Undermine Democracy Research Articles

Blood Ties and the Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan by Aksana Ismailbekova

Reviewed by: Blood Ties and the Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan by Aksana Ismailbekova Fengfeng Zhang (bio) and Laiyi Zhang (bio) Aksana Ismailbekova, Blood Ties and the Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017). 219 pp., ill. Bibliography. Index. ISBN: 978-0-253-02539-5. Born in Bishkek and trained in Germany, the anthropologist Aksana Ismailbekova studies the transition of Kyrgyzstan from a Soviet Republic to an independent nation-state using a case study of one village in Northern Kyrgyzstan. She uses her ethnographic observations of the intrinsic connection between kinship relations and political patronage to argue that clan politics help sustain rather than undermine democracy in Central Asia. In the course of fourteen months in 2006 and 2007, Ismailbekova observed daily life in the village of Bulak in Chüi Province, conducted interviews with its inhabitants, and participated in their activities. Her study focuses on the rise and fall of a local politician and businessman, Rahim, a "native son" of Bulak raised in Bishkek, who manipulated the ties of kinship and patronage to fulfill his political ambitions at the local level and throughout northern [End Page 304] Kyrgyzstan. Ismailbekova argues that Rahim's strategy was typical of many other Kyrgyz politicians, which made his case paradigmatic for the development of democratic politics in Kyrgyzstan. The book consists of an introduction, seven chapters, and "Concluding Words". The introduction presents the setting of the story and conceptual frameworks used for its interpretation. Chapter 1 discusses the structures of kinship and patronage in Kyrgyz society from the pre-Soviet era to the post-Soviet period. Chapter 2 charts Rahim's place on the genealogical map of local society in Bulak and beyond. Chapter 3 explains the categories of kinship and the operation of patronage networks and kinship practices in the village. Chapter 4 discusses the concept of the "circle of trust" supported by patronage networks, using the example of Rahim's private farm Emgek. Writing about negotiations on the building of a mosque in the village of Orlovka, in chapter 5, the author explicates the link between patronage networks and state structures. Rahim's election to the Kyrgyz parliament from the local election district highlights his return "as a native son" of Bulak. This part of the story is told in chapter 6, which also deconstructs the symbolism of election day to demonstrate how democracy functions in rural Kyrgyzstan and what it really means to ordinary Kyrgyz. Chapter 7 presents Rahim's victory feast as a celebration not only of his election success but also of the power of traditional social ties. The concluding section of the book mentions Rahim's death and the subsequent collapse of patronage networks. The author offers her interpretation of the political meaning of patronage in the modern world and criticizes the normative Western concept of democracy as incompatible with clientelism and tribalism. Ismailbekova speaks of informal social networks in terms of "social poetics": they are omnipresent and deeply ingrained in the society but not formally institutionalized and need to be explicated by a scholar as both violating and adhering to the official norms. Historically, Kyrgyz tribes were organized along common genealogies and hierarchies, and knowledge of family lineage was transmitted through sanjyra (oral genealogical legends). The lineage was organized according to patrilineal descent. Patron–client relations were established between clan leaders (bii or manap) and the poor, but they were not necessarily blood-based. During Soviet times, kinship and patronage networks survived, even if somewhat modified, as many lineage groups were integrated into the kolkhoz structures. The post-1991 period witnessed the revival of interest in genealogies at the private [End Page 305] and state levels, as the foundation for rewriting the country's official history and promoting national culture. The historic rivalry among different lineages in the north and south of the country contributed in part to the escalation of political tensions that brought about the Revolutions of 2005 and 2010. It is against this historical background that the author identifies Rahim's position in the structures of kinship in Bulak village. She argues that Rahim was integrated into the segmentary lineage system (which implies a combination of...

