Suchergebnisse

Wie lässt sich der Wandel erklären, der in den vergangenen Jahren in der Türkei vonstatten ging? Hat Erdogan schon immer das Ziel verfolgt, die Islamisierung der Türkei voranzutreiben - oder hat ihn die Ablehnung der EU in Richtung Osten getrieben? Der autoritäre und machtbewusste Staatspräsident hat hohe Ziele für seine "neue Türkei". (IP)

This article studies the continued existence of subnational undemocratic regimes in Argentina and Mexico, two countries that have recently experienced national democratization. The first part of the article offers a conceptualization of subnational democracy and measures its territorial extension across all subnational units. The second part explores a common, albeit not systematically tested explanation about subnational undemocratic regime continuity, namely, that these regimes persist because they meet national incumbents' strategic political needs. This claim is tested using statistical analyses to contrast patterns of spending across undemocratic subnational units during the presidencies of Menem (1989-1999), De la Rúa (2000-2001), Duhalde (2002), and Kirchner (2003-2007) in Argentina, and Fox (2000-2006) in Mexico. Contradicting conventional wisdom, the results show that presidents only reproduce a handful of subnational undemocratic regimes, as not all of them can meet presidential needs. In addition, the results reveal that the strategic calculation of presidents regarding this reproduction is dictated by factors that have been largely overlooked by the literature. (GIGA)

"Die Vorbereitung der republikanischen Erbfolge in Ägypten durch Gamal al-Mubarak, der Staatsstreich in Mauretanien vom August 2008 oder die Ankündigung Saif al-Islam Qaddafis, sich ins Ausland zu begeben und vorerst seine politischen Reformaktivitäten in Libyen einzufrieren, sind die gegenwärtig offensichtlichsten Beispiele dafür, dass es um eine politische Reform der autoritären Systeme in Nordafrika und Nahost (de facto alle Staaten der Region mit Ausnahme Israels) schlecht bestellt ist. Die arabischen Staaten weisen unabhängig von der Ausprägung ihres jeweiligen politischen Systems - ob Monarchie, Republik oder 'Volksmassenstaat' (arab. jamahiriya) wie in Libyen - autoritäre Züge auf, die zwar in ihrem Charakter variieren, aber bislang in keinem Staat durch politische Reformen überwunden wurden. Die in allen Staaten durchaus vorhandene Opposition konnte keine politische Öffnung herbeiführen. Erfolgreiche Machtwechsel wie in Tunesien 1987, im Sudan 1989 oder in Mauretanien 2005 halfen nicht, demokratische Strukturen zu verankern. Hohe Anpassungsfähigkeit der autoritären Regime an interne und externe Herausforderungen gepaart mit der Existenz funktionsfähiger Sicherheitsdienste begünstigen die Langlebigkeit der vorhandenen Systemstrukturen in Nahost. Nicht nur der Staat, auch die Gesellschaft und die Zivilgesellschaft einschließlich der politischen Parteien in der Region sind autoritär strukturiert und bieten kaum überzeugende Gegenmodelle; selbst das islamistische Modell - das in sich Pluralismus ausschließt - hat deutlich an Attraktivität und Mobilisierungsfähigkeit verloren. Ein breites Spektrum sich gegenseitig verstärkender Hemmfaktoren (Repression, neopatrimoniale Strukturen, religiöse Aspekte etc.) erschwert oppositionelles Handeln; in den hierarchisch strukturierten arabischen Gesellschaften haben demokratische Verfahrensweisen kaum Chancen, akzeptiert zu werden. Die Demokratieförderung durch externe (westliche) Akteure ist mit dem Makel 'interventionistisch' und 'unislamisch' behaftet." (Autorenreferat)

Purpose
The purpose of this study/paper Manipulating Golden Wombs' (2017) is to show the author's non-site intervention of authoritarian – undemocratic maneuvering of both women's and earth's "golden" wombs. The burning fossil fuels in myriads of flame colors, signal the power and distress of Earth's wounded womb, memories of war, environmental destruction and human fatality, and descend to decline as extinguished Oil Drops (2017), creating a void. Global warming poses a problem for fossil fuel systems and those who profit from them.


