I. Murav’ev-Apostol. The article describes the events in the company commanded by Muravyov-Apostol, as well as the consequences that this “story” had for his life and career. It is concluded that by offending an innocent officer, the authorities thereby contributed to his transformation into a radical revolutionary and leader of an antigovernment conspiracy

Dudus, Viv and Vybz

Since independence, Jamaica has grappled with the sociopolitical legacies of colonialism in forging a new national path. Politicians and academics alike seem to be struggling to find solutions to the country's problems. Meanwhile, violence continues to grow exponentially, corruption is entrenched, and definitions of right versus wrong are highly subjective. The figure of the anti-hero or outlaw in Jamaican culture has long been prominent – we think of eighteenth-century rebel leaders such as Three-Finger[ed] Jack. More recently, the rebel rude bwoys of the 1960s morphed into rebels with a political cause in the 1970s; then into the nihilistic shottas, rankings and drug dons of the 1980s, who have attained and retained the status of outlaw/hero/anti-hero up to today. This essay explores the published writings on some of Jamaica's dons which seemingly seek to legitimise their activities: Duane Blake’s 2002 biography of his father Vivian Blake, drug kingpin and alleged leader of the notorious Shower Posse; and K. C. Samuels’ 2011 book on Tivoli don and international drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Both texts fascinatingly demonstrate the transnational scope of the dons’ activities, as well as their organizational genius, a representation reinforced by popular novels such as Prince Kofi's 2007 Yardies and Errol McDonald’s 2006 Legitimate Resistance, that also emphasize the theme of dons as freedom fighters and promote violence and illegal activities as a legitimate solution to society's wrongs. Meanwhile, the outlaw figure has always been reflected in Jamaican popular music; and of particular interest to this essay is the infamous gangster DJ Vybz Kartel's 2012 Voice of the Jamaican Ghetto in which he positions himself as a radical leader and social activist, again asserting that in the frontier society of Jamaica, new paradigms of order/disorder, of morality/immorality/amorality, of right/wrong, prevail.

Феномен леворадикального политического лидера: Пабло Иглесиас в Испании

Феномен леворадикального политического лидера: Пабло Иглесиас в Испании

The politics of Generation Grime

In the 2017 UK general election, Grime artists (musicians representing the experience of a young black dispossessed city working class) came out in support of the Labour Party’s radical leader Jeremy Corbyn. The author, drawing on in-depth interviews with Grime experts and leftwing activists and an examination of social media, explains that endorsement in terms of the concept of ‘embedded ethics’ which allows Grime artists to present themselves as authentic social commentators on intersecting forms of poverty, state racism and social exclusion. Using the work of cultural theorists Stuart Hall and Paul Gilroy, she argues that Grime is more than a music genre and more a way of life giving cultural meaning – explaining the mobilisations for both the election and, later, over the Grenfell fire. But the piece asks whether, at a time of blatant neoliberalism and harsh austerity, there is a need now to insert a more direct discussion of class into the cultural theory debate.

