Tactical Alliance Research Articles

COMMUNIST PARTY’S AND POLITICS’ ELITES IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF MONGOLIAN SOCIETY IN THE 1920s TO 30s

This study shows the multifactorial process of formation of new communist and political elite in Mongolia in the 1920s and 30s during the hardest period of the struggle for sovereignty and the formation of true Mongolian state. The author focuses on the analysis of domestic political and foreign policy factors influencing the development of the basic principles and mechanisms of the formation of the Mongolian Communist Party’s and politics’ elite and its participation in the process of transformation of traditional Mongolian society based on the socialist modernisation model. The characteristics of the process of formation of the Mongolian communist and political elite from the very first revolutionary circles of Mongolia People’s Party to the fundamental measures of the country’s socialist reorganisation are given. Particular attention is paid to the formation of a “tactical alliance” at the initial stage of the revolutionary process, the internal political struggle in the ranks of the Mongolian communist and political elite in carrying out fundamental social changes and the transformation of Mongolian society in the period of the 1920s-40s. On the basis of archival material and taking into account the achievements of modern Russian and foreign historiography, problematic and key issues of Russian historiography of the process of formation of the political elite and the transformation of the socialist model of the socialist model in Mongolia in the 1920s-30s are considered. The author concluded that the period of the 1920s and 30s, the struggle between old and new social forces, the formation of a new communist and political elite unfolded against a very unique background characterised, on the one hand, by the desire for national unity, the revival of Mongolian statehood, and on the other hand, by the choice of the optimal model of social development in those historical conditions.

Competing nationalisms, tactical alliances: The Communist Party of the Philippines’ stance on the Bangsamoro struggle during the anti-Marcos resistance

ABSTRACT Focusing on hostile relations between Muslims and Christians, most accounts of secessionism in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao leave out the revolutionary solidarity expressed by a non-Muslim force, the Filipino communist movement, toward the Bangsamoro struggle. Despite their common beginnings during the upsurge of radical struggles during the Global Sixties, historical narratives of the two armed groups are usually discussed separately in the historiography of the martial law period in the Philippines (1972–1986). Using Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) documents from the University of the Philippines Main Library’s Philippine Radical Papers archive, this article interrogates the CPP’s stance on the Bangsamoro struggle as led in the main by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) during the years of the anti-dictatorship resistance. Despite embracing competing nationalisms based on opposed understandings of the character of the Bangsamoro struggle, the CPP endeavored to build tactical alliances in the face of a common enemy in the Marcos dictatorship. Amid the persistence of neocolonial conditions in much of the Global South and rise of neofascist nationalisms today, this vision of solidarity offers important lessons for contemporary struggles on the limits and potentials of “Third World” nationalisms that emerged during the Global Sixties.

Between Reformism and Revolution: the Muslim Brotherhood and the Student Movement in Egypt in the 1930s and 1940s

Abstract The article presents an overview of the formation, organisation and political role of the Muslim Brotherhood student movement in the Egyptian contentious political scene of the 1930s and 1940s up to the 1952 military coup, by combining the rich secondary literature of the period with the Brotherhood’s internal sources. The reconstruction focuses on the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood – as any mass organisation – was far less homogeneous than what is normally claimed by both internal and external sources, both sharing a general overstating of internal discipline and absolute obedience, especially during Ḥasan al-Bannā’s charismatic leadership (1928–1949). The students of the Muslim Brotherhood were clearly channelling bottom-up pressures for more radical political action, sometimes ignoring directives from above and influencing the trajectory of the larger movement. In the warming political context of the late 1940s, Islamist students were acting independently, for instance taking the initiative to build tactical alliances with other student organisations even those belonging to the antagonist leftist/progressive camp, thus actively contributing to creating the momentum that led to the 1952 Revolution. However, and despite the clear message from its base, the Brotherhood leadership ended up by always opting for a moderate and cautious course, avoiding head-on confrontation with the government even at the cost of multiple crises and defections.

Can Social Movements Save American Democracy? A Review Article

Abstract Recent scholarship on the fragility of American democracy has generally focused on political elites rather than the mass public. Sidney Tarrow's Movements and Parties offers an essential corrective to this view. Tarrow shows how that social movements have been central to historical patterns of democratization and democratic backsliding in American history and how movements have systematically interacted with political parties in ways that have profoundly shaped the American democratic experiment. Tarrow's historical survey reveals a recurring pattern of movements that often make tactical alliances with political parties and then provoke countermovements, and he elucidates the underappreciated importance of this pattern for American political development and the path of democratization and de-democratization in the United States.

