Radical Rupture Research Articles

Eastern Orthodox War Justification and Ecclesial Dilemmas Arising from the War in Ukraine

The escalation of ecclesial and religio-political conflicts since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has further complicated the convoluted ecclesial situation in Ukraine and has been addressed in a series of sermons, formal statements and documents issued by senior Russian and Ukrainian ecclesiastical figures. Their ideological and theological rhetoric demonstrates the active participation of senior Russian Orthodox clerics in the justification of the Russian military effort which represents some radical ruptures in Eastern Orthodox ecclesial involvement in war-making and mobilisation. The Moscow Patriarchate’s war-legitimisation stances and policies have major repercussions for the current debates on and reconceptions of the Christian just-war tradition in the frameworks of just peace, peacebuilding and reconciliation, as well as the potential key role of Christian religious actors in these processes.

The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union: The Dialectics of Rupture and Continuity

Historians, politicians, and other mnemonic actors are actively debating the question about what characterises the relationship between the Romanov Empire and the Soviet Union, i. e. continuity or rupture. The Soviet regime of the interwar period emphasised discontinuity, both in domestic policy and in the international arena. Whenever references to the Romanov Empire appeared in international treaties of the Soviets of that time, it was only in the context of a renunciation of that legacy. However, on the eve of World War II, the Soviet authorities clearly outlined the Soviet state’s claims to its status as a successor state of the Russian Empire, declaring its right to the territories of the Baltic states, Bessarabia, and the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus that had once been part of the Romanov empire, or were claimed by Russia in WWI, such as Galicia and Bukovina. In the USSR, starting in the second half of the 1930s, the image of the Russian Empire as a “prison of peoples” faded into the background, replaced by the arguments about “objective progressiveness” in annexing certain territories and ethnic groups into the empire. However, the role of the October Revolution as the founding myth of the Soviet society persisted until the Soviet Union’s implosion and left no doubt that the rupture was crucially important for the Soviet authorities. During Boris Yeltsin’s presidency in the 1990s, Russia was trying to shape a new narrative of a young nation, which was starting its history from 1991, but the attempt quite predictably failed. After becoming president, Vladimir Putin almost immediately switched to the narrative of “a thousand-year-old state”, proclaiming the legacy of both the Romanov Empire and the Soviet Union part of national history. The article discusses various historiographic approaches to the issue of rupture and continuity between the Romanov empire and the USSR and concludes that one can speak of a radical rupture between the Russian Empire and Soviet Russia (and later, the Soviet Union), since the Soviet project rejected the key components of the late Russian imperial project. At the same time, we can also argue that the imperial nature of the polity itself survived albeit transformed, not just during the 1917–1922 revolutionary crisis but also during the crisis of the 1990s.

Russia and the liberal order: from contestation to antagonism

Abstract Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine is rightfully viewed as a major violation of the fundamental norms of international society. It creates a problem for the literature on the liberal international order, which used to treat Russia as engaging in contestation—a legitimate practice which, according to some accounts, constitutes an essential aspect of any order. This article aims to develop a conceptual frame for the radical rupture resulting from the war by describing it as an expansion of antagonism. In the post-structuralist theory employed here, antagonism is always present at the margins of any order as a daily experience of failure, of the impossibility of total ordering. Russia's war started from the rhetorical negation of Ukraine's existence as a sovereign nation, but expanded into an antagonism that eventually threatens to ‘cancel’ Russia itself. To explore this case conceptually and empirically, I approach international order as a set of performative practices unfolding within a hegemonic structure. Russia is not alone in perceiving the liberal hegemony as unjust, but the expansion of antagonism on such a scale is rather unique. It can be damaging to democracy worldwide unless it is mobilized for the construction of broader anti-war coalitions.

Generationality: On Intergenerationality, Transgenerationality, and the ‘Generation War’

Abstract How are relations between generations shifting? As anthropologists, our take on intergenerational relations and the rationalities on which they are based—i.e., generationality—is historically situated. In many parts of the world, generation has become a major axis of social and political struggle, sometimes of bitter conflict. This, we argue, is a corollary of post-Cold War transformations in economy and society—and a radical rupture in processes of social reproduction. These transformations have conduced to the perception of a rising ‘generation war.’ How, then, in these circumstances, are we to think anew of intergenerational relations—and justice?

