San José, a Zapotec community in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico, has built certain autonomies over time while challenging the territorial policies designed by the Mexican state. This article goes beyond the focus on autonomies as jurisdictional rights recognized by the state and analyzes the de facto instances elaborated by communities to build economies as a support for self-determination. By strengthening

From the 1990’s to the present, Latin America has been, as no other region in the world, a laboratory of autonomies —explicit or implicitly framed as such— situated in the cycle of anti-neoliberal struggles. Faced with this historical-political context, in this text we re-examine the conceptualization and theorizations around the idea of autonomy. Based on a review of the major Latin American conceptual

You can never really get tired of Italian politics. Over the last 30 years, we have seen many turning points, the most memorable of which was undoubtedly Silvio Berlusconi's unexpected ‘descent into the field’ in 1994. Nor have we been deprived of colourful characters, such as Matteo Renzi or Matteo Salvini, who, as their careers took off, ended up burning their wings. And after many unsuccessful attempts

This article is an inquiry into the politics of food in Venezuela, addressing the question: What do food politics tell us about broader forms, organizations, and relations of power in Venezuela today? By digging into the past, it sheds light on the challenges and opportunities at present, examining: a) The ways in which food, through its material and symbolic power, has served as a vehicle for processes

What explains voter attitudes toward immigration in Latin America? This article argues that increased refugee arrivals moderate the impact of social identities on immigration attitudes. We propose that informational cues associated with increased immigration make cosmopolitan identities less important—and exclusionary national identities more important—determinants of immigration preferences. Analyzing

The article analyses an original database of 177 Latin American women activists killed that had some connection with feminist social movements from 2015 to 2023. A growing body of literature has focused on the killings of socio-environmental activists in Latin America and where they occurred. However, their activisms are under-researched, precisely because feminist social movements and activists have

How do Indigenous and peasant political paradigms interact? This essay examines the relationship between Indigenous-ontopolitical critiques of development and peasant-oriented demands for alternative development in the Guatemalan defense of territory (DT), an Indigenous-led alliance against extractive development. Drawing on politically-engaged ethnographic and historical fieldwork, I argue that theories

This article employs Critical Development Studies to analyze the international political economy of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and address how the main elements that sustain and characterize it turn it into “another brick in the wall” of the hegemonic development paradigm (neoliberal, neo-developmentalist, neocolonial, privatized, inequitable, and environmentally predatory). It further

This article explores the meanings of infrastructural changes resulting from the Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec (CIIT) infrastructure project for the cultural survival of Indigenous peoples resident in the Tehuantepec Isthmus region through the lens of ontological justice. Based on interviews with affected residents in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz, this research finds a strong

Feminist principles in research emphasize acknowledging differences to address power imbalances. Taken at face value, discussions on positionality tend to prioritize differences, often turning into...

Covert repression techniques, such as the use of digital technologies in surveillance, censorship and disinformation, have become a pervasive tool of autocracies worldwide. This research note discu...

This paper analyses Jalil Mammadquluzadeh’s drama, The Book of My Mother (Anamın Kitabı), to understand Azerbaijani nationalism in the early twentieth century. Under the repression of industrializa...

In Latin American comparative politics, a tension exists between North Americanization and parochialism. While certain academic scholarship is published in Scopus-indexed journals that engage with “mainstream” Global North literature, other works are found in non-indexed outlets, focusing solely on their home countries and fostering parochial scientific communities. To assess this tension in graduate

A neoliberal development model, frequently at odds with the values of the local Mayan biocultural heritage, has historically prompted the conversion of forests and small-scale agricultural land, mainly in the Yucatan Peninsula. This study analyzes ethnographic data collected in two localities in the peninsula that will be impacted by the Maya Train. Preliminary results based mainly on conducted interviews

Is the geography of armed conflict in Africa becoming more urban? To answer this question, I link georeferenced data on the timing and location of armed conflict and protest events to continent-wide geospatial data on human settlement patterns. Comparing rates of conflict and contention in rural versus urban areas over time, I argue that, contrary to conventional wisdom, claims surrounding the ‘urbanization

To understand the political dimension of dissident legacies, we need first to understand the components that “made” the dissidents and follow their reconfiguration after 1989, leading to initial empowerment followed by gradual demise of the liberal post-dissident elite. Dissidence in the form that first appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s in central and eastern Europe constituted a particular

During the 1980s, Catholic dissidents in Slovakia constructed divergent modes of moral reasoning. While national democratic Catholic dissidents looked to universal Catholic morality, nationalist Catholic dissidents anchored their moral reasoning in nationalized ethics. Their respective modes of moral reasoning were crucially formed in the making of national Catholic memory. If both appreciated Slovak

This article’s central question is how former dissidents and their engagement in post-1989 nascent democratic politics contributed to the emergence of what was later retrospectively labelled the “liberal consensus.” I look at the earliest stages of this consensus before it started to lock in the conditionality of the EU accession process. To this end, I first discuss the “liberal consensus” from a

