Local Politics and Local Identity

Artykuł prezentuje wyniki badań przeprowadzonych w połowie 2014 r., mających na celu identyfikację oczekiwań władz małych miast wobec polskiej państwowej polityki rozwoju lokalnego. Jako źródło informacji o tych oczekiwaniach wybrano grupę 46 burmistrzów małych miast, natomiast jako metodę badawczą zastosowano sondaż diagnostyczny oparty na długim wywiadzie osobistym. Zidentyfikowane oczekiwania dotyczyły reformy systemu stałego finansowania gmin, zmian systemów dystrybucji środków unijnych, wyposażenia samorządów lokalnych w nowe instrumenty oddziaływania na ponadlokalne relacje ich gmin, redukcji antywzorców prowadzenia polityki, usuwania sprzeczności i niejasności prawa, a także zmian zasad funkcjonowania organu stanowiącego i wykonawczego władz lokalnych. Oczekiwania te można i należy traktować jako współczesne wyzwania państwowej polityki rozwoju lokalnego, ponieważ dotyczą one jej gruntownych, wielowymiarowych zmian. Ponadto rozpatrywane łącznie tworzą dla tej polityki wyzwanie, które można określić jako jej współczesne wyzwanie generalne. Jest nim oczekiwanie władz lokalnych, że władze państwowe zwiększą ich podmiotowość w definiowaniu i kreowaniu rozwoju kraju, pogłębiając swoją aprobatę dla paradygmatu rozwoju lokalnego.

[The article presents the results of research carried out in mid-2014 to identify the expectations presented by the authorities of small cities in the light of Polish state local development policy. 46 mayors were selected as the source of information about these expectations and a diagnostic survey based on long personal interviews was chosen as the research method. The expectations concerned the reform of the municipalities’ permanent funding system, changes in the systems governing EU funds distribution, providing local authorities with new instruments for shaping their municipalities’ supra-local relationships, reducing anti-patterns in policy and politics, eliminating contradictions and ambiguities in law, and changes in the rules governing both decisive and executive bodies of local authorities. The expectations discussed should be approached as contemporary challenges for state policy on local development, since the mayors refer to thorough and multidimensional alterations to that policy. Furthermore, if analysed jointly, the expectations constitute a challenge for this policy, which can be referred to as its general contemporary challenge. Local authorities expect that the state government will increase its subjectivity in defining and creating local development by extending its approval for the local development paradigm.]

Problematyka rozwoju lokalnego była wielokrotnie podejmowana w literaturze przedmiotu. Liczne prace poświęcone mu koncentrują się na jego celach, czynnikach, stymulowaniu go i na jego pomiarze. Mimo to, jak dotąd niewiele uwagi poświęcono pojęciu polityki rozwoju lokalnego prowadzonej przez władze lokalne. Kategorii polityk rozwoju lokalnego prowadzonych przez władze ponadlokalne w ogóle nie formułowano i nie omawiano. Polityki takie są jednak prowadzone w Polsce i za granicą, a ich znaczenie rośnie. Istnieje zatem potrzeba ich definiowania i charakteryzowania dla budowy aparatu pojęciowego wykorzystywanego w dyskursie naukowym, w praktyce projektowania i aplikacji tych polityk oraz w dydaktyce.
Artykuł to próba odpowiedzi na to wyzwanie. Otwiera go prezentacja genezy i istoty lokalizmu oraz koncepcji rozwoju lokalnego. Następnie sformułowano pojęcia rozwoju lokalnego postrzeganego z perspektyw lokalnej i ponadlokalnej oraz omówiono paradygmat rozwoju lokalnego, jego znaczenie i pozycje˛ wobec innych paradygmatów rozwoju. Bazując na lokalnej i ponadlokalnej perspektywach rozwoju lokalnego, sformułowano kategorie lokalnej (gminnej) praz ponadlokalnych (regionalnej, państwowej i ponadpaństwowej) polityk rozwoju lokalnego i wskazano podmioty, które je prowadzą. Omówiono także cele i cechy tych polityk, sposoby ich prowadzenia oraz ich pozycje wobec innych polityk funkcjonalnych i horyzontalnych. W dalszej kolejności przedstawiono spójności wertykalną i horyzontalną ponadlokalnych polityk rozwoju lokalnego. W artykule wykorzystano metody badawcze krytycznej analizy literatury przedmiotu, indukcji, dedukcji i analogii.

[The local development issues were repeatedly discussed in the subject literature. Numerous works devoted to it focus on its objectives, factors and its measurement. Despite this, until now, a little attention has been paid to the category of local development policy pursued by local authorities. The categories of local development policies pursued by the supra-local authorities have not been formulated or discussed at all. Nevertheless, such policies are held in Poland and abroad, and their importance is growing. Thus, there is a need for their definement and characterizing for the construction of nomenclature used in academic discourse and in the practice of design and the application of these policies and in didactics as well. The purpose of this article is to answer this challenge. It opens with the presentation of the origin and the nature of localism and the idea of local development. Then the categories of the local development perceived from the local and supra-local perspectives have been formulated, as well as local development paradigm, its meaning and position in relation to other paradigms of development have been described. Based on local and supra-local perspectives of local development, the categories of local (municipal) and supra-local (regional, national and international) policies of local development have been formulated and the entities who pursue them have been pointed. Also the purpose and features of these policies, ways of their pursuing and their positions in relation to other functional and horizontal policies have been described. Next, the vertical and horizontal cohesion of supra-local policies of local development have been presented. The article uses the research methods of critical analysis of the subject literature, induction, deduction and analogy.]

This paper shows that role and position of Indonesian women in local governance are improved gradually since implementation of direct elections in 2005. The direct elections increased “structural opportuinities” for women to be elected as local leader. Number of women elected as local leaders rises significantly during 2005-2014 period. Female local leaders’ profiles are diversed in terms of their socio-political background, individual capital and political parties, which reflects the new typology of female local leaders. The presence of female local leaders do not necessarily means that they always advocate women issues in their policies, as this ideal condition depends on many other influential factors. This paper initialy indicates a possible declining trend of women participation in local governance as the Act No. 22/2014 adopts the election of local government head via the Regional People’s Representative Council to replace the earlier mechanism of direct election. However, it suggests that Government Regulation No. 1/2014 enacted at then end of Yudhoyono’s Presidency, which annulling the Act No.22/2014, offers new optimism for women participation in local governance, since it returns direct election for local government head.

