Recognition and political accommodation: from regionalism to secessionism. The Catalan case

Having lived through a bloody civil war in the 1930s followed by four decades of General Franco’s dictatorship, the Spanish state carried out a transition to a democratic system at the end of the 1970s. The 1978 Constitution was the legal outcome of this transition process. Among other things, it established a territorial model – the so-called “Estado de las Autonomías” (State of Autonomous Communities) – which was designed to satisfy the historical demands for recognition and self-government of, above all, the citizens and institutions of Catalonia and the Basque Country .In recent years support for independence has increased in Catalonia. Different indicators show that pro-independence demands are endorsed by a majority of its citizens, as well as by most of the political parties and organizations that represent its civil society. This is a new phenomenon. Those in favour of independence had been in the minority throughout the 20th century. Nowadays, however, demands of a pro-autonomy and pro-federalist nature, which until recently had been dominant, have gradually lost public support in favour of demands for self-determination and secession. This paper analyses the massive increase in support for secession in Catalonia during the early years of the 21st century. After describing the different theories of secession in plurinational liberal democracies (section 1), we analyse Catalonia’s political evolution over the past decade focusing on the shortcomings with regard to constitutional recognition and accommodation displayed by the Spanish political system. The latter have been exacerbated by the reform process of Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy (2006) and the subsequent judgement of Spain’s Constitutional Court regarding the aforementioned Statute (2010) (section 2). Finally, we present our conclusions by linking the Catalan case with theories of secession applied to plurinational contexts

Federalism and democracy. The case of minority nations: a federalist deficit

In this chapter, after pointing out the different logics that lie behind the familiar ideas of democracy and federalism, I have dealt with the case of plurinational federal democracies. Having put forward a double criterion of an empirical nature with which to differentiate between the existence of minority nations within plurinational democracies (section 2), I suggest three theoretical criteria for the political accommodation of these democracies. In the following section, I show the agonistic nature of the normative discussion of the political accommodation of this kind of democracies, which bring monist and pluralist versions of the demos of the polity into conflict (section 3.1), as well as a number of conclusions which are the result of a comparative study of 19 federal and regional democracies using four analytical axes: the uninational/plurinational axis; the unitarianism-federalism axis; the centralisation-decentralisation axis; and the symmetry-asymmetry axis (section 3.2). This analysis reveals shortcomings in the constitutional recognition of national pluralism in federal and regional cases with a large number of federated units/regions with political autonomy; a lower degree of constitutional federalism and a greater asymmetry in the federated entities or regions of plurinational democracies. It also reveals difficulties to establish clear formulas in these democracies in order to encourage a “federalism of trust” based on the participation and protection of national minorities in the shared government of plurinational federations/regional states. Actually, there is a federal deficit in this kind polities according to normative liberal-democratic patterns and to what comparative analysis show. Finally, this chapter advocates the need for a greater normative and institutional refinement in plurinational federal democracies. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to introduce a deeper form of “ethical” pluralism -which displays normative agonistic trends, as well as a more “confederal/asymmetrical” perspective, congruent with the national pluralism of these kind of polities.

La primauté d'honneur du patriarcat de Constantinople au Ve siècle : l'apport de Jean Chrysostome tel que présenté par ses contemporains

S’il est généralement reconnu que le processus d’institutionnalisation de l’Église s’est accéléré au IVe siècle, certaines de ses étapes nous sont moins connues. Ce mémoire cherche à évaluer l’importance de Jean Chrysostome dans l’émergence de la primauté d’honneur de Constantinople. Après une étude attentive du troisième canon du concile de Constantinople I mise en relation avec l’opinion de trois auteurs contemporains, c’est-à-dire Palladius d’Hélénopolis, Socrate de Constantinople et Sozomène, il ressort de ce travail que l’épiscopat de Jean Chrysostome a favorisé l’implantation de cette prééminence dans l’Église. L’analyse des modalités de la primauté d’honneur de Constantinople montre bien qu’historiquement, les évêques de l’ancienne et de la nouvelle Rome n’ont pas construit leur primat à l’aide des mêmes arguments. L’explicitation de ces éléments ne se veut pas une prise de position dans les débats oecuméniques actuels, mais plutôt un préliminaire permettant une meilleure compréhension des données du problème.

