Token Constitutionalism and Islamic Opposition in Tajikistan

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muriel Atkin

Abstract Tajikistan is a predominantly Muslim country where the concept of having a constitution is not controversial, but the content of that constitution is. Roughly seventy years of Soviet rule over the territory that became independent Tajikistan at the end of 1991 introduced constitutions as a norm, although the rights the constitutions appeared to accord did not jibe with political reality. The years of Soviet rule also created an environment hostile to Islam, as a result of which some of Tajikistan’s inhabitants ceased to be believers, while many who continued to practice their faith knew little about it other than the rituals of everyday life. In the last years of the Soviet era and the two decades after the breakup of the USSR, Islam was caught up in the political as well as religious controversies that developed in Tajikistan during this upheaval. There was an upsurge of attention to Islam, in a religious sense for some, a cultural and nationalist sense for others, and as a bogeyman for yet others. The Islamic Rebirth Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), the only legal Islamic political party in post-Soviet Central Asia, along with the head of the religious establishment in the republic, the qadi, joined with secular groups advocating reforms that would promote political and economic change. The power struggle between neo-Soviet ruling elites and the opposition led to a civil war (1992-97) in which the neo-Soviets prevailed. Tajikistan’s post-Soviet constitution reflects the emphatic secularism of the neo-Soviets, despite the objections of the IRPT. The post-civil-war government has also enacted legislation reestablishing Soviet-style constraints on Islamic institutions and personnel and has used its power to thwart genuinely pluralistic politics. The IRPT as well as secular opposition parties have felt the effects of the rigged elections and harassment by the regime.

Author(s):  
Hannah Cornwell

This book examines the two generations that spanned the collapse of the Republic and the Augustan period to understand how the concept of pax Romana, as a central ideology of Roman imperialism, evolved. The author argues for the integral nature of pax in understanding the changing dynamics of the Roman state through civil war to the creation of a new political system and world-rule. The period of the late Republic to the early Principate involved changes in the notion of imperialism. This is the story of how peace acquired a central role within imperial discourse over the course of the collapse of the Republican framework to become deployed in the legitimization of the Augustan regime. It is an examination of the movement from the debates over the content of the concept, in the dying Republic, to the creation of an authorized version controlled by the princeps, through an examination of a series of conceptions about peace, culminating with the pax augusta as the first crystallization of an imperial concept of peace. Just as there existed not one but a series of ideas concerning Roman imperialism, so too were there numerous different meanings, applications, and contexts within which Romans talked about ‘peace’. Examining these different nuances allows us insight into the ways they understood power dynamics, and how these were contingent on the political structures of the day. Roman discourses on peace were part of the wider discussion on the way in which Rome conceptualized her Empire and ideas of imperialism.


1974 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 62-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Lintott

The battle of Bovillae on 18th January, 52 B.C., which led to Clodius' death, was literally treated by Cicero in a letter to Atticus as the beginning of a new era—he dated the letter by it, although over a year had elapsed. It is difficult to exaggerate the relief it afforded him from fear and humiliation for a few precious years before civil war put him once more in jeopardy. At one stroke Cicero lost his chief inimicus and the Republic lost a hostis and pestis. Moreover, the turmoil led to a political realignment for which Cicero had been striving for the last ten years—a reconciliation between the boni and Pompey, as a result of which Pompey was commissioned to put the state to rights. Cicero's behaviour in this context, especially his return to the centre of the political scene, is, one would have thought, of capital importance to the biographer of Cicero. Yet two recent English biographies have but briefly touched on the topic. It is true that, in the background of Cicero's personal drama, Caesar and Pompey were taking up positions which, as events turned out, would lead to the collapse of the Republic. However, Cicero and Milo were not to know this, nor were their opponents; friendly cooperation between the two super-politicians apparently was continuing. Politicians on all sides were still aiming to secure power and honour through the traditional Republican magistracies, and in this pursuit were prepared to use the odd mixture of violence, bribery and insistence on the strict letter of the constitution, which was becoming a popular recipe. In retrospect their obsession with the customary organs of power has a certain irony. Yet it is a testimony to the political atmosphere then. Their manoeuvres are also important because both the instability caused by the violence of Clodius and Milo, and the eventual confidence in the rule of law established under Pompey's protection, helped to determine the political position of the boni associated with Pompey in 49 B.C. Cicero's relationship with Milo is at first sight one of the more puzzling aspects of his career. What had they in common, except that Milo, like most late Republican politicians, was at one time associated with Pompey? Properly interpreted, however, this relationship may not only illuminate Cicero's own attitudes but illustrate the character of the last years of Republican politics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Marian Tadeusz Mencel

