The indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples along Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast, once colonized by the British, have long sought to establish their autonomy vis-à-vis the dominant Spanish-influenced regions of the Pacific coast. The book provides a wide overview of the autonomy process by looking at the historical background of autonomy, claims to land and language rights, and land demarcation and communal forestry projects. This book seeks to satisfy the globally emerging interest in the idea of autonomy and bi-zonality as an effective mechanism of conflict resolution and protection of minority rights. The post-Cold War era has witnessed a resurgence of conflictive ethnic and secessionist politics that has placed the taken-for-granted primacy of unitary, sovereign nation-states into question. Along with cases such as Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and the Basque regions of Spain, Nicaragua sought to resolve prolonged and protracted ethnic conflict, issues of minority rights to self-determination, and questions concerning the sovereignty of national states, through an autonomy process that extended beyond a narrow political settlement to include the exercise of cultural rights and control of local resources. Autonomy on Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast remains highly contested, being simultaneously characterized by progress, setbacks and violent confrontation within a number of fields and involving a multiplicity of actors; local, national and global. This experience offers critical lessons for efforts around the world that seek to resolve long-established and deep-seated ethnic conflict by attempting to reconcile the need for development, usually fostered by national governments, with the protection of minority rights advocated by marginalized minorities living within nation states.

The Contested History of Autonomy examines the concept of autonomy in modern times. It presents the history of modernity as constituted by the tension between sovereignty and autonomy and offers a critical interpretation of European modernity from a global perspective. The book shows, in contrast to the standard view of its invention, that autonomy (re)emerged as a defining quality of modernity in early modern Europe. Gerard Rosich looks at how the concept is first used politically, in opposition to the rival concept of sovereignty, as an attribute of a collective-self in struggle against imperial domination. Subsequently the book presents a range of historical developments as significant events in the history of imperialism which are connected at once with the consolidation of the concept of sovereignty and with a western view of modernity. Additionally, the book provides an interpretation of the history of globalization based on this connection. Rosich discusses the conceptual shortcomings and historical inadequacy of the traditional western view of modernity against the background of recent breakthroughs in world history. In doing so, it reconstructs an alternative interpretation of modernity associated with the history of autonomy as it appeared in early modern Europe, before looking to the present and the ongoing tension between 'sovereignty' and 'autonomy' that exists. This is a groundbreaking study that will be of immense value to scholars researching modern Europe and its relationship with the World.

The Contested History of Autonomy examines the concept of autonomy in modern times. It presents the history of modernity as constituted by the tension between sovereignty and autonomy and offers a critical interpretation of European modernity from a global perspective. The book shows, in contrast to the standard view of its invention, that autonomy (re)emerged as a defining quality of modernity in early modern Europe. Gerard Rosich looks at how the concept is first used politically, in opposition to the rival concept of sovereignty, as an attribute of a collective-self in struggle against imperial domination. Subsequently the book presents a range of historical developments as significant events in the history of imperialism which are connected at once with the consolidation of the concept of sovereignty and with a western view of modernity. Additionally, the book provides an interpretation of the history of globalization based on this connection. Rosich discusses the conceptual shortcomings and historical inadequacy of the traditional western view of modernity against the background of recent breakthroughs in world history. In doing so, it reconstructs an alternative interpretation of modernity associated with the history of autonomy as it appeared in early modern Europe, before looking to the present and the ongoing tension between 'sovereignty' and 'autonomy' that exists. This is a groundbreaking study that will be of immense value to scholars researching modern Europe and its relationship with the World.

One of the most striking characteristics of urban protest and social conflict in the United States, Britain, and other nations of the West over the last three decades is the frequency with which these political events have been organized not where people work, but where they live. The residential communities in which people have their homes, raise their children, and relate to each other more as neighbors than as co-workers have become veritable seedbeds of collective action. Contested Ground provides a new approach to understanding how and why such community-based action occurs. Drawing critically and selectively from Marxian theories of conflict and neo-Weberian theories of "housing classes," John Emmeus Davis argues that the political life of residential communities can be explained largely in terms of the competing interests that groups possess by virtue of different and distinctive ways of relating to their community's "domestic property"land and buildings that are used for shelter. In Part I of his book he proposes domestic property interests as the cornerstone of a theoretical framework for exploring the appearance and disappearance, the development and decline, and the cooperation and conflict of the organized groups of the "homeplace." In Part II he tests the plausibility of this framework against the social and political realities of an inner-city neighborhood known as the West End in Cincinnati, Ohio. A neighborhood shaped by successive waves of priyate investment and disinvestment, city neglect and city planning, urban renewal and gentrification, the domestic property of the West End has been the contested ground from which many community organizations have grown. Using archival records, oral histories, and organizational documents, Davis unfolds the story of the rise and fall of these grassroots groups. Davis's concluding chapters evaluate the theoretical and practical implications of his approach. He believes that his analysis may complement neo-Marxian theories of urban development and capitalist reproduction and also provide new insight into ways in which planners, activists, and policy makers can influence the internal politics of the urban neighborhood.

This edited collection examines the multi-faceted phenomenon of transparency, especially in its relation to social movements, from a range of multi-disciplinary viewpoints. Over the past few decades, transparency has become an omnipresent catch phrase in public and scientific debates. The volume tracks developments of ideas and practices of transparency from the eighteenth century to the current day, as well as their semantic, cultural and social preconditions. It connects analyses of the ideological implications of transparency concepts and transparency claims with their impact on the public sphere in general and on social movements in particular. In doing so, the book contributes to a better understanding of social conflicts and power relations in modern societies. The chapters are organized into four parts, covering the concept and ideology of transparency, historical and recent developments of the public sphere and media, the role of the state as an agent of surveillance, and conflicts over transparency and participation connected to social movements.

Résumé de l'éditeur : "This book develops a novel understanding of four types of diaspora entrepreneurs based on their linkages to de facto states and different global contexts, and a theory about their interactions with host-land foreign policies, homeland governments, parties, non-state actors, critical events, and limited global influences"

Contemporary Western societies are witnessing ground-breaking social, economic and political changes at an accelerating pace. These changes are challenging the way democracy works and the role that political elites play in this system of government. Using a theoretical and empirical approach, this volume argues that political elites are urged to develop new strategies in order to achieve interest aggregation, to safeguard collective action, and to maintain elite autonomy and stability. The adaptive capacities of political elites are assessed through case studies, comparative and longitudinal analyses of their social structure, their recruitment patterns, and their attitudes. The book includes contributions from reputable scholars in the field of elite research and specialists on individual political systems across Europe and the US. It provides an analytical framework demonstrating that political elites are inevitable and potentially able to respond successfully to varying challenges. The book will be of key interest to scholars and students of political elites, democracy, comparative politics, political participation and European Politics.