RCCS Annual Review
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar
The journal is an annual online publication in English that includes a selection of texts published in Portuguese in the journal Revista Crítica de Ciênciais Sociais in the previous yearThe Representation of the Illegal Migrant in Contemporary Cinema: Border Scenarios and EffectsThis paper analyzes a corpus of films that represent various journeys of illegal migrants. It focuses specifically on the role of the illegal migrant on the border, understood as both a place and a metaphor. After critically examining the notion of border, it explores the recurring characters in this particular kind of film: the illegal migrant who experiences the border, the Western man-in-crisis who is regenerated through contact with the Other, the immigration officer whose own stance toward the suffering of illegal migrants is questioned.]]>Fabrice Schurmans
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/622
2015-11-04Lost in the Mediterranean: Theories, Discourses, Borders and Migration Policies in the ‘Mare Nostrum’For quite some time the Mediterranean region has become a prime arena for political action and reflection. As a consequence, there has been growing debate on its particular history, culture and anthropology. However, a good deal of this debate has proved incapable of successfully describing and analyzing the contemporary Mediterranean. Taking migratory movements, policies and bordering practices as its perspective, this article aims to shatter the postcard image of Mare Nostrum. Engaging with interdisciplinary studies, it highlights the stark contradictions operating within current theoretical and socio-political debates on the Mediterranean.]]>Iside Gjergji
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/628
2015-11-04State Formation and Political Community in Timor-Leste – The Centrality of the LocalThis article addresses the enmeshments of customary and liberal institutional values and practices in Timor-Leste. It argues that dominant approaches to thinking about political community and the state overlook the significance of community sources of political values, placing them outside serious exchange and failing to provide a way of thinking seriously about negotiating political life across radical difference. There is nevertheless an ‘ecology of relations’ taking shape described neither by liberal nor customary frameworks. The nature of political community in Timor-Leste will be shaped by how these enmeshments play out and whether they are negotiated through unacknowledged shadow zones or more accessible forms of exchange. Exchange around arenas of interaction could give substance to nation-building and build participation and accountability. Villages are critical in this context.]]>M. Anne Brown
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/615
2015-11-04International Responses to Human Protection Crises: Responsibility to Protect and the Emerging Protection RegimeThis essay examines contemporary debates about human protection by the UN Security Council and others in response to major humanitarian crises. It argues that there are clear signs of an emerging international human protection regime in the evolving practice of the Security Council and suggests that this regime is based on an accommodation between different moral accounts of humanitarian intervention. The first section examines some of the legal and moral debates that have arisen with respect to military intervention for protection purposes. The second section briefly reviews the Security Council’s practice and reveals an emerging new politics of protection. The third section argues that although the use of force and other coercive measures remains controversial, there is evidence to suggest that the Security Council is taking its protection responsibilities more seriously in a way consistent with the emergence of a new regime.]]>Alex J. Bellamy
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/609
2015-11-04Bridging the Chasm between Domestic and International Approaches to Peacebuilding: Conceptual and Institutional ToolsThis paper focuses on the chasm between domestic and international understandings and approaches to peacebuilding and the mixed outcomes that characterize contemporary efforts to assist war-torn countries. It argues that post-Cold War peacebuilding relies on a wide array of international actors with diverse interests and mandates which are not necessarily aligned with local realities or needs. Building on the rich literature on the role of external actors in conflict zones, the paper examines the interface between domestic and international actors through the concept of hybridity. It then reviews two mechanisms that aim to level the playing field between war-affected countries and international actors: the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission and the New Deal for Engagement with Fragile States. ]]>Necla Tschirgi
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/605
2015-11-04Strikes and Austerity in Portugal: Perspectives, Expression and Recomposition Against the background of worsening employment conditions and increasing imbalances in labour relations, this text discusses the importance of the strike phenomenon in the context of austerity. The first section presents some sociological perspectives on strikes, specifically those relating to notions of democracy and socio-legal regulation, ideology/ies and tensions between collective and individual action, issues of scale and controversies, and timing and outcomes. The second part adopts a quantitative approach and seeks to determine whether the theoretical potential for conflict can be verified in concrete terms. Finally, it discusses the experience of a strike by workers in a specific precarious sector (employees at the “Saúde 24” medical helpline), which provides scope for an assessment of the challenges facing trade union activity and reflections on new ways of organising social conflict. ]]>Hermes Augusto CostaHugo DiasJosé Soeiro
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/596
2015-11-04Middle-class Rebellions? Precarious Employment and Social Movements in Portugal and Brazil (2011-2013)This text centers on the demonstrations and protest movements that have emerged over the past three years, with a particular focus on Portugal and Brazil. The main argument is based on the hypothesis that they involve social dynamics and tensions that reflect a middle class drive in which youth and precarious employment play a key role. It presents data and empirical evidence on inequality in Portugal in order to reveal the nature of the main movements as protests mobilized against the suppression of rights and the undermining of working conditions. The situation in Brazil is examined in the light of the recomposition of working class conditions, taking into account the constraints and uncertainties of the Brazilian model of development. It also analyzes the social composition of the protesters, on the basis of street surveys carried out during this period.]]>Elísio Estanque
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/592
2015-11-04The Precariat and Class Struggle The world economy is in the midst of a Global Transformation that is producing a new global class structure. A new class is emerging – the precariat – characterised by chronic uncertainty and insecurity. Although the precariat is still a classin-the-making, divided within itself, its elements are united in rejecting old mainstream political traditions. To become a transformative class, however, the precariat needs to move beyond the primitive rebel stage manifested in 2011 and become enough of a classfor-itself to be a power for change. This will involve a struggle for redistribution of the key assets needed for a good life in a good society in the twentyfirst century – not the “means of production”, but socioeconomic security, control of time, quality space, knowledge (or education), financial knowledge and financial capital.]]>Guy Standing
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/585
2015-11-04SummaryThis issue of RCCS Annual Review begins with three articles on labor relations, class recomposition and social movements in the current global context. The following three articles address international responses to major humanitarian crises, as well as processes of peacebuilding, peacekeeping and state formation, focusing on the case of Timor-Leste. The last two articles are particularly relevant in light of the current mass migration to Europe, discussing on the one hand the representation of illegal immigrants in contemporary films, and on the other the historical, social and political dimensions of the Mediterranean as a space of migration.]]>
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/583
2015-11-04“If We Don’t Look after Ourselves, No One Will”: Financial Self-Help and Neoliberal Political RationalityThe aim of this article is to critically analyze the discourse produced in financial self-help literature (FSHL) within the general context of the financialization process. This analysis uses publications of this genre available on the Portuguese market as empirical material, and is based on the theoretical approach of governmentality studies inspired by Foucault. The first section reviews the concept of financialization, identifying its theoretical and empirical strengths and weaknesses. One such weakness is the lack of attention paid to microsociological aspects, which justifies the need to explore, in the second section, the type of subjectivity related to financialized capitalism. The third section examines the key aspects of this subjectivity, as presented in FSHL, including a framework for the characteristics of these publications, as well as a study of the motives, objectives and ways of putting self-help advice into practice. The final section focuses on the social basis of ...]]>Fernando Ampudia de Haro
http://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/553
2014-12-17