A Matter of Framing: Explaining the Failure of Post‐Islamist Social Movements in the Arab Spring

Shortly after the Arab Spring began in 2010, multiple scholars noted that the dominant discursive trend present within these protests was that of post‐Islamism. Post‐Islamism is broadly defined as an ideology seeking to establish a democratic state within a distinctly Islamic society. Despite the presence of post‐Islamist opportunity structures, social movements embodying post‐Islamist principles have had little success consolidating power. The theoretical argument presented here is that the failure of these movements is the result of inherent flaws within post‐Islamist frames. Specifically, this study posits that unlike traditional Islamist frames (i.e., frames emphasizing the creation of a state governed by Shari‘a) post‐Islamist frames limit the ability of movements’ to monopolize religion as a cultural asset. As such, when post‐Islamist movements face political challenges during contentious periods they cannot rely on nontemporal legitimacy to retain power. Additionally, the challenging task of integrating Islamic and democratic frames in contentious moments renders post‐Islamist movements susceptible to counterframing. The preceding claims will be tested through a comparative analysis of the Iranian Hierocracy (1977–1979), and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (2011–2014). Comparing the experiences of a post‐Islamist movement (Brotherhood) with that of an Islamist movement (Hierocracy) will explicate the flaws within post‐Islamist frames.     

Ethnic and Islamist populism in Turkey and its impact on Kurdish nationalism

Rather than addressing the Kurdish conflict in Turkey directly, this study focuses on how the rising nationalist populism bears on Kurdish voters supporting the pro-Kurdish party HDP. There are very few studies on how Kurds are affected by the nationalist populism often expressed in Turkey by the governing People's Alliance (Cumhur İttifakı) with its slogan “domestic and national,” even though the literature offers a broad variety of studies on the Kurdish conflict. To fill this gap, this study is supported by focus group discussions with the Kurds in Turkey who support the HDP, based on a sample of the Kurds living in Istanbul, which is sometimes referred to as the “largest Kurdish city.” This study claims that the populist slogan of the “domestic and national” not only marginalises the Kurdish interviewees but also weakens their sense of belonging to Turkey, thus encouraging them to establish their own national identities. An important result of the focus group meetings is that AKP's polarising policy not only causes polarisation among Turks but also among the Kurds.     

在希望与绝望之间--论古代埃及人来世观念的产生和发展

从古代埃及流传下来的物和遗迹多数都与当时人们的宗教信仰和来世观念相关。在几千年的历史过程中,古代埃及人始终没有放弃对来世的追求。他们把尸体制作成木乃伊、修建豪华的墓室并且给死去的人奉献祭品。从表面上看,古代埃及人的来世观念从古王国到王朝后期没有什么变化,不过,如果仔细阅读他们留下来的有关献,我们会发现他们对命运和来世的认识及其态度发生了深刻的变化。尤其值得关注的是古代埃及人生前刻写在墓碑和墓壁上的自传,它们充分表达了墓主人在探讨死亡这个人生重大命题时的企盼、恐惧和无奈的复杂心态。     

论希克索斯人在埃及的统治

古埃及进入第二中间期以后,统一王国分裂,来自迦南的希克索斯人以阿瓦利斯为中心建立了自己的王朝,这是埃及历史上第一个外族政权。希克索斯人在埃及的统治是自身在政治、经济和文化等各方面埃及化的过程。虽然他们在埃及有些破坏活动,但没有造成毁灭性的灾难,反而在吸收埃及传统文化的同时,对埃及历史的发展产生了一些积极影响。从某种角度讲,希克索斯人的统治是对埃及文化的继承和发展。     

古代埃及玛阿特简论

在对外部世界和人类社会进行思考时,古代各大明中心都形成了自己代表性的观念,如中国的道,希腊的逻各斯,印度的梵等,埃及人也有一个综合而复杂的概念——玛阿特(Maat)。这一概念属于宗教和伦理双重领域,联结着世界、神、神王和人,代表了古代埃及人生存的价值基础。它贯穿着整个王朝时代的历史,占据着社会伦理的中心位置。这一概念的内含是发展变化的,但是它始终保持着神圣秩序的神秘含义,所以它终究不是理性突破的产物。     