Drawing a line in the Taiwan Strait: 'strategic ambiguity' and its discontents

The Bush administration's continuing emphasis on US military deterrence of the PRC on behalf of Taiwan threatens to undermine the posture of 'strategic ambiguity' that the United States has proclaimed since 1979. This article argues for the retention of 'strategic ambiguity' and traces the origins of revisionist sentiment towards this effective conflict avoidance mechanism to reactions within the US foreign policy community to the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis. Case studies of this crisis and its predecessors in 1954-55 and 1958 demonstrate that US military deterrence was not a decisive factor in their resolution. US and PRC initiatives and responses in the 1950s crises introduced the essential elements of 'strategic ambiguity' into the triangular relationship between themselves and Taiwan. In particular, they established a precedent for the United States and the PRC in circumscribing the issue of Taiwan so as to achieve a political accommodation.

From Reasonable Accommodation to Understanding: Reconsidering Diversity Management Practices in Quebec.

En 2007, le Premier ministre du Québec, monsieur Jean Charest, a établi la Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles afin de donner suite aux conflits émanant des différences ethniques et culturelles. La commission a pour mandat de dresser le bilan des pratiques d’accommodement au Québec, d’analyser la problématique, de consulter la population et de formuler des recommandations au gouvernement afin d’assurer la conformité des pratiques d’accommodement avec les valeurs de la société québécoise. En premier lieu, ce mémoire démontrera que deux facteurs, dont l’évolution de l’identité de la majorité francophone et l’évolution des pays d’origine des immigrants, ont contribué à un malaise de gestion de la diversité et, par conséquent, ont rendu l’établissement de la commission pertinent. En deuxième lieu, m’appuyant sur une revue de la méthodologie, des conclusions et des recommandations de la commission, ainsi que la réplique du Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles, je vais illustrer que, malgré un mandat pertinent et achevé, la réponse gouvernementale fut inadéquate. Finalement, je démontrerai que les modèles de gestion de diversité soutenus par le rapport de la Commission, la laïcité inclusive et l’interculturalisme, sont des aspects nécessaires de la gestion de la diversité. Cependant, ils en découlent des philosophies politiques de neutralisme et pluralisme dont la force et le compromis en sont les buts. Je crois que le Québec peut être meilleur gestionnaire de sa diversité et peut obtenir de vraies réconciliations en prônant la conversation; une approche patriotique de la gestion de diversité.

"Sub Tiberio quies"? Judaea’s Political Situation under the Prefects (6-41 c.e.), between Reality and Ideology

Deeply conflicting views on the political situation of Judaea under the Roman prefects (6-41 c.e.) have been offered. According to some scholars, this was a period of persistent political unrest and agitation, whilst according to a widespread view it was a quiescent period of political calm (reflected in Tacitus’ phrase sub Tiberio quies). The present article critically examines again the main available sources –particularly Josephus, the canonical Gospels and Tacitus– in order to offer a more reliable historical reconstruction. The conclusions drawn by this survey calls into question some widespread and insufficiently nuanced views on the period. This, in turn, allows a reflection on the non-epistemic factors which might contribute to explain the origin of such views.

Cidadania e educação física : matrizes históricas e políticas, contradições e perspectivas = Citizenship and physical education : historical and political matrices, perspectives and contradictions

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Organized Crime and Terrorism: From the Cells Towards Political Communication, A Case Study

During the first half of 2006 the city of Sao Paulo suffered three series of violent attacks against the security forces, civilians, and the government. The violent campaign also included a massive rebellion in prisons and culminated in the kidnapping of a journalist and the broadcast of a manifesto from the criminal organization PCC threatening the police and the government. Right after, the main device used to contain organized crime in the prisons was declared unconstitutional. This episode represents a prototypical example of the use of media-focused terrorism by organized crime for projection into the political communication arena.

