Critique internationale - Content
[Yemen after September 11, 2001: Between State-Building and a Shrinking Political Field]
For a while considered as a potential target in the “war on terror,” Yemen was soon designated the U.S.’ partner in its ambitious security offensive triggered in the aftermath of 9/11. Although for a short time President Ali Abdallah Saleh managed to handle this unpopular alliance using skill and realism, he was unable to prevent his concessions to Washington from sparking popular protest. The excessive repression wielded against the radicalism of dissident Hussein al-Hûthî and his partisans have created the most serious crisis the country has experienced since the civil war in 1994.
[Beyond the Patriot Act: The Second Wave of Antiterrorism Policy in the United States]
This article discusses the "second wave" of anti-terrorism initiatives in the United States - those attempted by the current U.S. administration beyond the well-known "Patriot Act." After reviewing a number of those initiatives, including Total Information Awareness, the Matrix Program, the air security CAPPS II program and others, the article discusses the impact of American anti-terrorism initiatives on the academic and nonprofit sectors in the United States, and the broad liberal-conservative coalition that has emerged, in different moments, to challenge both "second wave" initiatives and the renewal of the Patriot Act. That coalition has emerged victorious on halting or limiting the effects of a number of anti-terrorism initiatives, while proving less successful with respect to the Patriot Act.
[The Renewal of China’s Transnational Perspectives ]
Will the People’s Republic of China alter its nationality law in the coming years to allow Chinese nationals living abroad to obtain dual citizenship? Although the question is a long way from being resolved, it is symptomatic of Beijing’s growing interest in new émigrés (Xin Yimin), both from an economic and a political standpoint. Measures in favor of establishing lasting relations seem to be multiplying today. The three traditional pillars of Chinese government action to maintain ties with its émigrés (voluntary associations, information and education) have gradually regained full legitimacy. It would appear finally that the Beijing authorities’ ambition to sustain economic and political transnational ties with the Xin Yimin has greater chances to succeed with this generation of new migrants than with past waves
[A Nation Made to Measure: Immigration Policy in Shaping the United States]
Whether decided by the federal government – as is the case today – or the Confederate states – as before the Civil War –, U.S. immigration policy has been one of the main tools used to shape the nation. Since the late 19th century, it has given rise to two heterogeneous coalitions with respect to the left-right cleavage in a space defined by two perpendicular axes, one corresponding to the field of political economy, the other to political culture, construed in its identitarian dimension. The first is primarily composed of the major employers of labor and recently immigrated communities, whereas the second until recently drew together trade unions and champions of the cultural status quo. Despite the security-minded orientation taken since 9/11, the restrictionist camp has so far failed to impose a policy shift similar to the 1920s legislation, and is unlikely to succeed in the near future.
[Permanence and Change in the British Anti-European Movement]
Starting with a historical overview of the political struggle against the European integration project since the 1960s, this article underlines the both permanent and changing features of British Euroscepticism. The most recent period has seen a flourishing of skeptical groups that have formed not only outside the parliamentary arena but the two main parties as well. European issues have become an increasingly prominent feature in British politics, weakening the bipartisan system by prompting factionism, the creation of new parties, the rise of new way of doing politics and the political involvement of social groups. British Euroscepticism revolves around concerns over socio-economical, political and geopolitical issues. These three arguments reflect three different kinds of discourses: utilitarian (Is European integration good for British economy?), institutional (Does European involvement in the EU undermine the British parliament’s sovereignty?) and (inter)nationalist (Is EU membership compatible with the UK’s role in worldwide leadership?)
[“The Velvet Revolution” in the Czech Social Sciences]
Drawing on biographical interviews with the protagonists of qualitative social science research in the Czech Republic, this article retraces the evolution of the qualitative approach before and after 1989 and presents in greater detail six major research projects conducted in the postcommunist era. It takes a special interest in how the actors view their own work and offers a comparison of these investigations with “western scientific method”. It examines the various levels of ties that exist between qualitative research and the field studied, underscores the interrelation between the researchers’ stance and the agenda of research topics as well as the form of loyalty that takes shape toward the field over the course of research, and then the choices that are made as the findings it produces are interpreted.
