Between Scylla and Charybdis? Twenty-Five Years Administrating the Contested Region of Brussels

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 835-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl O’Connor ◽  
Joost Vaesen
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Post War ◽  
Administrative Structures ◽  
The City

Although Belgian politics has experienced numerous political conflicts in the post-war period, the Brussels political system has, since 1989, remained relatively stable. This has led some scholars to suggest that Brussels may be experiencing a depolarization of its traditional linguistic cleavages. In this article, we analyze the possible realignment of these divisions and the possible emergence of an identity based on the urban territory. We trace the development of the public administrations at sub-state level in Brussels post 1989 and add new data on the often neglected elite-level bureaucrats and their individual attachment perceptions. This topic is most relevant as the organization and functioning of the public administrations have proven to be one of the major politically and socially divisive issues of the power-sharing agreement. The article draws on published and unpublished documents and interviews with 20 elite-level bureaucrats from four distinct public administrations operating in Brussels. The findings suggest that a regional urban attachment is emerging among the bureaucratic elite; however, this attachment would not prove robust if either community were to feel threatened. The likelihood of unintended policy making, which would have unintended consequences, is quite high given that the bureaucratic elite do not have confidence in the administrative structures of the city. The findings should be of interest to those interested in identification perceptions and to those studying other more fragile environments in and around Europe’s borders that may one day consider adopting the Brussels approach to conflict management.

“Satisfied with the Ruins of Berlin”: The German Capital’s Image in Soviet Graphics of 1945

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 564-575
Author(s):  
Irina I. Rutsinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

An artist who finds themselves in the last days of a war in the enemy’s defeated capital may not just fix its objects dispassionately. Many factors influence the selection and depicturing manner of the objects. One of the factors is satisfaction from the accomplished retribution, awareness of the historical justice triumph. Researchers think such reactions are inevitable. The article offers to consider from this point of view the drawings created by Soviet artists in Berlin in the spring and summer of 1945. Such an analysis of the German capital’s visual image is conducted for the first time. It shows that the above reactions were not the only ones. The graphics of the first post-war days no less clearly and consistently express other feelings and intentions of their authors: the desire to accurately document and fix the image of the city and some of its structures in history, the happiness from the silence of peace, and the simple interest in the monuments of European art.The article examines Berlin scenes as evidences of the transition from front-line graphics focused on the visual recording of the war traces to peacetime graphics; from documentary — to artistry; from the worldview of a person at war — to the one of a person who lived to victory. In this approach, it has been important to consider the graphic images of Berlin in unity with the diary and memoir texts belonging to both artists and ordinary soldiers who participated in the storming of Berlin. The combination of verbal and visual sources helps to present the German capital’s image that existed in the public consciousness, as well as the specificity of its representation by means of visual art.

Living with Heterogeneity

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Guss ◽  
David S. Siroky
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Ethnic Violence ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Coalition Politics ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Post War

Abstract Short of partition, many scholars hold that consociational arrangements are the most effective democratic institutional mechanisms to manage ethnic differences and maintain peace in nations and groups recently engaged in violent ethnic conflict. Many countries have implemented consociational arrangements to redress identity-based conflicts over recognition and resources, but the empirical record is mixed at best. Restoring moderate politics and democratic order in ethnically divided societies after war is difficult. Consociationalism, however, is usually not the best or the only option. Consociationalism fails as a viable post-conflict political system, we argue, because it tends to reinforce centrifugal politics and to reify identity-based cleavages. The implementation of centripetal social and institutional reforms, which foster political and economic incentives for communities to reintegrate refugees, diversify existing populations, and engage in coalition politics, is more likely to restore moderation and minimize the risk of renewed ethnic violence. We explore these arguments using the critical case of Bosnia, drawing on examples from other parts of the world that have faced similar challenges. We argue that efforts to balance majority rule and the rights of the constituent peoples in Bosnia have created an unwieldy power-sharing architecture that satisfies none of the parties and is unable to govern. Post-war and deeply divided democracies, such as Bosnia, require reforms that move towards a centripetal, incentives-based approach to institutional design.

scholarly journals Prácticas sociales en el arte en la ciudad de Madrid: intervención con colectivos vulnerables

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 95-117
Author(s):  
Elena García Oliveros
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
City Hall ◽  
Salud Mental ◽  
Art Community ◽  
Sociedad Civil ◽  
Administrative Structures ◽  
The City

