Times Of Political Transition Research Articles

Pedagogical hermeneutics at the time of political transition in Poland

The author analyzed the scientific dissertations of Polish scholars for whom hermeneutics as a direction of contemporary philosophy, including the method of researching ideas, theoretical premises of education and upbringing, contributed to the development of contemporary pedagogical thought and methodological self-awareness. The qualitative research paradigm requires researchers to be competent in understanding and interpreting the phenomena they are interested in. The aim of this article is therefore to make educators aware of the need to see in the analyzed dissertations from the period of the totalitarian state the use of hidden hermeneutics by scientists as a result of the existing political censorship. The freedom to conduct scientific research, regained in Poland after 1989, contributed to the dynamic development of general pedagogy, the theory of education and comparative studies of pedagogical thought. At the same time, the author warns against escaping from the freedom of a part of the scientific community as a result of subordinating the political correctness to the interpretation of the theories studied or the results of empirical research.

Prisoner releases in postcolonial Uganda: Power, politics, and the public

This article examines prisoner releases in postcolonial Uganda, focusing on the period between independence in 1962 and the inauguration of Yoweri Museveni in 1986. During these decades, Uganda's government enacted over 30 large scale releases of prisoners and detainees, affecting approximately 20,000 individuals. These acts of clemency were highly politicized and frequently occurred during times of political transition or tension. While framed by Uganda's leaders and the official media as gestures of goodwill and symbols of progress, these releases ultimately reinforced executive power and the centrality of incarceration in state repression.

Border Governance in Kachin State, Myanmar: Un/caring states and aspirant state building during humanitarian crises

AbstractSince 2011 renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has triggered the internal displacement of more than 100,000 people in Kachin state. This article examines how care practices and care ethics influence border governance in the context of humanitarian concerns in Kachin state in northern Myanmar, which shares a border with China. The situation in Kachin state at the China-Myanmar border reveals the contrasting territorial logics at stake, the contingency of governance at a time of political transition, and distinct ‘regimes of care’, as manifested through humanitarian relief, which all contribute towards border governance. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews, the article highlights how care deficits are met by a separatist government, community organizations (both faith-based and secular), and diaspora populations which mobilize a range of networks and resources—forming webs of connections and interfacing with one another—to provide humanitarian relief. However, their actions and the ensuing flows of care could produce or deepen political subjectivities that are geared towards territorial contestation and separatism, thus changing expressions of border governance. The article further observes that the Kachin situation has wider implications for the peace negotiations taking place at the national level in Myanmar.

‘The Destiny of a Whole Race’: Identity, Race, and Politics in the Cold War Italian Performances of ‘Porgy and Bess’

Abstract In 1954–5, Porgy and Bess appeared for the first time in Italy in an all-Black production formally endorsed by the US State Department. Italian theatre administrators saw this production as an opportunity to sever any ideological connection with Fascism after decades of institutional support. At the same time, while Italian audiences and critics were often aware of the essentializing practices at the origins of Porgy and Bess, they relied on the stereotypical image of African American culture presented by the show to project their own experiences and political aspirations onto the opera’s subject and music. Drawing on primary sources, interviews, and the analysis of the earlier European reception of Porgy and Bess, this article argues that the success of the opera in Italy, rather than being determined by US diplomatic efforts, was a result of Italians’ need to redefine a sense of collective identity in a time of political transition.

Code Work: Thinking with the System in México

ABSTRACTThis article explores how young people position themselves in relation to promises of technology and progress during a time of political transition in Mexico. My fieldwork took place between 2013 and 2017, just before a newly formed leftist political party gained power after a century of rule by Mexico's “revolutionary” party. For self‐identified “disenchanted” youth in Mexico, skeptical of the promises of social mobility by means of formal education, “hacking” emerged as a way to make sense of their futures in a precarious state and economy and as a way to let their “code work” intervene in narratives that had only delivered false hopes. Coworking spaces, hackathons, entrepreneurial initiatives, and neoliberal “reforms” were seldom differentiated by politicians. By immersing themselves in the code that underlies the technologies that promise developmentalist change, I show how fundamental coding principles become good to think with, alongside the institutions and systems responsible for reinstating unequal opportunities, iteration after iteration. Hacker‐entrepreneurs used their code work to develop heuristics for analyzing the organization of entities and relationship between them, whether they were elements in a coding environment or actors in a political‐economic environment. [technology, knowledge economy, youth, computing, precarity]