Dans le cadre des activités de recherche en partenariat, entre des équipes françaises et marocaines, menées au sein du LMI MediTer (1 et 2) et du programme de l'ANR MedInnLocal, le littoral Atlantique marocain a été retenu comme un site d'intérêt pour le groupe travaillant sur le tourisme. Dans la zone autour de Taghazout, identifiée dès 2011, plusieurs missions de terrains, individuelles et collectives, donnant lieux à des enquêtes pluridis-ciplinaires se sont déroulées entre 2013 et 2017 sur diverses thématiques en liaison avec le tourisme balnéaire, rural, de niche et plus globalement sur les dynamiques et changements en cours. Les données collectées ont permis d'identifier un certain nombre de phénomènes, des ajustements, des stratégies, dont certaines sont éphémères et particulièrement difficiles à caractériser alors que d'autres semblent plus pérennes. Du fait que les changements dans la zone sont toujours en cours, et ce pour plusieurs années sans doute, et que les recherches elles aussi conti-nuent au fil des aménagements du littoral, des nouvelles infrastructures et des initiatives locales, ou nationales en réponse à ces évolutions, les premiers résultats présentés, commentés et analysés dans ce chapitre ne constituent nullement un point de vue final et définitif sur ces travaux. Ils doivent être pris comme un éclairage à un moment donné sur une situation en évolution constante. Ce chapitre est de ce fait beaucoup plus descriptif qu'analytique mais il s'insère dans une dynamique de recherche collective qui a déjà donné lieu à de nombreuses publications (Senil et al. 2014 ; Berriane 2014 ; Berriane et Michon 2016).

The article aims to elaborate political dynasty that developed in local politics arena.
The emergence of political dynasty is indicated by several points. First of all, the failure
of function from local political party to conducts political regeneration. Secondly,
high cost democracy which impeding public to participate in public office succession.
Third, political power from local elite was uneven, thus resulting power centralization
in few strong local elite that transforming dynasty. Patrimonialism is not always
becoming main perspective to analyzing political dynasty. There are many alternative
political perspectives to analyze this case. This paper used familism political culture
to elaborate political dynasty in local politics arena. The result of this research shows
political preference from the local leader is considered to choose his family member in
governmental succession to cover up his political sins. Familism also influenced from
political source such as tribalism, populism, and feudalism that distinguishing local
political dynasty in Indonesia.

This thesis is an examination of the causes of Conservative electoral decline in Liverpool, from the end of World War Two to the present day. This is an area of Liverpool’s political history, and of the history of the Conservative Party, which is understudied. This thesis counters the traditional argument that declining sectarianism, or the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, are the root causes of Conservative decline in Liverpool.

This thesis also discounts theories of local party organisational inefficiency, municipal electoral biases, demographic change, and population drain, arguing that generally these changes were too gradual to account for the sudden, dramatic decline of the Liverpool Conservatives in the 1970s. Similarly, many of these factors do not chime temporally with actual changes in Conservative vote share.

Instead, this thesis proposes a tripartite framework, which separates the periods of success (1945-197), decline (1973-1986), and irrelevance (1987 onwards). Each period can be explained by recourse to different phenomena. Conservative success in Liverpool can be primarily explained by the socialisation effect of Protestantism, boosted in years when the Conservatives were doing well nationally. Conservative decline is mainly a result of a perfect storm of unresponsive local parties, an energetic nascent Liberal Party, dissatisfaction with the Heath government nationally, and an all-out local election in 1973 (when all seats in council were up for election) triggered by local government reform. Finally, Conservative irrelevance is attributable to a change in Scouse local identity which took on an element of anti-Thatcherism/anti-Conservatism, and has persisted to this day.

The presented book is devoted to local development and its governance by forming, on the strategic level, the relationships connecting municipalities with supralocal, i.e. regional, national and global milieu. It is divided into five chapters.
The first chapter constitutes the theoretical and conceptual foundation of the entire study. It discusses the crucial concepts used, such as Fordism and Post-Fordism, localism and new localism, localness and a local system, socio-economic development and sustainable development, as well as the relationships and the historical background of the evolution of these concepts. It also presents the definitions of local development included in the world literature, as well as two new approaches to local development created by the author – the local and supralocal one. These approaches were discussed in the model, process (dynamic) and structural (static) oriented variants. Next the author’s original typology of supralocal relationships of the local systems, which determine local development, was presented. Within its framework the relationships of valorisation and animation were identified as favourable for the local development, and also the relationships of suppression and depreciation as unfavourable for such development.
The second chapter discusses the implementation of local development concept. First the essence and the entities of local and supralocal policies of local development were presented. Next the reader’s attention was directed towards the issue of municipal governance of local development presenting it as the component of public governance. The mechanism of local development formation by the local authorities, using the instruments at their disposal, was also explained. It was followed by presenting the motives and the concept of strategic approach in the municipal governance of local development, showing them as an alternative for an administrative approach. Next the new, author’s category of supralocal perspective of municipal strategic governance of local development was defined. It consists of the characteristics of this governance related to supralocal relationships of a local system defined as exogenous utilitarianness, neo-endogenous absorptivity, protectiveness, retentionness and supralocal easementing, as well as the relevant activities of the local authorities.
The third chapter presents the analysis results of contemporary, world studies on supralocal relationships of local systems and their formation. On its basis the general research problem was identified and described, consisting in the insufficiency of knowledge in this matter despite the theoretical and practical rationale of having it. It was followed by presenting the reasons for which it is indispensable to carry out pilot, subject specific studies covering the selected group of local authorities and aimed at solving the fragment of this problem. The authorities of Polish small towns were selected as such a group. Next the supralocal reasons of contemporary socioeconomic situations of these towns were described in detail along with the interest in their supralocal relationships of science, local governments, supralocal authorities, business environments and the residents of these towns. Further part of this chapter presents the research goals, objects, strategy, methods and techniques, as well as the information sources. The adopted primary research goals were the identification of the characteristics of supralocal perspective of local development strategic governance of small towns, followed by enunciating the general characteristics of this perspective. The adopted secondary research goals were marking improvement methods of this governance perspective out along with the verification of usefulness of the selected information sources, research methods and techniques in diagnosing it.
The local authorities of 369 Polish towns with the residents’ number ranging from 5 to 20 thousand constituted the research population. The applied research method was a diagnostic survey using the technique of long personal interview, the method of content analysis using the encoding technique and the method of qualitative field research using the participant observation technique. The following information sources were adopted: town mayors, local development strategies and the groups of people playing key roles in the construction and implementation of these strategies. All the methods, techniques and sources were combined in accordance with triangulation research strategy. The chapter was completed with the description of the research questions and tools used and the report of the course of conducted research. The research results are presented in chapter four. It contains the detailed information how the studied authorities perceive the importance of particular supralocal relationships of their towns and their own roles in these relationships formation. It also includes information about the relationships which are mainly affected by exogenous utilitarianness, absorptivity, protectiveness and retentionness of strategic governance carried out by the analysed authorities, about the instruments used in this area and also about the positionality, neo-endogeneity and supralocal easementing of such governance. The provided information was illustrated by several comprehensive tables and several dozens graphs.
Based on the above information, the general characteristics of supralocal perspective of local development governance of Polish small towns is presented in the last, fifth chapter. Apart from its main components, i.e. the relationships perceived as strategically significant and formed on the strategic level, its unification was characterized along with its contextual specificity for the supralocal milieu. Fordist and Post-Fordist values dominating in this perspective of governance were also indicated. The impact of supralocal development policies, carried out by Polish state and regional authorities, on this governance, was also discussed. It was all concluded by the assessment of the level of transformation of administrative approach towards local development governance into a strategic one. Next, based on the analysis of legal acts, literature studies and cause and effect analysis the problem specific recommendations were made regarding the improvement of the discussed governance perspective. They were addressed to the analysed authorities, public governance related scientific environment and Polish state authorities. By analysing the course and the results of research the usefulness of methods, techniques and research tools, along with information sources in different, analogical studies, was also shown. The publication was finished with indicating the rationale, directions and methods for the conducted research continuation.

