No description available.

In light of reports of protests and riots in response to rising food prices and food insecurity, this study asks whether the provision of food aid has an effect on the incidence of political unrest in recipient countries. It uses annual data on the quantities of American wheat aid delivered to 143 countries between 1972 and 2006. To overcome the potential for bias due to endogeneity, variations in U.S. agricultural production and recipient countries’ probability of receiving aid are used to predict the annual quantity of food aid provided to each country. Results from the instrumented regressions suggest that the provision of food aid does not have any impact on the incidence of political unrest.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in America, and the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, have forced may people to seriously consider the impact of religion on political conflict. This literature review readdresses the serious neglect of religion in political studies by examining the three theoretical approaches to religion and political conflict, on the domestic and international level, that can be identified. Primordialists argue that differences in religious traditions should be viewed as one of the most important factors in explaining violent interactions in and between nations. They stress how differences in cultural identity and cosmologies can lead to violent conflict in and between nations. They illustrate how the deep malaise of modem secular society is leading to a backlash of alternative worldviews. This approach is culturally too simplistic in not providing a complex enough framework for understanding the dynamic social forces that constitute cultural identity. Instrumentalists admit that conflicts might be aggravated by diverging religious creeds but are rarel y if ever caused by them; instead most conflicts are about power and wealth. They emphasize the role played by political entrepreneurs, who use religion as an instrument to further their own goals. This approach is guilty of the other extreme - downplaying the role of religion and culture. Constructivists regard social conflicts as being embedded in cognitive structures like ideology, religion, nationalism and ethnicity. Constructivists can theorize about cultural identity, social structures, actors and forces together with the material world of power and wealth and are therefore best suited to give an adequate description of religion and political conflict. Despite its great promise constructivism still needs to step up to the board and deliver theories about religion and political conflict. The serious neglect of religion in political studies needs to be addressed and the most likely framework within which to do so seems to be constructivism. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die skokkende terroriste aanvalle op die World Trade Center en die Pentagon in Amerika en die bom in 'n nagklub in Bali, Indonesië, het baie mense gedwing om die impak van godsdiens op politieke konflik ernstig te oorweeg. Die literatuuroorsig herondersoek die ernstige verwaarloosing van godsdiens in politieke wetenskap weer eens, deur te kyk na die drie benaderings wat ten opsigte van godsdiens en politieke konflik, op plaaslike en internasionale vlak geïdentifiseer kan word. Primordialiste glo dat verskille tussen gosdienstradisies gesien moet word as een van die vernaamste faktore vir politieke konflik binne en tussen nasies. Hulle beklemtoon die wyse waarop verskille in kulturele identiteit en kosmologie kan bydra tot gewelddadige konflik binne en tussen nasies. Hulle illustreer verder hoe die diep malaise van die moderne sekulêre samelewing besig is om te lei tot 'n teenreaksie van alternatiewe wêreldbeskouings. Die benadering is egter kultureel gesproke te simplisties deurdat dit nie 'n raamwerk kan skep wat kompleks genoeg is ten einde die dinamies sosiale kragte wat kulturele identiteit vorm, te verstaan nie. Instrumentaliste gee toe dat politieke konflik dalk deur uiteenloopende godsdienstige tradisies vererger kan word, maar dat dit selde indien ooit daardeur veroorsaak word. Inteendeel, die meeste konflik handel steeds oor mag en rykdom. Hulle beklemtoon die rol wat gespeel word deur politieke entrepreneurs, wat geloof as 'n instrument gebruik in die bevordering van hulle eie doelwitte. Die benadering is skuldig aan die ander uiterste - die rol van kultuur en godsdiens word as minder belangrik beskou. Konstruktiviste beskou sosiale konflik as gewortel in kognitiewe strukture soos ideologie, godsdiens, nasionalisme en etnisiteit. Konstruktiviste kan teoretiseer oor kulturele identiteit, sosiale strukture, akteurs en kragte saam met die materiële wêreld wat bestaan uit mag en rykdom, en is daarom die beste geskik om 'n voldoende beskrywing te gee van godsdiens en politieke konflik. Ten spyte van die belowende potensiaal van konstruktivisme moet die perspektief nog begin om teorieë oor godsdiens en politieke konflik te verskaf. Die ernstige verwaarloosing van godsdiens in politieke wetenskap moet ondersoek word en die beste benadering hiervoor blyk konstruktivisme te wees.