정치전환기의 행정개혁 추진에 관한 연구

네팔의 민주화 운동은 네팔의 정치체제에 커다란 변화를 일으켰다. 공공부문의 행정문화 등이 아직 제대로 정착되지 않은 가운데, 네팔의 공무원제도는 과거의 전통과 복잡한 가치에 뿌리를 두고 있는 혼란스러운 정치체제 내에서 작동하고 있는 중이다. 범세계적으로 불기 시작한 세계화 바람 등이 네팔 공공부문의 책임성과 효과성 등에 영향을 끼치며 여러 질문을 제기하자 대중의 목소리가 커지게 되었다. 단일통합체제에서 연방체제로의 전환은 많은 기대와 도전을 초래하여, 네팔에서 광범위한 개혁열풍을 일으키고 있다. 그간 네팔 정부는 공공행정을 활성화하기 위한 여러 형태의 행정개혁위원회를 조직하여 운영해왔다. 하지만 정부 실패를 야기하는 정당의 부당한 간섭과 첨예한 이념적 논쟁 그리고 만연한 관료적 병리현상들로 인하여 행정개혁의 진정한 집행이 이뤄지지 못했고, 그 결과 기대하는 결실을 거두지 못했다. 따라서 이 논문은 민주화가 보장되기 시작한 1990년 이후와 여러 가지 구조적인 변화가 도입 된 2006년 이후의 네팔의 행정 개혁을 체계적으로 분석하고자 한다.

Decolonizing female consciousness in Bessie Head's A Question of Power

ABSTRACTIn A Question of Power, Bessie Head explores how South Africa's apartheid history has been transcribed upon female bodies. Head interrogates female madness as a vehicle to transverse and recollect the historical memories and personal stories of apartheid South Africa. In this essay, I explore the socio-cultural, racialized and gendered political stories that shape female identity during times of political transition. In so doing, I examine the dialectical interplay between good and evil within the borderlands of a world divided by race and gender. I proffer that Head's “soul evolution,” as she refers to it, is intrinsically connected to the sexual dynamics of masculine power and the struggle for self-autonomy.

Labour Migration Governance in Times of Political Transition: A Comparative Analyisis of Egypt and Tunisia

The 2011 uprisings that culminated into the Arab Awakening were expected to engender seminal changes in the political systems of Egypt and Tunisia. Renewed calls to protect Egyptian and Tunisian migrants abroad were at first launched in the two countries. This paper examines patterns of continuity and change affecting policies and institutions of labour migration in Egypt and Tunisia. After outlining key institutions with mandate over labour migration, including a brief analysis of the two countries’ labour markets, the paper assesses policies that promote employment abroad and protections for migrants. Egypt has made few changes in labour migration policies or institutions. Tunisia went further but without undertaking radical changes in its policies and institutions.

Political indoctrination in the Chinese military: Towards a post-revolutionary People’s Liberation Army

This article examines the role played by the political indoctrination of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during China’s socio-economic reforms of 1987–2007. This period was a time of political transition during which the Chinese Communist Party transformed its ideology from a focus on revolution to a self-proclaimed unrivalled single-party regime. This article looks at how the party conveyed this ideological change to the armed forces. One of the four PLA general headquarters/departments, the PLA General Political Department (中国人民解放军总政治部), was responsible for the indoctrination of servicemen and -women. Examining the work of this agency over the 20 years following its major ideological effort in 1987, this article challenges the dominant literature according to which political indoctrination hinders military professionalization. The crux of this argument is that the General Political Department’s purpose behind indoctrination of the armed forces was not only to assert party control but also to build esprit de corps. Based on a series of previously untapped periodicals published by the General Political Department, this analysis contributes to understanding processes of authoritarian resilience in the contemporary Chinese state.

Rewinding and Unwinding: Art and Justice in Times of Political Transition

Rewinding and Unwinding: Art and Justice in Times of Political Transition

Significance of the Social Vision of Great People in Times of Political Transition

The author offers a new approach to a phenomenon of social legends of great individuals from a philosophical point of view. He starts with a presentation of his interpretation of the concept of the Platonic tradition of a divine man and a cult or hagiography of such men in the ideal Platonic state, alongside with an explanation, inspired by Platonic authors. He collates this concept and its justification (rationalization) with today’s social and political reception of axiology, in order to present it as an epiphany of higher values. He collates it also with the results of philosophical reflection on a ductility of history, in order to show it as a prototype of something real in its historical efficiency. The author ends with summary and explanation of his proposal.

