Tras los atentados de Barcelona y Cambrils, la radicalización a través de los imames ha vuelto a colocarse en el foco de atención. La figura del Imán constituye uno de los puntos de referencia de los fieles de la religión de Mahoma, lo que le otorga un papel central en el proceso de radicalización y, por ende, en las estrategias de prevención de la radicalización. Su control (la designación y la formación) supone un punto estratégico a la hora de abordar los planes de seguridad. Sin embargo, para atajar esta temática se deberá tener en cuenta el derecho a la libertad de religión y de culto regulado en el art. 16 CE, así como el proceso de formación y designación del imán.
Coalition building in Israeli politics
When in March 2015 the last election to the Knesset or Israeli Parliament took place, ten parties got to win seats in the legislative body. The winner, Likud, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, held less than a fourth of the seats contested. This fragmentation of the political party system might seem alien to people coming from a European or American context but it isn’t something new in Israel’s plural society.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the electorate has had a wide variety of options at its disposal, ranging from the most hard-line right wing to the communist and radical left-wing options. But, again in contrast to other democratic systems, the political spectrum doesn’t only rely on left-right divisions. The issues regarding the peculiar nature of the State of Israel have been heavily discussed. The role of religion in a Jewish state, the integration of new Jewish immigrants (olot), the future of the occupied (or disputed) territories in the West Bank and the foreign relations with Arab states, are, among other matters, dividing topics that make the Israel’s political life fragmented and sometimes unstable, but certainly fascinating.
Auge del nacionalismo y populismo en la Unión Europea
El camino que ha llevado a construir la Unión Europea (UE) tal y como la conocemos hoy desde que en 1951 se constituyó la Comunidad Europea del Carbón y del Acero (CECA), ha sido lento y no exento de dificultades, pese a lo cual, el proyecto europeo ha ido avanzando sin pausa a través de los distintos tratados europeos que han ido aumentando la integración, tanto política como económica y social entre los países de Europa.
El difícil contexto histórico en el que nació la UE, hizo que los líderes de aquel momento buscaran la cooperación para evitar un nuevo conflicto en Europa que hubiera sido mucho más destructivo de lo que fue la Segunda Guerra Mundial, debido, sobre todo, tras la aparición del arma atómica. Desde entonces, se puede afirmar sin ninguna duda que esta unión de países europeos se ha consolidado como un proyecto de estabilidad y paz que perdura, avanza y que intenta mejorar.
El Orden Liberal Internacional
Se habla del “orden liberal internacional” para hacer referencia al sistema político global promovido por las potencias occidentales tras la segunda guerra mundial. De acuerdo con la definición clásica de John Ikenberry, el orden liberal internacional emana de la yuxtaposición de varios proyectos. Por un lado, está fundado sobre las ideas westfalianas de primacía de los Estados Nación con la soberanía como límite de la acción exterior. A esto se añaden las ambiciones liberales anglosajonas plasmadas en los sucesivos intentos de promover el libre comercio, la cooperación económica, así como la seguridad colectiva y el liberalismo político de corte democrático. El resultado es una construcción compleja, que como señala Kundnani, no está exenta de ambigüedad ni de contradicciones internas.
Heterarchy between legal orders: towards a pluralist conception of the European Union
According to Wittgenstein, “the limits of language mean the limits of my world”. In this sense, categories shape the world they set out to understand. For this reason, and since the way we conceptualise the world influences our perception and comprehension of the context we live in, scholars have the duty to use proper concepts to describe reality. Especially in times of legitimacy crisis and scepticism, addressing good definitions and accurate descriptions can be helpful to rationalise and understand complex issues. In particular, one of the hardest challenges of the last decades for legal philosophers concerns the analysis of the international legal order’s development through categories and paradigms. Mostly, the biggest problem to solve has always been the relation between the national legal order and the international one. In fact, since States decide to cooperate or at least to recognise other States’ sovereignty, they accept some limitations to their own sovereignty. This point poses serious consequences, which progressively became even more evident in the process of European integration. The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of a pluralist approach towards the European Union in order to understand its values and purposes, the way it operates and the idea of international relations that it proposes.
