The politics of ‘whataboutery’: The problem of trauma trumping the political in conflictual societies

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Little ◽  
Juliet Brough Rogers

Trauma demands a melancholic orientation to the past, a wish to recover what is lost. In conflicts located in long histories of political difference, a focus on the traumas acquired through the violences of the past is crucial, but this focus may do more than inform the politics of the present. The risk is that the symptoms of the trauma become the symptoms of policy. The political environment that emerges lacks the maturity to understand the ordinary emotions of politics and this further limits the possibility of creative political horizons. In short, in the interests of placating trauma survivors and sometimes in the interests of ensuring no issue gets left behind, politics can be trumped by trauma. Here, we discuss how this has occurred in Northern Ireland and how the ‘trauma’ of non-indigenous Australians has trumped the possibility of addressing the ‘unfinished business of justice’ for Indigenous Australians.

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. de Vries ◽  
Armen Hakhverdian ◽  
Bram Lancee

The mobilization of culturally rooted issues has altered political competition throughout Western Europe. This article analyzes to what extent the mobilization of immigration issues has affected how people identify with politics. Specifically, it analyzes whether voters’ left/right self-identifications over the past 30 years increasingly correspond to cultural rather than economic attitudes. This study uses longitudinal data from the Netherlands between 1980 and 2006 to demonstrate that as time progresses, voters’ left/right self-placements are indeed more strongly determined by anti-immigrant attitudes than by attitudes towards redistribution.These findings show that the issue basis of left/right identification is dynamic in nature and responsive to changes in the political environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-703
Author(s):  
Marie Gagné

AbstractFarmland investments have attracted numerous entrepreneurs and companies to Africa in the past two decades. However, acquiring, retaining, and exploiting large-scale landholdings is more complicated than it seems. Investors need to persuade governments and populations of their anticipated benefits and limit dissenting voices when they emerge. Focusing on a contested land project in Senegal, Gagné develops the concept of “repertoires of control” to analyze the different performances of power that companies deploy to assert and legitimize their land claims. She argues that to survive, companies must continually adapt these performances to changes in the political environment of their host countries.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Paula Devine ◽  
Grace Kelly ◽  
Martina McAuley

Within the United Kingdom (UK), many of the arguments driving devolution and Brexit focused on equality. This article assesses how notions of equality have been shaped over the past two decades. Using a chronology of theoretical, political and public interpretations of equality between 1998 and 2018, the article highlights the shifting positions of Northern Ireland (NI) and the rest of the UK. NI once led the way in relation to equality legislation, and equality was the cornerstone of the Good Friday/Belfast peace agreement. However, the Equality Act 2010 in Great Britain meant that NI was left behind. The nature of future UK/EU relationships and how these might influence the direction and extent of the equality debate in the UK is unclear. While this article focuses on the UK, the questions that it raises have global application, due to the international influences on equality discourse and legislation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 114-125
Author(s):  
Ádám Nyerges

The subject of the present study is an examination of the activities of two governments with a two-thirds parliamentary majority. For the past 10 years, it has been these governments with two closed cycles of government that have had the authority to structurally transform the Hungarian political system without the involvement of the opposition. The study will also present the measures taken over the first hundred days, as well as, to a lesser extent, the political environment of each government and the predestined goals. The summary also highlights some similarities and differences in the speed and quality of government work and its decision-making, which requires a qualified majority.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 94-98

Today, I met with ten women and men representing the WAVE Center in Northern Ireland, a support group for those who have been touched by the political violence of the past three decades. Each of these extraordinary individuals, representing both traditions in Northern Ireland, has suffered losing members of their families or being badly wounded themselves. I was inspired by their courage in rejecting violence and working for lasting peace in a land where people are not labeled by religion or national preference; inspired by their vision of a future marked by reconciliation and cooperation. And I will never forget their personal stories of sorrow and suffering, stories which are shared by many people of both communities in Northern Ireland. WAVE proves hatred can be overcome by hope, division can give way to unity, as victims of Northern Ireland's tragic past work together for a brighter future.


Temida ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Brandon Hamber

In Northern Ireland the debate about what strategies to use to deal with the conflict is gaining momentum. Questions about truth, justice, compensation and more recently of reconciliation are common place. Recently, there have been several calls for a South African-style truth commission. One danger however, is that the strategies adopted to deal with the past, such as a truth commission, may flow directly from the political negotiation process with little civil society input. This is one of the reasons why the Healing Through Remembering Project was launched in early October 2001. The Project made up of a diverse group of people from all political backgrounds and from different communities, sought to identify and document possible mechanisms and realizable options for how remembering should occur so that healing could take place. The project undertook a consultation process posing the question: "How should we remember the events connected with the conflict in and about Northern Ireland". The project received a wide range of submissions. It used these to develop a series of recommendations. These included the need for acknowledgement leading to truth recovery storytelling, a Day of Reflection, a permanent living memorial museum and network of commemoration and remembering projects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Benoit Challand ◽  
Joshua Rogers

This paper provides an historical exploration of local governance in Yemen across the past sixty years. It highlights the presence of a strong tradition of local self-rule, self-help, and participation “from below” as well as the presence of a rival, official, political culture upheld by central elites that celebrates centralization and the strong state. Shifts in the predominance of one or the other tendency have coincided with shifts in the political economy of the Yemeni state(s). When it favored the local, central rulers were compelled to give space to local initiatives and Yemen experienced moments of political participation and local development.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Dung ◽  
Giang Khac Binh

As developing programs is the core in fostering knowledge on ethnic work for cadres and civil servants under Decision No. 402/QD-TTg dated 14/3/2016 of the Prime Minister, it is urgent to build training program on ethnic minority affairs for 04 target groups in the political system from central to local by 2020 with a vision to 2030. The article highlighted basic issues of practical basis to design training program of ethnic minority affairs in the past years; suggested solutions to build the training programs in integration and globalization period.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
D. A. Abgadzhava ◽  
A. S. Vlaskina

War is an essential part of the social reality inherent in all stages of human development: from the primitive communal system to the present, where advanced technologies and social progress prevail. However, these characteristics do not make our society more peaceful, on the contrary, according to recent research and reality, now the number of wars and armed conflicts have increased, and most of the conflicts have a pronounced local intra-state character. Thus, wars in the classical sense of them go back to the past, giving way to military and armed conflicts. Now the number of soldiers and the big army doesn’t show the opponents strength. What is more important is the fact that people can use technology, the ideological and informational base to win the war. According to the history, «weak» opponent can be more successful in conflict if he has greater cohesion and ideological unity. Modern wars have already transcended the political boundaries of states, under the pressure of certain trends, they are transformed into transnational wars, that based on privatization, commercialization and obtaining revenue. Thus, the present paper will show a difference in understanding of terms such as «war», «military conflict» and «armed conflict». And also the auteurs will tell about the image of modern war and forecasts for its future transformation.


Author(s):  
Umriniso Rahmatovna Turaeva

The history of the Turkestan Jadid movement and the study of Jadid literature show that it has not been easy to study this subject. The socio-political environment of the time led to the blind reduction of the history of continuous development of Uzbek literature, artificial reduction of the literary heritage of the past on the basis of dogmatic thinking, neglect of the study of works of art and literary figures. As a result, the creation of literary figures of a certain period, no matter how important, remained unexplored.


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