Book Review : Social Media in Political Participation.

The Australian Electoral Commission has taken an interest in

using social media to engage potential voters to participate politically. 

In Australia it has been demonstrated that social media has afforded benefits and new opportunities for engaging citizens in democratic processes. 

Due viewership of traditional media are dwindling down among most demographic groups, especially among young people, the use of social media is increasingly rapid and offers increased access to voters and potential voters.

Another benefit is social media provide an engagement with citizens. Specifically it allows citizens to have a say and be heard. 

Also social media can offer cost savings compared with the use of traditional mass media. 

As there are always negatives to a positive.  Social media has its downfalls. Social media use is personal and entertainment oriented. So some may question the truthfulness and severity of an issue put onto a  social media network. There will always be that question. 

Social media can spread criticism it can also facilitate disruptive information like spoofs,parodies, and fakes. Which means social media sites need to be managed. But social media can spread the good just as fast as it can spread the bad. 

In a recent political analysis  of political participation among youth in Australia concluded that 

"The Internet is significant in shaping the relationship between youth participation policies and new political identities in the following ways: it is a unique and autonomous platform for the realization of project based  political identities; it is a legitimizing space for new political practices of young people." 

The use of the Internet and social media has changed the concept of political participation. If we pin traditional forms of political participation and new forms against each other  you will  see the change. 

Traditional political participation included:

1. Membership of a political youth group , political party, union, etc. 

2. Attendance at official political meetings and rallies

3. Formal submissions and Ministerial Letters

4. Voting

5. Reading traditional media.    

New forms of political participation include:

1. Single issue and cause support 

2. Online following, such as liking, viewing videos

3. Online commentating such as Wall posts, and blogs,

4. Informal protest voting or not voting. 

5. Social network peer to peer interaction.

In Australia, the New South Wales state has a political party known as the Nationals or NSW Nationals. The leader of the party is Andrew Stoner. Not only does the leader of the party  have a twitter but the party itself has one as well.  The party's twitter is NSWNationals. On twitter the party leader and the party as a whole can reach out to its members and potential members to keep them updated on events and political matters. 

The party is not only reaching its general audience of members but the Nationals party created a twitter account specifically for its young members. NSWyoungnats. Social media engages people to participate in politics. 

As their is a decline in people going out and physically joining political parties and attending political rallies, the social media have increased membership thru Internet. The old or traditional forms of political participation are dwindling. 

There is a trend leading towards the personalization of electoral systems. This trend is being complemented by the spread of social media. 

With old media such as TV broadcasting and print news , politicians couldn't directly get in contact with potential voters. Social media such as Facebook and twitter allows politicians to directly get in touch with voters  and potential voters. Social media allows for Interactivity which creates strong ties between a candidate and its followers. 

The Australian government is having success in engaging citizens online thru social media

Notes:

Macnamara, Jim. Beattie, Jenni. Sakinofsky, Phyllis "E-lectoral Engagement-maintaining and enhancing democratic participation through social media".  University of Technology Sydney, 2012 

Les gauches françaises: 1762-2012 : Histoire, politique et imaginaire

Michael Chazoule

Book review

Les gauches françaises: 1762-2012 : Histoire, politique et imaginaire

By Jacques Julliard

This book had an interesting analysis to the back-story of the French left as a whole, which was brought up to my attention through the controversy of the book. It starts with the 18^th century, through the age of enlightenment up to Francois Hollande. The book attempts to show the progress of the political ideology through “les droits de l’homme” in the revolution, the parliamentary monarchy and much more, but I try to focus on the events from Francois Mitterrand and after. People were upset by the intention to completely define and classify the French left.  In the book, Jacques Julliard goes through the history of France and the role of the left, describing with certain detail the various shades of the political spectrum and how it was adaptive to its time. He speaks of the various forms of the “left” such as Liberal, Jacobin, collectivist and libertarian. When he talks about the liberal left (which is the dominant form of the left today), drawing bridges with the liberal right, also called Orleanism. He interestingly argues that its success is behind the fact that liberalism is the mainstream of the late twentieth century enjoying the irresistible rise of individualism in Western societies. An interesting argument he makes is on the Collectivist Left and the notion of interdependence, which was only ever present when the PCF (Party Communist Francais) and was highly criticized for hypocrisy. The Jacobin left was quite a complicated approach, where the author talks about the fact that with that philosophy, the state should be the cause of social change. A critic of the book likes to call it the “Republican Left.” The author claims that while it came to power, mostly under Mitterrand, but it eventually died down to let liberalism take its place. Controversial articles claim that it is still very much present, but without much representation.

According to the general feeling of the book, the authors tries to define the Left like a will to operate a transformation in society towards “equality and justice” while there are things that get priority, such as: those who backup that philosophy try to give the role to the State, which would promote the ideology and transformation through laws. The book is interesting in itself but feels a bit insufficient, without much argument, it leaves the skeleton for future (and ongoing) debates which seem more interesting as a whole than the book itself.

