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802. Map of Africa’s Active Militant Islamist Groups
- Author:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Publication Date:
- 11-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- A review of militant Islamist group activity in Africa over the past year reveals considerable variation and a geographic concentration.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Violent Extremism, ISIS, and Militant Islam
- Political Geography:
- Africa, North Africa, West Africa, and East Africa
803. APPROCHING FEMINISM FROM THE MARGINS: THE CASE OF ISLAMIC FEMINISMS
- Author:
- Laura Navarro
- Publication Date:
- 02-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
- Abstract:
- This article tries to contribute to one of the most relevant debates within the framework of current Gender Studies and feminist activism: the debate dealing with feminism and religions. The aim is to provide these reflexions with some theoretical elements that help us to better understand some of the complex issues of this field, such as the meaning of considering secular feminism as the only acceptable feminist model, and the possibilities of building one feminist movement that takes into account all the diversity of women's needs, wishes and oppressions. The author goes in depth these questions through the analysis of the "Islamic feminism", which takes an element as the religion (historically discarded by the European hegemonic feminism) as its starting point. Firstly, the article puts it in context by analysing "new feminist currents from the margins" that, in the eighties, started to question the ethnocentric and classist visions of an hegemonic feminism that concentrated their struggles on the concerns and interests of western, white, secular and middle class women, leaving aside the specific claims of other women's profiles. Afterwards, the article goes deep into the characteristics shared by the different Islamic feminist movements, its areas of work as well as its main purposes. Finally, it highlights some of the most important Muslim feminist thinkers and activists emerged in recent decades in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Religion, Discrimination, and Feminism
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America
804. GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE AS WE ENTER THE ANTHROPOCENE
- Author:
- David Hunter
- Publication Date:
- 02-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Alternative Politics
- Institution:
- Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
- Abstract:
- This paper presents an overview of the current state of global environmental governance with an eye toward highlighting the challenges that are presented by the scale and speed of environmental change that we are now witnessing. The scale of anthropogenic environmental change has led to what many now dub the Anthropocene - reflecting that humanity is changing our natural planetary systems in ways that have fundamental implications on a geologic scale. It also harkens in an era when humanity will be called on to consciously manage on a planetary level massive environmental change and the economic and social impacts that arise from this change.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and North America
805. Violent Becomings: State Formation, Sociality, and Power in Mozambique
- Author:
- Bjorn Enge Bertelsen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Berghahn Books
- Abstract:
- Violent Becomings conceptualizes the Mozambican state not as the bureaucratically ordered polity of the nation-state, but as a continuously emergent and violently challenged mode of ordering. In doing so, this book addresses the question of why colonial and postcolonial state formation has involved violent articulations with so-called ‘traditional’ forms of sociality. The scope and dynamic nature of such violent becomings is explored through an array of contexts that include colonial regimes of forced labor and pacification, liberation war struggles and civil war, the social engineering of the post-independence state, and the popular appropriation of sovereign violence in riots and lynchings.
- Topic:
- Civil War, State Formation, Colonialism, and State Building
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Mozambique, Southern Africa, and Maputo
806. The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspectives
- Author:
- Jacqueline Knörr and Christopher Kohl
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Berghahn Books
- Abstract:
- For centuries, Africa’s Upper Guinea Coast region has been the site of regional and global interactions, with societies from different parts of the African continent and beyond engaging in economic trade, cultural exchange, and various forms of conflict. This book provides a wide-ranging look at how such encounters have continued into the present day, identifying the disruptions and continuities in religion, language, economics, and various other social phenomena that have resulted. These accounts show a region that, while still grappling with the legacies of colonialism and the slave trade, is both shaped by and an important actor within ever-denser global networks, exhibiting consistent transformation and creative adaptation.
- Topic:
- Globalization, Regional Cooperation, Colonialism, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Liberia, West Africa, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea, and Gambia
807. Ethiopia: The 100% Election
- Author:
- Leonardo R. Arriola and Terrance Lyons
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Democracy
- Institution:
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Abstract:
- Ethiopia’s 2015 elections confirm that the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)—having won 100 percent of parliamentary seats—has chosen to entrench an authoritarian system. We argue that this total election victory was meant as a signal to party cadres that defection is not tolerated. Our analysis of intra-regime dynamics shows how the EPRDF has responded to the death of Meles Zenawi through greater reliance on trusted party stalwarts for high-level posts. We conclude that growing demands from lower-level party cadres threaten to transform the ruling party from a disciplined national organization into a patronage-based alliance of ethnic factions.
- Topic:
- Authoritarianism, Elections, Democracy, and Rigged Elections
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ethiopia
808. 25 Years After the USSR: What’s Gone Wrong?
- Author:
- Henry E. Hale
- Publication Date:
- 07-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Democracy
- Institution:
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Abstract:
- A quarter century after the USSR’s breakup, the region it occupied has become more rather than less authoritarian on average. The rise has been neither steep nor steady, however, and the dominant regional pattern has been regime cycling, with movement both toward and away from authoritarianism at different points in time. Key causes are the tenacious pre-Soviet legacy of patronalism, the prevalence of presidentialist constitutions, and strong leadership popularity without the strong Western linkage and leverage that has often mitigated similar authoritarian tendencies in places like Africa and Latin America.
- Topic:
- Power Politics, Authoritarianism, and Democracy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, and Latin America
809. The role of ex-rebel parties in building peace
- Author:
- Clare Castillejo
- Publication Date:
- 03-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- Political parties can play an important part in shaping the direction of post-conflict peacebuilding, and parties that emerge from rebel movements have a particularly central role to play in this regard. While such groups are often uniquely placed to articulate the grievances that underlie the conflict and channel these into political processes, they are also able to remobilise for violence and undermine progress on peace. This report discusses existing knowledge about the ways in which rebel groups transform into political parties and the factors that shape their contribution to peacebuilding. It then examines three cases of political parties that have emerged from rebel groups – the FMLN of El Salvador, UCPN (Maoist) of Nepal and SPLM of South Sudan. In each case it explores how the internal dynamics of the group and its relationship to society, the nature of the peace settlement, and the broader local and international context determine the group’s engagement with democracy and peace processes. Finally, the report examines how international actors can support rebel-to-party transition and the integration of these parties into peace processes and political systems in ways that promote a sustainable and inclusive peace.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Peacekeeping, Political Parties, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Asia, Nepal, Latin America, El Salvador, and South Sudan
810. The Rise and Consolidation of Islamic State: External Intervention and Sectarian Conflict
- Author:
- Abdul Basir Yosufi
- Publication Date:
- 09-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Connections
- Institution:
- Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
- Abstract:
- This research paper examines the extent to which both the United States (US) intervention in 2003 and sectarian conflict in Iraq and the region contributed to the rise and consolidation of the Islamic State (IS). It is argued that the US intervention contributed to the rise of IS by creating a strategic cause for mobilization of insurgency while insufficient counterinsurgency resources and doctrine, and the lack of a post-war plan enabled the insurgency to consolidate. Although the US adapted its strategy and deployed additional resources as part of the “surge,” which succeeded in weakening of the insurgents significantly, the premature withdrawal of US troops allowed for a revival of the insurgency which eventually evolved into IS. The sectarian conflict in Iraq and the region further contributed to the rise and consolidation of IS by helping in prolif-eration of the group’s underlying ideology, increasing funding opportunities for the insurgents and driving the Sunni communities to support the Islamic State
- Topic:
- Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, ISIS, Islamic State, and Military Intervention
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Middle East