VI
| DOI | 10.1177/00208345110610050301 |
| Published date | 01 October 2011 |
| Date | 01 October 2011 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
679
VI
NATIONAL AND AREA STUDIES
ÉTUDES NATIONALES ET RÉGIONALES
61.6958 ABEDIN, Mahan — Iran's Revolutionary Guards: id eologi-
cal but not praetorian. Strategic Analysis 35(3), May 2011 :
381-385.
The role of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has come under
an increasing spotlight in r ecent years. This scrutiny has intens ified in the
wake of the controversial June 2009 presidential elections and the unrest
which followed. Western governments, in tandem with the more radical
sections of the Iranian opposition appear keen to construct a n arrative
wherein the IRGC steadily displaces the ruling clergy as Iran's political
masters. Fears of a growing political role for the IRG C — let alone a full-
blown mi litary takeover — are overstated. More tha n 30 years after its
founding the IRGC r emains foremost an ideological military organization.
However, irrespective of the political situation in T ehran, the Revolution-
ary Guards' strategic profi le in the region is set to increase as Iran
continues to extend its geopolitical weight and influence. [R]
61.6959 ANAND, Divya — Sust ainable de velopment and e nviron-
mental politics: case studies from India and Australia.
Thesis Eleven 105, May 2011 : 67-78.
This paper uses C. Castoriadis's idea of the imaginary and A. Heller's
conceptualization of modernity as an interplay of the historical and
technological imaginations , to examine how modernity engages with the
idea of dev elopment to fos ter a partic ular vision of the future as always in
progression. It uses the examples of Tasmania and Kerala, in Australia
and Ind ia, respective ly, as case studies which cha llenge the dominant
perception of development as a linear and progress ive ideology of
growth that translates into “the development of productive forces and the
rational mastery of nature”. The case studies also show how, despite the
radically different paths through modernity, it is the same logics of mod-
ernity that are at work in both locations. [R]
61.6960 ANDERSON, Lisa — Demystifying t he Arab Spring. For-
eign Affairs 90(3), May-June 2011 : 2-7.
Why have the upheavals in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya followed such
different paths? Because of the countries' vastly different cultures and
histories. Washington m ust come to grips with thes e variations if it hopes
to shape the outcomes construc tively. [R] [First of a series of articles on
"The new Arab revolt". See also Abstr. 61.6972, 6985, 6997, 6999, 706 1,
7069]
61.6961 ASPINALL, Edward — Democratization and ethnic politics
in Indonesia: nine theses. Journal of East Asian Studies
11(2), May-Aug. 2011 : 289-320.
After the downfall of Pres ident Suharto i n 1998, commun al violence
occurred in several Indonesian provinces, producing an image of the
country as one characterized by strong ethnic politics. I propose that this
image is mis taken. The pol itical salience of ethnicity h as subsided gr eatly
as a new dem ocratic system has settled into place. Overall, Indonesia is
a weakly ethnicized polity. Ethnicit y still counts in arenas suc h as local
elections, but what prevails is a soft form of ethnic politics, with few of the
deep dis putes about ethno-history or cultural policy that occur in more
ethnicized polities. Moreov er, rather than producing ethnic polarization,
democratization has created powerful new norms of compromise. I
present this overarching argument by advancing n ine general thes es on
Indonesian ethnic politics. [R, abr.]
61.6962 BACIK, Gokhan — The separation of Islam and national-
ism in Turkey. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 17(2), Apr.-
June 2011 : 140-160.
Although na tionalists and Islamists are different groups and have differ-
ent organizational s tructures, Islamic groups us ed to take nationalist
stances on major political issues. However, the Islamic actors' policies of
the 2000s have all but put paid to the historica l harmony with national-
ism. The Islamic bloc, havin g ab andoned nationalism, e merged as an
advocate of antinationalist policies. I argue that the Islamic elites' strat-
egy to avert the seculars’ attacks of the late 1990s in itiated a p ath-
dependent course that in the end separated them from nationalism. Their
new strategy d enationalized t he Islamic groups, yet its direct inte ntion
was to protect themselves against the seculars. [R]
61.6963 BARIČEVIĆ, Ve drana — The Croatian political community
in institutional engineering. Raz prave in Gradivo 64, Apr.
