Browsing by Subject "Social movements"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Open Access
Beyond statism in security studies? Human agency and security in the Middle East
(Routledge, 2002) Bilgin, P.
The omnipresence of statist assumptions in security studies renders the role played by human agency almost invisible. The aim of this article is to contest the statist commonsense still prevalent in security studies. The argument will be made in two parts. In the first part, I will look at three studies critical of Cold War approaches to security and argue that even these approaches (that otherwise serve as crucial correctives to Cold War fallacies) privilege the state as the primary referent or agent. As a result, they end up reinforcing statism by way of foreclosing alternative non-statist conceptions of security and the constitution of alternative futures that are not built around states as the primary focus of loyalty, decision-making power and practice. In the second half of the article it will be argued that in order to move away from statism in security studies, it is not enough to contest the primacy of the state as the referent for security; there is also the need to contest the dominant agency of the state by looking at human agency and thinking up alternative (non-statist, non-military, non-violent, non-zero-sum) practices - issues peace research has busied itself with since the 1960s. Towards this end, the article will look at the roles myriad non-state actors have played as agents of peace and security in the Middle East. Here, emphasis will be on the role of the intellectual and the theory/practice relationship in security studies.
Open Access
Dissident labour activism in Vietnam
(Routledge, 2023-09-11) Pham Thi, Anh-Susann
Scholars of Vietnam have studied different forms of labour resistance such as wildcat strikes, petitions, complaints, work stoppages, and boycotts, with which workers demand higher wages and pensions, overall better working conditions, and the implementation of workers’ rights. This article pays attention to the small, yet not negligible group of dissident labour activists, who are subjected to much harsher state repression compared to labour resistance in and around the workplace. This article asks: What makes dissident labour activism a (real or perceived) threat to the state? A common and widely accepted explanation refers to the nature of the demands of dissidents, which includes independent trade unions, democratisation, and regime change. This article digs deeper and finds that dissident labour activists function as agents of an emerging epistemological third space, which permits the revitalisation of hidden knowledges about labour rights, the reclamation of the silenced idea of independent trade unions and the co-existence of critique of the status quo and imagination of an alternative future, which together threaten to endanger the Communist Party of Vietnam’s political legitimacy and, by implication, capital utilisation.
Open Access
From unorthodox sufism to muslim anarchism: the disobedient case of islam-based political thought in Turkey
(MDPI AG, 2024-10-17) Çelik, Kadir Can
This paper examines Muslim anarchists in Turkey who developed an Islam-based anarchist theory opposing private property, the state, capitalism, and all forms of authority. By analyzing their online periodical itaatsiz (disobedient), published since 2013, and earlier works by Muslim anarchist writers, this study explores their perspectives on the West, Islam, the Qur'an, and Sufism. Muslim anarchists stand out for their opposition to the hegemony of Enlightenment-based, anti-theist, and positivist thought in anarchist movements in Turkey and for their encouragement to re-examine concepts such as authority, private property, capitalism, and the state within the framework of Islam-based political thought. Studying how Muslim anarchists construct a social movement in today's Turkey is essential to understanding Islam-based conceptualizations of politics in Turkey and unpacking the relationship between Islam and anarchism.
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Multiculturalism: a liberal perspective
(1994) Raz, Joseph
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Revolution and reform
(1973) Kolakowski, Leszek
Open Access
The role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in light of repertoires
(Routledge, 2019-02) Coşkun, Efser Rana
This article examines the role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in the context of collective level emotions in mobilizations. Emotions are understood as a catalyst whose mechanism of action is performed through repertories. This article seeks to answer how emotions, having a triggering role, are performed through repertoires while accelerating mobilization against authoritarian orders, creating the intersection of individual and collective level emotions in public spheres of Tunisia and Egypt, and thus affecting the transnational diffusion of emotions. The significant reason to address emotions is to explain what stimulated the Arab Spring and how it spread over the region starting from Tunisia and Egypt. This article synthesizes two literatures: International Relations (IR) and social movements studies in light of emotions and components of repertoires which are as follows: collective action, collective identity, symbolic politics, network society and information politics.