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381. Knowing Left From Right: Ideological Identification in Brazil, 2002-2006

Author:
Barry Ames and Amy Erica Smith
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Ideology, typically defined on a left-right spectrum, should provide a means of communication between elites and masses. After years of leftist party rule, have Brazilian voters internalized ideological divisions? Longitudinal surveys conducted from 2002 to 2006 reveal high nonresponse and instability in ideological self-identification. We find that the capacity to think ideologically is in part a function of political and social context. This capacity has real political consequences. A Heckman selection model reveals that those who refuse to take an ideological position or who exhibit high instability in self-identification tend to be latent rightists and to choose rightist presidential candidates. Moreover, they interpret the ideological spectrum differently from those who are more consistent in ideological self-placement. We thus make two contributions, showing how contextual factors influence ideological thinking and how low levels of ideological thinking affect the measurement of Brazilian public opinion.
Topic:
Public Opinion
Political Geography:
Brazil

382. The Ideological "Coherence" of the Brazilian Party System, 1990-2009

Author:
David Samuels and Kevin Lucas
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper contributes to the debate about the ideological coherence of the Brazilian party system. Using discriminant function analysis of 20 years of surveys of Brazilian legislators, we find that the party system now exhibits relatively little coherence. Though the Worker's Party (PT) is clearly distinct, no clear ideological differences exist between the placement of the system's three other main parties. Moreover, the spatial distance between the PT and the other parties is diminishing over time. Given the importance of a coherent ideological map to any consolidated party system, we question the notion that the Brazilian party system has gradually consolidated. Indeed, our results suggest the opposite: in recent years the Brazilian party system has become relatively more “inchoate.”
Topic:
Power Politics
Political Geography:
Brazil

383. The Judicialization of (Separation of Powers) Politics: Lessons from Chile

Author:
Druscilla L. Scribner
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Most analyses of the judicialization of politics focus on judicial policy-making and rights creation; however when judicialization of politics unfolds in a separation of powers political context courts are also involved in distributing power. The task of power delineation among branches of government is different from policy-making or rights adjudication. Judicializing political disputes about power gives courts the opportunity to alter the balance of institutional power, to create stronger executives (or legislatures) and a stronger (or weaker) role for themselves. To illustrate these points, this article examines how the Chilean Constitutional Tribunal (TC) adjudicated a specific type of separation of powers conflict between the Legislature and the Executive from 1990-2005. The analysis of the TC doctrine overtime highlights how the TC has shifted the balance of power in the policy-making process and augmented its influence within the political system.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Chile

384. The Verdict Is In: The Impact of Crime on Public Trust in Central American Justice Systems

Author:
Mary Fran T. Malone
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Over the past two decades, the countries of Central America have confronted soaring crime rates. Justice systems of dubious quality provide thin shields against this crime crisis, despite substantial international and domestic investment in justice reform. Indeed, there is growing concern that crime will undermine justice reform efforts. Scholars and practitioners have pointed out that public frustration with crime, coupled with dissatisfaction with justice institutions, can lead citizens to reject reform efforts. Still, the micro-level relationships between crime and public support of the justice system have been understudied. Using public opinion data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), this study aims to add to the literature by examining the effects of victimization and fear of crime on public trust in the justice system. The results indicate that crime can erode public support for the justice system, but the mechanics of this relationship vary according to national context.
Topic:
Crime
Political Geography:
Latin America and Central America

385. Dissatisfaction with Democracy: Evidence from the Latinobarómetro 2005

Author:
Brian J. L. Berry and Osvaldo S. Tello Rodriguez
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Data for 17 Latin American countries collected by Latinobarómetro 2005 reveal that dissatisfaction with democracy is a sign of progress. Political stability and increased governmental effectiveness enable the better-educated leftish young to express their feelings without fear of repression and violence, which is particularly notable in countries least connected into the global economy, where inequality remains high. Dissatisfaction is thus an indicator of political modernization running ahead of progress in the economic sphere.
Topic:
Democratization
Political Geography:
Latin America

