Media ‘Globalization’ as Survival Strategy for Authoritarian Regimes In the Arab Middle East

Sakr challenges the notion that transnational media technologies have forced states in the Arab Middle East to cede ever more control to non-state players since the 1990s. Taking account of a long history of foreign political engineering in Arab countries, she probes the realities of Arab broadcasting privatization, intra-regional harmonization of government communication policies, and external financial support for media freedom and reform, to show how Arab governments were large successfully in harnessing forces implicated in media globalization in a way that entrenched authoritarian elements of the status quo. The findings validate an alternative to globalization theory that places a dual focus on the agency of national ruling elites and the international structures that underpin the power of those elites today, as in the past.

The Proactive International Dimension and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes

There is international consensus among scholars that democratic transitions are multicausal processes in which both internal and international variables are involved (Pridham 1991, 1995; Whitehead 1996; Schmitter 1996; Linz and Stepan 1996; Carothers 1999; Morlino and Magen 2008; Grilli di Cortona 2009). This chapter is limited, on the one hand, to the dependent variable consisting solely of the crisis/breakdown/transformation of non-democratic regimes in the Third Wave of democratization, and, on the other hand, to an independent variable identified solely with the international dimension of democratic transition. This factor, which can be termed the Proactive International Dimension (PID), specifically concerns that combination of actions or processes, produced by one or more international actors, that, intentionally or not, cause or contribute to the crisis/breakdown/transformation of a non-democratic regime.

Development cycles, political regimes and international migration: Argentina in the 20th century

Includes bibliography

The internet and the changing global media environment

This chapter describes current trends in the global media environment, with a focus on their implications for the management of public agendas and political processes. It assesses the extent to which trends such as the growth of the blogosphere, "citizen journalism," and other forms if user-generated content, have complicated and problematized news and agenda management as engaged in by both media and political elites. It argues that, in large part due to the rise of the internet and the proliferation if online producers of information and commentary, alongside 24-hour news channels such as CNN and Al Jazeera, political and social actors today face a much more complex, chaotic communication environment than ever bifore, an environment characterized as one of cultural chaos. Having outlined the roots of this trend in the emergence of an expanded, globalized public sphere, the chapter goes on to ask if elite control over the political agenda has been eroded, and if it has, what the consequences for governmmt and the exercise if power might be. Can authoritarian regimes in China, the Middle East, and elsewhere survive the onset if internet-fueled global journalism, for example? In a political environment where public opinion is driven and buffeted by news coverage if unprecedented speed and volume, can democratic governments retain sufficient control over decision- and policy-making processes to enable competent social administration al'ld political management? Can the citizens of contemporary democracies use the emerging media environment to enhance elite accountability and strengthen the democratic process? The chapter concludes that the changing global media environment has the potmtial to strengthen democratic processes, though there is no sil'lgle template for the impact of the internet and other new media on specific countries.

Digital Spring? New media and new politics on the campus

Whilst the dynamics informing processes have taken time to become clear, civic resistance initiated by young people using new media began in Egypt in 2010 against the Mubarak regime, soon widened to Tunisia, Yemen and Libya. Known as the 'Arab Spring', this phenomenon re-ignited discussion about the political role of digital space and its democratic potential. While parallels between authoritarian regimes and universities and educational institutions might seem overdrawn to some readers, I suggest there is value in considering the 'Digital Spring' (apropos the 'Arab Spring') as a metaphor to suggest the possibility that similar processes are taking place in schools and universities. This invites discussion about the political significance of digital space and its democratic potential in those institutions. To assess how some young people engage in digitally mediated politics within schools and universities, I identify five propositions which amalgamate descriptive and normative elements derived from Habermas and Dahlgren. These propositions offer an ideal taxonomy of normative and descriptive elements to establish whether digital technology promotes participation and debate in ways that sustain democratic practice.

Revolt and Revolution: the place of Islamism

The outbreak of revolt and revolution in the Middle East has given rise to a re-consideration of threat and security analyses as they pertain to the region and beyond. The resilience of some authoritarian regimes and the rapid collapse of others signal a significant transition within the region to which jihadi Islamist groups form one part of a powerful matrix. This article analyses the part and place of jihadi Islamism and Islamisms more generally in the revolts and revolutions. The article contends that events provide both opportunities and threats in strategies aimed at countering terrorism in the Middle East.

