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241. ELISE Final Synthesis Report

Author:
Didier Bigo and R.B.J. Walker
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
In EU Treaties "liberty" is always the principle against which any state interference on the basis of security must be limited, justified and open to judicial scrutiny. The perspective sketched here, along with the more specific research projects that inform it, suggest an urgent need for much more robust resistance to the marginalization of claims about liberty whenever the necessities of security are invoked. In general terms it might be said that where the possibilities of political liberty are currently being constrained by forms of structural and institutional fragmentation, they ought to be nurtured by imaginative forms of cooperation across existing jurisdictions; and where the possibilities of cooperation and unification are being sought in order to control human populations on a wider scale, they ought to be subject to greater scrutiny and control by many different democratically accountable communities and institutions. The policy implications advanced in this paper follow these principles. La liberté constitue toujours le principe à partir duquel toutes les interférences des Etats en termes de sécurité doivent être limitées, justifiées et transparentes dans les traités de l\'Union européenne. La perspective qui s\'esquisse ici, avec les projets de recherches plus spécifiques qui en font partie, suggère que la résistance face à la marginalisation des revendications de liberté doit être plus forte dès lors que l\'on invoque le besoin d\'une sécurité accrue. En d\'autres termes, là où les possibilités de liberté politique sont désormais retenues par des formes de fragmentation structurelle et institutionnelle, elles devraient se nourrir des formes imaginaires de coopération entre les juridictions existantes ; et là où les possibilités de coopération et d\'unification sont pensées pour contrôler les populations dans une plus grande ampleur, elles devraient faire l\'objet d\'un contrôle démocratique plus important, qu\'il soit parlementaire ou qu\'il vienne de communautés et d\'institutions démocratiques responsables et transparentes. Les implications en termes de politiques, que nous mettons en avant dans ce texte, suivent les principes que nous venons d\'exposer.
Topic:
Security and Political Theory

242. Genealogy of the Field of European Judicial Cooperation

Author:
Antoine Megie
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
L'objet de l'article est de tracer les pistes d'étude qui permettent de mieux comprendre les caractéristiques et les conséquences de la mise en place d'une coopération pénale à l'échelle européenne. Prenant en considération la littérature juridique et institutionnelle déjà importante sur ce sujet, il s'agit d'expliquer en quoi une approche historique en termes de processus constitue une première piste essentielle pour appréhender les différentes étapes de la construction d'un pouvoir pénal européen qui, loin d'être linéaire, apparaît plutôt comme intermittente et chaotique. Saisir les différentes phases de cette européanisation implique de travailler sur les moments de ruptures et de changements. La mise en évidence de ces instants critiques conduit, dans un second temps, à placer au cœur de l'analyse les interactions entre les acteurs via l'étude de leurs ressources sociales et de leurs représentations. La compréhension des logiques du champ de la coopération pénale permet, enfin, de donner du sens à la forme normative que revêt aujourd'hui le régime judiciaire européen notamment concernant le déséquilibre structurel qui existe en défaveur des droits procéduraux et des libertés civiles.
Topic:
Political Economy and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Europe

243. Dynamics of Political Polarization

Author:
Peter Bearman and Delia Baldassarri
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Abstract:
This article accounts for two puzzling paradoxes. The first paradox is the simultaneous absence and presence of attitude polarization, the fact that global attitude polarization is relatively rare, even though pundits describe it as common. The second paradox is the simultaneous presence and absence of social polarization, the fact that while individuals experienced attitude homogeneity in their interpersonal networks, their networks are characterized by attitude heterogeneity. These paradoxes give rise to numerous scholarly arguments. By deploying a formal model of interpersonal influence over attitudes in a context where individuals hold simultaneous positions on multiple issues we show why these arguments are not mutually exclusive and how they meaningfully refer to the same social setting. It follows that the results from this model provide a single parsimonious account for both paradoxes. The framework we develop may be generalized to a wider array of problems, including classic problems in collective action.
Topic:
Politics, International Affairs, and Political Theory

244. Le monopole étatique de la violence : le Brésil face à l´héritage occidental

Author:
Sergio Adorno
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
Dans un livre publié en 2004 – La violence – Michel Wieviorka suggère l´hypothèse d'une remise en cause, à l'heure actuelle, dans les sociétés occidentales, de la formule weberienne qui plaide en faveur du monopole légitime de la violence physique en tant que fondement de l´État moderne. Bien que l'on puisse être d´accord avec cette hypothèse générale, on ne peut pas l´accepter aussi complètement, si l'on considère les sociétés « de l´extrême Occident » (selon l'expression d'Alain Rouquier), comme c'est le cas du Brésil. En dépit des mutations survenues de par les liens de société brésilienne avec le mouvement de la mondialisation, le contrôle démocratique de la violence et du crime urbain suggère un double défi à relever : d'un côté, le contrôle d'une violence endémique qui se déploie au sein de la société civile; et d'un autre côté, le contrôle, autant par la société civile organisée que par le gouvernement civil, des forces répressives de l'Etat.
Topic:
Political Theory
Political Geography:
Brazil