Design/methodology/approach
The title of this paper has been inspired by Cara New Dagget's book, The Birth of Energy (2019), posited in the nascent realm of energy "mortalities." Now, confronting a world warmed by sweltering fossil fuels, the book provides us with a direction to thinking energy beyond the "Calvinist view" of everlasting work. Spellbound by Manipulating Golden Wombs' (2017), the audience canter around the outer surface of the centrally positioned, circulating luminous "acrylic" oil drops highlighted by hundreds of mono-frequency lamps impregnated with desert biodiversity. A closer look takes spectators through a fiery desert, across the fossil fuel fields into the depths of its scorching oil wells, its womb, as they sense the "real-time" catastrophe that had occurred beyond the gallery wall.


Findings
These artists' objective with their interventions is to "root it to the contour of the […] land, so that it's permanently there and subject to the weathering," so the audience is "sort of curious to see what will happen to this" (Schmidt, 1996, 225) through the course of time. The works resists the resistance of nature and social culture, as well as of body and intellect by emphasizing the intransience, however complex, of human beings with the ecosphere in which they survive (Novak 2002, 23). The surfacing of the under-surface of the land and ocean life triggers the idea of the private space, which involves role-play, gender norms and the control over women's lives in the capitalist and Gulf societies. Authoritarianism, fossil fuel capital, high-energy use and militarism make the climate politics critical to planetary security. This combustible convergence gave birth to Manipulating Golden Wombs' (2017).


Research limitations/implications
Ganz reminds us that devouring less energy appears to be almost unharmonious with the current politics of being "Modern." Sacrificing energy resonances with abstinence at best, and widespread death and injustice at worst. But, consuming an overload of energy is incompatible with a multispecies existence on Earth. Scientists caution "a cascade of feedbacks could push the Earth System irreversibly onto a 'Hothouse Earth' pathway," the consequence of which could be an uninhabitable, unsafe globe for beings (Steffen et al., 2018). Even though it sounds vivid, it is hard to overstate the crisis in the midst of what environmentalists and biologists term as a sixth extinction event (Kolbert, 2014), in line with a "biological annihilation" that paints "a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life" (Ceballos et al., 2017).


Practical implications
It is not only the land's womb that we have hurt; we have miffed the hearts of the water network, and "Othered" and the wombs of many women and most surfaces of the Earth have been penetrated, unconsented! To sustain a biodiverse sphere, to pause the deaths of the planet's flora and fauna and to thrive on Earth, we need to work on renewable sources of energy based on "new collectively shared values, principles, and frameworks" (Steffen et al., 2018). We need to stop Manipulating Golden Wombs' (2017). Are we ready to accept the challenge? (Lau and Traulsen, 2016)


Social implications
Petro-masculinity has multiple global dimensions and manifests in multiple and locally specific ways (Dagget, 2018). This encourages the geographically diverse artists discussed in this paper to embrace alternative visions, to make bold and explicit statements on gender and global diversity, equity and rights. Through history, women, in specific, embodied the entirety of the Ecocene and its life cycle and explored it in the context of their own relationships, health, sexuality, fertility, reproduction, childbirth, illness and inescapably death. The artists' interventions' visual physiognomies and intentions point toward a comprehensive agenda of action that leads to remedial courses toward reinstating the biome to a healthy condition.


Originality/value
Manipulating Golden Wombs' (2017) enacts the historic all-consuming fires, penetrating the "shared environment," burning the fossilized fuels exuding from Earth's penetrated womb. The higher cone-shaped oil drops irradiate the intense dazzling images of oil wells in flames and the desert flora and fauna nestled within the scorching inner arena. This aligns with the private space provided to women. The wombs are smothered in the fuming fires of the Gulf war. The darker, narrower lower oil drops, iconic of the remnants of fossil fuel, are the residual sludge within which the land and water species are enmeshed and ensnared to death. The potency of the enactment of the drops "enables the viewer to see [him/]herself seeing, to become aware of how she perceives the world around [him/]her and in doing so participates in shaping it" (Eliasson, 2009, p. 25) as a form of engagement, which involves an "attention to time, movement and changeability" (pp. 18–21).