Friend and Foe: Russia–Turkey relations before and after the war in Ukraine

ABSTRACT The interaction between Russia and Turkey since 2015 suggests a new quality in foreign affairs combining tactical alliance and strategic competition. The Russian invasion of Ukraine did not change this. By studying the cases of Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh, we observe not only elements of geopolitical competition and cooperation but also that the combination of the two contradictory approaches in foreign affairs created new opportunities beneficial to the two sides. Russian-Turkish interactions are a unique case study in international relations and are conditioned by their geopolitical competition with the west, a fact that the war in Ukraine did not alter.

The profile of Nicaragua’s economic elite. The limits of political influence during the presidency of D. Ortega

The article studies the dynamics of Nicaragua’s economic elite which helps to define it and assess its ability to influence political process of the country. The analysis of the evolution of Nicaraguan big business reveals its high adaptability to ever-changing social conditions. As a result, the reaction of economic elite to the Sandinista revolution demonstrates its strategy and tactics concerning restructuring of the assets. The authors pay special attention to the Supreme Council of Private Enterprise (Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada, COSEP) which serves as a main representative of collective interests of the Nicaraguan capital. The article examines the relationship between the left-wing radical partisan Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) and national elite as well. It has transformed from hostile confrontation at the end of 20th century to a tactical alliance in the 2010s. The article concludes with an analysis of existing tensions between Sandinistas and big business as well as the prospects for the transition of power in Nicaragua.

The Ends of Modernization: Nicaragua and the United States in the Cold War Era by David Johnson Lee

<i>The Ends of Modernization: Nicaragua and the United States in the Cold War Era</i> by David Johnson Lee

Russian Foot on the Central African Republic’s Soil: An Example of a Tactical Alliance

The article evaluates cooperation between the Central African Republic and the Russian Federation from the perspective of forming a tactical alliance. The article conceptualises the term tactical alliance and the aims of both partners, and analyses how these aims were fulfilled under the umbrella of the tactical alliance. The authors evaluated four dimensions of this alliance: 1) military and security cooperation, 2) weapons delivery, 3) resources exploitation and 4) international support. The article comes to the conclusion that a tactical alliance was formed by the unofficial cooperation that started between the CAR’s government and private companies backed by Moscow in 2017, while later (in 2019) the cooperation was officially established between the states and their representatives with its peak in December 2020. While the alliance may be seen as rational, the authors expect that this type of opportunistic alliance might not survive after the initial reasons for its formation disappear, especially provided that the partners are asymmetrical and geographically far from each other.

Russian Foot on the Central African Republic’s Soil: An Example of a Tactical Alliance

The article evaluates cooperation between the Central African Republic and the Russian Federation from the perspective of forming a tactical alliance. The article conceptualises the term tactical alliance and the aims of both partners, and analyses how these aims were fulfilled under the umbrella of the tactical alliance. The authors evaluated four dimensions of this alliance: 1) military and security cooperation, 2) weapons delivery, 3) resources exploitation and 4) international support. The article comes to the conclusion that a tactical alliance was formed by the unofficial cooperation that started between the CAR’s government and private companies backed by Moscow in 2017, while later (in 2019) the cooperation was officially established between the states and their representatives with its peak in December 2020. While the alliance may be seen as rational, the authors expect that this type of opportunistic alliance might not survive after the initial reasons for its formation disappear, especially provided that the partners are asymmetrical and geographically far from each other.

Agrarian movements and rural populism in Indonesia

AbstractIn this article, we reflect on the changing trajectories of agrarian movements in Indonesia. In the two decades after independence, a left‐populist alliance of peasants, plantation workers, and other affiliate organizations achieved a mass following and were embraced by President Sukarno. In the aftermath of their violent destruction, the Suharto regime reordered agrarian movements into a single corporatist model. Suharto's downfall opened the way for the re‐emergence of agrarian organizations and movements. But two decades later, they remain small and fragmented, with little influence at the national level. In the changing conditions of rural life, and the increasingly authoritarian political context, progressive rural movements face dilemmas on questions both of their focus and goals and of tactical alliances with other progressive movements and political elites. A broader, more inclusive progressive populist alliance is a possibility, but with the continuing danger of co‐optation by forces of the populist right.