Nelson Mandela: un hombre y su legado en el panorama africano e internacional
Cien años después del nacimiento de Nelson Mandela se observa una Sudáfrica que se ha distanciado del curso que él trazó y que elevó a la Nación Arcoíris como torre de marfil. Este documento analiza, desde la perspectiva de las relaciones internacionales, el legado del héroe sudafricano. Asimismo, evalúa el deterioro que dicho legado ha sufrido en los últimos tiempos, señalando su estado en la actualidad. Finalmente, se hace una breve mención a la esperanza, con una dosis de incertidumbre, que el futuro puede deparar al legado de Mandela.
La estrategia de seguridad nacional de Trump ¿Reforma o revolución?
Tras la elección de Donald Trump como presidente de los Estados Unidos, muchas fueron las voces, incluso dentro del ámbito republicano, que lamentaron la elección del magnate neoyorkino. Dichas reticencias por parte de gran parte los expertos estadounidenses en política exterior se debían a la falta de experiencia del candidato republicano y, sobre todo, al miedo de que éste trasladase su heterodoxia al ámbito de las relaciones internacionales.
Failure to act: the Rwandan genocide and the International Community
Today, 24 years after hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were systematically slaughtered by their own countrymen, the genocide still casts its shadow over the country. Many of the bodies are yet to be found, a lot of the perpetrators remain at large and ethnic killings are not entirely a thing of the past (Pelz & Corbett, 2009). For the international Community, Rwanda is a painful reminder of the consequences of failing to act. Despite having a peace keeping force in the country, the UN and the main western powers did little to prevent such an atrocity. Many have called out the UNSC, and the countries involved, for looking the other way at the time of the events. On their defence, it has been argued that International Community received confusing signals until it was too late. This displaced the blame from decision makers to the Intelligence Community, where the mechanisms necessary to activate reaction are found.
El papel de los partidos políticos en la política exterior: Las relaciones de exteriores de España en el Magreb (1982-2017)
El presente Documento de Opinión analiza la importancia de los partidos políticos a la hora de elaborar la política exterior. Este hecho resulta clave para poder comprender los distintos cambios que han sucedido en el ámbito de las relaciones internacionales según el partido político que se encontrase en el poder. Se analizará el caso del Magreb como caso paradigmático, focalizando la atención en los dos actores principales de la región: Marruecos y Argelia.
Yihadismo para llevar: procesos de radicalización en occidente
Este artículo examina el fenómeno de la radicalización como vía de entrada al terrorismo islámico en Occidente. A lo largo del mismo se analiza el proceso de radicalización partiendo de la literatura existente, prestando especial atención a los factores que la propician y desmintiendo algunos de los mitos que rodean este fenómeno. Como evidencia, se emplean datos biográficos de terroristas islámicos a partir de estudios originales. Estos revelan que la radicalización es el resultado de una compleja interacción de factores, entre los que destaca la socialización, que vuelven más atractivo el mensaje del islamismo radical. Este artículo propone un modelo básico de radicalización para entender mejor este fenómeno. A modo de conclusión, se formulan una serie de recomendaciones para responder a los riesgos que supone la radicalización de manera más efectiva.
Relaciones entre EEUU y Rusia: ¿una nueva guerra fría? El momento de Trump
A lo largo de la historia reciente, las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y Rusia han sufrido diversos altibajos. Sin embargo, los rumores sobre la interferencia de Rusia en las elecciones presidenciales estadounidenses, y las actuaciones en Ucrania y Siria, han puesto en jaque las relaciones entre ambos países. Para poder mejorar la situación, una de las claves es el conocimiento de los últimos acontecimientos que han conducido a ambos países a este punto. Finalmente, la administración estadounidense debe decantarse por una política exterior global, que definirá el futuro de la relación con Rusia.
