Infrastructure Nationalism and Political Vulnerability – Examining the Stalled Negotiations Over the Bagamoyo Port Project During Magufuli’s Reign

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110624
Author(s):  
Benjamin Barton
Keyword(s):  
Political Strategy

The Bagamoyo Port Project (BPP) was meant to have set in motion the development of East Africa’s largest port. Yet, with the advent of former President John P. Magufuli to power in October 2015, the BPP has led a chequered existence. This article explores the dynamics behind the stalled talks over the BPP by emphasising Magufuli’s penchant for developmentalism, nationalism and authoritarianism ultimately as a political strategy designed to mask his vulnerable electoral standing within the party and with the electorate. The renegotiations over the BPP served as an ideal opportunity in this regard to shore up his base.

Risk, Desire and Adaptation: The Paradox of Queer Solidarity and the Political Possibility of Death Under Neoliberalism and Homonationalism

Somatechnics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Natalie Kouri-Towe
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
State Violence ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sexual Rights ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Strategy I

In 2015, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid Toronto (QuAIA Toronto) announced that it was retiring. This article examines the challenges of queer solidarity through a reflection on the dynamics between desire, attachment and adaptation in political activism. Tracing the origins and sites of contestation over QuAIA Toronto's participation in the Toronto Pride parade, I ask: what does it mean for a group to fashion its own end? Throughout, I interrogate how gestures of solidarity risk reinforcing the very systems that activists desire to resist. I begin by situating contemporary queer activism in the ideological and temporal frameworks of neoliberalism and homonationalism. Next, I turn to the attempts to ban QuAIA Toronto and the term ‘Israeli apartheid’ from the Pride parade to examine the relationship between nationalism and sexual citizenship. Lastly, I examine how the terms of sexual rights discourse require visible sexual subjects to make individual rights claims, and weighing this risk against political strategy, I highlight how queer solidarities are caught in a paradox symptomatic of our times: neoliberalism has commodified human rights discourses and instrumentalised sexualities to serve the interests of hegemonic power and obfuscate state violence. Thinking through the strategies that worked and failed in QuAIA Toronto's seven years of organising, I frame the paper though a proposal to consider political death as a productive possibility for social movement survival in the 21stcentury.

G. Lukács, “Techeniye” and Stalinism

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 110-123
Author(s):  
Vladimir Y. Bystrov ◽  
Vladimir M. Kamnev
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Nazi Germany ◽  
The Political ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Political Criticism ◽  
Political Views ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Over Time

The article discusses the attitude of Georg Lukács and his adherents who formed a circle “Techeniye” (lit. “current”) toward the phenomenon of Stalinism. Despite the political nature of the topic, the authors are aspired to provide an unbiased research. G. Lukács’ views on the theory and practice of Stalinism evolved over time. In the 1920s Lukács welcomes the idea of creation of socialism in one country and abandons the former revolutionary ideas expressed in his book History and Class Consciousness. This turn is grounded by new interpretation of Hegel as “realistic” thinker whose “realism” was shown in the aspiration to find “reconciliation” with reality (of the Prussian state) and in denial of any utopias. The philosophical evolution leading to “realism” assumes integration of revolutionaries into the hierarchy of existing society. The article “Hölderlin’s Hyperion” represents attempt to justify Stalinism as a necessary and “progressive” phase of revolutionary development of the proletariat. Nevertheless, events of the second half of the 1930s (mass repressions, the peace treaty with Nazi Germany) force Lukács to realize the catastrophic nature of political strategy of Stalinism. In his works, Lukács ceases to analyze political topics and concentrates on problems of aesthetics and literary criticism. However, his aesthetic position allows to reconstruct the changed political views and to understand why he had earned the reputation of the “internal opponent” to Stalinism. After 1956, Lukács turns to political criticism of Stalinism, which nevertheless remains unilateral. He sees in Stalinism a kind of the left sectarianism, the theory and practice of the implementation of civil war measures in the era of peaceful co-existence of two systems.

Diverging Paths

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Luyten
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
National Level ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
State Development ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
The Impact

For the Netherlands and Belgium in the twentieth century, occupation is a key concept to understand the impact of the war on welfare state development. The occupation shifted the balance of power between domestic social forces: this was more decisive for welfare state development than the action of the occupier in itself. War and occupation did not result exclusively in more cooperation between social classes: some interest groups saw the war as a window of opportunity to develop strategies resulting in more social conflict. Class cooperation was often part of a political strategy to gain control over social groups or to legitimate social reforms. The world wars changed the scale of organization of social protection, from the local to the national level: after World War II social policy became a mission for the national state. For both countries, war endings had more lasting effects for welfare state development than the occupation itself.

scholarly journals The Difficult alliance. Military cooperation between the ruthenian king Daniel and the Piasts of Mazovia

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-112
Author(s):  
Michał Skoczyński
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Historical Methodology ◽  
The Military

Abstract The article presents the military cooperation between the King of Galician-Volhynian Ruthenia, Daniel Romanowicz, and the Dukes of Mazovia, Konrad and his son Siemowit. The alliance, based as a counterweight for the cooperation between the King of Hungary and the Piast princes of Lesser Poland, who were trying to conquer Ruthenia and dominate all Piast principalities in then fragmented Poland. It lasted for several decades from the 1220’s to the 1260’s and was primarly aimed at mutual protection against the invasions of the pagan Yotvingians and supporting each other in armed conflicts. The text contains an analysis of war expeditions, tactics and ways of support that were given by both sides of the allianace. It is a new point of view on this aspect of political strategy of both sides that in some ways defined the regional situation. Ruthenians granted masovian Piasts some mobile and political uncommited support in fight with their relatives in Poland, and also secured their border with the Yotvingians. On the other hand, masovian knights were an additional strike force in ruthenian plundering expeditions to Yotvingia. The research was based on the analysis of preserved historical sources and scientific literature using historical methodology.

Introduction: Configuring the Green New Deal

2021 ◽  
pp. 103530462110176
Author(s):  
Anna Sturman ◽  
Natasha Heenan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
Political Project ◽  
The Right

We introduce a themed collection of articles on approaches to configuring a Green New Deal as a response to the current capitalist crisis marked by ecological breakdown, economic stagnation and growing inequality. The Green New Deal is a contested political project, with pro-market, right-wing nationalist, Keynesian, democratic socialist and ecosocialist variants. Critiques of the Green New Deal include pragmatic queries as the feasibility of implementation, and theoretical challenges from the right regarding reliance on state forms and from the left regarding efforts to ameliorate capitalism. They also include concerns about technocratic bias and complaints about lack of meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples on proposals for large-scale shifts in land use. Debates over the ideological orientation, political strategy and implementation of the Green New Deal must now account for the economic and employment impacts of COVID. JEL Codes: Q43, Q54, Q56, Q58

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