Shifting Contexts
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Modernity of Athenian Democracy: An Answer to the Crisis of Politics in the Era of Globalization View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Polyvia Parara
Modern Western societies face the challenge of political apathy and devaluation of politics. The globalized markets and the positioning of citizens exclusively in their private space seem to undermine the democratic conquests of modernity. The paper discusses to which extend democracy, citizenship, and freedom, as they appear in the Athenian democracy, are becoming relevant for modernity. In Aristotle's view, western societies would be classified as elective monarchies or oligarchies. The paper proposes an alternative study of the historical process by using the parameter of political freedom as a variant to evaluate the evolution of societies and explores answers to the crisis of politics in the globalized world. A new set of questions derives from the evaluation of the democratic becoming of modernity, such as: "Can we as citizens create laws, norms, and institutions?", "As a body of citizens, can we make decisions?", "Are we able as a citizenry to step back and question existing institutions?", "Can we decide what laws and norms we must institute or change?", "How much do our modern western societies rely on the citizenry to make decisions about how to serve the common interest best?". This examination opens new horizons for an interdisciplinary study in the field of Humanities in exploring whether Athenian Democracy is a more advanced historical paradigm of citizenry's political freedom compared to modernity. Via an interdisciplinary approach that ranges from political science to history, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy, Greek democracy asks to be revisited as a project for progress.
Changing Colors: Re-racialization as a Technology of Categorization
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kendall Artz
Throughout the 20th Century, various groups and individuals have been re-racialized within the United States, often in ways that do not match group self-definitions. Both Asian and Latino immigrants encountering the racial regime of the US as well as white-passing groups such as those pejoratively called "Redbones," "Melungeons," and "Jackson Whites” have all experienced the profound destabilization that occurs alongside the redefinition of racial identity as Black, “ethnic,” or ambiguously “non-white.” This re-racialization is distinct from assimilation into already existing categories; it is rather a conscious attempt to assign meaning to populations on behalf of a variety of actors including corporations, media networks, and governmental agencies. This paper stems from my doctoral research into the selective and coercive nature of race as a technology of categorization and control. I consider the particular circumstances that lead to the redefinition of group racial categories, and the ways that groups and individuals have resisted and adapted to these attempts at re-categorization. In particular, the groups that form the bulk of my research have been marked as racially distinct in relation to strike violence, environmental pollution, and opposition to capitalist expansion. Implicated in this process are the contingent meanings of race across national and local contexts and the need to consider race as a process of categorization rather than a stable category across time and space.
Featured Discussing the Challenges of Multilateralism: The Role of International Institutions and the New Global Governance
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gabriel Rached
The discussion on the contemporary challenges to multilateralism, its impacts on the globalization dynamics and the consequence of its eventual decay involves several aspects related to the Global Studies field. The debate concerning the role of the international institutions bring into scene many elements of the global governance and the revising process related to the multilateral institutions scope in the international system. This issue addresses to the emergent countries and their movement towards reviewing their participation in the international arena. At this point, the rising of China and the willingness of these intermediate countries (such as Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa) to revisit their insertion on global governance and international order, led to the conformation of the BRICS. Since 2009 these countries have been seeking to coordinate strategies and economic cooperation, aiming to reach a higher level of development accompanied by a repositioning in the international arena. Despite all differences between these countries, considering their common aspirations, which strategies are being promoted to open new paths considering the set of international institutions in force? How does these issues interfere in terms of the Global Governance sphere? Would the practice of “soft power” be relevant to conduce new dynamics in the international arena? From this perspective, this paper intends to discuss how to rethink the role of the multilateral institutions as an intermediary, by the International Political Economy approach – debating which kind of measures and shapes for the international organizations, would be suitable and fit better the contemporary challenges.
