Cultural relativism in the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council

This Working Paper aims to offer an up-to-date list of cultural relativist players and arguments with respect to human rights, constituted by China, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Malaysia and Cuba. This working paper argues that Indonesia, Iraq, Colombia and Mexico are not in the same cultural relativist group of states maintained by renowned scholars, notably Cristina Cerna and Dianne Otto. As such, apart from this form of cultural relativism based on the respect for the self-determination of indigenous peoples and communities, this working paper exposes two different categories of radical cultural relativism based on revolutionary discourse and/or radical Islamism, as well as targets the credibility on the latter two based on the information facilitated by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

La Construcción social del espacio euromediterráneo : políticas europeas y tratamiento del islamismo en la información del medio prensa

El propósito central de este trabajo de investigación es analizar el tratamiento informativo del islamismo en los medios europeos y árabes, y determinar si éste contribuye a la construcción social del espacio euromediterráneo, según las recomendaciones dirigidas al sector mediático por las iniciativas de integración euromediterránea y, en particular, por el Proceso de Barcelona-Unión por el Mediterráneo y de la Alianza de Civilizaciones

K. Iran i la proliferació nuclear

Conté: ¿Irán, potencia nuclear?; El reto nuclear de Irán; Dos respuestas al reto nuclear; Con la vista puesta en Irán; La provocación nuclear norcoreana; Irán y la oferta de Obama

Les identitats de Hezbollah i la seva rellevància per a l'estudi de la cultura i la religió en les Relacions Internacionals

Aquest estudi analitza el paper de les identitats religiosa i de resistència en la transformació de Hezbollah i les seves relacions internacionals. Defensa que aquest moviment islàmic ha privilegiat interessos materials per sobre del dogma religiós quan ambdós factors no han coincidit. El marc teòric estudia les principals característiques de les interpretacions política i antropologista en la influència de la cultura i la religió en el comportament d’actors internacionals. El capítol dedicat a Hezbollah fa especial referència als nivells d’anàlisi nacional i regional. Pel que fa a la seva identitat religiosa, l’estudi conclou que el pragmatisme polític ha substituït les premisses panislàmiques pròpies dels orígens del moviment. També s’analitza la lluita contra Israel com a raó de ser de Hezbollah i s’argumenta que la identitat de resistència d’aquest moviment no ha sofert transformacions significatives al llarg del temps i s’ha combinat fàcilment amb la retòrica religiosa. La unió del marc teòric i l’estudi de cas permeten arribar a la conclusió que la concepció política de les identitats culturals i religioses en relacions internacionals esdevé la millor eina per a entendre l’evolució d’un actor com Hezbollah.

Hezbollah's identities and their relevance for cultural and religious IR

This working paper analyses the role of religious and resistance identities in Hezbollah’s transformation and foreign relations. It argues that this Islamist movement has privileged material concerns over the religious dogma when both factors have not been coincidental. To do so, it uses a theoretical framework that presents the main characteristics of the anthropological and political interpretations of the role of culture and religion in defining the behaviour of international actors. In the chapter dedicated to Hezbollah, close attention is paid to the domestic and regional levels of analysis. When assessing Hezbollah’s religious identity, this paper argues that the salience of the pan-Islamic religious identity in Hezbollah’s origins has been replaced by an increased political pragmatism. It also argues that the fight against Israel represents Hezbollah’s raison d’être and that its resistance identity has not suffered major transformations and has been easily combined with religious rhetoric. Linking Hezbollah’s case study with the theoretical framework, this paper argues that political conceptions of cultural and religious identities provide the best analytical tool to understand the evolution of this Islamist movement.

Higher education as formation of the self and citizenship: an ethnography of the University Students from Amman, Jordan