[“The Velvet Revolution” in the Czech Social Sciences]
Drawing on biographical interviews with the protagonists of qualitative social science research in the Czech Republic, this article retraces the evolution of the qualitative approach before and after 1989 and presents in greater detail six major research projects conducted in the postcommunist era. It takes a special interest in how the actors view their own work and offers a comparison of these investigations with “western scientific method”. It examines the various levels of ties that exist between qualitative research and the field studied, underscores the interrelation between the researchers’ stance and the agenda of research topics as well as the form of loyalty that takes shape toward the field over the course of research, and then the choices that are made as the findings it produces are interpreted.
No Abstract
[Privatization and State-Formation in Eastern Europe]
An analysis of privatization policies in Central and Eastern Europe highlights the passage from predatory capitalism in the early days of transition from communism to a more legally regulated form of capitalism that has served as an indicator of the increasing rationalization of the economic, political and administrative playing field. In this regard, the European Union has performed an important role by strengthening regulatory agencies. This transition did not arise out of any internal necessity that might have led to an irreversible evolution from one form of capitalism to another, nor has it produced identical forms adopted there which would justify speaking of an “East European” type of market capitalism.
[Neoliberal Ideology and Political Entrepreneurship in Japan]
Japan has experienced two major periods of privatization: railroads and telecommunications under Premier Nakasone (1982-1986) and the post office under Premier Koizumi (2001-2006). Between these two episodes, Japan has also pursued deregulation and market-opening policies (1996-2006). The article analyzes the political processes behind this succession of events. It demonstrates that neoliberal ideology was not a decisive factor in itself and that it was often a minority stance in Japan. In fact, the major privatization reforms took place when political entrepreneurs who enjoyed considerable political autonomy managed to exploit this ideology to direct political ends and used privatization as an instrument to restructure the political sphere
[Restructuring Small- and Medium-Sized State Companies in China]
In Chinese politics privatization has never been fully acknowledged the way it has in Eastern Europe or the countries of the former Soviet bloc. Yet it has been one of the major orientations in the restructuring of Chinese state enterprises since 1994. The results are highly contrasting and depend primarily on the competitive and institutional environments in which these privatizations were carried out. Privatization has produced mediocre results (particularlywhen shares were sold to employees in companies where skills and internal controls have improved little) when carried out in a non-competitive environment with weak legal, bureaucratic, fiscal and banking institutions to support a market economy. For this reason, in the western, northeastern and inner provinces where the public sector still dominates, the central government must now step in more firmly to accelerate reforms in social welfare, commercial banking and the legal environment so as to improve the efficiency of programs to restructure small- and medium-sized state companies. On the other hand, in the coastal provinces, widespread greenfield investments have been a decisive factor in the rapidity and efficiency of the privatization process of small- and medium-sized state companies.
[Reforms and the New Political Economy of India]
When India began its liberal reform in 1991, privatization was supposed to be part of the array of public policies. But it must be recognized that fifteen years later, the measures are long in coming. The lack of them is indicative of the nature of liberal reforms and the form taken in India by “liberalization”. India’s political economy is changing, but the state’s role remains one of nation-building via redistribution. Thus, although in the early 1990s recurring system breakdowns undeniably pleaded in favor of reforming it, the state’s priority over the past fifteen years has instead been to assist the modernization and growth of private industry and show special consideration for small-scale industry. India in retrospect has adopted the Chinese way of first reinforcing a dynamic private sphere outside the public sector, a clever strategy that has allowed it to free up macroeconomic resources to finance the cost of both political and economic transition. India’s political economy has thus been reformed on the basis of more immediate stakes than those involved in privatization, viewed as one out of many possible instruments. This political and social compromise of seeing beyond the idea of privatization probably hails India’s entrance into a “second economic modernization.”
Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison, Coloniser, exterminer : sur la guerre et l’État colonial, Paris, Fayard, 2005, 365 pages
Atul Kohli, State-directed Development : Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, XII-466 pages.
Daryl Champion, The Paradoxical Kingdom : Saudi Arabia and the Momentum of Reform, Londres, Hurst, 2003, XXII-392 pages.
