Re-imagining International Relations

Buzan and Acharya challenge the discipline of International Relations to reimagine itself in the light of the thinking about, and practice of, international relations and world order from premodern India, China and the Islamic world. This prequel to their 2019 book, The Making of Global International Relations, takes the story back from the two-century tale of modern IR, to reveal the deep global history of the discipline. It shows the multiple origins and meanings of many concepts thought of as only modern and Western. It opens pathways for the rest of the world into this most Eurocentric of disciplines, encouraging them to bring their own histories, concepts and theories with them. The authors have written this book with the hope of inspiring others to extend these pathways by bringing in a wider array of cultures, and exploring how they thought about and acted in worlds composed of multiple, independent, collective actors.

Collective redress and workers’ rights in Slovenia

In 2017, the Collective Actions Act introduced a new type of lawsuit – the collective action – into the Slovenian legal order. A collective action can be lodged in cases of instances of so-called ‘mass harm’, including mass violations of workers’ rights. This could improve the effectiveness of enforcement of workers’ rights in practice. Instead of a number of individual labour disputes concerning the same or similar violations of workers’ rights, a collective action can be lodged by trade unions or other representative collective actors in this field. Both opt-in and opt-out approaches are possible and the decision on this is left to the discretion of the court. Despite many positive aspects, only one collective action in the area of labour rights has been lodged to date. In this contribution I analyse legal regulation of the existing collective redress mechanism and possible reasons for deficiencies discerned in its functioning in practice.

Resolving Douglass C. North's ‘puzzle’ concerning China's household responsibility system

This paper considers Douglass C. North's ‘puzzle’ concerning China's household responsibility system (HRS) and offers a possible solution. China's HRS, which has evolved over the past four decades to become its dominant form of rural land ownership, has stimulated spectacular economic growth and poverty reduction; however, it is based on a type of ownership which is far removed from the property rights regime which North regarded as essential. Two features of the HRS merit attention. The first is ‘split ownership’: this refers to the allocation of different aspects of ownership, including rights of access, use, management, exclusion and alienation, to a range of individual and collective actors with interests in the land in question. The second is polycentric governance: rules governing land use are derived in part from community-level action and in part from state intervention. We argue that in explaining the functioning of the HRS we need to move beyond the narrow conception of legally enforced private property rights on which North relied. We should instead embrace understandings of ownership as an emergent, diverse and complex institution, of the kind emphasized by A.M. Honoré's legal theory of ownership and Elinor Ostrom's theories of the common-pool resource and polycentric governance.

Who Mobilizes the Court? Migrant Rights Defenders Before the Court of Justice of the EU

Like any other adjudicative body, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is an essentially reactive institution: it cannot create disputes on its own motion, but it needs to be ‘mobilized’. This simple observation leads us to a question of central importance in the field of courts and social justice: who brings social justice claims before the Court of Justice? This is a particularly salient question if confronted with the Court’s restrictive legal standing rules: individuals and collective actors have limited access to the Court and engaging in EU litigation requires the availability of specific resources and allies. This paper relies on an original dataset of 291 rulings of the CJEU in the field of migration, complemented with qualitative empirical research, to unveil and map the actors that defend migrant rights in Luxembourg. The analysis offers an innovative and critical reflection on the accessibility of international courts by disadvantaged groups, showing how some features of the preliminary reference procedure affect the type of actors that engage in EU litigation.