Anti-Social Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy

Social media, and Facebook in particular, have become such a ubiquitous and deeply imbedded part of culture that few would bother to mark their existence with more than a casual shrug. People use social media to fulfill all manner of tasks, needs, and desires, while businesses and organizations use it to reach increasingly specific segments of the population. Engaging with social media is a foregone conclusion—a swift glance around any coffee shop, university, classroom, restaurant, or nearly any other public setting is enough to validate this. In the realm of social media, Facebook is king. The platform can now boast of well over 2 billion international users that post, upload pictures and video, and interact with it hundreds of thousands of times a day. At a surface level, Facebook appears to ask nothing of people except their time, but a deeper dive into the world of likes, clicks, and shares unveils a riptide of surveillance, manipulation, disinformation, and digital imperialism. In Anti-Social Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy, Siva Vaidhyanathan takes a floodlight to the very roots of the platform and demonstrates with careful, piercing analysis how it has eroded one of the hallmarks of a democracy: the ability of the public to have reasoned, informed discourse.

Profiling As Inferred Data. Amplifier Effects and Positive Feedback Loops

Extracting profiles and other hidden knowledge from large amounts of data via techniques like data mining and machine learning is often regarded as an input-output process in which knowledge (i.e., profiles) are extracted from raw data. In this provocation, a different perspective is taken, in which profiles are not regarded as knowledge, but rather as (new) data, namely as inferred data. Using this perspective, it is shown that profiles are not only an end result or an end product, but can also be reused as ingredients for further data analytics. However, in this way, profiling processes may function as amplifiers, amplifying bias and inaccuracies via positive feedback loops, that further entrench consequences for data subjects. Effects of small disturbances (like incorrect or incomplete data, or flaws in the data analysis) may lead to an increase of the magnitude of perturbations. Obviously, this may have some serious consequences for data subjects. Profiling based on datasets from data brokers that contain large amounts of inferred data, may propagate any existing biased patterns, leading, for instance, to disparate impact. The reuse of inferred data may also lead to self-fulfilling prophecies – a phenomenon well-known in profiling. In case of inferred data, however, the effect might be much stronger: because of the self-reinforcing effect, patterns may be amplified and become much more entrenched. These effects may amplify inequality, undermine democracy and further push people into categories that are hard to break out. From a legal perspective, under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) inferred data may or may not be personal data. If so, people have a right to access the inferred data and to receive meaningful information about the logic involved in the data analytics. However, since data subjects have no right to access the algorithms and data of other data subject used in the analyses, it is impossible for them to check whether data is inferred correctly.

Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. By Siva Vaidhyanathan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. 288p. $24.95 cloth, $17.95 paper.

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Bosnia’s Paralyzed Peace

This study offers a powerful blow by blow analysis of the attempts to create peace in BiH since the Dayton Agreement. According to Christopher Bennett, Dayton provided a “balance of terror,” was full of unrealistic deadlines, and aimed at providing internationals with an exit strategy (81) and international involvement constantly suffered from an “enforcement gap” (110) derived from the contradiction between trusteeship and democracy as well as limited resources (114). It has even reinforced existing power structures (the ethnos rather than the demos (116, 182), connected to para-states, and undermined democracy. A “new ethno-national reality now exists” even extending to the education system (244). Bennett expertly lays bare the oddity and inconsistencies of the post-Dayton BiH framework for politics. There is much to agree with, and to learn from the analysis as it proceeds chronologically. Even if one does not agree with the final argument and conclusions presented to the reader, it is a very well written and extremely insightful, detailed volume (though more thorough references would have been useful to the sources it uses).

Crisis Politics and Austerity in the UK: Creative Instabilities?

What has been the nature of capitalism’s post-2008 crisis? This contribution argues its requirement for a creative dynamic population presents the ­greatest threat to capitalism’s ability to reproduce continued inequality and undermine democracy. By mid 2015 a sense of severe ‘organic crisis’ (Gramsci’s term) where ruling elites could be removed was not especially obvious outside Southern Europe (or in the UK outside Scotland) since capitalism’s creative destruction may be considered ­inherently crisis-ridden. In this respect the decades old political ­settlement, consisting of ritualistic participation in a democracy that ensured a neoliberal programme will not be subject to any major revision or challenge, carried on unimpeded.Broad public consent for austerity measures in the UK was won off the back of a hysterical presentation of events in Greece. Cuts to public provision were cleverly and selectively directed at the weakest and most vulnerable underpinned by very traditional forms of legitimisation that of media demonization of these groups. The ‘management of inequalities’ (Maurizio Lazzarato’s term) functioned ­successfully in the UK so as to prevent the framing of coherent alternatives or sets of democratic demands: this is why radical digital activism – despite setbacks – may yet prove to be important.