ResumenEn este artículo que titulamos La dictadura como dominaciónpolítica, explicamos en qué consiste y cómo se organiza eluso arbitrario del poder a través de la forma de gobierno queel constitucionalista y politólogo alemán Karl Loëwenstaindenomina con el nombre genérico de autocracias. Serefiere al autoritarismo y al totalitarismo que comúnmentellamamos dictadura y que los griegos llamaron tiranía. Enotros términos, ambos son dos modalidades de autocracia.Cuando estudiamos esta forma de dominación política nosencontramos con una gran diversidad, pese a que hay algunosrasgos comunes. Esta diversidad se advierte en la monarquía,la autocracia que más ha durado a lo largo de la historia,pero que ahora se encuentra confinada en pocos países decultura musulmana. También consideramos a las dictadurasindividualizadas cuando un individuo, sin pertenecer auna aristocracia, concentra todo el poder como si fuera unmonarca absoluto. Este sujeto puede ser civil o militar. Luegoexplicamos en qué consisten las dictaduras militares, cívicomilitaresy el poder militar. En estos regímenes, igualmente,encontramos diversas expresiones políticas e ideológicas.Finalmente tratamos sobre las dictaduras institucionalizadascuya máxima expresión es el totalitarismo, una forma políticade dominación que se inició en el siglo XX y continúa enalgunos países como China, Corea del Norte y Cuba. Enesta categoría, aunque con una concepción ideológicadistinta, están el nacional socialismo alemán y el fascismoitaliano. A las dictaduras de inspiración marxista leninistay maoísta se les llama comunistas; a nuestro modo de ver,un concepto equivocado porque el comunismo es la fasefinal del socialismo, una sociedad sin clases y sin Estadoporque desaparece la dominación, y como esto no existe,en la práctica deberían denominarse dictaduras socialistas, odictaduras socializantes; también podrían llamarse dictadurasen el socialismo realmente existente.No solo el totalitarismo es una dictadura institucionalizada,también hay formas institucionalizadas autoritarias,como el caso del Partido Revolucionario Institucional(PRI) mexicano. Cabe notar que en el caso de los paísesasiáticos, sobre todo en China, se ha acentuado el culto ala personalidad, fenómeno que había disminuido luego dela reforma de Deng Xiaoping; en cambio, esto ha sido unatendencia constante en Corea del Norte. Ello determinaque predomine la voluntad del líder sobre la institución,como ha sucedido en diversos casos en donde las dictadurasburocratizadas de partido único han sucumbido ante elpoder de un líder máximo. Un hecho que no sucedió enMéxico porque estaba prohibida la reelección presidencialque duraba siete años.Concluimos afirmando que muchas de estas formas dedominación política, que predominaron durante largosperíodos de la historia, como por ejemplo las monarquías,sucumbieron por diversos movimientos de liberación queoptaron por formas democráticas de gobierno. Pero tambiéndecimos al final del artículo que existe la dominaciónal interior de la democracia en un régimen económicocapitalista que predomina en la globalización y que imperapor medio del neoliberalismo.Palabras clave: Dominación, dictadura, autoritarismo,totalitarismo, liberación. AbstractIn this article, titled "The dictatorship as a political domination",we explain what the arbitrary use of power consists of andhow it is organized through the form of government, namedby the German constitutionalist and political scientist KarlLoëwenstain with the generic term of "autocracies". It refers tothe authoritarianism and totalitarianism that we commonlycall dictatorship and that the Greeks called tyranny. In otherwords, both are two modalities of autocracy.When we study this form of political domination, we find agreat diversity, despite some common features. This diversityis evident in the monarchy, the autocracy that has lasted thelongest throughout history but which is now confined to a fewcountries with a Muslim culture. We also consider individualdictatorships when an individual, without belonging to anaristocracy, concentrates all power as if he were an absolutemonarch. This person can be civil or military. Then, we explainwhat military dictatorship, civic-military dictatorship andmilitary power consist of. In these regimes, we also find diversepolitical and ideological expressions.Finally, we discussed the institutionalized dictatorships whoseultimate expression is totalitarianism, a political form ofdomination that began in the twentieth century and continuesin some countries like China, North Korea and Cuba. In thiscategory, although with a different ideological conception, arepresent the German National Socialism and Italian Fascism.Dictatorships with Marxist, Leninist and Maoist inspirationare called communists. In our point of view, this concept iswrong given the fact that communism is the final phase ofsocialism, a classless and stateless society due to the disappearanceof domination. Hence, as this does not exist, they should becalled socialist dictatorships, or socializing dictatorships. Theycould also be called dictatorships in the actual existing socialism.Totalitarianism is not the only institutionalized dictatorship;there are also other authoritarian institutionalized dictatorshipssuch as the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).It is worth mentioning that in the case of Asian countries,especially in China, the cult of personality has been accentuated,a phenomenon that had decreased after the reform of Deng-Xiao-Pin, but which has been a constant trend in North Korea.This determines that the will of the leader predominates overthe institution, as has happened in several cases where thebureaucratized one-party dictatorships have succumbed tothe power of a maximum leader. This case did not happen inMexico because of the prohibition of presidential re-election,which lasted seven years.In conclusion, we can agree that many of these forms of politicaldomination, which predominated during long periods of history,such as monarchies, succumbed to various liberation movementsthat chose democratic forms of government. Nevertheless, we alsomention at the end of the article that domination exists withindemocracy in the capitalist economic regime that predominatesin globalization, and that prevails through neoliberalism.Keywords: Domination, Dictatorship, Autoritarisms,Tatalitarism, Liberation

