scholarly journals Militarized masculinity and the paradox of restraint: mechanisms of social control under modern authoritarianism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tapscott
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Arbitrary Power ◽  
Social Discipline ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

Abstract The twenty-first century is marked by the rise of new forms of authoritarianism, many of which are characterized by the ‘paradox of restraint', in which reforms compliant with the rule of law are used to unshackle the ruler's arbitrary power. Despite a proliferation of scholarly studies on this topic, we still have limited understanding of how national-level authoritarian power reaches ordinary citizens in these contexts. This article identifies the performance of militarized masculinities as an understudied mechanism that does so. It offers two main contributions: first, it highlights how performances of militarized masculinities enact the paradox of restraint through gendered idioms, thereby magnifying the ambiguities of modern authoritarianism and diffusing them at a local level. Second, it recasts the conceptual utility of militarized masculinities, showing that the concept's inherent tensions between ordered discipline and unaccountable violence produce and project authoritarian power, giving militarized masculinities special potency as a mode of social discipline in these contexts. The article draws on feminist International Relations, employing grounded ethnographic research to illustrate how national-level power circulates locally. To do so, it first illustrates the relationship between the paradox of restraint and militarized masculinities using the cases of Putin's Russia and Duterte's Philippines. It then turns to an in-depth case study of a local dispute between soldiers and civilians in Museveni's Uganda to trace how gendered local encounters facilitate the transmission of national-level authoritarian power into the lives of ordinary people.

scholarly journals The Institutional Dualism and Its Impact on Economic Development The Case of Dualism in Batam

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-252
Author(s):  
Lany Pionier S ◽  
Jun Matsunami ◽  
Bakti Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Strategic Position ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Batam as a region with a strategic position, located on the international trade route, was developed to become one of the engines of economic growth in Indonesia. However, in its development, Batam faced governance problems that had an impact on the decline in its economic performance. Not only at the local level, but its influence reaches the national level. This study explains the causal relationship of Dual Governance, focusing on aspects of formation, relations between institutions and their impact on development. Using the framework of Holzinger, Kern and Kromrey (2016), this study captures the issue of institutional dualism that has occurred for years and is considered to be the cause of the decline in development in Batam. The study was conducted using qualitative research methods with a case study approach and collecting data from interviews and document analysis.There are several concluding points in this study regarding institutional dualism and its impact on economic development based on Batam’s case. They are the implementation of decentralization, the significance of the pre-existing institution, the similarity between two institution in respect of interpreting and implementing policies and the relationship between intergovernmental relations and economic development. These three factors affect the degree of intergovernmental relations which is directly proportional to economic development. The more intergovernmental relations are, the higher economic development is.

scholarly journals Decentralization, legitimacy, and democracy in post-Soviet Central Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 187936652110685
Author(s):  
David Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Political System ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Political Decentralization ◽  
Level I ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

During the 1990s, a conventional wisdom emerged, based on literature going back decades, that political decentralization might be among the most effective forces for democratization. If ordinary people could participate in autonomous local governments, democracy would be built from the ground up, ultimately shaping the entire political system. Once decentralization reforms were implemented across the world, however, the results were disappointing. Authoritarianism not only thrived at the local level, it could also undermine democratization at the national level. Thus, local-national transference still held, but sometimes as a poison. In this context, the case of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan is an anomaly. Here, the relative success of political decentralization—rather than its failure—nevertheless failed to spur democratization at the national level. I argue that this is because decentralization allowed national authorities to appease international donors while they consolidated their own power. Moreover, while decentralization empowered local communities, it did so in ways that personalized local authority and pitted local and national authorities against one another, resulting in intense localism and antagonistic center-local relations that undermined any democratic transference. The case study findings are based on ten months of field research, which includes interviews with local and national officials, ordinary villagers, and representatives of NGOs and international organizations.

scholarly journals Local industrial strategy and skills policy in England: Assessing the linkages and limitations – a case study of the Sheffield City Deal

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 857-872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sissons ◽  
Katy Jones
Keyword(s):  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Local Growth ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
Economic Development Policy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

This paper examines changes in local economic development policy which occurred between 2010 and 2015, with a focus on the relationship between industrial strategy and skills policy. Under the Coalition Government, Local Enterprise Partnerships were established and tasked with facilitating local growth, and to do so many identified a set of (potential) growth sectors for industrial strategy to support. These sectors tended to be drawn from a relatively narrow range of industries which therefore often excluded a large proportion of the local economy. An important focus of the support for growth sectors for many has been through an ambition to influence the local skills system. Skills policy more broadly has been an important dimension of devolution, and a number of City Deals have included elements of skills policy. Echoing previous national policy however, the focus of local concerns with skills under devolution has been framed largely with reference to skills gaps and shortages. While specific skills gaps and shortages can be identified, this paper questions whether this default position is reflected widely, and as such, if a narrow focus on skills supply is a sufficient approach. It is argued that to support local growth across a broad base, greater attention needs to be paid to stimulating employer demand for skills through better integrating industrial and innovation policy with skills policymaking across a wider section of the local economy. To support these arguments we present a case study of the Sheffield City Deal.

scholarly journals Connecting Reproductive Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law: Lessons from Poland in Times of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1072-1097
Author(s):  
Atina Krajewska
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Abortion Law ◽  
Polish Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Constitutional Tribunal ◽  
Litmus Test ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between reproductive rights, democracy, and the rule of law in transitional societies. As a case study, it examines the development of abortion law in Poland. The article makes three primary claims. First, it argues that the relationship between reproductive rights and the rule of law in Poland came clearly into view through the abortion judgment K 1/20, handed down by the Constitutional Tribunal in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The judgment and the context in which it was issued and published are interpreted as reflections of deep-lying processes and problems in Polish society. Consequently, second, the article argues that analysis of the history of reproductive rights in recent decades in Poland reveals weak institutionalization of the rule of law. This is manifest in the ways in which different professional groups, especially doctors and lawyers, have addressed questions regarding abortion law. Therefore, third, the article argues that any assessment of the rule of law should take into account how powerful professional actors and organizations interact with the law. The Polish case study shows that reproductive rights should be seen as important parts of a “litmus test,” which we can use to examine the efficacy of democratic transitions and the quality of the democracies in which such transitions result.