Policy failures, blame games and changes to policy practice

AbstractStudies examining the policy implications of elite polarisation usually concentrate on policy formulation and change, but neglect the impact of polarisation on the day-to-day application of policies. Applying the method of causal process tracing to the Swiss “Carlos” case, a blame game triggered by the reporting about an expensive therapy setting for a youth offender, this article exposes and explains a hitherto neglected, but highly important, mechanism between political elites engaging in blame generation and changes in policy practice. A policy’s distance and visibility to mass publics, as well as the incentives and resources of elites to engage in blame generation, explain the dynamics within blame games, which, in turn, effect organisational and behavioural changes that help institutionalise a more politicised policy practice. Politicised policy practice can make an important difference to policy target populations, as well as damage output legitimacy and undermine democracy.

Local Politics of Xenophobia

Drawing on research from five peri-urban sites across South Africa on how local government is responding to mobility, this research explores how xenophobia is being produced by local governance processes and structures. Building a better understanding of the mechanisms of exclusion in local government is essential not only for planning interventions that may strengthen democracy, but to understand how the daily practices of local government can promote, or undermine democracy.

Ronald W. Evans Schooling Corporate Citizens: How Accountability Reform Has Damaged Civic Education and Undermined Democracy. New York: Routledge, 2015. 290 pp. Paperback $52.95. Cloth $155.00.

Ronald W. Evans Schooling Corporate Citizens: How Accountability Reform Has Damaged Civic Education and Undermined Democracy. New York: Routledge, 2015. 290 pp. Paperback $52.95. Cloth $155.00.

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy. By Sophal Ear. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 208p. $60.00.

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy. By Sophal Ear. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 208p. $60.00.

Dangers of an Urban Crisis within the European Union: Fueling Xenophobia and Undermining Democracy

The global economic and financial crisis of 2007-08 has further intensified a social and urban crisis that undermines democracy and economic institutions internationally. Specifically, the economic crisis and the consequent austerity measures have resulted in greater exploitation in the labor market and job discrimination, in capital flight and undermined political and social institutions that provide for citizens. Xenophobia becomes again a burgeoning problem that is plaguing the European Union (eu) and needs to be addressed thoroughly for it can again undermine the democratic tradition of the region. This article concentrates on perspectives on the current migration crisis within the region of theeuthat has spurred a spiral of xenophobic tendencies and a neo-liberal nationalist narrative. Particular emphasis is placed in the situations in Greece (the much attested “guinea pig” of the democratic experiment) and Italy.

Book Review: Ear, S. (2013). Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy.

