Poltics

Moving beyond the existing scholarship on language politics in north India which mainly focuses on Hindi–Urdu debates, Language Politics and Public Sphere in North India examines the formation of Maithili movement in the context of expansion of Hindi as the ‘national’ language. It revisits the dynamic hierarchy through which a distinction is produced between ‘major’ and ‘minor’ languages. The movement for recognition of Maithili as an independent language has grown assertive even when the authority of Hindi is resolutely reinforced.
The book also examines increasing politicization of the Maithili movement — from Hindi–Maithili ambiguities and antagonisms, to territorial consciousness, and subsequently to separate statehood demand, along with the persistent popular indifference. Mithilesh Jha examines such processes historically, tracing the formation of Maithili movement from mid-nineteenth century until its inclusion into the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution in 2003.
https://india.oup.com/product/language-politics-and-public-sphere-in-north-india-9780199479344

2016 marks the 60 th anniversary of Sino-Arab relations, and specifically the establishment of the first Arab and African diplomatic relations between Egypt and China in 1956 (Scott, 2016). Since such cooperation emerged, the nature of ties between the two nations were mostly based on a win-win cooperation and multiple trade, political and economic mutual benefits. During the late 1990s, strategic cooperation relations were emphasized among their prioritized aspects, and since then there has been observable expansion and continuous development in various fields, e.

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929), Caddy Compson moves outside the borders of language and resides in silence. In “Hearing Caddy’s Voice” (1990), Minrose Gwin admits that despite her disbelief in Caddy’s silence, she does not fully understand what she is saying, for “she is something more than we can say” (36). Likewise, in her single monologue, in As I Lay Dying (1930), Addie Bundren reveals a skeptical stand point about language, stating that “words are no good. [. . .] Words don’t even fit what they are trying to say at” (159-60) and dreaming of “the dark land talking the voiceless speech” (163). Caddy’s and Addie’s silence is indeed an experience that crosses the confines of a masculine-biased linguistic system and that can arguably be read in Sociocultural feminist theories question ethnocentric assumptions which privilege voice as the only medium of intelligible communication and try to draw attention to the silences spoken words are preloaded with. Tillie Oslen’s ‘natural silences’, Adrienne Rich’s conception of silence as a ‘historic presence’, bell hook’s silence as a ‘talking back’ process, Suzan Gubar’s and Sandra Gilbert’s ‘exclusionary silence’ and ‘palimpsest’ stories, Elaine Showalter’s ‘silent plots’, highlight silence as a border crossing medium of expression that overcomes the confines of a patriarchal language and celebrates ‘female zones of experience’.

Overcoming the borders of a dominant language and moving toward silence, Caddy’s as well as Addie’s act can readily be reiterated in Julia Kriesteva’s notion of the semiotic being ‘unspeakable’ and ‘unavailable to conscious verbalization’ and Hélène Cixous’s feminine voice that “can only keep going without ever inscribing or discerning contours” (Cixous 89). Similarly, the women’s silence may be read in Luce Irigaray’s language of their own that “asserts women’s difference and names her identity as not-man” (Roberts 15) and Monique Wittig’s ‘pre-gendered’ new expressive identity that ‘crosses back’ toward the mirror stage as a way of articulating the multiplicity of female desire.

The present paper reads the matriarch’s movement from the speakable to the unspeakable in Faulkner’s texts and studies the motives of this mobility with reference to sociocultural and psychoanalytical feminist theories.

Keywords: Myth, politics, poetics, postmodernism, centre, intertextuality, linguistic experimentation.
 

