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Nos Mandamentos, Deus proíbe aos homens tanto a feitura de imagens quanto a pronúncia em vão de Seu nome. Há, portanto, limites rígidos entre as esferas do sagrado e do humano. Este artigo examinará paralelos e divergências entre os pensamentos de dois autores que abordaram essa questão a partir de escolas de pensamento distintas: o filósofo neomarxista judeu Theodor Adorno e o teólogo luterano Eberhard Jüngel.
Sublimity, negativity, and architecture. An essay on negative architecture through Kant to Adorno
(2015)
Architecture defines and consumes people. It exposes them to a multitude of varieties of different aesthetic engagements. Architecture becomes a lived experience. However, this lived experience is always caught in the inner workings of the social and more specifically within cultural ideology. In modern capitalism, culture pervades every aspect of our lives. It shows its presence everywhere from our own homes to the public streets. Culture is everywhere, and architecture is a tool used for both the benefit and detriment of the “culture industry”. Kant speaks of the sublime as a profound moment of reason realizing its ability to overcome its own limits. In this experience is it possible to be completely ravaged and descend into hades and melancholy? Is there a beauty in this descent? More specifically, can architecture become banal or pedestrian, uplifting or depressing? According to Theodor Adorno, our subjectivity is defined by the constant dialectical struggle between freedom and unfreedom (among other things). It is realizing our freedom in the face of our unfreedom that makes us truly able to attain some form of resistance. The sublime experience can be transformed into a spirit of revelation and beautifully allow us to in a way resist the one-dimensional tendencies of modern capitalism. Architecture, which is immersed in our societal being and contributes to many of our own subjective unfreedoms, comes to define our lives as inhabited space. When does architecture produce a sublime experience? Can architecture’s authentic “aura” stand out amongst the reproduced city and produce a sublime feeling that can be a form of resistance against the culture industry? Does Grand Central Terminal provide the key to an architecturally sublime experience? Using dialectical experience and examining the sublime feeling (in a critique of the Kantian sublime) as the key to breaking through the culture industry’s banal architectural hold on our subjectivity, this essay will examine the experience of the sublime as a key to unfolding resistance in the face of the banality of modern architecture in the city and opening our minds to the Great Refusal through the exploration of Grand Central Terminal.
Este trabajo es el resultado de la investigación Capital Humano como factor de crecimiento Económico, en el cual se desarrolla una reflexión crítica sobre la teoría del Capital Humano, el abordaje se hace desde la teoría económica y el análisis tiene como referente los planteamientos de la Escuela de Frankfurt, especialmente en lo que tiene que ver con el uso desde la perspectiva de la racionalidad. Desde el punto de vista metodológico se trata de una investigación cualitativa, basada en un proceso de carácter interpretativo y comprensivo de tipo Histórico Hermenéutico, el método utilizado responde a una finalidad de descripción, interpretación, argumentación, que permitan avanzar hacia la comprensión de las temáticas estudiadas en un proceso dialéctico. Como resultado del proceso investigativo se hace un análisis de la instrumentalización de la educación, la formación, la capacidad de trabajo y el estado de salud del hombre, y aún de su propio ser, las cuales se consideran de la misma naturaleza que una maquina y quedan cosificadas al ser convertidas en mercancías comerciales que se venden en el mercado, lo que determina la posibilidad de colocarle un precio pagado en el mercado a la productividad de un tipo de trabajo determinado, a la acción del propio hombre y el desarrollo de sus capacidades superiores que deberían permitirle contribuir al logro de una sociedad mejor y una vida más digna.
Este artigo analisa a crítica de Adorno à ontologia de Heidegger. Para tal, utiliza como leitmotiv a interpretação heideggeriana de Kant. Procuraremos mostrar que para Adorno a edificação da ontologia fundamental a partir da filosofia de Kant é uma interpretação indevida desta. Por fim, procura apontar uma possível saída na filosofia de Adorno para o problema da necessidade de fundamentação do discurso filosófico. Tal saída passa pela constatação da importância da arte para a construção da universalidade na filosofia.
Desde Dialéctica de la Ilustración hasta Dialéctica negativa, el materialismo filosófico llevado adelante por T. W. Adorno ha ubicado en un lugar central de sus reflexiones la problemática de lo corporal, poniéndolo en discusión directa tanto con el psicoanálisis y su teoría de las pulsiones, así como con las diferentes versiones del idealismo. La reflexión acerca de este ámbito, permitirá exponer tanto el carácter represivo de la sociedad; también, la posibilidad de una ética verdaderamente democrática.
O presente artigo visa a fazer algumas anotações sobre educação, emancipação e crítica social no pensamento de Theodor W. Adorno. Esses temas se relacionam direta e indiretamente nos escritos de Adorno e assinalam a coerência epistemológica da sua teoria crítica em relação a ambos. Desse modo, a questão que colocamos é a seguinte: como compreender a tensão presente entre as necessidades de uma educação para a emancipação e as condições para efetivá-la? Essa questão nos encaminha para outra: é possível relacionar, nos textos adornianos, uma perspectiva de se pensar a educação para a emancipação, articulada a uma crítica social no contexto atual? Primeiramente, fazemos uma breve incursão no que consiste o pensamento contra a barbárie em Adorno, sobretudo, a partir do sentido de Auschwitz como símbolo da relação entre civilização e barbárie que o autor faz. Num segundo momento, nos confrontamos com a questão da formação cultural na Teoria da Semiformação, cujo escopo do texto é apontar os limites da formação cultural e consequentemente os limites da educação no âmbito do capitalismo avançado. Por fim, pretendemos discutir a ideia de "crítica social" em Adorno, articulada aos temas anteriores, isto é, apontar algumas ponderações para uma educação contra a barbárie e a semiformação frentes aos desafios impostos pela sociedade atual.
In my paper, I intend firmly to criticize Taubes' interpretation of Benjamin's Theology as a modern form of Gnosticism (Benjamin as a modern Marcionit). In a positive way, I sustain rather the thesis that Benjamin's Messianism is in close connection with his conception of reason (“the sharpened axe of reason”) and, in particularly, with the paradoxical unity of Mysticism and Enlightenment, which, according to the famous definition of Adorno, distinguishes his thought. As a radically anti-magical and anti-mythical conception of the historical time, Benjamin's Messianism has to be considered as an original synthesis between motifs of the mystical tradition of the Jewish Kabbalah and motifs belonging to the rationalist tradition of the Jewish philosophy. Moving from Cohen's standpoint of a continuity between Maimonides and Kant, I consider therefore the affinity between his messianic conception of history and that of Benjamin. Both, Benjamin and Cohen, share, together with the reference to the a priori of the idea of justice, the reference to the Kantian connection between rationality and hope. Hence originates the non-eschatological Messianism of both. Motives of difference between Cohen and Benjamin’s messianic idea are to be found, conversely, in their different way to consider the idea of "the infinite task" and of its infinite fulfillment in the context of the historical time. Unlike the fundamentally ethical interpretation that Cohen gives of this relationship, Benjamin understands it ontologically in a monadological sense. This explains the constitutive relationship that exists, in Benjamin's philosophy, between Origin, Fragment and Revelation. In the light of this connection, Benjamin's messianic understanding of the historical time exceeds the Scholemian alternative between a restorative and a utopian conception of Messianism. Consequently, the Krausian motto “Ursprung ist das Ziel” (“The Origin is the Goal”) displays its truth in the idea of the messianic fragment or spark.
In the nineties, Habermas redirected his political writings to the post-national constellation (global and European) and the possibilities of a society politically integrated through transnational democracy (or post-national democracy). This thematic reorientation took place on two fronts. The first one is the global transnational democracy, which includes the impacts of the economic globalization on national democracies, as well the proposal for a political Constitution for a pluralistic world society, based on a constitutionalization of international law. The second one is the European transnational democracy, which includes the redefinition of the political profile of European welfare state for an economic liberal profile, as well the paradox of democratic technocracy operated by European institutions and the proposal to overcome the decoupled technocratic policy model. This paper will address only this last topic, describing the reasons of the democratic deficit and the consequent delay of European political Union. Despite numerous reforms, the technocratic policies have not eliminated the discrepancy between centralization and democratization, and mistakenly indicate another direction further reinforcing the problem of European undemocratic institutions. In contrast, Habermas argues that the democratic deficit could only be overcome replacing the technocratic approach by a deeper democratization of European institutions.
El artículo presenta cómo el filósofo alemán Theodor W. Adorno concibe el estado social de la música de la primera mitad del siglo XX. Para ello recurro a
una serie de conceptos utilizados por el autor y cuyas raíces están en el pensamiento filosófico de la modernidad. Con gran influencia de Walter Benjamin, cada concepto en Adorno es una constelación, es decir, una idea que debe ser desarrollada y que al relacionarse con otros conceptos se llega a una interpretación más abarcadora del problema a considerarse. Así pues, divido el escrito en dos partes: uno dedicado al análisis de la ideología y el otro al de reificación. Cada capítulo así mismo está dividido en distintos apartados, con el ánimo de dar una visión más amplia de cómo Adorno entendió el problema de la experiencia musical para al final dar cuenta de la importancia del pensamiento estético de Adorno al compararlo con otros autores que reflexionaron sobre el mismo tema.
