Studia Politica. Romanian Political Science Review vol. XXII, no. 2, 2022
ARTICULI
Civil society organizations (CSOs) are social actors with a significant impact on the construction of ideas and social reality. They shape the dynamics of international cooperation, along with the role that each actor plays in this process. The European Union has become one of the main donors in the field of cooperation and an actor with particular experience in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. However, to this day, very few studies have empirically analyzed the interactions that exist and develop between the European Union and non-European civil society when they occur in the context of peacebuilding. This article hopes to contribute to filling this gap by providing an in-depth analysis of a case-study. Based on semi-structured interviews, we argue that relationships of peacebuilding cooperation emerge and exist within a process of transnational interaction that takes place at three levels: approach, reciprocal action, and consolidation. The analysis demonstrates the existence of strategic and normative usages of European Cooperation on issues of peacebuilding.
Keywords: cooperation, international relations, civil society, conflict, peace, European Union.
MARIANGELA RUEDA FIORENTINO (Universidad del Norte), mfiorentino@uninorte.edu.co.
SILVANA INSIGNARES CERA (Universidad del Norte), insignaress@uninorte.edu.co.
Since the onset of the Great Recession more than a decade ago, new political actors have emerged, whose platforms are predominantly based on opposition to economic austerity as well as a radical critique of traditional politics. Faced with the newness of these formations, alongside the issues they bring to the forefront of political discourse, social science scholars have produced innovative concepts to address the specificities of these new actors. Some fifteen years have now passed since the recession, and so we believe the time has come to scale back the emphasis on “newness” and rather turn our attention to the analysis of the progressive normalization of discourses, structures, and repertoires of action. Through the classic literature on political parties, this analysis aims to trace the stages of the development of the Five Star Movement, from the birth of its political project to its most recent developments. Pedersen’s concept of “thresholds” combined with the literature on the formation of political parties allow us to trace the rapid path of organisational structuring, whose first manifestations emerge as early as the first parliamentary representation. Our analysis looks at the transformation of the Five Star Movement from an outside political actor to an inside political actor in parallel with the stabilisation of its organisational structure, which increasingly has come to resemble the form of a traditional party.
Keywords: Great Recession, Five Star Movement, Movement-party, Organisation development, Normalisation.
GIANCARLO MINALDI (Kore University of Enna), giancarlo.minaldi@unikore.it.
This article analyzes the phenomenon of peacekeeping in the contemporary world during the United Nations peacekeeping missions. Based on the analysis of fifty-six completed UN operations, the authors describe types of missions and build an empirical typology. Attention is paid to the impact of globalization on the sovereignty of modern states, and their ability to exercise a monopoly of power. The problems and the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions, the political and legal aspects of global interventions into local sovereignty, the role of the (neo)liberal global order in (re)producing legitimacy for such interventions are discussed. An empirical analysis of the discourse of UN peacekeeping missions leads to identifying five main types of missions. Their nature is joint with various socio–political manifestations of erosion of local sovereignty and different types of normativity. The article points out the ambiguity and dependence of the processes under study on multiple interests and actors in the context of globalization.
Keywords: sociology of globalization, peacekeeping operations, security, erosion of sovereignty, United Nations.
ALEXANDER GOLIKOV (V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University), golikov@karazin.ua.
OLEKSANDRA DEINEKO (V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University), deineko@karazin.ua.
This article argues that no confidence motions passed in the last few years in the Romanian Parliament can be interpreted as the transformation of a dysfunctional majoritarian dimension of a consensus democracy into a consensual dimension. For years, the Cabinet had been in a dominant position over the Parliament, and no confidence votes had no chance to be passed. But in time the quality of the parliamentary parties in power and in opposition improved, and the legislature started to be more and more relevant. The history of no confidence motions in post-communist Romania is relevant. The correction of the dysfunctional dimensions of democracy resulted in dramatic changes of cabinets and executive coalitions. This article will analyze and explain how a succession of no confidence motions (in Romanian – moțiuni de cenzură, in English – “motions of censure”) transformed the nature of the political system and of democracy.
Keywords: Romania, no confidence motions, political parties, post-communism, political conflicts, patterns of democracy.
DAN PAVEL (University of Bucharest), dan.pavel@fspub.unibuc.ro.
This study examines the challenges of women’s activism in Iran using an explanatory-analytical method and the agency-structure theory. The article looks at the variables affecting the mobilization of women activists and political organizations in Iran from 1990 to 2011, and the challenges they had been facing. The hypothesis advanced by this article is that the most important factors influencing the activism of women activists were the different waves of feminism and democratization at the global level, as well as the generational gap, the developments in attitude and cultural aspects, an increase in the level of education, women’s access to the Internet, and the relative openness of the political system. The findings of this research are that women’s activism in Iran had achievements such as an amplified awareness and identification of rights, an increase of demands, the opposition to sociopolitical discrimination, the relative rise of the presence of women in Parliament, city councils, and executive bodies, and the realization of significant dimensions of social rights; in what concerns the dimension of political rights, the achievements have been much less important. The study also showed that sovereignty obstacles were among the most common challenges faced by women activists, among which we can mention ideological rigidity, pessimism about women’s organizations, and the patriarchal-conservative view of governance, weak relationships, strategic and tactical incoherence, and political-intellectual gaps among activists.
Keywords: Iran, women, political activism, feminist movements.
KHALIL SARDARNIA (Shiraz University), sardarnia@shirazu.ac.ir.
SARA MOHAMMADI (Shiraz University), sarah.mohammadii75@gmail.com.
The year 2021 was turbulent for Afghanistan as it saw the United States military withdrawal after twenty years and the Taliban’s takeover of the country. The Iranian regime supports the stability and prosperity of Afghanistan. Both countries are bound by strong economic and cultural ties. This article examines the history of Iran-Afghanistan relations and the links between Tehran and the Taliban. The study presents the key aspects of their cooperation that are vital to their national interests. This article uses a qualitative content analysis of the secondary literature on the two regimes with the purpose of explaining the essence of their two approaches, stemming from a blend of religious, historic, and economic causes, which shape politics and social sectors in both countries, and link them with the priority areas regarding the bilateral relations between Iran and Afghanistan.
Keywords: Iran, Afghanistan, Taliban, foreign policy, Middle East.
JÁN DANČO (University of Economics in Bratislava), jan.danco@euba.sk.
ĽUBOMÍR ČECH (University of Economics in Bratislava), lubomir.cech@euba.sk.
ANNALES
***, Chronology of the Romanian Political Life April 1 ̶ September 30, 2022
JAMES MARK AND PAUL BETTS (Eds.) Socialism Goes Global. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the Age of Decolonisation, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022 (DOMNICA GOROVEI, University of Bucharest)
VALENTIN NAUMESCU Războiul pentru supremație SUA-China și cele cinci forțe care schimbă lumea. Consecințe pentru România [The USChina War for Supremacy and the Five Forces Changing the World. Consequences for Romania] Iași: Polirom, 2022 (LUCIAN-ANDREI DESPA, University of Bucharest)
RADU CARP Confruntând zilnic pandemia. Reflecții despre transformarea sistemului politic într-o perioadă de excepție [Confronting Daily the Pandemic. Reflections on the Transformation of Political Regimes During an Exceptional Time] Târgoviște: Cetatea de Scaun, 2021 (CRISTINA-ELENA MERTICARU , University of Bucharest)