Países bisagra en África como motores de desarrollo del continente
La historia y la experiencia internacional han mostrado cómo las potencias regionales, en caso de tener éxito, traen consigo beneficios de diversa índole en los países de su región. Por el contrario, si fracasan, se produce una reverberación en los países de su entorno. Y todavía lo es más en el caso de África subsahariana, donde las jóvenes democracias son más susceptibles de contagio tanto de las buenas como de las malas praxis de las potencias hegemónicas tanto a nivel regional como global. Este artículo examina a aquellos países que ilustran mejor la importancia de los países bisagra regionales para el éxito de su región y del continente: Kenia, Nigeria y Sudáfrica.
'Black Economic Empowerment': la jaula del león sudafricano
El Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) es la política estrella de los Gobiernos democráticos del Congreso Nacional Africano (ANC) para tratar de resolver los problemas de desigualdad que acusa Sudáfrica. Pese a un período inicial de liberación económica que aumentó el atractivo del país, la evolución del BEE ha llevado a un intervencionismo agobiante. El resultado ha sido la creación de una élite negra minoritaria ligada a la ANC, aumento de la desigualdad, presión y confusión sobre las empresas, altos niveles de desempleo y la caída de la inversión extranjera. Un cambio a otra dirección no parece factible a corto plazo, ante un liderazgo de la ANC acorralada por la corrupción, que huye hacia delante con mensajes de más BEE. Sin embargo, a medio y largo plazo, un cambio de Gobierno en Sudáfrica se anticipa inevitable.
Development Policies for International Markets in Argentina
Development, as Amartya Sen puts it in his Development as Freedom is “the process of
expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy”1. This translates to more than GDP
growth, or modern institutions and high-tech factories, it means to expand every aspect
of society. Sen argues that, yes, higher incomes can be helpful to achieve this, but it is
equally important to have a wider access to education, health care, water or electricity.
But Sen not only focuses on material necessities, he also gives importance to abstract
needs. For example, the respect of civil rights.
Nothing new about Novorossiya
This essay examines the Ukrainian Crisis, from the Euromaidan revolution to the annexation of Crimea and the Conflict in the Donbas, paying especial attention to the role of Russia and attempting to shed some light on the reasons driving Russian actions. The essay tries to place those reasons within the wider Russian foreign policy which has been consistent in trying to regain and preserve its weight in the post-soviet space, arguing that the intervention can be understood as a backlash against growing western influence, particularly in the form of NATO and EU membership initiatives. In this sense, the conflict in Georgia serves as clear precedent of the events in Ukraine and helps to understand the confrontational nature of Russo-Western relations. The essay concludes with some suggestions for a different approach to be taken by both Russia and the West.
Sudáfrica, ¿un país a la deriva en el nuevo orden mundial?
Sudáfrica experimentó, cual ave fénix, un renacer de las cenizas del apartheid, dando paso a un periodo de prestigio internacional y de liderazgo incuestionable tanto en la escala africana como global. Sin embargo, pocas décadas después de tan prometedor comienzo, la euforia democrática parece haberse desinflado. Además, los problemas internos de los que adolece el país, como la desigualdad y la xenofobia, no hacen sino acrecentar el descrédito y autoexclusión en la esfera internacional que ha cosechado el país por su alineamiento con China y Rusia, rivales del bloque occidental liderado por los Estados Unidos de América.
The Loud and Silent Voices
For Michel Foucault, those in position of power dominate the production of knowledge; they determine epistemological position. For Edward Said, the discourse in the West on the East has been determined by the West’s position of power over the East. The Subaltern Studies group completed the work of Said and reclaimed their history. They wanted to retake history for the underclasses; the voices of those who had never been heard before, such as peasants, women workers and what Said calls the “other”, but not the elites and the Eurocentric bias of current colonial and imperial history. In the same respect, Said claimed that “every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was. . . a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.” Ergo, the argument about discourse, power, and knowledge as outlined in Michel Foucault’s work was adopted by Edward Said in his seminal Orientalism. The Subaltern studies group attempts to do work that Said identifies as needed: the retrieval of history lost in hegemonic violence. In this essay, I will discuss the narration of history through Michael Foucault’s lens. Then, I will analyze how Said was influenced by Foucault’s arguments on the relationship between power and knowledge and the concept of discourse. Finally, I will explore how Subaltern Studies group would provide a different narration of history that voices their perspective regarding major historical events—a perspective that has been previously ignored by those in power.
