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This article contributes to growing efforts to explain when nonviolent resistance campaigns emerge in autocratic regimes. Building from a novel framework for distinguishing civil-military relations in autocracies, it contends that regimes in which military and political leaders engage in a 'grand bargain' generate opportunity structures that are especially amenable to nonviolent resistance. Militaries in these regimes exhibit distinctive characteristics – they are corporate, cohesive institutions as opposed to fragmented in structure and also wield political influence in regime institutions. Consequently, these militaries are especially inclined to care about their societal reputations and to retain their institutional independence from the regime's political leaders. These factors together can lessen expectations among activists that the military will repress protests and increase the odds of elite splits in the face of mass movements. They also render the military more receptive to nonviolent protest tactics. We operationalize the concept of grand bargains with indicators from three datasets on civil-military relations and autocratic regimes. We then test the argument quantitatively using data on the onset of nonviolent resistance campaigns, as well as events-level data on nonviolent resistance campaigns. The findings support claims that civil-military grand bargains make nonviolent resistance in autocracies more likely, contributing to scholarship on this vital topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When faced with a common threat, states have various alignment choices. Formal alliances offer explicit military obligations of support. Others, such as the Triple Entente that preceded World War I, are more ambiguous understandings. These entente-like alignments make no formal pledges of armed support in the event of hostilities. However, they do not entirely rule out military support either. Why might states embrace this form of strategic ambiguity over firm alliance commitments? Our formal explication addresses this question via the prism of collective action. Our modeling efforts, combined with historical precedents, suggest that an entente might be a more effective alignment choice than a formal alliance for states to balance against powerful threats. An entente permits states to strike the middle ground between entrapment and deterrence. The strategic ambiguity inherent in these two seemingly self-contradictory goals of an entente is a key component of its success as an alignment strategy, especially when external threats are large. However, asymmetry in strength between two states can result in divergent preferences between alliance and entente. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the return to democracy in Argentina, the definition of new roles and missions for the armed forces became imperative in order to establish civilian authority over the military and contribute to the consolidation of the democratic regime. After seven years of military dictatorship (1976–1983), the transformation of repressive and war-prone armed forces into law-abiding and peaceful ones was needed to achieve three key political goals: To strengthen the newly restored yet weak rule of law, to rebuild the country's battered international image, and to help professionalise an ill-reputed military. This article argues that since the return to democracy in 1983, successive governments have pursued these goals by linking issues traditionally falling within the military and security realm to the country's external agenda. Building upon the defence diplomacy literature – that is, the use of defence and military cooperation as a diplomatic tool – the article develops a conceptual framework to apply to the Argentine case, focussing on how defence diplomacy is developed in three stages which we conceptualise as inward-looking, outward-looking, and symmetrical military-to-military relations. Overall, we contend that defence diplomacy – though still a recent and weakly systematised concept in the field – is a useful tool which should be taken into account when analysing the democratic transitions and the pursued civilian control over the armed forces in Global South countries like Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While far from ideal, civil-military relations in Mexico in the second half of the twentieth century stood apart from the Latin American trend towards military government and dictatorship. Over the course of the last three decades, however, drug-trafficking, organised crime and high levels of violence and insecurity have deeply transformed this historical pattern with Mexico experiencing a clearcut process of militarization and becoming part of a broad Latin American trend. This article investigates the forces behind and the features of the remarkable political and ideological turnaround with respect to Mexico's military and militarization. To provide proper context, it first examines the evolution of civil-military relations in Mexico during the era of PRI dominance (ca. 1945-ca. 1985) and the subsequent challenges of a democratic recasting of civil-military relations. It then studies how from the 1990s onwards drug trafficking (and its mutation into organised crime) and an escalating security crisis affected civil-military relations. The last section critically examines the unprecedented promotion of military roles and prerogatives during the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024). The conclusion argues that the shifting relations between civilians and soldiers in Mexico are likely to weaken civilian control over the military and hence risk democratic backsliding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed every aspect of our lives and has