The general elections in Germany: new lessons for New Labour?

If the general elections in Germany on Sunday last week are anything to go by, New Labour should brace themselves for the worst. After the disappointing results in 2005 that ousted Gerhard Schröder from power and forced Germany’s oldest political party, the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or SPD, into a so-called ‘grand coalition’ under Angela Merkel, the SPD now saw their share of the vote slashed to a meagre 23 percent, their worst result in the history of the republic. Turnout also hit an all-time low, only about 72 percent of Germans eligible to vote actually did. Calculated on the base of all registered voters, this means that only 16.5 percent of the people decided to support the social democrats. For a party that considers itself representing the entire population and not just particular groups or interests, what Germans call a Volkspartei, Sunday’s results must seem a slap in the face.

Angela Merkel, the old and new German chancellor, can now form a centre-right coalition government, her preferred option. Although her party, the Christlich Demokratische Union, or CDU, didn’t do quite as well as expected, Merkel did a remarkable job in convincing the general public that the old government, the ‘grand coalition’ between CDU and SPD, was not really up to the job but that, nonetheless, she’s the right person to lead the country out of a recession under a more ‘pro-business’, ‘pro-market’ government with the FDP. Even her fiercest opponents agree that it is quite an achievement to win an election as the incumbent under these circumstances. Merkel did a good job in claiming the coalition’s successes for herself while putting the blame on the SPD for all the failed attempts at resolving the key issues, e.g. reforming the health care system. The dire state the SPD is in was surely conducive to Merkel’s victory.

So what is going on with the centre-left in Europe? With Berlusconi in Italy, Sarkozy in France and Merkel in Germany, the continent’s largest economies are governed under the firm grip of conservative, or centre-right leaders. It looks as if the centre-left are struggling to convince the public that they have the right answers to the pressing challenges Europe’s facing today. IBSS delivers 600+ hits on searching ‘SPD’. The edited volume ‘Germany’s gathering crisis: the 2005 federal election and the grand coalition’ by Alister Miskimmon, William E. Paterson and James Sloam (Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) looks at the wider socio-political conditions under which Merkel’s predecessor Schröder had decided to call early elections in 2005, a move that caused quite some excitement among commentators so used to the orderly and somewhat sober affair of German politics! Back then, Schröder faced a problem: he was convinced that his government’s concepts to reform the welfare state, labour market and social security systems – the notorious ‘Agenda 2010’ – was the right way forward. This was nothing short of a fundamental strategic repositioning of what social democracy, under Schröder, was supposed to be about in twenty-first century Germany. By incorporating a great deal of what (neo)liberals had been calling for (a more ‘flexible’ labour market, low income jobs employers don’t pay social security contributions for, and slashing benefit payments to the unemployed), parts of the opposition and a great deal of industry leaders applauded this seismic shift in German economic and social policy. Not surprisingly, however, these reforms proved a tremendous disappointment to many of the SPD’s loyal working class voters who increasingly started to turn their back on the party. The reforms imposed significant changes and hardship for a number of groups that helped to sweep Schröder into power in 1998: low income workers and families, and the huge number of unemployed in many parts of the country. The fact that his government received praise from the centre-right, and a good deal of business and lobbying groups, didn’t help to increase the popularity of the ‘Agenda 2010’ among those who felt the impact of these reforms first hand.

General public opinion and mainstream media in 2005 were hardly in favour of the government. After all, Schröder himself argued that early elections were needed because he was lacking support from his very own party. It was there and then that the slow demise of the SPD gained momentum: consistently losing a number of key local and regional elections in 2004 and 2005, people started wondering about the use of a social-democratic party that pretty much favours the same politics and ideas of reform as their centre-right opponents! People wondered why they shouldn’t vote for the ‘original’ if all parties seemed to advocate pretty much the same politics. The ‘pro-business’ FDP has gained in popularity ever since the SPD has been hitting low after low in the polls. On the other hand, long-standing centre-leftist supporters began to move to the somewhat more radical left, in particular to the newly founded ‘Linke’ party, headed by a former SPD party leader who left the party shortly after it had gained power in 1998 out of frustration at its drift to the right.

The SPD’s dilemma is not just a German phenomenon, however. A linked keyword search on ‘Social democratic parties’ and ‘Europe’ on IBSS prompts more than 200 hits. Simon Franzmann investigates the degree to which the centre-right and left in Europe have converged to similar policy models (‘Does a programmatic convergence across the West-European party families exist? A comparison of Christian and social democratic parties in Europe’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 37:1, pp.79-98, 2008) . This helps explain why voters find it increasingly difficult to identify real, substantial differences between mainstream parties. William Paterson and James Sloam take a closer look at the history of the problems labour and social democratic parties are facing in Europe today (‘Is the Left alright? The SPD and the renewal of European social democracy’, German politics, 15:3, pp.233-248, 2006). During the 1990s, the moderate Left managed quite successfully to ‘reinvent themselves’ as a an alternative to centre-right and conservative parties, they argue. Without doubt, Tony Blair’s Third Way in the UK provided a blueprint for electoral success – the SPD positioned itself as the Neue Mitte (new centre), and the ‘réalisme de gauche’ in France marked a similar convergence. These parties suddenly appealed to moderate voters who were not so much hoping for entirely different policy regimes but, perhaps, new faces and a more ‘benevolent’ government that keeps existing institutions intact but somewhat cares a little more about social policy issues and socioeconomic equality and justice.