Para responder a la pregunta: ¿Qué es la literatura?, Sartre propone el concepto de unidad como su característica exclusiva que la relaciona con la sociedad por la vía del compromiso. Se analiza tal exclusividad, así como las objeciones de Adorno a la noción de compromiso, para encontrar, en medio de sus grandes diferencias, algunas afinidades que permitan establecer las relaciones entre la literatura y la sociedad.
Il saggio propone una ricostruzione critica della concezione di impegno e di politicità della letteratura formulate da Brecht e da Adorno. Concezioni opposte che possono essere considerate le formulazioni più efficaci delle due posizioni predominanti nel dibattito estetico del Novecento.
Adorno fonda la politicità della letteratura sulla sua autonomia e sulla liberazione della forma. La politicità dell’arte scaturisce per lui dal rifiuto della discorsività, dalla aggressiva sottrazione del senso, dalla esposizione del negativo. La sua è una concezione dell’impegno elitaria che subordina il discorso artistico a quello filosofico. Brecht fonda la possibilità politiche della letteratura sulla consapevolezza della medialità dell’esperienza. Può essere rivoluzionario solo l’autore che ha riflettuto sulle mediali condizioni della propria produzione e produce opere che non sono espressione di una soggettività ma lavoro alla trasformazione e al cambiamento di funzione dei dispositivi mediali e delle istituzioni in cui agisce.
O presente artigo busca demonstrar que o individuo padece de uma crise de reconhecimento quando busca a solução dos conflitos no poder Judiciário. Este, porém, pode restabelecer apenas o reconhecimento de um dos indivíduos processuais, deixando o outro em processo de não reconhecimento. Desta forma, busca-se comparar os princípios e ideias da jurisdição estatal com os da mediação, demonstrando que a mediação é um processo resolução de conflitos que melhor coaduna suas ideias e princípios com a teoria do reconhecimento. Assim, aplicando a teoria do reconhecimento de Axel Honneth ao modelo jurisdicional convencional, nota-se que uma parte da demanda acaba insatisfeita com a decisão judicial, enquanto, na mediação, busca-se um equilíbrio de satisfações. Devido a esse equilíbrio e convergência, acredita-se que o processo de afirmação da personalidade de nenhuma das partes processuais, quando a mediação é utilizada, seja desarticulado.
La temática de nuestro artículo remite al problema de la dominación en el último libro de Axel Honneth El derecho de la libertad. Para abordar satisfactoriamente este problema consideramos necesario, previamente, reseñar cuáles son las principales afirmaciones del libro y cuál es su enfoque teórico general (1). En el libro de Honneth el tema de la dominación se asocia fuertemente a dos nociones: la de “patologías sociales y de la razón” y la de “anomia”, motivo por el cual centraremos fuertemente la atención en estas cuestiones y llevaremos adelante -y esto vale para todo el artículo- lo que metodológicamente se denomina una reconstrucción conceptual-sistemática (2). Nuestra tesis de lectura es que en el Derecho de la Libertad se echa en falta una concepción “robusta” de dominación que el autor promete en otros libros suyos –tal y como lo advertimos en nuestra investigación doctoral, aún en curso–, pero que finalmente no elabora. Entendemos que esto es una laguna conceptual significativa, sobre todo si se tiene en cuenta que se trata de una reflexión sobre la libertad que pretende inscribirse en el legado de la Teoría Crítica de Frankfurt (3).
Relacionar a temática referente a Teoria do Reconhecimento de Axel Honnet e o direito humano ao trabalho, como direito humano com pretensão de validade universal, sob a perspectiva da Declaração dos Direitos e Princípios Fundamentais no Trabalho da OIT, com fins de fixar parâmetros de reconhecimento e de (re)inserção social da categoria de trabalhadores toxicodependentes é o principal objetivo do presente artigo. Para tanto, analisaremos o marco teórico em que a persecução da dignidade do homem pelo trabalho é o objetivo do Estado para que a seguir possamos tratar da dignidade do homem como direito cuja pretensão de validade é universal, com base da teoria do reconhecimento de Axel Honneth. Isto posto, podemos analisar a possível dignificação do homem pelo trabalho e no trabalho, em um contexto global a partir dos efeitos do reconhecimento de novos direitos, especialmente no que tange à categoria de trabalhadores que ocupam a parcela social de químico-dependentes, cuja participação no processo social está impedida, gerando uma categoria de trabalhadores socialmente excluídos, o que se pretende ultrapassar.
The European Union is at the crossroads between intelligent expansion of future horizons and frightened shrinking to a perspective of local areas. Fear of descent of the citizens on one side and a politics of crisis, that goes along with harsh injustice have made upset the national societies against each other, missing courage on the side of politicians, to bring European issues to the fore, endanger the European project. There is only one way to overcome this situation by establishing a democratic union, which conserves not only the social and civilian achievements of the national state, as well as the assets of a greater democratic political unity, that offers an unity of European citizens and European state demos.
En el presente trabajo abordo la interpretación que Axel Honneth realiza, en su libro Crítica del poder, de la propuesta de Michel Foucault. Honneth señala, a modo de crítica, la existencia de una contradicción entre lo que denomina la teoría del poder de Foucault y sus estudios históricos –en particular, los reunidos en Vigilar y Castigar–. Uno de mis objetivos es explicar esta contradicción y, a partir de ella, proponer una lectura alternativa. En contraposición a Honneth, para quien las instituciones disciplinarias que analiza Foucault terminarían desplazando la acción y la lucha social, intento mostrar –y este es el aporte que busco realizar en el trabajo a partir de una reconstrucción conceptual– que las disciplinas y por añadidura las instituciones disciplinarias deben considerarse tácticas que nunca alcanzan del todo su objetivo. Son tácticas que no logran bloquear, de manera definitiva, las expresiones de resistencia y conflictividad. Esta lectura alternativa que aquí propongo permitiría, en principio, ensayar al menos dos puntos de contacto entre Foucault y la teoría crítica que aún no han sido elucidados.
Em particular em seus textos anteriores a Luta por reconhecimento, Axel Honneth se vale com frequência do adjetivo substantivado "o social" (das Soziale), sem jamais explicitar diretamente o significado que lhe atribui. Todavia, este conceito, sempre pressuposto, tanto está na base de sua conhecida crítica do déficit sociológico da tradição crítica frankfurtiana quanto orienta clandestinamente todo o desenvolvimento de sua obra até o modelo maduro da reconstrução normativa. Trata-se, aqui, de um esforço de torná-lo explícito enquanto compromisso social-ontológico assumido pela teoria crítica honnethiana. Conclui-se que o social de Honneth é senão idêntico, ao menos coextensivo às normas se constituem a partir de interações de reconhecimento intersubjetivo, o que emprestará tanto a força relativa de seu modelo crítico quanto determinará seus limites.
O presente artigo explora os principais conceitos que compõe a teoria do reconhecimento de Axel Honneth, a fim de compreender os propósitos imbricados na idéia de luta por reconhecimento e suas contribuições à nova concepção de identidade surgida a partir da modernidade. No padrão pós-convencional, apresentado por Honneth, o indivíduo é reconhecido em sua individualidade. A identidade subjetiva é constituída de forma intersubjetiva e não mais determinada pelo grupo social. O reconhecimento recíproco é condição para a formação prática da identidade, permitindo ao sujeito participar efetivamente na esfera pública. Contudo, por possuir uma estrutura fundamentalmente intersubjetiva, a identidade individual e coletiva é afetada negativamente pelas diferentes situações de desrespeito presente nos processos de interação social. A negação do reconhecimento de modo injustificado, por meio da violação de expectativas normativas de comportamento, da origem a reações emocionais negativas. Por este motivo, as experiências de desrespeito integram a base motivacional da luta por reconhecimento, dando origem ao conflito social. O tema do conflito em Honneth está vinculado aos processos de formação da identidade prática do sujeito e aos progressos na vida social. O conflito social, traduzido na forma de luta por reconhecimento, caracteriza-se como uma expressão altamente positiva, por contribuir significativamente com a autorrealização individual e coletiva.
Esse artigo tem por objetivo analisar as contribuições de Axel Honneth para o atual debate das teorias da justiça, entre as quais a principal é a busca de princípios normativos encrustados na realidade social. Em sua obra O direito da liberdade, o autor indica a liberdade como o grande valor moderno. O medium da justiça seria uma liberdade de tipo social a qual estaria expressa nas instituições vinculadas às relações pessoais, ao mercado e ao universo político. Considerando a lacuna entre os princípios normativos de justiça indicados pelo autor e a realidade social este artigo propõe colocar em discussão as potencialidades e limites da própria reconstrução normativa como instrumento de análise do social, pautando especificamente o mercado de trabalho, a fim de colaborar à discussão das possibilidades de articular a norma compartilhada e a emergência de valores em vias de institucionalização.