scholarly journals Drawing Out by Drawing Into: Representation and Partnership in a Design-Science Collaboration

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Pablo Schyfter
Keyword(s):  
Design Science ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Art And Design ◽  
Structural Growth ◽  
Science Collaboration ◽  
Interdisciplinary Partnership ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Joint Representation ◽  
Do So

“Synthetic Aesthetics” was a two-year experimental, interdisciplinary project that supported six partnerships between synthetic biologists and artists and designers. Each group sought to accomplish two tasks: build an interdisciplinary partnership and construct a joint representation. In this article, I explore the relationship between partnering and representing in one of the six partnerships: a collaboration between an architect and a synthetic biologist. I describe David Benjamin and Fernan Federici’s work on the self-organization and structural growth of xylem cells, and their pursuit of graphical and mathematical representations of so-called biological “logic.” I analyze the case study using two frameworks in unison. The first, from research in STS, explains representation as a social accomplishment with ontological consequences. The second, by pragmatist John Dewey, describes representation as drawing out and drawing into: selecting and extracting out of the world, and molding and installing into human artifice. I study Benjamin and Federici’s work as two acts of drawing out by drawing into: constructing and representing “logic” by forming a partnership to do so; and building a partnership by jointly forming a commitment to the existence of that “logic.” Doing so also involved ontological labor: making biological “logic” and rendering cells intelligible as products of rational mechanisms (as logical cells). Thus, representing and partnering are mutually enabling, mutually dependent and capable of ontological accomplishments. The lesson is useful to STS, a field increasingly concerned with art and design as topics of study and potential partners in work.

scholarly journals Blogging as Popular History Making, Blogs as Public History: The Singapore Case Study

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Ho
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Public History ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Historical Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Blogging is a twenty-first century phenomenon that has heralded an age where ordinary people can make their voices heard in the public sphere of the Internet. This article explores blogging as a form of popular history making; the blog as a public history document; and how blogging is transforming the nature of public history and practice of history making in Singapore. An analysis of two Singapore ‘historical’ blogs illustrates how blogging is building a foundation for a more participatory historical society in the island nation. At the same time, the case studies also demonstrate the limitations of blogging and blogs in challenging official versions of history.

International Microtrade Regime - Structure and Financing

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpita Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Indian Government ◽  
New Form ◽  
Indian Scenario

The conceptualization of a new form of trade, microtrade, is visualized to hold great promise in economic development of the producers belonging to LDCs and developing countries. In order to meet the goal of poverty reduction at a sustainable pace, the institutional, financial and logistical mechanisms for facilitating microtrade both at the international and national level needs to be built in a manner which ensures maximum efficiency. The paper deals with two fundamental aspects of development of microtrade. First, it delineates different aspects which would provide a strong substratum to the proposed microtrade regime. It explores the legal and institutional framework required for conduct of microtrade, which can be structured under the existing WTO regime and proposes necessary amendments to the WTO regime. Second, the paper explores financial aspects of the proposed microtrade regime. A case study of operation of micro-credit in the Indian scenario is undertaken in order to highlight the problems which have recently emerged in the microfinance sector. The scale of these problems has led the Indian government to propose a bill, regulating microfinance in India. Cue from this experience needs to be taken in order to move towards a foolproof system of financing microtrade at the local level.

Complicating the Relationship Between Sport and National Identity: The Case of Post-Socialist Slovenia

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojca Doupona Topič ◽  
Jay Coakley
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
First Century ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Global Identity ◽  
Sociology Of Sport ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Relationship

Sociology of sport knowledge on national identity is grounded in research that focuses primarily on long established nation-states with widely known histories. The relationship between sport and national identity in postsocialist/Soviet/colonial nations that have gained independence or sovereignty since 1990 has seldom been studied. This paper examines the role of sports in the formation of national identity in postsocialist Slovenia, a nation-state that gained independence in 1990. Our analysis focuses on the recent context in which the current but fluid relationship between sport and Slovenian national identity exists. Using Slovenia as a case study we identify seven factors that may moderate the effectiveness of sports as sites for establishing and maintaining national identity and making successful global identity claims in the twenty-first century. We conclude that these factors should be taken into account to more fully understand the sport-national identity relationship today, especially in new and developing nations.

scholarly journals India

2021 ◽  
pp. 157-179
Author(s):  
Hai-Anh H. Dang ◽  
Peter Lanjouw
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Early Years ◽  
First Century ◽  
Inequality Of Opportunity ◽  
Education Outcomes ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Village ◽  
Horizontal Inequalities

India in the early years of the twenty-first century achieved per capita growth rates that were historically unprecedented. Poverty reduction also accelerated. There is concern, however, that this growth was accompanied by a rise in inequality. In this chapter, we report on a research project that examines inequality trends and dynamics at the all-India level over three decades up to 2011/12 and contrasts these with evidence at the level of the village or the urban block. We further unpack inequality to explore dynamics in terms of the movement of people within the income distribution over time. The assessment of mobility is informed both by evidence at the very local level, and by aggregate, national-level trends. The study attempts, further, to assess horizontal inequalities into a measure of inequality of opportunity as captured by inter-generational mobility in education outcomes.

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