Socio-political Fragmentation Research Articles

Competitive Europeanisation, Transnational Production and a Multiscalar Perspective on Social Policy in Europe

AbstractThe article discusses social policy with regard to the multiscalar competitive architecture of Europeanisation. The basic thesis is that the foundational logic of contemporary Europeanisation must be understood as a logic of economic integration via multiscalar socio-political fragmentation. For such an analysis, a critical political economy of Europeanisation is necessary, more precisely a labour-oriented European political economy of scale. I argue that existing regime-competition debates need to be broadened in two ways: First, social and economic geography, especially the concepts of scale, rescaling and glocalisation should be included. Such an expansion enables grasping that socio-political fragmentation not only encompasses national welfare systems, but cuts through them as well. Second, labour and production processes have to be brought back into the frame of competitive Europeanisation, to bring the extent of the Europeanisation social crisis into view.

In Search of Civil Society: Disentangling Associational Practices and Civil Society Conceptions in Germany

The historical case study of German associations during World War I highlights the limits of sociability in times of political polarization. At the war’s beginning, German elites supported political associations that welcomed the entire political spectrum, thus radically breaking with associations that had developed along political, social, and religious dividing lines. The article shows how the inclusive sociability that the common cause of the war initially spurred failed to withstand the pressures of mass politics, extreme sociopolitical fragmentation, and the new republican institutions. The discrediting of associations as sources of inclusive sociability paved the path to conscious efforts to educate German citizens and political professionals to the working of democratic systems. The analysis suggests a conceptualization of civil society that relies on explicit strategies, such as political education, to cultivate the political conduct that modern democracies require, replacing the faith in associations as indirect sources of democratic governance.

Franz Werfels andere Moderne: Musikästhetische und kunstsoziologische Konzepte in Franz Werfels Roman "Verdi. Roman der Oper" by Amanda Baghdassarians

Reviewed by: Franz Werfels andere Moderne: Musikästhetische und kunstsoziologische Konzepte in Franz Werfels Roman "Verdi. Roman der Oper" by Amanda Baghdassarians Steven R. Cerf Amanda Baghdassarians, Franz Werfels andere Moderne: Musikästhetische und kunstsoziologische Konzepte in Franz Werfels Roman "Verdi. Roman der Oper." Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2019. 278 pp. Despite its sixteen-word earful of a title, this study, based on the author's doctoral dissertation in German Studies at the University of Zurich, is most helpful. Concentrating on Werfel's contemporary theoretical sources of music criticism that, in part, inspired him to write his first novel, Verdi: Roman der Oper (1924), Baghdassarians divides her book into four telling chapter-sections ranging from thirty-five to seventy pages. These deal respectively with the theories of the post–World War I musical sociologist Paul Bekker, the anti-Wagnerian writings and works of such composer-critics as Ferruccio Busoni and Kurt Weill, and a close discussion of the dominant role of Verdi as the eponymous protagonist of the novel itself, before concluding with a [End Page 108] discussion of the thematic relationship between this first novel and Werfel's later prose fiction. The first chapter, properly titled "Paul Bekkers Musiksoziologie," is informed by a discussion of the importance of Paul Bekker's anti-Wagnerian criticism in the early 1920s. Baghdassarians pinpoints Werfel's own interest in Bekker's musical-sociological theories as an inspiration for the novelist's characterization of Verdi and the Italian composer's inability to understand either Wagner's music or his coterie of followers, who view him as a quasi-religious, trans-national prophet figure. Her arguments throughout this forty-five-page portion are most convincing, and they provide Baghdassarians' greatest contribution to recent Werfel secondary criticism. According to the author, it was Bekker's sociological view of music of the past and of the present that fascinated Werfel in the early 1920s. Formulated as they were during the sociopolitical fragmentation after World War I, Bekker's writings, which championed the grounding of past and present great composers in their own political societies, inspired Werfel in shaping his contrast between Verdi and Fischböck throughout the novel. Werfel's depiction of the "music for music's sake" compositions of Fischböck, devoid of any societal context, stand in marked contradistinction to Verdi's grounded politically social stance as reflected in his operas. The second chapter, properly an extension of the discussion of Bekker's writings, emphasizes such anti-Wagnerian composer-writers as Busoni and Weill as contemporary allies of Bekker and underscores Werfel's creative admiration of these composers. As opponents of Wagnerian illusionistic staged opera, both Busoni and Weill sought to anchor their contemporary audiences' experience in the actual action of what is taking place on the operatic stage. Baghdassarians fittingly brings into her discussion Werfel's 1920 essay "Dramaturgie und Deutung des Zauberspiels Spiegelmensch," in which the essayist roundly attacks Wagner's illusionistic view of the stage. According to Werfel, it is the lack of humor and the starched exclusion of irony that informs Wagner's pseudo-religious view of the stage. Baghdassarians wisely concludes the chapter with a discussion of Werfel's mid-1920s German translations of three of Verdi's mid-period operas, La Forza del Destino, Simon Boccanegra, and Don Carlos and explains how their staging boosted the major Verdi revival during the Weimar Republic. Baghdassarians's third chapter, a close textual interpretation of the novel itself, is literally at the heart of her study. That it is close to double the length of [End Page 109] each of the other three chapters is a key to the critic's penetrating interpretation of Werfel's Verdi. Regarding the novel as a series of duets between Verdi and the novel's other key characters works convincingly. In particular, her treatment of Verdi's extended conversations with the centenarian Senator, Fischböck, the singer Mario, and Dario, the old porter at the opera house, portray Verdi as a committed composer eager to engage others during his incognito two-month stay in Venice during the winter of 1882/83. Baghdassarians's interpretation is so telling that the reader wants even more in her...

