There are many publications dealing with the political career of Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), who transformed the political landscape of Iran and the Middle East after the Islamic Revolution of... Show moreThere are many publications dealing with the political career of Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), who transformed the political landscape of Iran and the Middle East after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Most of the research conducted in the West is on Khomeini’s political strategies, while the influential role of mysticism in all facets of his life is ignored. This book is the first study examining Khomeini’s poetry, mysticism and the reception of his poetry both in Iran and the West. It investigates how Khomeini integrated various doctrines and ideas of Islamic mysticism and Shiiism such as the Perfect Man into his poetry. Show less
Griekenland beleefde in 2023 historische verkiezingen. Nea Dimokratia (ND) van zittend premier KyriakosMitsotakis behaalde – in twee rondes – een klinkende overwinning, met een niet eerder... Show moreGriekenland beleefde in 2023 historische verkiezingen. Nea Dimokratia (ND) van zittend premier KyriakosMitsotakis behaalde – in twee rondes – een klinkende overwinning, met een niet eerder vertoonde overmacht.De grootste oppositiepartij Sýriza verloor niet alleen veel zetels, maar ook haar politiek leider Alexis Tsipras.Daarnaast keerde extreemrechts terug in het parlement. Toch verliepen de eerste maanden voor de nieuwe regering allesbehalve vlekkeloos. Alle reden om het Griekse politieke landschap weer eens nader onder de loep te nemen. Show less
Chadians’ growing use of social media could prove a boon for the country’s political transition, but it could also fuel violence offline. With donor backing, authorities, civil society, online... Show moreChadians’ growing use of social media could prove a boon for the country’s political transition, but it could also fuel violence offline. With donor backing, authorities, civil society, online platforms and influencers should work to ensure social media remains a space for democratic debate rather than an accelerator of conflict. Show less
This chapter focuses on the evaluation of public policy and administration. Institutionalized for decades in many places worldwide, policy evaluation has become a routinized and professionalized... Show moreThis chapter focuses on the evaluation of public policy and administration. Institutionalized for decades in many places worldwide, policy evaluation has become a routinized and professionalized activity. However, assessing the performance of public agencies and the impact of the policies they implement is a highly political endeavor. As part of the executive branch and directly subordinate to governments, public agencies can be scrutinized and evaluated as an extension of political struggles. On the other hand, public agencies also use evaluation to advance their own objectives. This chapter examines the issues attached to the evaluation of public policies and administrative activity in relation to power games within and across the branches of government. It reveals how politicians and public servants can make strategic use of policy evaluations, as well as how this instrument serves not only reflexive and oversight purposes, but also agenda-setting ambitions. The chapter then presents an overview of the controlling, defensive and proactive functions of evaluation in policy struggles. Drawing upon these developments, the chapter underlines just how far from neutral evaluations can be in the politico-administrative game. Show less
Este libro pretende entender las transiciones y negociaciones culturales entre arte y política -de 1989 a 2020- a través del análisis de una serie de novelas cubanas. La caída del muro de Berlín... Show moreEste libro pretende entender las transiciones y negociaciones culturales entre arte y política -de 1989 a 2020- a través del análisis de una serie de novelas cubanas. La caída del muro de Berlín tuvo un enorme peso simbólico en el mundo, quizás, tanto como la misma Revolución en su día. Las últimas tres décadas –entre la soviética y la postpandémica– podrían pensarse como un entrelugar en la isla, un afuera del tiempo o un presente incómodo de difícil representación, sobre todo si las leemos desde las dos grandes ideologías en juego. A nivel simbólico, estaríamos hablando de una crisis crónica de características particulares, una que se ha hecho evidente en la novelística a partir de la relación entre sujeto y vivencia. Timmer analiza el malestar del sujeto como síntoma de lo social escapando a los binomios de la Guerra Fría y aborda el presente cubano a través de las múltiples subjetividades e imaginarios de su producción cultural, de su literatura. Show less
