Suchergebnisse

Interview with Václav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia, Dec. 1989-July 1992, and President of the Czech Republic, Jan. 1993-Feb. 2, 2003. Summaries in English and Spanish p. 423 and 437.

Examines postconflict reconstruction of failed states; security, justice and reconciliation, socioeconomic well-being, governance and participation, and strategic democracy building and US states; 6 articles. Contents: Toward postconflict reconstruction, by John J. Hamre and Gordon R. Sullivan; Building better foundations: security in postconflict reconstruction, by Scott Feil; Dealing with demons: justice and reconciliation, by Michèle Flournoy and Michael Pan; Achieving socioeconomic well-being in postconflict settings, by Johanna Mendelson Forman; Governing when chaos rules: enhancing governance and participation, by Robert Orr; Strategic democracy building: how U.S. states can help, by Bill Owens and Troy A Eid.

Drawing on 1990-1998 research on Islamist women in Egypt, it is argued that the moderate Islamist movement includes feminists. Focus is on Zaynab Al-Ghazali, Safinaz Qazim, & Heba Ra'uf & the continuities & shifts in ideas & action vis-a-vis feminism, Islamisms, & the state. In addition, developments in Islamist feminisms are addressed, discerning a trajectory that moves from natural dispositions to the Euro-Ameri-Zionism dictatorship of society & state, to family states & political motherhood. J. Zendejas

The current wave of so-called 'suicide-bombings' perpetrated by Muslims has been part of Shi'ite Islamic idealization of suffering & death, meant for the Believer to identify with the ordeal of Imam Hussein in the seventh century CE. It was revived by the Shi'ite Hizballah in Lebanon against the Americans & the Israelis, & then expanded by Sunnite Palestinian Islamists, such as Hamas & Islamic Jihad, & even by avowedly 'secular' Palestinian groups such as the Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades & Tanzim. But the justifications for all those groups are, nevertheless, curiously Islamic. This article presents the text written by a prominent cleric & diffused in the Palestinian media, rationalizing suicide-bombing as the ultimate mode of struggle against Muslim enemies. Adapted from the source document.

Rather than advocating a variant of ethical dandyism revolving around individualistic withdrawal and the aesthetic intensification of sexual pleasures, this article argues that Foucault's ethical and political ouvre can best be represented as a form of nonmonistic communitariamsm termed "thin" communitarianism. In this model, difference and unity are paired or balanced. Although difference is given greater scope than in traditional enlightenment philosophical theorizing, the author argues that it must be nevertheless contextualized in relation to a model of community if it is to be coherent. Extending the argument further, he argues that a form of democratic associationism better fits the type of political community he intends. In this sense, Foucault is best represented as a "thin" communitarian, not in the sense of Rawls, Habermas, or the premodern notion of a community as having a substantive common goal or unified bond (communio), but rather as a interactive multiplicity (commercium) not ruled by any organizing or binding law or principle, and as a structure of tacit agreements, understandings, and rules that represent the basis of political reason as a pragmatic code for problem solving rather than a set of universal epistemological principles based on truth.

Chronicles the historical development & evolution of the lesbian & gay movement in Argentina, drawing on the political opportunity perspective to explain the movement's emergence & growth since the late 1960s-early 1970s. The creation of the radical Frente de Liberacion Homosexual (Homosexual Liberation Front) in 1971 is detailed, along with its dissolution in 1976, largely as a result of the violent persecution it endured at the hands of paramilitary forces & the military dictatorship. The emergence of other gay & lesbian activist groups in its wake is described, noting how they flourished with the redemocratization of the country. Focus is on the largest & oldest movement, the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (Argentinian Homosexual Community [CHA]), which has assumed a more integrationist stance than its predecessor. The activities of the CHA & other contemporary gay activist groups are reviewed, highlighting the centrality of identity in their goals. Their sense of identity & incorporation of identity issues into their agendas also forms the basis for distinguishing among several different types of homosexual political organization, including assimilationist, civil-rights-based, & radical groups. The potential of such groups for transcending identity issues in pursuit of their political & social goals is considered. 23 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Many leftists such as Noam Chomsky have proclaimed that the terrorist attacks of September 11 (2001) were an inevitable consequence of US imperialism, while corporate free-traders such as Robert Zoellick have deemed the attacks further proof of the need to globalize markets &, thus, ostensibly alleviate the poverty that breeds terrorism. Both sides attempt to impose a preconceived theory -- whether anti-imperialist or pro-globalization -- onto facts that pointedly belie reading the attacks as motivated by global oppression & poverty. The political bases & socioeconomic origins of these misreadings are examined, especially the role of consumerist culture in promoting both fashionable "identity leftism" & worship of the global market. An example of how intimately the two are wed may be found in the marketing of fashionable attire bearing images of Che & Mao, which demonstrates the corporate co-optation of violent radicalism to create yet another niche consumer market. K. Coddon