386. Property-driven Urban Change in Post-Socialist Shanghai: Reading the Television Series Woju

Author:
Samuel Y. Liang
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In late 2009, the television series Woju (蜗居) received extremely high audience ratings in major Chinese cities. Its visual narratives engage the public and comment on social developments by presenting detailed pictures of urban change in Shanghai and the everyday lives of a range of urban characters who are involved in and affected by the urban- restructuring process and represent three distinct social groups: “white- collar” immigrants, low-income local residents, and powerful officials. By analysing the visual narratives of these characters, this article highlights the loss of the city's historical identity and shows how the reorganization of urban space translates into a reallocation of resources, power and prestige among the social groups. The article also shows that Woju represents a new development in literary and television production in the age of the Internet and globalization; its imaginative construct of the city was based on transnational and virtual rather than local and neighbourhood experience. This also testifies to the loss of the city's established identity in cultural production.
Topic:
Corruption
Political Geography:
China

387. Shanghai Alleys, Theatrical Practice, and Cinematic Spectatorship: From Street Angel (1937) to Fifth Generation Film

Author:
Alexander Des Forges
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article argues that a certain type of Shanghai film of the Republican period, exemplified by 1937's Street Angel (馬路天使, Malu tianshi), makes use of a specific mode of spatial organization, modelled on the theatre, to represent the urban environment. In the case of Street Angel, and later on in 1964's Stage Sisters (舞台姐妹, Wutai jiemei), the interaction between performers and audiences characteristic of the Shanghai theatre experience serves as a crucial ground on which to base calls to political action. For a variety of related reasons, both the city of Shanghai and this mode of spatial organization so closely associated with it vanish from the big screen in the 1980s and 1990s, and begin to make a return only at the turn of the new century.
Topic:
Climate Change
Political Geography:
China and Shanghai

388. Sex, City, and the Maid: Between Socialist Fantasies and Neoliberal Parables

Author:
Sun Wanning
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Of the many rural migrant workers who go to Chinese cities as cheap labourers, the one who interacts most intimately with urban residents is the domestic servant. In fact, precisely because of this “intimate stranger” status, the figure of the “maid” has captured the imagination of the urban population. This fascination is evidenced by the plethora of television narratives centring on the fraught relationships between the rural migrant woman and her male employer. This paper analyses a range of television narratives from the genres of dramas and documentaries. It shows that in these narratives, sex functions as the metaphor of social inequality between two social groups. It shows that if we explore how love, romance and marriage are constructed, we may gain some insight into processes of social and ideological contestation in the domain of cultural production.
Political Geography:
China

389. China's "Christianity Fever" Revisited: Towards a Community-Oriented Reading of Christian Conversions in China

Author:
Katrin Fiedler
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Chinese Protestant Christianity has been continually growing over the past three decades, with an estimated one million converts per year. A number of studies have sought to explain this phenomenon. This paper critically reviews existing studies of China's “Christianity Fever” and then outlines the role of the community as one crucial factor in the conversion process. With its emphasis on communality, as a central element of both Christian theology and the fellowship activities that are part of Christian practice, Protestant Christianity fills a gap opened up by the change in traditional familial and social structures. By discussing specific aspects relating to the communal nature of Christianity, such as familism, elitism, and dynamics at work in face-to-face evangelism, this paper offers an alternative reading of existing studies.
Political Geography:
China

390. Byways and Highways of Direct Investment: China and the Offshore World

Author:
William Vlcek
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines a lacuna in the literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to China: the absence of analysis for the prominent location of small Caribbean and Pacific islands as leading sources of FDI. An indeterminate amount of domestic capital is embedded in these FDI flows, which distorts comparative studies on FDI in developing economies between China and other states. Direct investment from China has also increased in recent years and offshore financial centres (OFCs) often serve as the initial destinations. This paper excavates the rationales behind the presence of OFCs and suggests that Chinese actors will emulate the practices of developed state multinational corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The implications of these investment practices are outlined along with possible trajectories for their impact on the process of financial liberalisation in China. Consequently, it encourages increased Chinese participation in the development of global financial governance.
Topic:
Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
China