A Modern History of the Kurds: A Book Review

Jeff Martin                                                                                                                  4/13/13

A Modern History of the Kurds: A Book Review

From the time of the Ottoman Empire up to its civil war in the aftermath of Saddam’s genocidal campaigns, David McDowell’s “A Modern History of Kurds” tracks Iraqi Kurdistan’s (an important distinction that will come into play later) history and gives rise to a number of questions and theories pertaining to the nation without a state. The chief argument lies in the notion that modern Kurds problems are rooted during their times of being a mere colony under both Ottoman and Iranian flags. As I further researched into Kurdish autonomy I have found myself agreeing with him more often than not. However for the sake of a critical review, I shall make the argument that the majority of the problems lie exclusively within the timeframe of the Baath government’s genocide of the Iraqi Kurds in 1988 and the violent quelling of the Kurdish rebellion in 1991 & 1995.

In the book, McDowell goes through the various eras of Kurdish history and then focuses on local ethno-nationalism in the three Kurdistans (Iran, Iraq, and Turkey) and their respective histories. What develops is a pattern shared by all three cases that portrays the Kurds as a rebellious citizenry, remembering their servitude to previous empires have became the thorns in the sides of three governments, Baghdad, Tehran, and Ankara. McDowell does a good job in investigating the relationships not only between Kurds and the three nations but also between the various factions and tribes of Kurdistan, namely the KDP and PUK and the presence of the PKK which is notable for a campaign of violence against the Turkish government. He also delves into the ethno-nationalism of the three Kurdistans and how they differ from one another. When we think of Kurdistan, we tend to view it as a monolithic one culture nation; in reality they are distinct in culture, dialects, and economics. Iraqi Kurdistan is the most economically stable and most autonomous (and the focus of my research) and what Arbil does the rest of the nation follows. Yet that doesn’t mean that Kurdish civilization is a monolith. On the contrary, it is extremely varied and unlike any other in the region and McDowell illustrates that point to a tee.

By the time you get to the middle pages, the thesis previously stated is already shattered. There are so many issues when it comes to Kurdish nationalism that is still rooted in the 19^th century and McDowell connects the two perfectly. The fractured nature of the tribes and parties themselves stemmed from their previous holdings in the two empires and even though they have grown far apart in terms of culture, they still retain a common identity. This knowledge will help me tremendously during my research as I connect Iraqi Kurdish preference of autonomy over statehood to that of the other Kurdistans and their own collective push for nationalism ranging from the fight in Turkey to reestablish their identity after President Ataturk suppressed it to the Iranian Kurdish infighting over the direction of their area. McDowell constantly bombards me with facts about some of the lesser known aspects of Kurdish history and while it I’m very grateful for him to impart his knowledge, it makes it a very tough read and even going through it constantly, there are still some parts that are still mysterious to me. When it comes to material like this, you have to really delve deep into it, something that cannot be done in just a few nights of light reading.

Overall, A Modern History of the Kurds accomplishes what it set out to do in the first place which is provide a neat timeline of the various significant events, factions, and external influences which shape Kurdistan into what it is today. It proves to me that these problems are not just consequences of modern conflict, but of long standing divisions and grievances ever since the caliphate fell over 100 years ago. This will help me tremendously through my research as I figure out just how deep these problems go and if they are a hindrance to Kurdish autonomy in Iraq.