International security and the pursuing of safety have intrigued, surprised, and created a host of issues and problems when it comes to securing state's and nation’s personal and national borders security. The future in which the world of globalization has taken its roots since the coming of the Internet, the World Wide Web, has set free the globe into an interconnected network of trades, commerces, financial systems of exchanges, social media communications and travels. The 70 years existence of the United Nations has battled with the idea of an international security force that provides a more peaceful world at the end or has it? The question in International Relations field seems to lead more toward a national security apparatus for each state and nation instead of an international security force and system promulgated by the UN. States and countries alike are confronted with self-defense issues that would provide protection for their citizenry by not relying on a global agenda drafted by the UN to depend on the world security system. In this research paper, I will extrapolate the divisional theorem between the future for international security hold for the future with the aspects of self-defense and self-preservation. Each state focuses on their personal safety apparatus for survival and protection which in the end would guarantee safer and longer relations amongst states. An essential element of any structural state and nation is the preservation and protection of the state’ integrity and sovereignty for continuing existence and prosperity for its citizenry without conflicts. Which security apparatus would that be? A global agenda for securing safety worldwide, or each state to its self-defense mechanism by assuring its survival and at what cost? Lastly, I will examine the nature of pacifism and its struggling rise to convert the world and all nations into non-violent interventions with the abolition of wars and complete disarmament.

II. Dünya Savaşı’ndan sonra Avrupa ve ABD ile ilişkiler, Sovyetler ile olan gerilimlerin Türkiye’nin bölgesel politikalarını etkilediği görülmektedir. Özellikle ABD ile ilerletilen ilişkiler, Türkiye-İsrail ilişkilerine de yansımıştır. Başlangıçta Türkiye-İsrail ilişkileri bölgesel durumlar ve siyasi konjonktürden kaynaklı gelişmeler nedeniyle ilerleme gösterememiştir. 1949 yılında Türkiye’nin İsrail’i tanımasıyla başlayan Türkiye-İsrail ilişkileri, 1990’lı yıllara kadar İsrail’in Orta Doğu’da barış ve istikrarı olumsuz etkileyen politikaları ve şiddet eğilimli tavırları nedeniyle inişli çıkışlı bir seyir izlemiştir. Bu süre zarfında bölgenin önemli bir aktörü olan Türkiye ile İsrail’i karşı karşıya getiren ve ikili ilişkileri derinden etkileyen gelişmeler yaşanmıştır. Bunlar arasında 1956 Süveyş Krizi, 1967 ve 1973 yıllarında yaşanan Arap-İsrail Savaşları ve 1970’li yıllarda Türkiye’nin Filistin Kurtuluş Örgütü ile olan yakın ilişkileri gibi gelişmeler sayılabilir. Literatürde, Türkiye-İsrail ilişkilerinde 1990’lı yıllar ikili ilişkilerin zirve yaptığı dönem olarak kabul edilmektedir. Bu dönemde ABD’nin arabuluculuğunda başlatılan İsrail-Filistin barış görüşmelerinin etkisi ile Türkiye-İsrail ilişkilerinin ilerlemesi, diplomatik ilişkilerin yeniden büyükelçilik seviyesine çıkarılarak Tel Aviv büyükelçiliğine Ekrem Güvendiren’in atanması, diplomasi alanında yeni bir dönemin kapısını aralayan önemli gelişmelerdir. Diplomatik ilişkileri geliştiren iki ülkenin bundan sonra ilişkilerde “stratejik ortaklık” deyimini tercih ederek siyasi, askeri ve ekonomik alanlarda peşi sıra gelen antlaşmalar ile ilişkileri hızla geliştirdikleri görülmektedir. İlişkilerin bu denli gelişmesine ve ilgi çekici bir hal almasına rağmen, literatürde dönem ile ilgili arşiv ve gazete kaynaklı çalışmaların yeterli düzeyde olmadığı tespit edilmiştir. Bu nedenle 1990-2000 yılları arasında yaşanan gelişmelerden hareketle dönemin geniş bir perspektifte incelenmesi ve kayda değer bir incelemenin ardından ikili ilişkilerin ortaya konulması elzem görülmüştür. Bu çerçevede çalışmada, Cumhurbaşkanlığı Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı’nda bulunan Cumhuriyet Arşivi belgelerinden, Cumhuriyet Gazetesinden ve konu ile ilgisi olan tez ve makalelerden yararlanılarak, 1990-2000 yılları arasında gelişen Türkiye-İsrail ilişkilerinin siyasi, askeri ve ekonomik yönleri ele alınmıştır.