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

[ENGLISH] Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, some communities and families of the northern contado of Milan chose to side with the Visconti, not only ensuring their support to the latter’s effort to frame the various forces of the area, but also reinforcing the defenses along the river Adda. As a reward, Bernabò, Gian Galeazzo and their successors granted these communities and families an advantageous tax exemption. It was indeed to defend such considerable privilege that the restless and diversified people of the Brianza hills grouped themeselves together, drawn by the centripetal influence of the most powerful families, who dubbed themselves Ghibellini. The granting of such tax exemption and the important role played by these bonds contributed to the birth of a new sense of identity in Brianza, built primarily upon the institutional structure of the granted privilege. A new sense of identity that was strengthened, on the one hand, by the newborn territorial "Universitas Montis Briantie" and, on the other hand, by the power of the Lords of Milan.

[ITALIAN] Fra Tre e Quattrocento alcune comunità e famiglie del contado a nord di Milano si schierano fermamente a sostegno dei Visconti, coadiuvandoli nel loro tentativo di inquadrare le variegate forze del territorio e garantendo la difesa del confine sul fiume Adda. Come ricompensa Bernabò, Gian Galeazzo e i loro successori concedono a queste comunità e famiglie delle vantaggiose esenzioni fiscali: sono proprio queste esenzioni ad accomunare le numerose comunità rurali e le irrequiete famiglie delle colline briantee, cementandone il fronte in difesa della comune condizione privilegiata. Le parentele più influenti del territorio, tutte fortemente di fede ghibellina, svolgono in questo senso un’azione centripeta, atta a far nascere e sviluppare in Brianza un senso d’identità nuovo, costruito sul comune carico fiscale, ma anche intimamente politico, legato da una parte alla neonata Università territoriale del Monte di Brianza e dall’altra al potere dei signori di Milano.

We don’t intend to present the whole story of the Mirza Kuchak Khân’s Jangali Movement (from 1915 up to december 1921) but to fulfil the aim of our meeting by: firstly trying to gain an understanding of what this movement and the control of the Gilan province meant for the different protagonists of WWI at the eastern front and secondly providing a  discussion of the geographical, social and historical factors that gave to this movement its characteristics and that may explain its coming about, its astonishing resilience and its shortcomings. At the end, we will conclude by a comparison of the Jangali Movement with the Morelos insurrection of Emiliano Zapata (1910 – 1919) in Mexico.

for further information, fol. that link :

http://www.mihan.org.uk/next-event.html

Historiography During the Soviet Nation and State Building Process
The concepts of nation and state embody in themselves both normality and artificiality. It is firmly established by historical experience that the human, as the subject of the former as well as the object of the latter, frequently interferes with the content of these concepts. If this intervention stems from ideological reasons, the implication is that the mechanism for providing legitimacy is involved with its focus on historiography. At this stage, the engine of historiography becomes an office for the approval of political power.
Within that context, the fictionalization of history transforms the knowledge of the past to a reproducible product. This understanding means a neglect of the motive to attain the reality of the past; instead, the aim is to become the social engineering required for the continuity of the ideology. In this concise text, alongside the ongoing philosophical debates as to what history is and how it should be laid out, the instrumentality of history in practical terms will be examined with a special focus on the Soviet Union paradigm.
Keywords: Soviet historiography, Soviet nation-state, Territorial historiography, Soviet nationalism.

Politics and Community-Based Research offers a compelling analysis for a readership interested in urban politics, community mapping and the built environment. The book draws on a critical reflection of Yeoville Studio, a research project conducted by Wits University academics from a diversity of disciplinary backgrounds, together with community partners and postgraduate students. A collection of vignettes portraying
people and places in Yeoville interwoven with theoretically analytical chapters, it explores the politics of community research at a neighbourhood scale in its multiple facets, reflecting on trials and errors, presenting research methods and topics constructed in multiple forms of engagement with local civil society. It will resonate with similar participatory research attempts in contested and complex neighbourhoods across the world.