The Dunning school: historians, race, and the meaning of Reconstruction

The Dunning School: Historians, Race, and Meaning of Reconstruction. Edited by John David Smith and J. Vincent Lowery. Foreword by Eric Foner. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2013. Pp. xii, 325. $40.00, ISBN 978-0-8131-4225-8.) Once upon a time, Professor William A. Dunning and his students bestrode Reconstruction history like a colossus. Depicting a tragic era where northern radicals pressed tyranny and alien rule upon a white South, Dunningites gave scholarly backing to conservatives who had pronounced emancipation at best a mixed blessing and black suffrage quintessence of wickedness or folly. Academic tides have washed away all Dunningites' preconceptions and most of their conclusions, and with it memory of writers themselves. Now The Dunning School: Historians, Race, and Meaning of Reconstruction restores attention, even some of credit, that they deserve. More fitly titled the Dunning Scholars, this essay collection highlights ten historians' lives and careers. It makes extremely useful points: that all of them began with preconceptions based on their upbringing and heritage, and that they had long, often impressive careers after their Columbia University dissertations appeared as books. All historians owe J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton an immense debt for creation of Southern Historical Collection at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, even those revising his take on Reconstruction North Carolina. Superseded though Charles W. Ramsdell's Reconstruction in Texas (New York, 1910) may be, his inspiration and encouragement for History of South series created works that, more than a half century on, include a few of indispensables--and reflect Ramsdell's own leanings not at all. The Dunningites' views ranged from racial paternalism to Negrophobia; their attitudes on Ku Klux Klan went from celebration of its members as freedom fighters to outright denunciation of their violence in Paul Leland Haworth's book on election of 1876--a stance that helped make him a virtual un-person among Dunningites' most unbending white-liners. Most of books had real value. They brought together basic facts and unearthed fresh materials. Many have not yet been fully replaced. Even John W. Burgess and Dunning himself combined insights and strong, dispassionate evaluations with malevolent fulminations: unfitness of any but Teutonic races to rule or that a certain radical leader took opium, respectively. Generally, essays make a good case for honoring scholars' strengths as well as recognizing defects in their analysis. Those few contributors with practical research experience in Reconstruction history are more forthright about just what their subjects misunderstood or misstated: Michael W. Fitzgerald's analysis of Walter L. Fleming's personal contempt for northerners and blacks only sets stage for a measured judgment of Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (New York, 1905), which, with all its perceptions of class and sectional divisions among whites in wartime Alabama, was a work so extreme that Dunning felt mildly uneasy with it. In other essays, so much time is spent on rest of subject's career that comparatively little space illuminates Reconstruction writings. The Dunning school, as this study reminds us anew, did not create misimpression of Reconstruction as a phantasmagoria of tyranny, incompetence, corruption, and Negro rule. What Dunning and his students did do was use techniques of scientific research to confirm impressions already prevalent. …

Editor’s Introduction

Editor’s Introduction Arthur Versluis For this issue, we have chosen articles that concentrate primarily on the history of radicalism from the eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. Of course, the question remains how one defines “radicalism.” In general, we have kept to the idea with which we began the journal: radicalism applies to those who seek sudden social transformation, often, though not always, through violent means. But of course there are also those who question the very basis of a society, as well as those who can be described as reactionary. All of these are visible in this issue’s rich lode of articles. Our first article, by Rowland Weston, takes us back to the seminal period of the French Revolution and its aftermath, and asks us to consider more carefully what we mean by terms like the “Enlightenment,” or “the radical Enlightenment.” What are the philosophical presuppositions that underlie “modernity” or “anti-modernism”? Weston does not rest with the figure of William Godwin or his circle, but extends his inquiry to contemporary philosophical assumptions as well to consider what makes Godwin a radical thinker in ways that challenge conventional notions of what constitutes the “Enlightenment,” or “modernity”—that is, what is included in and what is excluded by those terms. Our second article, by Michael J. Turner, looks back to British history, and in particular to the seminal movement of the Chartists. Turner gives us the history of James Bronterre O’Brien, an important figure in this [End Page v] movement for dramatic political reform, but he also offers an analysis of what O’Brien can teach us about how a radical leader develops and maintains his political reputation, and what this can teach us about the reception of ideas and the development of political influence. The third article, by David Struthers, takes us across the Atlantic and all the way to Los Angeles in the early twentieth century. Struthers offers a detailed history of the radical labor movement in California during a turbulent period of immigration and, sometimes, conflict. Italian, Hispanic, Asian, African American, Anglo, and other ethnicities all converged in Los Angeles during this time. Struthers concentrates on issues of race in a period and place where multiple population groups intersected, the points of intersection often being the labor movements. But Struthers also includes anarchists and others whose radicalism is self-evident. Our fourth article is by Stephen J. Whitfield, and concentrates on a single figure, Frank Tannenbaum, whose life chronicle takes us from labor movements (he was a Wobbly) through social and prison reform, through the history of race relations in North America, to the development of the academic study of Latin America. Tannenbaum eventually became an influential professor at Columbia University, but, Whitfield maintains, his anarcho-syndicalist inclinations continued throughout his life. Through this examination of Tannenbaum’s life, we can see the interconnections between the Jewish community and the larger history of radicalism in the twentieth century. And our fifth article, Benjamin T. Smith’s examination of the political significances of narcotrafficking in Mexico during the middle of the twentieth century, presents a groundbreaking analysis of how narcotrafficking and state violence intersect to produce some unexpected political and social consequences. Smith shows that, contrary to what one might think, especially from the 1970s onwards, governmental agencies and drug traffickers aligned not only for reasons of financial self-interest, but also in a joint attempt to suppress radical groups in the Sinaloa region of Mexico. While this is a very detailed historical study, it also offers broader conclusions about the political and social results of “narcopopulism.” This issue also includes five book reviews, chosen to link with some of the themes discussed in our articles. We did not include a conversation in this issue, but we have several conversations with some interesting and [End Page vi] unexpected contemporary figures that we are preparing for coming issues—you may be surprised at some of them. One purpose for including conversations with primary figures from across the political spectrum is to challenge conventional notions about some of these figures and what they represent, and to do this by allowing them to speak for themselves. As you...