This thesis examines recent events in Oaxaca, Mexico that demonstrate the continued relevance of the spatiality of resistance for understanding social movement activism and alternative political projects. Arising out of a violent confrontation between state police and the striking teachers union, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca created spaces of autonomy and resistance that challenged the legitimacy of the state. The fluid movement between a politics of demand, in which social actors force changes in the state apparatus, and a politics of the act, in which movements construct new forms of social relations in their own sites of activism, represents the dual nature of practices that attempt to alter spaces of resistance while at the same time negotiating with broader social structures. The movement in Oaxaca is an example of the possibilities of political projects that recognize the need to move beyond mere resistance to form creative alternatives.

No description available.

Although free improvised music (FIM) originated in Europe and the United States in the 1960s, it has come to possess meanings and roles unique to its individual contexts of production in todays transnational scene. By focusing on the Lebanese free improvised music scene which emerged in Beirut in 2000, my study aims to address the gap in scholarship on Lebanese expressive culture, particularly music, as a tool to negotiate identity. My thesis addresses the way FIM in Lebanon allows four musicians of the war generation (Mazen Kerbaj, Sharif Sehnaoui, Bechir Saade, and Raed Yassin) to express their individual identities as well as their complex relationship with conflict. I propose that, in a society still coming to terms with the atrocities of civil war and constant political instability, the practice of FIM may have a role in reflecting conflict, facilitating inter-cultural dialogue, as well as breaking aesthetic, socio-economic, and sectarian barriers.

In response to competing group claims and the challenge to achieve pre-set triple national goals - recognising and accommodating ethnic diversity, achieving national unity and political stability, successive Nigerian governments from the colonial era to the present, have at various periods negotiated, constitutionalised and/or decreed state building strategies. This thesis offers detailed discussion and evaluation of some of these competing group claims and strategies using principles derived from the theoretical arguments of Michal Walzer, Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, and prescriptions based on the empirical arguments of Crawford Young, Eric Nordlinger, Donald Horowitz and Donald Rothchild. The thesis argues that some of the strategies adopted in response to the competing group claims were defensible in the very circumstances in which they were introduced, but were either not deep enough to offer an adequate political inclusion, or lacked the appropriate instruments that would have minimised recurrence of ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities. There were some strategies that either generated tension among groups, or were purely driven by strategic considerations for national unity, but were defensible. There were other strategies that were pragmatic at the very period they were adopted, but not defensible. The core theoretical finding of the thesis is that, the normative and empirical prescriptions validate the country’s various strategies for coping with diversity. However, application of some elements of the prescriptions in the Nigerian multicultural society has the potential to generate tensions leading to ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities. The important empirical finding of the thesis is regarding the role the inherent tensions between the triple national goals and the state building strategies play in the generation and recurrence of ethno-political conflict and institutional instabilities. The thesis argues that the underlying factors responsible for the prevalence of ethno-political conflict and institutional instabilities in the country include among others, the ascension of the military to power and its costly dominance of the political scene for about thirty five years, the immediate post-civil war period which coincided with the era of petroleum boom that created a deepening crisis of corruption, the perpetuation of large scale electoral and financial corruption, and manipulation of ethnic loyalties. Given the above underlying factors, this work observes that state building and Constitutional politics in Nigeria’s multi-ethnic society is a difficult task, especially taking into account the ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities associated with the Armed Forces over the years. On the basis of a detailed and interdisciplinary analysis, the thesis recommends constitutional and institutional safeguards for mitigating ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities in the course of future political development of Nigeria.

