Volume 17, Issue 4, November 2023, Page 637-647
.
Book review: Jatin Bala, A Life Uprooted: A Bengali Dalit Refugee Remembers
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Jatin Bala, A Life Uprooted: A Bengali Dalit Refugee Remembers. Translated by Mandakini Bhattacherya and Jaydeep Sarangi. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2022.
Jatin Bala, A Life Uprooted: A Bengali Dalit Refugee Remembers. Translated by Mandakini Bhattacherya and Jaydeep Sarangi. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2022.
Setting sustainability agenda at the local level: a process of compromise making
International Review of Administrative Sciences, Ahead of Print.
This paper examines how local actors set the sustainability agenda. By relying on the economies of worth, we explain how actors dwell upon multiple worlds to evaluate what is valuable, what is not valuable, and to promote their views. Empirically, we draw evidence from the Walloon region in Belgium, by investigating how multiple actors discuss their views in an attempt to set a sustainability agenda. We outline the multiple worlds that actors refer to during their interaction, the moments of critiques and how a compromise is shaped where the green world is given a significant prominence. Furthermore, we identify a set of mechanisms that facilitated the multi-actor interaction to shape a collective compromise as a continuous process.Points for practitioners(1) Local governments play a crucial role in sustainability policies due to their proximity to local communities, enabling the development of tailored solutions, and direct engagement with citizens to address local environmental and social challenges.(2) Agenda-setting in local sustainability policies is intricate and frequently contentious due to the diverse values, interests, and preferences of all involved stakeholders.(3) Drawing on Boltanski and Thévenot's orders of worth theory, this paper offers researchers and practitioners an approach to unpack and understand the varied values, interests, and preferences of all involved stakeholders.(4) This paper identifies and elucidates three mechanisms (reflection, engagement, and alteration) that facilitate interactions among stakeholders, allowing them to reach a compromise on a shared sustainability agenda.
This paper examines how local actors set the sustainability agenda. By relying on the economies of worth, we explain how actors dwell upon multiple worlds to evaluate what is valuable, what is not valuable, and to promote their views. Empirically, we draw evidence from the Walloon region in Belgium, by investigating how multiple actors discuss their views in an attempt to set a sustainability agenda. We outline the multiple worlds that actors refer to during their interaction, the moments of critiques and how a compromise is shaped where the green world is given a significant prominence. Furthermore, we identify a set of mechanisms that facilitated the multi-actor interaction to shape a collective compromise as a continuous process.Points for practitioners(1) Local governments play a crucial role in sustainability policies due to their proximity to local communities, enabling the development of tailored solutions, and direct engagement with citizens to address local environmental and social challenges.(2) Agenda-setting in local sustainability policies is intricate and frequently contentious due to the diverse values, interests, and preferences of all involved stakeholders.(3) Drawing on Boltanski and Thévenot's orders of worth theory, this paper offers researchers and practitioners an approach to unpack and understand the varied values, interests, and preferences of all involved stakeholders.(4) This paper identifies and elucidates three mechanisms (reflection, engagement, and alteration) that facilitate interactions among stakeholders, allowing them to reach a compromise on a shared sustainability agenda.
Book review: Dwarka Bharti, A Rebellious Cobbler
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Dwarka Bharti, A Rebellious Cobbler. Panther’s Paw Publication, 2023, 126 pp., ₹499 (Hardcover). ISBN: 978818194399551.*
Dwarka Bharti, A Rebellious Cobbler. Panther’s Paw Publication, 2023, 126 pp., ₹499 (Hardcover). ISBN: 978818194399551.*
The view from Mathura: nationalist projections in local perspective
Book review: Mike Chinoy, Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic
China Report, Ahead of Print.
Mike Chinoy, Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic (New York: Columbia University Press, 2023), pp. 520, $35.00. ISBN 9780231207997 (Paperback).
Mike Chinoy, Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic (New York: Columbia University Press, 2023), pp. 520, $35.00. ISBN 9780231207997 (Paperback).
A response: Forum on Snapshots from Home
Journal of International Political Theory, Volume 20, Issue 1, Page 117-119, February 2024.
The commentary reflects on the contributions to the forum in light of the overall objectives of Snapshots from Home: Mind, Action and Strategy in an Uncertain World.
The commentary reflects on the contributions to the forum in light of the overall objectives of Snapshots from Home: Mind, Action and Strategy in an Uncertain World.
Introduction to the forum on: Karin Fierke, Snapshots from Home: Mind, Action and Strategy in an Uncertain World (Bristol University Press, 2022)
Journal of International Political Theory, Volume 20, Issue 1, Page 88-90, February 2024.