Speaking Truth to Power in a Dictatorship: Secular Ideology versus Islamic Realpolitik—A Fierce Dispute in Ṣaddām’s Iraq

ABSTRACT In July 1986, a dramatic top-secret meeting of the Baʿth Pan Arab Leadership, the party’s highest ideological body, fully recorded by Ṣaddām Ḥussein, took place in wartime Baghdad. This meeting is thrice unique. First, the medium, an unabridged, audio-recording. Second, the topic, the dilemma of many Middle Eastern ruling regimes, vacillating between a secular, or semi-secular ideology and Islamic political expediency. In the case of the Baʿth, a more secular and ideological movement than most, this dilemma is particularly poignant. Third, it is exposing a bitter clash between a brutal dictator, who had executed comrades for opposing him, and three brave lieutenants. On the surface it was convened to discuss a tactical alliance with a sworn enemy, the Muslim Brethren (MB). At a dangerous moment in the Iraq-Iran War, Ṣaddām identified swelling popular religiosity. He hoped that an alliance with the MB would blunt criticism of his regime’s secularism. All the same, some participants feared that secular Arabism, the central tenet of Baʿthi faith, was at stake. Unexpectedly, the meeting produced a startling drama. Albeit temporarily, it forced Ṣaddām to take one step back. Other ideologically oriented dictators, such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Ḥāfiẓ al-Assad, and the Ayatollah Khomeini, too, faced ideology-politics dilemmas, yet none of them left such a surprising chronicle. A similar audio recording also comes to mind that offers a rare verbatim meeting of the inner working of a county’s highest institution at a moment of crisis – the transcripts of Kennedy’s ExComm during the Cuban Missile Crisis. While it deliberated an existential global matter and took place in a democracy, one sees similarities, namely, its detail, the exposure of emotional charges, the ability to speak truth to power, and the benefit resulting from that ability.

Local agreements - an introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT This article introduces a Peacebuilding special issue on local agreements in intractable conflicts. By ‘local’, we refer to any type of agreement that covers a geographical area less than the entire national territory although the issues and actors may be national, regional, international as well as local. Our main finding is that local agreements are a pervasive feature of contemporary conflict, owing to the fragmented decentred character of conflicts. . Local agreements are not necessarily about peace ; they may be a form of surrender, or about tactical alliances and deployment of armed groups. The overall conclusion is that local talks can contribute to what the paper defines as a peace logic, if they involve local civilians and multilateral actors, and are based on a detailed knowledge of context. Expanding this type of process on a large-scale may be the best opportunity for addressing the social condition that characterises contemporary intractable conflicts.

Bolivia in the Age of Gas by Bret Gustafson

Reviewed by: Bolivia in the Age of Gas by Bret Gustafson Luis Sierra Gustafson, Bret. Bolivia in the Age of Gas. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. Bolivia in the Age of Gas examines fossil fuel capitalism in twenty-first-century Bolivia. Sociocultural anthropologist Bret Gustafson analyzes how the fossil fuel industry centered in North America and Western Europe, has historically shaped, bent, and twisted the mechanism of the Bolivian state. Bolivia in the Age of Gas demonstrates how Standard Oil and the United States in the 1930s stood to benefit from the Chaco War, 1932–35, between Bolivia and Paraguay. American political and economic interests dovetailed nicely with any conflict between the two nations and would result in favorable terms for American firms to extract and commercialize fossil fuels for consumption in the Global North and among Bolivia's wealthier, more industrial neighbors. Gustafson explores the growth of what he calls the "gaseous state" from a historical perspective, placing the latest developments in gas extraction in the longue durée economic framework of oil and mineral extraction. Bolivia in the Age of Gas details how, just like silver, tin, and copper mining and oil extraction, natural gas extraction [End Page 232] also generates state violence and repression, coercive labor regimes, limited economic and social gains for most of the population, and a subjugation of local, regional, and national political sovereignty to the interests of national and transnational capital flows. In this context, Gustafson traces how the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS; Movement toward Socialism) political party envisioned a political program that slowly but surely transformed from a radical revision of the relations of the state to the people—the proceso de cambio (process of change)—toward a reactionary state that made tactical alliances with lowland elites, largely ignoring the structural economic problems that maintained Bolivia's vastly unequal society. Like other Bolivian historical reform movements, the MAS project stalled out and faced severe backlash. In the Bolivian lowlands, regionalism and autonomy became metonymic political discourses that embodied the racialized notions of the traditional political class within Bolivia. The autonomist movement of the eastern Bolivian lowland provinces employed political violence to shape their demands on the state and seek greater autonomy from the national government to retain control of the gas rents. Andean migrants to the eastern lowlands were seen as invaders who brought their disorderly politics, culture, and indigeneity. Indigenous peoples of the lowlands were ignored, disempowered, and targets of violence. Natural gas found in Guarani lands brought many fissures and tensions out into the open: political projects are co-opted, leaders are bought off or killed, the local power relations and structural conditions remain with the local indigenous and poor population aiming to capture a minuscule portion of the excess generated through state rents, employment, services, and financing in gas extractions. As the MAS government became more conservative and focused on maintaining political power and control of the state, it came to a détente with Big Gas and with Bolivian lowland elites. Bolivia in the Age of Gas asks readers to think through the contradiction of establishing a liberatory politics via the rents drawn from fossil fuel extraction. For the MAS government—or any government for that matter—to challenge the status quo, Gustafson argues that such liberatory political projects had to serve the interest of the multinational corporations and globalization, and at the same time chart a path independent of high fossil fuel prices through high fossil fuel prices—a clear contradiction in terms. Bolivia in the Age of Gas should readily serve a broad range of scholars, demonstrating how the gaseous state is a conduit through which global capitalism [End Page 233] continues to subjugate Bolivia—and places like it—to this day. Scholars of the Global South, especially those interested in the effects of the extractive economy in highly unequal societies, would benefit greatly from Bolivia in the Age of Gas as it illustrates how resource nationalism cannot escape the pressure of global capital. Scholars of business history, economic history, and institutional history could find much utility in Gustafson's approach and ideas. Bolivia in the Age of Gas insightfully and nimbly paints a complex...