become universal in multiple fields from personnel to government and military applications. However, IoT suffers from the inherent limitation of latency and high computational costs, which can be effectively overcome by using a fog computing framework. However, the key challenge in fog computing is to address the problem of service placement among the nodes, thereby providing optimal utilization of resources and minimizing service time. This research work presents a novel service placement technique, by considering the service placement issue as a multi‐objective optimization problem. Here, a two‐level fog computing network comprising a fog master node and fog cells is considered. The master node is responsible for the service placement of the fog nodes, and the service placement is carried out using the Adam‐Ladybug Beetle Optimization (ALBO) algorithm. Further, multiple objectives, like resource utilization, makespan, response time, service time, cost, and energy consumption are considered to enhance service placement. Moreover, the efficiency of the ALBO for service placement (ALBO_SP) is examined considering service cost, energy consumption, and service time and is found to attain values of 19.009, 73.581 J, and 4.854 s, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused considerable military casualties on both sides and widespread harm to Ukrainian civilians. While polls suggest that a slim majority of Russians endorse the invasion, the factors underpinning this support remain uncertain. We investigated factors associated with support for the war among Russians. In three large, diverse, samples of Russian adults (total N = 2856), we extend the dual process motivational model to the context of international warfare, focusing on two key ideologies: right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). Consistent with polling data, we find that approximately half of the participants support the war. Across studies, RWA, especially its submission facet, emerges as a strong and consistent predictor of increased support for the war in Ukraine. In contrast, the associations with SDO are weaker and more inconsistent, with anti‐egalitarianism playing only a minor role in opposing peace efforts. Additionally, factors such as Russian identification, nationalism, group efficacy, war‐related misperceptions and collective narcissism also contribute to war support. Our findings suggest that Russian support for the war may reflect broader support for the existing regime with backing for the military intervention serving as a demonstration of loyalty to Vladimir Putin and his government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the planet’s ecological crisis deepens, what can music reveal about the shapes that environmentalism is taking across the world? This article shows that music is a sensory pathway into notions of nature and of saving nature in repressed and marginalised places. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork since 2010 in the war-torn Burma–China–India borderlands, I explore a dissident rock band’s pioneering environmentalist song. The song’s Kachin Jinghpaw language lyrics talk of ecological destruction through a worldwide trope—‘nature is crying’—but express more specifically a nationalist and religious environmentalism. The song calls on Christian Kachin people to rescue a God-given national homeland, amid the broader album’s call for ethnonational resistance against a ‘colonising’ military regime in Burma (Myanmar). I explore the song’s lyrics and karaoke music video—line-by-line and scene-by-scene—as a way to sense both the logic and feeling of environmentalism emerging amid war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of the modern history of U.S.-Thai relations, the United States has tried to balance democracy and security, with the latter mostly taking precedence. During the Cold War, the United States sought to keep Thailand anti-communist by supporting various military governments. Democracy was an afterthought, though the United States purported to promote it. After the Cold War, other strategic concerns replaced the fear of communism, specifically the rise of China. By examining the Cold War period in comparison to the years 2014 to the present, we can see a pattern in U.S. foreign policy toward Thailand. This article draws on archival work in the United States and Thailand, along with recently published sources to focus on U.S. policy during the Cold War and the 2014 to the present. Drawing parallels between challenges the U.S. government faced during the Cold War and recent events, I argue that the United States has pursued an unbalanced policy between security and democracy and will continue to do so to protect its interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Studies of constitutions in authoritarian regimes reveal a new finding hiding in plain sight: that the military is often a key constitutional actor. The question of how the military uses law and constitutions to enable and facilitate its influence in constitution making and constitutional practice is under-researched. The military demands scholarly attention because of the unprecedented opportunities for the military in governance due to the rise of populism and the decline of democracy, internal conflict, efforts at counter-terrorism and anti-trafficking, and the COVID-19 global pandemic. I review the literature across law and the social sciences on the constitution and the military in authoritarian regimes. In doing so, I demonstrate that the military is an important, yet overlooked, constitutional actor; that civilian control of the military by law is never absolute but a matter of degree and changes over time; and that histories of military rule and military use of law and constitutions matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 67 in‐depth interviews, this article explores how women in positions of power in two major organizational fields in Israel—the military and government ministries—develop different types of gender knowledge. In the military, an extremely and publicly gendered organization, the interviewees demonstrate gender reflexivity and pragmatic literacy of power relations. In the government ministries, which tend to conceal and even repress gendered power, the interviewees demonstrate (neoliberal) feminist consciousness and a limited ability to conceptualize power relations. The contribution of this article is threefold. First, it challenges the common view that gender reflexivity and feminist consciousness are causally related by emphasizing fractured epistemic privilege among women in different organizational contexts. Second, it demonstrates that women's survival practices produce gender knowledge, which in turn produces gender practices in organizational contexts. Third, it argues that different types of gender knowledge develop as a byproduct of the gendered power‐relation characteristics of each specific organizational context. Accordingly, this article offers a framework for analyzing emerging forms of gender sociopolitical knowledge in organizations as an additional dimension of gender inequality and a possible basis for transforming it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2018, the election of an extreme right-wing politician as president of Brazil laid bare the histories of antidemocratic practices that guided the policies and rhetoric of the newly elected government. Black, poor, Indigenous, Northeastern, and LGBTQIA+ people were positioned as threats to the stability of the nuclear family and public safety that the government claimed it would protect. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also put into stark view the antidemocratic practices and the blatant disregard for life in Brazil, which was particularly acute for people who had been marked as a threat. "Beatriz Nascimento and the Erotics of the Quilombo in Times of Peril" revisits the work of Beatriz Nascimento, a Black Brazilian thinker and scholar who lived through the repressive and antidemocratic period of the military dictatorship (1964–1985). Nascimento's work offers perspective to the current extreme right-wing project and underscores the significance of Black scholars' interventions when the lives of marginalized people are at stake. Specifically, her concept of the quilombo (maroon communities) uncovers the histories, relations of power, and the possibilities of social relations for Brazilians living in precarity that antidemocratic governments have attempted to diminish and erase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While mass contentious movements face a wide range of state-led counter-mobilisation strategies, existing studies have mainly focused on repression by the security forces and violence contractors. Much less is understood about the impact of governments' more deceptive strategies to provoke anti-protester hostility among the public, including labelling protesters as criminals and engineering widespread violent crimes. This article examines the effectiveness of these two types of strategy by juxtaposing two similar cases of popular protests under military-ruled Myanmar: the 1988 Four-eight Uprising and 2007 Saffron Revolution. The analysis leverages a novel qualitative dataset consisting of content from state media, authoritative secondary sources, as well as original interviews and written accounts by 109 civilians who witnessed or participated in the protest events. It is found that while anti-protester narratives were ineffective, orchestration of criminal activities targeting civilians on a large scale fuelled civilian distrust toward strangers, leading adult men to disrupt protest events by unfamiliar activists. This finding underscores both the crucial role of nurturing inter-group trust in order to grow a broad-based contentious front as well as the challenging conditions for doing so when a regime is steadfastly committed to crushing dissent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The propagandistic machine of the military dictatorship that ruled Greece between 1967 and 1974 has provided a focal point of scholarly inquiry in recent years. However, research has focused on the domestic front—the role of radio, television, and cinema—and has completely neglected the issue of public relations in the foreign policy arena. Nothing is known about how the dictatorship, which held an exceedingly weak reputational hand, strove to remake its image to the outside world. This article addresses this historiographical lacuna, exploring the Greek junta's attempts to improve its international reputation by enlisting the services of foreign public relations (PR) firms. By demonstrating the interplay of nation branding and foreign policy in this way, this article highlights the underappreciated role of transnational non-governmental actors such as PR firms in the 'nation branding' of authoritarian regimes. In the process, it reveals how the lobbying activities of a London-based PR firm enlisted by the junta vitiated UK–Greek relations during Harold Wilson's Labour government, and culminated in an important, and underexplored, flashpoint in political discourse concerning the outside interests of parliamentarians and standards of integrity in British public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper undertakes a comprehensive historical review of the Nigerian Political Bureau of1986, a pivotal institution established by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida to facilitate a transition to democratic governance. The Bureau, comprising17 members, was mandated to examine the