A playwright, philosopher, and president, Václav Havel was well known at home and abroad for all his “careers” and contributions. This article compares and contrasts the recognition accorded to Havel at home and abroad, examining differing assessments and aspects of his legacy—his key contributions to politics, history, and the history of ideas. Within the Czech Republic, we refer to processes and

This paper addresses the experience of Indigenous peoples in the highlands of Guerrero, Mexico, as they organize to defend their territory against mining exploitation. This struggle evinces the different dimensions of territoriality that are mobilized in the process of anti-mining resistance, with particular emphasis on the collective structures of organization and government. My ethnographic findings

The sea has long been a barrier guaranteeing the ecological isolation of the Galápagos. When Ecuador annexed the archipelago, the sea became an obstacle, because neither the state nor the island residents had ships to maintain regular relations with the mainland. On the contrary, the Galápagos Islands are an open space for foreign actors who, having adequate transport, freely use its natural resources

This article revisits Ottoman history by exploring the enduring relationship between humans and locusts through an animal-human history approach, emphasizing their ‘companionship’ and combined agen...

This article explores Fascist Italy’s attempts in the interwar era to influence Turkish perceptions of fascism and Italy. The techniques to be reviewed include interviews by diplomatic personnel, t...

This paper is a biography of Paul, a Christian who joined Boko Haram and became one of its prominent bomb makers. After coming out of the underground, he became an army auxiliary in Kolofata and its environs, in the far north of Cameroon. Paul’s autobiographical narratives were cross-checked with other sources, including interviews with former insurgents and hostages, and officials of the Cameroonian

The research for this article examines the characteristics of the marine-coastal environment from the perspectives of a range of social actors. Knowledge of maritimacies can serve as an input for management of marine-coastal environments that takes into account the diverse types of humanity found there, by emphasizing that these processes are not just physical and ecological, but also social, economic

This paper seeks to categorize the forms of autonomy developed by Indigenous and peasant movements in Latin America into three types: a) de jure autonomies versus de facto autonomies; b) explicit autonomies versus implicit autonomies; and c) (mono)ethnic autonomies versus popular or class autonomies. We argue that the debate between these conceptions takes on a possible strategic importance when it

This article analyzes how the Escuela-Ayllu of Warisata in Bolivia challenged the feudal system known as gamonalismo in the 1930s-1940s within the broader context of Indigenous struggle. It demonstrates that distinct currents of Indigenous education, including indigenismo, Caciques-Apoderados’ Centro Educativo de Aborígenes “Bartolomé de las Casas,” and Alcaldes Mayores Particulares’ escuelas particulares

This article categorizes the resistance strategies used by traditional fishers on the coast of Paraná, Brazil, against local authorities that seek to deterritorialize their territories. Documentary sources and interviews with informants were used as part of this research. The local traditional fishing sector is not immune to external pressure. The resistance strategies of this group can be classified

This article is about the seminar held at Luiss University in Rome on 17 June 2024. The seminar focused on ‘The End of Christian Democracy: A New Direction for Research’ and was the first milestone and official launch of the PRIN research project ‘The End of Christian Democracy: The Collapse of a Political Dream – Voices from the Margins’, led by a consortium of four universities: Luiss, Roma Tre,

Latin American governments are increasingly adopting mano dura initiatives to combat gangs, organized crime, and insecurity. While mano dura has been a concept of increasing empirical interest, there seems to be limited conceptual clarity about the wide spectrum of strategies developed to combat crime and associated fear. This article proposes a definition of mano dura that has three different dimensions

This paper mainly explores the intricate dynamics of the feminization of migration from Uzbekistan to Turkey. The implementation of neoliberal policies in Uzbekistan since the early 2000s has resul...

Existing research indicates that political stability is a prerequisite for good governance and economic development in Central Asia. All five countries in the region are authoritarian regimes but i...

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress, is reputed to have been a largely ineffective guerrilla army which hardly challenged the apartheid war machine. Instead, thi...

This is the second part of a two-part series, beginning with the July 2024 issue of this journal, exploring the diversity of Indigenous autonomies confronting neoliberal capitalism and their dilemmas and strategic choices.Esta es la segunda parte de una serie de dos, comenzando con el número correspondiente a julio de 2024 de la presente revista, que exploran la diversidad de autonomías indígenas frente

This article provides an overview of the impacts of the current Colombian extractivist development model on peasant, Afro-descendant, and Indigenous communities’ territorial seas ( maritorium) in the Colombian Caribbean. We reflect on the implications of a gradual penetration of concepts such as the blue economy in national public policy. The impacts of activities such as port infrastructure, oil drilling

Much has been written and said about the consequences of climate change on security in the West African Sahel. Sceptics argue that claims about the links between global warming and conflict dynamics rest on limited evidence and questionable assumptions. Others work on the institutionalization and operationalization of climate security. This implementation seems inevitable, if slow, difficult, and at

This article examines the impact of armed conflict on the education system in Afghanistan between 2001–2021. Using critical ethnography as its main research approach, the article draws on the perce...

