“Yet there is a sense today that globalisation as we are now experiencing it really is of a different hue … All that can be said at this stage is that it is likely that those who lived through earlier episodes of imperial domination probably felt the same.”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.168.

Abb.: I Wayan Upadana: Glo(babi)sation, 2013, indoartnow, im Internet.

09/09

“the State as it emerged and was consolidated in Western Europe over several centuries was the result of complex processes. … What were the main processes that led to the constitution of the State?

• First, there was a movement towards centralisation.
• Second, it entailed a protracted dynamic of resource concentration and then an attempt at monopolisation, in the first instance of military means. … the State then succeeded in monopolising legitimate violence both internally and vis-à-vis competing external polities. The process of monopolisation also (and crucially) concerned taxation. …
• Thirdly … centralisation and monopolisation led to the establishment of a bureaucracy … This involved a dynamic of differentiation and the emergency of a clear distinction between public and private spheres. … the rise of the State marked the end of patrimonialism. …
• The last aspect in the development of the State … was institutionalisation. This took the form of the written codification of laws applicable to all citizens and entailed legal responsibilities on the part of those who held political or bureaucratical office. …
• There are of course a number of other considerations that are of importance … Of note would be the relationship between the State, the nation, other territorial entities and different types of political regimes; its role in regulating competing social forces and in imposing order; its links with the élite; and, finally, its economic function, either as actor or regulator or, possibly, as manager of the welfare system …

… the use of the notion [of the State] in settings where the four processes discussed above have not occurred, or have occurred erratically, is a form of ‘concept stretching’ that is inimical to the proper understanding of the exercise of power.”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.227-229.

09/09

“Paradoxically … it is the West that holds most strongly that revolutionairies are able to provoke cultural ruptures, when the evidence (as in Russia or China) is that this is not the case.”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.165.

09/09

“… rational choice is helpless simply because its examination of self-interest is always made ex post facto. In other words, the explanation is tautological: conflict occurred because it was in the interests of the actors concerned to engage in violence.”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.144.

09/09

“The only credible justification for comparison ought to te pragmatic: that is, to enable us to understand better what is happening in the world in which we live.”

“The choice of questions and case studies must be appropriate. Only meaningful comparisons can yield meaningful insights.”

“… an analysis of the political order requires an understanding of power at the local level. … It is not possible to ascertain, a priori, which are the most relevant units of analysis. … Meaningful comparison must be demonstrated, not assumed. …

comparisons … [can] only be set up once the question being investigated has been related to the appropriate level of analysis within the relevant context. In this instance, an assessment of party politics in Muslim and non-Muslim societies requires an analytical framework that would enable a comparison of notions of representation rather than party competition …

… a cultural approach stresses the importance of taking a dynamic, historically based view of social relations. …

What is at stake is the appreciation of the variegated ways in which power, authority, control and influence impinge on the workings of the politics that really affect people’s lives. The difficulty here lies in identifying such webs of power and in finding means of advancing comparative analysis. …

A cultural approach makes possible the identification of important political actors in two ways. First, it proposes to make explicit the systems of meaning that validate authority in society. … Second, it recognises that significant political agency is to be found in both the formal and informal sectors of political life – two areas that need equal research attention. … Finally, it provides a means of studying the increasingly salient role of non-state actors in international relations. …

The first and most significant political function of culture in all societies is to provide a framework for the enunciation of rationality. … This entails working out its two distinct aspects: the first concerns the ‘logics’ of a political system; the second involves understanding how actors explain what they do. … Political logic is always constructed, contextually, within the culture of which it is a part. Thus the aim of a cultural approach is to seek to understand how such logics emerge, or are ‘invented’, how groups of people come to agree, even if only implicitly, on what rational political behaviour is. …

Myths … are usually a response either to the necessity of constructing a clearly defined sense of identity or to meet a perceived threat from other groups. Myths are thus the material from which communities are ‘imagined’ … What matters …. is the fact that myths of this ilk make possible large-scale political violence. …

We are … interested in identifying, understanding and discussing the ways in which the people concerned make sense of the changes they witness or undergo; how they explain what they do, in the ways in which they do it. … culture changes tectonically – meaning that the process is marked by three characteristics: it is perceived by us to be subteranean, unpredictable and to proceed in unequal quantum jumps. … What matters is how political meanings evolve and why.”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.125-155, 177, etwas umsortiert.

09/09

“‘Culture … denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards live‘ [C.Geerts].

Let us unpack what this characterisation implies for political analysis. The key notion here is that culture is a ‘system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms’. That makes it plain, first, that what may appear merely as a conglomeration of discrete ‘values’ is in fact an inter-related and structured whole. Second, it hightlights the historical dimension of culture, which is to be understood not as being simply the current ‘language‘ of norms and habits (synchronically= but as the living environment, evolved in the longue durée (diachronically). Finally the emphasis is clearly placed on the fact that culture is expressed in symbolic form, and not, as is sometimes believed, only in factual statements. Comparative analysis, therefore, must concern itself with all three aspects of culture …”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.23.