Le caractère systématique de la pensée de Rousseau est maintenant assez bien établi, et l'on a cessé de la démembrer en privilégiant tel ou tel aspect de l'oeuvre, littéraire, politique, ou existentiel, comme on l'a fait si longtemps, trop longtemps. Cela étant, même les lectures les plus englobantes ne nous paraissent pas encore pleinement satisfaisantes. En effet, fondées le plus souvent sur le principe de la bonté humaine et sa corruption sociale, effectivement mis en avant par Rousseau lui-même comme son « grand principe », elles nous paraissent avoir minimisé un aspect pourtant essentiel de sa pensée, à savoir sa position concernant le conflit du politique et du religieux, quand elles n'y ont pas vu une nichée de contradictions : rôle équivoque de la « religion civile », lien entre l'Émile (plus particulièrement la « Profession de Foi du Vicaire Savoyard ») et le Contrat Social, incomplétude de ce dernier traité, qui paraît laisser en plan la question du droit international, et par conséquent du cosmopolitisme, donc d'un dépassement des querelles religieuses, etc. Or, en réinscrivant le propos de Rousseau dans une historiographie du conflit théologico-politique, considéré en et pour luimême, dans son aspect proprement historique, avant d'envisager ce qu'en ont pensé les philosophes, il nous a paru possible de pousser plus avant l'étude du système et de surmonter les contradictions que l'on a cru parfois y voir. Nous pensons en effet que ce conflit n'a pas pris fin avec le XVIIème siècle, et qu'il est toujours bien présent, sans doute sous des formes nouvelles, tout au long du siècle des Lumières, et tout particulièrement chez Rousseau. Selon nous, il n'est pas interdit de penser qu'il y a là un principe susceptible d'élargir, voire de clore, la complétude du système. De surcroît, il nous est apparu que Rousseau n'était pas seulement le théoricien d'un droit politique abstraitement considéré.S'il affirme à plusieurs reprises étudier le droit et non le fait, il n'instaure pas entre eux une séparation radicale de type sein/sollen, en quelque sorte pré-kantienne. Le fait est chez lui toujours pénétré de droit, et la théorie n'est jamais séparée de la pratique. Pour toutes ses raisons, nous croyons avoir trouvé dans son oeuvre de quoi nous aider à mieux percevoir, de la façon la plus concrète qui soit, les enjeux de la réinscription du religieux dans la politique contemporaine, ainsi que dans les obstacles qu'elle oppose ou paraît opposer à la constitution d'un authentique cosmopolitisme. / Rousseau studies generally tend to discuss the life and work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau rather than provide a systematicinterpretation of the corpus of his works, leaving us without a full-fledged system that we may attribute to Rousseau. Some scholars have excluded discussion of certain of his works and reduced the ambition of his system. Some of the available interpretations make Rousseau to be sometimes a literary author, sometimes a political one, and sometimes a dreamer, because they refuse, we charge, to look for a coherent organization between all of these interpretive fields. In order to develop a systematic interpretation, we must reconsider the overall dynamics of the corpus as being directed toward a central question, a problem for which the system proposes a resolution. We take this to be the theological-political problem, and it is from this perspective that we analyze Rousseau’s system. Rousseau’s work is shown to have a natural place within a historiography of the impact of the theological-political disorders in both the philosophical and practical fields during the 18th century. It is in this context that we can see that Rousseau’s whole corpus is organized around the resolution of the theological-political conflict. This interpretative method allows us to see and understand the general organization of Rousseau’s thought, the correspondences between writings hitherto undervalued, and the overall cosmopolite project supported by Rousseau’s system. Once we have grasped the landscape of the systematic whole of Rousseau’s project, we find that it can bring us new insights about our present day world by considering how the solutions it recommends could have an impact on our current political, social, and moral constructions.