In nearly three years in office, President Donald J. Trump's war against immigrants and the foreign-born seems only to have intensified. Through a series of Executive Branch actions and policies rather than legislation, the Trump Administration has targeted immigrants and visitors from Muslim-majority countries, imposed quotas on and drastically reduced the independence of Immigration Court Judges, cut the number of refugees admitted by more than 80%, cancelled DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and stationed Immigration Customs and Enforcement ("ICE") agents at state courtrooms to arrest unauthorized immigrants, intimidating them from participating as witnesses and litigants. Although initially saying that only unauthorized immigrants convicted of serious crimes would be prioritized for deportation, the Trump Administration has implicitly given ICE officers carte blanche to arrest unauthorized immigrants anytime, anywhere, creating a climate of fear in immigrant communities. Particularly disturbing is the targeting of asylum-seekers, employing the criminal justice system and the illegal entry statute in the "zero tolerance policy." Under this policy, children, including toddlers, are seized and languish for months and years separate from their families, many of whom are seeking asylum. Directly contrary to federal statute and international law, another policy makes anyone who enters the country without inspection ineligible for asylum. Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump's second Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"), ordered asylum applicants to await the lengthy processing of their claims in cartel-ruled border areas of Mexico, with no realistic safe shelter and deprived of all meaningful opportunity to exercise their statutorily-guaranteed right to access to counsel—a necessity, given today's convoluted asylum law. Trump's first Attorney General, Jefferson Sessions, largely disqualified as grounds for asylum even the most brutal and terroristic persecution of women and violence perpetrated by inescapable quasi-state gang actors. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") officers mislead asylum-seekers at the southern border, telling them they don't have the right to apply for asylum or saying yes, they may apply, but admitting only a minute fraction of those who present themselves for processing at ports of entry. President Trump's Administration refuses to grant parole or reasonable bond even to those asylum-seekers who establish a credible fear of persecution, frequently resulting in long-term detention, and forcing on detained asylum-seekers the Hobson's choice of lengthy incarceration in terrible conditions in the United States or the risks of persecution and death in their countries of origin. International law prohibits using the criminal justice system or prolonged administrative detention to deter and discourage bona fide asylum-seekers from asserting and proving their claims. We suggest two remedies: Federal courts should enforce article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention (1) by prohibiting criminal charges of unlawful entry against bona fide asylum-seekers until they complete the asylum application process and are denied asylum; and (2) by requiring parole or reasonable bond for asylum-seekers who pass fair credible fear interviews. The article argues that bona fide asylum-seekers should be kept in detention only for a short period, if at all, to determine whether they have a credible fear of persecution. Article 31 of the Refugee Convention, made binding on the United States through our accession to the 1967 Refugee Protocol, generally prohibits "impos[ing] penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees . . . where their life or freedom was threatened." "Penalties" clearly must include not only criminal prosecution and prison, but also prolonged immigration detention and the seizure of children from parents without good cause, for "deterrence" purposes. We argue also that customary international law and human rights treaties support the recommended remedies and stand squarely against the Trump Administration's policies. Federal courts may utilize customary international law directly or through the Charming Betsy canon. Not only do the Trump Administration's harsh immigration policies and practices violate international law and American values, but also foretell a government tending toward exclusion, racism, nationalism, parochialism, authoritarianism, and disregard of the rule of law. The parallels between the Trump Administration and Hungary's autocratic, essentially one-party, state, are chilling. See Patrick Kingsley, He Used to Call Victor Orban an Ally. Now He Calls Him a Symbol of Fascism, N.Y. Times (Mar. 15, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/europe/viktor-orban-hungary-ivanyi.html (on file with the Columbia Human Rights Law Review). Federal courts, however, have both the authority and the responsibility to enforce the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Refugee Protocol as well as international human rights norms to protect asylum-seekers from criminal prosecution and from prolonged detention. The Framers of the United States Constitution and its key amendments envisioned that federal courts would apply treaties as the rule of decision to protect foreigners and would serve as a check upon an Executive that tramples on individual rights, particularly the rights of a vulnerable minority. Given the outlandish behavior of this Administration, federal courts must live up to that vision.