O Paraguai de Roa Bastos: história e crítica social

Pós-graduação em História - FCLAS

Cambio cultural en la Argentina de los años sesenta : Un análisis del diario La Nación

En este artículo se presenta un estudio del proceso de cambio social y cultural desarrollado en Argentina durante los años sesenta, atendiendo a la pregnancia que el autoritarismo podría haber tenido en la sociedad. Partimos de la hipótesis de que entre las clases medias, la misma habría sido menor a la sugerida en algunas investigaciones. A partir del análisis de las "Columnas de la Juventud" del diario La Nación - publicadas entre 1965 y 1973-, proponemos que ciertas transformaciones culturales protagonizadas por los jóvenes, se produjeron en un período de tiempo relativamente corto - diez años-. En ese lapso, las representaciones que el matutino construyó de esas transformaciones pasaron del desagrado a la fascinación. Ello nos sugiere que la aceptación de los cambios en las pautas de comportamiento estaba más extendida de lo que la idea de una sociedad autoritaria nos permite concebir

Cambio cultural en la Argentina de los años sesenta : Un análisis del diario La Nación

En este artículo se presenta un estudio del proceso de cambio social y cultural desarrollado en Argentina durante los años sesenta, atendiendo a la pregnancia que el autoritarismo podría haber tenido en la sociedad. Partimos de la hipótesis de que entre las clases medias, la misma habría sido menor a la sugerida en algunas investigaciones. A partir del análisis de las "Columnas de la Juventud" del diario La Nación - publicadas entre 1965 y 1973-, proponemos que ciertas transformaciones culturales protagonizadas por los jóvenes, se produjeron en un período de tiempo relativamente corto - diez años-. En ese lapso, las representaciones que el matutino construyó de esas transformaciones pasaron del desagrado a la fascinación. Ello nos sugiere que la aceptación de los cambios en las pautas de comportamiento estaba más extendida de lo que la idea de una sociedad autoritaria nos permite concebir.

Cambio cultural en la Argentina de los años sesenta : Un análisis del diario La Nación

En este artículo se presenta un estudio del proceso de cambio social y cultural desarrollado en Argentina durante los años sesenta, atendiendo a la pregnancia que el autoritarismo podría haber tenido en la sociedad. Partimos de la hipótesis de que entre las clases medias, la misma habría sido menor a la sugerida en algunas investigaciones. A partir del análisis de las "Columnas de la Juventud" del diario La Nación - publicadas entre 1965 y 1973-, proponemos que ciertas transformaciones culturales protagonizadas por los jóvenes, se produjeron en un período de tiempo relativamente corto - diez años-. En ese lapso, las representaciones que el matutino construyó de esas transformaciones pasaron del desagrado a la fascinación. Ello nos sugiere que la aceptación de los cambios en las pautas de comportamiento estaba más extendida de lo que la idea de una sociedad autoritaria nos permite concebir

Cambio cultural en la Argentina de los años sesenta : Un análisis del diario La Nación

En este artículo se presenta un estudio del proceso de cambio social y cultural desarrollado en Argentina durante los años sesenta, atendiendo a la pregnancia que el autoritarismo podría haber tenido en la sociedad. Partimos de la hipótesis de que entre las clases medias, la misma habría sido menor a la sugerida en algunas investigaciones. A partir del análisis de las "Columnas de la Juventud" del diario La Nación - publicadas entre 1965 y 1973-, proponemos que ciertas transformaciones culturales protagonizadas por los jóvenes, se produjeron en un período de tiempo relativamente corto - diez años-. En ese lapso, las representaciones que el matutino construyó de esas transformaciones pasaron del desagrado a la fascinación. Ello nos sugiere que la aceptación de los cambios en las pautas de comportamiento estaba más extendida de lo que la idea de una sociedad autoritaria nos permite concebir

'Saying things without appearing to have said them': politics and protest in Jafar Panahi's this is not a film (2011)