country's political landscape, identify the causes of its democratic deficits, and recommend a framework for a more inclusive and participatory political system. The study leveraged the qualitative method of historical research, which involved the use, mainly, of secondary sources of data. Through a critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, including archival documents, newspaper reports, and scholarly literature, this study examines the Bureau's composition, mandate, and recommendations. The paper argues that the Bureau's report, which advocated for a mixed presidential-parliamentary system, a decentralized federal structure, and a robust system of checks and balances, represented a significant departure from Nigeria's post-colonial political trajectory. We argue that the recommendations of the Bureau are congruent with the country's multiethnic and multicultural nature. There is, therefore, the need for the current and subsequent political leadership of the country to revisit the work of the Bureau and consider implementing most, if not all, of its recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan has struggled for a political system suitable for its postindependence development; however, repeated struggles between democracy and dictatorship have slowed Pakistan's economic growth. I quantified the impact of military dictatorship on Pakistan's economy from 1999 to 2008 using synthetic control methods. I found that while the average annual GDP per capita growth grew during the military dictatorship, it was four times lower than synthetic Pakistan's. I conclude that the military did not help Pakistan with its economic malaise. The increase in military expenditure and the prevalence of terrorism due to the military dictatorship may have hindered Pakistan's economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the role and purpose of intelligence agencies in nondemocratic regimes. These regimes establish and use intelligence services to maintain control and defend themselves from internal threats. Intelligence agencies in these regimes often operate with high autonomy and penetration of society, and they are not democratically accountable. They engage in practices such as surveillance, monitoring, abuse, and even killing of citizens. The article also highlights the impact of new technologies on the effectiveness of these intelligence agencies. The reach of these agencies extends beyond their borders, targeting expats and exiles. The article emphasizes the importance of intelligence effectiveness in helping dictatorships endure. [Extracted from the article]

Military dictatorships critically rely on the armed forces and intelligence agencies for the maintenance of their regime. They strengthen these through the allocation of substantial staff and personal resources. We know little about the behavior of intelligence and security services in the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. This article examines the Greek Intelligence Service (KYP) and, since 1986, the National Intelligence Service as its successor. A principal ingredient for the democratic embedment of the service was a break with this dictatorial past and, consequently, its demilitarization. This article shows that the de facto demilitarization of the service was a protracted process that was largely independent from the de jure formal demilitarization in 1986. It both preceded and lagged the legislative decision in 1986. This article particularly focusses on personnel policies aimed at distancing the service from its former ties to the junta regime (1967–1974), the "old KYP." Its methodological contribution lies in its reliance on original, oral history interviews with former employees of the service and in its systematic analysis of newspaper publications for research on the KYP. I argue and show that internal organizational factors, most notably professionalization and shifting responsibilities, rather than external factors such as party politics or a prodemocratic ideological vision, are the key explanations for a change in the otherwise persistent military staffing of the intelligence service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation Purpose Methods and approaches Findings Policy implications Local government can develop democracy and community participation if institutions support it. But when a military regime takes over following a coup d'état, it may use familiar methods of patronage, corruption, and exploitation of kinship ties to render decentralization a spectacle—that is, done for show, but without substantial change. Local elites may then capture local administration and extract public resources.Does decentralization as spectacle bring positive change — when the military hold power and the state is laden with corruption, patronage, and kinship ties?We analyse how respondents experienced two periods of local government, including post‐election public interactions between representatives and their constituents.Data comes from responses to qualitative interviews with 70 key informants from the Qambar Shahdadkot and Larkana districts of Sindh, Pakistan. We analysed the themes generated by responses to questions.Some 40% of respondents reported those who came into local government power aimed first and foremost to promote the interests of their own class. Some 29% of respondents reported local government made empty promises to provide services with public participation.Pakistan's decentralization has been a spectacle, to serve powerful elites. Local government has been captured by local elites.Decentralization, muzzled by the military, is mere spectacle, and predatory to boot. Donor agencies should explore possibilities for change at the local level; for example, where local networks and informal governmentality can build up