Jon-Michael Puglionisi Book Review

Jon-Michael Puglionisi

Book Review

     One thing that can definitely be said about Barrington Moore, Jr.'s book Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World is that it is extensively researched in order to give the most accurate picture of the points that he tries to convey throughout the book. He focuses on the political, economic, and social changes in India, China, Japan, France, Great Britain, and the United States and also though to a much lesser extent, he touches on Russia and Germany. He did not put the same research and analysis into these two countries which made sense for the book. Moore also does a good job examining the history of these countries and why in some cases power shifted and in fact how it happened. He also analyzed the paths each of these countries took toward modernization. Moore did a good job of figuring out which paths could be taken by a country toward modernization. He broke these down to capitalist democracy, capitalist, and communism. His writing on communism was especially useful to me in terms of my project since it is on Cuba, a country famous for its Communist regime. While my project doesn’t center on communism, one cannot truly discus Cuba without discussing communism and Moore gives a more in depth look. His views are different from some others that I have been reading. Moore’s conclusion that in the countries where the middle-class were at the heart of the revolution, democracy formed ultimately leading to a democratic capitalist society and in the countries where the revolts came from the peasant led to fascist societies. Moore believed that without the Civil War in America, the French Revolution in France or the Puritan Revolution in England these societies would have not been able to make the changes necessary in order to progress. Moore made interesting points when speaking on the role of and the relationship between landlords and peasants. He seemed to have a very good grasp on this topic, an almost personal connection to the topic. Moore believed that a crucial factor in the “anatomy of these governments has been the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the landed elite.” He said fascism’s major cause was “the survival of a landed aristocracy into modern times.” An aristocracy is defined as “the indispensable social basis of right-wing authoritarian regimes that show a strong tendency to culminate in fascism under the impact of advanced industry.” Moore believed the problem with states dominated by landed elites was: “...to make the transition to a paying commercial agriculture without the repression of those who worked the soil and to do so the same in industry, in a word, to use modern technology rationally for human welfare was beyond the political vision of these governments...these systems crashed in an attempt at foreign expansion, but not until they had tried to make reaction popular in the form of fascism.” Moore seemed to have a thorough understanding of why a state run by the elite few would lead to unrest of the lower class and ultimately rebellion. His writing on this subject was also useful for my project. Cuba, in essence, is filled with peasants, with people who all earn the same low wages and have to wait in line for bread. Cuba is a bit of a different situation as their revolution didn’t have much to do with class. They went from being poverty stricken nation to a communist regime where everybody remained poor. Despite the fact that Cuba is communist there are still a few elite. The deeper understanding of the relationship between landlord and peasant that I gained from Moore definitely helps me to see things from a different angle when researching for my project. Overall, Moore was successful in exploring why some modes of development produced different political landscapes and further how they led to modernization and industrialization. He also very effectively used the landlord and peasant roles to illustrate and convey properly how aristocracy and a state run by just an elite few would operate and how it would likely lead to problems. The strength of this book as I stated earlier was most definitely in the extremely thorough research and unique views on political systems, not only how they operate but how they are formed as well. Moore was able to draw very interesting conclusions by using unique ways of approaching these topics and I believe that made the book even more successful in getting his points across.

A Speculative History of the Mafia in Cuba and Las Vegas

While researching for my project I have come up with what I believe to be a pretty interesting theory. The late 1800’s were a period of organization for organized crime in the United States. Many old world rules were still in place, especially in terms of the Italian Mafia, and they were still getting their footing so to speak. Like many other businesses, they were using a trial and error model, seeing what worked and what didn’t but at this point their stranglehold on the unions and other lucrative rackets didn’t exist yet. It was in 1920 that the government essentially handed criminal organizations what would end up being a golden ticket in the form of Prohibition. Just imagine taking a product that is as wildly popular as alcohol and making it completely illegal. Criminal organizations saw this as a godsend and they capitalized on it. Some took the approach of having liquor imported to the United States from places like Ireland and selling it as is for triple the going rate. Others formed their own distilleries. Others smuggled in Molasses from Canada. Most would use sophisticated underworld techniques of “stretching” the liquor to get three bottles out of one. The product was inferior but who could complain? Prohibition made vast, vast fortunes for organized crime figures, fortunes that eclipsed the fortunes held by CEO’s of major companies. This money was used to, amongst other things, further their interests in Cuba and that is exactly what they did. With Meyer Lansky at the helm, organized crime syndicates controlled all of the casinos, hotels, and nightlife in Cuba. In addition to that, they were completely backed by Batista, effectively giving them free reign to do exactly what they wanted. They always sought partnership with government and they had that in Cuba. In the United States they were building Las Vegas, Benjamin Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel and Casino being the first step toward the new Las Vegas. Despite the slowly growing Las Vegas Cuba was still the place to be for the Mafia. With Batista cooperating and no gaming commissions the immense profits continued to roll in. Vegas continued to grow and while the Mafia didn’t exactly have the government behind them they did have an FBI director in J. Edgar Hoover who completely denied their existence. Everything was going great for organized crime until Batista was finally overthrown in 1959 by Fidel Castro. The Mafia had no choice but to focus on Las Vegas and their stateside businesses giving up the Cuban dream. My theory is that not only did the Revolution in Cuba ruin the Mafia’s businesses there but it delivered a devastating blow to the Mafia for years to come. Sure, the 1960’s were still considered the “golden age” of the mob as Vegas continued to boom but bad times weren’t far off. J. Edgar Hoover was aging and the mafia became more prevalent in society. The public started to become intrigued by the newspaper articles they read on Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, and Carlo Gambino. When the Mafia was pushed out of Cuba it was essentially the beginning of the end. They would never hold power again like they did when they occupied Cuba. The 1970’s saw a decline and the 1980’s were even worse with the rapid rise and fall of John Gotti. Today, the mafia is a shell of its former self and I believe the fact that they were ousted from Cuba played a much bigger role in that than people understand. I plan to further research the topic.