The Jurisprudence of Surveillance:a Critical Look at the Laws of Intimacy

Affirmer que les citoyens des démocraties occidentales sont l’objet d’une surveillance systématique efficace et à grande échelle a de quoi provoquer une réaction incrédule. Démagogie, diront certains. Pourtant, les progrès réalisés dans les technologies de collecte, de traitement et de stockage d’information forcent une réflexion sur cette hypothèse. Il a été souligné justement que les coûts élevés liés aux moyens rudimentaires employés par les polices secrètes d’antan endiguaient en quelque sorte la menace. Les filatures, les infiltrations, les rapts nocturnes de dissidents pêchaient par manque de subtilité. Au contraire, le génie des techniques modernes vient de ce qu’elles n’entravent pas le quotidien des gens. Mais au-delà du raffinement technique, le contrôle panoptique de la masse atteint un sommet d’efficience dès lors que celle-ci est amenée à y consentir. Comme le faisait remarquer le professeur Raab : « [TRADUCTION] La surveillance prospère naturellement dans les régimes autoritaires qui ne s’exposent pas au débat public ni à la critique. Lorsqu’elle est utilisée dans des régimes dits démocratiques, elle est légitimée et circonscrite par des arguments de nécessité ou de justifications spéciales, tout comme la censure »[1]. Or, le droit, en tant que discours de rationalité, accomplit savamment ce travail de légitimation. C’est dans cet esprit qu’une analyse radicale des règles de droit encadrant le droit à la vie privée apporte une lucidité nouvelle sur notre faux sentiment de sécurité.

Las políticas económicas como herramientas para la construcción de legitimidad en el régimen de Pinochet (1973-1990)

Analizando las políticas económicas del régimen de Pinochet, se determina en qué sentido permitieron la construcción de legitimidad. Sin desconocer el uso de la fuerza, se sostiene que gracias a las políticas económicas, sus resultados y la nueva lógica económica en ellas incorporada, Pinochet llegó a ser legítimo para una importante porción de la población.

Venezuela - Las elecciones presidenciales en Venezuela: de una democracia representativa a un régimen autoritario electoral

Desde 1958 hasta el presente el sistema político venezolano ha pasado de ser una democracia representativa, entre 1958 y 1998, para convertirse en un régimen autoritario electoral entre los años 1999 y 2006, durante la presidencia de Hugo Chávez. Este cambio de régimen ha tenido un impacto significativo y negativo sobre la institucionalidad electoral en el país, pues a diferencia del pasado reciente, los comicios en Venezuela han dejado de ser un mecanismo competitivo, con capacidad para expresar fidedignamente la voluntad colectiva y traducirla en esquemas idóneos de representación. En las páginas que siguen se examinan las recientes transformaciones del sistema político venezolano, su impacto sobre las reglas y condiciones del juego electoral, y las opciones y retos que enfrentan las fuerzas gubernamentales y las de oposición ante las elecciones presidenciales de diciembre 2006 en el marco del nuevo régimen autoritario electoral.-----From 1958 to the present, the Venezuelan political system has shifted from the representative democracy it was in the 1958–1998 period, to an authoritarian electoral regime from 1999 to 2006 under the presidency of Hugo Chávez. This change in the nature of the regime has had a significant and negative impact on the country’s electoral institutions and on its ‘institutionality’ since, unlike the recent past, elections in Venezuela are no longer a competition mechanism capable of reliably giving room to the expression of collective will and translating it into suitable representative frameworks. The paper examines these recent transformations undergone by the Venezuelan political system, their impact on the rules and conditions of the electoral contest, and the alternatives and challenges faced by both the government strongholds and the opposition vis-à-vis the coming December 2006 presidential elections in the midst of the new authoritarian regime’s electoral framework.

More than Just the Final Straw: Stolen Elections as Revolutionary Triggers

Stolen elections are triggering events that overcome barriers to revolutionary action against electoral authoritarian regimes. They mobilize ordinary citizens, strengthen the opposition, and divide the regime. As neo-institutionalist theories of revolution suggest, the relative openness of electoral authoritarianism inhibits mass protest. But when elections are stolen, regimes undergo “closure,” increasing the probability of protest. The failure of other potential revolutionary precipitants underlines that stolen elections are not merely replaceable final straws. Stolen elections have not only been crucial for the emergence of revolutionary situations, they have shaped outcomes as well. Linking popular mobilization to fraudulent elections has become part of the repertoire of contention of democratic revolutionaries.