As of two cases in this study which were carried out in Madrid as social practices in art, community methodologies have been detailed as practiced in order to formalize collaborative creation proposed by each one. El Beso (The Kiss) (2018) and Cuentos que nunca cuentan (Tales that are never told) (2010) were carried out by the artist Toxic Lesbian with the participation of institutions such as Medialab-Prado and Intermediae, both of which are integrated in Matadero Madrid, Contemporary art creation center of the City Hall of Madrid. Both cases involved participation of the most directly concerned audiences because of the themes undertaken: migrant women in El Beso (The Kiss) and collectives of directly involved people in mental health in Cuentos que Nunca Cuentan (Tales that are never told). The proposals presupposed intervention in the public space of the city for their production and involved a wide representation of activists and elements of social or cultural institutions. This qualitative análisis of the processes and testimonies of the agents that participated seeks delving into the motivations of communities to become involved in this type of development, the role played by institutions or the inevitable politization of the proposals by the administrative structures that finance them. A partir de dos casos, objetos de este estudio, y desarrollados en la ciudad de Madrid como prácticas sociales en el arte, se pormenoriza en sus metodologías comunitarias puestas en práctica para formalizar la creación colaborativa que cada uno propone. El Beso (2018) y Cuentos que nunca cuentan (2010) fueron llevados a cabo por la artista Toxic Lesbian con la participación de instituciones como Medialab-Prado e Intermediae, ambas integradas en Matadero Madrid, Centro de creación contemporánea del ayuntamiento. Los dos casos supusieron la participación de los públicos más directamente concernidos por las temáticas abordadas: mujeres migrantes en El Beso y colectivos en primera persona en salud mental para Cuentos que nunca cuentan. Las propuestas presuponían la intervención en el espacio público de la ciudad para su producción, e implicaron a una amplia representación de la sociedad civil a través de asociaciones, activistas y dispositivos institucionales sociales o culturales. Este análisis cualitativo de los procesos y testimonios de los agentes intervinientes persigue profundizar en las motivaciones de las comunidades para implicarse en estos desarrollos, en el papel de las instituciones o en la irremediable politización de las propuestas por parte de las estructuras administrativas que los financian.

scholarly journals Workers and militant labour activists from Punjab in Bengal (1921-1934)

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Suchetana Chattopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Diasporic Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Post War ◽  
The City ◽  
First World

Sikh migrants joined post-war strike-waves, formed unions and turned left in the 1920s and early 1930s in and around Calcutta, in the South Bengal region under British rule. To them, an unofficial commemoration of Komagata Maru’s voyage and the militancy associated with the Ghadar movement during First World War, became inseparable from contemporary resistance to the domination of colonial capital and British colonial state in India. They engaged with, worked upon and simultaneously moved beyond the boundaries of ethno-linguistic and religious identities as well as the social content of anti-colonial nationalism by focusing on a self-aware identity based on organised class action. This understanding was linked with the lived experiences of migration and imperial exploitation, the components of identity that had come to the forefront during the war. The diasporic identity of the Sikh migrant workers converged with the wider labour movement and was politically reshaped in the post-war context as livelihood issues took on the form of systematic protests in the city and beyond.

scholarly journals Da flânerie ao projeto demiúrgico do shopping center

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Valquíria Padilha
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Shopping Center ◽  
Department Stores ◽  
Private Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Post War ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
The City

Esse artigo analisa o atual projeto demiúrgico do shopping center a partir da história da sociedade de consumo, desde as práticas da flânerie na Paris do século XIX. Das suas origens nas lojas de departamento européias e sua rápida proliferação pelos Estados Unidos do pós-guerra, o shopping center é apreendido como “templo” onde ocorre uma entronização da mercadoria. Mais que um espaço para compras, tem se tornado um local de lazer reificado, do desejo de participar de um mundo de sonhos vendidos pela publicidade. É um local que exclui dele aqueles que não podem consumir e que também exclui, na sua lógica privada, a cidadania, o espaço público, a cidade e sua história. Palavras-chave: consumo; publicidade; shopping center; lazer; espaço público; espaço privado. Abstract: This article analyses the shopping center’s present demiurgic project from the consumption society’s history, since the flânerie practices in the XIX century Paris. From its origins in the european department stores and its rapid proliferation in the post war, the shopping center is apprehended as a temple where occurs the merchandise enthronization. More than a place for shopping, it became a reified leisure place, of the desire to participate in a world of dreams sold by publicity. It is a place that excludes those who cannot consume and that also excludes, in its private logic, the citizenship, the public space, the city and its history. Keywords: consumption; publicity; shopping center; leisure; public space; private space.