This article considers how Jafar Panahi's This Is Not a Film represents an artivist intervention in the landscape of Iranian censorship, working as both a form of personal testimony and of political protest in the act of its making. The (not)film, made while Panahi was under house arrest and banned from film-making and secreted out of Iran for release at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, is structured as a day-in-the-life video diary of Panahi's experience of house arrest, focusing on the personal frustrations and everyday consequences of living as a creative artist in an authoritarian society. Turning the camera on himself, Panahi self-reflexively considers what constitutes a film-maker and what constitutes a film, exploiting the blurred line between his presence in the frame as a (censored) author and as a (political) subject to make a film while simultaneously disavowing his authorial hand. Considered in terms of Hamid Naficy's analysis of contemporary Iranian films 'saying things without appearing to have said them', this article argues that Panahi's seemingly simple video diary enacts both a testimony of his specific experience of censorship and a protest against the terms of his sentence, forcefully linking personal experience and social politics through the act of film-making.

Is the incipient Chinese civil society playing a role in regenerating historic urban areas? Evidence from Nanjing, Suzhou and Shanghai

Urban regeneration in Western countries can count on a long-lasting tradition of experiences in which civil society has played a fundamental role in counterbalancing the system of power, resulting in profound urban governance readjustments. This has been the result of the increasing centrality of horizontal alliances between citizens and associations involved in urban affairs since the late 1960s in the West. Similar theoretical frameworks have been applied in China. However, these have frequently resulted in conceptual shortcuts that depict civil society as immature or lacking and the state as authoritarian. This paper will explore whether these categories are still entirely valid to urban regeneration in China. While the regime has traditionally prevented horizontal linkages of associations in urban governance (supporting their vertical integration to ensure a certain degree of soft control), there are signs of change. In particular, three cases of urban regeneration in historic areas will be used to discuss the changing role played by civil society in China. The ultimate goal is to examine whether horizontal linkages across groups of heterogeneous citizens are arising at the micro-level of urban governance.

Ergonomics as authoritarian or libertarian: reflections on Ward’s politics of design

Ergonomics is intrinsically connected to political debates about the good society, about how we should live. This article follows the ideas of Colin Ward by setting the practices of ergonomics and design along a spectrum between more libertarian approaches and more authoritarian. Within Anglo-American ergonomics, more authoritarian approaches tend to prevail, often against the wishes of designers who have had to fight with their employers for best possible design outcomes. The article draws on debates about the design and manufacturing of schoolchildren’s furniture. Ergonomics would benefit from embracing these issues to stimulate a broader discourse amongst its practitioners about how to be open to new disciplines, particularly those in the social sciences.

Non-government organisations and the dialectics of state and civil society

This paper is concerned with envisioning the development of non-government organisations (NGOs) in Australia over the next 200 years. It begins with a discussion of a hypothetical NGO, providing vignettes of its activities in 2104 and 2204, and sketching out contextual factors that might influence NGO development. This discussion is followed by an outline of the methodology upon which the projections indicated in the hypothetical case-study are based. Three methodological approaches are used. The first approach begins from an analysis of current contextual trajectories, and projects the role of NGOs within these trajectories. The second approach postulates that the changes that will occur will be affected by the reflexive nature of social change, involving continual reflection and action. The third methodological approach draws on this notion of reflexivity, but emphasises that social change is not only a reflexive process, it is also a dialectical one. The dialectical approach rests on the premise that change occurs through a process of the accumulation of contradictions, challenge and resolution. Using these methodological approaches the paper proceeds to identify three factors which will influence the Australian NGO sector in the next 200 years. These factors are the shifting relations between the state and civil society, including the rise of the neo-authoritarian state in the 21st century; the ways in which least advantaged people are dealt with and, finally, the idea of risk society. While it is more difficult to identify the contextual and NGO trajectories into the 22nd and 23rd centuries, the paper postulates a more utopian vision for NGOs in Australia in 200 years time, where the category of people who had been previously marginalised disappears, and the major roles of NGOs are to ensure cultural diversity and develop civil labour.

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.