Book Review: Ear, S. (2013). Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN: 978-0-231-16112-1. 208 pages.Based on the premise of the importance of national ownership for development, this book examines the relationship between Cambodia's aid dependence and its poor governance. Sophal Ear, assistant professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval Postgraduate School, chooses Cambodia as a case study as it is one of the most aid-drenched countries in Southeast Asia. To achieve the aforementioned objective, the book is divided into four chapters, using field interviews, case studies, and document analyses as a source of information.Chapter 1 concisely highlights the connection between aid dependence and quality of governance. This chapter claims that the quality of governance depends upon the governance system followed in the country. It argues that foreign aid has had negative incentives for good governance, weakened tax collections, and undermined accountability since donors failed to improve the rule of law.Chapter 2 describes the recent economic growth in Cambodia and shows the ineffectiveness of foreign aid and government policies in three main economic sectors (garment, rice, and livestock). Ear points out that effective and sustainable economic growth depends upon good governance in as much as the government ensures the rule of law, democracy, and anti-corruption.Chapter 3 assesses the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the effects of aid dependence based on the example of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The chapter shows that the efforts and policy responses to prevent the disease were weak mainly because of the lack of good governance, fund management, and the weak coordination at the state level.Last but not least, Chapter 4 looks into indigenous human rights activism between 2005 and 2006 that drew on international media and international diplomatic ties to curtail the excesses of the state and the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Funding by the international community was particularly oriented towards local, national, and international NGOs working to liberalize Cambodian democracy. As a result of international pressure, some political prisoners were released; yet, the pressure was too weak to spur government reforms in the country.The central argument of Aid Dependence in Cambodia is that neither democracy introduced by the United Nation Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) nor foreign aid flows led to economic development and a stabilization of the country. Therefore, the author suggests that Cambodia should cut foreign aid as soon as possible and instead strengthen domestic tax collection and enhance ownership for national development. Ear argues that Cambodia's main problems (e.g. poverty, corruption, and inequality) are global problems that can - particularly in postconflict societies - only be dealt with through international aid. However, Cambodia has received ODA for more than two decades with little impact on the socio-economic conditions of its people. The main reason for this ineffectiveness is high corruption and mismanagement of funding. The long-term aid dependence has made Cambodia a laboratory for donors' trial and error experiments (p. 10). Having this in mind, the author demands political will to change the culture of corruption.With regard to specific economic sectors, Ear finds that donors in Cambodia failed to invest in the energy sector and fight against informal payments in order to develop the rice, garment, and livestock sectors in the country. The garment industry as an important employment and income generation sector was successful mainly due to favorable external market conditions, the imposition of good labor practices by trading partners, and unified trade association. Lack of collaboration between rice-milling associations, poor access to credit, and high cost of energy and transportation limited the rice production in the country. …

Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government and the Free Market by Janine R. Wedel. New York: Basic Books, 2009. 304 pp. $27.50 (cloth).

Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government and the Free Market by Janine R. Wedel. New York: Basic Books, 2009. 304 pp. $27.50 (cloth).

Plutocrats at Work: How Big Philanthropy Undermines Democracy

Since their first appearance in the United States a century ago, large private foundations have been seen as a threat to democracy and civil society: they apply wealth to solve social problems according to their own values with minimal democratic control and almost no public accountability. In our age of immense concentrations of wealth, insufficient public resources, dominant market ideology, and unlimited private financing of political campaigns, �big philanthropy� is�more than ever�an instrument of plutocracy, of power derived from wealth. For a dozen years, some of the largest private foundations have been co-opting democratic control of public education in the United States to the detriment of both education and democracy

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy by SophalEar. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. 208 pp. $50 (cloth).

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy by SophalEar. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. 208 pp. $50 (cloth).

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy

The Journal of Southeast Asian Economies (JSEAE) is a peer-reviewed journal focusing on economic issues pertaining to countries in the region – defined as the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Timor. JSEAE welcomes articles using orthodox economic approaches as well as those of a more heterodox nature. Oriented at both researchers and policy-makers, the journal seeks to reconcile the ideals of relevance, methodological rigour, and accessibility. Published by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute tri-annually, JSEAE includes: articles based on original research; research notes; review articles; and book reviews. Once a year, the Journal publishes a Special Issue devoted entirely to a topic of import for the region. Up until April 2013, JSEAE was published as the ASEAN Economic Bulletin (AEB). However, following new developments in the regional and global context, as well as the establishment of new multi-lateral trading agreements including countries in the region, the Directorship of ISEAS and AEB’s Editorial Board decided to change the journal’s name. While its name has changed, JSEAE remains committed to being the premier economic journal for Southeast Asian academicians and policy-makers, as well as anyone with an interest in the region. All research articles in the journal have undergone rigorous peer-review. The process consists of initial screening by the Co-Editors and Associate Editor, followed by double-blind refereeing; two reviewers for articles and one reviewer for research notes.

