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11. Bioracism, or, Spiritual Evolutionism

Author:
A. Kiarina Kordela
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
On November 10, 2004, eight days after the murder of the film director Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam, Etienne Balibar was invited to Radboud University in Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands, to offer that year's Alexander von Humboldt Lecture in Human Geography. The title of his talk, which was subsequently translated and published in several European languages, was “Europe as Borderland,” indicating that far from “being a solution or a prospect,” “the issue of citizenship and cosmopolitanism” in Europe must be based on the fact that “Europe currently exists as a borderland.” By this, Balibar means that “the question of 'borders'…is central when we reflect about citizenship and, more generally, political association”; and the question of borders itself in turn presupposes “address[ing] the issue of political spaces” as a means of representing specifically “European borders” (194).
Topic:
International Security
Political Geography:
Europe and Netherlands

12. The Dutch Connection: The European Court of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Global Citizenship in the Netherlands

Author:
Erik Larson and Patrick Schmidt
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
For centuries, the Netherlands, seen by many as an island of toleration and liberal values, has drawn those escaping intolerance and repression. It remains as attractive a destination today as it was (at least initially) for the Puritans fleeing England. Recognizing the differences among nations, the abiding questions of political life search for normative prescriptions: What obligations do governments have toward individuals and what limitations to their authority must governments observe? The idiosyncrasies of the Dutch case provide well-trodden ground for the study of civil liberties and rights, most famously the libertarian approaches to drugs and prostitution. However, those arrangements, inflected with a voyeurism for cultural understandings of deviance, tell us relatively little about the most important development in the debate about government over the past century, namely, the problem that any attempt to answer fundamental political questions cannot reside solely within the Netherlands or the boundaries of any nation, but is shared across national boundaries in the search for unifying values and settlements.
Political Geography:
England, Netherlands, Island, and Dutch

13. At the Intersection of Domestic Acts and Globalization: The Case of Irregular Migrants15

Author:
Federico Daniel Burlon
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Sixty-five percent of the Netherlands is below sea level: ten thousand miles of dykes, gates, and dams hold back the sea. As the water besieges the land, some politicians and scholars claim that immigrants are doing the same to the country. On the other side of the Atlantic, immigration to the United States also has been compared to a tide that must be contained. The fears surrounding immigration have been one of the focal points raised by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and by his successor, Ban Ki-moon. As a result of the dramatic increase of migration flows and the large number of irregular migrants worldwide, immigration has moved from low to high politics. Fuelled by a mentality that sees domestic security as threatened, the salience of irregular immigration is grounded in parallels drawn between the control of illegal immigration and the control of crime. According to Adam Crawford, the conflation of illegal immigration with crime has led Western governments to rule through the politics of fear of crime and insecurity. The impact of these policies on irregular immigrants illustrates what John Tomlinson calls the reflexive nature of globalization. An insightful avenue to take in order to explore globalization is the study of human mobility. Globalization has placed immigrants at the nexus of the increase in migration due to lower transportation costs, the development of the international human rights regime, and the enactment of increasingly restrictive immigration policies by developed countries. The interplay between these processes crystallizes in detention centers, and renders immigrants vulnerable to human rights violations. Studying globalization from a comparative perspective, this essay analyzes the impact of the International Human Rights Regime (IHRR) on American and Dutch immigration detention policies. In the last decades, detention has become the established way of dealing with irregular migrants. It lamentably obscures various essential examples of alternative legislation.
Topic:
Globalization, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Netherlands

14. Globalization and the Politicization of Muslim Women: Consequences for Domestic Violence in the Netherlands and the United States19

Author:
Mishal Khan
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Globalization as a theoretical lens guides us toward a greater understanding of some of the most turbulent transformations that are taking place in the world today. Anthony Giddens provides a compelling definition of this phenomenon, framing it as―the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. Nothing demonstrates this more sharply than the impact of global events on those Muslim populations residing in what can be broadly defined as the―Western‖ world. This ironically termed―reverse colonization entails an unprecedented number of people from Muslim countries migrating to the Global North, laying the foundation for a myriad of challenging negotiations and novel circumstances. However, there are a number of concurrent transformations that are taking place within Muslim populations that have become the subject of increased scrutiny. The rise of radical Islam, the enhanced religiosity of Muslim youth, and the increased wearing of headscarves by women are all aspects of a global Islam that has attracted the widespread attention of policymakers, scholars, and ordinary citizens alike.
Topic:
Debt
Political Geography:
United States and Netherlands

15. The Commodification of Human Life: Human Trafficking in the Age of Globalization

Author:
Yanchuan Liu
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
This study seeks to answer three questions. First, to what extent does globalization contribute to the vulnerability of victims of cross-border human trafficking? Next, how have the United States and the Netherlands responded to this phenomenon, and why have the two governments responded in the way they did? Finally, as developed countries tighten their borders out of security concerns when economic inequality continues to attract migrants from developing regions, is there space for the convergence of the interests of destination countries and those of the migrants so that these individuals will have safe, legitimate alternatives to the irregular movement that leads to severe exploitation, such as Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)?
Political Geography:
United States and Netherlands

