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Local Resistance in the Era of Capitalist Globalization:
Clash of Cultures in the 21st Century
--Niccolo Caldararo
With the collapse of the alternative ideologies of the 20th century, capitalism has had several decades of unopposed influence across the globe. This has had an increasing result of changing the lives of people in the mold of the west to the dismay of many people. No ideology unites them, no international organization can protect them from armies and corporate militias and death squads. National governments call those who resist “terrorists” and so class any actions of self-defense. We have entered an era of global conflict between traditional people and corporations where one way of life is being exterminated. While it is in general a continuation of the assault of western colonialism, today’s indigenous rebels, instead of being considered devil worshipers, are now often seen as minions of terror. Political rebellions, armed gangs and drug lords and religious terrorism appear to form a range of types with conquest of territory the goal on the one end and operational integrity (e.g., business) on the other as in oligarchs morphing into warlords and presidents (as in Chechnya and Ukraine). At the same time, international confrontations and competition for resources are escalating. The defeat of the USSR is often described as a “collapse” of authority and transition to a new civil entity, Russia, but like the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, it has resulted in the dismemberment of the Soviet Empire. While the Middle East remains unstable 100 years after the Ottoman defeat, the Russian periphery has become unstable in both independence movements along its southern borders as well as those flanking Europe. The demise of both empires threatens the stability of the world today. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Arab Spring Phenomenon and European Security:
Change and Continuity Under the Spectrum of Securitized Idealism
--George Voskopoulos
European security has historically been linked to the expectations-capabilities gap of the European Union (EU) as well as the EU’s role as a normative power reflected by the conscious choices made by European leaderships. Treaties have been the defining parameters of the operational ability, cognitive potential and institutional capacity of Europe to play a normative role in world politics. The Arab Spring phenomenon has illustrated the actual potential of the EU to act in unity. It has also shown that when inherent European idealism clashes with the realities of international politics, securitized idealism becomes the only viable choice. The concept bears a value-fact (security) oxymoron and is based on the need to balance security needs with the desire to spill over democracy in the Arab world. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Ethnofederalism and the Ethnogeopolitics of Afghan State
--Ambrish Dhaka
The state structuration in Afghanistan began with the ethnopolitical portioning of the state. This had intrinsic limitation as the common Afghan would only see state coming through particularistic arrangements conveyed through traditional authority. The secular institutions such as bureaucracy, law and civil society had disadvantage in this setup. The provincial governance showed better resilience to such ethnopolitical structure and at the same time National legislature too strived for more powers that could lend credence to secular institutions in Afghanistan. The role of democracy in promotion of such cause was only partially successful as the majoritarian power often slipped into the dominance of Pashtun warlords that carried a sense of distrust due to the superimposition of Taliban identity in their geocultural realms. Therefore, it depended a lot on leaders to make a careful choice between limited democracy and limited ethnocracy. The minority in Afghanistan took up the cause of secular institutions as they were the larger guarantee of their inclusion in power sharing. But the majoritarian leadership has often bargained outside the institutional framework that can be seen as consociational arrangement effectively weakening the secular institutionalization. This paper looks into the power sharing arrangement between Pashtun and non- Pashtun groups within the fiduciary limits of ethnofederalism and ethnogeopolitics that have shaped the evolution of Afghan state post 9/11. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
India-Argentina Trade Relations:
What India Needs to Focus on
--Syeeda Khatoon and Sonal Mittal
The decline in India’s exports has made our current account deficit position precarious due to the slowdown in the economy of conventional export market like North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) nations and European Union (EU). This paper attempts to explore the emerging economy and unconventional market of Argentina for boosting Indian exports. China has superseded USA in Latin American market by providing and supplying price competitive goods and adopting modern marketing strategies. India’s low value-added products, unable to make their place in developed countries’ economies, can comfortably be absorbed in Argentina. India needs to produce high value-added products for the upper middle class of Argentina but for lower middle classes price competitive products are required. © 2015IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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