scholarly journals Problems of development of environmental initiatives of the public and business in cooperation with municipal management

2019 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 04013
Author(s):  
Anna Balabanova ◽  
Nadezhda Keschyan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
State Level ◽  
Environmental Literacy ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
Environmental Initiatives ◽  
The Public ◽  
The City

The article studies the problems of the public and business in the field of development of environmental initiatives and the problems of interaction with the municipal environmental management. The research was conducted in the tourist city of Russia, where ecology is of great importance for the development of tourism. The regulatory legal acts of the city and the municipal environmental management system were researched. A survey was also conducted of public organizations and businesses, which in the city became the initiators and participants of environmental projects. The research confirmed that there are problems highlighted by the public and business in the development of environmental initiatives in collaboration with municipal environmental management. Some problems create obstacles to the development of initiatives and reduce the level of business’s desire to spend their time and resources in the field of ecology. The initiatives of business and the public were ahead of the legislation both at the state level and at the municipal level. These initiatives made it possible to organize work to promote the environmental literacy of the population and separate waste collection. The absence of a system of interaction with organizations involved in environmental activities and responsible for this system of the post, the lack of educational work in the field of environmental literacy of the population and representatives of the city administration, the lack of a single information resource in the field of ecology and environmental initiatives of the city have a negative impact on the number of city initiatives in the field of ecology., insufficient education and clarification in the implementation of state legislation in the field of ecologic and separate waste collection.

Liverpool Sectarianism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Daniel Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Fault Line ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Post War ◽  
The City ◽  
City Identity

For a period spanning two centuries the sectarian (‘orange’ versus ‘green’) divide in Liverpool soured relations between its residents. Indeed, the city’s political representatives were often elected on the basis of their ethno-religious pedigree and street clashes, particularly on the twelfth of July, were commonplace. Politics continued to be influenced by religion until the mid-1970s. Weakening sectarianism, in the limited existing studies, is attributed largely to post-war slum clearance, but this book asserts that causality is much more complex. There are a range of factors that have contributed to the decline. As this book demonstrates, the downfall of sectarianism coincided with the creation of a collective identity; an identity based not on ethno-religious affiliations, but on a commonality, an acknowledgment that principles which united were more significant than factors which divided. Importantly, the success of the city’s two football teams, Everton FC and Liverpool FC, gave the city a new focus based upon a healthy sporting rivalry rather than sectarian vehemence. A complex interplay of secularism and ecumenism, the economic misfortunes of Liverpool and their political impact in terms of class politics, the growth of a collective city identity and the omnipotence of (non-religiously derived) football affiliations combined to diminish Liverpool’s once acute sectarian fault-line. This book examines how and why.

scholarly journals Symposium on Middle East and North African (MENA) conflict. Part 1: An introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Mansour-Ille ◽  
Hamid E Ali
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
North African ◽  
War Economy ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Crony Capitalism ◽  
Post War ◽  
War Power

Since their independence, countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have witnessed subsequent waves of social and political conflicts. Armed and non-armed conflicts have almost become a defining feature of a region that has been struggling to find its own identity and a system that best represents its diverse communities and guarantees stability. Calibrated post-war power-sharing formulas of governance have produced authoritarianism, clientelism, elitism and a political post-war economy, where corruption, nepotism, injustice, and crony capitalism are rampant.

Hospitals: N.Y. Appellate Court Denies Move to Privatize Public Hospital

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-203
Author(s):  
Robert Chatham
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Public Health System ◽  
Municipal Hospital ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Benefit ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Benefit Corporation ◽  
The City

The Court of Appeals of New York held, in Council of the City of New York u. Giuliani, slip op. 02634, 1999 WL 179257 (N.Y. Mar. 30, 1999), that New York City may not privatize a public city hospital without state statutory authorization. The court found invalid a sublease of a municipal hospital operated by a public benefit corporation to a private, for-profit entity. The court reasoned that the controlling statute prescribed the operation of a municipal hospital as a government function that must be fulfilled by the public benefit corporation as long as it exists, and nothing short of legislative action could put an end to the corporation's existence.In 1969, the New York State legislature enacted the Health and Hospitals Corporation Act (HHCA), establishing the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) as an attempt to improve the New York City public health system. Thirty years later, on a renewed perception that the public health system was once again lacking, the city administration approved a sublease of Coney Island Hospital from HHC to PHS New York, Inc. (PHS), a private, for-profit entity.

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