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441. Food as a Metaphor for Cultural Hierarchies

Author:
Gopal Guru
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
The above title, I claim, represents multiple meanings that are attached to Food as substance and the Jaika or “taste” as an idea emanating from the substance. Hence, it is necessary to lay bare different possible meanings that are associated with food. These meanings are both contiguous to and separate from each other. Let us see how they assimilate and dissociate from each other. Food and cooked food are different from each other in a major way. Food has a universal value to the extent that it, as a substance, becomes an essential need for the very survival of all the organic bodies: plants, animals and human beings. Thus, food, at one level, suggests an ontological equality cutting across several organic bodies. Of course, food acquires a specific importance when looked from the point of view of human beings. Unlike plants, human beings require a particular kind of food for their very survival. They require, in most cases, food grains as a primary condition. Thus the denial of food would jeopardize the very survival of human beings. Hence, food falls into the realm of human rights. Furthermore, the denial of food constitutes a violation of human rights. Some of the laudable efforts led by Jean Dreze – who with the help of some NGOs has prepared the bill concerning the right to food – are directed towards making the right to food a safety network against the violation of human rights.
Topic:
Human Rights and Culture
Political Geography:
India and Asia

442. Culture, Agency and Power: Theoretical Reflections on Informal Economic Networks and Political Process

Author:
Kate Meagher
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
Do network theory really offer a suitable concept for the theorization of informal processes of economic regulation and institutional change? This working paper challenges both essentialist and skeptical attitudes to networks through an examination of the positive and negative effects of network governance in contemporary societies in a range of regional contexts. The analysis focuses on three broad principles of non-state organization – culture, agency and power – and their role in shaping processes of economic and political governance. It will be shown that the effective theorization of informal regulatory processes requires attention to the specific interaction of culture, agency and power in particular social contexts. Emphasizing a grounded theory approach, this article draws on cutting-edge network research from East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Western societies to develop theoretical tools for the comparative study of non-state governance and its impact on wider processes of institutional change.
Topic:
Political Theory, Sociology, Governance, and Culture
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and East Asia

443. From Network to Class? Towards a more complex Conception of Connection and Sociability

Author:
France Bourgouin
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
The notion of networks is frequently used by social science scholars in order to explain various forms of social and economic linkages. In this Working Paper, I question why it is that we have replaced older notions of sociality such as culture, community, or group with network, and what the analytical gains are if any. Building upon recent ethnographic fieldwork conducted with foreign African businessmen and women employed in Johannesburg's tertiary sector multinational corporate, I argue that the network approach is too narrow a way for conceiving the linkages and connections between individuals; the processes and institutional channels that connect individuals may not be so apparent and “mappable” but rather much more diffuse and context-based.
Topic:
Political Theory, Sociology, and Culture
Political Geography:
Africa

444. Fairness 2.0: Media Content Regulation in the 21st Century

Author:
Robert Corn-Revere
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Civil libertarians feared that a change of administrations would herald a revived Fairness Doctrine, a policy that previously permitted the government to oversee broadcast news coverage for "balanced views." A return to the Fairness Doctrine, however, now seems unlikely. It is very likely, however, that politicians from both the left and the right will try to extend government control over the media beyond current policies. New rules adopted or proposed by the Federal Communications Commission suggest that the agency may be poised to enforce the most intensive government oversight of broadcast programming in decades—perhaps even in the history of the agency. The FCC voted last year to require each broadcast licensee to file quarterly "enhanced disclosure" reports—highly detailed information regarding its programming and editorial choices. This information will be used by organized groups to file complaints to pressure broadcasters to air programming that the complainants prefer. The FCC is also formulating programming guidelines based on the enhanced disclosure reports purporting to ensure that broadcasters meet local needs. This "broadcast localism" effort may also require broadcasters to appoint local boards to oversee their performance and their editorial decisions. As the FCC seeks to expand regulation of broadcast media, the traditional justification for its authority—spectrum scarcity—has lost credibility, and the agency's new efforts are likely to run afoul of the First Amendment.
Topic:
Civil Society, Mass Media, and Culture
Political Geography:
United States

445. Contexts of Language in Mahmoud Darwish

Author:
Ibrahim Muhawi
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS)
Abstract:
This paper explores three contexts of language in Mahmoud Darwish's poetry. The first is Darwish's performative use of language. The second deals with reading Darwish as a resistance poet. The third is Darwish's death, which I interpret as part of his language. This last point is speculative but of considerable interest in view of the role he assumed as the poetic voiceo f Palestine.
Topic:
Human Rights, Armed Struggle, and Culture
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, and Arabia