The subject matter of this article is Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition as it has been exposed in his more recent book, Das Recht der Freiheit. Throughout the paper his attempts to describe injustices within modern capitalist societies using the notions of pathologies and anomie will be analyzed and criticized, especially from the viewpoint of their inability to deal with processes and contexts of disrecognition (Aberkennung). With help of this category, Honneth’s diagnosis regarding the moral progress in modern societies, as well as his notion of second order disorders, as injustices will be confronted and, hopefully, complemented.
Este artículo presenta una lectura crítica de un trabajo central de Axel Honneth desde la teoría de la sujeción de Judith Butler. Intenta mostrar que, por la ausencia en su escrito de una consideración sobre el poder, el pensador alemán no logra cumplir satisfactoriamente su objetivo propuesto de enfrentar las posturas que cuestionan el potencial crítico del reconocimiento. La hipótesis que aquí se maneja es que esa ausencia está ligada a su definición del reconocimiento como lo contrario de las prácticas de dominio o sometimiento. Ahora bien, Honneth afirma que el escepticismo de esas posturas respecto del reconocimiento se basa en la idea de que toda praxis recognoscente reproduce de alguna manera el orden social dominante. El presente trabajo se propone entonces, cuestionar esta aseveración del autor advirtiendo que un análisis sobre el modo en que el poder actúa en las prácticas cotidianas de reconocimiento no necesariamente conlleva una renuncia de la función crítica del concepto para la teoría social. Más bien, como sugiere la noción butleriana (y foucaultiana) de crítica, sólo enmarcando al reconocimiento en el horizonte normativo que lo delimita puede convertirse en la base de la indagación social.
Embora a ideia de “patologias sociais” ou “enfermidades” de uma sociedade inteira tenha sido bastante comum desde o Segundo Discurso de Rousseau, e especialmente proeminente dentro da tradição da teoria crítica, não está claro a quem exatamente se referea proposição de ter adoecido. Será apenas um número suficiente de pessoas individuais, será o coletivo entendido como um macro-sujeito, ou é a “sociedade” em si que foi acometida por uma desorganização específica de suas instituições sociais, afetando sua eficiência funcional de tal forma que se pode falar de uma “doença” especificamente social? Para todas as três atribuições, ou seja, as pessoas individualmente com suas doenças, a coletividade com a sua síndrome clínica particular, ou a própria sociedade como adoecida, podem ser encontrados casos na literatura correspondente. A fim de encontrar uma saída para essas perplexidades conceituais que estão no cerne dessa maneira de falar, abordo as propostas teóricas de Alexander Mitscherlich e Sigmund Freud, ambos defensores de um conceito específico de “patologias sociais” ou “enfermidades” baseado em ideias psicanalíticas. O resultado da minha reconstrução crítica será que somente uma compreensão da sociedade como uma entidade orgânica permite um uso não redutor da ideia de “patologias sociais”.
La distinzione fra apollineo e dionisiaco è ritornata di moda grazie a Friedrich Nietzsche, che se ne è servito nella sua famosa opera La nascita della tragedia dallo spirito della musica. Questo scritto, tuttavia, non persegue affatto l’intento di contribuire a comprendere questi concetti, ma si serve di questa distinzione per spiegare due aspetti di colonialismo d’insediamento in forma di stato, con particolare riferimento all’esempio dell’Africa Sud Occidentale e della sua capitale Windhoek. Come è noto, Apollo veniva considerato il Dio del sole e della ragione, mentre Dionisio era visto come il Dio dell’ebbrezza e dell’estasi. Nel presente contesto, l’apollineo rappresenta il sogno utopico di potere di stato coloniale, comportante il diritto assoluto all’uso della forza, a giudicare, a proteggere ed a praticare una politica attentamente pianificata, mentre il dionisiaco rappresenta, grosso modo, la mentalità pionieristica dei coloni e le loro tendenze anomiche, derivanti alla fin fine dall’illegittimità incontrastata dell’intero progetto coloniale. Nello stesso tempo questo scritto si avvale di un altro contrasto: giorno e notte. È usato in senso metaforico – ma non esclusivamente. E mentre il primo rispecchia “il regno della luce”, basato sul potere dello stato e su una vita pubblica che evidenzia le caratteristiche di società civile, la seconda rappresenta la fase del giorno in cui la notte scende ed il controllo da parte dello stato viene a cessare del tutto, mentre la «vita coloniale sotterranea» si risveglia.
Do economic fluctuations change the labour market attachment of mothers? How is the reentry process into the labour market after childbirth dependent on the country context women live in? Are these processes affected by occupational status? We address these questions using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth and the German Life History Study. Event history analyses demonstrate that in Germany and the United States, mothers who work in high occupational status jobs before birth return more quickly to their jobs and are less likely to interrupt their careers. During legally protected leave periods, mothers return at higher rates, exemplifying that family leaves strengthen mothers’ labour force attachment. Economic fluctuations mediate this latter finding, with different consequences in each country. In the United States, mothers tend to return to their jobs faster when unemployment is high. In Germany, mothers on family leave tend to return to their jobs later when unemployment is high. The cross-national comparison shows how similar market forces create distinct responses in balancing work and care.
Ausländische Pflegekräfte in deutschen Privathaushalten : ein Interview mit Prof. Dr. Helma Lutz
(2015)
Helma Lutz ist Professorin am Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Seit 15 Jahren beschäftigt sie sich in ihrer Forschung mit "neuen Dienstmädchen" – Migrantinnen, die Haus-, Erziehungs- und Versorgungsarbeit ("Care-Arbeit") in deutschen Haushalten verrichten. Die Redaktion von focus Migration hat sie zu diesem Thema befragt.
Am 12. Januar 2015 schwärmten 58 ForscherInnen und Studierende, 31 aus Berlin, 27 aus Chemnitz, auf den Skatepark in der Dresdener Lingnerallee. Ziel der Aktion war es, mehr über die Proteste der "Patriotischen Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes" (Pegida) herauszufinden. Seit Oktober 2014 hatten sich in Dresden immer mehr Menschen unter diesem sperrigen Motto versammelt. Mit den Protesten wuchs auch die Kritik an den völkischen und rassistischen Deutungsmustern, die dort Raum griffen. Wer waren die Demonstrierenden? Was trieb sie auf die Straße? Wie verbreitet waren die Ressentiments, die in Reden, Sprechchören und auf Transparenten hör- und sichtbar waren? ...
International society consists of states and the rules and institutions they share. Although international society has become a mundane feature of the world and the principal research focus of International Relations, it has become meaningless. More specifically, the technical rules that determine what states are and how they relate to other features of the world are units of semantic meaning, but their rampant, unprincipled proliferation has corroded their capacity to contain existential meaning. This deterioration is to be deplored because it alienates subjects from each other, it is totalising and excludes alternatives, and it is theoretically irreversible. To connect the two kinds of meaning, the first step is to reconceptualise international society as consisting strictly of constitutive rules whose meaning depends on the context they jointly compose, which implies that these rules can in turn be represented as signs in a semiotic structure. In order to evaluate the capacity of the signs to contain existential meaning, the next step is to adapt Baudrillard’s hierarchical typology of semiotic systems, ranging from the most meaningful systems based on symbolic exchange value to the vapid terminus of hyperreality based on sign value, in which semantic meaning is without value and existential meaning is impossible. The narrative traces the history of the signs of international law from the premodern period, when Christendom was understood as an approximation of the divine kingdom and a vehicle for salvation, to the present postmodern period, in which hundreds of articles of international maritime law make the decision to go to war over isolated rocks intelligible – even rational – and international trade law catalogues potato products to six digits. Three cases in particular exemplify this devolution in international law: the laws determining the territorial sea, the most-favoured national principle of international trade law, and nationality as a normative basis for statehood.
European energy policy dates back to the founding days of integration, yet the emergence of supranational governance is a recent development. The article examines the extent to which European policymakers have succeeded in building up governance capacity, and what the facilitating and impeding factors were that have shaped the governance mix. The conceptual framework differentiates between orders of governance in the multilevel context, and between policy modes involving hierarchical and non-hierarchical settings and varying actor constellations. The article finds that governance capacity has emerged where second order governance (institutional and procedural rules) is concerned, while first order governance (the concrete policy process) remains the remit of national and private actors. This becomes even more obvious once the interaction between policy modes is taken into account: governance networks enhance governance capacity in the area of competition policy and agency governance; self-regulation by industry constitutes a fall-back option in case of insufficient governance capacity on cross-border issues; soft governance helps to bridge multiple policy areas and levels of governance. The article concludes that second order governance may prove effective where it combines with hierarchy but that it may fail to overcome both trade-offs between contradicting goals and resistance at lower levels.
