Coordinated by Lisa Marika Jokivirta <lisa.m.jokivirta[at]jyu.fi> and Henri Onodera <henri.onodera[at]helsinki.fi]
Professor Michaelle L. Browers (Wake Forest University, US ): “Could recent developments point to progressive political reform in the Arab World?”
Professor Michaelle L. Browers
Amidst the daily onslaught of news about conflict in the Middle East, recent developments could point to increasing coordination, collaboration and strategic alliances between oppositional groups that cross ideological and religious divides, argued Professor Michaelle L. Browers from Wake Forest University in the United States. An expert on contemporary Arab political thought, Browers spoke about the hope of progressive political reform in the Arab region with the emergence of a new political generation working across ideological divides.
“There are contemporary cases of cross-ideological coordination among various elements that have traditionally opposed each other in the Arab region” asserted Browers. Drawing on her most recent book entitled ‘“Political Ideology in the Arab World: Accommodation and Transformation”, Browers’ more recent work has been rooted in the history of political thought and political science, and addresses what Jillian Schwedler has termed “the inclusion-moderation hypothesis” – the idea that participation in multiparty political processes can lead toward increased willingness to work within existing systems.
According to Browers, the aim of her address was to respond “to those who think that the protest activity in the Arab region lack antecedents, lack thinking, lack constructive political programs and lack political (or ideological or intellectual) significance”. She emphasized the importance of understanding the history of two ideologies, Arab nationalism and Islamism, that she recognizes have provided the basis for the cross-ideological alliance in the region.
Professor Browers argued that this cooperation between two historically different ideologies has been encouraged not only by domestic issues (such as closed political systems), but also regional issues (such as lack of progress in Palestine and increased US intervention in Iraq and other parts of the Gulf), global issues (such as globalization and international anti-globalization activism), as well as by the forums, conferences and dialogues that have enabled members of a wide variety of groups to develop personal relationships and mutual understandings, and which have proven pivotal in coordinating increasing political activities in a number of contexts.
At the end of her talk, Browers presented the particular case of Egypt´s recent protest activities, where activists from different factions and generations convened in Cairo to speak out against repression towards activists who were denunciating electoral corruption. She thinks these events are remarkable in showing “the emergence of a new political generation, formed through their common experiences of engagement with each other and defiance against authoritarian state institutions”. When asked about democracy within a more collective rather than individualist region as the Arab region might be perceived to be, Browers says that one of the main challenging tasks of democracy is indeed to bridge both ideas.
In her personal interview, Browers shared that she became inspired in Arab studies after studying the Arab language. “Once you know the language then you become very interested in the culture.” As a white western women researching politics and ideological history, areas traditionally dominated by men, Browers does not consider her own identity to be a disadvantage. “Sometimes, being an outsider has even been an advantage. I am seldom accused of being partisan to any one side and, as a western women, I have access to both male and female spheres. I am not excluded from female spheres by virtue of my gender and I am not held to the same standards as Muslim women that might hamper my exclusion in some traditionally male spheres. Really the most significant hurdle researchers in my area face is language: the ability to converse with local activists and read the works of local intellectuals in their own language,” Browers stated.
- Written by Juanita Rojas
Professor Wim Naudé (UNU Wider Institute, Helsinki, Finland): “The developing world has been the hardest hit by the recent global economic crisis”
Professor Wim Naudé
“Financial and economic crises seriously undermine global development and equality”, asserted Professor Wim Naudé, Senior Research Fellow and Project Director at the United Nations University- World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) in Finland. There is a need to recognize the impact of the recent economic crisis on global development, and to introduce appropriate changes to the regulation and control of global finance.
According to Naudé, the recent financial and economic crisis is a “development emergency” for many developing countries, where its impact on exports, growth and employment in the absence of adequate social security will hamper the ability of households to escape from poverty. Thus it may also raise the risk of conflicts worldwide. In such circumstances, developing countries are also left particularly vulnerable to further crises from natural hazards – such as the impact of the recent earthquake in Haiti has shown. Naudé explained that the recent global economic crisis has challenged the traditional perception of uninterrupted economic growth, but it has also demonstrated that good governance and democracy should be the basis of development.
Aid to the developing world, cautioned Naudé, may be a victim of the global crisis. He also warned about the long term impacts of financial crises, citing the fact that in some ways the impacts of the 1992 Nordic banking crisis on the Finnish economy have still not been overcome, with unemployment rates still higher today than before the 1992 crisis. Interestingly, as a group of net creditors, developing countries’ savings are providing resources for consumption in advanced economies, including bailing out banks. Naudé added that economic recovery is likely to fail unless the oligarchic style of global financial institutions is reformed and better regulatory systems are introduced.
