Everyday Sectarianism in Urban Lebanon

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Randa Nucho
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Social Exchanges ◽  
Medical Clinics ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Ethnoreligious Identity ◽  
Violent Conflicts

What causes violent conflicts around the Middle East? All too often, the answer is sectarianism—popularly viewed as a timeless and intractable force that leads religious groups to conflict. This book shows how wrong this perspective can be. Through in-depth research with local governments, NGOs, and political parties in Beirut, the book demonstrates how sectarianism is actually recalibrated on a daily basis through the provision of essential services and infrastructures, such as electricity, medical care, credit, and the planning of bridges and roads. In a working-class, predominantly Armenian suburb in northeast Beirut called Bourj Hammoud, the author conducted extensive interviews and observations in medical clinics, social service centers, shops, banking coops, and municipal offices, and explores how group and individual access to services depends on making claims to membership in the dominant sectarian community. The author examines how sectarianism is not just tied to ethnoreligious identity, but also class, gender, and geography. Life in Bourj Hammoud makes visible a broader pattern in which the relationships that develop while procuring basic needs become a way for people to see themselves as part of the greater public. Illustrating how sectarianism in Lebanon is not simply about religious identity, as is commonly thought, this book offers a new look at how everyday social exchanges define and redefine communities and conflicts.

Electoral Choice and Religion: An Overview

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Parental Socialization ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Religious Issues ◽  
Electoral Choice ◽  
Organizational Ties ◽  
The Impact

A wide body of research has studied the impact of religious cleavages on electoral choice in a range of democracies. This research focuses on two types of religious cleavages. One type of religious cleavage is the confessional cleavage, which is a measure of the center-periphery cleavages. This type of cleavage is measured in surveys using indicators of respondents’ religious identities (e.g., Christian vs. Muslim [when one needs to distinguish between voters of different faiths], Catholic vs. Protestant [when one needs to distinguish between different denominations within the same broader faith], and Presbyterian vs. Methodist [when one needs to distinguish between different traditions]). The other type of religious cleavage is the clerical cleavage, which divides religious from secular (i.e., nonreligious) voters. Clerical cleavages are measured using either a measure of religious behavior (e.g., individuals’ frequency of attendance of religious services or frequency of prayer) or beliefs (e.g., whether and the degree to which one believes in the tenets associated with one’s religious identity). Where such cleavages are present, previous research shows that religious groups tend to vote for parties appealing to their votes, while religious voters behave differently from secular voters. A wide body of research also examines whether and how the effects of religious cleavages change over time. One line of research argues that the effects of religious cleavages on electoral choices change in response to changes in society and among individuals. For instance, as individuals and society as a whole become more secular, some research argues that religious cleavages impact electoral choices less than more religious societies where religion matters more to individuals. Additionally, as voters become more cognitively sophisticated, voters do not need to rely on religious cleavages, resulting in weaker religious effects on voting behavior. Another line of research argues that the effects of religious cleavages change in response to changes in the messages articulated by political parties: When parties compete on issues relevant to religious voters and maintain organizational ties to religious groups in society, the effects of religious cleavages on voting behavior will be strong; when parties deemphasize religious issues and reduce formal ties to religious organizations, the effects of religious cleavages will weaken. While research suggests both types of changes impact the effects of religious cleavages on electoral choices, more research is needed to determine the extent to which ties between parties and religious voters have weakened, especially after accounting for the impact of religious and parental socialization on the behavior of seculars, as well as the degree to which material satisfaction increases the salience of religious issues for religious voters.

Local governance and the crisis of water and sanitation provision in medium-sized urban centres: Evidence from three cities in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
pp. 026909422110353
Author(s):  
Kayode J Samuel ◽  
Samuel B Agbola ◽  
Olorunfemi A Olojede
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
The People ◽  
Efficient Delivery ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Effective Delivery ◽  
Basic Services

Local governance encompasses the involvement of local governments and other community-based organizations in participatory decision-making for efficient delivery of public services. In the developing world, however, the weakness of the local government and local governance has inhibited the efficient and effective delivery of these services. Relying on water and sanitation data and interviews of relevant officials, this study analyses the structure of governance of water supply and sanitation (WSS) at the community levels in selected medium-sized urban centres in Nigeria. Results showed that majority of the city dwellers lacked access to safe water and sanitation, an indication of convoluted, poorly regulated provision regimes and the waning capacity of local governments to galvanize local actions towards the efficient provision and management of these services at community levels. Multiple provision regimes, weak coordinating and regulatory frameworks characterize WSS governance. Further, the sub-national authorities’ encroachment on local government funds which deprived these tiers of government the resources they could have used in providing these essential services presents a major setback. Local governments require financial and constitutional autonomy to provide basic services to the people and supervise and coordinate the activities of other governmental and non-governmental actors involved in service provision.