The Trial of William 'Big Bill' Haywood

The struggle between the Western Federation of Miners and the Western Mine Owners' Association at the turn of the twentieth century might well be called a war. When the state of Idaho prosecuted William Big Bill Haywood in 1907 for ordering the assassination of former governor Frank Steunenberg, fifteen years of union bombings and murders, fifteen years of mine owner intimidation and greed, and fifteen years of government abuse of process and denials of liberties spilled into the national headlines. Featuring James McParland, America's most famous detective; Harry Orchard, America's most notorious mass murderer turned state's witness; Big Bill Haywood, America's most radical labor leader; and Clarence Darrow, America's most famous defense attorney, the Haywood trial ranks as one of the most fascinating criminal trials in history.

ASSESSING POTENTIAL NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION NETWORKS IN LATIN AMERICA: 2006–2016

From a proliferation perspective, Latin America has become one of the most denuclearized regions of the planet, and barring some revolutionary transformation of the international system, it is likely to remain so during the next decade. A combination of a paucity of credible external threats, widespread democratization, and the systematic resolution of border conflicts, particularly in the Southern Cone region, mean that states in the region do not see the value of acquiring nuclear weapons as a deterrent. The two states in the region with the most advanced civilian nuclear programs, Argentina and Brazil, have created a sophisticated mutual inspection regime that is an additional barrier to the development of any new proliferation network, and both states have a strong interest in maintaining a benign regional security environment. Venezuela's radical leader, Hugo Chávez, has expressed an interest in developing a nuclear power program, raising concerns among some observers over a potential new proliferation risk. However, Venezuela currently lacks the scientific and management expertise required to master nuclear technology within the next decade.