trust amongst hyper‐local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of center–periphery relations extends from the relations of the central government and peoples of not so highly organized peripheries within a state to the relations between developed and developing nations. These relations are dynamic and flexible and can be influenced by national, regional, and international developments such as political changes. The center–periphery relations in Ethiopia are periodically categorized as pre-1974, militaristic period (1974–1991), and post-1991. In this paper, I try to show the change and continuity of the center–periphery relationship of Afar people in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. Using the available sources, I try to demonstrate the nature of center–periphery relationship between the military government and the Afar people as center and periphery, respectively. In addition, I try to show the determining factors that affect the center–periphery relations in the period under study. The Afar Triangle, which is composed of north eastern Ethiopia, south eastern Eritrea, and Djibouti, is the natural border between Africa and the Arab world and the main trade line of Ethiopia to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The Afar people of Ethiopia and Eritrea were under the rule of the Dergue government. The ideological change and reforms following the 1974 revolution, insurgencies movement in the region, and foreign relations and external trade determined the relations between the central government and the Afar people. Although there was an attempt to handle the people of Afar through sharing power and resources, the center continued to dominate power and resources in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup, bringing to an end a decade of quasi-civilian electoral rule, during which workers in Myanmar had organised themselves into close to 3000 workplace unions. The coup and post-coup imposition of martial law thus upended what had been a vigorous domestic labour movement. Yet post-coup restrictions on worker mobilising have not extinguished workers' collective struggles. We therefore investigate, in this article, the challenges and opportunities for workers' self-organisation under post-coup conditions. We argue that despite heightened restrictions since the coup, industrial workers have exploited contradictions in the post-coup factory labour regime to press demands and make tangible, if limited, gains. To substantiate our argument, we present two cases of worker organising at garment factories on Yangon's industrial outskirts. Empirically, we draw on interviews we conducted with workers involved in the two cases in question, and on our ongoing research into Myanmar's post-coup labour conditions more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Myanmar transitioned from direct military rule in 2011, successive governments have attempted to decentralize the primary and higher education systems through top-down "federalizing" initiatives. However, these efforts have largely failed. However, following the February 2021 military coup, the absence of a credible central education authority has led ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and non-state actors, including local communities, to provide education to up to one million of the most vulnerable and conflict-affected children. This represents a new "federating" moment for education in Myanmar, where capacity and alliances are built from the bottom up and which could potentially endure after the ongoing conflict ends. This article explores Myanmar's complex and contested education system since the coup, analysing the difference between "federalizing" and "federating" approaches. It compares the pre- and post.-coup approaches to illustrate the importance of an adaptive, bottom-up approach based on local ownership and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing political turmoil gripping Sudan is fraught with violence between two opposing factions within its military government. This unsettling state of affairs has led to devastating consequences, including large‐scale displacement of people and severe human rights violations, causing dire humanitarian consequences. Against this tumultuous backdrop, we explore how existing refugee law, one facet of international law governing refugees, can help bring relief amidst a volatile conflict zone. Examining complex legal questions ranging from determining who qualifies for asylum status through various geographic considerations to what role states play in securing basic protections for refugees fleeing persecution or war at home will be analysed herein. Further difficulties involving how these complex provisions protect refugees face hurdles due to practical factors like lack of resources or security concerns will be considered thoroughly. While recognizing that instituting legal reforms alone is not enough to address these complex crises due to various challenges of reasons ranging from political to practical, this paper concludes by putting forth strategic recommendations for improvement aimed towards bolstering resources and support mechanisms required for refugees across the region to ensure they can seize‐hold of eventual solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This research investigates the historical role of the president's letter, and in particular how impression management was used by the Brazilian company Petrobras, during the military dictatorship (1964–1985), to build up and legitimise the company and the regime. Following an interpretative approach, and through a framework that includes both impression management tactics and presentational methods, the study analyses both narrative and visual images of the letters. The adoption of assertive impression