**If anybody wants to see something interesting you should watch the Godfather part 2, part of which show the rise in Cuba as well as the overthrow of Cuba’s leader by a fictitious rebellion. It is very interesting and is said to be one of the most realistic aspects of the Godfather trilogy.**

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of Privatization in the Russian Oil Industry

          

     The transformation of the energy sector is one of the most significant changes that have occurred as part of the transition to a market-based economy in post-Soviet Russia. Strangely the oil and gas industries have taken strikingly different paths; the former towards full privatization and the latter away from privatization and towards a highly centralized state entity whose capital saturates every function of the state. The path to privatization that the oil industry followed is important because it sheds a light on the forces that shaped and influenced the transition of the Russian economy. By describing the actors, structures, and economic environment of the Soviet transition Li-Chen Sim gives an in-depth review of the oil sectors path to privatization. The successes and failures of oil privatization he describes are important to understanding the huddles any formerly nationalized sector of the Soviet economy faced.

     Li-Chen Sim is an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Societal Sciences at Zayed University (Abu Dhabi), United Arab Emirates. The great success of her analysis is not using the Oligarchs of post-soviet Russia as a scape-goat and instead focusing on other actors such as the "young reformers," the Soviet-era oil-industry managers, and the politicos around President Boris Yeltsin. Li-Chen Sim argues that the conventional wisdom that post-Soviet tycoons have taken hold of the Russian state to determining the design and implementation of policies to privatize the oil industry is an erroneous one. State control in the transition period was inconsistent and sparse over state resources but one must only look back through the past regimes’ treatment of the energy sector to know its importance to the Russian state. Oil was the second largest assets to tsarist Russia after grain and, like today, oil was the largest economic assets to Soviet Russia. The privatization of the oil industry did not happen in a blink of an eye but was done in stages through Presidential decrees and economic reform policies.
   
     In 1992 there 300 fully state owned oil entities and “within a decade, six privately owned oil companies emerged to dominate the Russian oil industry,” (Sim, 1). Li-Chen Sim concentrates on the years 1992-2003 as the key reformer years of the oil industry because they went against “inherited and contemporary trends” in the oil industry. She lays out three reasons for why the practices were in opposition; oil was a strategic and valuable commodity that underpinned much of soviet development, the pace at which the oil industry was de-monopolized, corporatized, and privatized was in stark contrast to other energy subsectors, and there is no compelling rational to do away with state ownership because there is no correlation to ownership type and a world-class oil company. For the third reason, state-ownership in the norm in most oil rich countries that are developing and nationalization of key economic assets is the norm for transitional periods of states.

     These practices have been noticed by many but Li-Chen Sim takes in step further by forsaking the accepted paradigm in analysis of Russian development as state assets being ruthlessly plundered by tiny elite of business oligarchs who captured the state and its functions. She separates the businessmen into their own force and concentrates on the influence of Soviet-era general managers of oil companies. Since the decision to privatize oil was made at the end of 1992 Li-Chen Sim says that it was done prior to the emergence of big business so the ‘red directors’ certainly played a central role during this period.

      As seen above the focus of this book is, “on oil companies and the impact of their leaders on policies related to oil privatization in Russia,” (Sim, 5). Li-Chen Sim uses an analytical framework of rational choice institutionalism. This analysis is on the interaction between human agency and institutional parameters with the individual as the basic unit of analysis. The following three assumptions lead her analysis of YUKOS, Slavneft’, and Rosneft’. First, political actors make decisions and determine policy that may re-craft and destroy institutions. Second, the political actor is self-interested and third, the self-interested actor is rational in that he attempts to maximize the possibility that his highest-ranked preference is achieved.

      Li-Chen Sim’s analysis addresses issues critical to Russia’s political and economic development. Russia must decide who controls the flow of privatization throughout Russia and if any form of de-nationalization is healthy to the nation. Her analysis of the oil industry is a window into the political and economic processes and organization of a still transitioning Russia that may be important to other sectors of the economy.
 

The Struggle for Power in Syria: Sectarianism, Regionalism, and Tribalism in Politics

Nickolas Van Dam’s The Struggle for Power in Syria Sectarianism, Regionalism, and Tribalism in Politics is a short but informative book on the rise of the Alawite minority in the Ba’ath Party and in the Syrian Armed Forces also known as the Troupes Speciales de Levant from the 1960s through the late 1970s. The book highlights the origins of the sectarian conflicts that blossomed as a result of French occupation of the territory after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Van Dam uses biographies, memoirs, polemical writings, Arabic press and radio broadcasts as well as an assortment of secret and unpublished Ba’ath Party documents to explain the sectarian conflict.