Marking Religious and Ethnic Boundaries: Cases from the Ancient Golan Heights

2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Gregg
Keyword(s):  
Rhode Island ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
The Common ◽  
Late Roman Period ◽  
Common Era

In the aftermath of the 1967 “Six Days' War,” 254 ancient inscribed stones were found in forty-four towns and villages of the Golan Heights—241 in Greek, 12 in Hebrew or Aramaic, and 1 in Latin. These stones, along with numerous architectural fragments, served as the basis of the 1996 book by myself and Dan Urman, Jews, Pagans, and Christians in the Golan Heights—a study of settlement patterns of people of the three religions in this region in the early centuries of the common era.1 The area of the Golan heights, roughly the size of Rhode Island, was in antiquity a place of agriculture and, for the most part, small communities. Though historians of religions in the late Roman period have long been aware of the “quartering” of cities, and of the locations of particular religious groups in this or that section of urban areas, we have had little information concerning the ways in which Hellenes, Jews, and Christians took up residence in relation to each other in those rural settings featuring numerous towns and hamlets— most presumably too small to have “zones” for ethnic and religious groups. The surviving artifacts of a number of the Golan sites gave the opportunity for a case study. Part 1 of this article centers on evidence for the locations and possible interactions of members of these religious groups in the Golan from the third to the seventh centuries and entails a summary of findings in the earlier work, while part 2 takes up several lingering questions about religious identity and ways of “marking” it within Golan countryside communities. Both sections can be placed under a rubric of “boundary drawing and religion.”

Regional features of local elections in 2020: Poltava region

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Petro Vorona ◽  
S. A. Solovey
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Party Building ◽  
Regional Features ◽  
Electoral Law

The article considers the issue of holding local elections on the example of one of the regions of Ukraine - Poltava region. The research hypothesis is based on the study of the dynamics of party representation in local governments of Poltava region as a central, iconic region to study the evolution of electoral sympathies and features of party building from the standpoint of public administration science. The author conducted a comparative analysis of the electoral preferences of Poltava residents in the local elections in terms of political parties and their dynamics in accordance with the 2015 elections. The development of democratic processes is directly dependent on the mechanisms and procedures for both local and parliamentary elections - the extent to which electoral law allows the majority of voters to understand the wide variety of political parties and candidates, allows opinion leaders to participate in elections. It is pointed out that there is a certain regrouping («political mimicry») of some political parties in the country, as a reestablishment of the «old political elite» and a campaign for local elections in a new composition and with a new name. The article focuses on strengthening the role of regionally influenced political parties in local elections. They allowed the local political elite to be more independent of all-Ukrainian parliamentary parties. Attention is drawn to local political party projects led by charismatic or financially influential politicians. It is noted that the local elections in 2020 continued the positive dynamics of change - from the previous convocation, only a quarter of people entered the Poltava Regional Council, and its membership was renewed by almost 70%. The dominance of the post-Soviet communist and Komsomol elites in the region, which were characterized by exceptional unity, is disappearing, although they retain some of their political electoral influence in the region. It is pointed out the need to further improve the provisions of the Electoral Code where it is necessary to lay down the principle of fairness in the distribution of seats on the main electoral list in accordance with the electoral rating of candidates.

scholarly journals Legal basis for the interaction between local with state authorities

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (Especial II) ◽  
pp. 131-140
Author(s):  
Jaafar Naser Abdulridha ◽  
Salwan Jaber Hashim ◽  
Evgeny Batirovich Sultanov
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
The Republic

