Liberal democracy and globalized capitalism in Africa: Perspective from Heidegger

This paper sets out to defend a set of mutually inclusive theses. First, it argues that liberal democracy’s sojourn in Africa is not political but economic. Secondly, that there is nothing natural about capitalism, rather capitalism was forcefully globalized in order to create the false impression that man is by nature motivated by self-interest or profit. But this paper demonstrates the historicity of capitalism. Finally, the paper employs Martin Heidegger’s ontological analysis to show that liberal democracy is just the political manifestation of what he calls “the nihilism of Western metaphysical thinking”, a thinking that is expansionist, dominating and ultimately “enframing”; (controlling). Using the expository, historical, analytic and critical methods, the essay demonstrates that the liberal democratic march in Africa is to provide the enabling conditions for capitalist exploitation. Thus, it argues that without the political ground- clearing capacity of liberal democracy, the economic domination and control by capitalism in Africa would be very difficult. In conclusion, the paper draws from the actual experience of liberal democracy and the thrust of capitalism in Africa to demonstrate their ontological ambivalence.

The coloniality of infrastructure: Engineering, landscape and modernity in Recife

Geographical scholarship has, since the late 1990s, shown how infrastructure was central to the making of urban modernity and the metabolic transformation of socio-natures. Meanwhile, the work of Latin American scholars including Aníbal Quijano and Maria Lugones has focussed attention on the imbrications between modernity and coloniality, in particular through the international racial division of labour. Moving between these ideas, I argue that there is intellectual and political ground to be gained by specifically accounting for the coloniality of infrastructure, in both its material and epistemic dimensions. I ground the analysis in the history of Recife, Northeast of Brazil, analyzing the role of British engineering in the production of the city's landscape and infrastructure, and address the epistemic dimensions of the coloniality of infrastructural by exploring infrastructural spectacle in 1920s Recife. Finally, I explore how the coloniality of infrastructure directs our attention to race, labour and finance.

Debating (Post-)Coloniality in Southeast Europe: A Minority Oriented Perspective in Bulgaria

Despite the fact that its scholarly application has been considered highly problematic in the former Eastern Bloc and barely employed due to the Marxist background, post-colonialism has been recently introduced by a large number of scholars and academics. Yet, theoretical experiments, research, and projection of post-colonialism in Central and Eastern Europe have come to compose an abundant field of reference. Drawing on this theoretical approach, this paper aims to debate the category of post-coloniality in postcommunist Bulgaria in order to better venture the parapet of the post-1989 transition. Employing a ‘minority perspective’, which will reveal minority positionality in the contemporary Bulgarian cultural and political ground, this paper traces potential power actions of (dis)possession of knowledge among subaltern groups, which actions continue to negate, disavow, distort, and deny access to different forms of minority cultures and life visions represented by non-majoritarian segments of the Bulgarian society. In general, this paper digs into the historical experience of the ethnic Turks and Muslim minority groups in Bulgaria prior to the communist experience, throughout and after the collapse of communism, and in the contemporary Republic of Bulgaria. In particular, post-coloniality – understood in terms of ‘coloniality of being’ – shall offer a better and critical angle of investigation over the issues of human marginalisation, cultural subordination, and knowledge exploitation in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the time of War in Donbas (2014 – 2019)

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Ukraine faces different kinds of challenges – practical as well as spiritual – since the war in Donbas had been started. The practical challenge deals with taking care of fellows believers from war areas. The spiritual concerns what the community stand for in the conflict. The response on the first one was the foundation of “Ukrainian Vaisnava Refugee Fund” which provides temporal shelter for the refugees and makes the premises in Vaishnava retreat centers ready for the cold season. Concerning the second challenge – ISKCON claims principal and conscious detachment from the war. One could not expect different positions from this religious organization taking to account its theological particularities of the religion. Firstly, Vaishnavism claims a strong division on material and spiritual (transcendental) worlds so that worldly deals including wars treated less important and valuable. Secondly, the Hindu imagination on time implies that Earth is facing the period of degradation (kali yuga) when wars are inevitable and no one can influence it, so there is no point in active participation in them. Thirdly, Vaishnavism does not think about its position on war as on the detachment rather it claims the different type of participation which derives from the understanding of its mission in any conflict which differs from missions of other religious organizations. The mission of ISKCON in the war not to take one or another side but transform the quality of ignorance (tama-guna) into the quality of goodness (sattva-guna) which is reached by transcendental, not worldly methods. Therefore, any ISKCON charity project does not deals with the help one or another side of the conflict directly but strive to be universal and provide help irrespective to war affairs. As a result of this position only two ways of charity was possible for the Krishnaites in a wartime – the project “Food for life. Donbas” and taking care of abandoned cows in the conflict zone. However, the individual position of devotee could differ from organization’s one. Usually it depends on his or her personal experience or background, especially before coming to Krishna’s consciousness. There are devotees who follow pro-Ukrainian position as well as those who follow pro-Russian, thus Vaishnavas’ attitude to the conflict reflects, in general, the Ukrainian population attitude to it on particular territories. It does not mean that devotees on the Ukrainian territories are all pro-Ukrainian and those who are on the uncontrolled territories are all pro-Russian. Both positions exist on the both sides from the frontline. But because of curtain reasons one or another position is louder on one side from the frontline and almost silent on another. It could be concluded that Vaishnavas accepted the spiritual challenge successfully on both collective and individual level. As field work has shown ISKCON avoided inner conflicts and schism on the political ground. Furthermore, Ukrainian Vaishnavas have not lost the connection with their fellow believers on the uncontrolled territories. Moreover, they also have not lost the good relationships and connections with Russian fellow believers. Though the intensity of such contacts decreased drastically it is more due to technical reasons connecting with the difficulties on the borders. Regarding ISKCON yatras on the uncontrolled territories of Donbas and in Crimea they are facing difficulties with selflegalization due to strict religious laws.