After a decade in power, many voice a desire for change regardless of the current government’s actual achievements. But the problems of centre-left parties are more fundamental. What should a modern social democracy look like? Many voters in Europe seem to think that the centre-left can’t give a good answer to this question. Surely, communication is an issue. IBSS provides chapter-by-chapter records of edited books, and I come across an interesting volume by searching ‘Political parties’ and ‘Political communication’ in ‘Europe’: although not precisely what I’m looking for, The EU expansion: communicating shared sovereignty in the parliamentary elections (New York, Peter Lang, 2008) contains a very interesting chapter by Frank Esser, Christina Holtz-Bacha and Eva-Maria Lessinger’s on the dullness of political campaigning in Germany (‘A low-key affair: German parties’ TV advertising’) – indeed, the campaign prior to Sunday’s elections had been a truly boring affair!

Certainly, communication is a big worry for New Labour in the UK. At the moment, it seems virtually impossible for Brown to place a positive message about his government in the media. It is safe to say that all his attempts to redirect public attention to his efforts to steer the economy out of recession (whether or not he’s been successful in that is another matter), keep falling on deaf ears. The other day, The Sun publicly announced that the paper is now supporting David Cameron. Since then, there are daily editorials about how New Labour allegedly let down its voters on virtually all policy issues. Gordon Brown frequently points out the UK’s ‘special relationship’ with the US, and is keen to position himself as close to Barack Obama as possible. New Labour is curious to learn about successful campaigning from the Democratic Party. But if there’s any chance for Brown to turn things around, perhaps he better look to Germany’s elections to learn a lesson. Although the political setup in the UK is different (Germany’s got a proportional system so that the number of MPs depends upon their party’s relative share of the vote), the electoral dynamics and issues New Labour are facing, are very close to what has been going on in Germany over the recent past. Martin Kettle makes this point in a recent comment in The Guardian. The SPD won the elections one year after Tony Blair had taken office, and have been modelling their policy proposals very much on New Labour policies. They now suffered a crushing defeat. Issues of trust aside, the main problem seems that in times of economic gloom, undecided, moderate voters tend to favour centrist, or centre-right charismatic leaders that propose pro-business solutions. It will be interesting to see if New Labour, under Gordon Brown, or more likely under a new leader after failed elections, will be able to appeal again to this group without putting of their core supporters even more!

Juljan Krause

France, women and Islamic clothing

France is known for having an unhealthy relationship with its Muslim population. The 2004 act which banned signs of religious affiliation in schools can be seen as a law which asks Muslims to dress in a manner unacceptable to many of them, while leaving the Christian majority unscathed (crucifixes can be worn under school uniform by those who consider them important). Despite knowing about this long-standing tension in French society, I was nonetheless shocked and astonished to read an article by Angelique Chrisafis in the Guardian in June, which documents overt discrimination against ‘modestly’ dressed women in France: Veiled threats: row over Islamic dress opens bitter divisions in France (26th June 2009).   Fully grown adults wearing nothing more remarkable than a hijab (the basic headscarf) have been refused permission to withdraw cash from their own bank accounts, spat at, banned from their own registry office weddings and refused access to polling booths. Many French people would claim that they are not discriminating against Muslims, but are attempting to liberate Muslim women from an old-fashioned patriarchal tradition which subjugates them. If one left aside these infringements of basic rights, this may sound like a liberal, feminist standpoint, but having lived in France, I find it hard not to feel anger towards this arrogant hangover from colonial times. France is a society where the objectification of women is rife. The feminist in me was fully awakened when, walking down a French street, I encountered a billboard advertising a man’s watch. This featured a man (wearing said watch) with his thumb in the knickers of an otherwise naked woman… Here is another French advert for a watch:

…. and here’s an advert for yoghurt (a product which sees a lot of this kind of advertising in France):

It is beyond me how a state that permits marketing which deems it acceptable to use the image of a (generally unclothed) woman to sell anything and everything can at the same time consider itself knowlegable enough about women’s rights to pass laws (supposedly in favour of women) that dictate acceptable female dress codes. Reading the Guardian article, I was hardly surprised to discover that many women wearing the niqab (face veil) were French converts to Islam. These girls will have grown up with adverts like the ones above all around them. It’s understandable that they would rather keep their hair and bodies for themselves and their partners than dress in a more relaxed (or less covered) way in an environment where it seems that everyone will be judging how perfect or otherwise your body is.

