The predicament of 'civil society' in Central Asia and the 'Greater Middle East'

This article discuses the concept of 'civil society' and how it has been used by the international community to promote democratization. It addresses some of the dimensions and side-effects of the policy, such as the relationship with traditional societies and power networks. It also addresses the importance of attending to the conditions of implementation, political issues such as nationalism and Islam, and political actors who may only have recent democratic credentials. Political democratization—free elections—is clearly popular in the Greater Middle East and Central Asia. During the last two years people have voted every time they have had the opportunity, despite the dangers. The debate concerning the compatibility of Islam and democracy overlooks the fact that the main obstacle to democratization in the area is usually not a religious but a secular authoritarian regime. The difficulty of building a democracy with people we do not consider to be democrats is discussed. There can be no democratization process without taking into account the mainstream Islamist parties and without acknowledging the importance of nationalism. There is a clash between the 'war on terror' approach and the call for elections: one cannot put Hamas and Hezbollah on the terrorist list and call for free elections in which both would emerge as legitimate and representative political movements.     

INTERNET ET LA RECOMPOSITION TERRITORIALE DES RELATIONS DANS L'AGRICULTURE SUISSE

L'agriculture et l'industrie agro-alimentaire suisses se transformed très rapidement. À un monde industrial fonctionnant à l'échelle nationale et basé sur des normes techniques succède un monde domestique basé sur l'identité régionale et les relations interpersonnelles. L'utilisation d'Internet devrait participer à la recomposition des relations entre producteurs et consommateurs et refléter les transformations territoriales qu'elles impliquent. Or les sites Internet de promotion des produits agricoles ne reflètent pas ces changements. Un processus d'apprentissage qui porte sur la maîtrise des techniques et leurs possibilitès d'utilisation est en cours.
The agriculture and food industry of Switzerland is undergoing rapid changes. An industrial world functioning on the national scale is being succeeded by a domestic world based on regional identity and person-to-person relationships. The use of the Internet should contribute to the restructuring of relations between producers and consumers and should reflect the territorial transformations which they imply. However, Internet sites advertising agricultural products do not reflect these changes. A learning process — related to the control of techniques and their opportunities — is currently underway.     

Russia and Syria: explaining alignment with a regime in crisis

This article explores explanations of Russia's unyielding alignment with the Syrian regime of Bashar al‐Assad since the Syrian crisis erupted in the spring of 2011. Russia has provided a diplomatic shield for Damascus in the UN Security Council and has continued to supply it with modern arms. Putin's resistance to any scenario of western‐led intervention in Syria, on the model of the Libya campaign, in itself does not explain Russian policy. For this we need to analyse underlying Russian motives. The article argues that identity or solidarity between the Soviet Union/Russia and Syria has exerted little real influence, besides leaving some strategic nostalgia among Russian security policy‐makers. Russian material interests in Syria are also overstated, although Russia still hopes to entrench itself in the regional politics of the Middle East. Of more significance is the potential impact of the Syria crisis on the domestic political order of the Russian state. First, the nexus between regional spillover from Syria, Islamist networks and insurgency in the North Caucasus is a cause of concern—although the risk of ‘blowback’ to Russia is exaggerated. Second, Moscow rejects calls for the departure of Assad as another case of the western community imposing standards of political legitimacy on a ‘sovereign state’ to enforce regime change, with future implications for Russia or other authoritarian members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Russia may try to enshrine its influence in the Middle East through a peace process for Syria, but if Syria descends further into chaos western states may be able to achieve no more in practice than emergency coordination with Russia.