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy

Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy. By Sophal Ear. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2013. Hardcover: 185pp. As this review was being written, Cambodia was preparing for its fourth general election since the historic elections sponsored by the United Nations (UN) in 1993. Those elections helped propel Cambodia from war to peace, and from autarky to global integration. As result, the Cambodian economy has, since the turn of the century, experienced on average near double-digit annual growth, driven mainly by the tourism and garment sectors. Politically, Cambodia has held regular multi-party elections at the national and sub-national levels. Despite these developments, there exist diverse assessments of Cambodia's political and economic trajectory, varying from the image of glass half-full to half-empty. Public opinion surveys conducted by the International Republican Institute--a U.S. based agency that promotes democracy around the world--have consistently shown that over three-quarters of Cambodians shared favourable view that Cambodia headed in the right direction. Sophal Ear, an Assistant Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, offers glass half empty diagnosis. He suggests that while on the surface Cambodia appears to be headed in the right direction, closer scrutiny reveals signs for concern and that the country is one broken government away from disaster (p. 133). According to the author, Cambodia has become a kleptocracy cum thugocracy (p. 8) in which the political and economic elites have colluded to exploit the country's natural resources and divert foreign aid for personal gain as well as to perpetuate the country's patronage based politics. In the meantime, the quality of democracy has declined with an absence of inter-institutional accountability, deterioration of the rule of law and tightly restricted civil liberties as the long ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) monopolize power. Ear postulates that Cambodia's growth has occurred without development, signified by the country's rising inequality, declining freedom and widespread poverty. Growth without development in Cambodia is attributable to the lack of problem closely associated with the generous inflow of development assistance. Foreign aid is hindrance to sustainable development for it enables the government to forgo tax collection, condition that perpetuates the absence of governmental accountability and responsiveness. The author faults the Western donor community for being short sighted and self-serving, basing the continuation of their assistance on Cambodia's political stability and Western interests rather than on promoting governance and democracy. Donors, Ear rightly argues, equate democracy with elections and this equation has perpetuated the facade of democracy in Cambodia. In certain respects, Western governments face dilemma in pushing for genuine democracy and governance due to the emergence of alternative donors--particularly China--whose aid to Cambodia is not linked to improvements in human rights and democracy. Cambodia's linkage to these non-traditional donors serves as countervailing force to Western donors' attempts at promoting democracy and human rights. The book devotes considerable attention to explaining the paradox of economic growth under conditions of weak governance by examining three sectors--garments, rice and livestock. Rather than an outcome of good governance, the garment sector's growth has been made possible by three factors; first, the presence of strong and unified Garment Manufacturing Association with history of working with the Ministry of Commerce to reduce corruption and create predictability; second, the favourable external market under conditions of preferential treatment based on garment sector's labour practices that respect workers' rights; and third, these labour practices are the product of semi-corporatist arrangements involving producers, the government and the International Labour Organization. …

The distorted democracy in Africa: Examining the cases of South Africa, Libya and Ivory Coast

Although Western powers preach democracy to African countries, these same Western powers undermine democracy in Africa and confiscate it. How? African elected governments must somehow also ‘buy’ another round of legitimacy from Western powers by promising to attend to Western strategic interests (if you are in opposition) and by attending to those Western strategic interests (if you are the incumbent government in power); otherwise they are removed from power by force. Consequently, other leaders less scrupulous and ‘less nationalist’ are hoisted to power; the main stake being the control of Africa's immense, untapped natural resources. In both cases, it is the people of Africa who suffer. Their countries' vast natural and mineral resources as well as ‘democratic elections’ become a curse for them. Elections therefore provide both an overt and covert legitimacy of power. This article examines the cases of South Africa, Libya and Ivory Coast to show the distorted democracy in Africa.

Book review: Janine R. Wedel, Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market

Book review: Janine R. Wedel, <i>Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market</i>

Legitimacy, Democracy and Rights: the Conservatism of Janet Albrechtsen

In recent years, media columnists have been instrumental in redefining Australian conservatism. One of the most prominent is Janet Albrechtsen. Using her critique of a bill of rights, this article examines how this new Australian conservatism rejects or reverses core elements of traditional conservatism. Utilitarianism exchanges the transcendent for the social. Equality and democracy replace elitism. Elites were minorities, albeit ones with leadership virtue. Now minorities of any sort threaten equality and undermine democracy. These changes reflect broader changes in society itself. In this sense, conservatism has made peace with modernity, hostility to which originally prompted its birth. Now the enemy is internationalism or postmodernity, the two often interchangeable. Albrechtsen's hostility to a bill of rights matches her rejection of international law and institutions that threaten the nation‐state and its guarantee of democracy and the rule of law.