According to his research, French occupation had a strong role in exacerbating the sectarian sentiments and indirectly allowing the Alawi minority to seize power. When the French occupied Syria prior to independence, they employed a strategy of divide and conquer which prevented any ethnic group from obtaining a position powerful enough to endanger the French administration. This also had the unintended effect of eroding ties among Syria’s ethnic and religious groups, forging factions within each group and against each other. After independence, the idea of Arab nationalism was much stronger than any concept of a Syrian national identity, which divided these groups. The French created the Troupes Speciales de Levant, largely composed of non-sunnis and other minorities in order to maintain order and suppress rebellions, which caused resentment among the Sunni majority. Van Dam shows that in addition to causing resentment among Sunni’s, the rise of non-sunni’s to military careers during this time period would eventually lead to their seizure of political power, as the country experienced a number of military coups throughout the 60s and 70s.

The rise of the Ba’ath Party helped unify and organize the Alawi’s against the majority during this time period as well. Arab nationalism was strongly associated with Sunni Muslims, which marginalized non-Sunni’s who were seen as second-class citizens within the country. The Alawites in particular were impoverished and did not benefit from this nationalistic outlook because they were seen as non-perfect Arabs. Dam shows through his research that non-Sunni’s identified with the Ba’ath idea of nationalism because it stressed a united, secular society. When political parties were dissolved, the Alawi’s remained secretly organized and when they were made legal once again, the Ba’athists were the strongest and most organized group, another reason they were able to grab the reigns of power during the series of military coups.

I found the conclusions of this book to be largely factual as they are echoed in many other sources I have read on the country, although not nearly as in-depth as they are covered in this book. I also found it interesting how well Van Dam was able to understand the conflict considering the book was published in 1979; this book is cited in many much more recent accounts on the subject which is also how I managed to find it. While we have a much more robust perspective of the political situation today, Van Dam’s analysis of the sectarianism back then can be interpreted as a forewarning of the conflict we see today.

The book is an easy read that provides a good overview of political life during this time period. By using biographies and memoirs, he is able to get individual perspectives from Syrian’s who provide first hand accounts. While this book covers a relatively short amount of time, it is especially useful for my research as it provides a solid starting point on the origins of the sectarian conflict, which is a major aspect of my paper. It also highlights how the Alawi minority came to power, something that is a major source of resentment within the country and also a driving force behind the civil war today. However, since this book only covers events from 1961-1978, I would need many more sources in order to complete my research. Nonetheless, it is a great book to begin my research. 

Escape from Violence by Aristide Zolberg, Astri Suhrke and Sergio Aguayo

The purpose of Escape from Violence is to provide a structured, coherent framework to the ever-existing refugee regime. Zolberg (et al.) ultimately argues that the creation of refugees is a product of political phenomena—within their country of origin, and the international community. At the point where this is being denied, or unacknowledged, these displaced individuals will continue to be victims. He argues that there is inherency between refugees and political activity because “a revolution, for instance, should not be judged merely by the tragic but historically necessary fact that it produces refugees” (Zolberg 1989, 262). The production of these refugees is political, and the creation of the policies by the ‘North’ countries is a byproduct as well. In order to facilitate a proper regime, the international community must have consciousness to construct a comprehensive definition of a refugee and, thereby, create structures and policies based on the root causes that create refugees.

The first section of Escape from Violence offers the comprehensive definition, as well as historical analysis that tell the evolution of such a fluid and rigid term. The United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) definition, he argues, is too restrictive and technical to imply the political origins of their displacement. Whereas the popular conception of refugees as individuals who are within a “large and varied universe of oppressed, suppressed, malcontent and poor persons…commonly considered as ‘push’ factors that produce migration” (Zolberg 1989, 4). Both conceptions of a refugee suffer from disconnect between the identity of a refugee and root causes of the migration problem. To mend this, Zolberg provides three sociological types of refugees: (1) activist, who is someone that engages in some politically significant activity that the state is again

st, (2) target, someone belongs to a social/cultural group that has been singled out, and (3) victim, an individual displaced by societal/international violence that is not necessarily directed at them (1989, 30). He states that the first two are acknowledged in the current structure of the refugee regime, and room needs to be made for the third.

My paper uses these sociological types from section one to argue that there is currently a lack of recognition of Iraqi SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) refugees. These individuals worked for the US military for at least a year during the US occupation, and now their lives are threatened. They have lost their identity as an Iraqi, and lack necessary assistance from the US to flee. The identity that creates their refugee status is completely different than the three types that Zolberg illustrates. For the second and third type, there is a collective identity that subjugates these individuals, through no choice of their own. The first type is closest to the SIV, though not equivalent; the difference is present through the motives of the individual. An activist has a deliberate intention to rebel against the regime, whereas the motives for an SIV cannot be assumed. The Iraqi is targeted because of a job they had which tainted their perception amongst other Iraqis as a ‘traitor.’ This identity as a SIV refugee was a product of political conflict. The US invaded Iraq and employed citizens to carry out its operations with full efficiency. “Unilateral intervention tends to become competitive no-win situations for the intervening powers…[and] place a heavy burden on the local parties” (Zolberg 1989, 265). The creation of the refugees was through political strife, and therefore, recognizing the refugees is, inherently, a political move for the US. I argue that it is their obligation since the Iraqis provided the military a service, and solely through this service, their Iraqi identity has been extracted from these individuals.