446. Man weiß es nicht genau: Vom Nutzen de Sozialwissenschaften für die Politik

Author:
Wolfgang Streeck
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
Based on a talk presented at the University of Göttingen in a lecture series on the use of scientific advice for public policy, the paper discusses what the social sciences in particular can contribute to policy-making. Nomothetic theories, which scholars often believe to be the highest achievement of their disciplines and which contribute most to a scholar's reputation, seem to be least useful for policy. Explanations of past events are usually not of interest to policy-makers; predictions are hardly possible in the social world; and the technical application of social theories to influence social behavior or change social conditions (“social engineering”) is and remains by and large utopian. By comparison, descriptions of social reality by counting, measuring and observing social facts can be of considerable political use. Furthermore, while social science will never be able to replace the intuition of the experienced practitioner or relieve him of having to make responsible decisions under high uncertainty, it can help him to understand better the experiences of the past and the possibilities of the future and free himself at present from powerful myths as to what is the case, what is possible, and what is impossible. Finally, the social sciences, this time including their more theoretically oriented branches, may exercise a powerful long-term influence on policy since their debates, although they may sometimes appear merely academic, may shape the cultural self-description of society, and with it the basic ideas informing the actions of future generations of voters and decision-makers.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Political Theory, Sociology, and Culture

447. Japan between Alliance and Community

Author:
Yul Sohn
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:
In a series of town hall meetings during the winter of 2005–2006, Aso Taro, then Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Koizumi cabinet, introduced an interesting concept of Japan’s role in Asia. Japan can and should play the role of a “thought leader,” who through fate has been forced to face certain very difficult issues earlier than others. Because Japan has put great effort, both monetarily and socio-politically, into resolving issues that include ultra-nationalism, an aging society, and environmental protection, it has become the forerunner for other Asians to emulate (Aso 2005). This role as a soft power leader contrasts with the existing hard power–oriented (i.e., economic) discourse of international contribution as well as the conventional soft power discourse that is rooted in the Japanese culture and sensibilities, such as animation, fashion, and cultural products. Japan’s strength lies in the firstmover knowledge it provides for Asia, creating a network of knowledge available to others (Aso 2006). Three years later, Aso, this time as the Japanese Prime Minister, proudly announced a "Growth Initiative" that planned to double the current scale of Asia's economy by 2020 (Aso 2009a). This initiative, Aso’s first and thus far most important vision for Asia as Prime Minister, is aimed at moving Asia's economy from one driven by exports to one led by domestic demand, through encouraging region-wide development and expanded consumption. To make this effort, Japan has committed (a) US$20 billion in overseas development assistance (ODA); (b) US$20 billion for infrastructure development in Asia; (c) US$5 billion over two years for an initiative investing in Asian environmental projects; and (d) US$22 billion over two years to provide additional support for trade financing in order to underpin trade credit, and so on. Japan will mobilize all possible policy measures to support the efforts being made by Asian countries. In addition, Aso seeks to increase the attractiveness of Japan by utilizing cultural sources (such as manga, animation, fashion, authentic food) to create jobs in Japan and the region (Aso 2009b). Aso’s recent initiative appears to have tilted in a direction different from his earlier vision of Japan as a thought leader, a well thought out and creative idea. Today, given Japan’s rapid economic contraction caused by its “once in a century” crisis, Japan finds it difficult to attain the regional leadership it desires merely by spending more money. Utilizing cultural resources will yield only a limited outcome. Finally, the initiative is targeted at Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with few attempts to assist or engage the members of Northeast Asia such as China and South Korea. Japan has so far failed to play its desired role as a thought leader for Asia. The inconsistency between words and actions underlines the strategic dilemmas that Japan has faced as China has risen to be a formidable rival in the region.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, Culture, Alliance, and Community
Political Geography:
Japan and Asia

