Reformist Groups Research Articles

Salafism Between Purism and Politicking: Chieftaincy Struggles, Party Competition, and the Anbariya Movement in Dagbon, Northern Ghana

Abstract The dynamics of Salafi activism in African settings have gained attention in recent years. In the light of the regional spread of jihadist militancy, Salafi-jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab have made international headlines. At the same time, Salafi groups and activists across the region have not shied away from ‘playing politics’ and engaging with secular elites and political parties. What explains this Salafi involvement in secular party politics? This article addresses this question based on a case study of the Ghanaian Anbariya movement, an influential Islamic group that was created by the eminent cleric Afa Ajura in Dagbon in the 1950s and gradually evolved into a major pillar of homegrown Ghanaian Salafism. Identifying the Anbariya as a reformist group in the sphere of political Salafism, we contend that the movement’s sustained involvement in the political process has been inextricably linked with a protracted chieftaincy rivalry pitting against each other the Abudu and Andani royal gates of Dagbon. As we explore the Anbariya’s involvement in this conflict and in Ghanaian party politics, we highlight the potential of communal cleavages for shaping the political preferences of religious actors.

Tasawwuf moderation in higher education: Empirical study of Al-Ghazālī’s Tasawwuf contribution to intellectual society

In Indonesia, Tasawwuf is not a new phenomenon. Religious practices that purifying the heart have been deeply rooted in religious traditions, from academics, Islamic boarding schools, and universities. However, lately, demands to disband the authority of Tasawwuf from Islamic teachings have come from reformist groups fronted by Salafi Jihadi, where the basis of their argument is based on the prevalence of Sufi practices that are too far-fetched, irrational, and even tend to injure the theological aspects. Amid the vortex of debate dialogue between reformists and traditionalists in the area of tasawwuf, a community emerged which they called “wasatiyyah” or moderate, where the main focus of their mission was to bring together different points of view in a wiser portion in responding to them. This article closely examines the contribution of Muslim intellectual “Tasawwuf Moderation” through Abū Hāmid Al-Ghazālī (who died in the 5th century) and its implications for Indonesian society’s culture in general to the discourse of socio-religious movements of intellectuals in higher education.

Minorities Between State and Sharia Discourses in African Muslim Societies

Abstract This essay proposes a framework for understanding the construction of religious groups and minorities in Muslim societies through two intersecting and inter-related discourses. The first is a discourse and experience of modern state formation with roots in Africa’s colonial history. And the second is a discourse of the Other in Islamic jurisprudence and theology. It builds on Talal Asad’s thesis that a modern state discourse of secular authority does not preclude religious symbols that shape religious minorities. However, the essay goes beyond Asad by showing that Muslim reformist groups also articulate a religious discourse on minorities and religious groups. The essay argues that a discursive construction of Muslim religious minorities and groups occurs through contemporary state and Islamic reformist discourses. The article presents Egypt and Nigeria as case studies to illustrate this construction.

Elite Competition, Social Movements, and Election Violence in Nigeria

Election violence varies significantly within countries, yet how and why are undertheorized. Although existing scholarship has shown how national-level economic, institutional, and contextual factors increase a country's risk for violence during elections, these studies cannot explain why elites organize election violence in some localities but not others. An analysis of gubernatorial elections in Nigeria reveals the conditions under which elites recruit popular social-movement actors for pre-election violence. Gubernatorial elections are intensely competitive when agreements between governors and local ruling party elites over the distribution of state patronage break down. To oust their rivals and consolidate power, elites recruit popular reformist groups for pre-election violence and voter mobilization. Conversely, when local ruling-party elites are aligned over how state patronage is to be distributed, the election outcome is agreed to well in advance. In this scenario, there is little incentive to enlist social movement actors for violence. Case studies of the Ijaw Youth Council and Boko Haram provide empirical support for the argument. The theory and evidence help explain subnational variation in election violence as well as the relationship between intraparty politics and violence during elections, and speak to broader questions about political order and violence.

