Encyclopedia of modern AsiaExamples of Recent Journal Articles
The Political Economy of Nigeria's Post-military Elections, 1999-2007
Author: Amuwo, Adekunle1
Source: Review of African Political Economy, Volume 36, Number 119, March 2009 , pp. 37-61(25)
Abstract:
This article is a structural and empirical analysis of the interface between the economics and the politics of elections in post-military Nigeria. Structures and strictures of contemporary economic globalisation and market reforms have weakened nationalistic fractions of the state/political elite, led to the emergence of a largely externally-oriented national bourgeoisie and virtually removed politics from the public sphere. The result has been the increased alienation of the popular classes from politics and the apparent inability of the state/political elite to satisfactorily deal with this alienation. Market reforms during the Obasanjo years, 1999-2007, fuelled astonishing corporate and private profit for transnational capital and the state/political elite through the misuse and abuse of the oil industry. The character of the superintending state, the democracy it purveyed and the elections it organised were anything but redemptive. This article makes a case for a democracy with social relevance through the agency of political struggles whose objective will be to recover the state and politics from the stranglehold of globalisation-induced structural relations of power; they should be re-inserted into the public space where they really belong and used for public purposes such as social justice, credible and legitimate elections and participatory democracy.
India's 2009 Elections: The Problem of Corruption
Author: Ronojoy Sen
Source: Journal of Democracy, Volume 20, Number 4, October 2009, pp. 89-92 (4)
Abstract:
For democrats everywhere, the news coming out of India in the spring of 2009 seemed unalloyedly good: The country had held yet another in what has become a long string of consistently fair and largely peaceful national elections, with the result that the incumbent Congress party and its coalition had won a clear mandate to govern. Yet over the years Indians have come to trust their political leaders less and less. A huge share—nearly a quarter—of the MPs elected to parliament in 2004 were under investigation or actually facing criminal charges. This presents a paradox: While there is overwhelming support for democracy in India the level of trust felt toward political parties and politicians is low, perhaps dangerously so.
Understanding 'La Contagion': Power, Exclusion and Urban Violence in France and the United States
Author: Koff, Harlan
Source: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 35, Number 5, May 2009 , pp. 771-790(20)
Abstract:
Following the Autumn 2005 riots in France, many observers openly asked: 'Why all the fuss? What was so different about the 2005 violence within the French historical context and what made it special in terms of cross-national comparison?' This article argues that the contagiousness of the riots highlighted structural weaknesses in the French integration system that need to be addressed in order to prevent widespread ethnic violence in the future. Through a comparison of citizenship models in France and the United States (US), this article contends that, while the French Republic may formally facilitate ethnic integration, the structure of power within this system actually constructs informal barriers that exacerbate socio-ethnic exclusion and marginalisation.