State And Civil Society Under Siege

This book critically examines the effects of the Hungarian government’s counterterrorism and security policies and practices on the operational capacities of civil society organizations. It argues that the government’s security regime has significantly altered the autonomous space of organizations and severely strained state-society relations.

From Menem’s new Thatcherite experiment in Argentina, through Fujimori’s unexpected victory in Peru, to Collor’s near defeat at the hands of the rapidly growing Workers’ Party of Brazil, Latin American politics is once again in turmoil. Whilst military dictators have been dumped from office, their liberal and populist replacements have found television exposure and playboy reputations insufficient to hold together societies still remorselessly squeezed insufficient to hold together societies still remorselessly squeezed by United States foreign policy. But US influence in the subcontinent is not only under siege from the impoverished masses of increasingly unstable states; it is also threatened by intensifying superpower competition as Japan and a unifying Europe mount their challenges for world dominance. In this wide-ranging and original polemic, Petras and Morley examine the social structures which emerged from neo-liberal economic policy during the 1970s and 1980s. they show how Latin American society is increasingly organized around a continental bourgeoisie maintaining high levels of foreign investment, a national bourgeoisie operating on the margins of legality and committed to both economic deregulation and public-sector activity, and a growing class of low-paid and poorly employed workers subject to the demands of export-oriented capital into international financial circuits is matched by technical and intellectual integration, with a collapse into conformity of formerly critical groupings. For students and the interested general reader, this balanced and rigorous analysis of state power and social form provides a substantial new framework in which to consider the exigent questions of US-Latin American relations.

Although the military has historically played a pivotal role in Latin American politics and society, until now little attention has been paid to the complex set of civilian-military relations in each country. This collection of essays, the product of a long-term research program organized by a group of prominent Latin American scholars, compares current linkages among the armed forces and local social and political structures and institutions. Within each nation studied, the contributing author found increasing military autonomy vis-a-vis the state. They show that this institutional autonomy has allowed the military to develop as independent political entities within the various countries, a process that seems to be common to all Latin American societies. Their research also demonstrates how the military diversifies itself when acquiring higher degrees of institutional autonomy. Collectively, the contributors contend that although civilian democratic forces will play a much larger role in political decisionmaking in this decade as compared to the last, it is evident that armed forces will retain a considerable share of political power. Regardless of the institutional arrangement, the military will continue to exercise significant veto power over civilian political forces. The independent military that has emerged is a new variable that must be taken into account in future analyses of Latin America's secular political crisis. By compiling the first complete analysis of Latin American military forces and their role in contemporary domestic politics, editor Augusto Varas has made a significant contribution to the study of Latin American politics. This first examination of the role of the armed forces during a period of relative political stability will be welcomed by historians and political scientists alike.

A comprehensive analysis on the rise, assertion and dominance of the New Hindu Right forces in civil society From its forgettable electoral performance of 1984 to its historical victory in 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) story has been fodder for many political and academic debates. In this book, the authors show how the Hindu Right uses security, both external and internal, as a strategy for political mobilisation and eventual electoral success. It further explains the organisational and ideological penetration of the Sangh Parivar into the civil domain through strategies of securitisation. Deriving data from original sources, writings of leaders and their autobiographies, speeches, government documents, reports, pamphlets and manifestos of various Hindutva organisations, the work follows the growth of the Hindu Right forces and its trajectory over the years, taking a close look into its philosophical settings and political strategies. The book assumes significance in light of the massive electoral success of BJP in the 2014 elections.

This report is based on material gathered during & after a visit to Columbia in Feb. 2003, to evaluate the effects of the internal armed conflict on Colombia civil society. As foreign aid, drug money, & corruption bolster the armed forces, guerrillas, & para-militaries, the armed conflict in Colombia continues to intensify in scope & brutality. Despite the stalling of the national peace process, a vibrant civil society is engaged in a search for peace. Churches, NGOs, & local & regional authorities are designing & implementing programs that offer alternatives to violence. These local & regional peace initiatives are laying the groundwork for confidence-building measures that could lead to broader initiatives for peace at the national level.

Today, international economic sanctions are imposed in response to virtually every serious international crisis, whether to promote regime change and democratisation, punish armed aggression, or check nuclear proliferation. But how exactly is the economic pain inflicted by sanctions supposed to translate into political gain? What are the mechanisms by which sanctions operate - or fail to operate? This is the first comparative study of this vital question. Drawing on Gramscian state theory, Societies Under Siege provides a novel analytical framework to study how sanctions are mediated through the domestic political economy and state-society relations of target states and filter through into political outcomes - whether those sought by the states imposing sanctions or, as frequently occurs, unintended and even highly perverse consequences. Detailed case studies of sanctions aimed at regime change in three pivotal cases - South Africa, Iraq and Myanmar - are used to explore how different types of sanctions function across time and space. These case studies draw on extensive fieldwork interviews, archival documents and leaked diplomatic cables to provide a unique insight into how undemocratic regimes targeted by sanctions survive or fall.

Moving beyond the question of whether international economic sanctions work, this book explores how they work - or fail to work - to transform target societies and states.