Critique internationale - Content
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Sudipta Kaviraj &Sunil Khilnani (eds), Civil Society, History and Possibilities, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press & New Delhi, Foundations Books, 2003,330 pages.
Corm (Georges), Le Liban contemporain. Histoire et société, Paris, La Découverte, 2003, 320 pages
Schwandner-sievers (Stéphanie), Fischer (Bernd J.) (eds.), Albanian Identities. Myth and History, Londres, Hurst, 2002, 238 pages.
Khalidi (Rashild), L’identité palestinienne. La construction d’une conscience nationale moderne, Paris, La Fabrique, 2003, 402 pages.
[The coffee house and the ashram. Gandhi, civil society and the public space]
The concepts of public space and civil society are deeply rooted in the Anglo-American world. It is nevertheless possible to use them in the Indian context, where the ashram can be considered as a local variant. Of course, the religious dimension of the ashram is opposed to the rationalism of the Enlightenment, but the civic virtue, the search for the common good and for a fair society are shared features with the concepts of public space and civil society. In the end, the main difference lies in the relation to the State. Whereas the public space assumes that the State will apply the measures that have emerged from the debates, in Gandhi’s vision, the State is too weak to do so. Social change has to be supported by the inner transformation of the individual, of its behaviour and of its visions of the world.
[Kurdish nationalism, from political violence to sacrificial suicide]
The existing social science paradigms are unable to explain the type of violence embodied by the suicide attacks. In order to be understood, this renunciation to the "rational" form of violence has to be placed in a historical context. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which is by no means associated with religious radicalism, but possesses religious symbols, is a good example of the transformation of the patterns of violence. The historical duration of the conflicts involving the Kurds in the Middle East, the severe repression they had to face, as well as the changes towards more rational and pragmatic forms of political fighting that occurred at the head of the PKK in the last decade help understand the evolution of its use of violence, from a classical political tool, to a way of holding together the group and finally a weapon of complete self-sacrifice; but it also shows that a radical violent actor can move on to less violent forms of action.
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[The Philadelphia Convention: the foundations of the American model]
The American political experience is often used as a yardstick by which to gauge the achievements of the European integration process. The recent Convention held in Brussels and chaired by former French President Giscard d’Estaing is a case in point. The 1787 American Philadelphia Convention stands as the main precedent, and European leaders – most notably Giscard d’Estaing himself – have been eager to make the comparison. Is that claim valid? The Philadelphia Convention was a secret, relatively homogeneous meeting, overwhelmingly dedicated to the cause of reform; it drafted a strongly centralized plan, thus subordinating States to the central government. In the European case, the Convention was open to public scrutiny, and the members, all from different backgrounds, did not share a common view on the text to be adopted. Thus, Philadelphia and Brussels are very much at odds with each other, even though they both claimed to have the same goal: the defining of a consensus for reform.
[Brussels-Philadelphia. From one Convention to another]
The article aims at comparing the decision making process of two Conventions (that of Philadelphia in 1787 and that of Brussels which drew up a Draft Constitution for Europe in 2002-2003) in order to better understand if, and when, the latter gave rise to deliberation rather than negotiation. The actors of the European Convention were more numerous and divided. Cleavages between pro/anti Europeans, small/big countries, old/new member states or along national, institutional and political lines made it more difficult to foster deliberations. Besides, in Philadelphia, the procedures were more likely to favor a deliberative process. Some of them (for instance the establishment of working groups) were also implemented in Brussels. Lastly, contrary to their American counterparts, the “Conventionnels” respected their mandate. It leads us to wonder if the final text should not be seen as part of a gradual constitutional process rather than a founding Constitutio
[European citizenship and modern U.S. federal citizenship]
The purpose of this essay is to compare the relationship between U.S. national citizenship and citizenship in the fifty states with the relationship between citizenship in the European Union and nationality in the member states. In the United States, the effect of the 1868 Fourteenth Amendment was to make U.S. national citizenship the primary and independent legal category, and state citizenship a derivative one: a citizen of any state can acquire citizenship in another state simply by changing residence, and citizens have a constitutional right to change residence from one state to another. Besides, there has been a shift from state law to federal law as the source of the protection of individual rights against government action. In Europe, by contrast, citizenship in the Union derives exclusively from nationality in a member state, and member states have autonomy in determining their own nationality laws. The p
[Participation and Subordination: The Double-Edged Sword of State Citizenship]
From the Revolutionary era to the present, the sources of American commitments to federalism and state citizenship have been of two kinds. The first, legitimate motive is the preservation and enhancement of systems of democratic participation, to be upheld against distant, potentially dictatorial central governments. The second, illegitimate one, is the preservation and enhancement of systems of race-based and gender-based subordination. It is no accident that states’ rights claims have been pressed most frequently and most ardently in reaction to national government initiatives aimed at combating racial inequalities. Nor is there any reason to believe that this pattern has become obsolete: just like in the period of retrenchment following the Reconstruction era in the late 19th century, there is now again a coincidence and a correlation between the growing opposition to civil rights initiatives and the resurgence of states’ rights claims, both in electoral politics and on the Supreme Court.