Political Systems and the Perspective on Nursing Education during the Spanish Transition (from the Franco Regime to Democracy). A Contribution based on Nursing History

The aim of this study is to describe the changes in nursing education during the process prior to and after the establishment of democracy in Spain. It begins with the hypothesis that differences in social and political organization influenced the way the system of nursing education evolved, keeping it in line with neopositivistic schemes and exclusively technical approaches up until the advent of democracy. The evolution of a specific profile for nursing within the educational system has been shaped by the relationship between the systems of social and political organization in Spain. To examine the insertion of subjects such as the anthropology of healthcare into education programs for Spanish nursing, one must consider the cultural, intercultural and transcultural factors that are key to understanding the changes in nursing education that allowed for the adoption of a holistic approach in the curricula. Until the arrival of democracy in 1977, Spanish nursing education was solely technical in nature and the role of nurses was limited to the tasks and procedures defined by the bureaucratic thinking characteristic of the rational-technological paradigm. Consequently, during the long period prior to democracy, nursing in Spain was under the influence of neopositivistic and technical thinking, which had its effect on educational curricula. The addition of humanities and anthropology to the curricula, which facilitated a holistic approach, occurred once nursing became a field of study at the university level in 1977, a period that coincided with the beginnings of democracy in Spain.

Biopolitics meets Terrapolitics: Political Ontologies and Governance in Settler-Colonial Australia

Crises persist in Australian Indigenous affairs because current policy approaches do not address the intersection of Indigenous and European political worlds. This paper responds to this challenge by providing a heuristic device for delineating Settler and Indigenous Australian political ontologies and considering their interaction. It first evokes Settler and Aboriginal ontologies as respectively biopolitical (focused through life) and terrapolitical (focused through land). These ideal types help to identify important differences that inform current governance challenges. The paper discusses the entwinement of these traditions as a story of biopolitical dominance wherein Aboriginal people are governed as an “included-exclusion” within the Australian political community. Despite the overall pattern of dominance, this same entwinement offers possibilities for exchange between biopolitics and terrapolitics, and hence for breaking the recurrent crises of Indigenous affairs.

Australian political discourse: Pronominal choice in campaign speeches

The intention behind language used by candidates during an election campaign is to persuade voters to vote for a particular political party. Fundamental to the political arena is construction of identity, group membership and ways of talking about self, others, and the polarizing categories of 'us' and 'them'. This paper will investigate the pragmatics of pronominal choice and the way in which politicians construct and convey their own identities and those of their political opponents within political speeches. Taking six speeches by John Howard and Mark Latham across the course of the 2004 federal election campaign, I look at the ways in which pronominal choice indicates a shifting scope of reference to creat pragmatic effects and serve political functions.

The impact of interpersonal and intergroup communication accommodation on perceptions of Chinese students in Australia

Using the framework of communication accommodation theory the authors examined convergence and maintenance on evaluations of Chinese and Australian students. In Study 1, Australian students judged interactions between an Anglo-Australian. and another interactant who either maintained his or converged in speech style. Results indicated that participants were aware of convergence but that speaker ethnicity (Anglo-Australian, Chinese Australian or Chinese national) was a stronger influence on evaluations and future intentions to interact with the speaker In Study 2, Australian students judged Chinese speakers who maintained communication style or converged on interpersonal speech markers, intergroup markers, or both types of markers. Results indicated that the more participants defined themselves in intergroup terms, the more positively they judged intergroup convergence relative to interpersonal convergence and maintenance. This points to the importance of distinguishing between, convergence on interpersonal and intergroup speech markers, and underlines the role of individual differences in the evaluation of convergence.