2011 : 36-67.
The article presents the concept of the Croatian nation as established on
the institutional level, at tw o stages: in the 1990s and in the past decade.
Operating with the dominant classifications describing the character of
contemporary nations, the paper finds two distinctive typological sam-
ples. While the first phase consistently works with the log ic of ethnicity
and descent-based values, the second stage rev eals some novel devel-
opments occurring within a sti ll-preserved, ethnically defined framework.
Adjustments are taking p lace in the environment of the altere d politic al
climate, yet at the same time in relation to rather simplified political
needs and daily pragmatics. As such, the new ethics challenge some of
the established values; they do so, however, in a quite inconsistent and
unclear manner. [R, abr.]
61.6964 BENDYK, Edwin — Polnische Par adoxien — Wirtschaft,
Arbeit, Partizipation (Polish paradoxes: economy, labo r,
and participation). Osteuropa 61(5-6), May-June 2011 :
235-248.
Traditionally, Polish society seems to be characterized by paradoxes and
contradictions. Time and again, unexpected upturns follow periods of
apathy. Even to day, many observers lament a "social vacuum". Po les
vacillate between indifference and over-conformity to post-Fordist market
mechanisms. Nonetheless , there are also positive developments : the
education level of young Poles is rising steadily, and in many places,
new forms of social and political participa tion have come into existence.
[R] [See Abstr. 61.6799]
61.6965 BESSIS, Sophie — Tunisie : une transition tumultueuse
(Tunisia: a tumultuous transition). Politique inter nationale
131, Spring 2011 : 101-128.
14 January 2011 will go down in history as the day when Tunisia saw
dictator Ben A li, who had been in pow er sinc e 1987, flee the country
after several weeks of turnmoil. His departure paved the way for a period
of transition which h as proved to be anything but smooth. On 17 Janu-
ary, Speaker of Parliament Fouad Mebazaa was appointed interim
president and im mediately restored Mohamed Ghannouchi as prime
minister, the post he had held since 1999. Ghannouc hi attempted to form
a government of national unity, which included members of the old
guard. The protestors refused to accept that and Ghannouchi was forced
to step down on 27 February. He was replaced by Beji Caid Essebsi, a
statesman in his 80s who had been shuttled aside by Ben Ali. The new
PM immedia tely announc ed elections on 4 J uly 2011 to form a constitu-
ent assembly, aware that real regime change w ill come only about once
a new constitution is enacted. Tunis ia's long mar ch towards democracy
is only just beginning. [R]
61.6966 BONNEFOY, Laurent — Violence in contemporary Yemen:
state, society and Salafis. Muslim World 101(2), Apr. 2011 :
324-346.
Building on the variable of the evolving state/society relations, this
contribution sheds light on the way violent Sunn i-based groups are
embedded in the Yemeni context. It asserts that structures oft en matter
more tha n ideologies and that the context in itself determines many of
the outcomes, either violent or not. I argue that increased r epression and
coercion are provoking violence, rather than limiting it. Such an approach
implies that focu sing sole ly on the sta tements of the violent groups and
on the intern al debates that oc cur within them is of little relev ance in the
field. [R] [See Abstr. 61.6986]
61.6967 BOUKHARS, Anouar — The Arab revolutions for dignity.
American Foreign Polic y I nterests 33(2), March-Apr. 2011 :
61-68.
Before the his toric revolts tra nsforming the Arab world today, it was
[accepted] that radical Islamist revolutionaries would spearhead any
challenge to the dictatorships that rule t he Arab world. The clamor for
freedom a nd justice that started in Tunisia and exploded in Cairo has
shown that the impossible can happen. The Islamist boogeyman has
neither engineered the rev olutions for dignity and freedom nor dominated
them. The B. Obama administration has so far demonstrated a new
realism that realizes the failures of the old foreign policy model that saw
Arab tyrants as guarantors of America's interes ts in the regio n. The
temptation to contain the revolutionary fervor spreading through the
region still exists within the administration, but there is also a grow ing
realization that the time has come f or redefining America's role in the
Middle East. [R, abr.]
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