Nach langer Vorbereitung war es endlich soweit, die National Model United Nations (NMUN)-Delegation der Goethe-Universität stand im Konferenzhotel und war voller Vorfreude, Aufregung und Tatendrang.
Unter allen Simulationen ist das National Model United Nations in New York dabei die größte und ist in ihrer kulturellen und thematischen Vielfalt kaum zu übertreffen. Innerhalb der Simulation wird die Arbeit der verschiedenen Komitees der Vereinten Nationen mit realen Themen nachgestellt. Die Mitglieder der Delegationen übernehmen dabei die Aufgaben und Positionen der Diplomaten und vertreten die Interessen, Werte und Standpunkte des ihnen zugewiesenen Landes. In diesem Jahr repräsentierten wir die Republik Kuba. ...
Ruling parties as communities of practice and collective identity in China-Ethiopia relations
(2015)
While it helps to put the overemphasis on Chinese agency in the literature into perspective, the recent debate on the role played by African agency in Sino-African relations generally adopts the same rationalist perspective on international politics, and thus stands to miss important aspects of the relations studied. This paper takes the example of Ethiopia, which is often used to highlight African elites’ strategic use of the new options presented by China’s rise, and analyses it from a constructivist perspective. Such a perspective proposes that we need to take the role played by ideas, discourses and emotions seriously, and that Ethiopian policy makers do not exist outside a dense web of personal relations, common knowledge, and shared practices that inadvertently structure their relations with China. More specifically, it is argued here that the ruling parties of China and Ethiopia are linked together in an international community of practice, that exchanges within this community have strengthened the perception of like-mindedness, and that Sino-Ethiopian relations therefore rest on a different basis than is acknowledged by purely rationalist accounts.
Im Kontext der Diskussion zur „Globalisierung des Managements“ und der daraus entstandenen These einer transnationalen Klasse untersuchen wir in diesem Beitrag den Stellenwert internationaler Berufserfahrung bei Bankvorständen in Deutschland und weltweit. Bisherige Forschungen (etwa Pohlmann 2009) argumentieren, dass bei den Top-100- Industrieunternehmen in den USA, Ostasien und Deutschland Karriereverläufe im mittleren und Spitzenmanagement kaum internationalisiert sind und Hauskarrieren die Regel seien. Unsere eigene explorative Untersuchung legt die Vermutung nahe, dass die Situation im deutschen sowie im globalen Bankensektor anders aussieht. Vor allem in Deutschland verlaufen die Top-Karrieren im Unterschied zu Industrieunternehmen deutlich internationaler, was auf andere personelle Konstellation im Feld des global vernetzten Finanzsektors hinweist. Im deutschen wie im globalen Finanzsektor könnten wir es hierbei mit dem Phänomen einer „Transnationalisierung ohne Migration“ zu tun haben.
In methodischer Hinsicht macht unsere Studie auf die Grenzen quantitativer Forschungsdesigns bei der Untersuchung internationaler Berufserfahrung und internationalen Arbeitspraxen aufmerksam. Daher plädieren wir für ein an die Kategorien der Bourdieu‘schen Sozialtheorie angelehntes qualitatives Forschungsdesign für die Untersuchung der Herausbildung einer globalen Klasse auf den globalisierten Finanzmärkten.
Globale Finanzplätze im Vergleich : Frankfurt und Sydney zwischen Global City und lokaler Variation
(2015)
Frankfurt und Sydney sind international bedeutende Knotenpunkte des Global- Cities-Netzwerks. Als transnationale Finanzzentren erreichen sie im Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) ähnliche Platzierungen. Populäre Rankings wie der GFCI entfalten ihre Wirkungsmacht in einem politischen Diskurs, der die Konkurrenz von Finanzzentren in einem hierarchischen Städtenetzwerk betont und so die Orientierung an den Champions der Finanzmetropolen forciert. Der hier vorgenommene kontrastive Vergleich Frankfurts und Sydneys zeigt hingegen, dass die stark von Globalisierungs- und Finanzialisierungstendenzen beeinflussten Städte sich nicht einfach einem Idealtypus von Global Cities angleichen. Vielmehr sorgt die Einbettung in unterschiedliche Entwicklungslinien – im Falle Frankfurts in die Tradition einer koordinierten Marktwirtschaft, im Falle Sydneys in die Tradition einer liberalen Marktwirtschaft – für die Ausbildung von Finanzsystemen mit unterschiedlichem Charakter und unterschiedlicher Reichweite. So weist der Finanzplatz Frankfurt im Vergleich mit Sydney eine starke globale Vernetzung auf, wenngleich die Merkmale der koordinierten Marktwirtschaft - geringere Börsenkapitalisierung der Unternehmen, einer primär kreditbasierten Unternehmensfinanzierung und geringere Finanzmarktorientierung der Bevölkerung nachwirken. Demgegenüber profitiert der Finanzstandort Sydney von einer durchwegs finanzialisierten Ökonomie, was sich in der Finanzmarktorientierung von Unternehmen und jener der allgemeinen Bevölkerung ausdrückt, weist aber eine stärkere Binnenorientierung, also die Fokussierung auf den nationalen Markt auf.
National Model United Nations New York 2015 : Delegation der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
(2015)
Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 1945 sind die Vereinten Nationen zur bedeutendsten und einflussreichsten internationalen Organisation geworden. Als völkerrechtlicher Zusammenschluss verschiedenster Staaten haben die Vereinten Nationen eine generelle Zuständigkeit in Fragen von Frieden, Sicherheit und internationalem Zusammenleben. Unter den sechs Hauptorganen der Vereinten Nationen sind besonders der Sicherheitsrat und die Generalversammlung hervorzuheben. Letztere ist mit Vertretern aus allen 193 Mitgliedsstaaten die weltweit größte, regelmäßige Zusammenkunft von offiziellen Staatsvertretern. ...
Die aktuelle Debatte um Pornographie stellt sich andere Fragen als in den kämpferischen 70er Jahren. In den interdisziplinären Beiträgen des Sammelbandes wird Pornographie als kulturelles Artefakt behandelt, als Begriff, der in Diskurse über Sexualität und Moderne, über Identität und Jugend verwoben ist. Die Autor_innen arbeiten mit empirisch-sozialwissenschaftlichen Methoden Fragen nach dem Nutzer_innenverhalten von Onlinepornographie und jugendlichem Pornokonsum auf, bieten theoriegeleitete Zugänge zur Unbestimmbarkeit von Pornographie, zu ihrer notwendigen Einbettung in andere gesellschaftliche Kontexte sowie künstlerische Interventionen zu ihrem emanzipatorischen Potential. Die Beiträge bieten einen gelungenen Einblick in den aktuellen Stand der Debatte dieses noch jungen Feldes.
Das Feld der interdisziplinäre Diskursforschung hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen und sich zu einer etablierten Forschungsperspektive am Schnittpunkt von Sprache und Gesellschaft, von Wissen und Macht entwickelt. Die theoretische und methodische Vielgestaltigkeit dieser Forschungsperspektive führt allerdings insbesondere bei der Konzeption und Durchführung von Forschungsarbeiten solchen Zuschnitts immer wieder zu Unsicherheiten und Schwierigkeiten. Drei Werke, die – in unterschiedlicher Weise – auf das sich aus der Vielgestaltigkeit dieses Feldes ergebende Bedürfnis nach Systematisierung und Orientierung antworten, werden im Folgenden vorgestellt. Dabei gilt es deutlich herauszustellen, dass die vorgestellten Werke nicht als Methodenbücher oder Anleitungen zur "korrekten" Durchführung von diskursorientierten Forschungsarbeiten misszuverstehen, sondern vielmehr als Anregung und Verständigung über Fragen, Probleme und Richtungen der Diskursforschung auch über nationale und disziplinäre Grenzen hinweg zu lesen sind.
In this review, I argue that this textbook edited by BENNETT and CHECKEL is exceptionally valuable in at least four aspects. First, with regards to form, the editors provide a paragon of how an edited volume should look: well-connected articles "speak to" and build on each other. The contributors refer to and grapple with the theoretical framework of the editors who, in turn, give heed to the conclusions of the contributors. Second, the book is packed with examples from research practice. These are not only named but thoroughly discussed and evaluated for their methodological potential in all chapters. Third, the book aims at improving and popularizing process tracing, but does not shy away from systematically considering the potential weaknesses of the approach. Fourth, the book combines and bridges various approaches to (mostly) qualitative methods and still manages to provide abstract and easily accessible standards for making "good" process tracing. As such, it is a must-read for scholars working with qualitative methods. However, BENNETT and CHECKEL struggle with fulfilling their promise of bridging positivist and interpretive approaches, for while they do indeed take the latter into account, their general research framework remains largely unchanged by these considerations. On these grounds, I argue that, especially for scholars in the positivist camp, the book can function as a "how-to" guide for designing and implementing research. Although this may not apply equally to interpretive researchers, the book is still a treasure chest for them, providing countless conceptual clarifications and potential pitfalls of process tracing practice.