Becoming professional artists in postwar Singapore and Malaya: Developments in art during a time of political transition

This article aims to recover the background to the post-Second World War growth of local art activities, art education and the rise of the professional artist on the island of Singapore and peninsular Malaya. It examines how the transitional period spanning the dissolution of British colonialism and the establishment of two independent nations stimulated unique conditions for the development of local art education and created an amateur–professional artist divide. The promotion and support of fine arts and related activities were in tandem with nation-building strategies that sought to construct a common ‘Malayan’ culture and identity.

Good Guest, Bad Guest: The Micro-Geographies of Violence in Urban Kenya

This article analyses the 2007–08 postelection violence in Kenya arguing that there were significant socio-spatial variations to the conflict in urban areas that can be better understood through an analysis of localised framing processes. It argues that, in some urban neighbourhoods, an underlying frame of autochthony is (re)produced through lived experience, facilitating the casting of ethnic others as either good or bad guests in times of political transition. The flawed elections of 2007 justified the violent eviction of ‘bad’ guests in these settings. This frame of autochthony, however, is absent in other urban neighbourhoods, and so these spaces remained relatively calm for the duration of the crisis. The article further argues that the flexibility of the good guest/bad guest frame enabled its reconfiguration at the local level, leading to variations in the fault lines of conflict across both time and space. It concludes that frame analysis can help to elucidate these micro-geographies of conflict.

Regime Change and Foreign Policy

Regime change and foreign policy adjustments have been closely intertwined in Myanmar’s recent experience. Since 2011, domestic political transition has been paralleled by changes in the country’s foreign policy posture, with Naypyitaw reconsidering its dependence on Beijing while seeking rapprochement with Washington. Taking Myanmar as a case study, this essay aims to address the theoretical issue of how regime change influences the foreign policy of a country. The first two sections draw on Foreign Policy Analysis and Comparative Politics to develop an analytical framework for the study of foreign policy choices during regime change. The focus is on how transitional politics interacts with external influence, against the background of loosened distinctions between the domestic and international levels. The last two sections test the analytical framework against the ups and downs of Myanmar’s economic cooperation with China. Two decisions of the Myanmar government are analysed: the 2011 decision to suspend cooperation on the Myitsone dam, and the 2012 decision to continue cooperation on the Letpadaung mine. While apparently contradictory, Naypyitaw’s behaviour on these two occasions helps to unravel the dilemmas that foreign policy decision-makers face at times of political transition.

Devolving the Power to Divide: Sectarian Relations in Egypt (2011-12)

This article is about decentralisation and social cohesion in religiously heterogeneous communities in times of political transition. Post-Mubarak Egypt is taken as a case study involving the informal devolution of power in managing sectarian relations between the majority Muslim and minority Christian populations between February 2011 and June 2012. On the surface, the process had features of a political decentralisation of power which holds promise of downward accountability. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) delegated the governance of local sectarian conflict to religious community leaders enjoying high popularity, a policy that was subsequently followed by the Muslim Brotherhood-led government. However, the process of local leaders assuming the power to govern was also an unintended consequence of the collapse of rule of law in a context of extreme political volatility associated with a country in revolt.

Deagrarianisation and forest revegetation in a biodiversity hotspot on the Wild Coast, South Africa.

Deagraianisation is a worldwide phenomenon with widespread social, ecological and economic effects yet with little consensus on the local or higher level causes. There have been contested views on the causes and consequences of deagrarianisation on South Africa's Wild Coast, which is an international biodiversity hotspot. Using GIS, household interviews and ecological sampling, we compared the perspectives of current and former cultivators as to why some have abandoned farming, whilst also tracking the uses and woody plant cover and composition of fields abandoned at different periods. The GIS analysis showed that field abandonment had been ongoing over several decades, with a decline from 12.5 % field cover in 1961 to 2.7 % in 2009. The area of forests and woodlands almost doubled in the corresponding period. There was a distinct peak in field abandonment during the time of political transition at the national level in the early 1990 s. This political change led to a decrease in government support for livestock farming, which in turn resulted in reduced animal draught power at the household and community level, and hence reduced cropping. The study showed it is largely the wealthier households that have remained in arable agriculture and that the poorer households have abandoned farming. The abandoned fields show a distinct trend of increasing woody biomass and species richness with length of time since abandonment, with approximately three woody plant species added per decade. Most local respondents dislike the increases in forest and woodland extent and density because of anxiety about wild animals causing harm to crops and even humans, and the loss of an agricultural identity to livelihoods and the landscape.

