INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AGENCIES AND IRAQI MIGRATION IN PRECONFLICT SYRIA

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Hoffmann

AbstractDuring the Iraqi refugee crisis of 2007–10, international humanitarian organizations appeared for the first time in the Syrian domestic arena. These aid providers interpreted the position of Iraqi refugees in Syria according to a liberal conception of state–citizen relations that did not accord with the Syrian government's actual approach to Iraqis. Guided by this liberal frame, humanitarian organizations introduced biopolitical programs into the Syrian domestic context. Through new forms of population management, they solicited forms of behavior from Iraqis that were different from those required by Syrian state authorities. Drawing on the concept of biopower and using ethnographic material drawn from long-term research in Damascus in 2009–10, this article sheds light on an important political development in Syria shortly before the outbreak of social unrest and on the social changes that international humanitarian aid may transport.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Tarrow

Movements and parties have given rise to two largely separates specialties in the social sciences. This Element is an effort to link the two literatures, using evidence from American political development. It identifies five relational mechanisms governing movement/party relations: two of them short term, two intermediate term, and one long-term. It closes with a reflection on the role of movement/party relations in democratization and for democratic resilience.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Tani Sebro

This essay considers the case of uneven humanitarian aid distribution along the Thai-Myanmar border, where forcibly displaced migrants from Myanmar have been abandoned by the UNHCR and international humanitarian organizations. Based upon long-term ethnographic fieldwork along the Thai-Myanmar border amongst Tai migrants from the Shan State in Myanmar, I attend to the effects of the inequitable distribution of rights and privileges in an international humanitarian system that is predicated on the neoliberal logic of uneven development. After two centuries of British colonial occupation and later Burman authoritarian rule, the ethnic minority groups along the Thai-Myanmar border are now facing another crisis – that of abandonment as NGOs search for new and more pressing humanitarian disasters elsewhere. The essay addresses a concept I call uneven humanitarianism as a neocolonial condition for peoples living in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands by specifically focusing on Tai peoples who are living in unofficial refugee camps that lost foreign funding in 2017. I argue that the ad hoc treatment and eventual abandonment of these vulnerable groups – that are currently in the midst of the world’s most protracted civil war and displacement situation – constitutes a failure of the “responsibility to protect” humanitarian project.


Author(s):  
Johann P. Arnason ◽  
Marek Hrubec

Problems of social revolutions and/or transformations belong to the classical agenda of social inquiry, as well as to the most prominent real and potential challenges encountered by contemporary societies. Among revolutionary events of the last decades, particular attention has been drawn to the changes that unfolded at the turn of the 1990s and brought the supposedly bipolar (in fact incipiently multipolar) world to an end. The downfall of East Central European Communist regimes in 1989 and of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the beginning of a new era, originally characterised on the one hand by the relaxation of international tensions and on the other by the ascendancy of Western unilateralism. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Soviet collapse prompts the authors of this book to reflect on revolutions and transformations, both from a long-term historical perspective and with regard to the post-Communist scene. The social changes unfolding in Eastern and Central Europe are not only epoch-making historical turns; their economic, social and political aspects, often confusing and unexpected, have also raised new questions and triggered debates about fundamental theoretical issues. Moreover, they have had a significant impact on developments elsewhere in the world, in both Western and developing countries.


European View ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-57
Author(s):  
Manfred Weber

The EU has a fundamental interest in having a constructive relationship with Turkey. However, the EU–Turkey relationship has become strained over recent years. This is why EU–Turkey relations need a new start, based on honesty about the long-term goal: EU membership is not an option for Turkey. Instead, the EU and Turkey should focus on concrete fields of cooperation. Humanitarian aid in the refugee crisis is a good example of a field in which a joint solution has been successful, as is the protection of the common external border. More joint action from the EU and Turkey is needed as regards the situation in Syria and Iraq. Turkey must overcome its democratic shortcomings. Further economic cooperation will depend on the application of the rule of law in Turkey.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30
Author(s):  
Nenad Miscevic ◽  

What is the role of toleration in the present-day crisis, marked by the inflow of refugees and increase in populism? The seriousness of the crises demands efforts of active toleration, acceptance, and integration of refugees and the like. Active toleration brings with itself a series of very demanding duties, divided into immediate ones involving immediate Samaritan aid to people at our doors and the long-term ones involving their acculturation and possibilities of decent life for them. A cosmopolitan attitude can contribute a lot. In the context of a refugee crisis, cosmopolitanism is not disappearing but showing its non-traditional, more Samaritan face turned not to distant strangers, as the classical one, but towards strangers at our doors.We have conjectured that this work of active toleration can diminish the need for the passive one: the well-integrated immigrant is no longer seen as a strange, exotic person with an incomprehensible and unacceptable attitude, but as one of us so that her attitudes become less irritating and provocative. The social-psychological approach that sees integration as involving both the preservation of central aspects of the original identity and the copy-pasting of the new one over it offers an interesting rationale for the conjecture: once integrated, the former newcomer is perceived as one of ‘us’ and her views stop being exotic, incomprehensible and a priori unacceptable. Given the amount of need for toleration, and difficulties and paradoxes connected with its passive variety, the conjecture, if true, might be a piece of good news.Finally, we have briefly touched the question of deeper causes of the crisis. Once one turns to this question, the traditional cosmopolitan issues come back to the forefront: the deep poverty and unjust distribution on the one hand, and conflicts and wars on the other. Cosmopolitans have a duty to face these issues, and this is where active global toleration leads in our times.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Komphorn Prachumwan ◽  
Chalermpol Ataso