Social and Political Strategies of Young People: Across D.I.Y. and Institutional Patterns

Today’s youth are characterized by the diversification and turnover of collective actors claiming their interests, rights, and needs. ‘Dispersed’ politicization of youth is also manifested in the extending range of socio-political activities, which at the moment may take place not only in the vertical structure of official state institutions, but also in the horizontal plane of autonomous ‘grassroots’ initiatives according to D.I.Y pattern (Do It Yourself), which raises the issue of describing and systematizing these phenomena. The objective of this paper is to compile the outcomes of 2019 studies aimed at creating and testing the tools to describe the current phenomena of institutional and self-organized politicization of youth, namely, to develop the concept of sociological and political strategy and to determine the range of such strategies in the youth milieu. The paper presents the concept of the sociological and political strategy, including a methodological framework, a model and typology of sociological and political strategies of the Russian youth, comprising 10 main types with the focus on the institutional and self-organized patterns of political activities along with the main risks identified. The research methods: the content analysis of statements on the Internet (on thematic resources and social networks), the analysis of essays by students and school pupils (n = 21) regarding the issue of self-determination with respect to politics, interviews comprising the elements of case studies (n = 10) conducted in 2019 as well as the analysis of interview findings for 2017—2018 (n = 17). The diagnostic method – ‘Determination of the youth political strategy type’ was appraised (n = 55). The Delphi approach and brainstorming with elements of technology foresight were used at the phase of developing recommendations to work with the young.

Situační analýza a role diskurzů v sociálněvědním výzkumu

The article introduces situation analysis (cf. Clarke 2005) as an epistemologicalontological basis for science freed of the positivistic paradigm. Situation analysis in a broader perspective dives into present discourses as well as discourses that have been concealed. At the meso-level, the analysis offers insight into social and discursive arenas formed by collective actors, key material elements, social organizations and institutions. At the micro-level it is aimed at the position of individual actors in a situation. Situational analysis provides multidimensional research resonating marginalized discourses and supports the everydayness of knowledge in a socially engaged, emic research of social reality. The focus on language constructions in the humanities allows for the re-definition of one’s own entities, formulas, and rules. Their (im)possible transgression is a necessary response to the accelerated and diverse shape of the recent globalized and particularized society.

La cuestión de la identidad o la identidad en cuestión. Discusiones, acuerdos y puntos de partida

En este artículo presentamos las discusiones que se dan en torno al polisémico concepto de identidad y establecemos los acuerdos que se convierten en puntos de partida en el marco de una investigación que tiene por objetivo comprender el proceso de construcción identitaria de los movimientos socioterritoriales. Para eso organizamos la exposición en tres partes. En primer lugar, nos adentramos en algunas discusiones que se suscitan alrededor del concepto de identidad intentando establecer algunos acuerdos que se constituyen en puntos de partida para investigar la construcción identitaria de los actores colectivos. En segundo lugar, nos detenemos a definir a la identidad colectiva y la ponemos en relación con la identidad individual. Por último, incorporamos dos categorías geográficas a las que consideramos constitutivas del proceso de identificación de los movimientos sociales: territorio y lugar. -- In this article we present the discussions that take place around the polysemic concept of identity, and we establish the agreements that become starting points within the framework of an investigation that aims to understand the process of identity construction of socio-territorial movements. For that we organize the exhibition in three parts. In the first place, we enter some discussions that arise around the concept of identity trying to establish some agreements that constitute starting points to investigate the identity construction of collective actors. Second, we stop to define collective identity and put it in relation to individual identity. Finally, we incorporate two geographical categories that we consider to be constitutive of the identification process of social movements: territory and place.

Targets of jokes (Satirical Shows)

