Military Autonomy and Balancing in Political Crises: Lessons From the Middle East

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Barak ◽  
Dan Miodownik
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Political Crises

This article argues that autonomous militaries can play a balancing role during major internal political crises. However, when militaries’ autonomy is curtailed by political leaders before the crisis, militaries cannot maintain the political balance between rulers and opponents, thereby increasing the risk of armed conflict. The article first explains the main concepts relevant to the discussion (autonomy, political crisis, balancing role), exploring their possible interlinkages and presenting several hypotheses. Subsequently, it discusses four relevant cases from the Middle East before and during the Arab revolts of 2010–2011: Egypt in 2011 and Lebanon in 1958, which demonstrate the balancing capacities of autonomous militaries during major political crises, and Lebanon in 1975 and Syria in 2011, which reveal that nonautonomous militaries cannot play a balancing role in such circumstances. The article concludes with several observations regarding the military’s balancing role during major internal political crises in divided and homogenous states.

IMF lending will prod Ukraine to sustain reforms

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Capital Markets ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Capital ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Capital Markets ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Government

Significance After releasing 1 billion dollars in April, the IMF is urging Ukraine to implement land and pension reforms to make it eligible for further lending tranches. The government is finding it hard to pursue controversial changes opposed by many voters and taken up as causes by the political opposition. Gontareva's resignation reflects a lack of government support and is a setback for the reformist camp. Impacts The 'economic war' emerging alongside armed conflict in the east will dent prospects for growth and reform. Failure to secure further IMF financing could accelerate the planned return to international capital markets, perhaps in the third quarter. Attempts to push through reforms such as land sales may lead to increased political strife but not a full-blown political crisis.

Institution of Impeachment (Juicio Político) in selected states of Latin America

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 179-196
Author(s):  
Joanna Składowska
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
Control Character ◽  
Legal Character

The purpose of the article is to analyse the legal institution of juicio politico (impeachment) in the LatinAmerican presidential system, regarding the regulation adopted in Argentina, Brazil, Honduras and Paraguay. The hypothesis assumes that the impeachment in Latin America turns from the instrument of pure control character into the tool dedicated to resolve the political crisis by mean of “legislative coup d’état”. The author will search for the answers for the following questions: 1) what is the legal character of LatinAmerican impeachment? 2) what makes the impeachment more common in Latin America that in United States or European countries? 3) why does it become an attractive alternative for other methods to resolve political crises? The legal, institutional as well as the comparative method will be adopted in the article.

scholarly journals Nepal’s Armed Conflict and the Peace Process

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 217-224
Author(s):  
Ram Krishna Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Ground

This paper deals with the political development of Nepal and its history of armed conflict. The formation of Nepali nation-state is not very long, again throughout its political history Nepal remained an independent country, but this country experienced a decade long political conflict from 1996 to 2006. The failure of political change of 1951 and 1990 prepared a political ground for the official beginning the People’s War, and after 2006 the country is moving into the path of peace process. Similarly, the formation of political parties has not a long history compared it with the beginning of democratic movement in India, China and other countries of the world. The poor political vision of the political leaders failed to institutionalize the political change of Nepal, and now the ongoing peace process of Nepal should erase all the weaknesses and conclude it for building prosperous nation.

scholarly journals NON-ARMED CONFLICT RESOLUTION BY AFRICAN UNION

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 51-67
Author(s):  
Rakotondrasoa Helinjiva
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Deductive Method ◽  
The Republic

Africa is a continent devastated by conflicts and wars of all kinds. After being colonized for more than a century, African countries have sought solutions to solve the problems between them. They thus found their own organization which is the African Union with mixed commissions. The latter, besides dealing with the economic development of African countries, also deal with the management and resolution of armed and non- armed conflicts in the continent. Among these armed conflicts resolved by the African Union is the political crisis in Madagascar in 2009. The resolution of the conflict in Madagascar, despite its very successful appearance conceals some inconveniences for the Malagasy population and the Republic of Madagascar. This paper will demonstrate how the African Union regulates non-weapon conflicts in Africa, including the case of Madagascar, and explain the failures and successes of managing the crisis there. It aims to analyze the problems encountered in the resolution of a conflict, especially internal. Liberalism, more precisely, institutional liberalism is the theoretical framework of this study. To dig deeper into this paper, the research design utilized is the qualitative method with a deductive method. Data collection comes from primary data like books, reviews, reports, newspapers, etc.

scholarly journals Parliamentary elections held on May 26th, 1996 in Albania and the political crises they caused

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Dr. Adelina Nexhipi ◽  
Erjon Nexhipi
Keyword(s):  
International Institutions ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Crises

Parliamentary elections of May 26th, 1996 in Albania were held in a deeply polarized political environment; they were associated with multiple tensions during the pre-election period, the Election Day and post-election period as well. The voting process and the results of the elections were opposed by the oppositions and criticized by the international institutions. Election processes in post-communist Albania have been associated continuously with multiple legal, procedural, administrating problems, but May 26th elections, as never seen before, were declared publicly and decisively as against election standards, Government’s responsibilities and political interventions in the process as stated by the international observers. According to them, 32 out of 79 election law’s articles were violated. The elections qualified as “a step backwards to the democratization process”, deepened the political crisis in Albania and ignored major problems already prevailing in Albania. This paper attempts to describe, analyze and evaluate the parliamentary elections held in May 26th, 1996 as seen from a legal, procedural and political point of view and their effects on political crisis in Albania. To reach this objective, the present descriptive - analytical paper was prepared through researching, synthetizing and analyzing efforts and based on documents and reports of Albanian and international institutions, studies conducted by Albanian and foreign scholars, testimonials and interviews of the protagonists, etc.

scholarly journals Interregnum as a Legal and Political Concept: A Brief Contextual Survey