Karl Christian Friedrich Krause and His Influence in the Hispanic World

Historians have long recognized the impact of Krausist philosophy on nineteenth-century Spanish political thought. Based on the ideas of German Romantic Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781–1831), Krausism became the dominant intellectual force in Spain during the years 1854–74, profoundly shaping Spanish liberalism. Equally well known is Krausism’s later influence on Argentine Radical leader Hipólito Yrigoyen, whose domestic and international policies were often inspired by Krausist principles. In this ambitious and comprehensive work, O. Carlos Stoetzer argues that Krausism’s influence in the Iberian world extended well beyond these two cases, and left a profound mark on the intellectual history of several Latin American nations, including Brazil. (The book’s title is misleading, since Stoetzer covers both Brazil and Portugal.)Stoetzer begins his study with the philosophy itself, examining the ideas of Krause and his most prominent disciples. Readers with a less than passionate interest in early-nineteenth-century Romantic philosophy may find some of this discussion overly detailed, but the background Stoetzer provides is essential for understanding why Krausism enjoyed such a following in the Iberian world. As Stoetzer argues, the philosophy appealed for a number of reason: its strong emphasis on ethics; its role as an intellectual bridge to the rest of Europe; and, most convincingly, because it combined ideas consonant with traditional Catholic precepts (an organic vision of society, a concern with social rights and a belief in God) with liberalism’s respect for individual freedom, free inquiry, and legal equality. Thus for nineteenth-century Spaniards, Krausism offered an ethically based middle path between classical liberalism and Catholic obscurantism. In Latin America, where Krausism was most important in the early twentieth century, the philosophy provided an attractive alternative to the individualism of unfettered capitalism and the collectivism of left-wing ideologies.Stoetzer identifies two avenues by which Krausist ideas entered Latin America. First were the translated works of Krause and those of his disciples, especially German legal scholar Heinrich Ahrens and Belgium philosopher Guillaume Tiberghien. Second, and somewhat later, were the works of Spanish Krausists such as Julián Sanz del Rio, Francisco Giner de los Rios and Gumersindo de Azcárate, who provided an additional impulse to Latin American Krausist thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.In documenting the impact of Krausist ideas in Latin America, Stoetzer faces the challenge of distinguishing Krausism’s influence from that of other currents of idealistic thought. As he notes, even in Spain, Krausism was not a unified, well-defined philosophy, and successive generations of Spanish Krausists incorporated other strands of German idealism and even Positivism into their thought. Pinning down Krausist influences in Latin America is even more difficult, since nowhere on the continent did a true Krausist school emerge. Complicating matters further was the fact that many eminent Krausists, including Yrigoyen and Uruguay’s José Batlle, did not openly identify themselves with the philosophy. For the most part, Stoetzer succeeds admirably in tracing the sometimes obscure connections between Krausism and the ideas of various Latin American intellectuals. Taking care not to overstate his case, he readily concedes the importance of other philosophical influences and qualifies his claims when the evidence is inconclusive.Stoetzer also addresses, albeit obliquely, the problem of Krausism’s variable impact in Latin America. Why, for example, was Krausism so much stronger in Argentina than in Chile or Colombia? According to Stoezter, in cases such as Argentina and Uruguay, Krausism’s way had been prepared by the “earlier penetration of the Romantic spirit” (p. 312). Readers seeking a fuller explanation might object to such reasoning, both because it begs the question of why these countries had proved receptive to earlier Romantic currents and because Stoezter seems reluctant to advance a stronger argument. His reluctance, however, may reflect the fact that Krausism’s strength in certain Latin American countries seems to have stemmed less from an unusual openness to Krause’s ideas in these societies than from the influence of particular individuals. Yrigoyen in Argentina, Batlle in Uruguay and Juan José Arévelo in Guatemala were all devotees of Krausism who won the presidency in their respective nations, successfully using their positions to advance Krausist-inspired ideas and agendas. But an explanation that sees individuals rather than larger forces as determinant—while certainly appearing to fit this case—goes against the current scholarly grain, and perhaps for this reason Stoetzer avoids making an explicit argument.This criticism aside, Stoetzer has written an admirable book reflecting both intellectual passion and research of extraordinary breadth. An important contribution to Latin American intellectual history, it will be invaluable to all future studies of Krausist influences in the region. More generally, Stoetzer’s findings help illuminate some of the unique features of Latin American political thought, providing intriguing insights into the efforts of many leaders to develop alternative political and economic models consonant with local needs.