With the variable “targets of jokes” it is analyzed which actors are evaluated in satirical shows (either by criticism or as a target of a joke). Targets of jokes can be celebrities and societal actors, however, the greatest attention is given to political actors. Political actors can either be collective actors such as parties and other political organizations or individual politicians. Due to cultural specifics in the U.S., the coding of political actors as targets of jokes is often expanded to the family and staff of presidential candidates and other high-ranking politicians in American studies (Lichter, et al., 2015). Field of application/theoretical foundation: The variable is used to analyze balance in jokes (e.g., distribution of jokes on political actors) and is an indicator for political plurality. References/combination with other methods of data collection: The variable is used in content analysis that have been combined with experimental studies that analyze priming effects (Matthes & Rauchfleisch, 2013) Example study: Nitsch & Lichtenstein (2013) Information on Nitsch & Lichtenstein, 2013 Authors: Cordula Nitsch, Dennis Lichtenstein Research question/ research interest: Depiction of politics (topics and actors) in satirical shows vs. news shows Object of analysis: Satirical Show (Harald Schmidt Show), news show (Tagesschau) Timeframe of analysis: 2009-2010 Information about variable Variable name/definition: Akteure [actors] Gewertet werden nur politisch relevante Akteure, die in der Sendung angesprochen werden oder selbst sprechen. Ein Akteur gilt als politischer Akteur, wenn es sich dabei entweder um eine politische Institution (z.B. EU, Nato, UNO, Parlament) oder um einen demokratisch legitimierten Individualakteur (z.B Bundespräsident, Politiker unterschiedlicher Parteien) handelt Pro Thema wird jeder Akteur nur einmal codiert. Enthält ein Thema keinen Akteur, so wird die Variable nicht ausgefüllt [Only politically relevant actors who are addressed in the satirical shows or who speak on their own behalf are considered. An actor is considered a political actor if it is either a political institution (e.g. EU, NATO, UN, parliament) or a democratically legitimated individual actor (e.g. Federal President, politicians from different parties). If a topic contains no actor, the variable is not coded.] Level of analysis: Beitragsebene Scale level: Nominal Reliability: Identifikation der Akteure: .82, Akteursvariablen: .81 D national D regional EU Ausland Bereich 1xxx 2xxx 3xxx 4xxx 100 Politiker Land/EU als Ganzes z.B. „die USA haben entschieden“, „Griechenland ist pleite“, „die EU sagt…“ 110 Präsident z.B. Bundespräsident 111 Regierungschef z.B. Bundeskanzler 112 Regierung Als Gesamtheit oder einzelne Minister auf nationaler Ebene; für EU: Kommission und Rat 113 Die Opposition Nur als Gesamtheit, auf nationaler Ebene 114 Parlament 115 Partei z.B. „die SPD hat sich mit der CDU darauf geeinigt…“ 116 Spitzenfunktionär in Partei z.B. Parteichef, Generalsekretär 117 Sonstiges Parteimitglied/Parlamentarier 118 Ehemaliger Politiker 119 Ehemalige Regierung 199 Politischer Akteur, nicht näher zuzuordnen Weitere Akteure: 5101 Nato 5102 UNI 5103 G8-Staaten 5999 Anderer internationaler politischer Akteur References Nitsch, C. & Lichtenstein, D. (2013). Politik mal anders: Die Politikdarstellung in „Harald Schmidt“ im Kontrast zur „Tagesschau“ [A different serving of politics: the depiction of

‘Together we stand’: coalition-building in the Italian and Spanish feminist movements in times of crisis

We analyse coalition-building in feminist mobilisations in times of crisis in two similar cases: Spain and Italy. Based on social movement literature, we develop two key arguments. First, in austerity-ridden scenarios, connecting socio-economic grievances and feminist demands is key for the feminist mass mobilisations to follow. Second, anti-austerity struggles must resonate across different dimensions of coalition-building, both within the feminist movements and across feminists and other actors, such as LGBTQ collectives and anti-austerity challengers. The data used throughout the article come from semi-structured interviews with activists in Italian and Spanish feminist grass-roots organisations. Our results suggest that times of neoliberal crisis may present opportunities not only to advance the feminist agenda, but also to foster alliances within the feminist milieus and between feminists and other relevant collective actors. These alliances might well extend beyond the period of greatest hardship.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>This article explores coalition-building in feminist movements in times of neoliberal crisis in Spain and Italy.</li><br /><li>The ability to bridge socio-economic grievances and feminist demands is key for successful feminist mobilisation.</li><br /><li>Grievances shape coalition-building both within feminist milieus and between feminist and other struggles.</li></ul>