2016 ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Theophanidis
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Section ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Political Concept

I propose to trace the dialogical path of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of ‘interregnum’ briefly mentioned in one of his prison notebooks which was rediscovered in recent years and used in various political writings. I will first examine the meaning of the concept of interregnum in the context of Roman law, where it originates. Second, I’ll show how the Italian writer used it in a two-page note included in his Quaderni del carcere to describe the political crisis of our times. I will also briefly sketch the renewal of the idea of interregnum from the 1980s onward, when a specific quote from Gramsci’s note was used to frame various political crises, from South African apartheid to the civil war in Syria, all the way to the rise of a new far right ideology. In the third and main section, I’ll explore in more detail how, in the past five years, Keith Tester, Zygmunt Bauman, and Étienne Balibar all explicitly engage with the idea of interregnum in an open dialogue. While referencing one another, they used Gramsci’s interpretation of the concept in an effort to understand and address the contemporary problem of political synthesis. In the fourth part, and in the spirit of keeping discussion open, I will raise some issues regarding the various paths proposed by Bauman and Balibar to find our way ‘out of the interregnum.

scholarly journals O CAMINHO BRASILEIRO PARA O FASCISMO

Caderno CRH ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 021009
Author(s):  
Armando Boito Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mots Clés ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The Government ◽  
Base Of Support ◽  
Marxist Tradition ◽  
Brazilian Politics

<p>O artigo analisa a natureza do governo Bolsonaro, da sua base social de apoio mais ativa e da crise política que lhe deu origem. Polemiza com a bibliografia clássica e atual sobre o fascismo e, operando com um conceito de fascismo inserido na tradição marxista, caracteriza o governo e sua base social como (neo)fascistas. Sustenta a necessidade de construir uma tipologia das crises políticas nas sociedades capitalistas e procura mostrar que a natureza e a dinâmica da crise política brasileira de 2015-2018 são típicas da crise política que dá origem ao fascismo. Insere o bolsonarismo no contexto da democracia ainda existente no Brasil, que caracteriza como uma democracia burguesa em crise.</p><p><strong>THE BRAZILIAN PATH TO FASCISM</strong><br /><br />The article analyzes the nature of the Bolsonaro Government, its most active social base of support, and the political crisis that gave rise to it. It polemizes with the classical and current bibliography on fascism and, operating with a concept of fascism embedded in the Marxist tradition, characterizes the government and its social base as (neo)fascists. It argues for the need to develop a typology of political crises in capitalist societies, showing that the nature and dynamics of the 2015-2018 Brazilian political crisis are typical of the political crisis that gives rise to fascism. Finally, it places bolsonarismo in the context of the democracy still existing in Brazil, which it characterizes as a bourgeois democracy in crisis.</p><p>Keywords: Brazilian Politics. Bolsonaro Government.Neo-fascism. Political Crisis.</p><p><strong>LE CHEMIN BRÉSILIEN VERS LE FACISME</strong></p><p>L’article analyse la nature du gouvernement Bolsonaro, sa base sociale de soutien la plus active et la crise politique qui les a engendrés. Il polémique avec la bibliographie classique et actuelle sur le fascisme et, opérant avec un concept de fascisme ancré dans la tradition marxiste, caractérise le gouvernement et sa base sociale comme (néo) fascistes. Il soutient le besoin de développer une typologie des crises politiques dans les sociétés capitalistes et entend montrer que la nature at dynamique de la crise politique brésilienne de 2015-2018 sont typiques de celle qui donne naissance au fascisme. Il place le bolsonarisme dans le contexte de la démocratie existant encore au Brésil, qu’il caractérise comme une démocratie bourgeoise en crise.</p><p>Mots-clés: Politique Brésilienne. Gouvernement Bolsonaro. Néofascisme. Crise Politique.</p>

Media as Political Actors in Times of Political Crisis

2016 ◽  
pp. 25-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Santos ◽  
Mthokozisi P Ndhlovu
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Active Period ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Politics ◽  
Politically Active

Political crises can (re)configure relations between the media, political institutions, actors, and processes, sometimes in unpredictable ways. By focusing on how two leading Zimbabwean daily newspapers, The Herald and NewsDay framed the controversial entrance of President Robert Mugabe's wife Grace Mugabe into active politics, the chapter assesses media - politics relations during a political crisis. The chapter uses argumentation and rhetoric analysis to analyse the stories published by the two publications in October 2014, as this was Grace Mugabe's most politically active period. It argues that during a political crisis, the media become political players that wittingly/unwittingly persuade citizens using argumentation and rhetoric to support certain political positions with real consequences in the political sphere.

scholarly journals Reflexive Ethnicities: Crisis, Diversity and Re-Composition

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 144-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin Hussain ◽  
Paul Bagguley
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Qualitative Interview ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Black African ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
African Caribbean ◽  
London Bombings

This paper presents an analysis of how people reflexively relate to their ethnicity in the context of cultural and political crisis after the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005. Introducing a differentiated conception of reflexivity following Archer and Lash, the paper shows how cognitive, hermeneutic and aesthetic reflexivity (Lash) are expressed autonomously, communicatively and in a meta-reflexive manner (Archer) variably across and within ethnicities. Differentiated reflexive expressions of ethnicity are rooted in the politics and histories of ethnicities in relation to dominant discourses of whiteness and Britishness. The data is from a qualitative interview study of how different ethnic groups in West Yorkshire were affected by the 7/7 London bombings, with people of African-Caribbean, Black- African, Bangladeshi, Indian Pakistani and White backgrounds. The increased reflexivity of ethnic identity is seen to be rooted in the political crises generated by Britain's role in and response to, the war on terror, but also biographical experiences of contextual continuities, discontinuities and incongruities of migration.

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