Suchergebnisse

Since the Fourth Republic was inaugurated in 1993, politics in Ghana has been increasingly characterized by competitive clientelism. Ruling coalitions are characterized by a high degree of vulnerability in power due to a strong opposition party, by strong lower-level factions within the ruling coalition due to their importance in winning elections, and by a high degree of fragmentation among the ruling elite. These characteristics, combined with a weak domestic capitalist class and high inflows of foreign aid, have led the ruling elites across political parties to pursue and implement policies that have a short time horizon, that do not significantly shift the allocation of resources towards building productive sectors, and which are often plagued by problems of enforcement. The results have led to growth without economic transformation. In particular, the country has witnessed recurrent macroeconomic instability, a haphazard process of privatization of state-owned enterprises, and no serious attempt to build up productive sectors outside of cocoa and gold.

L'objectif de l'étude est d'analyser la nature de la relation appelée « amitié » dans la société de cour de la France du XVIIe siècle, ainsi que ses formes concrètes et ses fonctions. Comme le travail s'appuie sur des sources tirées de l'entourage des princes de Condé, la période étudiée a été limitée en fonction de ces sources ; elle va des années 1620 jusqu'aux années 1680, embrassant la vie du Grand Condé et aussi les décennies de part et d'autre de la Fronde. La première partie expose d'abord l'état de la recherche sur le sujet de l'amitié, tant en histoire que dans les disciplines voisines. Ensuite, elle explique la méthodologie utilisée. Puis, les sources sont décrites ; elles comprennent d'une part des sources manuscrites provenant des archives des Condé à Chantilly, et d'autre part des sources imprimées, surtout des mémoires et des autobiographies. La première partie se termine par la description du contexte historique des phénomènes étudiés. Cela concerne d'une part le milieu nobiliaire et la société de cour, et d'autre part la famille Condé et son entourage ; ce chapitre expose aussi des détails prosopographiques sur les personnages les plus importants qui sont mentionnés tout au long de l'étude. La seconde partie du travail présente l'amitié nobiliaire en France au XVIIe siècle de manière synchronique, analysant donc les différents aspects de ce lien social. La partie s'ouvre sur une analyse sémantique des notions d' « ami » et d' « amitié » dans la période étudiée. Ensuite, les représentations de l'amitié sont décrites, c'est-à-dire les idées, discours, normes et valeurs qui se lient à la notion d'amitié dans la période concernée. Puis, les langages de l'amitié sont étudiés ; il s'agit là de décrire en détail le vocabulaire et la rhétorique utilisés par les nobles dans leurs relations amicales. L'analyse se poursuit avec les pratiques de l'amitié, c'est-à-dire ses rituels et ses gestes ; dans ce contexte sont aussi analysés les objets qui deviennent symboles de l'amitié, par exemple quand ils sont échangés comme cadeaux entre amis. Finalement, les services entre amis sont thématisés, qui se manifestent dans des domaines aussi divers que le politique (avec l'entraide pour obtenir des charges et offices), l'économique (avec des crédits), la protection mutuelle contre la violence (par exemple par des escortes pour voyager), mais aussi quand un ami fait figure de second pour un autre dans un duel ou quand il l'aide pour arranger son mariage. Tandis que la deuxième partie adopte donc une approche synchronique, la troisième partie est dédiée à une approche diachronique de l'amitié. Il s'agit d'insérer les constats sur l'amitié parmi l'aristocratie française du XVIIe siècle dans une histoire de l'amitié dans la longue durée. Les influences de la pensée de l'Antiquité et du Moyen Age sur l'amitié dans la période étudiée ayant déjà été analysées dans le contexte des représentations de l'amitié, le XVIe siècle a été choisi comme point de départ de cette histoire. Dans un premier temps, l'évolution du phénomène amical pendant la Renaissance et l'âge classique est analysée. Ensuite, les mutations de ce lien social pendant les Lumières et le Romantisme sont examinés. Un tournant important se dessine : c'est dans le dernier XVIIIe et le premier XIXe siècle que l'on peut voir l'essor d'une nouvelle pensée sur l'amitié, qui base celle-ci non plus sur la loyauté et l'entraide, mais sur la sincérité et les sentiments profonds. Un épilogue sur l'amitié à l'époque contemporaine et postmoderne termine cette partie : bien que l'on puisse voir des modifications du phénomène amical au long de ces périodes, même la conception de l'amitié qui est dominante dans les sociétés occidentales actuelles reste largement l'héritière de la conception romantique. Il est donc crucial d'historiciser la notion même d'amitié, pour ne pas juger les amitiés de l'époque moderne à l'échelle de l'amitié romantique. Ce n'est que par ce procédé méthodologique qu'il devient possible de comprendre les amitiés plus utilitaires de l'époque moderne, où, en l'absence d'un Etat fort et d'un marché qui permettraient de satisfaire aux besoins matériels de la vie en traitant avec des inconnus, le réseau amical est crucial pour toutes sortes d'affaires pratiques. Dans le cas d'une élite politique telle que l'était la noblesse française du XVIIe siècle, cela concerne particulièrement les carrières que font les aristocrates, les relations de pouvoir entre les nobles à la cour et leur influence politique, tant sur le monarque que sur les autres nobles. Par conséquent, quand on analyse les relations amicales et plus largement les relations sociales dans le milieu étudié ici, on ne peut pas établir une séparation nette entre ce qui est privé, d'une part, et ce qui est public ou politique, d'autre part. Dans le contexte de la cour, toute relation amicale devient alliance politique – et toute alliance politique se doit d'être aussi une relation amicale. ; The aim of this study is to analyze the nature of the relationship that was called "friendship" in 17th-century French court society and its specific forms and functions. As the inquiry is based on sources from the princes of Condé and their entourage, the period which is analyzed has been defined according to these sources; it goes from the 1620s to the 1680s and spans the life of the Grand Condé as well as the decades before and after the Fronde. The first part begins with an overview of the state of research concerning the subject of friendship, in history as well as in neighbouring disciplines. Then, the method is explained. Subsequently, the sources are described; they encompass both manuscript sources from the archives of the princes of Condé in Chantilly and printed sources, particularly memoirs and autobiographies. The first part finishes with a description of the historical context of the phenomena under inquiry. This concerns the milieu of the nobility and the court society, as well as the house of Condé and their entourage; this chapter also exposes prosopographical details about the most important persons who are mentioned in the study. The second part presents aristocratic friendship in 17th-century France under a synchronic perspective, analyzing the different aspects of this social relationship. This part opens with a semantic analysis of the words "ami" (friend) and "amitié" (friendship) in the period under consideration. Subsequently, the representations of friendship are described, that is the ideas, discourses, norms and values that are attached to the notion of friendship in this period. Then, the language of friendship is examined through an in-depth description of the vocabulary and rhetoric used by the nobles in their friendships. The analysis goes on to describe the practices of friendship, that is, its rituals and gestures. In this context, the objects that become symbols of friendship are analyzed, too; that concerns for example gifts that are exchanged between friends. Finally, the services exchanged between friends are examined, which concern domains as diverse as politics (mutual aid in order to obtain posts and titles), economy (credits), mutual protection against violence (for example in form of escorts when friends are travelling), but also the situation when one friend serves as a second at another's duel, or when one friend helps another arrange his marriage. The third part is dedicated to a diachronic analysis of friendship. What has been found out about friendship among 17th-century French aristocrats is now inserted in a history of friendship in the longue durée. As the influences of ancient and medieval thinking about friendship on the friendships of the period under consideration had already been analyzed in the context of the representations of friendship, the 16th century has been chosen as the point of departure of this history. In a first step, the evolution of the phenomenon of friendship during the Renaissance and the French Classical period is described. Then, the changes that this social relationship undergoes during the Enlightenment and the period of Romanticism are examined. An important turning-point becomes visible: during the late 18th and the early 19th century, one can observe the rise of a new thinking about friendship, in which this relationship is no longer based on loyalty and mutual assistance, but on sincerity and deep feelings. An epilogue about friendship during the modern and post-modern periods closes this part: though one can see evolutions of the phenomenon of friendship during these periods, even the conception of friendship that is dominant in today's Western societies is still to a large extent shaped by the heritage of the concept of friendship as developed in the age of Romanticism. It is thus crucial to historicize the notion of friendship itself, in order not to judge the friendships of the early modern age according to the norms and values of romantic friendship. It is only through this methodological procedure that it becomes possible to understand the more instrumental friendships of the early modern age where the network of friendship is crucial for all sorts of practical affairs, as there is neither a strong state nor a well-developed market which would allow satisfying material needs through interaction with strangers. In the case of a political elite like the nobility of 17th-century France, this concerns in particular the careers of the aristocrats, the power relations between the nobles at court and their political influence on the monarch as well as on each other. Thus, if one analyses friendships in the milieu under consideration here, one cannot draw a clear line between what is private on the one hand and what is public or political on the other. In the context of the court, each relationship of friendship becomes also a political alliance – and each political alliance must also be a relationship of friendship.