448. Topical problems in social relations in the AR of Crimea

Author:
Maryna Melnyk
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
National Security and Defence
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
The AR of Crimea is a special region of Ukraine, not only because of its autonomous status, but also thanks to its unique historic and cultural heritage, ethnic composition of the population, geopolitical situation. It may be said without exaggeration that the ability to integrate Crimea into the pan-Ukrainian political and socio-cultural space presents a key test of maturity and effectiveness of the Ukrainian state. This determines the extreme importance of Crimean segment in the Ukrainian policy. But unfortunately, there are no grounds to claim serious success in that domain; rather, things are developing in the opposite direction. It may be stated that the socio-political situation in the AR of Crimea, after the relative stability of late 1990s – early 2000s, has deteriorated lately. In the result of serious political contradictions, deregulation of the executive branch, lack of system and consistency in the Ukrainian state policy regarding Crimea, interaction between the republican and central authorities in some sectors is far from standards of constructive cooperation, which leads to continual nonexecution or even open obstruction of decisions of the central authorities dealing with Crimea. This brings to light drawbacks in the effective legislation describing the rights and powers of the AR of Crimea, regimenting the autonomy’s relations with Kyiv, presentation and defence of its interests in the supreme bodies of state power. Meanwhile, radical, first of all – pro-Russian public and political forces stepped up their activity in Crimea, manifested, in particular, in stronger opposition to actions of the state authorities aimed at rapprochement with Euro-Atlantic structures, and in moral support for Russia and its Black Sea Fleet during the armed conflict with Georgia in August 2008. The problems of amenities for and social rehabilitation of repatriates, first of all – representatives of Crimean Tatars, are far from final solution. Despite the deep study of those problems by the Ukrainian authorities and representative bodies of the Crimean Tatar people, full mutual understanding between its political leadership and the state authorities in the issues of restoration of economic, social, cultural and political rights of the Crimean Tatar people, definition of its place in Ukraine’s legal framework and its state system is still absent. Given the evident deficiency of means of protection of collective interests available to Crimean Tatars, this undermines trust in the authorities, both Ukrainian and Crimean, and deteriorates inter-ethnic relations in Crimea. The absence of strategic approaches of the Ukrainian authorities to comprehensive solution of Crimean problems, prevalence of the policy of situational response to separate problems or their neglect have an effect on the public consciousness of the Crimean residents in the form of growth of separatist and irredentist spirits, unpopularity of the prospects of further development of Crimea within the constitutional framework of Ukraine. External influences on the situation in the AR of Crimea in economic, political, religious and information sectors are growing. Not all of them may be termed negative, but many of them are designed to entirely cut Crimea from Ukrainian political and socio-cultural space or to make the latter a factor of political and cultural disintegration of the Ukrainian society and state. Against that background, Crimean society witnesses processes of transformation, in particular, consolidation of the main ethnic groups by socio-cultural features, growth of competition among them in the political, socioeconomic and symbolic domains. Evolution of relations among the most numerous Crimean socio-cultural communities towards aggravation of contradictions will threaten the socio-political stability of not only Crimea but Ukraine as a whole, give a pretext for interference of outside forces in its internal affairs, moreover, given the precedents of implementation of similar political scenarios. Study of the situation in the AR of Crimea, identification of factors influencing it and search of ways of the most optimal solution of the existing problems are all covered by the Ukrainian-Swiss project “Socio-political, inter-ethnic and inter-confessional relations in Crimea –state, problems, ways of solution”, jointly implemented by Razumkov Centre and University of Basel’s Europainstitut.
Topic:
Demographics, Culture, Autonomy, and Identity
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, and Crimea

449. Turkish Perceptions of the West

Author:
Kudret Bülbül, Bekir Berat Özipek, and İbrahim Kalın
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This article, based on a book published by SETA, looks at the attitudes of Turkish people towards what is conceived as the West and Western culture. While some polls suggest a deep anti-European and anti-American sentiment in Turkey with a clear opposition to Christianity as the religion of the West, the current survey suggests evidence to the contrary. Survey findings show that there is no anti-Westernism in Turkey based on religion, culture, or civilization. Perception of the West is fragmented and does not lend itself to easy categorizations. There is no animosity towards Christianity. In fact, most participants use a respectful and even venerable language when talking about the Christian religion. While most participants do not feel comfortable with the invasion of Turkish society by Western cultural products, they see no essential conflict between the core values of the two cultures. While the perception of Western religion, culture and civilization is mostly fragmented and reveals considerable diversity, Western politics is uniformly perceived as negative and hostile.
Topic:
Politics, Religion, and Culture
Political Geography:
America, Europe, and Turkey

450. The European Union as Situation, Executive, and Promoter of the International Law of Cultural Diversity – Elements of a Beautiful Friendship

Author:
Armin Von Bogdandy
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Cultural diversity is an important political and legal topos in the European Union. At the same time, the concern for cultural diversity gives reason for grave reservations towards the Union. This article intends to assist, on the basis of international law, in distinguishing appearance and reality. The Union will be analysed first as a situation of the application of the international law of cultural diversity, secondly as the regional executive of this international law, and thirdly as its global promoter. It shows that international law and Union law reinforce each other. The former conveys to the Union instruments to pursue European unification which at the same time serve its own implementation. Furthermore, it does not set limits to European unity since it protects only cultural pluralism but not state-supporting distinctiveness. A prerequisite for this consonance is that the Union's constitutional law allows for political unity without cultural unity and that international law remains mute about important questions on European unification. The international law perspective thus does not fully exhaust the problem: conformity with international law alone cannot dissipate concern for the future of cultural diversity in the Union.
Topic:
International Law and Culture
Political Geography:
Europe