The Emerging Civil Society in China and Its Impact on Democratization

Recent years have seen an emerging civil society in an authoritarian China. The authoritarian embrace of civil society challenges the conventional wisdom that civil society is closely linked to democracy. In Beijing, the rhetoric of civil society linked less to democracy than to modernization. However, does civil society development have any impact on democratization in authoritarian regimes? The thesis tries to provide a tentative answer by studying civil society and democratization in post-Mao China. As a result of economic development and political reforms, gradual political liberalization has marked a shift of state-society relations that gives rise to a certain degree of democratization and a growing civil society. The thesis uses a statistical correlation study to examine the relations between grassroots democratization and civil society development. The study concludes that civil society development may have contributed to democratization at the grassroots level but not on the national level. The impact of civil society on democratization depends on the political structure of the state and will remain limited unless the government allows for further state-led democratic openings.

"A sala de detidos": atuação e ascenção da polícia política da capital federal do Brasil, 1920-1937

Exploramos neste trabalho o desenvolvimento e a ascensão da função de polícia política da capital federal do Brasil, aqui compreendida como um mecanismo de proteção e manutenção do poder do Estado. Tomando por base as décadas de 1920 e 1930, procuramos investigar duas hipóteses. Primeiro, que nessa primeira década, o exercício de polícia política, a cargo da 4ª. Delegacia Auxiliar, pode ser tomado como o início do aperfeiçoamento da função. Segundo que o decênio seguinte, ao ser marcado em seus primeiros anos por um processo de democratização das instituições brasileiras - que culmina com promulgação da Carta Constitucional de 1934, nos instiga à indagação sobre a necessidade do Estado contar oficialmente, a partir de 1933, com um órgão para o exercício exclusivo da função de polícia política. A análise contempla, a partir da legislação sobre reorganização dos serviços policiais e da repressão social e política, bem como acerca dos documentos produzidos pela polícia política, a relação entre o desenvolvimento desses órgãos e os eventos sociais e políticos no contexto nacional e internacional. Os pressupostos que nortearam o desenvolvimento dos órgãos de polícia política nas décadas enfocadas, sugerem que a relação de exclusividade entre os mesmos e os regimes autoritários deve ser problematizada, ainda que, ao longo da história, grande parte dos governos de matriz autoritária ou totalitária tenha desenvolvido órgãos de polícia política que exerceram um papel proeminente na estrutura de segurança do Estado. Longe, contudo, de esgotar a discussão, buscamos oferecer elementos adicionais para o entendimento sobre a necessidade de o Estado manter uma polícia voltada à produção de informações visando ao acompanhamento de certos eventos sociais e políticos.

Right to health in Latin America: beyond universalization

Incluye bibliografía.

Guimarães Rosa e Martin Heidegger: duas visões sobre o Nazismo

No ano de 1970 houve a publicação da obra póstuma Ave, palavra de Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967) que reúne alguns textos do autor, desta coletânea de textos se faz a escolha das crônicas “O mau humor de Wotan”, “A velha” e “A senhora dos segredos”, que giram em torno do contexto do Nazismo alemão e expõem uma posição contraria ao Nacional Socialismo. Num primeiro momento o trabalho busca mostrar como Benedito Nunes (1929-2011) se guiou por uma tendência interpretativa concebida por comentadores heideggerianos antes das obras completas [Gesamtausgabe] (2001), tal tendência postula que não há na Filosofia de Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) um vínculo entre o pensamento político e o filosófico. O passo seguinte expõe a noção heideggeriana em Ser e Verdade (2001) em que o filósofo alemão propõe uma fundamentação ideológica para o Nazismo, sendo favorável a este com certas ressalvas. Assim, mostra-se como as obras completas expõem argumentos que apontam uma limitação em relação aos comentadores que produziram antes de sua publicação sobre a Política e a Filosofia em Heidegger. No subcapítulo sobre O local da diferença (2005), trata-se do trauma e do testemunho como conceitos centrais que o autor coloca para teorizar as Literaturas do século XX nos contextos de guerra e de regimes autoritários. Após, faz-se uma leitura crítica com base na premissa do pensamento político filosófico em Heidegger nas crônicas rosianas, pois estas expõem imagens do período da Alemanha nazista que o escritor mineiro esteve como diplomata. A segunda crítica das crônicas de guerra será feita com base nos conceitos de trauma e de testemunho formulados por Seligmann-Silva (1964), pois, as obras rosianas tratadas demonstram o teor de autoritarismo do partido nazista. Por fim, será feita uma definição do conceito de recepção de Hans Robert Jauss (1921-1997) para em seguida discutir os autores que fizeram a recepção críticas das crônicas rosianas.

A crise da Grécia: origens, interpretações e alternativas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)