일제하 기독교계 학교의 항일민족주의 기원과 형성: 선교사 오리엔탈리즘의 근대주의적 전유와 변용

The study aims to examine the relevance of anti-Japanese nationalism in mission schools to missionary orientalism in the early stage of the Japanese colonial rule in Korea. It pays particular attention to Western orientalism invented by American missionaries to Korea in tracing an origin and formation of anti-Japanese nationalism by mission school students. The missionary orientalism as a Western epistemological framework was appropriated and transformed in educational sphere by a Korean reformist group seeking Western reformism who was inclined to be pro-American and interested in renovating old feudalism in traditional Korea. The missionaries’ education, policies, rules, and practices in the mission field were expected to motivate Korean students to produce not only a Christian human type but also a modernized human type which contributes to build their independent modern nation. In the colonial era, mission-educated Koreans began to recognize inherent contradictions of Japanese colonialism in light of their self-reliance and liberation education and to set the stage for resistance movements for national sovereignty. This article deals with three points. First, it clarifies the concept and nature of missionary orientalism and discusses the backgrounds of converting missionary orientalism to modernistic framework. Considering the conditions in which reform-minded Korean intellectuals encounter the missionary perceptions of the Orient, it explores how they attempted to accept and transform them. Second, the research examines how educational phenomena in mission schools provided a channel to interconnect premodern Korean situations with the Western modernity. It discusses characteristics of the modernity in the perspectives of self-reliance and liberating knowledge. Last, the paper looks at the historical development that Japanese colonial orientalism after the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation was infiltrated in Korean education with an intention of creating a subordinate human type and investigates the missionaries’ responses on and conflicts with Japanese colonialists’ educational regulations and practices. Particularly, it discloses an orientalistic complicity between Japanese authorities and missionaries by comprehending the two powers’ delicate stances on the outbreak of the 1919 March First Movement in which mission-educated Koreans were involved.

Handcraft as urban intervention: In recognition of the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society

In 1851, in Rochester, New York, a group of nineteen women banded together as the founding members of an anti-slavery group in order to support the work of the abolitionist, writer, orator and newspaper publisher, Frederick Douglass. They were the benefactors of Frederick Douglass, himself regarded as the founder of the twentieth-century Civil Rights movement. They called themselves the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Society, although they dropped ‘Sewing’ from their group’s name in 1855. Yet the fact that ‘Sewing’ was included in the original name of this reformist group indicates the foundational role of craft not only as a guiding activity, but also as a key activist mechanism to abolish the institution of slavery. This article explains how a contemporary craft intervention in downtown Rochester, New York, involving 400 swatches contributed from across the United States, sought to honour and reclaim the history of this social-reformist group, at Corinthian Hall, the physical location where they held their abolitionist fundraising bazaars in the nineteenth century. That building is now a parking lot in the heart of central Rochester. Ultimately, yarn is argued to be a social-action tool to help reverse historic erasure in a crowded urban environment.

체제전환국의 민간기업 및 기업가 육성과 북한에 대한 시사점 연구: 러시아, 베트남 사례를 중심으로 (A Study on Private Enterprises and Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies: Focusing on Russia and Vietnam)

