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Political Tensions (political + tension)
Selected AbstractsApples, Pears and Porridge: The Origins and Impact of the Search for ,Coherence' between Humanitarian and Political Responses to Chronic Political EmergenciesDISASTERS, Issue 4 2001Joanna Macrae During the 1990s a consensus emerged within the international humanitarian system that there was a need to enhance the ,coherence' between humanitarian and political responses to complex political emergencies. Closer integration between aid and political responses was seen to be necessary in order to address the root causes of conflict-induced crises, and to ensure that aid did not exacerbate political tensions. This paper explores the theory and practice of coherence over the past decade. It argues that, by sleight of hand, the coherence agenda has been reinterpreted such that humanitarian action has become the primary form of political action, rather than merely a substitute for it. The coherence agenda has been driven by geopolitical events, domestic policy considerations in donor countries and the more parochial concerns of aid policy, and is reflected in a number of substantive changes in the humanitarian architecture. Many of the tenets of this ,new humanitarianism' have been embraced by the majority of relief agencies, and thus legitimised it. The paper concludes that political humanitarianism, as opposed to active engagement by political and military actors, is flawed ethically and technically. It will provide neither an effective palliative for the ill effects of war, nor address its causes. [source] The Politics of Belonging: Complexities of Identity in the Catalan BorderlandsGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2001Jouni Häkli The rise of the European nation,state system profoundly influenced the map of linguistic and cultural minorities. Catalonia in northeastern Spain is no exception. The consolidation of the Spanish and French kingdoms during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries left Catalan speakers without political and cultural sovereignty. Furthermore, in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, the Catalan homeland els Països Catalans was divided by the Franco,Spanish border. Today, Catalan culture and politics enjoy increasing latitude in both Spain and France. This has encouraged various forms of cross,border co,operation in the Catalan borderlands. It has also led many Catalan nationalists to expect still greater political autonomy. Some activists have voiced claims for independence and even the reincorporation of the Spanish (el Principat) and French Catalonias (Catalunya Nord). However, political tensions regarding the borderland's development exist between the local actors and the Spanish and French national governments, as well as between Catalan nationalists and the population at large. This article examines these tensions, first by looking at cross,border co,operation efforts in Catalonia, and second by assessing the visible markers of identity that Catalan nationalists have placed in the border landscapes. These are contrasted with the results of a survey charting the opinions and attitudes of ,ordinary' Catalans. The article argues that there are significant cleavages among Catalans, and that the era of the nation,states has left a legacy of complex loyalties at international frontiers. [source] Governing by goals and numbers: A case study in the use of performance measurement to build state capacity in ChinaPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2009Jie Gao Abstract This article examines why performance measurement, a tool adopted by western countries chiefly to improve government services, has been designed and implemented as an instrument for building state capacity and for ensuring policy compliance in China. Under China's performance measurement system, the central government translates its macro reform goals into specific policy objectives, which it then assigns downwards through the administrative hierarchy. Local governments at the county level convert the policy objectives allocated to them into a variety of prioritised performance targets for local officials to achieve. Using the experience of an inland Chinese county as a case study, this article argues that performance measurement accrues significant political benefits to its users. It forces local Chinese officials to concentrate their efforts on realising the policy priorities set by the higher-level authorities. However, the way that performance measurement is conducted,governing by goals and numbers,does not address the substantial governance issues and fundamental social and political tensions that exist in Chinese society. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Max Dvo,ák: art history and the crisis of modernityART HISTORY, Issue 2 2003Matthew Rampley The work of Max Dvo,ák has seldom enjoyed the acclaim accorded to that of his Viennese colleague Alois Riegl, or contemporaries such as Aby Warburg and Heinrich Wölfflin. This paper argues for a reconsideration of his work, in which his ,art history as the history of ideas' is seen both as a lens through which Dvo,ák conducted a sustained commentary on the present, and also as a critique of modernity comparable to the social and economic theories of Ernst Troeltsch, Ferdinand Tönnies, Georg Simmel or Ernst Mach. The article argues that Dvo,ák's work offers an important example of the numerous intellectual and political tensions at work in the final years of the Habsburg monarchy. As such, the article aims to question the institutional frame within which much art-historical writing is often analysed. [source] | ||||||||||