人口流出や高齢化といった問題に直面している中山間地域である徳島県名西郡神山町におけるフィールドワークをもとに課題探索的アプローチにより研究した。具体的な4つの事例についての記述 (5章1節～4節) を軸とし、当事者のナラティブに対して筆者自身が参与的にかかわる形で論文を構成した。分析のフレームワークは事例ごとに先行研究を参照した。

  ・5章1節：神山町地方創生戦略の実行主体である一般社団法人神山つなぐ公社の地域における取組を地域におけるリーダーシップのあり方についての視点等から考察した。
  ・5章2節：株式会社フードハブ・プロジェクトについて、ソーシャルビジネスの観点、および行政・民間・中間組織の関連の観点などから検討した。
  ・5章3節：神山で起業したスモールビジネスのネットワーク、インキュベーターとしてのNPO法人グリーンバレーについて、組織論やアントレプレナーシップの観点から検討した。
  ・5章4節：集合住宅（当時建設中）のプロジェクトについて、人文地理学での場所性／没場所性に関する議論を参照して考察した。

Η παρούσα μελέτη αναζητά τα παράλληλα νήματα που συνδέουν αποικιοκρατία, εθνικισμό και αρχαιολογία στην Κρητική Πολιτεία (1898 - 1913), ένα ημιαυτόνομο καθεστώς που επιβλήθηκε στο νησί της Κρήτης από τις “Μεγάλες Δυνάμεις” της εποχής (Μεγάλη Βρετανία, Γαλλία, Ρωσία και Ιταλία). Η Κρητική Πολιτεία υπήρξε κατακλείδα 250 χρόνων άμεσης οθωμανικής κυριαρχίας, σε μια περιοχή που κατοικείτο από Χριστιανούς – η πλειοψηφία – και μουσουλμάνους, με τους πρώτους να υποστηρίζουν ένα ανθηρό εθνικιστικό κίνημα υπέρ της ένωσης με το Βασίλειο της Ελλάδος. Οι “σημαντικότερες” αρχαιολογικές ανακαλύψεις γίνονται κατά τη διάρκεια αυτής της περιόδου. Ωστόσο, οι ανασκαφές πραγματοποιούνται κατά κύριο λόγο από δυτικές αρχαιολογικές αποστολές, με τις δραστηριότητές τους να παραπέμπουν έντονα σε ημιαποικιοκρατικές συμπεριφορές, σαν αυτές που παρουσιάζουν οι "ειρηνευτικές" δυνάμεις που έχουν αναπτυχθεί στην Κρήτη. Την ίδια περίοδο αναδύεται μια ντόπια ελίτ συνεργατών και διαμεσολαβητών. Ενσωματώνει μέλη με πολλαπλές ιδιότητες, όπως πρώην επαναστάτες, πολιτικούς, κληρικούς, αυτοδίδακτους αρχαιολόγους και συλλέκτες αρχαιοτήτων, οι οποίοι ακολουθούν μια αμφίσημη τακτική: αφενός, ως κοινωνοί του ελληνικού αλυτρωτισμού, απευθύνονται προς τη χριστιανική κοινότητα, ως ζηλωτές της εθνικής ανεξαρτησίας και ενός εθνικώς “αποκαθαρμένου” παρόντος – συνέχειας ενός εξίσου “αποκαθαρμένου” παρελθόντος. Από την άλλη, τηρώντας μια υπάκουη στάση απέναντι στις δυνάμεις κατοχής και τις απαιτήσεις των δυτικών αρχαιολόγων, επιδιώκουν την εξασφάλιση τόσο ατομικών και συλλογικών συμφερόντων. Οι δύο αυτές επιφανειακά αντικρουόμενες προσεγγίσεις θα τους οδηγήσουν σε ρήξη με μεγάλη μερίδα του κόσμου της Κρητικής υπαίθρου, του οποίου η συμπεριφορά προς τις αρχαιότητες θεωρείται αδαής και “μη πατριωτική”. Σε αυτό το άρθρο θα διερευνήσω την κληρονομιά του Ιωσήφ Χατζηδάκη, ενός από τους πρωταγωνιστές της περιόδου, και θα υποστηρίξω ότι η αρχαιολογία της Κρητικής Πολιτείας ήταν μια μάλλον συγκαλυμμένη περίπτωση αποικιοκρατικής αρχαιολογίας και, κατά ένα ιδιαίτερο τρόπο, μια αρχαιολογία των συγκρούσεων, γεννημένη εν μέσω διακοινοτικής βίας, διεθνούς στρατιωτικής κατοχής και ενός εθνικιστικού κινήματος σε πλήρη άνθηση. Στην έρευνά μου αναζητώ το πώς η αρχαιολογική δραστηριότητα επηρέασε τις τοπικές ελίτ, τον απλό πληθυσμό, τους κατακτητές, καθώς και τις σχέσεις μεταξύ όλων των παραπάνω.

This book first proves that the rationale behind Russia’s aggressive actions in its neighborhood resides in its goal of achieving certain geostrategic objectives which are largely predefined by the state’s imperial traditions, memories, and fears that the Kremlin may irretrievably lose control over lands which were once Russian. In other words, Russia constantly remains an expansion-oriented and centralized state regardless of epochs and political regimes ruling over it. That is its geopolitical modus operandi successfully tested throughout history. This book also scrutinizes Ukraine as a young post-colonial and post-communist state which, unlike Russia, is more prone to democratize and decentralize. To understand the logics of the ongoing Ukrainian transformation, its domestic and international developments are assessed in their connection to the Soviet political tradition and the medieval legacy of the Cossack statehood (15–18 centuries). This book outlines differences between the political cultures of Ukrainian and Russian nations. This envisages scrutiny of historical experiences and their impacts on the Ukrainian and Russian state-building, institutional structures, national identity, religious issues, and other features of sovereignty. Based on these discoveries, a structure of symbolic thinking which predefines indigenous understandings of justice and order has been constructed for Ukrainians and Russians.

[ENGLISH] Over the last few decades, a number of works have explored extensively the military organisation of late medieval Italian states, especially with regards to the condotte system and the development of standing armies. Having considered these two lines of research, this essay sheds light on the complementary military role played by local inhabitants in border areas such as the river Adda – which in the fifteenth century came to divide the duchy of Milan and the Venetian Terraferma. The analysis of a series of rural communities in the Milanese district, in particular, points out the correlation between the defensive role played by the inhabitants of the frontier and long-term political and military practices promoted by a number of local families. This paper shows that they took an active part in the defence of Milan’s territory: first by recruiting locally armed groups among relatives and clients, and secondly through the surveillance of the new frontier with Venice from their fortified estates.