This lecture includes an attempt to answer the question: what the connection of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De was, and what conditions contributed to the fact that both Zhou Enlai and Zhu De did not share the fate of the political opponents of Mao Zedong, inter alia Liu Shaoqi, Wang Ming, Gao Gang and others. Recognizing the political reality of China of the period from the creation of the CPC to the death of the heroes, the synthetic approach shows their resumes, and an attempt was taken to involve the most important facts to answer the questions, inter alia about civil, war of national liberation, domestic and foreign policy of China implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Communist Party of China and the role of the heroes in shaping the cultural and civilisation order after the declaration of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.


Significance This is part of UN-facilitated talks to agree on a national unity government that would end the political power struggle driving Libya's civil war. Should a Government of National Accord be formed in Tripoli, its security would be uncertain as Libya lacks a unified security force that would be loyal to the state alone. This has raised questions in the European Union of whether a foreign stabilisation force may be necessary. Although appetite in European capitals for an intervention appears to be generally low, such a scenario cannot be ruled out altogether. Impacts Despite the UN Envoy's optimism, he must still win over the GNC before a consensus government is formed. A united administration would prefer to avoid a foreign force guarding it, even at the urging of key international actors. In the unlikely event that European troops are involved in such a force, there may be a risk of blowback attacks in Europe.


1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Henderson

Julius Caesar's "Bellum Ciuile" writes Caesar-articulates a particular construction of its subject: Caesar. The essay shows how writing in the civil war wins and loses the war, and how the writing of the Civil War exploits this throughout its course. The initial suppression of Caesar's letter to the senate in 49 BCE creates a lack which the rest of the text is to supply, and a structure of injustice inflicted on Caesar by villainous manipulation of communiqués. The narrative presents Caesar's withheld claims over and again, in an ever-lengthening set of dramatized formulations and vindications, both in the form of his own behaviour and in its contrast with his enemies'. The many and various roles of writing in the civil war are examined, from orders and despatches to the propagandist war of words, and it is shown how the conflict is moralized through polarity between the letters sent by the two sides. Caesar presents himself as the last proconsular conqueror of the republic, playing the patriotic general from Gaul to Alexandria, where the "Bellum Ciuile" gives out-in time for this the first writer and mythographer of the Roman Empire to hide his hero's overthrow of the political order. It is argued that Caesar runs Bellum Gallicum and "Bellum Ciuile" together to make a seamless continuum, as a vital strategy for occluding, denying, and displacing civil war from the triumphant procession across a welcoming Roman world he offers in the "Bellum Ciuile".


1981 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Gallivan

The political and administrative requirements of the Roman state during the early years of the Principate demanded an increase in the annual number of consulars. When Augustus finally acted to remedy this situation in 5 b.c., he introduced a system of suffect consuls and thereby increased the number of consuls from the two per annum of the Republic to four. A regular practice became established whereby one or both of the ordinary consuls retired at the end of June to be replaced in office for theremainder of the year by a suffect consul. For the reigns of Gaius and Claudius additional suffects were included in many years and a new pattern can be seen to have emerged. It was usual now for each ordinarius to hold office for the first six months of the year except in some special cases where the ordinarii resigned at the end of two months and their place was taken by a pair of suffects who remained in office for the next four months to serve out the more regular tenure of the ordinary consuls. Under Nero, the innovation of this two-month ordinary consulship was not perpetuated and ordinarii usually remained in office for the full six months. Suffect consulships throughout the period a.d. 38–68 were held for periods of either two, four or six months.The Civil War of a.d. 68/69 and the consequent changes of emperor broke the above pattern. For 69, there are no fewer than sixteen consuls known to have held office during the year. Such confusion, however, would not be unexpected given the startling events of this year. Of considerable importance to students of the early Empire, therefore, is the question of what happened to the system of allocating consulships during a particular year when the state had once again settled itself down to running in routine under the victorious Flavian emperors. The answer to this question will be of particular importance for prosopographers of the early Empire for whom chronology is the backbone of their investigations, since the fasti for the reigns of Vespasian and Titus are notable for the number of years in which the complete list of consuls is lacking.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 705-709
Author(s):  
Bustamin Wahid ◽  
Ishomuddin Ishomuddin ◽  
Wahyudi Winarjo ◽  
Rinikso Kartono