The central piece of ‘news’ in the Guardian article was that France is considering an outright ban on the niqab. I decided to see if I could find out more about the niqab in France on IBSS. I tried searching for ‘niqab’ and ‘France’ but it seems that this is too new a topic to have generated academic papers. I expect IBSS will be full of such information by next year once papers have been peer reviewed and published, this being such a controversial topic. I amended my search to ‘hijab’ and ‘France’ and this uncovered a lot of relelvant articles discussing the central themes (basic rights, women, religion and state, clothing…). I will leave aside articles relating to the hijab ban in schools, as this is a vast topic in itself, and will discuss points raised by papers focusing on French society at large. It is, anyway, more controversial that the dress of grown adults is thought to be fair game for state sanction or otherwise.

In ‘Unveiling the veil: gendered discourses and the (in)visibility of the female body in France’ (2004), Michela Ardizzoni talks about why Islamic head coverings provoke such strong reactions. She argues that colonial art and Orientalist discourse eroticised veiled women, while simuntaneously focusing on ‘her eyes as a site of mystery/danger’. According to Ardizzoni, veiled women were de-eroticised with decolonization and postcolonialism, but the perception of threat continued, and immigrants or converts to Islam covering their hair maintain this sense of otherness, of ambiguous cultural identity confusing non-Muslims with an unfamiliar ’sexual femininity’. Ardizzoni argues that France has trouble accepting hybridity and allowing cultural change to become a legitimate part of French national identity. Gabriele vom Bruck (2008) argues along similar lines, and talks about the media’s role in affirming negative perceptions of female Muslims: ‘Western media have sketched a picture of the covered woman as a potentially subversive vanguard; her body is made to appear as a vehicle for the cultural colonialisation of Europe.’ Her next point is particularly interesting: why does Islamic clothing provoke more reaction than other clothing which marks identity? ‘This phenomenon raises important questions as to why this marker of difference—a specific style of hair covering—arouses much greater passion than, say, class-related difference as manifested in clothes (e.g., see Bourdieu 1979)’. This feeling is mirrored in a recent Telegraph article by Ed West:  France’s immigration minister is wrong to want to ban the burka and niqab (September 15th 2009): ‘Personally on a late night I’d rather see a gaggle of women in niqabs than some morons dressed in hoodies, but I don’t ask that American ghetto-wear is banned because it’s worn by criminals and people who want to look like criminals’. Admittedly it sounds like West has his own axe to grind, but this is an interesting point. If anyone else was surprised at the apparent liberal slant of this article, his conclusion is that niqab-wearing can be controlled by tightening up French immigration policy…

West has overlooked the fact that not all Muslim women who cover are immigrants. Afsaneh Najmabadi’s (2006) ‘ Gender and secularism of modernity: how can a Muslim woman be French?’ provides an interesting exploration of how personal, gender, national, transnational and religious identity sit together. It is historically, geographically and thematically broad in scope, and would provide an excellent introduction for anyone wanting to know more about the issues at stake in the French debate.

IBSS also helped me to find an article which talks about the effect of negative attitudes towards the hijab on Muslim women’s everyday life. Katell Berthou’s ‘The issue of the veil in the workplace in France: unveiling discrimination’ (2005) looks at how French law treats the wearing of hijabs at work. It is quite surprising that antipathy for Islamic headcoverings has meant that the issue  has made it into courts, but this is the case. The issue is discussed from a legal perspective, Berthou arguing that French courts fail to respect national anti-discrimination provisions and EU law’ and that French law ‘lacks a fundamental understanding of the concept of discrimination and negates the concept of difference.’

I wondered if the use of women in French advertising was discussed in IBSS, as I really consider it hypocritical for French legislators and policy makers to suggest that they want to liberate Muslim women while allowing women’s sexual appeal to be used as a marketing tool. I did a last search for ‘women’, ‘advertising’ and ‘France’ and found a very interesting article which highlights the bizarre attitude towards the use of women in adverts which prevails in France. In ‘Courbert, advertising and femininity’ Kate E. Tunstall discusses an advert for a cosmetic cream which provoked outrage in France. The advert places a slim, smooth-skinned French woman next to a less slim, less smooth-skinned woman from Courbet’s painting Les baigneuses, who is shown on the left in the original painting below.

Astonishingly, what outraged people and provoked them to ask for the advert to be removed from display was the body of Courbet’s woman. ‘Women are appalled by the shape of Courbet’s woman; they think her ugly, the phrase ‘c’est affreux’ echoed in their statements, and they would rather not be shown her’. This seems pretty remarkable to me, given that the woman in the painting is really no monster. In 2001 (when the article was published) France was by no means immune to obesity, so to take this attitude towards a woman which an M&S advert would deem ‘normal’ is surprising. The advert does not produce outrage by ‘the use of women’s bodies to sell a product, since here (for once!), the women’s bodies are actually relevant to the product being sold’. Tunstall points out that images of slim women ‘abound in French advertising’, and few ‘if any’ complaints  are ever made about them, regardless of relevance.