[ITALIAN] Quello dell’organizzazione militare nel Rinascimento italiano è un tema molto studiato, specie con riguardo alla dinamica strutturale delle condotte e all’affermarsi di contingenti statali permanenti. Avendo considerato questi due aspetti, il presente contributo intende mettere in luce il ruolo complementare giocato a fianco delle armi e degli officiali dello stato da parte dagli abitanti di una frontiera come quella dell’Adda – confine fra ducato di Milano e Terraferma veneziana nel Quattrocento. Lo studio di alcune comunità del territorio milanese affacciate sulle rive occidentali del fiume, in particolare, mostra come la partecipazione degli abitanti della frontiera alla difesa dello stato fosse direttamente correlata a pratiche politiche e militari di lungo periodo facenti capo a una serie di eminenti parentele rurali. Una partecipazione che si esprimeva da una parte nell’arruolamento di squadre armate fra parenti e clienti, e dall’altra nella sorveglianza dei confini offerta da torri e proprietà fortificate.

Despite the Murle group being politically and economically marginalised, local and national political and popular discourses portray this group as the main aggressor in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. This widely asserted narrative ignores the fact that responsibility for the cycle of violence in Jonglei rests with all those perpetrating violence and certainly not solely with
one group. While sharing an overarching ethnic identity, when it comes to issues of peacebuilding the Murle can be neither seen nor treated as a consolidated group. Rather, there are
cattlekeeping Murle living in the lowlands of Pibor county and agrarian Murle living in the Boma Plateau; there are also age-sets, clans and many other differentiating factors. Accusing
all Murle of responsibility for violence only serves to magnify the sense of marginalisation and isolation felt by the Murle as a whole. This policy brief seeks to address some of the differences between the cattlekeeping lowlands Murle and the cultivating highlands Murle from the Boma Plateau. By doing so it highlights the importance of understanding cultural specificities and the local political economy and, when it comes to peacebuilding, of differentiating who is responsible for a specific conflict and who has influence over those responsible.

The article presents how local authorities of Polish small towns perceive and form at the strategic level, these supra-local relations of their towns, which are connected with local culture. The article begins with key categories explanation: local system (LS), local development (LD), local culture, supra-local relations of local system, local development strategic governance (LDSG) and its supra-local perspective. The next part presents rationale, objects, goals, questions, methods of research and information sources. It is followed by discussing the research results divided into 4 parts, corresponding to types of supra-local relations of local systems and activities for their pro-developmental formation.

W artykule zaprezentowano wyniki badań, które miały na celu zidentyfikowanie, jak władze polskich małych miast postrzegają i kształtują na poziomie strategicznym te ponadlokalne relacje ich miast, które związane są z innowacjami i lokalną innowacyjnością. Badania te przeprowadzono w roku 2014 metodami sondażu diagnostycznego i analizy treści. Wykorzystano w nich także wyniki obserwacji uczestniczących, przeprowadzonych w latach 2010-2014. W początkowej części artykułu wyjaśniono kategorie i procesy kluczowe z punktu widzenia badań, takie jak: rozwój lokalny w obu jego perspektywach, innowacje i ich znaczenie w rozwoju lokalnym, innowacyjność lokalna, ponadlokalne relacje układu lokalnego, zarządzanie rozwojem lokalnym, zarządzanie strategiczne rozwojem lokalnym, ponadlokalna perspektywa tego zarządzania. W dalszej części zaprezentowano przesłanki, obiekty, cele, pytania, metody i techniki badawcze oraz wykorzystane źródła informacji. Następnie przedstawiono wyniki badań, dzieląc je na 4 części odpowiadające relacjom waloryzacji, animacji, supresji i deprecjacji układu lokalnego oraz działaniom prowadzonym w celu ich prorozwojowego kształtowania, wyznaczającym egzogeniczną utylitarność, neoendogeniczną absorpcyjność, protekcyjność i retencyjność zarządzania rozwojem lokalnym. Artykuł kończą wnioski oraz zalecenia co do zmian lokalnych i ponadlokalnych polityk rozwoju, których dokonanie upowszechni i ułatwi proinnowacyjne kształtowanie ponadlokalnych relacji małych miast.
[The article presents the research results whose aim is to identify how local authorities of Polish small towns perceive and form at the strategic level, these supra-local relations of their cities, which are connected with innovations and local innovativeness. The research was conducted in 2014 using diagnostic survey and content analysis methods. In addition, the results of participant observations, conducted in 2010-2014, were used. In the initial part of the article key categories of research field are explained, such as local development in both perspectives, innovations and their role in local development, local innovativeness, supra-local relations of local system, local development governance, local development strategic governance and its supra-local perspective. The next part presents rationale, objects, goals, questions, methods and techniques of research and used sources of information. Then the results of the studies are presented, dividing them into 4 parts, corresponding to different types of supra-local relations of local systems and activities for their prodevelopmental formation. The article concludes with findings and recommendations for changes of local and supra-local policies which will popularize and simplify pro-innovative shaping of supra-local relations of small towns].

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on contentious student activism in post-2011 Egypt, this paper contrasts the manifestations of the “feeling” of marginality with reference to Cairo’s centrality between Alexandrian student activists and their other non-Cairene counterparts. Approaching marginality as a perceived problem, this study nuances the image of the governorates as equally disadvantaged and similarly excluded from the mainstream of power as Cairo supposedly is. Moreover, by looking at the activists’ strategies for dealing with the “problem” of Cairo’s centrality, this paper demonstrates that while Alexandrians employ strategies that assert their autonomy and portray them as a competing site of power, other non-Cairene activists feel the need to resort to various tactics to ensure the visibility and validation of their collective action. These tactics (and the lack thereof among Alexandrians) reveal that dependency and local identity are not markers of a condition of marginality as much as strategies that actors come up with to deal with their “problem” of marginality versus a perceived center

Kayyım Uygulamasını Çerçeveye Almak: Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Devletin Merkezileşmesi, Yerel Dinamikler ve Belediyeler

2016’da ilan edilen olağanüstü hal ve sonrasında Cumhurbaşkanlığı Hükümet Sistemi’nin tesisiyle birlikte, merkezî idarenin bütün ülkede gücünü tahkim edip merkez dışındaki bütün idari bünyeyi merkezî kontrol süreçlerine dahil ettiği bir dönem başladı. Böylelikle Osmanlı’dan başlayarak Cumhuriyet’le devam eden katı merkeziyetçi idari sistem azami seviyelere çıkarılarak birbirinden hayli farklı işlevlere sahip kurumların, öncesinde kısmi de olsa var olan özerklikleri sonlandırıldı.