From Chávez to Maduro: Continuity and Change in Venezuelan Foreign Policy

This article addresses the transition from the presidency of Hugo Chávez to that of Nicolás Maduro, in the light of the effects of the dynamics in domestic politics and the changing international order on the formulation of Venezuela's foreign policy. We start from a central question: how does Maduro's government, amid a less favourable global scenario, face the international commitments made by its predecessor under complex and different domestic conditions? Our central hypothesis is that the historical currents of sociopolitical fragmentation, regional tensions and the energy market, pose difficulties to the continuation of an expansive foreign policy, but in turn act as a stimulus for greater centralisation of power internally, and the politicisation of the foreign policy agenda, in line with the objectives and general trends pursued by the governing party.

Three proposals for revitalising the European Union

Widespread perception that convergence on the current set of rules is not capable of producing convergence on results, or anyway generally better results, has increased the socio-political fragmentation inside the European Union. The result has been an increasing demand for a partial re-nationalisation of sovereign powers, whose physiology comes from the necessity of higher national flexibility. Asking how feasible changes in the current set of rules could accommodate the increased demand of national flexibility, the paper focuses on the euro area and proposes to revise the monetary operations of the European Central Bank, current fiscal rules, and the financial regulatory approach. The proposed new design is based on the premise that no changes in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union are possible at the moment, even though a minimum political convergence is necessary. If successfully implemented, the proposal would contribute to give a viable perspective to the design of the Economic and Monetary Union, capable of attracting those EU non-euro area countries that consider the mismanagement of the recent crisis and of its after-effects reason enough for resisting further losses of sovereignty. JEL : E52, E62, F33, F36, F45, G28

Climatic volatility, agricultural uncertainty, and the formation, consolidation and breakdown of preindustrial agrarian states.

The episodic formation, consolidation and breakdown of preindustrial states occurred in multiple contexts worldwide during the last 5000 years and are contingent upon interacting endogenous economic, demographic and political mechanisms. In some instances, there is support for climate change stimulating integration or inducing sociopolitical fragmentation in these complex systems. Here, we build upon this paradigm and introduce the hypothesis that stable climatic conditions favour the formation of agrarian states, while persistently volatile climatic conditions can contribute to the episodic collapse of these complex societies. It is generally recognized that agrarian economies underwrite preindustrial state-level societies. In these contexts, the economic uncertainty associated with highly volatile climatic regimes makes it difficult for individuals or institutions to determine the costs and benefits of one agricultural strategy over another. We argue that this fosters sociopolitical instability and decentralization. As a first test of this hypothesis, we examine the historical dynamics of state formation and decline in the Mexican and Andean highlands within the last 2000 years. The available data in these regions are consistent with the hypothesis that the formation and consolidation of regional polities and empires is favoured in stable climatic regimes and that political decentralization can be stimulated and perpetuated by highly volatile climatic conditions.

Megacities: our global urban future

Preface.- Megacities and Global Change.- Megacities and Climate Change: Early Adapters, Mainstream Adapters, and Capacities.- Underground cities.- Water quality and socio-ecological vulnerability regarding urban development in selected case studies of megacity Guangzhou, China.- Rice for the Megacity. Dhaka's food supply between global risks and local vulnerabilities.- Land development strategies in megacities: Guiding land use and land rights in the context of urban sprawl and informality.- The influence of foreign direct investment on land use changes and regional planning in developing- World megacities: a Bangalore case study.- Inner-city development in megacities between degradation and renewal. The case of Sao Paulo case study.- Agile Firm Organisation and Upgrading in the Greater Pearl River Delta.- Linking Global Change, National Development Goals, Urbanization and International Migration in China: The Example of African Migrants in Guangzhou and Foshan.- Phobopolis: Violence, fear and socio-political fragmentation of the space in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Dar es Salaam, megacity of tomorrow - informal urban expansion and the provision of technical infrastructure.- Bus Rapid Transit: the answer to transport problems in megacities? The example of TransMilenio (Bogota / Colombia).- Governance in Megacities: Experiences, Challenges, and Implications for International Cooperation.- Managing the Metropolis - Planning in New York City.- E-Governance Initiatives in India Case Studies from Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Diritti culturali e societŕ "glocale": una questione di riconoscimento o di giustizia sociale

