Critique internationale - Content

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[The Social Question on the Fringes of the Arab Uprisings: Lebanese and Maroccan Lessons]
The 2011 uprisings revealed the exacerbation of a widely shared feeling born of socio-economic injustice in the region. The protesters’ demands for recognition of a right to decent living conditions and access to employment and public services did not “naturally” and spontaneously arise; rather, they were part an older political history. In both Morocco and Lebanon, the movements born of the uprisings have expressed themselves in the interspace of dissident innovation and more routine demands for rights without spreading beyond a revived militant constellation. Embedded within two different types of capitalism – the “laissez-faire” of Lebanon’s merchant republic and the “state capitalism” of the Moroccan monarchy – the “social question” played an interesting role. Examination of the various ways in which social problems have been politically addressed in these contexts reveals the emergence of differentiated protection regimes authorizing the demand of rights via an array of actions. While not amounting to revolt, these actions influence forms of protest.

[“It’s the Economy, Stupid!” Analyzing the Uprisings in Bahrain, Egypt and Tunisia]
As in Bill Clinton’s famous quip, “It’s the economy, stupid!” the revolts of the Arab Spring are often treated as a single monolithic phenomenon born of systemic economic pressures. A critical look at this dominant narrative reveals some of its internal contradictions as well as its inability to account for differences between Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. In order to evaluate the relative place occupied by the economy and politics in the grievances voiced by the populations in question, this article begins with a comparative political economic analysis of the three uprisings. Highlighting the unique role played by middle class youth in all of them, it notes that, despite the targeted measures taken on their behalf by authoritarian regimes, young people suffered from both high unemployment and relative deprivation. Yet economic grievance was not always the principal source of revolt and the relative importance of the middle classes, the poor, workers’ organizations and pro-democracy movements varied from one country to the next. Political discontent thus weighed more heavily in Bahrain and Egypt than in Tunisia. The existence of divisions within the ruling elite significantly contributed to the politicization of middle class youth and opened a space of mobilization for them around democratic demands.

[New Regimes, Old Policies? Islamist Answers to Economic and Social Challenges]
According to an increasingly dominant narrative, the ‘Arab spring’ was primarily prompted by a combination of the long term structural decline of MENA economies and sudden external shocks, in particular the global financial crisis and the attendant increase in commodity prices. It should nevertheless be noted that the Islamist winners of the first “free” elections in Tunisia and Egypt advocate(d) economic and social policies that in many ways resemble those of their unelected predecessors. They immediately focused on demand side policies and proposed, in Egypt and Tunisia, respectively, a slightly modified form of economic nationalism and an updated and slightly modified form of liberalism. This article examines the major statements issued by the Islamist parties which, though not at the origin of the 2010-11 protests, were the principal beneficiaries of the subsequent elections. It also examines some key policies implemented by Islamist governments. The fact that the policies of these governments have been influenced less by popular demands expressed in the framework of the protests than by the social groups that support them calls into question lopsided explanations that merely emphasize material loss, poverty and impoverishment.

[Politicization and Securitization of International Migrations: Exploring the Relationship]
Drawing upon the contributions to the 2011 special issue of Critique Internationale addressing the politicization of individuals, this article takes a complementary approach that underscores the relevance and validity of bringing an international perspective to bear on discussions of politicization by juxtaposing processes of politicization and securitization in the domain of post-Cold War international migrations. The main argument of the article is that these two processes, while distinct, are neither mutually exclusive nor intrinsically in competition with one another. The case of international migrations to Canada and, in particular, the ways in which some media and political agents have emphasized these two processes serve to illustrate the argument.

État de littérature. La « justice spatiale » : revue des savoirs francophones et anglophones

Elissa Mailänder Koslov Gewalt im Dienstalltag : die SS-Aufseherinnen des Konzentrationsund Vernichtungslagers Majdanek, 1942-1944 (La violence au quotidien : les surveillantes SS du camp de concentration et d’extermination de Majdanek, 1942-1944) Hambourg, Hamburger Edition, 2009, 520 pages.