The third section of Escape from Violence argues that refugees are a critical element within political phenomena; reforms must occur in the refugee regime in order to give the victims the adequate attention and resources that they deserve. The definitions prove to be an extremely useful tool in order to urge the international community to take the displacement of these individuals quite seriously. Currently, the UNHCR sees the refugee phenomena as a humanitarian concern. Zolberg takes issue with this because the political motives of the international community in recognizing, or not recognizing, various groups and individuals are not considered. This choice that every country makes is entirely based on its own interests and what relationship the refugee identity has with the receiving country’s politics. Zolberg urges the country “to observe that the sociological existence of a refugee (whether an activist, a target or a victim) is independent of the legal recognition that may be extended, or withheld, for a variety of political reasons in addition to the claimant’s sufferings” (1989, 274). There is a need to look at the refugees as non-political individuals who require assistance.

Escape from Violence is a necessary and comprehensive study of this complicated international issue of migration due to victimization. Zolberg specified and expanded the conception of what it means to be a refugee, and urges the international community to apply the definition in their policies. Insofar as this book was written before the Iraqi SIV case was present, I don’t criticize his types. Rather, they are necessary to prove the legitimacy of these individuals’ strife and I argue that the types need to be reformulated. The identity of these individuals is both collective and individual, and based on inherent identity (what they are born into) along with identity based on choice (the activist and SIV). The international community must take this into account when the specific policies are made, and are required to acknowledge the inevitability of refugees with any political conflict or strife.

William Conallen Book Review-Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics

Book Review: Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics
By Daniel Hallin and Paolo Mancini

This book seeks to examine the field of international comparative media system research. The study compares media systems of 18 Western democracies including nine Northern European countries, five Southern European countries and four Atlantic countries. Across the way the book draws various parallels to how some regions have distinctive aspects of their culture, media and politics which establish a pattern by which they are characterized. The book is successful in creating some distinct models to charactertesize three areas of Western democracy but falls short ultimately in terms of the modern framework of the relationship between media and politics. If this piece were written today it is my view that an entire chapter would perhaps need to be added regarding the dimension of new media such as those from social websites on the internet and their impact of various media outlets allocation of political news

Hallin and Mancini’s conceptual framework consists of the four dimensions: structure of media markets, political parallelism, professionalization of journalism, and the role of the state with regards to media systems; and of the five dimensions the role of the state, type of democracy (consensus vs. majoritarian), type of pluralism (individual vs. organized), degree of rational-legal authority, and degree of pluralism (moderate vs. polarized) with reference to the political contexts of media systems. According to specific constellations of the variables within these dimensions, Hallin and Mancini conceptualized the three models of media and politics. This to me even further breaks down the analysis that Hallin and Mancini were attempting to engage in. What these dimensions in terms of media market structure and political context due however is allow us to make perhaps slight differentiations between countries that are included in the same regional districts. Surely the relationship between the media and politics in the United States and Great Britain cannot be simply defined by a sort of macro level analysis. However even though they are included in the same model we are able to successfully acknowledge some unique traits in each nation. Thus it is here where I believe the authors examination of political contexts in media show signs of truly unique identities amongst various nations. Questions like how does an two party system affect the role of media, the type of voting system and the potential number of relevant political parties are included in establishing an sort of mini framework for an particular nation’s role between the media, politics and government.

These are all incredibly important facets of my study and show this examination of politics and media by Hallin and Mancini should be included in the discussion. Ultimately for the purpose of my own thesis it cannot serve as a source to support the prevalence of new media in regards to political polarization due to the absence of its discussion in the book. This book undoubtedly could not have foreseen how incredibly prevalent the influence of new media through the internet would become in regards to the overall political discourse. The simple fact is that at the time this book was published many new media arenas such as Facebook or Twitter were only becoming new to the international scene or in Twitter’s case not even in existence. Prior social media ventures such as MySpace were also still working out the “kinks” of how social media could impact the news media landscape and thus at the time perhaps did not seem relevant to include in their study. Further advanced study may prove that functions of new media have distinctly influenced all the dimensions the authors mention in terms of polarization, professionalism and structure.

Well these are all incredibly important ideas to acknowledge in our globalized society I do believe it falls short of discussing perhaps the most important arena in which political discourse occurs today, this area of course being that of social media. Now this may not be the fault of the authors due to the fact that at the time of the books publishing (2004) it is most likely new media did not influence the public discourse in a similar fashion to today’s political climate. Thus I would definitely refer someone to a more current writing of the relationship between media and politics if their goal in mind is to discuss how avenues such as social media are impacting the practice of politics. But in the case of how traditional print and broadcast political outlets play a role I believe this book is well worth a read.