245. Penser la violence : en réponse à Sergio Adorno

Author:
Michel Wieviorka
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
La formule célèbre de Max Weber sur le monopole étatique de la violence physique légitime peut être lue en termes historiques, c\'est-à-dire pour caractériser certains Etats à certains moments, ou en termes plus abstraits, comme l\'amorce d\'une théorie générale de l\'Etat. Mais dans les deux cas, elle suscite bien des critiques, les unes renvoyant à des facteurs externes, à commencer par la globalisation, les autres aux transformations internes des Etats, et par exemple à la privatisation des activités policières, et d\'autres encore à la façon dont se télescopent dans les changements récents les frontières entre logiques externes et logiques internes.
Topic:
Political Theory

246. Globalizing Hope: The Resonance of Zapatismo and the Political Imagination(s) of Transnational Activism

Author:
Alex Khasnabish
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
“The new distribution of the world excludes 'minorities'. The indigenous, youth, women, homosexuals, lesbians, people of color, immigrants, workers, peasants; the majority who make up the world basements are presented, for power, as disposable. The new distribution of the world excludes the majorities.
Topic:
Globalization, Politics, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Mexico

247. European Integration in the Light of the International Relations Theories

Author:
Sinem Akgül Açikmese
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article contends that most of the intellectual work on European integration reflect major dichotomies between the theories of International Relations. During the first few decades of the integration process, the core European integration debate involved idealism-oriented neo-functionalists and realism-oriented intergovernmentalist approaches; whereas the current scholarship on European integration mirrors the main division that has emerged within the discipline of International Relations since 1980's between rationalists regarding the integration process as the products conscious member states' behaviour and constructivists focusing on policy-formation based on norms and common values. The main purpose of this article is to analyse the evolution of European integration within the context of the traditional and contemporary debates of International Relations. Since the sui generis nature of the integration process in the shape of the European Union constitutes a barrier to theorizing efforts in general terms, this article argues that each theory can only explain some pieces of the integration puzzle.
Topic:
Government and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Europe

248. "East" and "West" from the Sociology of Knowledge Perspective

Author:
Sennur Özdemir
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study elaborates and (re)conceptualizes the 'east' and the 'west', representing the two distinct historical and 'socio-economic whole from a 'sociology of knowledge' dimension. The most important consequence of the defining characteristics of 'the west' (as being hierarchical, class-based and exclusive), lies in its class-based and partial nature resulting in an identification of knowledge with power. This is also responsible for the 'metaphysical nature' of the 'western' knowledge and science: 'Dualistic-exclusive and polaristic' character of 'western habitus' creating a large gap between 'theory and practice' can also be understood in this context. All these together explain the reasons for not being capable of 'universal and representative' of modern knowledge and science. As a result, this study projects that as 'eastern characteristics' has increasingly become more hegemonical on global level, a transition from cyclically reproducing 'exclusive and contradictory' relational and methodological 'western' 'style' to comprehensive new paradigmatic methodologies and syntheses will be expected.
Topic:
Islam, Religion, and Political Theory

249. A Structural Theory of Imperialism

Author:
Johan Galtung
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Galtung develops a theory of imperialism to account for inequality within and between nations and the resistance of this inequality to change. He distinguishes between Centre and Periphery and argues that those in power in the former have a community of interest with those in power in the latter. The result is a relationship which operates at the expense of the majority of the people in the Peripheral countries, but which is largely in the interest of the majority of the people in Centre countries. Two mechanisms of imperialism are defined. One is the pattern of vertical interaction whereby the dominating nation enriches itself as a result of the interaction process. The second mechanism is the feudal interaction structure whereby the dominated nations in the periphery are kept apart.
Topic:
Imperialism and Political Theory

250. A Structural Theory of Imperialism - Part II

Author:
Johan Galtung
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Galtung develops a theory of imperialism to account for inequality within and between nations and the resistance of this inequality to change. He distinguishes between Centre and Periphery and argues that those in power in the former have a community of interest with those in power in the latter. The result is a relationship which operates at the expense of the majority of the people in the Peripheral countries, but which is largely in the interest of the majority of the people in Centre countries. Two mechanisms of imperialism are defined. One is the pattern of vertical interaction whereby the dominating nation enriches itself as a result of the interaction process. The second mechanism is the feudal interaction structure whereby the dominated nations in the periphery are kept apart.
Topic:
Imperialism and Political Theory