Korean Abstract: 체제전환을 시도하는 국가들은 우선적으로 국영기업을 민영화함으로써 사적 소유 기업을 출현시킨다. 이는 사적 소유권 개념을 확대하고, 명령과 계획 중심의 경제를 시장과 수요·공급의 원칙에 따르는 경제로 전환시키기 위한 가장 좋은 방법 중 하나이기 때문이다. 또 대부분의 민영화 대상 국영기업들이 해당 업종이나 지역에서 독점 혹은 과점의 상태를 유지해 경쟁력을 확보하고 있으며, 외국자본의 입장에서도 이들 기업에 투자 및 기술을 이전시켜 이득을 얻는 것이 유리하기 때문이다. 하지만 실제로 들어가면 이 문제는 매우 복잡한 체계의 모순을 가지고 있다. 또 이를 해결하지 않고서는 국유기업의 민영화와 민간기업인 육성이라는 목표를 달성하기가 매우 어렵다. 특히 민영화를 추진함에 있어서 실제 소유주가 누구인가를 결정하는 것이 매우 중요하다. 소유권 문제를 해결하기 위해서는 이해당사자들간의 복잡한 이해관계 조정 과정이 필요하다. 그렇지 않으면 민영화는 제대로 진행되지 않으며 민영화의 기대효과를 도출하기 어렵다. 이러한 배경을 바탕으로 제2장에서는 체제전환이 이루어질 당시의 계획경제 상황과 직면 과제들에 대해서 분석했다. 제3장에서는 러시아의 민영화를 시기별로 살펴보고, 그 과정에서 나타난 기업 및 기업가의 특징을 정리했다. 아울러 민영화된 기업 사례를 발굴하여 성공 요인과 실패요인을 분석하였다. 이러한 내용을 바탕으로 북한이 시장을 개방하면서 직면할 수 있는 과제를 꼽아보고 시사점을 도출하고자 했다. 제4장에서는 베트남의 민영화 사례를 분석했다. 베트남은 러시아와 다른 경제·사회 구조를 가지고 있었다. 러시아가 대규모 폐쇄경제였으며, 산업발전수준이 높았던 반면, 베트남은 소규모 폐쇄경제였으며, 농업 중심의 산업구조를 가지고 있었다. 점진적인 민영화를 추진하고 있는 베트남은 공산당에 의한 ‘집단지도체제’를 유지하고 있다. 따라서 민영화를 추진하게 된 계기와 추진 방식이 다르다. 러시아와 베트남의 체제전환 경험을 통해서 후발 체제전환국들이 얻을 수 있는 첫째 시사점은 제도화이다. 그 이유는 경제 및 사회 구조의 변화는 법률 제정과 제도화를 통해서만 완료되기 때문이다. 개인에 의존하기보다 법적, 제도적 장치의 완비를 통한 구조적 변환 노력 없이는 자본가의 투자 의욕과 외국 기업의 시장 참여가 제한적일 수밖에 없다. 또 하나의 시사점은 개혁 추진과정에서 강력한 지지집단을 만드는 것이다. 이들이 과거로의 회귀를 막는 완충 역할을 하기 때문이다. 러시아와 베트남의 사례에서 알 수 있듯이 북한이 추진하는 개혁·개방 정책의 성공은 결국 북한이 추진하는 정책의 수혜 계층을 얼마나 강력하고 빠르게 육성하느냐에 달려있다. 그리고 이러한 수혜 계층은 국영기업의 민영화와 기업인 양성 과정을 통해 창출된다는 점을 명심해야 한다. 얼마나 빠른 속도로 기업을 양성하고 이들이 자생할 수 있는 기업친화적 환경을 조성하느냐에 북한 체제전환의 성패가 달려 있다. English Abstract: Privatization is the first priority of transition economies because it is the most critical process of shifting from a planned economy to a market economy. Even state enterprises can gain competitiveness by attracting foreign capital and adopting foreign technologies. Meanwhile, the most important element of privatization is confirming ownership. For this, it is necessary to go though complex negotiation and mediation between conflicting parties. Otherwise, privatization cannot be completed and the expected effects will not be realized. Based on this understanding, chapter 2 examines the economic plight and challenges faced by the planned economies before the transition process. Chapter 3 reviews the major features of Russia’s privatization by period and of Russian businessmen. In addition, success factors and failure factors are presented through an analysis of privatized companies. Against this backdrop, implications for North Korea are drawn, centered on potential issues that could arise during its transition process. In chapter 4, Vietnam’s case is analyzed. Vietnam had a different social and economic structure from Russia when it began privatization. Russia was a large autarkic economy with a highly industrialized structure, whereas Vietnam was a small autarkic economy with a low level of industrial development. Thus, privatization in Vietnam proceeded differently as the collective leadership system by the labor party remains intact. The first lesson we learn from Russia’s and Vietnam’s experiences is that institutionalization is the prerequisite of privatization. Structural changes of a society and economy can be accomplished only through legislation and institutionalization. Without these crucial developments, investors or capitalists in the market can be discouraged from participating. Another lesson is the importance of forming ardent reformist groups. Such groups can prevent any attempts to reverse progress and return to the past. As seen in Russia’s and Vietnam’s cases, North Korea can implement reforms and transition successfully by quickly developing the private sector and nurturing capitalist businessmen. Establishing a business-friendly climate is a significant factor of success in privatization.

Współpraca eurodeputowanych w ramach grupy politycznej Europejskich Konserwatystów i Reformatorów

The aim of the article is to investigate a cooperation between the Members of the European Parliament in the European Conservatives and Reformist Group. ECR Group was formed in the European Parliament in 2009 and the biggest parties in ECR are the British Conservative Party and Polish Law and Justice. United Kingdom will leave the European Union and the question is whether the ECR group is enough institutionalised to survive after Brexit? The Author of the article uses the analysis of the scholar literature, reports and ECR’s political programs, and tries to find answers to the following research questions: how did the conservative parties cooperate within the ECR? What is the internal structure of the ECR group? What positions were held by ECR in the European Parliament?