Beyond Ego and Alter: Enlarged Democratic Deliberation

According to a frequent objection coming from the tradition of political realism, deliberative democracy is impotent in the face of actors who, wielding power and money, refuse to engage in deliberation, or seek to distort deliberative processes. With the aim of disproving this objection, in this essay I proceed in three steps: first of all, I show that the realpolitik objection is based on a dyadic, two-person theoretical model of argumentative speech acts. To this model, considered limited and unsatisfactory by many sociolinguists, I counter a more complex and articulated framework. Second, I aim to demonstrate that this latter framework is capable of accounting for a temporally and spatially enlarged democratic deliberation which can be rejected or distorted barely, if at all, by agents relying on positions of power. In the third section, I highlight the many and important differences in grounding, nature and finalities between the model of enlarged democratic deliberation and forms of power politics based on strategic calculations and tactical alliances. Finally, I focus on the application of the model to societies characterized by structural injustices and distortions, with the aim of showing how it can help marginalized and victimized groups have their requests heard and discussed in the public sphere and in deliberative settings.

Changes in Brazilian education policy and the rise of right‐wing populism

This article shows the intersections of right‐wing conservative discourse and evangelical religious proselytism in shaping right‐wing populist discourse in Brazil and its implications on the education policy in the last decade. Since re‐democratisation in the 1980s, the policy path sought to guarantee progressive and inclusive public education, which became under threat due to the escalation of right‐wing populist activism. In the last few years, the ‘No Party School Movement’ (NPSM) and the ‘Evangelical Parliamentary Front’ (EPF) established a tactical alliance. Affiliated members have been trying to pass various bills in different states and cities, stating that educators should not rely on ideological, political and partisan views, and should respect the ‘traditional values’ of families. Othering was a fundamental articulating mechanism of right‐wing populist movements and politicians’ actions to forge a discourse that attacks Paulo Freire’s pedagogy, gender ideology and ancestral African religions. Through the analysis of different types of data, this interpretative case study deepens our understanding of the importance of right‐wing discourse in forging influential political alliances influencing education public policy in Brazil. Understanding how right‐wing populist activism creates enemies through othering educators, women, LGBT and black people is essential to analyse its influence on recent policy changes.

The Bolshevik Anti-Anarchist Action of Spring 1918

This article sets the context for and the motivation behind the Bolshevik action to suppress the Moscow Anarchists on 11–12 April 1918. It explores the Anarchist view that in October 1917 a tactical alliance between Anarchists and Bolsheviks was essential to move the revolution forward, but that such an alliance was only temporary and would simply be a precursor to a genuinely popular third revolution which would shortly follow. The article suggests that, for the Anarchist leadership in Moscow, the crisis created by the Bolshevik decision to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 meant that the moment for such a third revolution was approaching. Was this talk of revolution real or were the Anarchists just hoping to wreck the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? By wrecking the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, would the Anarchists ignite a popular anti-state insurgency? Either way, the Bolsheviks decided to nip the action in the bud to prove to Imperial Germany that the revolution was under their control.