 

Guatemala Revised

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Book Review

Demanding Democracy: Reform and Reaction in Costa Rica and Guatemala 1870’s – 1950’s By: Deborah J. Yashar

            For my senior seminar paper I am analyzing the effects of colonialism on Guatemala.  Guatemala today is still an authoritarian government, where it had no stable democratization in its history.  Deborah J. Yashar’s book is a great book to reference throughout my research.  She asks two important questions how democracy is formed and what conditions will keep it in place. 

             “It assesses the historically constructed conditions that have undergirded authoritarianism and the actors that have set out to overcome them.  It takes structures seriously insofar as the organization of states, the economy, and society often institutionalize a given distribution of power, a set of vested interests, and modes of interaction.  These institutions provide the constraints within which and against which actors maneuver.  They are also likely to provide the conditions to predispose actors to favor one political outcome over another”. Yashar compares Guatemala and Costa Rica.  Two countries with similar historical backgrounds but Costa Rica enjoys a democracy where Guatemala is still under an authoritarian rule.  Yashar explains four postulates for democracy within the book. 

            In postulate one Yashar breaks down how states function in relation to markets and economy in the sense that it makes a division of people.  She says that states and markets have played a dominant role in configuring, institutionalizing, and regulating the distribution of resources and the property rights that uphold it.  Yashar argues that these markets delineate political institutions and distribution of resources that have undergirded authoritarian rule.  Within the book Yashar explains that the agro export market of Guatemala within the 1860’s to the 1880’s.  Guatemala was ranked the fourth biggest coffee producer in the world within the 1960’s.  Obstacles such as infrastructure made it harder to keep the trade up because of this Guatemala constructed railways, damns, bridges and communication networks.  What was so attractive of coffee production was the land that it was on.  The indigenous people of Guatemala inhibited the land where most of this production took place, this then caused a land distribution that enabled people to buy the land and pay a certain tax.  These taxes were too high for mostly all the indigenous people that once had occupied the land.  The argument Yashar makes is that the market of this time guided the division of the indigenous, and authoritarian rule remained. 

            In the book Yashar argues the point that historical context does push countries into authoritarian rule but what really influences this decision are precise moments where the country can reconfigure power. Yashar does a great job in making it clear that historical context is not the only factors in which countries either turn to democracy or to authoritarianism. What is most related to my paper is how she explains coalitions.   One of the conditions that Yashar analyzes is coalition.  They are defined as alliances among social sectors or groups.  Who sides with whom, against whom, and over what.  This important to my research because I talk a lot about how people were grouped in Guatemala.  What is most important within this book to my research is the critical point where Guatemala turns into a military rule and Costa Rica turns to a democratic rule in the face of the cold war where both countries tried to overthrow reforms. 

            Yashar argues that in order to endure a democracy it is not just the masses nor just the elite that need to challenge the regime.  It is necessary that the elite is divided and that they support the masses.  Elites hold the power within he society so if they are happy with the regime it is unlikely that there will be a change.  Yashar explains the October revolution within Guatemala, where military and the masses joined together to overthrow the 13 year dictatorship of Ubico.  They were successful in the overthrow but when new political parties came together, they were weak and crumbled from within.  The fourth and last postulate is an argument for civil society.  Yashar argues that in order to have and enduring democracy you also need to have a society that has developed normalized set of practices.  Such as compromise, social trust and participation.  The argument for civil organization allows democratization less threatening to the elite and allows for a coalition between the two groups.  Within the postulates Yashar articulates what is necessary for a democratic regime.  This is what outlines the differences from Guatemala and Costa Rica and why are they are so different today.  These outlines allow us to have an overall set of standards that Yashar believes holds the democratic construct together. 