Karin Fierke situates Snapshots from Home at the intersection of two bodies of scholarship: one directed toward globalizing the study of world politics and the other drawing from quantum theory’s insights to study the social world. The first body of scholarship has a long history. That it did not make a mark on the study of world politics until the mid-2010s has to do with the narrow notion of “science” that dominated the study of world politics, also known as disciplinary International Relations (IR). By way of showing the obsolescence of the narrow notion of “science” that IR has modeled itself on, the body of efforts that draw from quantum theory’s insights has the potential to make more room for the first one. Fierke’s book, by way of exploring the parallels between quantum physics and Asian philosophies, allows us to identify this potential. The contributors to this special forum each elaborate on different aspects of this potential.
Karin Fierke situates Snapshots from Home at the intersection of two bodies of scholarship: one directed toward globalizing the study of world politics and the other drawing from quantum theory’s insights to study the social world. The first body of scholarship has a long history. That it did not make a mark on the study of world politics until the mid-2010s has to do with the narrow notion of “science” that dominated the study of world politics, also known as disciplinary International Relations (IR). By way of showing the obsolescence of the narrow notion of “science” that IR has modeled itself on, the body of efforts that draw from quantum theory’s insights has the potential to make more room for the first one. Fierke’s book, by way of exploring the parallels between quantum physics and Asian philosophies, allows us to identify this potential. The contributors to this special forum each elaborate on different aspects of this potential.
Green electoral performance and national climate change commitment: The conditional effect of EU membership
Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
Does Green party electoral success lead to increased climate change commitment, and if so how? Drawing on a new OECD database on climate change outlays, we probe indirect influence from Green electoral success as mediated by inter-party competition, and direct mechanisms of influence from elected Green representatives. Our headline finding is that EU membership functions as a contextual catalyst for inter-party competition, with EU governing parties responding to Greens’ strong electoral performance by increasing climate change outlays to appeal to environmentally motivated voters. We also find evidence that, both across the OECD cohort and the EU sub-grouping, Green coalition presence is associated with increased climate spending over a political cycle. While direct Green influence through coalition presence is widespread, indirect influence mediated by inter-party competition is conditional on EU membership. Findings fit with literature highlighting systematic difference between EU members’ climate performance, and that of other advanced-industrialised states.
Does Green party electoral success lead to increased climate change commitment, and if so how? Drawing on a new OECD database on climate change outlays, we probe indirect influence from Green electoral success as mediated by inter-party competition, and direct mechanisms of influence from elected Green representatives. Our headline finding is that EU membership functions as a contextual catalyst for inter-party competition, with EU governing parties responding to Greens’ strong electoral performance by increasing climate change outlays to appeal to environmentally motivated voters. We also find evidence that, both across the OECD cohort and the EU sub-grouping, Green coalition presence is associated with increased climate spending over a political cycle. While direct Green influence through coalition presence is widespread, indirect influence mediated by inter-party competition is conditional on EU membership. Findings fit with literature highlighting systematic difference between EU members’ climate performance, and that of other advanced-industrialised states.
Sexualized Objects and the Embodiment of Caste Honour: Rape in Dalit Women-centric Movies
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Several popular Hindi movies feature attempted rapes and gang rapes, reinforcing the rape culture, which must be problematized. The study analyses selected movies and demonstrates that the caste and gendered form of sexual violence carries multiple levels, the nature of gang rape, rape as erotic entertainment, and an embodiment of caste honour with rape as an element of revenge. These elements are unique to Indian movies as they incite caste honours, and normalize sexual assaults, supporting and glorifying Indian rape culture. The study illustrates the awareness of the culture of caste and gendered honour-based dominant caste ideologies in selected movies and demonstrates how these can legitimize and encourage rape. This could lead to a better-integrated understanding of this rural rape culture. The study argues that the Indian mainstream film industry has mainly portrayed Dalit women’s rape and suggests Savarna filmmakers’ obedience to such portrayals has consequently intensified the hype and reproduction of rape culture in Indian society. Significantly, the last decade has witnessed noticeable accumulations in sexual violence against the subaltern Dalit women aggregated.
Several popular Hindi movies feature attempted rapes and gang rapes, reinforcing the rape culture, which must be problematized. The study analyses selected movies and demonstrates that the caste and gendered form of sexual violence carries multiple levels, the nature of gang rape, rape as erotic entertainment, and an embodiment of caste honour with rape as an element of revenge. These elements are unique to Indian movies as they incite caste honours, and normalize sexual assaults, supporting and glorifying Indian rape culture. The study illustrates the awareness of the culture of caste and gendered honour-based dominant caste ideologies in selected movies and demonstrates how these can legitimize and encourage rape. This could lead to a better-integrated understanding of this rural rape culture. The study argues that the Indian mainstream film industry has mainly portrayed Dalit women’s rape and suggests Savarna filmmakers’ obedience to such portrayals has consequently intensified the hype and reproduction of rape culture in Indian society. Significantly, the last decade has witnessed noticeable accumulations in sexual violence against the subaltern Dalit women aggregated.