Bu araştırma, HDP bileşeni olan Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi’nin (DBP) seçilmiş belediyelerine, 2016’dan itibaren iki farklı dönemde merkezî idare tarafından yapılan kayyım atamalarını tarihsel bir çerçevede düşünmeye yönelik bir egzersiz. Öncelikle kayyım atamalarını tarihsel ve sosyo-politik bir çerçevede kavramak için Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e merkezî idarenin yerelle ve buradaki toplumsal ve siyasal dinamiklerle kurduğu ilişkinin kapsamı belirleniyor. Böylelikle yerel yönetimler ile merkezî idare arasındaki ilişki, tarihsel bir bağlamda düşünülerek 2016’dan sonra hayli katı bir biçimde uygulanan merkeziyetçi yapıyı ve kayyım atamalarını imkân dahilinde kılan yönetim rasyonalitesinin tarihselliği belirlenmeye çalışılıyor.

This article seeks to establish the development of rural communities, with up to 500 inhabitants, with the creation of a Rural Tourism Development Forum and a Tourism Development Program with local identity. It is proposed to capitalize on cultural assets and local knowledge, to strengthen the profile and tourist circuits, local services and enterprises, agro-tourism and other related economic and social activities. The objective is to contribute to territorial tourism development from an innovative perspective, which, based on the efficient use of local resources, generates employment and improves the quality of life of its inhabitants, capitalizing on the advantages of tourist activity. The methodology used consisted in analyzing the problems of local development, identifying the obstacles and conceiving tourism as a solution and sustenance that allowed the elaboration of the model.

RESUMEN. El presente artículo procura instalar el desarrollo de comunidades rurales, de hasta 500 habitantes, con la creación de un Foro de Desarrollo Turístico Rural y un Programa de Desarrollo Turístico con identidad local. Se propone capitalizar los bienes culturales y saberes locales, para fortalecer el perfil y los circuitos turísticos, servicios y emprendimientos locales, el agroturismo y otras actividades económicas y sociales conexas. El objetivo es contribuir al desarrollo turístico territorial desde una perspectiva innovadora, que a partir del uso eficiente de los recursos locales, genere empleo y mejore la calidad de vida de sus habitantes, capitalizando las ventajas de la actividad turística. La metodología utilizada consistió en analizar la problemática del desarrollo local, identificar los obstáculos y concebir al turismo como solución y sustento que permitió la elaboración del modelo. Palabras clave: agroturismo, desarrollo local, desarrollo turístico, identidad local, turismo rural.

This article, written as a thesis for the Final Honour School in Ancient and Modern History at the University of Oxford, explores the German occupation of Belgium through the prism of two small towns (Philippeville and Mariembourg) in the Province of Namur. In doing so, it seeks to illuminate how the occupation shaped local and community identities and the wider effects of the approaches taken towards it.

Note: Deze verhandeling is enkel beschikbaar in pdf-versie op Ethesis.net.

Hizmet-Siyaset İkiliğinden Diyarbakır'a Bakmak: Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyesi Deneyimi (2015-2018)

Türkiye’de Kürt meselesinin çözümü ve şiddetin sonlanmasında yerel yönetimlerin kritik bir yere sahip olduğu söylenebilir. Kürt kimliğinin tanınması, Kürtlerin yönetime katılması ve kaynakların adil dağılımında yerel yönetimler hem uygun alanlar ve hem de etkin araçlar olarak işlev görebilir.

Kuşkusuz Türkiye’de yerel yönetim meselesi Kürt meselesine indirgenemez. Türkiye’de gerçek anlamda katılımcı demokratik siyasetin gelişmesi, toplumsal alanda çoğulculuğun hâkim kılınması, farklı toplumsal grupların yönetime katılımı, kamu yönetiminde etkinlik ve verimliliğin artışı, hesap verebilir ve şeffaf yönetimlerin inşası yerel yönetimlerle doğrudan ilişkili. Ötesi, yerel yönetimler denge ve denetleme mekanizmalarının da önemli bir parçası.

Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyesi’nin 2015-2018 dönemine odaklanan ve seçilmiş yönetimle atanmış kayyum yönetiminin şehir tahayyülleri ve eylemlerinin kıyaslandığı elinizdeki araştırma-inceleme çalışması, hem yerel yönetimleri ve yerel hizmetleri hem de hizmet ve siyaset ikiliğine sıkışmış Kürt meselesini Diyarbakır örneğinde anlamak için önemli veriler sunuyor.

This is my MA thesis in Global History supervised by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Conrad and Dr. Jan-Henrik Meyer. The research for this paper has been the basis for the documentary film "CAMPING NO! Un Momento de Gloria." (2018).

Excerpt from the introduction:

The small port of La Savina was bursting with people, when on the 26th of April 1992 about 500 demonstrators started their march on the capital of Formentera, raising placards with a clear message: “Prou de creixement turístic! – No more growth of tourism!” In early November 1993, these protests reached a new level, when the whole island was paralysed by a general strike and some 3,000 demonstrators had gathered in the streets. The shape and extent of this public contestation is very uncommon for a community of only 5,000 inhabitants, and even more extraordinary for a small island being economically dependent on tourism. Yet, surprisingly, these incidents have so far been ignored by academic research. In order to provide a first step in filling this gap in the literature, the present study aims to deliver a detailed analysis of the Formenteran protest movement against unrestrained growth of tourism and the historical context of its emergence.