Leadership Role of Hassan Rouhani and Nuclear Deal of Iran

Hassan Rouhani had been serving as secretary to Supreme National Security Council for 16 years. Hassan Rouhani was the person who was tasked to lead the team of technically, politically and legally expert's negotiators on nuclear program of Iran to start talks with the western powers to decreased the tension between IAEA body and foreign ministry of Iran on reports published by the IAEA and adoption of the UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran. Iran's nuclear program was started in the era of the reign of Raza Shah Pahlavi before the Islamic Revolution. It was not only another country providing nuclear technology but also America. Iran's foreign policy will not be affected by the slogans, but we will safely defend our national interests. Hassan Rouhani After elected as President in 2013, promised that he would work to bring relief in economic sanctions on the country due to which the economy was destroyed and life was difficult for the Iranian people. Iran's hardliner leaders had been opposing the any deal and talks on the matter of nuclear program. On the other end reformist groups in the Iran always favored the new ideas and negotiations on nuclear program and when the balance of power turned in favor of President Rouhani when won the elections in 2013 and he gave the green signal to the negotiators.

State use of public order and social cohesion concerns in the securitisation of non-mainstream Muslims in Malaysia

ABSTRACTThis paper posits that certain Muslim minority and Muslim reformist groups that propagate non-mainstream viewpoints on Islam were securitised by the Malaysian state as societal threats when...

A startup’s strategy: doing good sets the stage for doing well

Purpose Maor Zlotzever, a 32-year-old Israeli entrepreneur, was inspired to devote himself to his startup, Axios, by a youthful dream of giving customers genuine value that will improve lives. Design/methodology/approach This case looks at an entrepreneurial non-profit innovator diversifying into the hydroponics market. Findings Maor began working on the development of Axios’ hydroponics division as a way to maximize the production capacity of facilities for growing food plants without soil. He and his team designed a simple modular system that requires no computer and can be adapted to use solar power or biogas to drive the hydroponics pump and be energy-neutral. The compact system will sell for much less than competitors’ devices and requires very little “hands on” adjustment while the vegetables are growing. Practical implications Maor learned several lessons through his efforts to obtain resources for his project: organizations that position themselves as promoters of the entrepreneurial community often were not inclined to devote resources to idealistic inventions. In contrast, large, supposedly less entrepreneurial organizations like the Ministry of Education, Haifa University and the Israel Institute of Technology, as well as reformist groups like the green organizations, offered support, aid and encouragement. Social implications As Steve Jobs said, “People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Originality/value In theory, financial success follows continuous innovation to provide unique value to customers. So far an entrepreneurial innovator intent on doing good by giving customers genuine value that will improve lives is learning to succeed.

Neither Tolerance nor Forbearance: The Social Dynamics in the Face of the New Religiosity in Wollo Society

Wollo society has long been traditionally known for its unique case of dignified-symbiotic-religiosity (DSR) that characterized Ethiopia as the model of peaceful religious coexistence. After nearly 40 years of secular experience, the tremor of reformist and revivalist religious groups has begun to introduce new religiosity that pose grave challenge and at times intolerance against the traditional religiosity. Tragically, Wollo has come to bear the blunt of the revivalist intolerance, although it has not been the rare case of DSR in the mixed history of religious coexistence, accommodation, and repression. The new religiosity has appeared as a potent force defining social relations and shared experiences of Wollo society: both the public and the private lives. The shared history of the people too is not spared of revivalist victimization narratives and counter narratives: tolerance and forbearance. The demystification of religious tolerance and accommodation has tarnished the DSR of Wollo society and the 40-year-old secular establishment. The historical, social, and physical spaces have come to be symbolic embattled spaces of religious exclusivity projected to the future of new religiosity threatening to end the era of DSR of Wollo Society and the legitimacy of the secular establishment.

El orden católico frente al desafío de las Luces en el Reino de Guatemala (1779-1808)

A pesar de los estudios que subrayan el fuerte impacto de la Ilustración en el Reino de Guatemala es todavía difícil hacerse una idea de los cambios introducidos en la mentalidad de la población. Esta dificultad está subrayada por este estudio que pone énfasis en las reacciones conservadoras que muchos actores de gran peso político tuvieron al darse cuenta que estas ideas podían sacudir el sistema colonial, y desencadenar un proceso revolucionario comparable a lo que los franceses estaban viviendo. Estos hombres adoptaron posiciones ideológicas más duras y se alejaron de los grupos reformadores encabezados por el oidor Jacobo de Villaurrutia. Asentándose en las familias de poder, estos grupos utilizaron paulatinamente el poder de las corporaciones eclesiásticas que controlaban de manera más o menos directa. Mientras las Luces progresaban, el viejo orden católico se mudaba en un partido político que muy pronto estará en capacidad de enfrentarse a la ideología liberal.