This contribution1 is framed within the field of cultural studies and migration and ethnic relations, trying to examine how the Italian American experience has been imaginatively (re)created and received. It will entail an interdisciplinary approach about the cultural and literary analysis of the Italian diaspora in the United States, from a gender perspective that recovers the voice and historical presence of women as has been transmitted in the arts and critical methods. Focusing on the media and literary representations that deal with Italian migration to the United States since the last decades of the 19th century, their welcome or later development until our days, I make particular reference to a community mainly conceived in the masculine, as major receptions and persistent stereotypes about family relations and ethnicity attest. I will analyse, at the same time, the existence of other works that either contest or balance that cultural and gender stereotyping of the Italian American experience or community.
This paper1 investigates changes in the domestic work sector when passing from the informal to the formal labor market. The issue is explored within the context of the housework voucher policy (titres-services), which allows households to officially purchase weekly housework services from an authorized agency, through vouchers. This contribution has therefore a twofold focus: observing changes in labor market dynamics and investigating workers’ perception of this change. In order to discuss these issues, I will firstly look at the step from informal to formal labor market through two aspects: ethnic niches and individual labor dynamics – two bedrocks of Brussels domestic work market. Then, I will analyze workers’ personal experiences when acquiring a declared job in the voucher system.
Analyzing objective and subjective changes, a entral question of this article is to which extent the switch to the housework voucher system can bring empowerment to domestic workers. The sector work quality, in objective and subjective terms, has improved mainly by the setting of rules and by allowing workers to enjoy labor rights and a work status. The formal market dynamics of the housework voucher system remain, however, profoundly ethicized and marked by women’s presence, as was/is the shadow market.
The article shows that workers’ understanding of the transition from an informal to a formal sector is largely a result of their previous experiences and social position, mainly regarding migration status. This change will be thus much more assertive for workers who had their migrant status regularization and work formalization processes concomitantly, demonstrating that the most empowering shift is the one of acquiring papers, and not of entering declared work.
In the ‘age of transnationalization’, spatial mobility is highly valued as a resource and accordingly ‘sedentariness’ is often symbolically devalued. Migration between Poland and Germany (mainly from Poland to Germany) has a century-long tradition. Not only has it yielded the emergence of a dense transnational social space, but is also considered as a re-enactor of cultural traits and symbolic meanings. Spatial mobility is tied to notions of social mobility and to projects of life-making. Since legal restrictions for Polish migrants seeking to work and settle in Germany have vanished, the quest for ‘normalcy’ has enhanced and pressures towards even more migration have increased. I argue that symbolic meanings of mobility are decisive for hierarchies in transnational social spaces. I have put main emphasize on families’ practices of caring for and caring about each other: the first being more a physical or material activity, while the latter is a more symbolic and emotional one. The interviews reveal that people draw multiple differentiations between migrant populations in terms of their migration reasons as well as between the mobile and the immobile. Those differentiations are embedded in the distinct feature of the transnational social space between Poland and Germany with assumed differences in terms of ‘modernity’. At the end the symbolic meanings of mobility also help explain the puzzle of why the emigration rates from Poland are constantly high, although Poland is a comparatively wealthy country.
Often adopting a feminist perspective, the sociological literature on migrant domestic services (MDS) does not make explicit which feminist paradigm it speaks from. This article situates this literature within ongoing debates in feminist theory, in particular the tension between materialist and poststructuralist approaches. Then, it discusses the empirical relevance of each of those two paradigms on the example of the results of original research into the personalization of employment relationships in MDS.
The contribution proposes a new way of making sense of the diversity of feminist theories, distinguishing between modern and postmodern approaches. Indeed, since the 1980s, feminist theory in the US and Western Europe has undergone a ‘postmodern turn’, which renders previous typologies much less up-to-speed with recent developments in the field. Then, the article examines which paradigms are implicit in the sociological literature on MDS. Initially, personalization in MDS was mainly seen in materialist terms, as a way to maximize the quantity and quality of labour (including emotional labour) extracted from domestic workers. The emergence of postmodern approaches in feminist theory set off a progressive shift in MDS literature. First, this literature showed that personalization also fulfils identity functions for employers and
workers, then it widened its focus to include the affective dimensions of domestic labour (not to be confused with emotional labour). The final section shows how modern and postmodern feminist approaches can be combined within a single research, on the example of original research on personalization in MDS in Belgium and Poland. In particular, the contribution shows that the distinction between material functions of personalization on the one hand, and its emotional/identity functions on the other is not empirically operative. Indeed, migrant domestic workers generally use emotional/identity categories to frame material questions, and vice versa. This final part shows that, rather than representing incompatible approaches, modern and postmodern feminisms complete each other, in this case showing a fuller image of personalization processes in MDS.
This paper studies the linkage between international male migration and changes on land inheritance patterns in rural Oaxaca (Mexico). Land inheritance is a long-term exchange between parents and male adult children in Oaxaca: sons are bequeathed with land as long as they provide for their parents (and their wives care for their in-laws) while daughters are excluded from the family patrimony. Drawing on theoretical sample and 37 in depth interviews, this paper argues that intergenerational solidarity based on the parent-son alliance through inheritance is breaking down due to the uncertainty of men´s migration project along with the increase in the fallback position of wives, who may refuse to take care of elderly in-laws. Other alliances emerge instead: parents try to build new alliances with their daughters, bequeathing them agricultural and building plots. However, these new alliances and inheritance shifts are neither a heterogeneous process nor an automatic change and several family and social dimensions must be included to understand the different outcomes.
In seinem unlängst erschienenen Buch „Citizen Science“ untersucht der Wissenschaftstheoretiker Peter Finke die Rolle von Laiinnen und Laien für die Wissenschaft. Sein Anliegen ist es, ihre Bedeutung für den Erkenntnisfortschritt wie auch für ein praxisbezogenes bürgerschaftliches Engagement darzulegen. Aus zahlreichen Blickwinkeln variiert Finke den Grundgedanken einer Kontinuität des Handelns von Laiinnen und Laien zu dem von Fachwissenschaftlerinnen und Fachwissenschaftlern, die durch die institutionalisierten Erscheinungsformen der Wissenschaft verschleiert wird. Demgegenüber sollen im vorliegenden Beitrag Aspekte der Diskontinuität hervorgehoben werden, die es zu berücksichtigen gilt, gerade wenn man von der Wichtigkeit einer Etablierung und Förderung von „Citizen Science“ überzeugt ist.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersuchte die Chancen und Restriktivitäten einer künstlerischen Ausbildung. Welche Möglichkeiten stehen einer künstlerischen Ausbildung zur Verfügung und welchen Grenzen steht sie unüberwindlich gegenüber? Diese waren konstitutionstheoretisch zu entfalten und wissenschaftspraktisch anhand von mir erhobenem Datenmaterial (vornehmlich Interviews mit Studenten und Professoren von Kunsthochschulen in Deutschland) zu belegen bzw. zu verdichten...
The Muskoka Initiative – or the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Initiative has been a flagship foreign policy strategy of the Harper Conservatives since it was introduced in 2010. However, the maternal health initiative has been met with a number of key criticisms in relation to its failure to address the sexual and reproductive health needs of women in the Global South2. In this article, I examine these criticisms and expose the prevalent and problematic discourse employed in Canadian policy papers and official government speeches pertaining to the MNCH Initiative. I examine the embodiment of the MNCH and how these references to women’s bodies as “walking wombs” facilitate: the objectification and ‘othering’ of women as mothers and childbearers; a discourse of ‘saving mothers’ in a paternalistic and essentialist language; and the purposeful omission of gender equality. Feminist International Relations (IR) and post-colonial literature, as well as critical/feminist Canadian foreign policy scholarship are employed in this paper to frame these critiques.
This paper argues that it is necessary to focus on gender rather than exclusively on women in discussions on global poverty eradication. It argues firstly, that the drivers of poverty are complex and multifaceted leading to a least two different forms of deprivation – transitory and structural poverty – each requiring different forms of analysis and treatment. Transitory poverty can arise as a consequence of an event or shock that would diminish an individual’s capacity to retain or secure employment and where a State lacks an appropriate form of social protection. Structural poverty, on the other hand, arises where groups are excluded from the workforce on a more permanent basis due to a wide variety of factors of discrimination such as sex, race, ethnicity, and age. Focusing on the sex of an individual alone cannot explain why some are more likely to experience different forms of poverty than others. Policies that protect women against transitory poverty, such as care related allowances, are not sufficient to eradicate structural poverty. Secondly, structural poverty prompts an examination of gender roles and relations. Unlike the category of ‘women’, the concept of gender demands consideration of a wider range of intersecting factors that influence life chances. The structure of contemporary gender relations, where women continue to experience higher levels of violence, and carry the greatest burden of responsibility for non-market based production activities, create the social conditions where domination and dependence thrive, and where persistently high rates of poverty seem inevitable. Such circumstances are generated by human agency. Thus, thirdly, it argues that these circumstances can and should be changed through human action. Knowledge of these circumstances gives rise to moral obligations for both men and women to avoid upholding values and practices that lead to domination and dependence as a matter of basic justice.