The pandemic as gender arrhythmia: Women’s bodies, counter rhythms and critique of everyday life

AbstractIn this paper we build upon recent organizational research drawing upon the work of Henri Lefebvre, and feminist engagements with his theory of “Rhythmanalysis”, to examine how the COVID‐19 pandemic disrupted women's everyday lives and the impacts on their relationship with work. Drawing upon interviews with 38 women from diverse socio‐cultural backgrounds living in Aotearoa New Zealand, we describe the pandemic as an “arrhythmia”, a radical rupture to the familiar rhythms of their everyday social and working lives. We describe how the pandemic arrhythmia was felt in and through bodies (i.e., sleep, weight), and how women responded by creating counter rhythms (i.e., hobbies, exercise, food) as strategies to support their own and others wellbeing. Furthermore, radically disrupting linear repetitions of everyday work, social and family life, the pandemic prompted many to reflect differently upon how pre‐pandemic rhythms shaped by the social, economic and gendered structures of neoliberalism were causing various forms of alienation (i.e., from their own health and wellbeing, meaningful social connections, ethical and sustainable working practices, and from pleasure). For some women, the pandemic arrhythmia was a puncturing of their normalized time‐space gendered routines, leading to critique and transformation to their everyday work‐life patterns. Engaging a feminist reading of rhythmanalysis, this paper brings into focus how neoliberal gender regimes are reconstituted and disrupted in the rhythms and routines of women's everyday lives. In so doing, we highlight the potential in feminist engagement with arrhythmia to extend understandings of the gendered politics of everyday life during and beyond pandemic times, and the value in such approaches for organizational scholars interested in understanding the gendered rhythms of daily life and their effects on relationships with work.

Time for Brexit? Temporalities in the 2019 UK European election campaign

AbstractAlthough the importance of time in political discourse cannot be denied, few recent studies address the representation of time as a factor in election campaigns. This discourse analytical study focuses on the role of time in the campaign literature produced by the nine main parties in the 2019 EU election in the UK, which resulted in a landslide victory for the newly-formed Brexit Party. The corpus consisted of the manifestos or leaflets produced specifically for this election by the nine parties in question, amounting to 57,226 words. The timelines of the different parties are analysed, showing how the parties envisioned different timelines: some capitalized on public frustration by offering immediate satisfaction, while others legitimized their aspirations through timelines that reached across and beyond the uncertainties of the Brexit phase. Representations of linear time, cyclical time and radical rupture are contrasted, and the key significance of time in the populist performance of crisis is discussed.

Apontamentos críticos aos fundamentos da terapia ocupacional: contribuições para uma Terapia Ocupacional Outra

Abstract This essay addresses, from a critical perspective of the Global South, what has been called the foundations of occupational therapy. It argues that these so-called foundations rely on certain constitutive categories that form the basis of the construction of concepts, theories, and frameworks with which the discipline operates, including mainly the notion of occupational nature, the concept of the individual, among others. These categories that support what has been referred to as the foundations of our work primarily derive from the world-system in which scientific disciplines have been produced, including occupational therapy, and correspond to the rationality of the modern Western, North Eurocentric project. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyze and reflect upon the fundamental categories of occupational therapy from a critical position of the Global South, which will open up the possibility of producing an occupational therapy radically different from those of the modern Western world-system. We will refer to it as “alternative occupational therapy,” which is based on a radical rupture from the central categories of the profession. As an introduction, we propose other categories that promote a historically situated, decolonized understanding of the discipline oriented towards recognition and a South-South praxis that fosters intercultural dialogues breaking away from the universalism, monotopism, and monoculturalism of occupational therapy.

Derechos de la naturaleza en la cultura jurídica noruega: ¿ser o no ser?