That slim bodies become the only acceptable norm in France because of the prevalence of such adverts is a real shame. That women’s bodies are used in such a way is wrong. And that many French women have converted to Islam and prefer to wear Islamic dress and prevent their bodies from being objectified in such a way is not surprising. And that is to say nothing of people’s right to dress how they like in what is supposedly an enlightened country. It is almost too hackneyed to mention Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, but I will: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité??

‘The Troubles’: history or current affairs?

With the recent re-ignition of political violence in Northern Ireland – IRA dissident groups shooting dead two army officers and a police constable – a period that most had hoped was consigned to history is suddenly making headlines again. Coming after a decade of peace, many commentators have drawn attention to the generation of young people for whom ‘the Troubles’ are simply something they learn about in school. The thousands of people who took to the streets to condemn the violence suggest that they are keen to confine this period to history lessons.

For those interested in re-visiting the academic literature on the subject to shed light on the current situation, IBSS offers a wealth of material. A search on ‘Northern Ireland’ and ‘Political violence’ brings up 347 results, and a subject search on the IRA 241 hits. Widening it to ‘Northern Ireland’ and ‘Conflict’ brings up 1188. Some articles take a long view of the troubles, for example ‘Irish republican politics and violence before the peace process, 1968-1994’, Marc Mulholland (2007); whereas many hone in on specific issues: for example ‘Meaning in the Maze: the heritage of Long Kesh’, B. Graham and S. McDowell (2007) looks at “the role of the former Long Kesh/Maze prison as one of the key heritage sites of the Northern Ireland conflict.”; or ‘Territoriality, alienation, and loyalist decommissioning: the case of the Shankill in Protestant West Belfast’, Neil Southern (2008) which looks at the post-conflict situation of one of the flashpoint areas of the conflict. Popular areas of research include the meaning of the famous mural art that emerged to express the sentiments of those involved in the conflict, for example: ‘Politics, painting and popular culture – the political wall murals of Northern Ireland’, Bill Rolston (1987), and ‘Local symbols, global networks: rereading the murals of Belfast’, Debbie Lisle (2006). Sectarianism and sport is another popular field.

For those wishing to go back further, there are two books that look useful: ‘Acts of Union: the causes, contexts, and consequences of the Act of Union’, D. Keogh and K. Whelan (2001); and ‘The Irish Act of Union, 1800: bicentennial essays’, Brown, Geoghegan and Kelly (2003).

The peace process itself has also generated a substantial literature of its own. A search on ‘Northern Ireland’ and ‘Peace process’ recalls 336 results, which look at the process from a variety of angles. ‘Beyond the wire: former prisoners and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland’ P. Shirlow and K. McEvoy (2008) looks at the key role many former combatants have played in leading communities through the peace process. Over 60 records look at the role of the political parties, among them ‘Polarisation or new moderation? Party politics since the GFA’ – a chapter in the book ‘A farewell to arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement’ (2006); and more than 70 address the role of civil society, among them ‘Global change, civil society and the Northern Ireland peace process: implementing the political settlement’ (2008) which includes chapters on the role of women in the peace process, as well as comparative analyses of other post-conflict societies, including Lebanon and South Africa.

There are relatively few articles assessing the likelihood of a return to violence, but one that does is ‘”They haven’t gone away, you know”. Irish republican “dissidents” and “armed struggle”, J. Tonge (2004) which notes that ‘The odds against militarist Republican “dissidents” appear overwhelming, as they lack weapons, members and support. Sinn Féin has carried most of the Nationalist constituency on its transition towards constitutionalism and the Irish Republic has abandoned its claim to Northern Ireland. Nonetheless, continued political uncertainty over the province’s political future has contributed to the maintenance of a long-standing militaristic tradition within Irish republicanism.’

Pour homme, pour femme ?

Rachida Dati, the French Minister for Justice, caused a stir last week (9^th January 2009) when she returned to work just five days after giving birth to her first child.  Whatever the minister’s reasons for foregoing the standard three-month maternity leave period, the truth is that it has been a long and, at times, futile struggle for women hoping to enter the upper echelons of the French political system.

 

Ambitious and media-savvy, Mme Dati no doubt saw an opportunity to heighten her profile and to send a clear message to President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is expected to reshuffle his current crop of ministers in the coming weeks.  However, this is not to underestimate the pressure that inevitably comes with being such a high-ranking female politician: pressure that has led Mme Dati to prioritise attending cabinet meetings over spending time with her new-born daughter.

 

France, it is true, has had a female prime minister in the past (Édith Cresson, 1991-1992), and last year there was a realistic opportunity of Ségolène Royal becoming the country’s first female president.  However, women still remain vastly under-represented in parliament (just 18.5% of members) and the number of women holding ministerial positions has rarely numbered more than a half-a-dozen, and frequently in peripheral departments. 