The ethnic group ‘Hmong’, the descendants of Chinese ‘Miao’ group who migrated south to reside in Northern Thailand, is known to possess their own unique arts, culture, tradition, and music. However, the influence of social change seemed to largely affect the musical culture of Hmong ethnic, Khao Kho District, Phetchabun Province, in a multifactorial manner. Through different phases of a series of communist wars, the original musical cultures were subjected to the cumulative changes of social contexts, evolving toward modernization, at a great extent. In addition, not only the social changes have had a large impact on the Hmong ethnic’s musical cultures, but also on their ritual performances that require music as its core. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of social changes on musical culture by identifying the key contributing factors that determined Hmong’s musical performances and appreciation based on their historical features.


Author(s):  
Anatoliy Oronovsky ◽  
Ganna Tsap ◽  
Larysa Oronovska

The purpose of the article. To consider and analyze some aspects of the development of modern Ukrainian pop songs in the postcolonial period of the late XX - early XXI century. The methodology involves the use of a systematic approach to research, as well as the use of methods of analysis, synthesis, historical and comparative, which allowed analyzing the development of Ukrainian pop songs in the Soviet system and after independence when it was in the field of Russian influence. which is the glow of long-term colonial status. The scientific novelty is that for the first time the development of Ukrainian pop songs was considered not only in the context of art analysis but also the research of postcolonialism, which generally affected the development of Ukrainian culture of XX - early XXI century. Conclusions. Changes in music culture are evidence of the adaptation of the flexible mechanism of music creation to new operating conditions. And although it is difficult to predict further social changes and their impact on the formation of musical culture not only in Ukrainian society but also in the world, the main trends have already been outlined. They consist of a certain unification of musical and stylistic standards, which will eliminate the differences between performers of popular musical compositions around the world. Accordingly, globalization dictates fashion in the field of music culture. In general, at the beginning of the third millennium, Ukrainian pop song culture entered the context of European and world cultural processes and became the property of world music culture, and its brightest representatives occupy a worthy place among world masters. Keywords: pop, pop song, postcolonial influences, national self-identification.


Author(s):  
Lucian N Leustean

Abstract In Serbia, during the 2015 European refugee crisis, the Orthodox Church mobilized communities in providing humanitarian aid before local authorities and the government issued an organized response. Two years later, in December 2017, with the support of the Orthodox Church, Ukraine exchanged war prisoners with the separatist authorities in Donbas. In both countries, the social and political involvement of Orthodox Churches in dealing with forced displacement was unprecedented. Drawing on literature review and interviews with 25 representatives of governmental and civil-society bodies, members of the clergy and academics, this article explores the ways in which, in Serbia and Ukraine, when states fail to offer support for populations affected by violence, religious communities have been among the first actors to take over state governance and provide human security. It argues that, by doing so, Orthodox Churches become open to politicization from state authorities. The article contributes to the study of religion and forced displacement by linking the politicization of Orthodox Churches to the concept of state failure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delia Ferri

Daouidi v Bootes Plus SL is one the latest decisions in which the CJEU has been directly confronted with the concept of disability in the realm of EU anti-discrimination legislation. In particular, in this judgment, the Court attempted to identify when the dismissal of a worker due to temporary incapacity of an unknown duration may constitute direct discrimination on the grounds of disability. This decision appears to be significant in that, for the first time, the CJEU discusses the meaning of ‘long-term limitation’ for the purpose of Directive 2000/78. Although the Court treads carefully, it attempts to further elucidate and bring new elements to the definition of disability in EU anti-discrimination law. In spite of the fact that the Court is potentially widening the notion of disability, it appears, once again, quite reticent in its approach to the role of social, environmental and attitudinal barriers in disabling an individual, and remains somewhat ‘trapped’ in the medical model of disability. All in all, this analysis endeavors to highlight that the CJEU is struggling to move beyond a rhetorical recognition of the social model of disability and to apply this in practice.


2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
Syunsuke Ikeda ◽  
◽  

As pointed out by Assessment Report 4 of IPCC, global climate change will increase the magnitude and frequency of water-related disasters such as flooding, surge and drought. In addition to this the social changes such as population problems in Japan will aggravate the vulnerability to the disasters. Two concepts to cope with the water-related disasters triggered by climate change are adaptation and mitigation. Though abatement of GHG gas emissions has been eagerly argued, Japan should be more concerned with and take the initiative both for mitigation and adaptation. As adaptation measures for water-related disasters, 3 measures are proposed in this paper; building disaster-awareness societies, building physical/social structures, and adaptation R&D. In addition to them, it is necessary to bring reconstruction of the national land into medium- and long term views as paradigm shift. In this paper, the following recommendations are proposed for the adaptation: the Japanese government should be aware of the importance of adaptation and strongly promote adaptation to mitigate water-related disasters, and the government should also cooperate in establishing adaptation in sustaining development of Asian monsoon areas and development programs.


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