The introduction to this special issue argues that in many countries in southern Africa a new phase in the entanglement between the religious and the political has set in. Increasingly, activists... Show moreThe introduction to this special issue argues that in many countries in southern Africa a new phase in the entanglement between the religious and the political has set in. Increasingly, activists in political fields are borrowing from religious registers of discourse and practice, while conversely, activists in the religious domain are adopting discourses and practices originating in the political domain. We suggest that this religiopolitical activism is simultaneously the product of a climate of profound social change and an important transformative force within it. In order to do justice to the complex dynamics of southern African religiopolitical activism in its manifold manifestations, we draw on the concept of ‘family resemblances’. This allows us to examine how the boundaries between religious and political registers are made the object of situated social negotiations. The family resemblances explored in this special issue range from religiopolitical activists’ habitus and their communication strategies via religious leaders’ self-positionings in relation to the political, to the creation of specific religiopolitical spaces. Show less
This paper offers a political analysis of the development of the TPLF-induced armed conflict in northern Ethiopia and considers the international responses in media and international policy circles... Show moreThis paper offers a political analysis of the development of the TPLF-induced armed conflict in northern Ethiopia and considers the international responses in media and international policy circles. The extension of the conflict by the TPLF after the unilateral ceasefire proclaimed by the federal government on 28 June 2021 (followed by its retreat from Tigray) did not lead to an easing of the fighting. On the contrary, the TPLF used scorched-earth tactics, perpetrated substantial abuse of civilians (mass killings, burning down villages, destroying and looting hospitals, health centres and other economic infrastructure), and created food scarcity, hundreds of thousands of IDPs and hugely aggravated humanitarian problems in the Amhara and Afar regions. In spite of this unilateral TPLF extension of the armed conflict, the responses of international policy circles, notably from the Western ‘donor countries’ and the UN, have been negative towards the federal government and mild on the TPLF.This paper explores aspects of this paradoxical and problematic approach and argues that it will not lead to a political or other solution of the conflict, especially not in view of the undiminished belligerent strategy of the TPLF. The Ethiopian federal government and its leader PM Abiy Ahmed, having been confirmed in power after a relatively successful and credible parliamentary election on 21 June 2021, are pressurized by much of the global media and Western policy makers for the problems in Tigray – including the ‘famine’ declared by TPLF - and urged to negotiate. The TPLF, incorrectly identified with the people of Tigray as a whole, is not held to account. But an overbearing Western approach based on the threat of sanctions (by the US government) and on what often seem ‘neo-imperialist’ demands, as evident from serious interference in the conflict - even by a number of UN individuals (expelled from the country on 30 September 2021) - will not contribute to political negotiations or dialogue, restoration of peace, or rehabilitation of the war-torn regions, neither to stability in Ethiopia. Not only improved media reporting, based on solid local (Ethiopian) information and checking sources, but also a fundamental reset of certain UN and Western donor country policies on Ethiopia, are needed.RésuméCette étude propose une analyse politique du développement du conflit armé induit par les TPLF dans le nord de l'Éthiopie et examine les réponses internationales dans les médias et les cercles politiques internationaux. L'extension du conflit par le TPLF après le cessez-le-feu unilatéral proclamé par le gouvernement fédéral le 28 juin 2021 (suivi de son retrait du Tigré) n'a pas conduit à un apaisement des combats ; au contraire. Les tactiques de la terre brûlée, les abus sérieux contre les civils (meurtres en masse, incendies de villages, pillage et destruction des hôpitaux et autres infrastructures économiques), la pénurie alimentaire, des centaines de milliers de déplacés internes et des problèmes humanitaires extrêmement aggravés dans les régions d'Amhara et d'Afar en ont été le résultat. Malgré cette extension unilatérale du conflit par le TPLF, les réponses des cercles politiques internationaux, notamment des pays « bailleurs-de-fonds » occidentaux et de l'ONU, ont été négatives envers le gouvernement fédéral mais modérées envers le TPLF. Show less
As the violent civil war in South Sudan comes to a formal end, peace is made by power-sharing between political competitors. Crucial positions are not elected but distributed through a ‘warlord... Show moreAs the violent civil war in South Sudan comes to a formal end, peace is made by power-sharing between political competitors. Crucial positions are not elected but distributed through a ‘warlord politics’, providing rewards to those who ‘went to the bush’ to fight the war. Bruno Braak describes this process with the example of a rebel commander-turned-governor in the country’s Western Equatoria State. Show less