The objective of the article is to analyze the legal basis for interaction between local and state authorities within the framework of the current constitution of the Republic of Iraq. At the methodological level, documentary observation was used. In recent years, after the transition to a new political regime in Iraq in 2003, many issues relating to local administrations and their interaction with state bodies have been identified and enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq in 2005. Some of the most serious problems are the lack of a clear organization of relations between government bodies and local governments, the efficiency problems of the various authorities, as well as the lack of flexible solutions in legislation and the Constitution. The need to solve these problems is often manifested at all levels. At the same time, we find no real decisions that do not cause popular discontent in all Iraqi provinces, especially in Basra province. It is concluded that relations between regional and national authorities are mediated by the presence of bureaucracy, financial and administrative corruption administrative and political conflicts between political parties.

scholarly journals PENGAWASAN TERHADAP PERATURAN KEPALA DAERAH

Yuridika ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Prajwalita Widiati ◽  
Haidar Adam
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
National Government ◽  
Local Regulation ◽  
Good Review ◽  
Review Mechanism

Decentralisation puts weigh in the dynamic of local government. As consequences of decentralization, local governments are entitled to enact local regulation in order to serve public services in the daily basis. Local regulation as the product of the Mayor of course does not stand alone. It is part of national legislative system which lay at the low tier of the hierarchy of laws. It should be work effectively and harmoniously with the system. By analyzing the nature of decentralization and the function of local legislation, it is essential to establish a good review mechanism for this legislative product. Different mechanism results in different consequences to the regulation. This article has analysed three mechanisms both preventive and represive; executive review which is done by the Governor and National Government; judicial review which is done by the Court and even political review which is exercised by the local representatives who act as balancing power to the local executive.Keywords: Peraturan Kepala Daerah, Executive Review, Judicial Review, Political Review

scholarly journals Role of political parties in modern processes of state building in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Yuriy Kyrychenko ◽  
Hanna Davlyetova
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Power ◽  
State Building ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The People ◽  
Problematic Situations

The article examines the role of political parties in modern state-building processes in Ukraine. The place of political parties in the political and legal system of society is determined. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered. It is noted that political parties play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, act as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities, influence the formation of public opinion and the position of citizens directly involved in elections to public authorities and local governments. It is determined that in a modern democratic society, political parties carry out their activities in the following areas: the work of representatives of political parties in public authorities and local governments; participation in elections of state authorities and local self-government bodies; promoting the formation and expression of political will of citizens, which involves promoting the formation and development of their political legal consciousness. These areas of political parties determine their role and importance in a modern democratic society, which determines the practical need to improve their activities and improve the national legislation of Ukraine in the field of political parties. Political parties are one of the basic institutions of modern society, they actively influence the ac-tivities of public authorities, economic and social processes taking place in the state and so on. It is through political parties that the people participate in the management of public affairs. Expressing the interest of different social communities, they become a link between the state and civil society. The people have the opportunity to delegate their powers to political parties, which achieves the ability of the people to control political power in several ways, which at the same time through competition of state political institutions and political parties contributes to increasing their responsibility to the people. It is noted that the political science literature has more than 200 definitions of political parties. And approaches to the definition of this term significantly depend on the general context in which this issue was studied by the researcher. It was emphasized that today in Ukraine there are important issues related to the activities of political parties. First of all, it is a significant number of registered political parties that are incapable, ie their political activity is conducted formally or not at all. According to official data from the Department of State Registration and Notary of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, 352 political parties are registered, of which 48 political parties do not actually function. The reason for the liquidation of such parties is not to nominate their candidates for the election of the President of Ukraine and People's Deputies of Ukraine for 10 years. According to this indicator, Ukraine ranks first among other European countries. Thus, 73 political parties are officially registered in Latvia, 38 in Lithuania, 45 in Moldova, 124 in Romania, and 56 in Slovakia. However, despite the large number of officially registered political parties in Ukraine, public confidence in their activities is low. It is concluded that political parties occupy a special place in the political and legal system of society and play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, as well as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered, namely: introduction of effective and impartial control over activity of political parties; creating conditions for reducing the number of political parties, encouraging their unification; establishment of effective and efficient sanctions for violation of the requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine by political parties.

scholarly journals CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT: DIGITAL ACTIVISM ON TWITTER; A CORPUS-BASED TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF TWEETS ON CAA

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 184-197
Author(s):  
Geetika Vashishata ◽  
Umesh Arya
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Citizenship Status