In contrast to the growing worldwide trend of recognizing rights of nature (RoN), it has no place within Norwegian legal frameworks to date. In this article, we explore the lack of recognition of standalone RoN in Norway from a legal-cultural perspective, offer some possible explanations for the reluctant approach of Norwegian lawmakers, and discuss the potential consequences of their future recognition. As RoN have a strong connection to Indigenous environmental governance around the world, we examine some aspects of the Indigenous rights of the Sámi people and discuss to what extent these might serve as a foundation for RoN in Norway. We argue that due to its legal culture, Norway could more easily implement legal duties toward nature —as opposed to RoN— as an alternative, and possibly a predecessor of fully-fledged rights. Finally, we propose some avenues for how to plant the seeds of legal duties toward nature in existing legal frameworks without causing a radical rupture with the institutional and intellectual structures of the Norwegian legal culture.

Editorial Introduction

Abstract There are few more challenging tests of fascist core-periphery topographies than the case of interwar Greece. Greece can claim no significant fascist movement in the interwar years; no significant fascist political party; and no dictatorial regime inspired by a genuinely revolutionary ultranationalist vision. In the last category, the only possible candidate, the 4th of August dictatorial regime headed by the retired general Ioannis Metaxas, was established late (1936) and lasted only for a few short years until the death of the dictator (January 1941). The contributions to this special issue on interwar Greece feature not only diverse aspects of the Metaxas regime but also offer broader perspectives on the ideological and political dynamics of fascism across the 1920s and 1930s. This special issue intends to build bridges between historical and sociological approaches; between the study of ideas and the analysis of policies; between contextual specificities and international trends; and, in the end, between recent historiographies of generic fascism and of modern Greek history. Collectively, the contributions also evince a plea to take the fascist experience and the potential for radical ruptures in interwar Greece more seriously.

The system of trade licenses in Bessarabia and Romania (1859-1914)

In this study we performed a comparative analysis of the evolution of the system of trade licenses in Bessarabia (a Romanian territory under Russian rule since 1812) and Romania (1859-1914). Based on researched data, we can ascertain that the system of commercial licenses in Bessarabia and the Romanian Principalities, introduced almost simultaneously in 1831, experienced a somewhat similar development until 1863, when it was reformed, as well, practically simultaneously. However, the implementation of a truncated reform in the Russian Empire, with some reactionary reminiscences, led to a radical rupture between the two systems, to the detriment of Bessarabia. As a result, progress in the development of the trade sphere was quite modest, and the territory between the Prut and the Dniester felt the full myopia of the tsarist authorities, who aimed at the immediate but illusory increase of tax revenues, to the detriment of a sustainable growth in long-term perspective. This handicap was remedied only after 35 years, in 1898, finding Bessarabia at the beginning of the twentieth century in a chronic delay in terms of the stage of development of economic processes, compared to over the Prut territories.

Greening Keynes? Productivist lineages of the Green New Deal

Climate change has propelled the Green New Deal to prominence as a strategy for greening the economy. This article interrogates the Green New Deal’s coherence and suitability as a response to ecological crisis. Retracing the intellectual lineages of New Deal-era economic thought, the article reveals a common Keynesian inheritance of productivist preoccupations with full employment, rising income and productivity, that links Green New Deal proposals with their New Deal progenitors. This Keynesian inheritance generates internal inconsistencies within Green New Deal proposals, undermining their coherence and suitability as visions of green transition. Green New Deal proponents seek a political economy that respects ecological limits but they rationalize and legitimate their visions of green transition through a Keynesian commitment to a virtuous circle of rising investment, full employment, increasing income, and economic growth. This Keynesian inheritance is both premised on the denial of ecological limits and tarnished by its historical association with environmental destruction. Outlining an alternative approach, the article revisits the methodological historicism of New Deal-era economic thinking as a guide for redefining strategies of green transition. Drawing on Keynes’s reflections on the historical impermanence of the ‘economic problem’ and mapping contemporary institutional dynamics, the article proposes a more consistent, transformative, and radical rupture from incumbent macro-economic imaginaries

Theory after Practice

Theory after Practice

Infrastructure in times of exception: Unravelling the discourses, governance reforms and politics in ‘Building Back Better’ from COVID-19

In seeking to counter adverse economic impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments quickly announced major infrastructure stimulus packages alongside a series of governance reforms to speed delivery. Despite significant differences between political, institutional and policy contexts of countries, clear trends emerged, most notably discourses of promise promoting the possibilities of state-led infrastructure allied to reforms to expedite delivery. Using case studies of Australia, Aotearoa-New Zealand and the UK, we draw upon theories of postpolitics and states of exception to explain how these approaches comprise a form of infrastructuralism that both elevates the criticality of infrastructure at the same time as depoliticising infrastructure planning. We argue that the promises of Building Back Better did not constitute the radical rupture from earlier practices initially promised and that in future crises we need to resist the closure of political space that typically accompanies emergency measures and ask ‘what infrastructure, for whom and where?’

