CIAO DATE: 02/2013
Volume: 7, Issue: 4
December 2012
Transitional Justice Dynamics in Slovakia: From Silence to the Nation's Memory Institute (PDF)
Martin Kovanic
The purpose of this article is to identify and explain the dynamics of transitional justice in Slovakia. Furthermore, it focuses on the Nation’s Memory Institute and its role in the process of dealing with the past. The dynamics are explained through the existence of constraints – the type of the regime change, the nature of the Communist regime and elite configuration. Transition process in Slovakia can be divided into three distinct phases, in which the interplay of the constraints allows for the application of various transitional justice mechanisms. The main finding of the article is that throughout the existence of the independent Slovakia, the elite configuration was the variable which affected the process the most. Favorable elite configuration allowed for the establishment of the institute in 2002, which can be considered a “breaking of the silence” when it comes to dealing with the past in Slovakia.
Globalization, Global Governance, and Cosmopolitanism: A Critical Exploration of European Practice (PDF)
Nathan Andrews
The current state of international relations is littered with notions of ‘globalization’, ‘global governance’ and ‘cosmopolitanism’, all of which speak to the changing world. One regional governance establishment that has caught the attention of many for its success is the European Union (EU), despite its inherent challenges. The article undertakes a conceptual analysis of global governance and cosmopolitanism, after which it places the EU into perspective to assess the feasibility of its cosmopolitan vision. The article admits and appreciates all the efforts that have been put into making the Union a formidable regional body. However, the overarching argument is that it remains idealistic to envisage a Europe that is fully cosmopolitan, one that reveals the solidarity and hybridity of the various nationhoods and cultures that currently prevail in the region.
Global Democracy: Coercion-Based Approach (PDF)
Zlata Bozac
This article explores arguments for democratically arranged global governance. Beside practical questions, this issue entails many moral considerations such as those of duties we owe to people living outside our borders. I explore several arguments that seek to explore the ground and scope of justice by focusing on the characteristics of basic structure, the three most prominent being the coercion- based, the pervasive impact/all affected principles and the cooperation argument. Their critical assessment shows how none is able to refute the need for global application of duties of justice. Although global application of duties of justice does not necessarily entail global democracy, I argue that some kind of coercive power is required and that necessarily entails the need for democratic accountability. Furthermore, there are problems of global collective action and certain policy problems in solving which democracy proves to be the best method, since it gives everyone an equal say.
Societal Cleavages and the Formation of the Turkish Party System Since 1950 (PDF)
Cuneyt Dinc
This article seeks to identify and describe the relationship between the divisions of party system and social structure in Turkey from a historical–institutional perspective by applying the operational logic of cleavage theory to the Turkish case. The results of this article reveal that Turkey has a distinct historical legacy, resulting in the emergence of some significant cleavages. In addition the paper displays the reflection of these societal cleavages and revealed that not all cleavages are directly reflected in the Turkish party system. Thus the article demonstrates that a Turkish party system is the institutionalizing of a complex arrangement of alliances between significant societal cleavages, which can also change. Generally speaking we can state that socio historical approaches like the cleavage theory are appropriate to explain party system developments in non-European regions.
Valentin Stoian
Martin O’Neill and Thad Williamson’s edited volume Property Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond emerged as a collaborative work after an American Political Science Association conference in Chicago in 2007. Several authors involved with the topic concluded that the Rawlsian concept of property-owning democracy had not been sufficiently developed. Willamson, O’Neill and their associates believed that it is necessary to clarify what such a social arrangement would look like. Moreover, within the context of the economic crisis and the neoliberal attack on the welfare state, the authors considered that a book on Rawlsian just institutions could provide a meaningful rally point for left-leaning parties. The book is divided in 14 individual chapters, each written by a well-known author in the field such as Stuart White, Simone Chambers, Ben Jackson, Alan Thomas, Gar Alperovitz and Nien-he Hsieh. Each chapter outlines and defends a central thesis relating to the topic of just institutions and property owning democracy.
Lina Klymenko
Since the collapse of communism the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have been undergoing the processes of democratization, marketization, and nation- building, the latter being especially visible in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia. In explaining the development of different regime types and divergent transition paths in post-communist countries, scholars rely on different approaches including initial negotiations immediately after the collapse of communism, choices of actors for different forms of institutional design, legacies of the communist past, and the influence of external factors such as the EU. Also, political culture — that is the set of citizens’ orientations towards the political system — is considered to be one of the key variables in the democratization of Central and Eastern European countries.
Patrick Hein
Comparative works on irregular migration policies are still few, so anyone interested in the subject will welcome this book authored by an international team of scholars.
Alexander B. Makulilo
Our turn to Eat is an edited volume of eleven chapters including an introduction and a conclusion. Its central theme is the nation-building project in the post-colonial Kenya and the major assumption is that colonialism was destructive socially, politically as well as economically.
Viktoria Potapkina
Imagine being denied access to primary and secondary education. Imagine being unable to ever work legally, to own property or get married. Imagine having difficulties entering a hospital and getting treatment. Imagine it being impossible for you to open a bank account and having no chance of receiving a pension. Imagine being unable to lodge a complaint if robbed or raped, and furthermore, sometimes being the victim at the hands of the police. This is the harsh reality for more than 12 million people around the world who are stateless. Although prohibited under international instruments, statelessness continues to be a corrosive condition that affects almost every aspect of many people’s lives. Caused by political restructuring, various forms of discrimination, technical failings such as conflicting laws, lack of documentation such as birth certificates, and/or the ceasing of statehood, statelessness is an important issue that affects and challenges some of the central aspects of international law and human rights discourse.
Kawu Bala
Is it possible to call a regime that features political campaigns or the ritual of succession through election as democratic? Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union the world is seeing arrangements that are between “liberal” and “authoritarian” systems. Whether or not election suffices in democracy the answers will be negative. When a political landscape is saturated by interest people will protest and there would be counter protest. These are the issues Graeme R. Robertson’s The Politics of Protest in Hybrid Regimes purport to analyze in Russian politics.
Klejd Këlliçi
Every regime is based on some form of redistribution and its very existence is somehow determined by its ability to cope with the developments of its economical base. In many cases the establishment of non-democratic regimes early in the first part of the last century was determined by the great crisis of 1929 followed by a combination of an inability of the structure of the state and its actors to resist the authoritarian prospective.
Susanne Schroter (ed.), Christianity in Indonesia: Perspectives of Power (Munster: LIT Verlag, 2011) (PDF)
Raphael Daoud Jackson
Christianity in Indonesia is a collection of essays which cover the multicultural and multi religious nation of Indonesia. Although governed by the state doctrine of Pancasila, Christians in this Muslim majority nation have indigenized their religion and made a significant impact on contemporary Indonesian politics.
Oana Elena Brânda
Jean-Claude Piris' book focuses, as the title suggests, on a two-sided analysis (legal and political) of the Lisbon Treaty. It is an exquisite mixture of information and academic analyses of the Lisbon Treaty. Piris is deeply involved in the European Union having held positions such as Legal Counsel of the European Council. Therefore, his work is consistently imbued with technical aspects and specific details on any issue pertaining to the EU.