In this paper, I examine how maternal myths are deployed in popular development literature. Using critical discourse analysis and working within a feminist postcolonial framework I analyse five texts produced by development organizations for popular consumption. I identify how maternal myths are constructed in each text and conduct a contextual analysis of four myths to identify their ideological significance within the development sector. I conclude that that in their construction of maternal myths, these texts, while intended to elicit support for gender and development interventions, reinforce exploitative gender roles and relations and limit women’s experiences of development.
As the lowest in the caste hierarchy, Dalits in Indian society have historically suffered caste-based social exclusion from economic, civil, cultural, and political rights. Women from this community suffer from not only discrimination based on their gender but also caste identity and consequent economic deprivation. Dalit women constituted about 16.60 percent of India’s female population in 2011. Dalit women’s problems encompass not only gender and economic deprivation but also discrimination associated with religion, caste, and untouchability, which in turn results in the denial of their social, economic, cultural, and political rights. They become vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation due to their gender and caste. Dalit women also become victims of abhorrent social and religious practices such as devadasi/jogini (temple prostitution), resulting in sexual exploitation in the name of religion. The additional discrimination faced by Dalit women on account of their gender and caste is clearly reflected in the differential achievements in human development indicators for this group. In all the indicators of human development, for example, literacy and longevity, Dalit women score worse than Dalit men and non-Dalit women. Thus, the problems of Dalit women are distinct and unique in many ways, and they suffer from the ‘triple burden’ of gender bias, caste discrimination, and economic deprivation. To gain insights into the economic and social status of Dalit women, our paper will delve more closely into their lives and encapsulate the economic and social situations of Dalit women in India. The analyses of human poverty and caste and gender discrimination are based on official data sets as well as a number of primary studies in the labor market and on reproductive health.
Ibegin by providing some background to conceptions of responsibility. I note the extent of disagreement in this area, the diverse and cross-cutting distinctions that are deployed, and the relative neglect of some important problems. These facts make it difficult to attribute responsibility for climate change, but so do some features of climate change itself which I go on to illuminate. Attributions of responsibility are often contested sites because such attributions are fundamentally pragmatic, mobilized in the service of a normative outlook. We should be pluralists about responsibility and shape whatever conceptions can help to explain, guide, and motivate our responses to climate change. I sketch one such notion, ‘intervention-responsibility’, and argue that it should be ascribed to international regimes and organizations, states and other jurisdictions, individuals, and firms. Each has different capacities and thus different intervention-responsibilities responsibilities, but these differences are not always mirrored in public discussion. In particular, the moral responsibility of firms has been greatly neglected.
t is becoming less and less controversial that we ought to aggressively combat climate change. One main reason for doing so is concern for future generations, as it is they who will be the most seriously affected by it. Surprisingly, none of the more prominent deontological theories of intergenerational justice can explain why it is wrong for the present generation to do very little to stop worsening the problem. This paper discusses three such theories, namely indirect reciprocity, common ownership of the earth and human rights. It shows that while indirect reciprocity and common ownership are both too undemanding, the human rights approach misunderstands the nature of our intergenerational relationships, thereby capturing either too much or too little about what is problematic about climate change. The paper finally proposes a way to think about intergenerational justice that avoids the pitfalls of the traditional theories and can explain what is wrong with perpetuating climate change.
This article discusses obstacles to overcoming dangerous climate change. It employs an account of dangerous climate change that takes climate change and climate change policy as dangerous if it imposes avoidable costs of poverty prolongation. It then examines plausible accounts of the collective action problems that seem to explain the lack of ambition to mitigate. After criticizing the merits of two proposals to overcome these problems, it discusses the pledge and review process. It argues that pledge and review possesses the virtues of encouraging broad participation and of providing a procedural safeguard for the right of sustainable development. However, given the perceptions of the marginal short term costs of mitigation, pledge and review is unlikely, at least initially, to issue in an agreement to make deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Because there is no rival approach that seems likely to better instantiate the two virtues, pledge and review may be the best available policy for mitigation. Moreover, recent economic research suggests that the co-benefits of mitigation may be greater than previously assumed and that the costs of renewable energy may be less than previously calculated. This would radically undermine claims that the short term mitigation costs necessarily render mitigation irrational and produce collective action problems. Given the circumstances, pledge and review might be our best hope to avoid dangerous climate change.
In cases in which there is the possibility of massive human losses, the threshold likelihood of their occurrence, and the non-excessive costs of their prevention, we ought to act now. This is all the more definitely the case because it may well be that this is the time-of-last-opportunity to head off one or more potential disasters, all of which may still be preventable by sufficiently rapid reductions in carbon emissions from the combustion of fossil fuel. It is unfair that the present generation should incur as heavy a burden as it does of seizing the last opportunity for prevention of disasters like large sea-level rises, but the unfairness is not sufficient to make the burden unreasonable to bear, especially since it is not in fact as heavy as often believed.
However far we are from either in practice, basic global and intergenerational justice, including climate change mitigation, are taken to be theoretically compatible. If population grows as predicted, this could cease to be the case. This paper asks whether that tragic legacy can now be averted without hard or even tragic choices on population policy. Current generations must navigate between: a high-stakes gamble on undeveloped technology; violating human rights; demanding unbearable sacrifices of the already badly off; institutional unfairness across adults; institutional unfairness across children; failing to protect children’s basic interests; and threatening the autonomy of the family. We are not yet forced to choose between bequeathing a tragic choice and making one, by adopting basically unjust measures. However, even the remaining options present a morally hard choice. The fact we face it is yet another damning indictment on the combined actions and collective failures of the global elite.
Climate justice
(2015)
This report was written by the organizers of the workshop "Accounting for Combat-Related Killings," which took place at the Goethe University Frankfurt in July 2014. Scholars from Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States,, Canada, and Germany came together to present and discuss case studies on the discourse practices involved in accounting for combat-related killings in different national and transnational contexts. Intending to reflect on the methodological skills needed to analyze newly available process data, the workshop brought together scholars using different methodological approaches (here mainly ethnomethodology and critical discourse analysis). In regard to the global trend towards increasing numbers of so called permanent, asymmetric, small, and permanent wars, the report turns to concepts, methods, and empirical findings that foster understandings of the difficulties war generates at social, cultural and political levels as well as the manner in which these predicaments are negotiated, denied, or deflected. The report summarizes the workshop by presenting the papers in a specific order, beginning with accounting in combat, followed by tribunals of accounting, and finally the sedimentation of accounting in cultural representations.
This thesis develops a conceptual framework for a better understanding of the impact of slow-onset climate and environmental changes on human migration in developing countries. Its regional focus is on the West African Sahel, where the majority of the population depends on agriculture and thus is highly vulnerable to environmental changes. Migration from fragile environments is predominantly considered one of several household strategies to adapt to and minimise the risk of environmental stress. Based on qualitative and quantitative data from two selected rural study areas, Bandiagara in Mali and Linguère in Senegal, this thesis analyses the drivers of migration from the two areas.
The findings illustrate that, even though people highly depend on the natural environment, migration motives are manifold and that migration often is not a household strategy to cope with environmental changes. Although environmental conditions shape migration in the region and the migrants’ support is crucial for most households, environmental stress plays a relatively small role as a driver of migration - at least in Mali, where it is considerably less important than in Senegal. On the contrary, migration is often driven by better opportunities elsewhere rather than by livelihood stressors in the home area. Particularly the migration of young people is often an individual rather than a household decision and influenced by individual aspirations, such as aspirations for consumer goods or a better future, rather than by environmental stress.
This thesis claims that research should consider people’s capabilities to migrate or to stay as well as their individual aspirations and preferences - in addition to the household’s needs and the opportunities elsewhere. This is important in order to explain why some people stay in and others migrate from an area affected by environmental stress, though living under similar conditions. Depending on people’s capabilities to choose freely between staying and migrating and their preferences and aspirations for one or the other activity, people can either be “voluntary migrants”, “voluntary non-migrants”, “forced migrants” or “trapped people”.
Moreover, it is important to consider social trends and transformation processes in the analysis of the linkages between environment change and migration. Higher education levels and aspirations to a “modern” lifestyle among young people, for instance, might decrease the impact of environmental factors on migration, despite worsening environmental conditions.
