Critique internationale - Content
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Cyrille Fijnaut, Frank Bovenkerk, Gerben Bruinsma et Henk Van De Brunt, Organized Crime in the Netherlands, La Haye, Kluwer Law International, 1998, 248 pages.
Chase (Robert S.), Hill (Emily B.), Kennedy (Paul), eds., The Pivotal States, a New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World, New York, Norton, 1998, XIV-445 pages.
Laitin (David D.), Identity in Formation - The Russian - Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1998, XIV-417 p.
Chehabi (Houchang E.), Linz (Juan J.), eds., Sultanistic Regimes, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, XII-284 pages.
Creveld (Martin Van), The Sword and the Olive. A Critical History of the Israeli Defense Force, New York, Public Affairs, 1998, XVIII-425 pages.
Traduction française : Tsahal. Histoire critique de la force israélienne de défense, Monaco, éditions du Rocher, 1998, 592 pages.
Haar (Gerrie Ter), Halfway to Paradise. African Christians in Europe, Cardiff Academic Press, 1998, 220 pages.
Anderson (Benedict), The Spectre of Comparisons. Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the World, Londres, Verso, 1998, X-374 pages.
[Religion, nationhood, and pluralism : some " fin-de-siècle " thoughts]
The collapse of communism durably disqualifies utopia as a source of political legitimacy. The major difficulty in the current period is to dispose of the categories of enchanted politics. We have left a period in which the fiction of stable reality-organizing principles made sense, and arrived in one where reference to such realities no longer seems credible. The assumption is that a new figure of legitimacy is emerging, which raises the question of its credibility. A key space in which to observe such processes is that of resistance to them. In a situation characterized by pluralization and the disqualification of absoluteness, resistance takes the form of reaffirmations of absoluteness and unity in the guise of nationhood and religion.
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[The new judges of politics in France]
From the second half of the XIXth century until the 1980s, in spite of occasionally strong impact, political scandals have been scarce in France. The interweaving spheres of the politicians, the media, and the judiciary protected the former from dangerous attacks from the others. In the 1980s, however, internal change in the three fields gave birth to a new configuration. The judiciary and the media emancipated themselves from political interference and their new autonomy progressively enabled them to put the politicians on trial, following a trend which seems as irreversible in France as elsewhere. Politicians are becoming legally accountable for their behaviour just as any citizen is
[Italy : a system of governance on trial]
Andreotti’s trial has revealed long standing links between Italian politicians and the mafia. Such a trial has become possible because of the conjunction of two relatively independent processes : first, the crystallisation - mainly through the antimafia parliamentary commissions - of a new interpretation of the mafia based upon its collusion with the political sphere ; second, the propagation of a new culture of activism in the judiciary. As a result, relations between politicians and the mafia have become a public issue. New debates have thus discredited the system of governance symbolized by Andreotti and at the same time have given more acceptance to an analysis of the Italian " First Republic " which stresses its hidden, dark face.
[The market for criminal services in Japan. Yakuzas and the state]
Any political system potentially represents a market for criminal groups. In Japan, the yakuzas and the political élite have long enjoyed familiarity. The control of the state over the economy, an obvious factor of corruption, and a deficient judiciary explain that the gangs are so much in demand. Their availability (as well as their visibility), their integration in the social structure and their "patriotic" image give them some legitimacy and tend to institutionalize their role. Legal laxity and social toleration reduce the risk for the customers of establishing links with them. As a result, the yakuzas have played a major role in the economy. They especially contributed to the speculative bubble of the late 1980s. The crisis then fostered a reaction from the state, but they are so much interwoven with the political system that their eradication will be very difficult.
