The failure of the Yanchep international campus: A case study in the politics of marketing education

Private universities and colleges have traditionally played no part on the Australian higher education scene. This paper, however, argues that the concept has become plausible since the implementation of a new overseas student policy in 1985 which has allowed education to be exported as a commodity. This policy has, in large degree, been moulded by the perceived process of decay in higher education as a result of funding constraints, and by the general environment of economic decline in Australia. A case study of the evolution and early demise of the proposed Yanchep International Campus is the main focus of the paper. It attempts to illustrate the problematic and politically divisive nature of the formation of private institutions and the degree to which institutions such as Yanchep might not be viable profit making enterprises without heavy state subsidisation.     

Islam in and out of politics: The Indonesian case

Accounts of the relationship between Islam and politics in Indonesia often fail to appreciate the contribution that an anthropological perspective can make towards understanding the heterogeneity of Muslim communities in the country. Looking at recent events that have political dimensions in the country, this article shows how paying close attention to the popularity of celebrity preachers can complement a political science approach.     

Democratic transition in African politics: The case of Kenya

The splintered, struggling Africa of today cannot afford the luxury of multiple parties, independent presses and honest debate. In countries where national goals are not clearly defined, such freedoms enable the various factions to fight for self‐interest at the expense of majority concerns. National institutions are not strong enough to withstand these pressures, and governments are not cohesive enough to endure forces motivated by anything less than nationalistic concerns. At this stage most African countries are best served by benign dictators. Democracy can come later, if it is to come at all. But for now democracy is no more a panacea for African ills than is communism. What Africa needs to develop is an African political system, imported from neither East nor West, that combines elements of capitalism and socialism, both of which are inherent in the African character. It should include two concepts that Africans today mistakenly view as contradictory—economic incentive and social justice (Lamb 1987, 57–8).     

A new era and new themes in Italian politics: The case of Padania

Abstract

By calling for the independence of Padania from the rest of Italy, the Lega Nord has recently drawn a great deal of attention to itself. In support of this campaign the Lega has actively introduced mythical and Utopian models onto the Italian political scene, combining a degree of cultural innovation with a certain political adventurism. This article focuses on these elements, beginning with the events of the autumn of 1996 when the Lega organized a ‘grande festa’ along the banks and in the towns of the River Po aimed at marking the birth of the new nation of Padania. The principal events of the festival were dominated by the many performances of the League's founder and leader, Umberto Bossi, whose speeches were full of pseudo‐religious or pseudo‐prophetic elements. Though the festival ended in Venice with a unilateral declaration of independence by the Lega and its followers in the north, it did not lead to any immediate political consequences. Nevertheless, the situation in Padania is marked by a complex mixture of identities. The Lega has not just introduced new methods of political opposition, it has also brought many subjects (local cultures, regionalism, the right to self‐determination) into the Italian political debate. Furthermore, it has used the language of the sacred and of ‘origins’ to create new characters, new calendars and new sacred sites.     

The politics of privatisation: The case of the coffee industry corporation in Papua New Guinea

Since the 1970s there has been a continuing international drive to transform state institutions in a wide range of countries. The reforming drive continues to be associated with the idea of privatisation. The privatisation of the long‐established statutory corporation, the Coffee Industry Board (CIB), in Papua New Guinea (PNG), provides an opportunity to examine forces behind one expression of the demands for reform. The examination shows that while the demands were expressed as embodying a general interest, in this case that of ‘the coffee industry’, the campaign for privatisation was driven by the concerns of the largest exporting firms. While the effectiveness of the campaign depended upon capturing an international and domestic mood for reform, the specific target of the drive was the post‐independence changes in the practices of the Coffee Industry Board. In particular, the allocation of an increasing number of licences and export quota to new firms at the expense of long‐established trading firms threatened these enterprises’ revenues and profitability.     

The politics of intimacy: Nazi and Hutu propaganda as case studies

This study examines the particular (but not exclusive) relationship between violent intimacy and Nazi and Hutu genocidal propaganda in relation to national desires. It focuses on the fears of the ‘double’ (the close stranger) as projected in language in order to point to the ‘anxiety of intimacy’ as a dangerous social space that under specific historical and political conditions can turn into genocide. As paradoxical as it may seem, intimacy is not only a concept of love but also a concept of hate and violence. This article aims to show how genocidal language can simultaneously reflect the desire of the other and its disavowal in violent language. Nazi and Hutu propaganda are analysed as case studies using psychoanalytic interpretations and social criticism theory to discuss how violent intimacy works in language and how mimetic desire of the other (of its freedom, power, intellect, pleasures, etc.), constitutes negative identification and a fear of the ‘double other’, giving rise to a ‘rapture of death’. Violent intimacy is not the only explanation of genocide, but it is a hidden force that should not be overlooked.     

