The Mirage of the State: Why the West has failed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali and Central African Republic? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 14 No. 15, July 2014

The state still matters. However, the members of the Euro-Atlantic community may be misinterpreting this crucial baseline prior launching their military interventions since 2001. The latest violence and collapse of the state of Iraq after the invasion of Northern Iraq by a radical Sunni Muslim terrorist group, so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), demonstrate once again the centrality and requirement of a functioning state in order to maintain violent forces to disrupt domestic and regional stability. Since 2001, the US and its European allies have waged wars against failed-states in order to increase this security and national interests, and then have been involved in some type of state-building.1 This has been the case in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, and Central African Republic (CAR). France went into Mali (2012) and CAR (2013), which preceded two European Union military and civilian Common Security and Defense Policy missions (CSDP), in order to avoid the collapse of these two states. The threat of the collapse of both states was a concern for the members of the Euro-Atlantic community as it could have spread to the region and causing even greater instabilities. In Mali, the country was under radical Islamic pressures coming from the North after the collapse of Libya ensuing the 2011 Western intervention, while in CAR it was mainly an ethno-religious crisis. Failed states are a real concern, as they can rapidly become training grounds for radical groups and permitting all types of smuggling and trafficking.2 In Mali, France wanted to protect its large French population and avoid the fall of Mali in the hands of radical Islamic groups directly or indirectly linked to Al-Qaeda. A fallen Mali could have destabilized the region of the Sahel and ultimately affected the stability of Southern European borders. France wanted to avoid the development of a safe haven across the Sahel where movements of people and goods are uncontrolled and illegal.3 Since the end of the Cold War, Western powers have been involved in stabilizing neighborhoods and regions, like the Balkans, Africa, and Middle East, which at the exceptions of the Balkans, have led to failed policies. 9/11 changes everything. The US, under President George W. Bush, started to wage war against terrorism and all states link to it. This started a period of continuous Western interventions in this post-9/11 era in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali and CAR. If history has demonstrated one thing, the members of the Euro-Atlantic community are struggling and will continue to struggle to stabilize Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali and Central African Republic (CAR) for one simple reason: no clear endgame. Is it the creation of a state à la Westphalian in order to permit these states to operate as the sole guarantor of security? Or is the reestablishment of status quo in these countries permitting to exit and end Western operations? This article seeks to analyze Western interventions in these five countries in order to reflect on the concept of the state and the erroneous starting point for each intervention.4 In the first part, the political status of each country is analyzed in order to understand the internal and regional crisis. In a second time, the concept of the state, framed into the Buzanian trinity, is discussed and applied to the cases. In the last part the European and American civilian-military doctrines are examined in accordance with their latest military interventions and in their broader spectrum.

Building by design /

Cover title.

Task Force on a Uniform Building Code : final report.

"April 2006."

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State: A comparative study of the Jihadi narratives

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The cultural and geopolitical dimensions of nation-building in the Ukraine

Ukraine belongs among those young countries where the beginnings of democratisation and nation-building approximately coincided. While the development of nation states in Central Europe was usually preceded by the development of nations, the biggest dilemma in the Ukraine is whether a nation-state programme — parallel to the aim of state-building — is able to bring unfinished nation-building to completion. Ukraine sways between the EU and Russia with enormous amplitude. The alternating orientation between the West and the East can be ascribed to superpower ambitions reaching beyond Ukraine. Eventually, internal and external determinants are intertwined and mutually interact with one another. The aim of the paper is to explain the dilemmas arising from identity problems behind the Ukraine’s internal and external orientation.

Revisiting Politicide: State Annihilation in Israel/Palestine

State annihilation is a persistent concern in Israel/Palestine. While the specter of Israel’s destruction increasingly haunts Israeli public political debates, the actual materialization of Palestinian statehood seems to be permanently suspended, caught in an ever-protracted process of state-building. The current paper claims that to understand the unfolding of the discursive formations, as well as the spatial dimensions of conflict and control in Israel/Palestine, we should explicate the workings of the processes of politicide. Politicide, in this regard, denotes the eradication of the political existence of a group and sabotaging the turning of a community of people into a polity. This analysis suggests that the insistence that the State of Israel is under threat of extinction should be understood as a speech act, a performative reiteration, which allows for the securitization of Israeli rule in the occupied Palestinian territory, a securitization which then serves to rationalize the ongoing concrete politicide of the Palestinians. Elaborating on the concept of politicide, and diverging from defining it solely through the use of brute violence, this examination suggests that what is often overlooked in discussions of politicide are the seemingly more benign means of its implementation, the micro-power mechanisms of spatial control, prohibitions and regulations.