Civil society after Saddam: oil unions and democracy in Iraq

Following the intervention in Iraq by coalition forces one decade ago, the Bush Administration underwent an enormous and unprecedented project to bring the ‘Western’ liberal model of democracy to Iraq. For the first few years the project to bring democracy to Iraq had its share of successes as the Iraqi people proved themselves capable of understanding and utilizing democratic mechanisms and institutions. This culminated in a series of nation-wide elections from 2005 onwards that brought a democratically elected government to power (Isakhan, 2012). However, one of the unfortunate consequences of the war and the US effort to bring democracy to Iraq was that many key ethno-religious political factions viewed it as an opportunity to pedal their own relatively narrow and very divisive political rhetoric (Davis, 2007). This meant that the Iraqi government was constituted not so much by a body who wanted to draw Iraq together behind a common ideology and to work towards a collective and egalitarian future, as it was by representatives who would fight on behalf of their ethno-religious constituencies. Not surprisingly, a great deal of academic literature has emerged which has analysed and criticised the formal political parties and institutions of the post-Saddam era (Dawisha, 2009). Indeed, the bulk of contemporary scholarship on Iraqi politics focuses on issues such as: the increasingly authoritarian tendencies of the Iraqi government; the obstinacy and ineptitude of many elements of Iraq’s political elite; the systemic corruption that is hollowing out the coffers of the state; the moribund bureaucracy that are struggling to deliver basic services and; of course, the deep-seated divisions within and between those that represent Iraq’s three main ethno-religious blocks: the Shia Arabs, the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds.

Changes in the political elite, economy and society of Belarus: Appearances and reality. OSW Study 30/2008

In late 2006 and early 2007, relations between Russia and Belarus were hit by the most serious crisis in many years. In a setting of heightened tension, the Belarusian authorities decided to gradually modify their economic policy and thoroughly restructure the ruling class. The new situation created new, much more difficult challenges for the Belarusian opposition. The processes initiated by the authorities were not intended to bring about either the democratisation of public and political life or full economic liberalisation; their only purpose was to enable the regime to tackle new challenges and survive in the changing international context. Nevertheless, modernisation has been initiated in Belarus' authoritarian system of power, which until now was considered to be completely incapable of reform. This puts the country's main political and economic partners, including the European Union, in a new situation.

Patterns of civil society after authoritarianism: a comparison of Portugal and Spain, 1970s-2000s. CES Papers - Open Forum #17, 2013-2014

In this paper we argue that patterns of civil society in post-authoritarian democracies are the result of divergent pathways to democracy. Through a comparison of contemporary Portugal (social revolution) and Spain (reform), we show that revolutionary pathways to democracy have a positive impact on the self-organizing abilities of popular groups, thus also contributing to a higher quality of democracy. There are three mechanisms in social revolutionary processes that contribute to this. The first stems from the fact that the masses are the key actor in the revolutionary transformation process, with the power to shape (at least partially) the new rules and institutions of the emerging democratic regime. This results in greater legal recognition and institutional embeddedness between civil society organizations and the state, making it easier, in turn, for resources to be transferred to those organizations. Secondly, as a result of changes to the social and economic structure, revolutions engender more egalitarian societies. Likewise, citizens are given more resources and capacities for collective action. Finally, revolutions tend to crystalize a political culture between elites and the masses in which the principles of egalitarian participation and social change through the action of the people are accepted. This all leads to greater opportunities, resources and legitimacy for the civic action of the common people during the subsequent democratic regime.

The Weakness of Post-Communist Civil Society Reassessed. CES Papers - Open Forum #11, 2012

During the last two decades, scholars from a variety of disciplines have argued that civil society is structurally deficient in post-communist countries. Yet why have the seemingly strong, active and mobilized civic movements of the transition period become so weak after democracy was established? And why have there been diverging political trajectories across the post-communist space if civil society structures were universally weak? This paper uses a wide range of data from various available sources to show that civil societies in Central and Eastern European countries are not as feeble as is commonly assumed. Some post-communist countries possess vigorous public spheres, and active civil society organizations strongly connected to transnational civic networks able to shape domestic policies. Following the calls by Anheier (2004) and Bernhard and Karakoç (2007) we adopt a multidimensional approach to the measurement of civil society. In a series of cross-section timeseries models, we show that our broader measures of civic and social institutions are able to predict the diverging transition paths among post-communist regimes, and in particular the growing gap between democratic East Central Europe and the increasingly authoritarian post-Soviet space.