 

Looking further into the issue of women and  politics in France, a search of these terms in the IBSS database brings up 286 results – of which 117 are actually French-language articles.  Very quickly, it becomes apparent that the articles returned cover three main themes: There are those that offer a brief history of the position of women within the French political system, for example, ‘Fifty years of feminising France’s Fifth Republic’ (Murray, Rainbow, 2008); articles which focus more specifically on Ségolène Royal’s ill-fated bid for the presidency, such as, ‘A French-style primary: the designation of Ségolène Royal by the Socialist Party’ (Dolez, Bernard and Laurent, Annie, 2007); and, most prominently, articles which analyse the effect of France’s gender-parity law of 2000.

 

The gender-parity law was introduced in an attempt to create equality of representation by requiring fifty percent of all French electoral candidates to be women.  Scanning a sample of the abstracts returned from my search, the tone of these articles appears to doubt the law’s success, citing the “competing and contradictory demands” it places on French political parties (‘How parties evaluate compulsory quotas: a study of the implementation of the ‘parity’ law in France’; Murray, Rainbow, 2007) and the adverse effect of “both the electoral system and the attitudes of political parties” (‘Increasing women’s political representation: the limits of constitutional reform’; Freedman, Jane, 2004), which remain as obstacles to equal political representation.

 

This being the case it is even more important to acknowledge the achievement of the few women who have made it to positions of real power within such a male-dominated arena.  Their success is encouraging and inspirational to women in many walks of life.  The French political system may have a long way to go in terms of reaching its stated aims of gender parity of representation but women like Rachida Dati are at the forefront of the effort.  Her decision to return to work so soon after giving birth has divided opinion both in France and across Europe, but it can also be seen as the act of a woman eager to prove that she can succeed and thrive in an environment that for too long has been dominated by men.

Congestion charging – local or national issue?

The people of Greater Manchester have voted against congestion charge plans which would have involved a peak-time road charge of up to £5 a day with the aim of providing a £2.8bn transport investment. A majority of voters in the region’s 10 boroughs voted against the plans, with 812,815 (79%) no votes and 218,860 (21%) in favour of the charge.

As someone who does not have a car and who has benefitted from improvements to bus journey times since the introduction of congestion charging in London, I’m interested to see what I can find on IBSS about the introduction of congestion charging schemes, so I do a couple of searches for “road traffic and congestion charging” and for “road transport and congestion”.

‘Road pricing in Britain’ an article by Chris Nash ( 2007) examines the success of congestion charging in London and the expectation that this would lead to further schemes being introduced in cities in Britain. However, the paper shows that implementation is some way off, with government policy focussing more on encouraging local authorities to introduce local schemes than to take action itself. This is no doubt part of the reason why cities like Manchester are having trouble getting schemes accepted.

In the case of Manchester, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly confirmed on 9 June 2008 that the Government provisionally agreed to invest £1.5bn in improved public transport in return for the introduction of the congestion charge scheme in Manchester. But the result of the vote shows that this commitment was not enough to persuade local people. The campaign group Manchester Against Road Tolls (MART) condemned the proposal saying it would force low-paid drivers off the road. Critics also argued that, once in place, charges could be increased without consultation. With respect to pricing it’s interesting to note that in Singapore – where they have had road pricing since 1975 – decisions to raise road charges are taken at ministerial level (“Road pricing in Singapore after 30 years” by Gregory Christainsen (2006)). This emphasizes what an important political issue road charging is, and that leaving it to local government may not be realistic.

The Manchester vote also underlines the problem of trust and of gaining acceptance by the local community. This is examined in the article ‘Explaining variations in public acceptability of road pricing schemes’ by S. Jaensirisak, M. Wardman and A.D. May (2005). The paper shows that whilst planners recognise the importance of charging for alleviating congestion, fighting environmental impacts and raising revenue, they may not be focussing sufficiently on the “acceptability properties” of proposed road charging schemes. Reviewing the available research, the paper shows that acceptance by the public depends on a wide range of factors including: information about what the pricing revenue will be used for, in particular in terms of public transport and environmental improvements; the balance of views of car owners and non-car owners; information provided on potential time saving benefits and the severity of current congestion; any options for rebates on other road taxes; and the overall issue of freedom and fairness.

Is it time for central government to show the sort of courageous leadership displayed by the London Assembly and look at road charging legislation for all major UK cities both to relieve congestion and to tackle environmental issues?

Western perceptions on global poverty

The word ‘poverty’ is, no doubt, a key word of our times, extremely used and abused by everyone, above all in the Third World context. Huge amounts of money are spent in name of poor countries. Thousands of books and expert advice continue to offer solutions to their problems. But where does the current discourse on poverty come from?