16. Languages and Loyalties: Shaping Identity in Tunisia and the Netherlands

Author:
Krista Moore
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
The 16th-century Spanish grammarian Antonio de Nebrija once said that―language has always been the companion of empire.‖i Colonial empires of past centuries indeed produced language practices that influence speaking habits today. However, as the world becomes increasingly entrenched in the processes of globalization, global interactions are amplified. When discussing the place of language in globalization, it is therefore valuable to acknowledge colonial legacies while looking at the implications of a more recently significant phenomenon: international migration. Given the power of national governments to shape national identities, the contexts of colonization and immigration raise interesting questions about how government policies influence the connotations of languages. While the policies imposed by colonial regimes and those enacted today in response to immigration are not identical, both offer opportunities to investigate how language policies may affect individual identities.
Political Geography:
Netherlands and Tunisia

17. Resettling Peoples, Redressing Histories: Challenging Answers to the Land Question in Namibia and the Netherlands

Author:
Liora Barba
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Nearly a decade after national liberation in South Africa and Namibia, demonstrators outside of the 2002 United Nations Conference on Development filled the streets of Johannesburg with the resounding melodies of apartheid protest songs. Meanwhile, inside the conference gates, former President Thabo Mbeki called for an “end to global apartheid.”Nearly a decade after national liberation in South Africa and Namibia, demonstrators outside of the 2002 United Nations Conference on Development filled the streets of Johannesburg with the resounding melodies of apartheid protest songs. Meanwhile, inside the conference gates, former President Thabo Mbeki called for an “end to global apartheid.”
Political Geography:
South Africa, Netherlands, and Namibia

18. Identities in Migrant Cinema: The Aesthetics of European Integration

Author:
Jalene Betts
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Although much progress was made in Europe over the last half century with regard to the integration of markets and the near-vaporization of national borders, recent years show that, contrary to the illusion of an “enlightened” continent free from the racism of the past, ethnicity continues to play a role in European culture. As demonstrated by disputes in the Balkan region over Kosovo's independence, debates on the acceptance of new member states into the European Union (in particular Turkey's application for admittance), and growing concerns over immigration in the Netherlands and France, ethnicity seems to prove itself as a thing of the present, not the past. Media coverage of the “problems” of Islam—unemployed “Arab” youths roaming the streets, young girls forced to wear head-coverings by their “sexist” relatives—is a reality, whether or not the claims made by such representations are valid.
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, France, and Netherlands

19. Lingering Borders in the European Union: Migrant Workers in Spain and the Netherlands

Author:
Andra Bosneag
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
With the two European Union (EU) Enlargements of 2004 and 2007, an understanding of the antiquated and modern challenges, fears, and contradictions surrounding the inclusion of accession countries, as well as the respective rights of the “old” member states, has become essential to any contemporary analysis of current EU dynamics. This work incorporates my two semesters abroad in Barcelona, Spain, and Maastricht, the Netherlands, with the intended approach of further clarifying the Program's mission: “intensive interrogation and observation of globalization in comparative perspective.” Before embarking on my study abroad, I was profoundly marked by an incident that solidified my resolution to study Eastern and Central Europe. In an effort to skip the bureaucratic visa process, I attempted to use my Romanian passport instead of my American passport to enter Europe. After inquiring at five different Spanish embassies as to whether my Romanian passport, after EU accession, would eliminate the need for a visa, I left the country still not knowing if my passport was yet functional in the realm of the European Union. Upon entering Spain, a border patrol officer enthusiastically informed me that the EU required no entry papers (besides a passport) for its citizens studying abroad; my Romanian passport had ceased to be just a sentimental souvenir. This incident was one of many that attested to the lack of general knowledge surrounding the new EU members and it contributed to my decision to study the interactions between the old and new member states. Furthermore, both Spain and the Netherlands have generally been viewed as “different.” While Franco's authoritarian regime emphasized the popular slogan, “España es diferente,” it is currently employed as a tactic to garner tourists. In contrast, the political and cultural dynamics of the Netherlands have traditionally been perceived as anomalous in their liberalism, compelling many to label the country as “different.”
Political Geography:
Europe, Spain, Netherlands, and Barcelona

20. From Neo-Enlightenment to Nihonjinron: The Politics of Anti-Multiculturalism in Japan and the Netherlands

Author:
Jack Eisenberg
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
On September 6, 2007, politician Geert Wilders addressed the Dutch Parliament, boldly proclaiming that “multiculturalism” was destroying European civilization: Madam Speaker, the Islamic incursion must be stopped. Islam is the Trojan Horse in Europe. If we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia and Netherabia will just be a matter of time. One century ago, there were approximately 50 Muslims in the Netherlands. Today, there are about one million Muslims in this country. Where will it end?...No Islamic tra-dition must ever be established in the Netherlands: not now and also not in a few centuries' time.
Political Geography:
Japan, Europe, and Netherlands