Tourism Media Dynamics: Narratives of the Nation-State

With the premise that the tourism promotional video “China, Forever” provides a crucial access to understanding how tourism engages in a wider circle of socio-culture formation, this dissertation research approaches tourism by examining communicative practices initiated by “China, Forever”. In doing so, it seeks to reveal two dialogues – firstly, between the discursive construction of tourism representational language and China’s nation-state ideology; secondly, between interpretations from overseas Chinese audiences and nation-state narratives delivered via the tourism media. In analyzing the first dialogue, this dissertation reveals that the pursuit of collective and monolithic national imagery has caused a representational violence – one that is committed by the nation-state ideology operated through the organization of tourism language. The very representational coercion itself, however, signifies the nature of tourism media as a vehicle mediating the global gaze and China’s self-representation; illuminating the fact that China’s nation-state building is only to be understood as deeply-grounded in the complexity of postcolonial politics. Furthermore, in a dialectic view, such finding consolidates the nature of “China, Forever” as a cultural product that actively exists as a component in the overall social fabric, co-creating a wider circle of culture politics together with other genres of media products; thus, calling for a more comprehensive understanding of tourism media at large. In the second approach, this dissertation seeks to understand how the tourism video “China, Forever” mediates the relationship between tourism narratives of the nation-state and overseas Chinese individuals; thus bridging together tourism media and ongoing life experiences of the audiences chosen. The analysis reveals that audiences’ interpretations heavily concentrate on resisting and fragmenting the hegemonic nation-state language in “China, Forever”. While some interviewees seek to decentralize the nation-state perspective from aspects of aesthetics, representational style, and representational subjects in “China, Forever” by incorporating their individual memories and past experiences, to some others, the over-polished glorification of China in the mediated tourism discourse is only coercive to China’s social realities experienced by the individual interviewees - the disheartening contrasts of poverty and affluence as well as other social inequalities. From the perspective of the audience group, the Chinese scholars and students at the University of Illinois interviewed for this dissertation research constitute a cohort of exiled audiences for the tourism video “China, Forever”. The audiences subject themselves to voluntary interpellation, a process in which they find themselves defending, negotiating, and resisting the nation-state representation of China – even though they are not its intended audience and have had no input into its production. Nevertheless, such process is one of identification, in which viewers articulate a subject position from which to speak of their own experiences, dilemmas and desires. The usefulness of tourism media discourse in mediating the nation-state narratives and the individual experience is amplified.

Seeing Turkish state formation processes: Mapping language and education census data

Language provides an interesting lens to look at state-building processes because of its cross-cutting nature. For example, in addition to its symbolic value and appeal, a national language has other roles in the process, including: (a) becoming the primary medium of communication which permits the nation to function efficiently in its political and economic life, (b) promoting social cohesion, allowing the nation to develop a common culture, and (c) forming a primordial basis for self-determination. Moreover, because of its cross-cutting nature, language interventions are rarely isolated activities. Languages are adopted by speakers, taking root in and spreading between communities because they are legitimated by legislation, and then reproduced through institutions like the education and military systems. Pádraig Ó’ Riagáin (1997) makes a case for this observing that “Language policy is formulated, implemented, and accomplishes its results within a complex interrelated set of economic, social, and political processes which include, inter alia, the operation of other non-language state policies” (p. 45). In the Turkish case, its foundational role in the formation of the Turkish nation-state but its linkages to human rights issues raises interesting issues about how socio-cultural practices become reproduced through institutional infrastructure formation. This dissertation is a country-level case study looking at Turkey’s nation-state building process through the lens of its language and education policy development processes with a focus on the early years of the Republic between 1927 and 1970. This project examines how different groups self-identified or were self-identified (as the case may be) in official Turkish statistical publications (e.g., the Turkish annual statistical yearbooks and the population censuses) during that time period when language and ethnicity data was made publicly available. The overarching questions this dissertation explores include: 1.What were the geo-political conditions surrounding the development and influencing the Turkish government’s language and education policies? 2.Are there any observable patterns in the geo-spatial distribution of language, literacy, and education participation rates over time? In what ways, are these traditionally linked variables (language, literacy, education participation) problematic? 3.What do changes in population identifiers, e.g., language and ethnicity, suggest about the government’s approach towards nation-state building through the construction of a civic Turkish identity and institution building? Archival secondary source data was digitized, aggregated by categories relevant to this project at national and provincial levels and over the course of time (primarily between 1927 and 2000). The data was then re-aggregated into values that could be longitudinally compared and then layered on aspatial administrative maps. This dissertation contributes to existing body of social policy literature by taking an interdisciplinary approach in looking at the larger socio-economic contexts in which language and education policies are produced.

Patterns of Associational Life in Western Europe, 1800-2000

Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Science of the European University Institute

O futuro da liderança de topo na administração pública portuguesa. Forças motrizes e cenários possíveis.

Dissertação de mestrado em Administração Pública, orientada pelo Professor Doutor J. A. Oliveira Rocha apresentada na Escola de Economia e Gestão da Universidade do Minho, em 2006.