Strong State, Weak Ethnicity and the Rwandan Genocides
The Rwandan genocide is one of the great human cataclysms of the twentieth century. The genocide was a “systemic and coordinated attempt to physically eliminate the entire Tutsi population of Rwanda.” The most accurate figure for those who were killed in the 1959 genocide, when Hutus seized power and stripped Tutsis of their lands, was 100.00. In 1994, the mortality figures were more immense; 800,000 Rwandese, including moderate Hutu and Tutsi, were killed in the space of 100 days at the hands of Hutu militia and the army. It was the fastest genocide in the history of humanity. This genocide cannot be explained through stereotypes; the actors are far from just “savages”, “barbaric”, mindlessly killing. Although their actions are abhorrent, they are breathing and thinking Homines sapientes who had political motives. How can one explain the Rwandan genocide? Some European commentators had an answer. The trigger that came in 1994 is a product of a deep history. They argue, “African tribes are possessed by ancestral hatreds and periodically slaughter each other because it is in their nature to do so.” In order to deeply grasp the human catastrophe that consumed Rwanda, this paper will analyze the complexity of the contested Rwanda histories of ethnic relationships and the role of a strong state in Rwanda. There are some factors that should be taken into account such as: the pervasive economic crisis, the politicization of both ethnicities, Hutu and Tutsi under the Belgian rule as well as in the independence era in 1959, and the strength of the Rwandan state. I will argue that a strong state, weak ethnicity and the economic situation have led to the Rwanda genocide in 1959 and 1994.
The Genesis of Hezbollah
In the late twentieth century, the Middle East has witnessed a rise of Arab nationalism and a resurgence of Islamic wave that is prominent in both its strength and scope. After being known as “the Switzerland of the Middle East”, Lebanon plunged into the law of the jungle. More specifically, the Islamic movement became the powerful resistance to the existent order, politically and socially that undermine the Lebanese state’s sovereignty. A Shiite movement such as Hezbollah in Lebanon is a clear example of this phenomenon. In the rural region of South Lebanon, 85% of the Shiites were over-represented among the poor working classes. Hezbollah began by the transition from groundwork preparation and being marginalized to not only having an organized institution based on norms and rules but also its members serve in both legislature and the cabinet, while simultaneously maintaining an armed militia. In this paper I will analyze what is particular about Hezbollah and what are the circumstances that made it possible for Hezbollah to become a local, regional and international player in the political arena. I will discuss the historical dynamics of the ‘Party of God’ emergence locally, regionally and internationally and its ideology.
Post-Conflict in Liberia and Crime in Monrovia
Although crime has existed since antiquity, with piracy and slavery, we can no longer assume that a crime committed here and now is an isolated or local incident since we can no longer have this simplicity in today’s complex world. To elaborate, the crime that are seen as local or regional have become relative. The examples of crimes vary widely; they can include drug distribution, homicide, human trafficking and kidnapping. In order to have a critical examination of crimes in post-conflict societies, which is the “no peace, no war” or “neither peace, nor war” situations after the signing of peace accords, it is first essential to understand the nature of conflict. In post-conflict Liberia, there are numerous research topics about Liberia that can be classified under the umbrella of broad categories: civil wars, war crimes and Charles Taylor. One of the main reasons Liberia attracted the attention of the world is because of the atrocities committed during the civil wars. Nevertheless, criminology, as an academic discipline, has not yet strongly emerged in Liberia. What is peculiar and unique in the case of Liberia, in which I will investigate, is the potential in returning the country to war through the involvement of ex-combatants in crime. This makes criminality in post-conflict Liberia a source of serious concern.