El gran objectiu d'aquesta tesi és reconstruir i analitzar la relació entre els arxius i el conflicte polític en el segle XX, tot presentant l'exemple dels arxius catalans durant el període comprès entre els anys 1931 i 1939. En primer lloc, cal destacar que els arxius entesos com els documents generats per un govern, una administració o un particular en base a la seva activitat, prenen uns valors complementaris en situacions de conflicte polític. Els arxius i els documents són com l'ADN que caracteritza i individualitza al seu productor i es converteixen en un element estratègic en un conflicte bèl•lic. La recerca s'inicia en el desenvolupament de la política cultural de la Generalitat de Catalunya, en matèria d'arxius, en el període entre 1931 i 1936. L'any 1931 la Generalitat de Catalunya crea el Consell de Cultura que alhora encarrega una ponència d'Arxius, Biblioteques i Belles Arts. A proposta d'aquesta ponència es publica un projecte d'organització dels arxius documentals de Catalunya que posa les bases d'un sistema d'arxius català. Com a precedents s'analitzen les pioneres actuacions en arxius de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans creat per la Diputació Provincial de Barcelona l'any 1907. A continuació, el salvament dels arxius catalans durant la Guerra Civil espanyola (1936-1939) és el tema principal de l'estudi. La Secció d'Arxius del Servei de Patrimoni Històric, Artístic i Científic de la Generalitat de Catalunya, dirigida per Agustí Duran i Sanpere, du a terme la gestió del salvament. Els objectius de la Secció d'Arxius, la seva organització, els seus recursos humans, els dipòsits documentals en l'evolució del conflicte, ens permeten comprendre la dimensió del salvament del patrimoni documental català. S'acaba la guerra, els arxius retornen a Barcelona. Quins foren els arxius protegits ? Quines varen ser les actuacions de la Secció d'Arxius arreu del país ? I la seva gestió econòmica ? La conferència de Duran en el VIII Congrés de Ciències Històriques a Zuric, l'agost de 1938, presenta pràcticament el balanç de l'obra realitzada. L'altra cara de la moneda és l'acció de les tropes franquistes en l'ocupació de Catalunya, consistent en l'espoli i la confiscació de documents de l'administració, d'entitats i de particulars catalans, que tenia com a objectius la depuració i repressió del bàndol republicà, una vegada finalitzat el conflicte. Els processos judicials a Duran posen de manifest la imparable maquinària depuradora del règim franquista imposat. La depuració com a funcionari de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona i el consell de guerra pel càrrec que desenvolupà com a Cap de de la Secció d'Arxius a la Generalitat de Catalunya foren els esculls que va haver de superar finalitzada la guerra. És també aclaridor comprovar quins són els diversos usos dels documents i dels arxius a través de la premsa durant la guerra. Control de l'Estat i l'administració de la població a través dels documents, la seva manipulació i utilització, la propaganda, la memòria històrica, la confiscació, l'espoli, etc. són accions i conceptes que protagonitzen els documents i que destaquen més que mai en una situació de conflicte bèl•lic. Finalment, s'analitzen les vicissituds dels arxius dels presidents de la Generalitat de la Catalunya de la Segona República Espanyola i a l'exili, així com el seu estat, contingut, accessibilitat i ubicació actuals. Les conclusions que es deriven de la tesi són: - La pionera obra de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans i la política activa de la Generalitat republicana sobre patrimoni documental. - Els arxius identificats amb el poder: la seva destrucció i el seu salvament. - Els arxius com a eina identitària. - Els arxius com a eina de repressió. - Els arxius com a memòria històrica. - Els arxius com a portadors i reveladors de la veritat, la justícia i els drets humans. Les fonts emprades han estat les documentals, orals, hemerogràfiques, bibliogràfiques i legislatives. / The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to reconstruct and analyze the connection between archives and political conflict in the XX century, taking as an example the Catalonian archives between the years 1931 and 1939. First of all, it is noteworthy that archives, in the sense of documents generated by a government, an admininistration or a citizen, take on additional value in political conflict situations. Archives and documents are like the DNA that characterize and individualize their producer and become a key strategic element in an armed conflict. The present investigation starts from the development of the cultural policy with regard to files of the Government of Catalonia between the years 1931 and 1936. The pioneering archive work of the Catalonian Studies Institute, created by the Provincial Council of Barcelona in 1907, will serve as the background to our research. After that, the main subject of the research is the salvaging of the Catalonian archives during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The archives section of the Service of Artistic, Scientific and Historical Heritage of the Government of Catalonia, that was managed by Agustí Duran Sanpere, was in charge of the management of the rescue. The objectives of the archives section, its organization, its human resources, the documentary deposit in the development of the conflict, allow us to understand the scale of the rescue of Catalonian heritage. Duran’s conference at the VII Congress of the Historical Science in Zurich, in August of 1938, showed the results. On the other side of the coin are the actions of Francois troops during their occupation of Catalonia, consisting in the confiscation of documents from the Catalonian administration, Catalonian organizations and citizens with the objective being the purging and repression of the Republican side. A. Duran’s judgement showed the unstoppable repression of the Franco regime. Finally, the analysis focuses on the ups and downs of the files of the presidents of the Catalonian Government in the Spanish Second Republic and in the exile, as well as their condition, content, accesibility and current location. The conclusions derived from the research are: - The pioneering work of the Catalonian Studies Institute and the active policy of the Government of Catalonia about its heritage. - The archives identify with the power, their destruction and rescue. - The archives as identity tool. - The archives as repression tool - The archives as historical memory - The archives proved very revealing of the truth, justice and human rights It has been used documentary, oral, hemerographic, bibliographic and legal sources.