Interested in writing an essay on the anthropology of poverty, I read the book Encountering development. The making and unmaking of the Third World by Arturo Escobar (1995). According to the author, poverty on a global scale was a discovery of the post-World War II period. Before this date, during colonial times, the concern with poverty was conditioned by the belief that even if the natives could be enlightened by the presence of the colonizer, their capacities for science and technology – the basis for economic progress – were nil. Therefore, any attempt by the colonizer to help the poor to improve its conditions by its own means would be senseless. It was, in fact, the decolonization phenomena factor that allowed the ex-colonizers to reconsider their views on the poorest countries.

The modernization of the poor was increasingly seen as a social problem that, without the intervention and guidance of the West, would not be possible to solve. The invention of a politics to balance global poverty became central to the world order. The representation of the Third World as a child in need of adult guidance was not an uncommon metaphor and led to what Escobar has called the secular theory of salvation. In order to understand the European construction of reality regarding the poor, I need to first “anthropologize” the West and the domains that they have granted as universal. In order to do so I would like to explore how other academics have approached this topic.

The first author than promptly comes to my mind is Edward Said and his studies on Orientalism. I log into IBSS and enter ‘Orientalism’ in the title field and ‘Said’ in the author one. Six results are returned, corresponding to the six different revisions that Edward Said has done to his work since 1978. For my purpose on the study of the European stereotypes, I choose the first option ‘Orientalism once more’ published in 2004. I decide to search again under the term ‘Orientalism’, but this time adding another subject term ‘otherness’ in order to contrast other academic contributions to this topic. This brings up eighty two records. Since not all the records are relevant to my topic, I do a quick scanning and I am immediately interested in the article by Jean Ferreux ‘The other as an historical invention’, included in the book ‘Imagining the Arab other: how Arabs and no-Arabs see each other’ edited by T. L. Djedidi (2008). Further down in the list I found an article more directly relevant to the subject I am interested in; the historically built discourse on otherness and poverty. This in an article written by Michal Buchowski (2006) titled ‘The specter of orientalism in Europe: from exotic other to stigmatized brother’, which combined with the M. Haldrup, L. Koefoed and K. Simonsen (2006) article on ‘Practical orientalism – bodies, everyday life and the construction of otherness’, will give me a good start for the first section of my essay.

In order to cover the second section of my essay, I need to look for what other academics have said about the Western paternalistic approach to global poverty. This time I look for the subject terms ‘paternalism’ and ‘poverty’ in the IBSS database. I have a promising list of eighteen records, from which I decide to have a close look at four of them: L. M Mead’s (2000) works on ‘The new paternalism: supervisory approaches to poverty’ and ‘Telling the poor what to do’ (1998); N. Jesurun-Clements (1992) article on ‘Paternalism and the alleviation of poverty’; finally, as an interesting contribution to my essay, I select the article of F.Manji and C. O’Coill (2002) ‘The missionary position: NGOs and development in Africa’, which focuses on how the current NGO are perpetuating the work of former colonial missionaries in terms of poverty alleviation and westernization (and therefore, preventing the emancipation) of local societies.

Remember, remember, the 4th of November

‘Seismic shift’, ‘tidal wave’, ‘sea of change’ – just a few of the expressions echoing in the media, when journalists the world over were trying to capture the moment Barack Obama was declared president-elect of the USA. And indeed, it is hard to imagine that anyone would forget anytime soon the achievement of America’s first ‘black’ president-to-be.

But how much credit should we give to the issue of ‘race’? Obama himself consciously played down the colour of his skin, partly in order not to isolate voters of any demographic group and to keep heated debates at bay. So it seems a little ironic that after the declaration of his victory, the matter of race is seemingly the talking point of the moment. There is no denying the historic nature of Obama’s victory, a moment even more precious to the generation that witnessed and participated in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. But to reduce the achievement to the simplicity of ‘race’ both in terms of his candidacy and electoral support is the equivalent of saying that George W. Bush won because he was a Texan (although some may indeed struggle to find finer qualities to his character).

It makes me wonder whether the academic community too has such a ‘straight-forward’ view on politics and race. I conduct a search on ‘elections’, ‘African-Americans’ and ‘U.S.A.’, which brings back a neat 46 records. Kenny J. Whitby comes to the conclusion in his article ‘The effect of black descriptive representation on black electoral turnout in the 2004 elections’ (Social Science Quarterly, 88:4, 2007) that the ‘presence of African-American officeholders positively affects the politicization of the black electorate’, much in the same way as Priscilla L. Southwell and Kevin D. Pirch argue in ‘Political cynicism and the mobilization of black voters’ (Social Science Quarterly, 84:4, 2003). Although research in electoral demography can bring up some interesting results, it seems to me that scientists are dividing the electorate into easily digestible chunks and are in danger of creating an over-simplistic causality as a way of interpreting the electoral process.