Der letzte Tag des Liveblogs vom Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft unter dem Oberthema „Vorsicht Sicherheit! Legitimationsprobleme der Ordnung von Freiheit“ bricht an. Das Programm wird heute kürzer sein. Auch am Vormittag gibt es Panels, am Nachmittag sowohl Panels als auch Arbeitskreise...
CfP: IB-Nachwuchstagung 2016
(2015)
Im April nächsten Jahres findet in Tutzing die IB-Nachwuchstagung unter dem Thema „Sicherheit, Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft: Theorien und Problemfelder internationaler Politik“ statt. Bis zum 1. Oktober können hierfür noch Abstracts eingereicht werden, über die in einem anonymen Begutachtungsverfahren entschieden wird...
Using religious frameworks in political contestation and mobilisation processes has become more eminent in recent decades spiralling an intricate debate on the conceptualisation and implementation of such references in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region The contradiction, it is argued, mainly lies in the compromising nature of politics and the relatively dogmatic nature of religion. Accentuated by inaccurate media coverage and primordial analytical frameworks, it has become tempting to see religion as responsible for conflicts and underachievement in the MENA region...
Es war nur eine Fußnote in der deutschen Medienlandschaft: Die USA, genau genommen deren Wirtschafts- und Handelsministerium, verlängern den Vertrag mit ICANN über die Ausübung der IANA-Funktionen. Es hätte mehr Aufmerksamkeit verdient, denn hinter dieser kleinen Meldung verbirgt sich ein Kampf um die zukünftige Kontrolle des Internets...
Vor knapp zwei Wochen riss das Bangkok-Attentat am Erawan-Schrein 22 Menschen in den Tod und versetzte Thailands Hauptstadt in einen Schockzustand. Nach offiziellen Medien-Informationen vermuten Analysten ein Netzwerk hinter dem Anschlag. Diese Spekulationen konzentrieren sich besonders auf Regierungsgegner der sogenannten „Gelbhemden“ und „Rothemden“ oder muslimische Minderheiten...
When the Iranian revolution embarked against Muhammad Reza Shah’s regime in the late 70s, it wasn’t a social revolution aiming at changing the society, but rather a political one with legitimate demands similar to what Syrians once were looking forward to achieve in 2011. When all this started in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the most central and inspirational figure in the Iranian revolution was still in exile. This is a story that happened 35 years ago and we cannot but see the rhyming of its events with the current Syrian imbroglio...
Durch das entschlossene und überaus mutige Eingreifen mehrerer Passagiere konnte am 21. August 2015 an Bord des Thalys-Schnellzuges von Amsterdam nach Paris ein mutmaßlich jihadistisch motivierter Attentäter daran gehindert werden, zahlreiche Menschen zu ermorden. Wäre der Täter nicht gehindert worden, hätte er, bewaffnet mit einem Sturmgewehr, einer Pistole und einem Messer, dutzende Opfer finden können...
Auch wenn seit George W. Bushs „War on Terror“ die Bekämpfung von Terrorismus nicht mehr ohne fragwürdigen Beigeschmack mit dem Begriff des „Krieges“ bezeichnet werden kann, erlebt eine derartige Rhetorik zusammen mit dem Aufstieg des Islamischen Staates ein neues Revival. Während zunächst Papst Franziskus von einem „Dritten Weltkrieg“ sprach, assistierten nach den jüngsten Anschlägen in Frankreich und Sousse auch deutsche Medien bei der Konstruktion solch umfassender Bedrohungsszenarien. Selbst der Präsident des Bundesamtes für Verfassungsschutz, Hans-Georg Maaßen, sieht mittlerweile einen „terroristischen Weltkrieg“ ausgebrochen. Lässt man einmal die zahlreichen Gründe beiseite, warum eine derartige Bezeichnung im besten Fall falsch und im schlimmsten Fall kontraproduktiv ist 1, so kann man derlei Aussagen als Ausdruck einer Gefahrenwahrnehmung interpretieren, aus der nicht zuletzt eine gefühlte Hilflosigkeit angesichts der terroristischen Bedrohung von immer mehr Lebensbereichen spricht. Auf Flugreisen, auf dem Weg zur Arbeit, bei der Arbeit, bei Sportveranstaltungen: die Orte gefühlter Sicherheit werden zunehmend weniger. Und nun ist selbst ein Strandurlaub nicht mehr frei vom Risiko, einen gewaltsamen Tod zu sterben...
In der Nacht vom letzten Sonntag wurde, größtenteils unbemerkt von der deutschen Presseöffentlichkeit, der italienische Softwareanbieter Hacking Team gehackt und über 400gb seiner internen Daten im Netz verteilt. Die Daten umfassen alles: E-Mails der Firmenleitung, der Programmierer und des Verkaufspersonals, interne Dokumente und Verträge und den kompletten Programmcode. Die Reaktion der Netzgemeinde war die umfassender Schadenfreude: Hacking Team stellt Spionage- und Überwachungssoftware her und verkauft diese weltweit an Regierungen – gerne auch solchen der autoritären Art. Diese Software wurde, wie die Leaks nun zeigen, tatsächlich zur Bekämpfung von Oppositionspolitikern und Menschenrechtsaktivisten eingesetzt, etwa in Äthiopien oder Sudan. Nicht umsonst führen Reporter ohne Grenzen Hacking Team in ihrer Liste der Feinde des Internets. Der Leak zeigt, dass die von diversen NGOs und Forschern, allen voran das Citizen Lab, geäußerten Vorwürfe stimmen: Hacking Team unterstützt autoritäre Regimes in Ihrem Kampf gegen Oppositionelle und ignoriert dabei auch Sanktionen, in dem es etwa an den Sudan oder Russland verkauft...
In den letzten drei Jahrzehnten haben sich die politischen, ökonomischen, sozialen und kulturellen Strukturen unserer Welt auf verschiedenen Ebenen radikal verändert. Das Interesse am Islam ist nicht nur in wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten und Zeitschriften gestiegen, sondern auch in allen anderen westlichen Medien. Dieses Interesse wurde unter Anderem durch die Islamisch-Iranische Revolution von 1979, die Fatwa gegen den Buchautor von „Die satanischen Verse“ Salman Rushdie 1989, die Golfkriege Anfang der 90er Jahre, den Balkankonflikt als auch die Einwanderung von Migranten mit islamischem Hintergrund in Europa gefördert...
Angesichts des ungebremsten Zulaufs von IS-Rekruten aus Deutschland und Europa einerseits und den deutlichen Anzeichen für eine wachsende Islamophobie hierzulande andererseits, ist unser Wissen über das Phänomen des Islamischen Staats zu plakativ und zu wenig fundiert. Dieses Buch beleuchtet, aufbauend auf einem im Frühjahr 2015 veröffentlichten Blogforum des Sicherheitspolitik-Blogs, in gut verdaulichen Beiträgen blinde Flecken im öffentlichen, politischen und wissenschaftlichen Diskurs, vertieft bereits bekannte Aspekte und bricht vermeintliche Gewissheiten auf. Ziel ist, den Diskurs über den Islamischen Staat konstruktiv zu prägen. Dieser Aufgabe haben sich Expertinnen und Experten unterschiedlicher Disziplinen der Wissenschaft, öffentlichen und privaten Sicherheitsinstitutionen, Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und De-Radikalisierungspraxis verschrieben.
In Zukunft werden wir ausgesuchte Beiträge der Blog-Fokusse hier auf dem Sicherheitspolitik-Blog als Buch veröffentlichen. Das soll nicht nur die Zitierbarkeit im Wissenschaftsdiskurs und die Veröffentlichung qualitativ hochwertiger Beiträge abseits langwieriger peer-review-Prozesse erleichtern. Ziel unserer neuen Buchreihe ist es zudem, sozialwissenschaftliches Wissen weitgehend barrierefrei und schnell einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung zu stellen. Nicht jeder hat schließlich Zugang zu wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften oder Büchern. Die Bücher stehen kostenlos zum Download zur Verfügung. Wer allerdings das gute alte Papier bevorzugt, kann die Bücher auch käuflich erwerben...
Vielen hängt das Thema „Grexit“ schon zum Hals heraus. Seit dem ersten Hilfspaket 2010 kehrt es wellenartig in der Berichterstattung wieder, seit Wochen ist es das Top-Thema in den deutschen Medien. Ein Abstumpfen gegenüber dem politischen Gerangel sollte aber nicht dazu führen, dass unser kritischer Blick dafür schwindet, wie „Deutschland“ auf die Krise reagiert – sowohl außen- und finanzpolitisch als auch medial...
Der Innensenator der Freien Hansestadt Bremen, Ulrich Mäurer, hat die Forderung nach einer Nationalen Präventionsstrategie gegen gewaltbereiten Extremismus erhoben. Ziel dieser Initiative ist es, durch eine effektive Verknüpfung aller beteiligten staatlichen Akteure in diesem Feld eine größtmögliche Wirkung von Präventions- und Deradikalisierungsmaßnahmen zu erreichen. Sein Vorstoß wird einer der zentralen, sicherlich aber auch der kontroversen Beratungspunkte der nächsten Sitzung der Ständigen Konferenz der Innenminister und -senatoren der Länder (Innenministerkonferenz – IMK) Ende Juni sein...