451. 2008 Hate Crime Survey

Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights First
Abstract:
European and North American governments are failing to keep pace with a wave of violent hate crime that continues to rise across the region. Racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, anti-Muslim and anti-Roma hatred, religious intolerance, homophobia: the list of biases that fuel these crimes is a long one. Attacks range from lethal assaults to threats and harassment to vandalism and desecration of religious and community property. The perpetrators are individuals acting alone, or in concert with neighbors, coworkers, and fellow students, as well as loosely-knit or more organized groups that share ideologies of hatred and act on them. The violence can ruin lives, or end them. It can terrorize whole communities, driving away vulnerable minorities or forcing them to stay out of sight. Violent hate crime, especially when the official response to it is weak or nonexistent, also attacks the society at large, undermining the very notions of equality and the equal protection of the law.
Topic:
Crime, Sociology, and Culture
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and Kurdistan

452. The Economics and Culture of Financialisation

Author:
Jan Toporowski
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
This paper examines some of the social, economic and political consequences of financial inflation for the activities of companies and the operations in debt markets of an increasingly financial middle class. In this paper ‘financialisation’ is broadly defined as the inflation of capital markets. The first section of the paper explains the Kalecki-Steindl theory of enforced company indebtedness in a middle-class society. The second section of the paper shows how financial inflation makes companies over- capitalised, resulting in a decline in the trend of long-term investment. The third section shows how forced company indebtedness is modified when the middle classes start to operate in inflating asset markets. A conclusion sketches out some of the consequences of this financialisation for politics, social policy, and moral and cultural attitudes.
Topic:
Culture, Finance, Social Policy, and Middle Class
Political Geography:
Global Focus

453. Monument Protection: Internal and External Price Effects

Author:
Gabriel Ahlfeldt and Wolfgang Maennig
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg
Abstract:
This paper analyses the impact of heritage-listed buildings on condominium transaction prices in Berlin, Germany. We use transaction data to test for price differentials between listed and nonlisted properties and to study their impact on surrounding property prices. Proximity to built heritage is captured by distance to listed houses and indicators capturing neighborhoods with built heritage. Impact is assessed by applying a hedonic model to micro-level data and a non-parametric approach to location. While our findings suggest that listed properties do not sell at a premium or discount, heritage-listed buildings are found to have positive external effects on surrounding property prices.
Topic:
Economics, Culture, Heritage, and Real Estate
Political Geography:
Europe, Germany, and Berlin

454. Neither Pigs nor Parrots: A Military Culture that Can Win the Peace

Author:
Ryan Close
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
As ongoing operations in Iraq illustrate, the nature of warfare is changing: peacekeeping and warfighting are converging as the space between military and humanitarian activity erodes. Because of the vastly different challenges of fighting wars and handling post-conflict challenges, militaries traditionally train soldiers to be either warriors or peacekeepers. This new type of conflict, however, requires soldiers who are both of these simultaneously. Unfortunately, current organizational culture – focused almost entirely on combat – may prevent the ideological shift within the military that is necessary for molding a new soldier identity. This article addresses this challenge and proposes policy measures that would help transform military culture and better match combat prowess with broad intellectual, political, and social vision. To this end, this article considers how the security environment is evolving, examines how such an environment will severely stress the U.S. military, and offers recommendations for cultural change that concern force structure, operational planning, and the selection, training, and promotion of soldiers.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Culture, and Military
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

455. The Power of the Family

Author:
Alberto Alesina and Paola Giuliano
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The structure of family relationships influences economic behavior and attitudes. We define our measure of family ties using individual responses from the World Value Survey regarding the role of the family and the love and respect that children need to have for their parents for over 70 countries. We show that strong family ties imply more reliance on the family as an economic unit which provides goods and services and less on the market and on the government for social insurance. With strong family ties home production is higher, labor force participation of women and youngsters, and geographical mobility, lower. Families are larger (higher fertility and higher family size) with strong family ties, which is consistent with the idea of the family as an important economic unit. We present evidence on cross country regressions. To assess causality we look at the behavior of second generation immigrants in the US and we employ a variable based on the grammatical rule of pronoun drop as an instrument for family ties. Our results overall indicate a significant influence of the strength of family ties on economic outcomes.
Topic:
Markets, Culture, Immigrants, Family, and Productivity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