Cultural diversity and free trade: the case of the EU-Canada agreement

This article examines the role assigned to culture in general and to cultural industries and diversity in particular by the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). Although it pursues further economic liberalization, the arrangement is about much more than trade: its preamble, for instance, contains a reference to the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Nevertheless, the text lacks a general exception clause protecting culture. This paper examines the consolidated CETA text from the perspective of political economy to clarify to what extent this is an opportunity to reconcile rules of free trade with cultural policies aiming to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions, especially when the latter derive from cultural industries in both analogue and digital scenarios.     

Accommodation and the politics of fiscal equalization in multinational states: The case of Canada

The politics of accommodation in multinational states sometimes features an important, yet often overlooked, fiscal dimension. In fact, the scholarly literature on the accommodation of nationalist movements emphasizes territorial autonomy, access to power and representation within central institutions, and the promotion of the state national identity, but it is virtually silent on how patterns of territorial fiscal redistribution, and more specifically programs of horizontal fiscal equalization, may contribute to accommodating sub‐state nationalism. This article looks at the Canadian case and analyses the multidimensional relationship between equalization policy and Québécois nationalism. It explains how a key motivation behind the creation of Canada's fiscal equalization program in 1957 was to “end” the institutional and political isolation of Québec and how equalization may have, thereafter, contributed to making Québec's secession less appealing to a good number of Quebeckers than it would have been in the absence of this program. Simultaneously, the article discusses how equalization may have contributed to a certain political backlash against Québec in the other provinces, thus providing mixed evidence in the assessment of the accommodation potential of equalization policy.     

Femonationalism and populist politics: The case of the Swiss ban on female genital mutilation

This article examines configurations of Swiss national identity that were generated in the course of the drafting of the 2012 Female Genital Mutilation Act, a new law that seeks to regulate practices of female genital modification (including female circumcision and genital cosmetic surgery). Our analysis of Swiss parliamentary debates on this legislative proposal between 2005 and 2011 shows that Swiss MPs came to depict female circumcision as a threat to the Swiss nation but portrayed genital cosmetic surgery carried out in Swiss clinics as a signifier of “Swissness.” The Swiss debates over women's genital modifications produced an unusually high level of political unanimity between pro‐feminist left‐wing MPs and anti‐feminist conservative and populist MPs, all of whom claimed to defend women's rights. In this process, MPs formulated criteria for membership and non‐membership of the Swiss nation which, we argue, reflect wider political dynamics, best understood through the lens of femonationalism.     

Micronesia: The politics of the colonized

Carl Heine. Micronesia at the Crossroads: A Reappraisal of the Micronesian Political Dilemma. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1974. xvi + 210 pp. Notes, appendices, bibliography, and index. $10.00 (cloth); $2.95 (paper).

Daniel T. Hughes and Sherwood G. Lingenfelter, eds. Political Development in Micronesia. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1974. 333 pp. Tables, charts, references, and index. $15.00.     

'Enlivening' Development Concepts through Workshops: A case study of appropriate technology and soil conservation

In comparison with the teaching of most other geography topics, where fieldwork can be conducted relatively easily and seminars can be based on some pre-existing knowledge and first-hand experience of the issues, the range of resources and approaches available to tutors teaching the geography of development is necessarily more limited. Tutors often have to rely more heavily on 'top-down' teaching and more passive learning approaches, such as using videos, slides and lectures. While students may gain a theoretical understanding of development concepts, issues and problems, they may be left without a deeper 'experience' of such material. This paper describes a practical workshop designed to communicate to students the idea of 'appropriate technology'. The workshop enables students to actively 'experience' a development concept rather than simply understand it in theory. It tests comprehension and understanding, through the application of a concept to real examples, stimulates discussion and debate, and draws upon problem-solving and critical thinking skills.     

Colonial conquests and the politics of normalization: The case of the Golan Heights and Northern Cyprus

The space of exception has been extensively discussed as a location in which governing technologies are deployed through the suspension and manipulation of the norm. The scholarship on the subject has underscored the ways in which various localities can be encamped, which alludes to the dynamic in which spaces of exception can be shaped through the application of various means of sovereign violence that produces new and unpredictable norms. Building on this literature, the article analyzes the ways in which the exception is intentionally used in order to spatially construct the norm. Two case studies are discussed: Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights and the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus. The article's main aim is to show how the state of emergency, which provided the justification for deploying exceptional means—occupation and subsequent colonization—was domesticated. By domestication I mean a situation whereby the state of emergency is not fully negated, but rather rearticulated and redeployed in order to reshape the space and transform it so that it is concomitantly both threatening and normal. I go on to show, however, how despite the processes of spatial normalization the state of exception always resurfaces.