The First ‘General Chapter’ of Benedictine Abbots (1131) Reconsidered

This paper reconsiders the first ‘General Chapter’ of Benedictine abbots (late 1131). To explain the timing and circumstances of this event, previous scholarship mostly referred to the influence of the Cistercians on reformist groups within ‘traditional’ monasticism. A closer look at the primary evidence reveals how the first General Chapter needs to be framed against the activities of overlapping coalitions of ecclesiastical and secular agents pursuing various political, ideological and institutional interests. It also allows the causes of the ensuing dispute with the Cluniacs to be established more securely, and provides new insights into contemporary usages of statutes and the semantics of the word ‘ordo’.

Booklets and Sants: Religious Publics and Literary History

The story of print and religious publics in colonial India has largely been told as one of reformist groups and religious polemics. But this covers only a small part of the story of religious print, which extends well beyond reformist groups. This essay focuses on the most systematic and long-lived project of publishing sant orature (bani), the Santbānī Pustakmālā of the Belvedere Press, Allahabad. It examines its scope, aims and methods as well as its religious orientation and conceptualisation of a religious-devotional public in early-twentieth-century North India. Halfway between oral bhajan groups and the scholarly publications of the collected works (granthavali) of sant poets, throughout the twentieth century the Belvedere Press booklets have commanded tremendous currency as religious print-objects in the Hindi devotional public sphere. The results of one publisher's effort and investment, and of significant reorganisation of material from manuscript sources, these booklets have been extremely popular and lasting products in the extensive market for religious material, clearly a crucial technology for individual and group religious practice (bhajan), before which the lineages' own publishing efforts pale into quasi-insignificance.

The roles of Eurosceptic Members of the European Parliament and their implications for the EU

The 2014 European elections demonstrated the scale and success of the EU’s opponents. Radical and populist parties topped the polls in some countries while others gained parliamentary representation for the first time. At the same time, Euroscepticism has entered the mainstream, with an increase of anti-EU rhetoric among government parties and the European Conservative and Reformist group becoming the third largest party in the European Parliament. In this context, this article aims at analysing the strategies developed by Eurosceptics from the left, the right and the mainstream once elected to parliament but also at providing food for thought regarding the implications of an (increased) presence of Eurosceptic MEPs. It provides a typology of four roles played by Eurosceptics, showing the diversity of their strategies. It then argues that the presence of these dissenting voices might be an asset for the EU’s legitimacy.

Southeast Asia: Thailand's Uneasy Passage

Abstract: In 2011, Thais reelected a party backed by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Although Thaksin himself was banned from actually appearing on the ballot, he emerged as the big winner when a new electoral vehicle known as the Pheu Thai Party (PTP, or "For Thais") gained a decisive victory with his younger sister Yingluck at its head. As of early 2012, however, no other reformist groups or individuals had appeared on the scene possessing anything like what it will take to reconcile monarchy and democracy in Thailand. All the same, however, it appears that Thailand cannot escape the challenge of reaching a new consensus that will root the monarchy more squarely within the constitution of an emerging democracy, but in a way that reconciles conservative royalists.

IDEOLOGÍA Y POLÍTICA DOCENTES Y ESTUDIANTES EN EL CONTEXTO DE LA CRISIS LIBERAL ARGENTINA EL CASO DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE CÓRDOBA (1930-1943)

Los investigadores preocupados por la historia de las universidades, por lo general, analizan el andar de esas instituciones como ajenas a la política y piensan que susconflictos internos están lejos de ellas. Compartiendo criterios de otros estudiosos pensamos lo contrario, por tal razón en este artículo intentaremos demostrar como la política, el poder y las ideas se entrecruzan en una puja política ideológica en un período de la historia de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba que va desde 1930 a 1943. Esa etapa de transición, que atestigua un proceso de profundización de la crisis multidimensional del proyecto liberal de la Argentina moderna, registra sus orígenes en el ámbito político a partir del golpe militar del 6 de septiembre de 1930 que derrumbó el régimen democrático del radical Hipólito Yrigoyen, y concluye con otra revolución,