Ebbe Prag's paper - Entrepôt Politics: Political Struggles over the Dantokpa Marketplace in Cotonou, Benin - argues that marketplaces are a hub of formal and informal international trade. Furthermore, marketplaces are an important site for understanding national political struggles in Benin due to their key position in the economy. The lines of conflict at the very large Dantokpa marketplace in Cotonou duplicate the general pattern of fluid and opportunistic political alliances between 'regionally'-based parties around the government and the opposition in Beninese politics. At the market, political networks of non-state and state actors, party leaders, government officials and 'big men and women' compete for control over the huge resources generated from the market. Ebbe Prag's paper argues that the competition is embedded in and has been spurred on by democratisation in 1990 and decentralisation in 2002. Formally, the Beninese state governs the market, but its authority is weak, and public authority is shaped through and by struggles and negotiations between the competing political networks in a fluid and informal environment of clientelistic politics.

In this article I investigate the role of the international community's policy in the national factionalism in Palestine. I attempt to illuminate how international policy has contributed to the sustaining of internecine Palestinian violence as Fatah, which lost the elections in 2005 and 2006, has been motivated not to hand over power. In the process of selecting allies in the fight against Islamist terrorism, the epitomic undemocratic feature of Arab political culture, clientelism, has been promoted over democracy. Hamas seizing power in Gaza in 2007 probably resulted from the need to tame unruly militant groups which were sponsored by leaders of the Palestinian Fatah party, which again were supported by Western powers. To understand the national splitting in Palestine there is a need to analyse the interconnection between warlords, local clientelism and international clientelism.

A central challenge in political economy is to identify the conditions under which legislators seek to "bring home the pork" to constituents. We conduct the first systematic analysis of one determinant of constituency service, voter attachment to political parties, holding constant electoral and political institutions. Our analysis takes advantage of data from a unique type of public spending program that is proliferating across developing countries, the constituency development fund (CDF), which offers more precise measures of legislator effort than are common in the literature. Examining the CDF in India, we find that legislator effort is significantly lower in constituencies that are party strongholds. This result, which is robust to controls for alternate explanations, implies that legislators pass on pork when voters are more attached to political parties. It has implications not only for understanding political incentives and the dynamics of party formation, but also for evaluating the impact of CDFs.