«Подлинное население Киева… держит нейтралитет»: русские монархисты и украинско-большевистское противостояние (январь 1918 года)

The article is devoted to the viewpoint of Russian monarchists in Kiev who were caught in the crossfire of the Ukrainians and the Bolsheviks fighting with each other. One of the leaders of the “Russian Party” in Kiev V.V. Shulgin tried to enter into a tactical alliance with the Ukrainians in the person of S.V. Petliura in order to resist the advancing Bolshevist forces, but the negotiations collapsed. In the long run the main structures of the Russian movement, as well as the majority of the Russians in Kiev did not participate in the conflict of the Ukrainians and the Bolsheviks. And though the myth of the Black Hundreders participating in the Bolshevistic uprising at “Arsenal” plant was not confirmed, a certain part of the former members of workers’ monarchist unions most probably joined the rebels. The author comes to the conclusion that in the beginning of 1918 in Kiev the political groups that later confronted each other in the Civil War, were not finally formed, so there occurred certain tactical unions that were hardly imaginable in the later years.

«Freinet Chimneys»: Experimenting with Emancipatory Public Education (Geneva in the 60s to 80s). Piaget’s Dream of an Active School?

The emancipatory potential of the 1960s had a particular resonance in Swiss education in the French-speaking part of the country. Teachers, parents and unionists, all advocating Freinet pedagogy, demanded that the demonised public education be reformed. Retracing the main steps of their successes and setbacks in the sector of Geneva public education, this article enquires into the rhetorical strategies and tactical alliances the reformists mobilised in order to promote «schools open to life», respectful of the natural longing to learn thanks to educational streams in primary schools dedicated to their cause (the «Freinet chimneys» implemented for a while at the turn of the 1980s). Inputs address the way the leaders of the reform historicised their initiatives so as to establish rightful filiation, calling upon some major figures whilst neglecting others. The scientific approval of Jean Piaget and Élise Freinet, as well as part of the left-wing party in power, might have endorsed the project; nonetheless, the leading figures of Geneva New Education were rarely invoked. How should we interpret these twists and turns? How were the narratives being scripted, and by whom? How were the innovations tested by others and integrated elsewhere so as to support the public education reform? Analysis of the underlying dynamics of this experiment reveal how «everyday» people rose up in a crisis and seized the opportunity to open up a world of possibilities; this can be highlighted through the lenses of the notion of «protagonism», which brings together «ordinary» people and their «extraordinary» politicisation (Bantigny, 2018; Deluermoz &amp; Gobille, 2015).

Operation Olive Branch

The empirical goal of this paper is to conduct an in-depth analysis of Operation Olive Branch, with special attention to its underlying circumstances, timeline, and impacts. In order to tackle these aspects of the topic, I formulate the following hypotheses. First, three primary factors ultimately led to an armed offensive by a geopolitically diminished Turkey: the risk of further of expansion of Kurdish influence in northern Syria (a likely scenario in the case of continued support from the United States), the Assad regime’s attack on Sunni rebels in the province of Idlib, and the regional rivalry with Iran. Second, Russia’s approval for Turkey’s intervention in Afrin strengthened the tactical alliance between the two states. At the same time, it increased Turkey’s geopolitical dependence on Russia in the Middle East. Third, Operation Olive Branch generated serious repercussions for Turkey on the international stage. On the regional level, given the disapproving reactions of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, Turkey has found itself isolated in its campaign against Kurdish aspirations to autonomy. On the international level, the operation has exacerbated the crisis in the relations between Turkey and the United States, which may ultimately produce an existential threat to the integrity of NATO. The article confirms all of the stated hypotheses.

Patience as Art to Hide Intolerance, or the Muslim Brotherhood’s Long-term Strategy to Change the Middle East

Muslim Brotherhood is listed as prohibited organization in a number of countries, including Russia. Nevertheless, in different periods and in different countries of the MENA region it turned out to be well represented in the legal political field. The temporary failures of this largest branch of political Islam of a radical nature have not yet led to a fatal loss of the organization in the competition between different Islamic groups, or to defeat as a result of repression. The author explores the problem of such stability of an extremist organization for many decades. He defends the hypothesis of its long­term strategic action planning along with the accepted tactics of waiting for a convenient moment for the realization of power ambitions. To analyze the strength of the social base, a variant of the deprivation theory is proposed, which was considered in detail in other works of the author. The historical origins of the organization are identified using published as well unpublished archival documents. A historical retrospective substantiates the assumption that a prototype of this structure used to be existed in Istanbul and Damascus back in the period immediately following the Young Turks revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The strongest external factor in the development of MB is emphasized. It is support throughout the history of the movement from forces outside the region, which have seen and continue to see the possibility for themselves of a tactical alliance with the Islamists of this direction to realize their own ideas and pursue their interests in the East.