A Chance for Peace in Afghanistan: The Taliban's Days Are Numbered

The Taliban movement, depicted by Ahmed Rashid (The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, November/December 1999), has passed its high-water mark. It is now disintegrating, echoing the rapid rise and fall of similar religious movements in Afghan history. With the Taliban's demise, Afghanistan faces a new challenge: who will fill their place? As Rashid notes, the Taliban emerged in the mid-1990s, when their radical leader Muhammad Omar succeeded in

Pseudomythology in Estonian Publicity in the 19th and 20th Century.

In the 1840s and 1850s the pioneers of the Estonian national movement, F. R. Faehlmann and F. R. Kreutzwald, created an Olympus of Estonian gods: the main god Taara or Uku, song god Vanemuine, divine smith Ilmarine, waters god Ahti, the forgotten land of good fortune, Kungla, etc. Much was taken over from the mythology of the Finns, much was the fruit of personal fantasy. It all resulted from the desire to prove that the ancient Estonians had high culture before the foreign conquest in the 13th c. In the 1860s and 1870s the new inspiring mythology became popularized, greatly thanks to C.R. Jakobson, a radical national leader. Poets used the names of mythological heroes in patriotic songs, poems and dramas were written on mythological subjects, national societies were named after mythological gods, etc. In the 1920s, when the national movement had achieved its aims, the folklorists definitively demonstrated that the 19th c. Estonian gods belonged to pseudomythology lacking any root in folk beliefs. Although the society accepted the statement, many pseudomythological names remained firmly rooted. The 19th c. mythology had had a significant role in the formation of Estonian national identity. Today, when the social and cultural life of Estonia has again become especially active, we can notice an analogical interest in antiquity, though entirely different denominators are used.

John Bright and Joseph Chamberlain

Richard Cobden, John Bright and Joseph Chamberlain were the most famous and influential reform agitators of the Victorian era. Collectively they ensured that much British political development in the period was influenced by ideas associated first with Manchester and then with Birmingham. In this context, Blight's career was particularly important since he was the only one of the trio who had close links with the other two and with both Manchester and Birmingham. Bright's partnership with Cobden in the Anti-Corn-Law League has long been an historical cliché and has been closely studied. Yet Cobden died in 1865 and Bright outlived him for twenty-four years. During that period Bright pursued a political career which often owed little to Cobden's influence. He also became a Liberal cabinet minister on three occasions: an honour declined by Cobden. Moreover Bright developed a close association with the rising radical leader Joseph Chamberlain. Yet their relationship has received scant attention from historians.

The New Deal, the Immigrants and Congressman Vito Marcantonio

Like the Finns in Northern Minnesota, Italians in New York City accepted a politically radical leader, despite the fact that the majority of them remained conservative. According to the following author, this was due not to their heritage but rather to conditions they faced in their new environment. Future research might do well to focus attention upon the relative role of ethnic culture versus environment in producing radical attitudes among immigrants.

The Willie Jones-John Paul Jones Tradition

JT is related that one day when the Duke of Wellington was walking along Piccadilly a total stranger stopped him, held out his hand, and said, Mr. Jones, I believe? To which the Iron Duke replied, If you believe that, you can believe anything! In this instance we are asked to believe that John Paul, coming from the West Indies, was cast up on the beach at Halifax, North Carolina, some iio miles up the river from the usual seaport, Edenton; that he was retrieved from a beachcomber's life by Willie Jones; that he was entertained at Willie's residence ten years before Willie owned the property (and before he married the daughter of the man who did own it); and that out of gratitude, John Paul added to his name.' Willie (pronounced Wyley) Jones was the principal radical leader of North Carolina in I774-75, a counterpart to Sam Adams and Patrick Henry. A wealthy gentleman of aristocratic tastes but democratic principles (a combination not unusual in that century), Willie and his brother Allen directed the Whig political machine. His or their friendship with John Paul Jones was being asserted on both sides as early as i 843. This may be seen by a letter that our hero's niece, Janette Taylor, wrote to James Fenimore Cooper that year. In an article in Graham's Magazine, Cooper had stated, in effect, that John Paul