A Review of Local Government Institutions (LGIs) in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, several renowned organizations are abundantly spoken roughly from which local government (LG) is one of them. Local Government Institutions (LGIs) take vigorous legal as well as the valid basis. This has a great legacy of inheritances for forming and developing LGIs, however the definite nature and performances in this form of organizations to increase people’s involvement and increase democratic practice which is seen very limited – because of too much central involvement, and misapplication and influence by domineering governments to preserve their supremacy. The present study gives a reflective look at the development and working on local governance in a decentralized form in Bangladesh, focusing on the key trends, features, and challenges. The study mainly rests on the analysis of secondary elements. LGI is still not strong and as well as not properly structured nor have enough capability consistent with the Constitutional provision but contain characteristics of deconcentration more than the pure practice of decentralization. The study is secondary literature based in nature. The findings of the present study recommend that, regardless of having the Constitutional acknowledgement of the formation of an independent and a solid local government organization, the political governance of Bangladesh has introduced diverse transformations to get variations in the organization of the LGIs in the forename of decentralization. Yet, the key aims after most of the restructurings have been to support their political ground in a certain region. Consequently, these organizations could not be well-known as a heart of progress where societies would have the authority to observe and govern their areas.

Brexit and the Myth of Grandeur

The decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union came as a shock to many. A key player during the referendum campaign was the Vote Leave organisation which managed to convince people that they would be better off outside the European project. Their success was made all the easier as Euroscepticism had been running deep in the country for decades. It is on this fertile ground that Vote Leavers drew to persuade people of the necessity to leave. Using critical metaphor analysis, this paper examines the way Vote Leavers won the argument by developing three political myths, which, once combined, conjured up the notion of British grandeur. Drawing on Jonathan Charteris-Black’s seminal works on the relation between metaphors and the creation of political myths in political rhetoric, this paper posits that the Brexit debate was not won solely on political ground and that the manipulative power of metaphors may have also been a key element. This might explain the current political deadlock, as political solutions might not provide the answers to the questions raised during the campaign.

A Review of Local Government Institutions (LGIs) in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, several renowned organizations are abundantly spoken roughly from which local government (LG) is one of them. Local Government Institutions (LGIs) take vigorous legal as well as the valid basis. This has a great legacy of inheritances for forming and developing LGIs, however the definite nature and performances in this form of organizations to increase people’s involvement and increase democratic practice which is seen very limited – because of too much central involvement, and misapplication and influence by domineering governments to preserve their supremacy. The present study gives a reflective look at the development and working on local governance in a decentralized form in Bangladesh, focusing on the key trends, features, and challenges. The study mainly rests on the analysis of secondary elements. LGI is still not strong and as well as not properly structured nor have enough capability consistent with the Constitutional provision but contain characteristics of deconcentration more than the pure practice of decentralization. The study is secondary literature based in nature. The findings of the present study recommend that, regardless of having the Constitutional acknowledgement of the formation of an independent and a solid local government organization, the political governance of Bangladesh has introduced diverse transformations to get variations in the organization of the LGIs in the forename of decentralization. Yet, the key aims after most of the restructurings have been to support their political ground in a certain region. Consequently, these organizations could not be well-known as a heart of progress where societies would have the authority to observe and govern their areas.

South-South cooperation and foreign policy: Challenges and dilemmas in the perception of Brazilian diplomats

Brazil’s government has historically engaged with other developing countries to promote technical cooperation. Since the 1988 federal Constitution, different presidents have paid attention to this foreign policy agenda. However, it was particularly under the Workers’ Party’s administrations (2003–2016) that South-South cooperation (SSC) gained political ground, rooted in official principles of South-South solidarity, horizontality, non-interference in domestic affairs, and the defence of a multipolar world-vision. In this article, based on the argument that international development cooperation (IDC) is a key instrument of a country’s economic diplomacy, we analyse the perceptions of Brazilian diplomats about SSC in order to understand Brazil’s interests and motivations in this field. Methodologically, the article discusses the main results of a survey conducted between 25 August and 23 September 2016 among 349 Brazilian individuals, who correspond to approximately 22 per cent of Brazil’s active diplomats. The survey results showed that Brazilian diplomats generally have a favourable perception on Brazil’s SSC programmes, and that a great majority of them has already acted in SSC activities. Still, the issue of political conditionality brings in cleavages, indicating that there is a large group of Brazilian diplomats who openly support SSC as an instrument of national interests and not because of the official narratives related to a ‘solidarity with the South’ or ‘the promotion of human rights’. As a consequence, with the exception of perceptions on political conditionalities and economic criteria, the majority of diplomats share commonalities that also correspond to the government’s official rhetoric between 2003 and 2016. This article is structured around the following three sections: (1) South-South cooperation as a foreign policy agenda, (2) Diplomats as agents of Brazil’s South-South cooperation and (3) Presenting and discussing the perceptions of Brazilian diplomats.

US president begins third year in office, eyeing 2020

Significance Since 2017, Trump has made waves in foreign and domestic policy, not least due to his preparedness seemingly to overturn the status quo on a whim. However, his administration is treading policy and political ground in familiar ways. Impacts If Trump’s political fortunes decline, he could face a Republican challenger for the presidential nomination. For 2020, Republicans will try to regain suburban, minority and female voters. Democratic presidential candidates are starting to declare: Republicans will begin campaign intelligence and push-back work.