自1987年7月15日台灣宣佈解除戒嚴後，開放黨禁與報禁，民主開始蓬勃發展，人民也有充分表達意見自由的機會，而2000年3月總統大選後，台灣第一次發生政黨輪替，並首次出現少數政府，自此之後，執政黨與在野黨即經常性的發生衝突情形。2001年，更是台灣史上第一次 -2.17%的經濟成長率，瑞士洛桑國際管理學院（IMD）公布2006年世界競爭力排名為第18名，較2005年退步了7個名次，其中在全球61個評比的經濟體中，「政治不穩定風險」評比為第58名，實在有檢討的空間。 本文的研究目的，在於以1990 至2005台灣的選舉結果及國內生產毛額（GDP）成長率的時間序列季資料（quarterly time-series data），搭配計量模型的估計，探討台灣政治勢力的衝突（以泛藍與泛綠得票比率差距表示）對於國家整體經濟成長有何影響？最後，藉由研究政治衝突對立之程度對總體經濟成長之影響，研究提出具體政策及建議。本文主要的研究發現，政治衝突將顯著影響台灣經濟成長。換言之，當台灣政治衝突情形越激烈（即藍綠兩陣營支持度差距越小時），經濟成長率將會越低。此外，政府支出成長、投資成長與出口成長，也是影響台灣經濟成長的主要原因。 另外本文利用2001年的時間虛擬變數，探討一般認為2001年可能因結構性變動之關係，而造成當年度經濟成長率的下降。結果顯示在本估計式中支持這樣的假說，也就是在2001年確實有其它因素導致當年度經濟成長相對低於其他各年度之情形。 / Taiwan’s democracy has developed dramatically and its people have gotten opportunities to freely express themselves since the KMT（Kuo Min Tong, the nationalist party from mainland china） government released the prohibition on the founding of political parties and the granting of newspaper licenses on July 15, 1987. Authority rests with a minority government since the DPP came into power. Conflicts between the opposition and ruling parties in Taiwan have been increasing since the Presidential election in March, 2000. For the first time Taiwan’s economy growth declined about 2.17% in 2001. In 2006, Taiwan’s economy was ranked as the 18th most competitive in the world by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland (IMD), degraded 7 positions in 2005. In addition, Taiwan’s political stability ranked 58th among the 61 countries in the above research study. As a result, the author is attempting to research how the political conflicts influence the economy. This research uses a model that estimates the election’s economic impact by combining Taiwanese election results with quarterly time-series ratios from Taiwan’s 1990 to 2005 GDP. The research focuses on how political conflicts impact overall economic growth in Taiwan. The survey used the difference between the ratio of votes for two political groups—the pan-blue and pan-green camps. Conclusions from the data found a low economic growth in the periods of intense political conflict. Moreover, economic growth is influenced by various factors, including overall government expenditures, investments and exports. Since the 2001 economic decline was so precipitous, this analysis adopted a time variable and used 2001’s data for comparison. Of course, various factors might have caused 2001’s low economic growth rate, but the original hypothesis was supported by the reckon estimating type.