Deagrarianisation and Forest Revegetation in a Biodiversity Hotspot on the Wild Coast, South Africa

Deagraianisation is a worldwide phenomenon with widespread social, ecological and economic effects yet with little consensus on the local or higher level causes. There have been contested views on the causes and consequences of deagrarianisation on South Africa’s Wild Coast, which is an international biodiversity hotspot. Using GIS, household interviews and ecological sampling, we compared the perspectives of current and former cultivators as to why some have abandoned farming, whilst also tracking the uses and woody plant cover and composition of fields abandoned at different periods. The GIS analysis showed that field abandonment had been ongoing over several decades, with a decline from 12.5 % field cover in 1961 to 2.7 % in 2009. The area of forests and woodlands almost doubled in the corresponding period. There was a distinct peak in field abandonment during the time of political transition at the national level in the early 1990s. This political change led to a decrease in government support for livestock farming, which in turn resulted in reduced animal draught power at the household and community level, and hence reduced cropping. The study showed it is largely the wealthier households that have remained in arable agriculture and that the poorer households have abandoned farming. The abandoned fields show a distinct trend of increasing woody biomass and species richness with length of time since abandonment, with approximately three woody plant species added per decade. Most local respondents dislike the increases in forest and woodland extent and density because of anxiety about wild animals causing harm to crops and even humans, and the loss of an agricultural identity to livelihoods and the landscape.

Biological and spatial structure of an early classic period cemetery at Charco Redondo, Oaxaca

This article presents an analysis of biological and spatial patterning of an Early Classic (A.D. 250-500) Chatino cemetery at the archaeological site of Charco Redondo, located in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. The Early Classic was a time of political instability positioned between two phases of state-level centralization within the coastal valley. The communal cemetery at Charco Redondo adds significantly to the inventory of excavated graves from this time period and provides novel data on mortuary practices during a critical phase in the development of state level polities in the region. Cluster analysis of mortuary data is combined with intracemetery biodistance approaches to reconstruct how the Charco Redondo cemetery was organized with respect to biological relationships. Cluster analysis of mortuary data identified three groupings of burials. Multidimensional scaling of Euclidean distances and Gower coefficients based on 45 odontometric and 13 dental morphological variables suggests a strong relationship between grave characteristics and locations and phenotypic variation. In other words, the cemetery at Charco Redondo appears biologically kin-structured. The communal nature of the cemetery conflicts with the assumed "household" burial model for this time period. We propose the observed combination of features represents a transitional practice in which aspects of community, kin, and individual identity were signaled simultaneously within the funerary environment during a time of political transition in the Valley. This article highlights the utility of intracemetery biodistance analyses for examining dimensions of kinship, "house," and community throughout Mesoamerica where overarching models often mask regional variability.

The Priority of Legitimacy in Times of Political Transition

This paper interprets the relation between justice and legitimacy found in John Rawls's Political Liberalism and then applies it to the field of transitional justice. The author argues that transitional mechanisms can be better defended in terms of “legitimacy” than in “justice,” because the circumstances of transitional justice admit of reasonable disagreement over “just” public policy. In such circumstances, policy recommendations can always be construed as falling short of justice, thus raising plausible concerns over their normative justification. This paper attempts to answer such concerns by justifying transitional mechanisms as morally appropriate yet less than fully just. The author explains how the concept of legitimacy facilitates such a justification and how such a justification can secure the normative grounds that are ironically threatened by investigations relying on a concept of justice.

Dealing with international crimes in post-war Bosnia: A look through the lens of the affected population

Debates about serious human rights violations and international crimes committed in the past appear during times of political transition. New political elites are confronted with fundamental questions of how to seek truth, establish accountability for offenders, provide reparation to victims, promote reconciliation, deal with trauma and build trust. ‘Transitional’ or ‘post-conflict justice’ is most often managed by elites, national and international, while the views and expectations of the local populations are rarely taken into account. Population-based research can yield deep insights into strategies and mechanisms for dealing with the crimes of the past. This paper reports on the major findings of a study in Bosnia and on the factors that may contribute to trust and reconciliation in the country.