Law and Illiberalism: A Sociolegal Review and Research Road Map

In democratic backsliding, threats to democracy no longer come from abrupt, radical ruptures promoted by those who are close to, but outside of, state power. They come from those who win elections and, while in office, systematically undermine accountability institutions and minority rights. Zakaria used the term illiberal democracies to describe these regimes where popularly elected governments are divorced from political freedoms and accountability. Law is not absent from these stories. Rising autocrats seek to make their moves legal and use law—as a weapon or as a shield—in attempts to amass power and suppress opposition. Authors coined the term autocratic legalism to describe these power-grabbing tactics that operate through law. Others use different concepts, such as constitutional retrogression or abusive constitutionalism. I review this growing body of literature and outline a research agenda on the encounters between law and illiberalism.

A Return to Prometheanism: The Space of Opinion on Polish–Russian Relations in Postcommunist Poland

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the system of production of expertise on Polish–Russian relations in post-1989 Poland. For this purpose, the author develops the concept of the ‘space of opinion’ on Polish–Russian relations, focusing on the reconstruction of its origins and main structures. The present analysis challenges the idea of a radical rupture in the theoretical and ideological background of Poland’s Eastern policy after 1989—promoted by dominant interpretations in the literature—and highlights historical continuity in a long-term perspective.

Making China Modern: From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping

Making China Modern: From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping

Affective-Semiotic Dynamics of the Transition to Motherhood in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract. The transition to motherhood is an important moment in the life course, in which symbolic interactive dynamics are established between self, other, and world to overcome developmental challenges. However, these challenges are intensified with the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a radical and unexpected rupture in daily life. This article aims to analyze the affective-semiotic dynamics of Brazilian women who experienced the transition to motherhood during the COVID-19 pandemic from a qualitative multiple case study. Eight women participated in the study in the city of Salvador. Data were collected from two narrative interviews with each participant conducted through videoconference, with a 2-month interval between interviews. The main finding reveals that the emergence of the pandemic was described by the participants as an unexpected and significant rupture in the transition to motherhood that raised feelings of fear and anxiety. In addition, I–other relations were marked by intense ambivalence between the need for social support and the risk of contagion, and the perspective and experience of childbirth were marked by a feeling of insecurity in the relations with the health personnel and settings. In light of Semiotic Cultural Psychology, three interdependent affective-semiotic fields were highlighted from the narratives: the perception of oneself regulated by the sign of vulnerability, the other regulated by the sign of a potential threat, and healthcare provision regulated by the sign of risk. These findings highlight the importance of quality healthcare that helps women to reduce the disruptive impact of the pandemic on the ontogenetic structure of psychological organization.

Glissant and the Middle Passage: Philosophy, Beginning, Abyss

Glissant and the Middle Passage: Philosophy, Beginning, Abyss

The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought

The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought

Dissensual Leadership: Rethinking democratic leadership with Jacques Rancière

The democratic leadership literature emphasises those leadership practices that involve dialogue and communication within the frame of reference of existing organizational structures, discourses and hierarchies. Our contribution is to problematise this approach to democracy from the perspective of the work of Jacques Rancière, which highlights the importance of dissensus, that is to say a breaking away from organizational structures and hierarchies. We argue that this allows us to conceptualise collective leadership in a postfoundational way that connects a critique of individual and organization-bound leadership to a democratic logic, in particular through Rancière’s analysis of the myth of the murder of the shepherd. This also enables us to study radically disruptive, non-hierarchical and pre-dialogic dimensions of leadership that may destruct as well as construct. Two democratic leadership practices are outlined: contingent acts of leadership and the practice of radical contestation. Our argument is that both practices of democratic leadership can be deployed as radical ruptures and disruptions of organizational orders, beyond dialogue.