management tactics helped to propagate Petrobras in the ascendancy and with it the Brazilian nation. Reinforcement, rhetorical manipulation and visual emphasis were adopted to convey a message of ascendancy and optimism, even in periods of crisis and shocks to legitimacy. Simultaneously, the omission tactic allowed it to keep invisible damaging events. As a recurrent, voluntary accounting narrative, the president's letters provided valuable storytelling and impression management opportunities which were used to promote Petrobras and as a legitimate façade for the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the politicisation and limitations of Afrodiasporic humour in Elnathan John’s 2019 text: Be(com)ing Nigerian. Although most literary commentators tend to categorise this satirical guide as a novel, it does not follow the plot structure of a conventional prose narrative. Rather, John models his text on ethics and aesthetics of Onitsha pamphlet literature, a popular culture tradition which flourished during the colonial epoch. My central argument is that John’s satirical critique of Nigerian national identity does not only elicit the reader’s laughter, but also challenges his fellow citizens to recalibrate their cultural ethics, in order to achieve a self-improvement agency both individually and collectively. In providing this self-improvement guidance, John effectively invests the reader’s aesthetic sensibility with an ideological hermeneutic, which underpins, and so enables, a vicarious satirical critique of what it means to be Nigerian in different socio-political contexts. I therefore demonstrate how John deploys colonial and Eurocentric clichés, biblical imagery and rhetoric, irony, sarcasm, parody, and hyperbole to satirise the constructedness, complexities, and ambiguities of a Nigerian identity born out of British colonialism and post-independence misrule of both military and civilian dictatorships. For insofar as form dialectically overlaps with theme, John’s self-improvement guide is ineluctably embedded with a satirical politics and poetics. That is, as a Nigerian diasporic writer who currently lives and works in Germany, John inhabits a transcultural space between the local and the global, from which he satirises both indigenous and Western values. I also contend that John’s transcultural ambivalence reveals the limitations of his Afrodiasporic humour, since Nigeria’s ethnic diversity implies cultural incommensurability and potential audience conflict. I then conclude by reflecting on how John’s satirical guide adumbrates the production, circulation, and critical reception of African postcolonial humour, a genre which remains largely undertheorised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen the U.S. Government and U.S. military branches produce national space strategy and military doctrinal documents for conducting military operations in or from space. This literature is produced by the White House and individual armed service branches and is often required by congressionally mandated legislation. This work will examine such literature produced during the Trump and Biden Administrations, emphasize the public availability of significant portions of this literature, assess that China and Russia are key rivals of the U.S. in the military space sphere, and will assess congressional reaction to these documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the poetic expressions of a traumatic event experienced by poet Ibrāhīm Abū Ṣyām of the Gdērāt al-Ṣāneʿ tribal group, which was expelled in 1952 from al-Lgiyyeh in the northern Negev to the southern West Bank. Forty days later the tribe was returned to Israel, but not to the area from which it had been expelled. Instead, it was resettled in the eastern Negev. The article presents two poems that tell of this expulsion and return, examining them in their diverse contexts and interpreting their subtle symbolism by drawing on the history and culture of the Negev Bedouin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between modern architecture and the Brazilian Military Dictatorship (1964-1985) in the case of the military headquarters designed by communist architects for a violently anti-communist regime: the Second Army Headquarters in Ibirapuera, a project by a team led by the architect Paulo Bastos, a case with strong symbolic entanglements in the heart of São Paulo. Although the architects were against the regime and were the target of the dictatorship’s repression, a close look at this case reveals nuances in the actors’ reactions to that context, as well as a more complex relationship between architecture and authoritarianism, which goes beyond the binary lenses of resistance or collaboration. This case is an important node to reflect on the complex relationships between architecture and politics, especially under authoritarian regimes. It also helps to reflect on modern architecture itself, the immanent contradictions of its objects, and the ambivalences of the epistemological investments that underpin it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan's 2024 elections delivered a shocking surprise. Imran Khan's PTI won the largest number of seats amid heavy state repression. With this result, well-worn political patterns—whereby military favor virtually guaranteed a party's electoral success—were upended. This essay argues that Pakistan's 2024 election is not a "black swan" event but instead signals a coming crisis of governability that grows out of three structural changes: the rise of an aspirational middle class, the erosion of traditional authority patterns, and an intensifying economic and climate crisis. Consequently, a historic loss of military legitimacy is unlikely to abate in years ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a review