Ruling the Empire: The Portuguese Colonial Office (1820s-1926)

Portugal was one of the first and most enduring European colonial powers of modern times: 1415 and 1975 mark the beginning and the end of a long empire cycle that left impressive imprints in many places. Since it started, the overseas expansion and the exploration of the colonial resources were closely articulated with state-building and the preservation of national independence. A forerunner at the Great Age of Discoveries, but a latecomer in the era of industrialization, in the 19th and early-20th centuries Portugal was a peripheral country, and the economic gap with the rich and industrialized core of Europe was wide. During this period, however, the country faced the critical challenge of ruling vast and geographically scattered overseas territories, and of preserving them from the greed of strong imperialist powers. This article starts by outlining the major developments in the Portuguese colonial policy over a century, since the 1820s until 1926. The independence of Brazil (1822) was a crucial turning point, which brought about a shift towards Africa. The First Republic (1910-1926), pervaded by a nationalist ideology, gave a new impetus to the efforts towards a more effective colonisation. Symptomatically, a Ministry of Colonies was then established for the first time. Second, it describes and analyses the transformation of the central office for colonial affairs – from a small ministerial department to an autonomous ministry -, stressing the increasing bureaucratic specialisation, the growth of the apparatus and its staff, and the introduction of new criteria for the selection and promotion of permanent officials (namely a higher profile given to careers in local colonial administration). Finally, it presents a collective biography of both the politicians (Cabinet ministers) and the administrators (directors-general) who ran the Colonial Office for a large period of the Constitutional Monarchy (from 1851 to 1910) and during the First Republic, thus enabling to assess the impact of regime change on elite circulation and career patterns.

Does Warfare Matter? Severity, Duration, and Outcomes of Civil Wars

Importa si una guerra civil es combat com un conflicte irregular, convencional o simètric no convencional? En altres paraules, tenen les “tecnologies de la rebel·lió” un impacte sobre la gravetat d’una guerra, la seva durada o el seu resultat? Aquest treball mostra que els conflictes irregulars duren més que els altres tipus de conflicte, mentre els convencionals tendeixen a ser més greus en termes de letalitat al camp de batalla. D’altra banda, els conflictes irregulars tendeixen a ser guanyats pels governs, mentre els altres són més propensos a acabar en empat. Substancialment, aquests resultats ens ajuden a donar sentit a l’evolució de les guerres civils, les quals tendeixen a ser més curtes, més intenses i més difícils per als governs. Teòricament, aquests resultats donen suport a la importància de la tecnologia de rebel·lió a l’estudiar la gravetat, la durada i els resultats de les guerres civils; a més, contribueixen a una millor comprensió de la contribució històrica de la guerra irregular a la construcció de l’Estat i al canvi social.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, March 13, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: Judge Reuben Noble Praises the Iowa State Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition BACKGROUND: REUBEN NOBLE REUBEN NOBLE was born on the 14th of April, 1821, in Ada County, Mississippi, where his father was a farmer. When he was eighteen years of age, Noble began to study law and was admitted to the bar at twenty-one. In 1843, he came to Iowa, making his home at Garnavillo, in Clayton County. In 1854, Noble was elected to the legislature as a free soil Whig and upon the organization of the House was chosen Speaker, serving in the regular session of 1854 and extraordinary session of 1855. At the first Republican State Convention of 1856, he was placed at the head of the ticket for presidential elector. Four years later, he was a delegate to the National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Up to the time of the attempt of the Republicans to remove President Johnson by impeachment, Noble had been a prominent leader of that party. But approving of the policies of the President, he left the Republicans and from that time became a Democrat. In 1866, Noble was nominated by the Democrats for Representative in Congress but was defeated by William B. Allison. In 1886, he was one of the organizers of the Pioneer Lawmakers’ Association and was its first president, never missing a session during the remainder of his life. Noble was the leader of the bar of northeastern Iowa beginning in 1850. As a compliment to his high standing and eminent qualifications as a jurist, the citizens of the Tenth Judicial District elected him to tthe office of district judge in the fall of 1874. (History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/Volume 4)

Ruotsi, Venäjä ja "metsä"

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Homogeneity and heterogeneity of political traditions in the remaking of world order

Deux décennies après la chute de l'URSS (1991), ce mémoire propose une réévaluation de la thèse de Francis Fukuyama sur la Fin de l'Histoire, élaborée en 1989, qui postule qu'avec la chute de l'URSS aucune idéologie ne peut rivaliser avec la démocratie libérale capitaliste; et de la thèse de Samuel P. Huntington sur le Choc des civilisations, élaborée en 1993, qui pose l'existence d'un nombre fini de civilisations homogènes et antagonistes. Pourtant, lorsque confrontées à une étude approfondie des séquences historiques, ces deux théories apparaissent pour le moins relatives. Deux questions ont été traitées: l'interaction entre Idéologie et Conditions historiques, et la thèse de l'homogénéité intracivilisationnelle et de l'hétérogénéité antagoniste intercivilisationnelle. Sans les invalider complètement, cette recherche conclut toutefois que ces deux théories doivent être nuancées; elles se situent aux deux extrémités du spectre des relations internationales. La recherche effectuée a montré que les idéologies et leur poids relatif sont tributaires d'un contexte, contrairement à Fukuyama qui les pose dans l'absolu. De plus, l'étude de la Chine maoïste et particulièrement de la pensée de Mao Zedong montre que les traditions politiques locales sont plus hétérogènes qu'il n'y paraît au premier abord, ce qui relativise la thèse de Huntington. En conclusion, les rapports entre États sont plus dynamiques que ne le laissent penser les thèses de Fukuyama et de Huntington.