09/09

“Ethnicity is one of the most widely cited causes of political action, but one of the most difficult concepts to define precisely. … The compelling force of the concept … derives from the perception that it provides a singularly tight fit between identity and community. … Hence the notion is predicated on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that it is possible to identify clearly those characteristics that distinguish one ethnic group from another. The other is that such features are of primary, or determinant, significance for members of those groups. …

In the West it is viewed primarily as an emotional attachment to a community of origin of, more pragmatically, as a basis for lobbying. From the West, however, ethnicity in less economically advanced, of simply culturally different, settings is perceived more as a primordial sentiment, a quality of being which is overwhelming – that is, over which people have little control. Although the same term is used in both instances, in reality the one is the reverse side of the other. …

The point is to … move away from evolutionary theory, and to accept that the instrumental quality of ethnicity is both historically and culturally bound, whatever the setting. … It is neither as clear-cut nor as casual as it is blithely assumed to be. …

The idea that ethnicity is easily identified is very largely a myth, in part due to the colonial method of classifying ‘natives’. … [in] pre-colonial Africa … ethnicity was an eminently fluid and malleable characteristic. Individual, and even whole groups, could easily change ethnic identities or entertain several, or, alternatively consider themselves part of extended religions and occupational groups … At the same time ethnicity need not automatically be politically consequented. … it is imperative to distinguish between political tribalism … from moral ethnicity, which provides the ethical framework for the life of a particular community.”

aus: Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz: Culture Troubles. Politics and the Interpretation of Meaning. London: Hurst & Co., 2006, S.112-115.

09/09

Gentrificatie gebeurt meestal in twee golven: de eerste golf zijn de mensen die ontdekken, opknappen, hip maken en de tweede golf zijn de mensen die binnen een hip geworden wijk opkopen.

De ideale stad zou een stad zijn, waar die twee groepen om de 15 tot 20 jaar verder trekken en nieuwe wijken opknappen, zodat aan het einde alle wijken van een stad binnen de 100 jaar of zo eens hip en gerenoveerd gewest zouden zijn. Jammer genoeg zijn er wijken, waar de gentrificatie nooit langskomt.

Brussel kan de binnenstroom eigenlijk aan, er staan enkel te veel appartementen en huizen leeg.

mijn bijdrage tot een discussie op brusselblogt, 25.8.2009

@Thijs, “Het aantal sociale huurappartementen is gigantisch”. Sorry, maar enkel in twee belgische steden hebben sociale woningen een aandeel van 20 tot 30 percent van de woningsmarkt, wat in Nederlandse, Franse en Duitse steden normaal is – Luik en Charleroi. De 8% sociale woningen in Brussel zijn verre van “gigantisch”, en als je erbij neemt, dat zeker de helft ervan in Nederland of Duitsland als onbewoonbaar zou verklaard worden, ronduit belachelijk.

Ik zie eigenlijk enkel twee oplossingen: Het systeem van publieke sociale agentschappen sterk uitbreiden, die privé-eigenaars van wenige leegstaande appartementen bevrijden van het risico huurders te krijgen die hun huur niet kunnen betalen enzv.; én publieke infrastructuur voor kinderen en families uitbouwen die familieleven ook zonder eigen tuin aangenaam maken.

twede bijdrage tot de discussie, 1.9.2009

“Die Realität ist die sinnlose Übertreibung aller Details, welche die Satire vor fünfzig Jahren hinterlassen hat. … Ein Blick in die neue Welt, … ein Atemzug in dieser gottlosen Luft von Allwissenheit und Allgegenwart zwingt zur vorwurfsvollen Frage: Was hat[te] Nestroy gegen seine Zeitgenossen? Wahrlich, er übereilt sich. Er geht antizipierend seine kleine Umwelt mit einer Schärfe an, die einer späteren Sache würdig wäre. … er erlebt die respektlose Intelligenz nicht, die da weiß, daß die Technik wichtiger sei als die Schönheit, und die nicht weiß, daß die Technik höchstens ein Weg zur Schönheit ist und daß es am Ziel keinen Dank geben darf und daß der Zweck das Mittel ist, das Mittel zu vergessen. … Wo das Talent dem Charakter Schmutzkonkurrenz macht und die Bildung die gute Erziehung vergißt. Wo überall das allgemeine Niveau gehoben wird und niemand draufsteht. Wo alle Individualiät haben, und alle dieselbe, und die Hysterie der Klebstoff ist, der die Gesellschaftsordnung zusammenhält. … Kunst ist, was den Stoff überdauert. Aber die Probe der Kunst wird auch zur Probe der Zeit, und wenn es immer den nachrückenden Zeiten geglückt war, in der Entfernung zum Stoff die Kunst zu ergreifen, diese hier erlebt die Entfernung von der Kunst und behält den Stoff in der Hand. Ihr ist alles vergangen, was nicht telegraphiert wird. Die ihr Bericht erstatten, ersetzen ihr die Phantasie. Denn eine Zeit, die die Sprache nicht hört, kann nur den Wert der Information beurteilen. … Wie sollte sie, deren Gedächtnis nicht weiter reicht als ihre Verdauung, in irgendetwas hinüberlangen können, was nicht unmittelbar aufgeschlossen vor ihr liegt? … Die Organe dieser Zeit widersetzen sich der Bestimmung aller Kunst, in das Verständnis der Nachlebenden einzugehen. Es gibt keine Nachlebenden mehr, es gibt nur noch Lebende, die eine große Genugtuung darüber äußern, daß es sie gibt, daß es eine Gegenwart gibt, die sich ihre Neuigkeiten selber besorgt und keine Geheimnisse vor der Zukunft hat. Morgenblattfroh krähen sie auf dem zivilisierten Misthaufen, den zur Welt zu formen nicht mehr Sache der Kunst ist. Talent haben sie selbst …”

aus: Karl Kraus: Auswahl aus dem Werk. München: Kösel 1957, S.178-180.

08/09

“Das Verlangen der Feinde nach Auslieferung der deutschen Artillerie ist ein Wahnsinn. Logisch wäre nur das Verlangen nach Auslieferung der deutschen Weltanschauung, und dieses ist unerfüllbar.”

aus: Karl Kraus: Auswahl aus dem Werk. München: Kösel 1957, S.228

08/09