Playing with Positionality?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Kingston
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Research Site ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions

The chapter outlines how researchers take on different roles and positionalities as they adapt to the field, moving, for instance, from that of an “outsider” laden with externalized theoretical assumptions and having few contacts with and knowledge of the research site to one approaching, to varying degrees, that of a “pseudo-insider.” Indeed, the argument here is that researchers make choices when moving from outsider to insider roles (and between them), contingently adapting their positionality in the hope to better understand the political dynamics that underlie research projects. The setting is post-civil war Lebanon and the research project revolves around an examination of the micropolitics of civil society and associational life in this re-emerging but fragmented polity.

scholarly journals KONTRIBUSI NU SEBAGAI ORGANISASI CIVIL SOCIETY DALAM DEMOKRATISASI

Dialog ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Suryani Suryani
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The People ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama

This paper illustrates how the political dynamics of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) as a part of civil society in Indonesia in the national political constellation. NU is a concrete example of the people power in the form of civil society whose existence should be noted. As the largest Muslim community in Indonesia, NU was recorded as the entity who contacted and reinforced the concept of civil society in Indonesia earlier than other Muslim modernist communities. NU activists and intellectuals play an earlier role in developing the discourse of civil society since the independence to now compared to Muhammadiyah, HMI alumni, or other Muslim leaders alumni from Masyumi.

The Politics of ‘Winner Takes All’ (2008–2014)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Rich Dorman
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Winner Takes All

This chapter explores how ZANU used the creation of a government of national unity (GNU) between 2008 to 2013 to regain control of the political landscape. It tracks the economic and social crises that led to power-sharing, and explores the political dynamics first from the perspective of political parties and then from civil society. We see how church leaders and chiefs were (re-)incorporated into the ZANU discursive project, and how NGOs were marginalized from political discourse. The GNU limited and contained the extremes of political violence and economic crisis. This allowed ZANU to capitalize on its successes, build a new coalition of supporters and regain control of the state through the 2014 general election. Despite an institutional facade of unity, political factionalization deepened, and politics became increasingly driven by a dynamic of "winner takes all."

“Don't Mention the War?” The Politics of Remembrance and Forgetfulness in Postwar Lebanon

2007 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Barak
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Settings

This article explores the divergent ways in which the state, the political society, and the civil society in Lebanon have addressed the Civil War (1975-90) in the postwar era. More specifically, I explore the interplay between actors operating within these spheres concerning three contentious questions: a) Should the war be remembered and commemorated? b) Who is responsible for the war? c) How to consider Lebanon's modern history in light of the war? The discussion highlights both the possibilities and constraints of civil society groups in post-conflict settings.

scholarly journals Religion, Politics and Civilizational Dynamics in the Modern World

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-131
Author(s):  
E. Rashkovskii
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Religious Symbolism

Received 11.01.2020. The paper attempts to interpret civilizational as well as political dynamics of the modern world in terms of contents and pivotal meanings in the religious sphere as such. According to the author, it is impossible to imagine all the complex of human identities, antagonisms, sympathies, and mutual understanding without taking into account specific features of religious symbolism. Thanks to these kinds of features religious sphere constantly interacting with different fields of law, politics, and international relations. As for the political field, the religious sphere is viewed in intrinsic triple connections: Religious Institutions – Statehood – Civil Society. This kind of approach tends to balance the principles of cultural heritage, secular state as well as of human rights and dignity.

27. Sudan

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liv Tønnessen
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Rule

This chapter examines human rights, development, and democracy in Sudan. Since gaining independence in 1956, Sudan has been dominated by a northern Muslim ‘ethnocracy’ — a factor that helped precipitate secession of the Christian south in 2011. Long periods of military rule and civil war have spawned a culture of authoritarianism and violence. The chapter first provides an overview of political instability in Sudan before discussing the two civil wars and perpetual conflicts endured by the country throughout its history. It then considers the political economy of human development in Sudan, focusing on the link between underdevelopment and the politics of oil, as well as the failure of democracy to consolidate and the role of civil society in popular uprisings. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the connection between development in the Sudanese context and the need for improving human rights.

The Brunanburh Campaign: A Reappraisal

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Halloran
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Variant Form ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Battle Of Brunanburh

Modern accounts of the battle of Brunanburh have generally suggested a location in the Northumbrian-Mercian borderlands east or west of the Pennines, a conclusion based in part on analysis of the aims and strategy of Anlaf Guthfrithson, Viking king of Dublin. This article re-examines the political dynamics of the coalition against Athelstan, taking account of the territorial and political ambitions of the kings of Alba and Strathclyde, and proposes a radically different interpretation of the campaign of 937. It also questions the reliability of the variant form Brunanburh as a guide to the battle's location and concludes that the most likely site was Burnswark in Annandale.

Language Movement and Civil War in West Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ericka A. Albaugh
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Language Spread ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter examines how civil war can influence the spread of language. Specifically, it takes Sierra Leone as a case study to demonstrate how Krio grew from being primarily a language of urban areas in the 1960s to one spoken by most of the population in the 2000s. While some of this was due to “normal” factors such as population movement and growing urbanization, the civil war from 1991 to 2002 certainly catalyzed the process of language spread in the 1990s. Using census documents and surveys, the chapter tests the hypothesis at the national, regional, and individual levels. The spread of a language has political consequences, as it allows for citizen participation in the political process. It is an example of political scientists’ approach to uncovering the mechanisms for and evidence of language movement in Africa.

Kyrgyzstan

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Marat
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The Political ◽  
Lethal Force ◽  
State Actors

This chapter, on Kyrgyzstan, demonstrates how diverse and dynamic civil society mobilized in support of police overhaul following the state’s use of lethal force against civilian demonstrators in central Bishkek in 2010. The political leadership pledged to overhaul the police to avoid a repetition of bloodshed. Engaging with a range of NGOs, civic activists, and MPs, the Interior Ministry has addressed reform in a chaotic and unpredictable manner. Civil society actors representing NGOs bickered among themselves, while their demands to depoliticize the Interior Ministry differed altogether from those of the ministry. Nevertheless, the concept paper that emerged following numerous forums was driven by a consensus between a range of nonstate and state actors.

The Concept of the Political

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin A. Schupmann
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mass Movements ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 2 reinterprets Schmitt’s concept of the political. Schmitt argued that Weimar developments, especially the rise of mass movements politically opposed to the state and constitution, demonstrated that the state did not have any sort of monopoly over the political, contradicting the arguments made by predominant Weimar state theorists, such as Jellinek and Meinecke. Not only was the political independent of the state, Schmitt argued, but it could even be turned against it. Schmitt believed that his contemporaries’ failure to recognize the nature of the political prevented them from adequately responding to the politicization of society, inadvertently risking civil war. This chapter reanalyzes Schmitt’s political from this perspective. Without ignoring enmity, it argues that Schmitt also defines the political in terms of friendship and, importantly, “status par excellence” (the status that relativizes other statuses). It also examines the relationship between the political and Schmitt’s concept of representation.

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