“A Revolutionary Regime Must Put the Interests of the Majority First”: Class, Collectivism, and Paternalism in Post-Tlatelolco Mexican Tripartite Relations

“A REVOLUTIONARY REGIME MUST PUT THE INTERESTS OF THE MAJORITY FIRST”: CLASS, COLLECTIVISM, AND PATERNALISM IN POST-TLATELOLCO MEXICAN TRIPARTITE RELATIONS∗ Joseph U. Lenti University of New Mexico In the four decades since the tragic happenings witnessed on October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco district of Mexico City, the status of ‘Tlatelolco’ as a parteaguas or watershed moment in Mexican history has been vigorously disputed. Most scholars now concede that the student movement created an opening – be it political, social, or both – for a generation of Mexicans to exploit, yet there is still room for debate.1 Enrique Krauze recently opined that the legacy of 1968 remained “uncertain” for the ways its ideological inheritors failed to consolidate its potential. He granted that those events contributed to democratizing the country though he felt that the “irreverent” qualities of the historic movement coupled with the riddled state of the contemporary Left in Mexico prevented crediting the students of 1968 with any significant achievements.2 This message echoed one conveyed earlier by Eric Zolov who viewed 1968 as a “turning point” in modern Mexico but cautioned that to lionize the students as “heroic youth doing battle against antiquated, reactionary systems of thought and power” risked overlooking the “messiness” of the movement.3 The findings presented herein contribute to said debate because they are predicated on the belief that, yes, the sequence of events that culminated at Tlatelolco represented a decisive moment that altered the nation’s modern political culture. This is not to say, however, that the tack of reform subsequently adopted by the government derived only from pressures exerted by student actions. It did not. Student protests called into question the “revolutionary” credentials of the Mexican state and its legitimacy as rightful heir to that legacy, yet they did not occur in a vacuum. Political reform implemented after Tlatelolco also conveyed the Mexican state’s desire to counter deeper-seated threats to its authority that emanated from ∗I wish to thank the late Adrian Bantjes for commenting on a panel I organized on this topic at the annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 5, 2009. His insight was crucial in my conceptualization of this subject . Special thanks are also owed to Linda Hall, Michael Snodgrass, Gregory Crider, Jürgen Buchenau, and Colin Snider for providing useful comments on earlier manuscripts, as well as to Alliant International University, Mexico City for supporting the drafting of this essay. C 2010 Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 163 The Latin Americanist, December 2010 other societal sectors and most importantly, from organized workers who had militated at heightened levels since the late-1950s. In the decade that preceded Tlatelolco unionists in diverse sectors agitated in demand of better wages, safety, medical, and housing provisions, and the right to elect union leaders. The resurgence of labor militancy hinted at the contradictions inherent in the Mexican state’s development strategies and cancelled the relative labor peace that characterized the past two decades. Worker militancy, in contrast to student activism, posed a real threat to topple the regime. The state was required to respond. It would be organized workers, therefore, they who formed the sector most ascribed with historical symbolism and deemed most capable of destabilizing the regime, that would become the chief target of state rhetoric and primary beneficiary of public policy after Tlatelolco.4 This thesis means to accompany, not defy, prevailing interpretations that have considered political reforms of the era vis-à-vis the ways they galvanized unionists to push for democracy and oppose state control. Certainly, the “democratic opening” as promised by President Luis Echeverrı́a Alvarez encouraged the emergence of reformist groups inside the tightly regulated organized workers movement, a point concisely made by Kevin Middlebrook and others.5 Nevertheless, state goals were multifaceted and not mutually exclusive. While democratic-minded policymakers were willing to permit rank-and-file dissent among workers, they also coveted the opportunity to revive a modus vivendi with top union brass reminiscent of an earlier time. This essay assesses how the state sought to pay the political costs of 1968 by solidifying...

Greek Reformism and its Models: The Impact of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

U.S. criticism of the political and social system of Civil War Greece has often been cited as proof of the inadequacy of pro-Western voices in Greece as a whole. However, members of the new political forces that emerged in the country in the mid-1930s argued for far-reaching reforms along the lines of the New Deal. These new forces had rallied under the leadership of George Papandreou in 1944, but had been crushed under the weight of the civil strife of December 1944 and then by the eruption of full-scale Civil War in 1946. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan projected ideas very similar to those of the Greek reformers, marking a revival of these forces after their successive defeats in previous years. This was a side-effect of U.S. intervention in Greece, but would prove important, as members of these reformist groups played a major role in Greece's post-civil war history.