The Micropolitics of Indigenous Environmental Movements in the Philippines

Indigenous movements face what Stuart Kirsch has called the ‘risks of counterglobalization’, which can distort their objectives into an all‐or‐nothing position with respect to development. In this contribution, I explore a case from the Philippines, where a movement originally conceived in terms of indigenous rights grew to include a more diverse mix of constituents and claims. This trajectory has made the movement vulnerable to charges of inauthenticity, particularly since the corporation it opposes has sponsored a parallel indigenous group and fashioned itself as the noble custodian of a threatened marine ecosystem. Nevertheless, the movement's constituents do not evaluate their activities exclusively in terms of its formal objectives or identity politics. For them, organized protest is entangled with the ‘serious games’ of everyday life, including, for example, local elections, struggles to achieve upward social mobility and efforts to redefine ethnic identity. As a result, some constituents see their involvement primarily as a claim to socioeconomic parity and others as a pursuit of the exceptional rights that indigeneity confers. Without attention to such local‐level variation, we risk obscuring some of the most important motives and outcomes of indigenous movements — and, as a result, we may overlook the alternative visions of socio‐environmental justice that emerge from their day‐to‐day struggles for livelihood, dignity and empowerment.     

Explaining the 2016 Islamist Mobilisation in Indonesia: Religious Intolerance,Militant Groups and the Politics of Accommodation

There has been an intense scholarly debate about what caused the unprecedented Islamist mass demonstrations in Indonesia in late 2016. Some scholars have argued that increasing intolerance and conservatism among the Muslim population are responsible, while others have disputed such notions, claiming that there is no evidence of widespread support for an Islamist agenda. In this article, we analyse a unique set of polling data to show that a) conservative attitudes among Indonesian Muslims were declining rather than increasing prior to the mobilisation, but that b) around a quarter of Indonesian Muslims do support an Islamist socio-political agenda. Importantly, we demonstrate that this core constituency of conservative Muslims has grown more educated, more affluent and better connected in the last decade or so, increasing its organisational capacity. We argue that this capacity was mobilised at a time when conservative Muslims felt excluded from the current polity, following the end of a decade of accommodation.     

试论埃及穆斯林兄弟会的二重性问题

埃及穆斯林兄弟会是以宗教为基础的全方位社会政治运动 ,兼具宗教与政治、和平与暴力两种二重性。本文以这两种二重性为视角 ,解读兄弟会创始人哈桑·班纳的宗教思想和社会政治主张 ,比较系统地梳理了班纳的哈里发思想和圣战观、班纳关于统治制度的思想 ,并历史地考察了哈桑·班纳时代兄弟会运动的二重性转换和纳赛尔—萨达特时代兄弟会运动的二重性问题。     

纳赛尔主义与埃及的现代化

20世纪中东历史的重要内容,是从传统社会向现代社会的过渡。埃及是中东地区的重要国家,纳赛尔堪称埃及现代史上最具魅力的政治人物,纳赛尔主义对于埃及社会直至整个中东地区的深刻影响自不待言。然而,如何看待纳赛尔政权的功过和纳赛尔主义的成败,研究众说纷纭,褒贬不一。本试图结合埃及现代化进程中诸多因素的矛盾运动,分析纳赛尔主义形成的客观环境,探讨纳赛尔主义的若干层面,阐述纳赛尔主义与埃及现代化之间的内在联系。谬误之处,敬请赐正。     

论托勒密埃及的专制主义

托勒密埃及*系指托勒密王朝统治时期(公元前323—前30年)的埃及。托勒密国王的人格被神化,具有至高无上的地位,享有行政、立法、司法、军事、经济、宗教文化等方面的最高权威,依靠一套庞大严密的官僚体系对国家进行专制统治。托勒密埃及的专制主义具备了专制主义的所有特征,而且与古代世界其他文明的专制主义相比,具有自己的特点。