Suchergebnisse

The concept of "institutional radicalization" or "the changing of institutions from their roots" is put forward as critical for understanding the manner in which civil societies in most African countries have been grappling with the challenges of development. Given the well embedded precapitalist social formation in most African countries, various institutions have been radicalized around such critical identities as age, gender, land, occupation, credit, community, and rituals of solidarity to promote development. However, until the state intervenes to legitimize these initiatives of civil societies, their full impact on the development process is bound to be moot. The enormous tasks entailed in such legitimization through identifying, registering, realigning, providing incentives, directing, and monitoring these radicalized institutions remain critical and imperative for African countries if they are to accelerate and deepen the extent of their integration into the global free market economy and democratic governance.

Over three decades, southeastern Mexico has experienced social and economic changes that restructured agriculture, exacerbated class divisions, and increasingly politicized ethnic relations in a region with a large indigenous population. The Zapatista rebellion of 1994 both reflected these processes and sharpened the economic, social, and political divisions growing out of them. It also refocused opposition to the political structures through which privileged elites, from the national government down to local officials, have controlled the region's resources and maintained order. As negotiations continue between the Zapatistas and the national government, the future is uncertain. Yet a lasting peace will have to accommodate the region's recent transformations of social structure.

Describes the effect of ethnic class alliances, political patron-client networks, and strategic government alliances on development and radicalization of policies of the Sinhalese majority and the insurgent Tamil minority; Sri Lanka.

Describes conditions faced by Moslem Tatars upon their return to the Crimean peninsula in the 1990s after exile during World War II; indicates some progress toward reintegration and establishment of civil rights but also notes tendencies toward radicalization, the so-called "Islamic factor".

Investigates justification problems of human rights in the context of the tension between the moral ideal & its politicojuridical institutionalization. Development of human rights as a reaction to a stepwise radicalization of standards of justification is explored, distinguishing three types of human rights -- negative freedom, positive participation, & social participation rights -- & their respective moral & politicojuridical justification structures. Analysis makes clear that the development of the conception of human rights has not yet been completed. It is argued that a correct understanding of the complex interrelationships among these types may enhance both the credibility & the assertiveness of human rights. Adapted from the source document.

The present historical epoch seems to be characterized by a general trend towards pacification. Conflicts of all kinds - internal and external, personal and collective - are becoming less central to social life. This reflects a new type of individualism, rather than further progress of individualism in the classical sense. Contemporary individuals are losing the sense of commitment and continuity that was needed to sustain conflicts. This development has far-reaching effects on the very nature of the social bond and raises questions about its future; the radicalization of individualism may find expression in overtly anti-statist attitudes, but it inevitably entails a latent strengthening of the state as a necessary link between desocialized individuals. The logic of contemporary hyperindividualism is also reflected in the growth of new pathological symptoms, related to identity problems as well as to the condition of solitude in society.