Although ‘race’ may offer an angle for explaining political behaviour that many people find persuasive, it is interesting to see that a simple search combining ‘voting behaviour’, ‘presidential elections’ and ‘U.S.A.’ results in a plethora of complementary and competing explanations (a grand total of 435 results). Thad Williamson has taken a less explored path in his article ‘Sprawl, spatial location, and politics: how ideological identification tracks the built environment’ (American politics research, 36:6, 2008) in investigating how neighbourhood characteristics can help predict voting patterns. In ‘Moral conviction and political engagement’ (Political psychology, 29:1, 2008) Linda J. Skitka looks into the effect of moral values on motivating people to vote. Other topics touched upon include family structure, weather, campaigning and religion, all in the first twenty results.

For these same reasons, and taking into account the huge personal achievement of Mr. Obama, I would wish to see a more nuanced and pluralistic image of him. One that is not merely based on the all-too-familiar ‘black&white’ dichotomy of American politics but an assessment based on intellectual ability, leadership skills and the content of his policies, in short, all the headings that a ‘white’ president would be scrutinized under in good times and bad. Despite the euphoria of an unarguably historic moment in recent political history, I hope that we can see the wood for the trees and appreciate Barack Obama for the great qualities he brings to the Oval Office – can’t we?

David Cameron: Man with a plan?

David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, set out on Wednesday (1^st October) his vision for Britain as led by a future Conservative government. His powerful and, on the whole, well-received speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham was clearly designed to demonstrate to voters that the Leader of the Opposition was willing, ready and able to become the country’s next Prime Minister.  Although relatively inexperienced as a parliamentarian (he was first elected only in 2001) – especially in comparison to his adversary, Gordon Brown (an MP since 1983), Mr Cameron has generally impressed within his own party and is beginning to play well with the electorate at large. The 12 point lead he holds in the opinion polls¹, although attributable in part to the ’credit crunch’, the current banking crisis and a perceived lack of leadership by the Prime Minister, could not have been imaginable under any of his most recent predecessors.

In addition to his inexperience though, Mr Cameron must face further questions about his ability to lead the country before voters are convinced enough to trust him with the keys of No.10 Downing Street.  His privileged background is certainly one of those. White and middle-class, a graduate of Eton and Oxford, many believe that Mr Cameron is intrinsically elitist and unable to understand the plight of those on low income during a period of increasing economic uncertainty.  His shining performance at the dispatch box and the conference lectern, too, are clear examples of the Tory leader’s aptitude for self-presentation and, indeed, self-promotion, acquired and perfected during his previous career in a major media company. It is this ‘slickness’ that may ultimately prove off-putting for a electorate already wary of the dangers of ‘style over substance’ so soon after the departure of Tony Blair.

In his speech, David Cameron mentions the word ‘change’ on no less than twenty occasions, but has he managed to change the Conservative Party from one of perpetual Opposition to one capable of forming the next Government?  Of the six journal articles in the IBSS database that explicitly list the Tory leader as a subject term, the majority focus on whether he can, has or will change the Conservative Party and its electoral fortunes.  Titles such as ‘Consigning its past to History? David Cameron and the Conservative Party’ (Evans, Stephen, 2008) and ‘Cameron Chameleon and the Current State of Britain’s ‘Consensus’’ (Kerr, Peter, 2007) emphasise the leader’s promise to change the party.  However, a broader search for Mr Cameron’s name in ‘all text fields’ uncovers articles that reveal the obstacles facing him, including the Tory Party’s traditional ambivalence toward the European Union – ‘Between a Soft and a Hard place? The Conservative Party, Valence Politics and the Need for a New ‘Eurorealism’’ (Bale, Tim, 2006) – and the leader’s perception as a PR and ‘marketing man’, capable of presenting himself and his party in a positive light without having to reveal too much in the way of policy, for example, ‘Political Marketing in Untraditional Campaigns: The Case of David Cameron’s Conservative Party Leadership’ (Ormrod, Robert P., et al., 2007). 

There is still a big gap between the views of many Conservative party members and the Tory leadership but what may be more significant is the gap that the public perceives between David Cameron’s gift for self-presentation and media awareness and his ability to produce a coherent, relevant and comprehensive set of policies.  His desire to hold on to the Conservative Party’s past and its adherence to Thatcherism – he mentions the former leader on several occasions during his conference speech – is in stark contrast to his calls for change.  These contradictions and a reliance on his well-rehearsed application of media-focused sound bites and PR-friendly rhetoric can lead to charges of being insincere or superficial. However, it is the ‘substance’ of Mr Cameron’s policy that will ultimately prove whether the country is willing to elect him as the next Prime Minister.  Cursory bows to environmentalism and social justice will not fool the electorate unless they are substantially backed up with manifesto pledges and policy statements. Just saying you are “a man with a plan” does not make it so.

 

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¹ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01000/uk-polls-large_1000132a.jpg

 

 

 

Young men don’t kill people, guns do

Columbine, Dunblane, Virginia Tech, Erfurt… and since Tuesday: Kauhajoki, Finland. Another tragic school shooting, after which nine students and a teacher died, raises multiple questions about how another event of this magnitude could happen. Incidentally, Tuesday’s massacre was the second time within a year that a killing spree took place in a Finnish school. It is only now that the Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has called for tightening the country’s gun laws. But should this not have been done long ago already?