Although Naudé recognized that crises are also potential moments of transformation, he was not optimistic when describing prospects for the current world economy. The massive bailouts may result in another boom-bust cycle. Referring to the recent Copenhagen Climate Change conference, Naudé pointed out the difficulties of achieving consensus on global public goods. In the financial and economic sector, as with the environment, there is insufficient global agreement and coordination with respect to the crisis. In this context, there remains a pressing need to reform the global financial architecture, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Interestingly, Naudé referred to the differences among regional mass media when reporting about the crisis. In the “North”, economic downturn to a large extent relates to house markets, food and fuel prices, stock markets and wealth, whereas in the “South”, the crisis has a direct impact on poverty alleviation and longer-term prospects for development. In Africa and Latin America, for example, the newspapers daily refer to debt, dependence, open markets, migrations, wars, and natural disasters in reference to the impacts of the economic downturn.
Naudé called for a global recognition of the causes and mechanisms of the recent economic crisis as well as an acknowledgment of its impacts on global inequality and the increased vulnerability of the poor. Large-scale reforms are needed in order to mitigate the global imbalances and the media, for example, has a very important role to play in awareness raising and promoting these transformations, Naudé concluded.
- Written by Natali Rojas
Interview with Dr Tomi Järvinen (World Vision Finland): “Autonomy, capacity, influence, identity, and leadership need to be considered in addressing humanitarian crises.”
Dr Tomi Järvinen
“Autonomy, capacity, influence, identity, and leadership need to be considered in addressing humanitarian crises,” suggested Dr. Tomi Järvinen, Manager of the Africa Region (International Programmes Department) of World Vision Finland and Chair of the ‘Social Movements, Civil Society and Conflicts’ Working Group.
Järvinen emphasized the importance of NGO involvement in strengthening the role of civil society in reducing risks during the crisis and preventing future conflict situations. During his own working group presentation, Järvinen argued that empowerment aspects have been to a large extent overlooked in crisis interventions. He argued that action research is needed to provide solid information to policy makers and humanitarian crisis practitioners about the specific mechanisms needed to improve humanitarian, relief and rehabilitation efforts.
Järvinen started his career in humanitarian aid and crisis relief when he moved to Tanzania to work with refugees from Rwanda in 1996. After spending twelve years in Africa worked directly with local communities and personally dealing with crisis situations, Järvinen moved back to Finland. Here, he has had the chance to combine both his professional and research interests.
Through his personal experiences, Järvinen is a strong advocate of dialogue between crisis management practitioners and academia. Although he recognizes that in Finland conferences are still perceived mainly as academic spaces, he foresees future events where NGOs will be more closely involved. It will be very interesting to hear more how different organizations are dealing with crises in different contexts, he suggested.
More specifically, concerning his experience in the ‘Social Movements, Civil Society and Conflicts’ Working Group, Tomi Järvinen described it as an interesting space where a variety of research experiences were discussed. Master´s and Doctoral students shared their research proposals or findings, discussing civil society and social movements from diverse perspectives about within a crisis context in Colombia, Bolivia, Burma, Haiti and Sénégal. The working group particularly benefited from the participation of people with different professional and academic backgrounds. However, as Järvinen noted, the short time given for the presentations and group discussion was a limitation for the brainstorming, exchange of ideas and networking, which is also a key objective in these types of events.
– Interviewed by Natali Rojas
Interview with Dr Irmeli Mustalahti (University of Helsinki): “The Link Between Climate Change and Security Cannot Be Ignored”
Dr Irmeli Mustalahti
Dr Irmeli Mustalahti, Academy Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Helsinki, was Chair of the ‘Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Risks’ Working Group. She is currently running an Academy of Finland funded research project in Tanzania that analyses how communities could benefit from improved forest management through international funding for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). According to Mustalahti, within the context of research related to natural resources management, we cannot avoid looking into climate crises, conflicting interests in resource utilization and opportunities and concerns in development processes.
There are clear research gaps related to conflicts in natural resource management. According to Mustalahti, “it seems that in the future, climate change will increase these types of conflicts, so new ways to solve the problems and crises related to natural resources are needed. The link between climate change and human security cannot be ignored. More action-oriented research is particularly needed in order to find future solutions as well as avoid conflicts in advance.”
Researchers participating in Mustalahti’s research project traveled from various part of Finland, Italy and the UK to partake in the working group dealing with environmental risks and climate change. She says that this was a very positive experience, particularly as the research team had an opportunity to present some of their findings and discuss future plans. According to Mustalahti, the working group was also a chance to bring together people from various backgrounds and disciplines to discuss cross-cutting issues such as climate change and natural resource management and their impact on human security and livelihoods. More similar discussion forums should be held in the future, suggested Mustalahti.
- Interviewed by Leena Akatama