A Review: The African AIDS Epidemic

In John Iliffe’s, “The African AIDS Epidemic”, he explores a full spectrum of the HIV/AIDS from its origins to its future outlook. The book contains 14 chapters starting from Origins to Epidemic, to the Penetration in West Africa, to Responses and Containment. My research on HIV/AIDS between Johannesburg and Lagos will concern Chapters 2-6 and 12-14. Chapter 2 begins with the origins of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in 1959. In this year, an “American researcher studying malaria took blood specimens from patients in the city” (Iliffe 2006, 3). Twenty years later, “…when procedures for HIV [testing] became available…”, one unnamed man from Kinshasa tested positive among the blood samples taken (Iliffe 2006, 3). This test became the first recorded incident of the HIV/AIDS infection. Furthermore, “… the fact that the likely viral ancestor of HIV-1 has been found only in the chimpanzees of western equatorial Africa is one of the…reasons for thinking that the virus originated there.” Illife indicates that the “…second reason is that only that region [Western Africa] harbored not only all three groups of HIV-1, but all the subgroups of the dominant group M (Iliffe 2006, 5). Doubtless, there has since been controversy surrounding the verity of the genetic transmission of HIV-1 to Cameroon and Cote D’Ivoire. Additionally, because of the rapid mutation rate of HIV, by the time incidences of the disease were recorded in the 1980s and 1990s, “…the range of specimens from Africa, North America, and Europe…differed from one another in their composition by up to 30 percent” (Iliffe 2006, 5). This problem emerged largely because there was no “…visible epidemic…” of HIV from 1959, “…nor for the next twenty years” (Iliffe 2006, 5). The second reason Illife indicates for the slow emergence of a visible epidemic is the “…very gradual development of the disease within human bodies” (Iliffe 2006, 8). Chapter 3 begins to introduce HIV’s transition into West Africa as the “…silent epidemic”(Iliffe 2006, 13). In the decades since the disease’s initial discovery, there were strong links being made between transmission, through birth, blood transfusion, and through sex. In particular, Iliffe indicates that the findings in the Piot report concerning the heterosexual transmission of HIV proved extremely controversial. The report prompted Joseph McCormick and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund a research project in Kinshasa. The report went beyond a quantitative analysis of HIV infection rates in West Africa and observed the cultural norms and contexts in which HIV exists in heterosexual relationships. In this way, the report prompted a necessary conversation about how the public should handle the discourse surrounding HIV/AIDS serostatus. Chapter 4 explains how HIV migrated to East Africa, and details the regions rates of infection twenty years passed 1959. Chapters 5 and 6 give similar treatment to South and West Africa. Chapters 12, 13 and 14, present the outlook on HIV/AIDS from the 2000s onward. In particular Iliffe points to the necessity for a shift in focus that changes the priorities of donors, and makes access to Antiretroviral Treatment more widely available. One means of achieving this is to not only focus on prevention, but to also screen communities most at risk for HIV infection. This way, they understand their serostatus and, if infected, can begin highly active antiretroviral therapy at the point of need. This screening method proved extremely effective in The Bronx, New York City. The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene indicates that major focus of activity in New York City has been the expansion of HIV testing, including both routine HIV screening and targeted testing in non‐clinical settings, with prompt linkage to care (New York City 2011, 583). CDC estimates of HIV transmission rates for persons aware versus unaware of their HIV status suggest that knowledge of serostatus and engagement in HIV treatment can decrease the HIV transmission rate by more than two‐thirds (CDC 2010, 4546). Measures to increase knowledge of HIV in New York City have included funding hospitals, clinics, and community based HIV testing, social network recruitment strategies engaging individuals with high risk behavior, and local approaches, such as, “The Bronx Knows”, where all sectors within the community raise awareness, promote, and conduct HIV screenings with prompt linkage to care (New York City 2011, 584). Together, these approaches have led to a significant increase in screening throughout New York City. The data collected from the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that the percentage of New Yorkers, aged 18‐64, who report that they have ever tested for HIV grew from 63.2% in 2007 to 67.4 % in 2009. (New York City 2011, 584) This rate compares to a national rate for 18‐64 year‐olds of 45%. (New York City 2011, 586) Perhaps most encouraging, is the progress made in the Bronx. This is not only the poorest borough in New York City, but it is also the borough with the highest HIV/AIDS seroprevalence and systemic risk. In the Bronx, 79 percent of all residents aged 18 to 64 reported ever testing for HIV in 2009, up from 72.3 % in 2007. Also, efforts to improve linkage to care and treatment adherence have been stepped up dramatically. Currently, more than three-quarters of individuals newly diagnosed with HIV were linked to care within three months of their diagnosis resulting in the decreased incidence of HIV/AIDS between years 2007 and 2009 (CDC 2010, 4546). Additionally, using generic antiretroviral cocktails in the early stages of infection, and maintaining this treatment, not only reduces the intial HIV CD4 cell count, but also hinders the severity of HIV mutation. This means that the drugs weaken the opportunistic infection when it is first spotted, and, in turn, weaken the virus when it attempts to replicate. The power of HAART medications has been clearly demonstrated by the recent case of the Mississippi baby born with HIV/AIDS who has seen no signs of HIV/AIDS infection after only 18 months of HAART treatment. Therefore, institutions should prioritize making access to such life-changing treatment possible.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.). 2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention infectious diseases snapshot 2008. Atlanta, GA: Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Iliffe, John. 2006. The African AIDS epidemic: a history. Athens: Ohio University Press.

New York City HIV/AIDS Annual Surveillance Statistics. 2010. New York: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2011. Updated January 4, 2012. Accessed July 17, 2012. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/ah/surveillance2010-tables-all.pdf