This article describes a socio-political phenomenon that occurred in Tidore community during the momentum of Local Leaders Election (pilkada). Political phenomena do not only involve rational instruments, but also cultural and supernatural/mystical/occult dimensions being part of a mechanism for power struggle. Values, norms, and traditional leaders (nature and shari'a) are involved in a political contestation. The phenomenon of jinn and mystical/occult power is part of the capital to produce power in Tidore or in another sense; symbolic capital becomes a political mobilization strategy in Tidore. The aims of this research are (1) to analyze power and describe the process of doxa formation and elite habitus/political actors in the symbolic- based power struggle arena in Tidore. (2) to analyze and describe the strategies of the local elite in using symbolic capital in the arena of power struggle in Tidore (Local Leaders Election). This research uses qualitative method with ethnographic research. The research subjects are the indigenous people of Gurabunga, the political elite/political actors, Sowohi, the Sultan and people who are involved and understand the Local Leaders Election (pilkada). Data collection was done by interview, observation and documentation study. The researchers conduct an in-depth study so that the data can be maximal and adequate, and triangulation is carried out. Then this data was analyzed using an ethnographic approach. The theory used as an analytical tool in this research is Perre Bourdieu's Theory of Doxa, Habitus and Arena. The results of the study prove that the process of forming doxa and political habitus has a strong influence on the political practice of the Tidore people. Values, norms, customs and local beliefs of the community have an effect on the dynamics and political reality in Tidore. And symbolic capital as the most important part in producing power in Tidore   Keywords: Doxa, Habitus, Symbolic-based Power Struggle


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-90
Author(s):  
Dorota Zygmuntowicz

In this article, I pose the question of what the role of the pseudos theme is in the entire argument of the Republic, which is motivated by a challenge from Thrasymachus, who defined justice as “the advantage of the stronger/ruler.” How can the “beautiful polis” (Kallipolis), based on a “noble falshood” addressed to its rulers in particular, be a good counterargument to the realist Thrasymachus? I show that Plato, wanting to prove that Thrasymachus’s thesis is too narrow and only seemingly realistic description of political reality, explicitly uses the same tool that implicitly lies at the root of the worldview expressed in the rhetorician’s thesis: ideological falsehood. He opposes the ugly ideology (the advantage of the stronger) with a “noble falsehood” (the dogma of love), since falsehood as such is an indispensable structural element of the polis itself, resulting from the weakness of the faculty of reason proper to the human condition. The pseudos theme has a dual function in the Republic: heuristic and structural. First, Plato exposes the implicit ideological falsehood underlying Thrasymachus’s realistic thesis using a falsehood that he [Plato] himself has explicitly proposed. Second, he presents falsehood as a component of the political, which compensates for human ignorance and exploits human susceptibility to normative and cultural implementations.


Monteagudo ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 161-174
Author(s):  
Elena Laurenzi

La amistad entre María Zambrano y Ramón Gaya, que tiene sus raíces en el compromiso político de los años de la República y la Guerra Civil, maduró y se consolidó en los años del exilio romano en el terreno de la creación. En este ensayo me propongo analizar las concordancias existentes en sus respectivas concepciones de la actividad creativa. Para iluminar estas coincidencias, me refiero a la categoría de autenticidad de Ortega, mostrando cómo Gaya y Zambrano la traducen en los términos de la creación, pero también cómo profundizan y radicalizan su interpretación a través de las lecturas de Friedrich Nietzsche y Simone Weil. The friendship between María Zambrano and Ramón Gaya has its roots in the political commitment of the years of the Republic and the Civil War, but matured and consolidated in the years of their exile in Rome, on the terrain of creation. In this essay I propose to analyze the concordances existing in their respective conceptions of creative activity. To illuminate these coincidences, I refer to the Orteghean category of authenticity, showing how Gaya and Zambrano translate it into in terms of creation, but also how they deepen and radicalize its interpretation through the readings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Simone Weil.


Author(s):  
George W. Breslauer

After winning the Civil War, the Bolsheviks had to decide how and when to proceed to the stage of building socialism, given that they had come to power in a peasant society. The New Economic Policy, and the policy of “peaceful coexistence” toward foreign powers, were efforts to buy time to get the economy back on its feet, to prevent another foreign intervention, and to allow the regime to consolidate its monopoly further over the political realm. This period was also marked by debates over how to make the transition to socialism after this respite, debates that took place during a power struggle over the succession to Lenin.


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