of a book written by Esteban Torres in 2023, which analyzes the evolution of the theorization of the link between actors and social change throughout history. The author proposes to identify the fundamental challenges faced by studies on social change in Latin America and revitalize the commitment of social sciences to the structural transformation of society. The book presents different intellectual constellations throughout history, from the European constellation to the post-dictatorial constellation in Latin America. The author analyzes three sociological currents in Latin America and proposes the need to resume and update the Latin American sociological theories prior to the military dictatorship to create a new critical sociology. Additionally, he calls for the construction of a new conception of Latin America as a regional society, claiming equality between countries and sociologies of the Global North and South. [Extracted from the article]

A reflection piece—on rethinking the return of a Martial Law dictator in the form of his namesake, the newly elected president of the Philippines; the gamut of conversations on (un)covered facts, post-truth, appearances, interpolations, populism, revisionism and transformations, as well as the power of (trans)national media and images entangled with participatory publics; and how might a younger generation and/or transgender poet, such as myself, who did not experience first-hand the atrocities of military rule and learned them only through dominant narratives, might create and/or open capacious spaces for empathic opacity, new understandings, and possible coalitions and resistances within a historical moment concurrent with a present and/or imagined dystopia—expressed as a suit of three poems: To write another eye; Now is no longer the time for poets; Requisite condemnation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the work of Chilean poet Jorge Torres Ulloa, highlighting his aesthetic concern when faced with the violent reality of the Chilean dictatorship. It mentions the expressive crisis that Torres experienced and how this led him to collect newspaper clippings to create his work "Found Poems and Other Pre-texts". Torres' work uses newspaper clippings to create found poems that represent fragments of reality and delusions, and his book functions as an exhibition of an archive. During the military dictatorship in Chile, poets were censored, and Torres seeks to take writing to another place, inviting readers to be finders of poems. [Extracted from the article]

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Copyright of Anuario Electrónico de Estudios en Comunicación Social 'Disertaciones' is the property of Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Trashumante. Revista Americana de Historia Social is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The coup in Myanmar in February 2021 marked a significant escalation in the country's domestic issues. It presented a considerable challenge for the ASEAN Political and Security Community (APSC), which aims to foster political and security cooperation to achieve stability and peace among ASEAN member states. Members of the ASEAN Community are committed to upholding democratic principles and human rights. Additionally, ASEAN countries have agreed to prioritise ASEAN centrality in decision-making processes to address regional challenges. This study discusses how the 2021 military coup in Myanmar has challenged the ASEAN Political and Security Community. The inability to resolve this coup highlights the limitations of ASEAN centrality. The coup exposes ASEAN's lack of a coercive mechanism to address violations of democracy and human rights by the Myanmar military regime. Furthermore, the absence of unity among ASEAN members in responding to the situation in Myanmar and actions that deviate from ASEAN agreements have undermined the organisation's credibility and cohesion, raising increasing concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The existence of a military apparatus and militarism is of paramount importance in all states and governments. Therefore, most governments consider military forces essential for their national survival. The military readiness of any government emerging under the shadow of a powerful system is a fundamental element for national strength, stability, and the continuity of that system. Due to geographical and political circumstances, Iranian governments from the Sassanians to the end of the Alids required a strong military apparatus. The history of the Iranian army during this period reflects indicators of cultural, social, political, and military transformations, evolved in response to various challenges. The present research article seeks to illuminate the structure and armament of the Iranian army from the Sassanians to the end of the Alids. Findings indicate that due to the continuity and persistence of military methods from the Sassanian to the Islamic period, the Iranian army developed into an influential and adaptive institution during this period, playing a prominent role in military affairs and security preservation. Given the fundamental nature of the subject of this analytical-descriptive research in historical studies, the research was conducted using library sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explains how Dom Hélder Câmara, archbishop of Olinda and Recife, used the traditions of critical inquiry, Catholic social teaching, and cultural aesthetics to advocate for the poor in the northeast of Brazil during the military dictatorship of 1964-1985. It details the adversity that Câmara and others in his position faced, providing some historical context for those events. Drawing from social movement and theological sources, the article then proceeds to highlight critical