This article sets out to investigate problems arising from legal claims initiated by individuals from other societies complaining about forms of social injustice and breaches of their identity. In a contemporary context in which multicultural phenomena loom large, law tends to know no boundaries and we are beset by geographical and socio-political fragmentation, it is important to understand whether and how western constitutions and the principles enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights can establish the basic conditions for every human being to be recognised in his/her relationships in the community where he/she lives. Breaches of fundamental rights are on the increase in today’s legal order, above all with regard to their implementation. Practices of so-called non-recognition are producing a loss of trust in social cohesion, because they are perceived by individuals as a kind of denial of their personal capacities and moral qualities. As a result, when this feeling becomes strong, it can produce a concrete claim whose ultimate purpose is the increase and extension of judicial forms of protecting existing human rights, as well as sometimes also producing new subjective rights. While rights are symbolic forms that convey identity for creating social cohesion and while social practices produce change, practices of non-recognition, such as violence and humiliation, are perceived differently by the groups in which they are perpetrated. This phenomenon is caused by the different perception of the symbolic role played by the rights themselves. But in a global society, there is a risk that fundamental rights may spread the image of a legal subject who is incapable of giving meaning to social cohesion. In this case, there is a need to understand whether the struggle for rights has become a skilled strategy for preserving status and institutionalising cultural models rather than a struggle for discriminated individuals to be treated equally.

Teorías de la gobernanza y estudios regionales

<p>Existen estudios que sugieren que los procesos de globalización y fragmentación sociopolítica, presentes en México y otros países, han aumentado la heterogeneidad de las regiones subnacionales. El enfoque tradicional presupone que las regiones son unidades territoriales donde los fenómenos sociales se manifiestan de manera relativamente uniforme. Sin embargo, los recientes aportes teóricos de la “gobernanza local” (local governance) y el “nuevo regionalismo” han subrayado la importancia que los flujos de intercambio tienen en la diversificación de las regiones y sus actores. Utilizando evidencia de la Unión Europea y México, este artículo argumenta que la política pública en la región no puede ser entendida sin analizar las redes que se establecen entre actores públicos y privados. Esto implica una reconsideración de los criterios normalmente usados para determinar qué es y dónde existe una región.</p>

The Legend of Muna Mountain

AbstractThis article explores the development and transformation of the legend of Muna Mountain, which describes Chinggis Khan’s funeral cortège. In particular, it argues that this legend arose among the post-Yuan Mongols in order to sanctify ‘Inner Mongolia’ as the new homeland through the establishment of the cult of Chinggis Khan at the Eight White Tents. Over time, however, both the legend and the cult changed and these developments are further explored in relation not only to the socio-political fragmentation of the sixteenth century but also the introduction of tantric Buddhism.

Urban planning in an age of fear: The case of Rio de Janeiro

The aim of this paper is to discuss the challenges for urban planning and management in Rio de Janeiro in the context of the socio-political fragmentation of urban space. First, the paper profiles the recent evolution of Brazil's economy, in order to make sense of the worsening exclusion and violence in Rio de Janeiro since the 1980s. Against this background, the paper analyses recent trends in terms of socio-spatial segregation and social conflict (the formation of enclaves dominated by drug trafficking organisations, and the self-segregation of the elite as a response to the increasing fear of crime and violence), and considers possible paths to the necessary and urgent integration of urban planning and management on the one hand, and public safety policies and strategies on the other.

Needs and Impediments for Local Government Reform: Lessons from Israel

ABSTRACT:I argue that calls for local government reform and prospects for implementation are largely a product of images and external sociopolitical circumstances rather than of particular needs and attributes of the local government system. A discussion of images and facts in the case for local government reform in Israel shows that the need for reform was real, but debates were often based on inaccurate perceptions of extreme fragmentation and centralization. Attributes of the sociopolitical environment that form extremely high barriers for reform include ethno-religious heterogeneity, sociopolitical fragmentation, increasing role of courts as the arenas for societal conflicts, and deep involvement of national parties in local politics in a multiparty coalition government structure. The 2001–2003 political and economic crisis in Israel provides insights on the endurance of barriers for reform. It shows that crisis climate and the creation of unfavorable public image of the present local government system have a role in overcoming such barriers.

Metropolitan deconcentration, socio-political fragmentation and extended suburbanisation: Brazilian urbanisation in the 1980s and 1990s

The aim of this paper is to discuss the phenomena of socio-political fragmentation of urban space, extended suburbanisation and metropolitan deconcentration, which have been important features of Brazilian urbanisation since the 1980s (metropolitan deconcentration partly since the 1970s). At the beginning it profiles the recent evolution of the country's economy, in order to make sense of the worsening situation in terms of exclusion and violence in big Brazilian cities since the 1980s. Against this background, recent trends both in terms of socio-spatial segregation and social conflict within cities (formation of enclaves dominated by drug trafficking organisations and self-segregation of the élites as a response to this) and in terms of the growing attractiveness of areas outside the biggest metropolises (extended suburbanisation and metropolitan deconcentration) are analysed. The main focus is the socio-political dimension of Brazilian urbanisation in the 1980s and 1990s, which has been undervalued by analysts.