I search IBSS on the lookout for information and start my quest by simply entering ‘schools’ and ‘shooting’. I get a handy 17 results, most of which tackle the problem of school shooting from a sociological perspective, such as a book by Katherine S. Newman Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shooting (Basic Books, 2006). In reference to the killers mostly being male, Michael S. Kimmel and Matthew Mahler touch on the issue of identity in their article ‘Adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence: random school shootings, 1982-2001’ (American Behavioral Scientist 46:10, 2003). But I am more interested in the issue of weapons control, and want to know whether there has been any research on gun laws, control, arms limitation and schools specifically.

My search, using a combination of the words mentioned above, brings back relevant results: Regina G. Lawrence and Thomas A. Birkland debate the media influence on congressional legislation with reference to the Columbine school shooting in ‘Guns, Hollywood, and school safety: defining the school-shooting problem across public arenas’ (Social Science Quarterly 85:5, 2004) while ‘The legal context of school violence: the effectiveness of federal, state, and local law enforcement efforts to reduce gun violence in schools’ (Law and Policy 23:3, 2001) by Richard E. Redding and Sarah M. Shalf discusses how law enforcement and legislation can prevent school shootings. The usual suspects are all present in this article. Redding and Shalf recommend stricter gun laws, more vigorous enforcement of existing ones and touch upon the possibilities for juveniles to acquire guns.

In the Finnish context, it is often argued that a ‘culture’ of hunting would make any attempts at tightening laws and regulation on carrying guns unacceptable in the public realm, an argument which seems valid considering that Finland has the third highest gun ownership in the world (behind USA and Yemen). However, as any serious hunter would know, small firearms, such as the Walther P22 pistol used in the Kauhajoki incident, are never used in hunting. In order to at least lower the probability of further school massacres, it is imperative that the Finnish government will impose stricter controls on the licensing and possession of handguns since they are ultimately used only for one purpose – killing people.

Jaruzelski – the lesser evil?

General Wojciech Jaruzelski goes on trial today over his imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981 – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7611690.stm. He imposed martial law to defeat the Solidarity workers’ opposition movement in Poland, which had become a powerful threat to the communist regime. Jaruzelski’s defence will be that he acted to prevent a Soviet crackdown which would otherwise have been inevitable to quash the Solidarity movement. Many Poles apparently believe him, and there has been no great clamour in the country to bring him before the court.

To find out a bit more about the circumstances surrounding these events, I ran some searches in IBSS using a range of terms, including ‘Jaruzelski’, ‘martial law and Poland’, and ‘Solidarity’. There are several works by the General himself, including his own justification of events Stan wojenny, dlaczego…? [The rule of martial law, why...?] published in 1992. I was especially interested to find reflections based on conversations between Jaruzelski and the leading Polish dissident Adam Michnik – Mein Leben für Polen. Erinnerungen. Mit einem Gespräch zwischen Wojciech Jaruzelski und Adam Michnik (Munich, 1993). There is also a comprehensive two volume contemporary account “Poland under Jaruzelski” (1982) from the now defunct periodical Survey (ISSN 0039-6192) which was a leading West European publication on Eastern bloc affairs. All of these would offer distinctive perspectives from the time and would make interesting reading.

However the crux of the matter is – will Jaruzelski’s defence stand up? How plausible is his claim to have acted to prevent a Soviet invasion which would, surely, have been a worse fate for Poland? The book Politics of the Lesser Evil: Leadership, Democracy and Jaruzelski’s Poland (A.Pelinka, 1999) is generally supportive of this view. However others seriously question whether the Soviet Union in this period saw intervention as an option. In ‘Moscow, Prague and Warsaw: Overcoming the Brezhnev Doctrine’, (W. Loth, 2001) the author contrasts the very different international circumstances of 1968 (when Soviet troops entered Czechoslovakia) and 1981, suggesting that ‘The Soviet Union was no longer willing to intervene as it had been in 1968, but it was Jaruzelski who feared a possible collapse of “Socialism” and who decided to impose martial law in Poland’. An article on ‘The Soviet non-invasion of Poland in 1980-1981 and the end of the Cold War’ (V. Mastny, 1999) examined in detail the then newly available archival evidence from the Warsaw Pact crisis talks over the period. The picture is certainly very complex: military intervention, it seems, was planned, but these plans were halted in December 1980. By December 1981, when martial law was introduced, invasion was no longer a realistic threat. On this evidence it might seem that Jaruzelski imposed martial law not to avert an imminent Soviet invasion, but rather when he had given up hope of assistance from his Warsaw Pact allies, and realised he had to deal with Solidarity himself. The current trial, of course, will have to assess not only the actual likelihood of invasion, but also Jaruzelski’s own understanding of the situation at the time; in the midst of a political crisis, and without the benefit of hindsight, might he have genuinely and legitimately feared an external solution?