inquiry, Catholic social teaching, and cultural aesthetics as driving forces in Câmara's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1927, the nascent Turkish Republic engaged in its first endeavor as a nation-state to systematically account for all its citizens. Included on this census were a number of different attributes the Turkish government wanted to know about its citizenry, including language. In the Turkish context, examining the language categories on the census between 1927 and 1965 and how – they changed over time – provides insight into how the new republic was imagining its citizenry (and by extension, itself). The dynamic nature of the language categories not only reflected an ambiguity that the nascent nation-state had regarding what constituted salient ethnolinguistic category for governing purposes, it also reflected the realization and subsequent politicization of minoritized populations over time. After examining the history of the development of the Turkish census, the article outlines the use of running records like censuses to provide insight into how state apparatuses were creating taxonomies to realize (or visualize) its citizenry and the value of utilizing such unobtrusive measures in Durkheimian social facts such as those who are "Us" and those who are "Other". This article then situates the census data in its geographical context and demonstrates how the delineation of historic parts of the country that were settled by non-Turkish communities were ones that were then later demarcated into smaller administrative borders, allowing for closer government and military oversight. While this article is an exploratory case study of the Turkish census as part of its state building process, I contend that looking at how language categories were used in the 1927–1965 censuses provides insight into the nature of the Turkish government's imaginings regarding its citizenry. In particular, the use of language data as a proxy for ethnicity was concomitant with processes of internal border demarcation that was taking place to increase government oversight in particular non-Turkish contexts, resulting in a "new" form of minoritization and marginalization in the Turkish Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom fought its last colonial war in South Arabia (1963 t0 1967) during a pivotal era of waning economic strength, rising Arab nationalism, and growing anticolonialism. Determined to retain Britain’s international status, the Macmillan government considered military facilities in Aden essential to projecting power east of Suez. This article argues that policy decisions taken from 1937 onwards increased the likelihood of a nationalist insurgency and made countering it at an acceptable cost extraordinarily difficult. The British never devised a comprehensive strategy, responding to threats on an ad hoc basis. Contrary to what some scholars insist, South Arabia neither confirmed the failure of the British approach nor heralded a new era of counterinsurgency. The conflict was a political failure, not a military defeat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a cyclical nature to the dilemmas confronting international donors willing to operate in Myanmar. Brief periods of relative openness led to rapid surges in development assistance, regularly interrupted by long phases of military rule and disengagement by donors. Amidst all this, many predicaments remain. This article engages with one of them: the inequality between regions. How have international donors reacted to the issue of domestic regional inequality? Recent studies suggest that official development assistance (ODA) does not target poor regions very well, but it is not always clear why this is the case. Myanmar's sudden, yet uneven and unequal liberalization from 2011 to 2021 catalyzed huge inflows of ODA, while it also confronted donors with new policy dilemmas. The article shows that aid providers struggle with the problem of rising regional inequality, especially for political reasons. Donor and recipient interests often do not align well on this issue. In the case of Myanmar, donors who press for regional inequality to sit prominently on the agenda might fare less successfully than those who address the issue indirectly. The article concludes that regional inequality and the politics of targeting deserve a more central role in the political economy of ODA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the example of the military regime in Argentina (1976-1983) and relevant archival materials, this article demonstrates the prerequisite of exalted language in constructing an enemy and how a discursive 'machine of the same' was put into operation. The author argues that what made this operation unique is its structure of repetition that stimulated "the tendency to merge" what is "foreigner-to-the-ego", and the "enemy outside" into a single concept in the Argentinian national psyche. As a theoretical lens, the author examines the military regime's language through Freud's understanding of groups and civilization and Laplanche's proposition that cultural narratives in the form of mytho-symbolic explanations help us translate the sexual drive and offer a "solution" to the helplessness of the infant-adult. The author further claims that at other times a cultural narration functions as an anti-translation device when set against the emergence of a new net of significations. The nation's founding narrative of an Occidental-Spanish-Catholic "being" that first effaced its indigenous origins and then its Arabic and Jewish inheritance was brought back by the military regime as a mytho-symbolic narration that formed a shield against the repressed remnants of the enigmatic message pressing for a new translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]