This article inquires into the workings of Zapatista Seed Pedagogics’ (ZSP) building of a political-ethical commons outside the movement’s autonomous territories. Parting from a previous theorization of ZSP as a decolonizing educational process, this writing draws on interviews with external activists of neozapatista networks who have encountered and/or accompanied the movement in the last three decades

Since the sinking of SS Arandora Star 84 years ago, the memory of this tragic wartime incident has been strongly held and developed within the British Italian community, moving through several phases, from oblivion to recognition and commemoration to a more recent growing awareness in a wider mnemonic community of interest. The aim of this special issue is threefold: to raise further the profile of

During the Second World War, Germans, Austrians and Italians living in Great Britain were designated as ‘enemy aliens’ and consequently interned. The worsening situation on the continent in May and June 1940 stirred up hysteria that spies and saboteurs could be amongst the Germans and Austrians. Mass arrests started in May 1940, and Italians were soon caught up in the detentions when Mussolini declared

On 2 July 1940, the ocean liner SS Arandora Star was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-47, with the loss of around 805 lives; over half of these were British-Italian civilian internees. This article approaches the event from the arena of Second World War military history, contextualising the sinking within the early Battle of the Atlantic. In so doing, it shifts the customary focus away from

This article progresses Second World War historiography of ‘enemy alien’ internment, especially of the SS Arandora Star, sunk in 1940 with a high loss of Italian civilian lives. Employing a new paradigm, that of the deathscape, defined as a topography of death and the practices that surround it, this investigation recontextualises Arandora Star remembrance in Scotland. Ambiguous loss, complicated grieving

Within British-Italian history of the Second World War, there are several questions surrounding the sinking of the SS Arandora Star, on 2 July 1940, which still remain problematic. Nevertheless, this tragedy continues to play a prominent role in the heritage and memories of the Anglo-Italian communities in the UK. This article focuses on the experiences and memories of the Arandora Star from the perspective

Knowledge of the Arandora Star is no longer limited to members of the UK's historic Italian community but is shared by a much larger constituency thanks to the greater accessibility of historical documents relating to the sinking of the ship, and to the substantial volume of new creative work inspired by it. This article examines this expansion of historical memory by following two discrete but entangled

This paper critically reviews and examines the available data concerning Italians embarked on the SS Arandora Star on 30 June 1940. It encompasses their fate on 2 July when the ship was sunk, their subsequent journeys and the sources used to verify the conclusions. The principal aim is to establish, as far as is possible, the precise number, correct names and other details of those who were embarked

The Russian word Imperskost’, which can be translated into English as ‘imperiality’, is a useful theoretical concept for scholarly writing in English that addresses individuals’ and countries’ impe...

Studies on Muslim self-conception within Central Asia have flourished over the past twenty years in post-Soviet Central Asia as they did in the 1960s and 1970s within Afghanistan. This research pro...

During the 2015 post-electoral conflict in the municipality of Oxchuc, Chiapas, came the demand for the election of municipal authorities through its own internal regulatory system. After going through several phases, proponents of change in electoral proceedings obtained legal recognition for Indigenous self-government. This achievement led to an interlude in the long history of political conflict

Although trawling stopped definitively in 2019 in Costa Rica, there is an ongoing debate regarding the broader policies derived from the Blue Economy. These have focused on the productive conversion of the fleet (salaried fishers) toward more profitable activities related to tuna fishing, aquaculture, and tourism. This paper takes a political economy approach to oceans and livelihoods, analyzing how

The contemporary phase of capitalism has led to an intensification of the process of “accumulation by dispossession,” which entails a growing conflict between territorial displacement and indigenous resistances. These conflicts manifest in projects for autonomy that take on diverse forms. Here, we address the origins of these various concepts of autonomy while focusing on their corresponding dilemmas

Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın (1875 − 1957) was a prominent and prolific writer who, in 1908, was also the first journalist elected to the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies. He was a member of the Committee of Un...

For several decades, proponents of aquaculture have framed the industry as a critical element of the emerging blue economy. In Aysén, Chile, however, environmental crises have undermined the industry’s claims to sustainability. Invoking “continuous improvement,” aquaculture operators manage ecological, economic, and political risks. This requires shared understandings of risk and uncertainty in which

Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) is the world’s largest terrestrial Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), covering vast regions of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Elephants and other specie...

The millennium-long history of the Druze continues to shape members’ sense of ethnoreligious particularism and relations with other groups in Lebanon. Their contemporary heritage narrative and proc...

Turkey was among the countries that refused the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine which was put to vote on 29 November 1947, and this was celebrated by many Arab governments. Nevertheless...

Why is it that South Africa’s ‘land question’ is so stubbornly resistant to resolution? This think piece re-examines 30 years of debate, concentrating on the disjuncture between the discourses of p...

India’s amiable history with Vietnam began with peaceful migration to Southeast Asia from the beginning of the Common Era and discovery of new land and sea routes. Yet, modern Vietnamese consider I...