CfP: Macht (in) der Wissenschaft: Kritische Interventionen in Wissensproduktion und Gesellschaft
(2015)
Am Exzellenzcluster “Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen” der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main findet am 13./14. November ein interessanter Workshop für Nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen und Nachwuchswissenschaftler statt. Es geht vor allem um die kritische Reflexion der Beziehung von Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft – das ist, so finden wir, auch für kritische denkende Forschende im Bereich Sicherheitspolitik interessant...
Religion in the Middle East seems to define allies and enemies inside and outside the political borders. On the one hand, Shiite Iran is allies with the Iraqi government, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, revolutionary forces in Bahrain and the Syrian regime. On the other hand, Sunni Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, Egypt, Turkey and Sunni elements in the region form an alliance against what they call the expansion of the Iranian influence. There is an unmistaken pattern of alliance in the Middle East, in which states, monarchies and forces seem to define their allies and enemies based on sectarian dimensions, and by which we witness a minority oppressing a majority when it is possible and vice versa across the Middle East including Israel...
Die deutsche Bevölkerung lernt in regelmäßigen Abständen, aber wohl dosiert, die von der Bundeswehr verwendeten Waffensysteme kennen. Für gewöhnlich nämlich dann, wenn es Aufregung um ein bestimmtes System gibt. In den 1960ern waren dies der Starfighter, der über 160 Piloten das Leben kostete, und U-Boote, deren Stahl kein Salzwasser vertrug. In den 1980ern/1990ern entpuppte sich der Jäger 90, der heute Eurofighter heißt, als Paradebeispiel der Stückkostensteigerung. In jüngerer Vergangenheit lernten wir u.a. kennen: das IT-Projekt Herkules, das sämtliche Vorurteile bestätigt, die man über IT-Projekte zu haben pflegt; den Kampfpanzer Leopard, der in autoritäre Staaten exportiert werden soll(te); den militärischen Großraumtransporter A400M, der bei einem Testflug im Mai 2015 abstürzte und dessen Entwicklung ohnehin schon von vielen Pannen gekennzeichnet war; die Aufklärungsdrohne Euro Hawk, deren Entwicklung massive Mehrkosten drohten – ohne dass Aussicht auf Zulassung für den deutschen Flugraum bestand; und natürlich ganz aktuell das im heißgeschossenen Zustand unpräzise Sturmgewehr G-36. Ob es bei letzterem ebenso wie beim Euro Hawk zu einem Untersuchungsausschuss kommen wird, hängt allein von der Linken ab...
Stellen wir uns vor, SozialwissenschaftlerInnen würden öfter ihre Komfortzone verlassen und sich in Feldexperimente begeben, anstatt vor Rechnern zu hocken und über ferne Wirklichkeiten zu rätseln und zu urteilen. Der G7-Gipfel im oberbayerischen Elmau bot Leuten, die sich mit (innerer) Sicherheit, Macht und Protest auseinandersetzen dazu eine hervorragende Möglichkeit. Die hier interviewte Politikwissenschaftlerin nahm an den Protesten teil. Da sie aufgrund eines eventuell drohenden Strafverfahrens um ihre eigene Sicherheit fürchtet – die ihres Rufs und ihrer zukünftigen Arbeitsverträge – möchte sie anonym bleiben...
Die anhaltende Beliebtheit elektronischer Datenverarbeitung hat dazu geführt, dass Daten uns in unseren Alltag immer wieder unterschiedlich begegnen. Dadurch hat sich ein breites Begriffsfeld entwickelt: Inhaltsdaten, Metadaten, personenbezogene und anonyme Daten, Big Data, Datenklau, Datenschutz und Datenkraken, um nur einige zu nennen. Doch um Daten wird nicht nur wirtschaftlich gekämpft, sondern auch politisch...
Practicing politics within religious frameworks is more likely to increase states‘ fragility. While employing religious references in political discourses could foster positive outcomes such as avoiding dangerous eruptions of violence under authoritarian regimes, it could also increase the space for political and religious elites to instrumentalise religion for their own interests. Such patterns of instrumentalisation are more common in the Middle East; especially the dominant religion in the region is Islam, which enjoys a decentralised mode of function...
The prefix cyber, prepended onto terms like war, peace, security, and so on, results in interesting word combinations which we construct with our spoken language. Many scholars, from political to social science, have discussed the terms and the semantics of it in order to understand the problem and to create some scientific value out of it. But this article will not be another endless discussion on whether cyberfoo exists somewhere in any computer network at the moment or not...
The role of social groups in making historical events succeed takes shape according to two important factors: Their ability to change and the kind of their contribution to the development of that change in a way or another. The role of social groups especially emerges at times of revolutions and their subsequent changes on the political, socioeconomic and even intellectual levels. The most active and capable group to achieve change is the group of youth and students. In the revolutionary movements in Latin America, for instance, students prominently contributed to the fall down of long-lasting totalitarian dictatorships such in Chile, Brazil and Argentina. In the Arab uprisings in 2010-2011, students‘ roles varied from one country to another based on three axes of context, networks and contentious practices. This article expands on the role of Egyptian student movement in thriving for change despite the intensified restrictions by the state and how it continued its protest under repressive circumstances as a political actor...
So die Frage im Interview von John Oliver mit Edward Snowden. Vorher war es um die Enthüllungen Snowdens gegangen, die angeblich so große Wellen gemacht und das Thema Überwachung und Privatsphäre in den Köpfen der Menschen verankert hatten. In einer nicht unbedingt repräsentativen Umfrage für Olivers Sendung „Last Week Tonight“ auf den Straßen New Yorks wurde diese Idee gänzlich demontiert: Kaum jemand erinnerte sich an Snowden – und wenn, dann nicht im richtigen Kontext. Privatsphäre und Überwachung waren und sind schlicht zu sperrige Themen...
Political rationality as a theory is important in its own right. Government leaders must calculate political costs such as the resources needed to generate support for a policy, the implications of a policy decision for re-election, and the possibility of provoking hostility for decisions not well received. Bounded rationality approach has yielded an enhanced understanding of how government organizations may produce unexpected or even unpredicted policy or program results. With public organizations not operating under full rationality conditions, administrators aspiring toward rationality may nonetheless find their goals undermined by a variety of forces, such as informational uncertainties and non-rational elements of organisational decision-making...
Am 20. April beginnt der lang erwartete Prozess gegen die Führungsriege und Mitglieder der sog. Sturmtruppen der griechischen Goldenen Morgenröte (Χρυσή Αυγή – XA). Insgesamt 69 Angeklagte müssen sich für die Bildung bzw. die Mitgliedschaft in einer kriminellen Organisation verantworten. Es stehen Anklagepunkte wie Mord, Körperverletzung, Bestechung und Schutzgelderpressung im Raum. Trotz der deutlichen Ausgangslage liegen die konkreten Organisationsstrukturen weithin im Dunkeln, wodurch eine Rädelsführerschaft schwer nachzuweisen ist. Andererseits wird der Prozess auch Verbindungen in den ‚politischen Mainstream‘ deutlicher machen als es manchem Akteur lieb sein wird, was wiederum neue Herausforderungen für die Unabhängigkeit des Verfahrens mit sich bringt...
Gegenüber dem Land mit der größten Volkswirtschaft in Afrika – Nigeria – bekommt Togo nur wenig internationale Aufmerksamkeit. Die Präsidentschaftswahlen am kommenden Samstag können jedoch auch überregionale Konsequenzen haben. Entweder wird der von Nigeria bestärkte Weg demokratischen Wandels fortgesetzt oder aber es kommt zu gewalttätigen Auseinandersetzungen mit möglicherweise überregionalen Konsequenzen...
Teil XXI unserer Serie zum „Islamischen Staat“. Islamistische Terrorgruppen setzen in mehrfacher Hinsicht auf das Internet. Für islamistische Gruppierungen wie Al Qaida oder den islamischen Staat stellen eigene Foren und Webseiten, Instant Messenger wie Kik oder WhatsApp sowie soziale Medien wie Twitter, Facebook oder Ask.fm eine wichtige Plattform für Propaganda, Rekrutierung sowie Organisation und Logistik dar. Auf diese Infrastruktur zu verzichten würde den Verzicht auf ein extrem mächtiges Werkzeug bedeuten. Auf der anderen Seite ermöglicht die Nutzung dieser Dienste auch die leichtere Überwachung durch Geheimdienste. Auf diesen Zwiespalt haben islamistische Gruppierungen mit unterschiedlichen Strategien reagiert. Wie lösen der Islamische Staat und al-Qaida diese Spannung auf? Und was bedeutet dies für westliche Staaten? In diesem Post soll darauf eingegangen werden.