This article is an attempt to understand how digital activism was used to express dissent towards the CAA 2019 that proposed citizenship based on religious identity. The study analyses the trending tweets on CAA through the corpus method. The data analysis showed that how Twitter is used both by the citizens and political parties to promote their views. The majority of Twitterati expressed its discomfort towards the Act that was passed hurriedly by stressing heavily on its “unconstitutionality” & “non-secularity”. The pertinent questions of secularism, citizenship, immigration were found to be poorly dissipated and hateful hashtag movements ruled the discourse. The whole discourse was found to be extremely rigid over the issue of nationality and citizenship status of Muslims and NRC. The statistically significant scores of tests like collocate, N-grams, word clusters, and concordances too showed similar results with an inclination towards negative sentiments for the Act.

scholarly journals Condemning Religion: RLUIPA and the Politics of Eminent Domain

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Serkin ◽  
Nelson Tebbe
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Important Implication ◽  
Safety Valve ◽  
Eminent Domain ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Federal Statute ◽  
The One ◽  
Special Protection

85 Notre Dame Law Review 1 (2009)Should religious landowners enjoy special protection from eminent domain? A recent federal statute, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), compels courts to apply a compelling interest test to zoning and landmarking regulations that substantially burden religiously owned property. That provision has been controversial in itself, but today a new cutting-edge issue is emerging: whether the Act’s extraordinary protection should extend to condemnation as well. The matter has taken on added significance in the wake of Kelo, where the Supreme Court reaffirmed its expansive view of the eminent domain power. In this Article, we argue that RLUIPA should not give religious assemblies any extraordinary ability to resist condemnation. We offer two principal reasons for this proposal. First, the political economy surrounding condemnation is markedly different from that of zoning, so that broadening the law’s protections beyond zoning to cover outright takings would be unnecessary and ineffective. Second, the costs of presumptively exempting congregations from condemnation are likely to be far higher than the costs of doing so with respect to zoning. In conclusion, we identify an important implication of our argument for the law’s core zoning provision – namely, our proposal invites local governments to circumvent RLUIPA by simply condemning religious property that they find difficult to zone because of the Act. On the one hand, this gives local governments a needed safety valve while, on the other hand, requiring them to pay just compensation to religious groups. Our proposal therefore suggests a powerful compromise.

环境因素对建立关系和宗教身份的影响∶中国研究生在美国两个社会文化环境中的个案分析

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-58
Author(s):  
Cynthia Baiqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Network Formation ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multiple Relationships ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Chinese Graduate Students ◽  
Primary Groups

Linking concepts from networks, identities, and ecology, I draw on material collected during sixty interviews to show how a group of culturally homogeneous Chinese graduate students, when placed in two sociocultural environments in the United States, displayed different processes of religious identity network formation. In a large and heterogeneous community with more possible identities, students showed human agency by forming religious identities less constrained by networks. Human agency is also exemplified in the expansion of their religious circle of friends once they developed a religious identity. Religious identity often preceded networks. However, in a small and homogeneous community, students did emotion work to stay in pro-religious groups, presumably due to the limitations they had in choosing friends, particularly Chinese friends. The formation of networks more likely preceded the emergence of religious identities premised on the coexistence of multiple relationships in dyads and solidarity within primary groups. The narratives demonstrate how ecology matters for the formation of network ties and religious identity. 根据对60个对硕士博士研究生的采访，通过运用网络分析、身份研究、和环境研究领域的概念，本文详述同属一个文化的中国留学生当处于美国两个不同城市文化环境中时，通过生活圈子发展特定身份的不同过程。在一个大型、充满差异的城市里，留学生的身份选择具有多样性。其主体性表现在自主选择宗教认同并扩大有宗教信仰的朋友圈子。他们的宗教认同常常先于他们的宗教朋友圈。而在一个小型、倡导同化的城市里，由于可选择的中国朋友人数少，留学生常常通过控制自我感情来维系与亲宗教的朋友的关系。他们的宗教网络常常先于他们的宗教认同。在这种环境中，当两人有多重社会关系，并处于一个高度团结的小群体中时，宗教认同才得以传播。本研究显示社区规模和文化是重要的影响身份和社会网络的环境因素。 (This article is in English.)

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document