The thesis is structured in four thematic chapters. These are arranged in a broadly chronological order, except for chapters II and III, which describe chronologically overlapping developments. Chapter I gives an overview of the geographical context of Formentera, its historical background before 1975, and the gradual rise of tourism on the island. Chapter II focuses on an important branch within the ideological roots of the Formenteran protest movement, analysing and contextualising the wave of political mobilisation and local identity-building that emerged after the end of dictatorship. Special attention is paid to the Obra Cultural Balear de Formentera, the Kol·lectiu Bassetja, and the Festa de Santa Maria. Chapter III examines a second branch within the ideological roots of the protest movement, which, however, cannot be completely separated from the first: the increasing concern for environmental conservation, especially since the early 1980s. After providing an overview on the Spanish environmental movement and its particularities on the Balearic Islands, this chapter focuses on the environmental organisation
Grup Balear d'Ornitologia i Defensa de la Naturalesa and its activism on Formentera. This includes the first major confrontations with large-scale investors and tourism-related construction projects, as well as Formentera’s participation in the “Man and Biosphere” UNESCO programme. Chapter IV, finally, covers the most important period of activism on the island, in particular the creation of the Coordinadora d’Entitats Cíviques, which entailed the unification of virtually every organisation or civic entity on Formentera. This central chapter includes an analysis of the extensive mobilisation of public protest in the early 1990s and closes with the dissolution of the movement in 1995. The final conclusion summarises the findings of this paper and includes a reflection on methodology and further research opportunities.

In this paper the theme of the negative effects of mass tourism will be addressed, taking into consideration the case of the city of Venice. In the first paragraph the concept of tourism will be introduced and the various evolutions that the phenomenon has known over time will be presented, up to a current phase of excessive and unwanted growth, called overturism. In the second paragraph the anti-tourism movements will be considered, which are formed in reaction to the excessive growth of the phenomenon. In the third paragraph the case of Venice will be studied, where the municipality tries to counter the tourist overcrowding of the city with the installation of turnstiles. Finally, in the last paragraph, some conclusions will be drawn.

Özet Toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliği, toplumdaki temel eşitsizliklerden biridir. Kadınların yüzyıllardır verdiği eşitlik mücadelesi 20.yüzyılın başlarında önemli kazanımlar elde etmeleriyle sonuçlandıysa da, yasal düzenlemelerin uygulamaya geçirilmesinde sorunlar yaşanmıştır. Tüm dünyada olduğu gibi Türkiye'de de bu eşitsizliğin en fazla görüldüğü alan kadının siyasal karar alma mekanizmalarındaki konumudur. Bu anlamda toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifinde kadının toplumsal yaşamdaki konumu, siyasal alandaki yerini açıklayabilmek bakımından da önemlidir. Son yıllarda toplumsal cinsiyet kavramı temelinden, kadının toplumdaki yerini sorgulayan çalışmalar yapılmış ancak kadının siyasal yaşamdaki yeri, özellikle de aktif katılım boyutu ile, çok fazla üzerinde durulmayan bir konu olmuştur. Türkiye'de kadının belediye seçimlerinde seçilme hakkını elde ettiği tarih 1930, milletvekili seçilme hakkını elde ettiği tarih ise 1933 yılıdır. Üzerinden seksen yılda fazla bir süre geçmesine rağmen kadının siyasal hayattaki yeri ve etkinliği hala tartışılan bir konudur. Demokrasinin temeli kabul edilen yerel yönetimler, yöre halkına dolayısıyla, kadına ve kadınların sorunlarına en yakın hizmet birimidir. Siyasal hayata katılımın en kolay ve ilk adımı olan yerel yönetimlerde halkın karar alıcı pozisyona gelmesi yerel siyasetin temelini oluşturmaktadır. Katılım için gösterilen istek, yerelleşmeye olan ilginin artması ve yerel yönetimlerin güçlendirilmesinin de etkisiyle her geçen gün artmaktadır. Özellikle siyasi karar alma mekanizmalarında göz ardı edilen kadınlar için katılma kavramı yerel siyasetin daha demokratik bir yapıya kavuşmasına yardım etmekte ve bu anlamda önem taşımaktadır. Yerel siyasetin güçlenmesi ve özellikle kadın temsiliyeti konusundaki eksikliğin giderilmesi oldukça önemlidir. Bu anlamda da kadınların temsil düzeyinde katılımlarının artırılması gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye'de toplam nüfusun yarısını oluşturan kadınların yerel siyasette ve yerel yönetimlerdeki "ikincil" konumlarına odaklanarak karar alma mekanizmalarındaki mevcut konumları değerlendirilecektir. Bu çerçevede özellikle demokrasinin temel taşı olan yerel yönetimlerde kadınların aktif siyasi katılımlarının düzeyleri dünya örnekleri ile karşılaştırmalı olarak incelenecektir. Çalışma, aynı zamanda kadınların yerel yönetimlerdeki ağırlığının artırılması konusunda da politika önerileri sunmayı amaçlamaktadır.

This research-based paper aims to analyze the exixtance of informal actors in influenzing and shaping electeroal process of local election in Bangka Selatan, Sumatra, Indonesia. To acknowledge the local-informal actor in this case, researcher employ some theoretical frameworks concerning the post-authoritarian state and transitional democracy in Indonesia which is signed by so many informal process and patronage model. It is obvious then, that money is not alwayd a central actor of the electoral process but another factor like informal networks can be one of the finding of this work to explaine the local politics dynamic in the contemporary democratics regime in Indonesia nationwide.

Se oggi in Italia si dibatte sul tema del rapporto tra donne e politica, è perché la presenza femminile all'interno dei luoghi della politica, dai partiti alle istituzioni locali e nazionali, è così platealmente scarsa da non poter essere non percepita come un problema. In Italia ...

Türkiye’de Kürt meselesinin çözümü ve şiddetin sonlanmasında yerel yönetimlerin kritik bir yere sahip olduğu söylenebilir. Kürt kimliğinin tanınması, Kürtlerin yönetime katılması ve kaynakların adil dağılımında yerel yönetimler hem uygun alanlar ve hem de etkin araçlar olarak işlev görebilir.
Kuşkusuz Türkiye’de yerel yönetim meselesi Kürt meselesine indirgenemez. Türkiye’de gerçek anlamda katılımcı demokratik siyasetin gelişmesi, toplumsal alanda çoğulculuğun hâkim kılınması, farklı toplumsal grupların yönetime katılımı, kamu yönetiminde etkinlik ve verimliliğin artışı, hesap verebilir ve şeffaf yönetimlerin inşası yerel yönetimlerle doğrudan ilişkili. Ötesi, yerel yönetimler denge ve denetleme mekanizmalarının da önemli bir parçası.

Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyesi’nin 2015-2018 dönemine odaklanan ve seçilmiş yönetimle atanmış kayyum yönetiminin şehir tahayyülleri ve eylemlerinin kıyaslandığı elinizdeki araştırma-inceleme çalışması, hem yerel yönetimleri ve yerel hizmetleri hem de hizmet ve siyaset ikiliğine sıkışmış Kürt meselesini Diyarbakır örneğinde anlamak için önemli veriler sunuyor.

The Battle of Leuctra in 371 changed the power balance on the Hellenic mainland, as the Boeotians defeated the Spartans. Before the battle, the historiographical sources hint toward a series of omens occurring, such as the weapons of Heracles disappearing from the sanctuary of Heracles in Thebes and a messenger bringing word of the upcoming victory from the Sanctuary of Trophonius in Lebadea. In this paper, I shall investigate the impact of the omens recorded in the historiographical sources, as recorded by Xenophon, Callisthenes and Diodorus Siculus. These omens are thought to have been constructed by Epaminondas, as to boost the morale of the Boeotians before the battle, thus I shall focus on the importance of the omens provided in the historiographical records for the Boeotian ethnos

This paper was given at the Stranger Things in Ancient Fiction in Historiography on the 20th of April 2020.

Of the classical problems in the discourse of Islam and politics is controversy on interpretation of Islamic Syarî‘ah, and there is no single or only one true definition of the term. The controversy is going worse when some groups of Muslim—with or without intervension and support of the ruling power—insist to have their opinion the true one and should be followed by others.

This article is comparing the strategy and arguments used by the three Islam-based parties—PPP, PBB, and PKS—in the parliament of Indonesia when they respond the discourse of applying Islamic Syarî‘ah in Indonesia. They share opinion that the application of Islamic Syarî‘ah through state is a duty of every Muslim, but they differ one another in the way or strategy of realizing and making  that come true. Different from PPP and PBB that struggle for adopting the Jakarta Carter into Indonesian 1945 Constitution, PKS (with PAN) suggest adopting Medina Carter. When the majority of parliament members refuses both suggestions, the three parties also take different ways responding the refusal. While PPP can understand the refusal and explicitly agree to no-amendment on the article 29 of Indonesian 1945 Constitution, PBB and PKS declare to be abstains.

The controversy indicates the difficulty of unifying Muslim opinion and strategy relating to the how to position Islam in the context of state. The phenomena that occurs between the supporting and the refusing group is not only in terms of positivization of Islamic Syarî‘ah, but also in applying Islam. It ranges from the issues of struggle strategy to the decision of aspects of Syarî‘ah that can be adopted in or made positive law.

Local governments have a critical place in the solution of the Kurdish issue and ending violence in Turkey. Thus, they can function not only as appropriate areas but also as effective tools in the recognition of Kurdish identity, participation of the Kurds in government and fair distribution of resources.

Undoubtedly, the local government issue in Turkey cannot be simply reduced to the Kurdish issue. The development of a truly participatory democratic politics, the domination of pluralism in the social sphere, the participation of different social groups in the administration, the increase in efficiency and productivity in public administration, the construction of accountable and transparent governments in Turkey are directly related to local governments. Beyond that, local governments are also an important part of the balance and inspection mechanisms.

This research study of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, which focuses on the period of 2015-2018 and compares the urban envisagement and actions of the elected administration and the appointed trustee administration, provides important data in order to understand both local governments and local services, as well as the Kurdish issue stuck in the duality of service and politics, in the case of Diyarbakır.

In this article I examine how state formation in the revolutionary and
Napoleonic period was experienced by inhabitants of the Dutch
island of Ameland. I focus on chronicling and petitioning, two
activities that were performed by ordinary people. The
microhistorical perspective adopted in this article reveals more
continuity in the way political transformations were experienced
than an institutional outlook might suggest. Between 1780 and
1815 the Netherlands developed from an oligarchic confederacy
of local administrative units into an autocratic and centralized
monarchy. Yet the people of Ameland continued to understand
political authority and political representation very much in old regime
terms.

ओवैसींना प्रकाशझोतात ठेवणे हे जाती-जातीत विभागलेल्या हिंदू मतांना संघटीत करण्यासाठी महत्वपूर्ण ठरते. त्यामुळे प्रकाश आंबेडकर, जिग्नेश मेवणी, हार्दिक पटेल, अल्पेश ठाकूर यांच्या पेक्षा अस्साउद्दीन ओवेसींच्या भाषणाला जास्त प्रसिद्धी मिळते. भडकाऊ भाषण देण्याच्या आपल्या आजोबांचा म्हणजे अब्दुल वाहिदओवेसींचावारसापुढे चालवणाऱ्याअकबरुद्दीनओवेसीयांच्या गल्लीतील गुंडाला शोभेल अशा भाषणाला यथेच्छ प्रसिध्दी मिळत असते. तीन पिढ्या एकाच घराण्यात पक्षाचं नेतृत्व, दोन पिढ्यांमध्ये तीन दशके खासदारकी, दोन सख्ख्याभावांकडे एकाचवेळीआमदारकी आणि खासदारकी असा ‘बायोडाटा’ असलेल्या ओवेसीनां प्रकाश आंबेडकरांनी ‘वंचित बहुजन आघाडी’ मध्ये ‘वंचित मुसलमानांचे प्रतिनिधीत्व’ करणारे नेते म्हणून सहभागी करून घेतले आहे. हीच खरी महाराष्ट्रातील ‘मराठी भाषी’ आणि ‘ओबीसी’ मुसलमानांसाठी विडंबना आहे. त्यांचे प्रतिनिधित्व त्यांना स्वत: ला करण्याची संधी ज्या प्रमाणे ‘प्रस्थापित’ पक्ष-आघाड्यांनी दिली नाही त्याच प्रमाणे ‘वंचित बहुजन आघाडी’ ने देखील त्यांना दिली नाही. त्यामुळे हे ‘मराठी भाषी’ ‘ओबीसी’ मुसलमान जसे पूर्वी होते तसेच आता देखील खऱ्या अर्थाने ‘वंचित’ राहिले तरी त्यांना ‘वंचित’ म्हणून कोणी ओळखणार नाही. हेच या ‘वंचित बहुजन आघाडी’ चं मूल्यात्मक अपयश आहे.
https://aasantosh.com/2019/02/17/vanchit-bahujan-aaghadi-issue-of-representation-of-vanchit-muslim-by-muphid-mujawar/