456. A Balkan divorce that works? Montenegro's hopeful first year

Author:
Paul Hockenos and Jenni Winterhagen
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Among old Balkan hands, it is said tongue-in-cheek that the surest way to start a war in former Yugoslavia is to hold a referendum on independence. Indeed, in Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia, armed conflict did follow popular votes and declarations of statehood in the early 1990s. But Montenegro, a mountainous republic of just 630,000 in the western Balkans, was and remains different, for a variety of reasons. One year after its declaration of independence, it boasts stability and macroeconomic growth. Yet the question of exactly what kind of democracy Montenegro will be still looms large. The newly independent country is in the process of making critical choices with implications that will impact its political culture for decades to come.
Topic:
Culture
Political Geography:
Bosnia and Croatia

457. Does character matter? Guardian values in an age of commerce

Author:
Patrick Giddy
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Standards of excellence in the sphere of work are often taken to be at odds with our ethical obligations in general. In an age of commerce little attention is paid to how the manner in which things are done impacts on the agent's character. Jane Jacobs' phenomenology of our moral intuitions about the public world of work reveal two frameworks, the 'commercial moral syndrome' stressing fairness, and the 'guardian moral syndrome' emphasizing loyalty. In the latter set of values we have a way of countering the bias of contemporary culture. This is best understood as a modified Aristotelian approach. The example of adversarial advocacy in the legal profession is taken as an illustration.
Topic:
Culture
Political Geography:
Europe

458. Rationality and the Ideology of Disconnection

Author:
David A. Welch
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This passionate book is a powerful conceptual, empirical, and normative critique of Rational Choice theory by a former practitioner. Rational Choice, Taylor argues, is more than a simple style of analysis and approach to problem solving: it is a hegemonic orthodoxy that has subverted psyches, societies, and cultures.
Topic:
Culture

459. Representation without Emulation: German Cultural Diplomacy in Search of Integration and Self-Assurance during the Adenauer Era

Author:
Johannes Paulmann
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
German Politics and Society
Institution:
German Politics and Society Journal
Abstract:
The article investigates an essential characteristic of the Federal Republic of Germany's search for self-assurance in foreign cultural representations after World War II. A normative behavioral pattern, described here as an “attitude of restraint,” emerged during the Adenauer era, resulting in representations without emulation. The article focuses on German participation in world fairs—an example that reveals the multi-layered mechanisms linking diplomacy with culture, political attitudes with individual experiences and memories, and foreign relations with social conditions. The formation of an attitude of restraint constituted part of the long-term process of West German self-education and shaped cultural identities in the Federal Republic. The self-assurance re-found during the Adenauer era is placed in the context of political debates about the break with the Nazi past, defense against communist East Germany, and the selective turn toward an international modernity. Furthermore, the article offers an explanation regarding the diffusion of certain behavioral norms through everyday experience and practice.
Topic:
Politics and Culture
Political Geography:
Germany

460. The Individual Sources of Economic Nationalism: Evidence From Survey Data

Author:
Pablo M. Pinto and Carmen M. Le Foulon
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
Abstract:
Political leaders in troubled democracies around the world have resorted to an anti-foreign rhetoric to justify the adoption of policies restricting foreign imports, and the free flow of capital and people, allegedly in defense of the national interest. And this rhetoric has resonated positively with large sectors of the electorate in those countries. A similar trend, exploiting a nationalistic sentiment for economic purposes, is observed in campaigns in the United States to buy American. Most studies to date have analyzed the causes and consequences of economic nationalism at the state level. However, there is good reason to believe that sources of economic nationalism should be traced at the individual level: some individuals might be willing to embrace economic nationalism purely on self-interest, yet others will be forced to trade off material and ideational preferences in order to support the national industry. The existence of this tradeoff at the individual level has important implications for coalition formation on trade, investment and migration policy-making. While recent studies suggest that cultural and ideational interests are likely to influence individual attitudes towards trade, one of the central policy dimensions in economic nationalism, the empirical content of the tradeoff between material and non-material preferences remains untested to date. Using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP 2003) we explore whether the effect of nationalism on attitudes towards protectionism varies with the individual's position in the economy. We find preliminary evidence that nationalism systematically affects attitudes towards trade in the United States, but less so in the Philippines. We also find that the effect of nationalism is conditional on individuals' skill, or position in the economy.
Topic:
Economics, Nationalism, and Culture
Political Geography:
United States