My interest in higher education and citizenship in the Middle East at large and in Jordan in particular is fostered by some of the reflections Eickelman proposed (1992). Being a quite recent phenomenon, intimately linked with the more general topic of state formation it seemed to me more suitable to study it in a little country with a recent history (a field study left almost unexplored until now as far as Jordan is concerned, to the best of my knowledge, since Antoun 1994 focuses on the migration as a quest for higher education). The process of state formation in Jordan is quite studied. I thus intended to study the higher education policies as an attempt both to create a national citizenry and more recently as a way of controlling the more problematic part of the population (youth, which constitutes more than the double of the population. See UNDP and Ministry of Planning 2000). How do the young students enter the university system, and in which way does this system work? How is this system designed, in order to retain social control of the students (since they are usually perceived to be a factor of social and political instability, as in Iran or in Egypt)? Is there any significant difference between different faculties? And if so, why? My conclusions at this stage are that the university system is an integral part of the survival of the regime. The system works quite well, and Jordan has one of the best educational position in the region. Yet there are important distinctions to be made: the access to the better faculties is socially selective while the less valued faculties are left to the poorer and less wealthy youth. This results in a different treatment of the students and of the courses that I analysed. In the better faculties the teaching standards are quite high, and the relationship between professors and students is almost on a same-level base, while in the less privileged faculties the opposite is true. Thus we can observe a concrete politics of divide et impera intended to split the youth in two. For the more privileged there are some freedoms, both within and outside classes, designed I guess at forging them as autonomous individuals. On the opposite the less privileged are kept under tight control, even if also these students are a privileged category among youth at large.

La storia del diritto privato e l’organizzazione giuridica nell’antica Persia

Il sottoscritto lavoro e ricerca è risultato di circa tre anni di ricerche presso l’Università autonoma di Barcellona ed altre università europee ed iraniane. Il tema della ricerca s’intitola “La storia del Diritto Privato e l’organizzazione giuridica nell’antica Persia” ed è stato realizzato con la gentile direzione della Professoressa Gete Alonso, cattedratica di Diritto Civile presso l’Università Autonoma di Barcellona. In questo lavoro si è parlato maggiormente di due dinastie principali dell’era antica persiana ovvero la dinastia degli achemenide ed i sassani , ovvero un periodo di tempo tra l’anno 550 a.c. ed il 651 d.c. in qui fu il culmine dell’evoluzione storica e giuridica iraniana nell’antica Persia che va a sostituirsi con l’attacco e l’invasione araba e l’inizio dell’era islamica. Questo studio ci offre una base adatta ad effettuare di un lato uno studio comparato tra un sistema giuridico mediorientale antico con altri sistemi giuridici vigenti al tempo nel mondo come l’antica Babilinia, Grecia e Roma e d'altronde creare una base per confrontare il diritto antico applicato in Persia con il diritto attuale applicato nella Repubblica Islamica dell’Iran e quindi proporre una base di studio comparato nel tempo e tra vari sistemi giuridici antichi. Spero tanto che questa ricerca possa essere utile agli studiosi interessati a conoscere vari sistemi giuridici per poi confrontarli con altri sistemi antichi ed oggigiorno vigenti in modo tale di poter migliorare giorno dopo giorno le idee giuridiche applicabili nei vari sistemi attuali.

C. El segle de les grans barbàries

Conté: Un día cualquiera de agosto; Hace diez años, la URSS…; Termina una vergüenza de Europa; Del nacional arabismo al islamismo; El Imperio vuelve a tener enemigo; La caída del tirano; La Normandía a Iraq; Derrota y rehabilitación de Europa; La gran metáfora de la plaza Roja; Los derechos humanos y la realidad; El siglo de la guerra total (1); El siglo de la guerra total (y 2); Memoria del muro de Berlín

Dimensions of national culture and the accounting environment -The Spanish case-

Gray (1988) has put forward a hypothesis on how a national accountingenvironment might reflect the cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede (1980, 1983). A number of studies have tested Gray's hypothesis, including one by Pourjalali and Meek (1995) which identified a match between changes in cultural dimensions and the accounting environment in Iran following the revolution. In this paper we replicate this work in the context of Spain following the death of Franco in 1975 and the emergence of a democratic constitution in 1978. Specifically, we: 1) Consider Gray's hypothesis built on Hofstede's cultural dimensions and review some empirical tests of the hypotheses.2) Building on the work of Hofstede and Gray, we: put forward some hypotheses on how we would expect cultural dimensions to change in Spain with the transition to democracy.3) Review developments in accounting in Spain following the transition to democracy, in order to identify how well these fit with our hypotheses.

Islam político en Europa: un análisis actual de las teorías de S. P. Huntington : El paradigma español

Análisis actual sobre las teorías de S. P. Huntington aplicadas al contexto de la Unión Europea, respecto al islam político. Comparativa del islam primitivo con otros sistemas totalitarios y argumentación para la convivencia del islam actual en las sociedades modernas del marco europeo.