This article is aims to analyze middle class as one of the main actors in Indonesian democratization process. Discussion on middle class studies in Indonesian social and political science discourse have been dominated economic understanding based quantitative method. It was an academic challenges for Indonesian social scientist to redefine terminology of middle class. The position of middle class as the political actor in Indonesia still fluctuated due to unclearly standing in terms of relation state and society. On one hand, the middle class could perform as resistant groups against the political regime. In other hand, the Indonesian middle class presumably become subordinated groups towards the political regime. It can be indicated in Indonesia post Authoritarian era, the middle class groups performs itself as the political initiator from grass roots level. That main motivation from Indonesian middle class in recent political era are make alternative representation in order to articulate aspiration. The emergence of internet especially social media have been perceived as political machine that stimulated middle class to make critical points toward government today. Abstrak Tulisan ini hendak menganalisis mengenai kelas menengah sebagai aktor demokrasi di Indonesia. Membincangkan kelas menengah dalam setiap diskursus ilmu sosial dan politik di Indonesia senantiasa dihadapkan pada pembahasan ekonomi secara kuantitatif. Hal yang perlu dicatat adalah keberadaan kelas menengah ini daripada didefinifisikan lebih baik dirasakan keberadaannya dalam kehidupan. Posisi kelas menengah sebagai aktor politik di Indonesia masih fluktuatif. Hal ini dikarenakan kemunculan kelas menengah dalam arus demokrasi Indonesia yang masih ambigu. Kelas menengah ini bisa menjadi kelompok masyarakat yang tersubordinasi dengan negara, namun di satu sisi, kelas menengah juga tampil sebagai kelas masyarakat yang resisten dengan negara. Adanya transisi posisi dan status kelas menengah tersebut sebenarnya bisa disimak dari gerakan reformasi 1998 hingga sekarang ini. Munculnya berbagai macam gerakan politik dengan mengarustamakan demokrasi yang diinisiasi oleh kelas menengah menjadi hal yang terelakkan pasca reformasi ini. Semula, gerakan tersebut hanya berupa aksi penyampaian aspirasi dan kini sudah berkembang menjadi menjadi aksi penuntutan representasi. Adanya perubahan dalam pilihan aksi dan strategi itu menandakan bahwa kesadaran politik di kalangan kelas menengah Indonesia sendiri sudah semikian merata. Mereka tidak hanya menjadi aktor pasif secara politis namun juga aktif dalam menyuarakan aspirasi dan sekaligus pula representasinya. Menguatnya aksi representasi dari kelas menengah ini merupakan implikasi penting semakin menguatnya ranah societal terhadap proses political, dan semakin berperannya netizen dalam menyuarakan kebebasan berekspresi, dan lain sebagainya. Tulisan ini akan mengelaborasi lebih lanjut mengenai akar demokrasi dalam setiap episode kemunculan kelas menengah dalam demokrasi Indonesia. Sejauh mana mereka andil dalam proses demokratisasi di ruang publik.

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929), Caddy Compson moves outside the borders of language and resides in silence. In “Hearing Caddy’s Voice” (1990), Minrose Gwin admits that despite her disbelief in Caddy’s silence, she does not fully understand what she is saying, for “she is something more than we can say” (36). Likewise, in her single monologue, in As I Lay Dying (1930), Addie Bundren reveals a skeptical stand point about language, stating that “words are no good. [. . .] Words don’t even fit what they are trying to say at” (159-60) and dreaming of “the dark land talking the voiceless speech” (163). Caddy’s and Addie’s silence is indeed an experience that crosses the confines of a masculine-biased linguistic system and that can arguably be read in Sociocultural feminist theories question ethnocentric assumptions which privilege voice as the only medium of intelligible communication and try to draw attention to the silences spoken words are preloaded with. Tillie Os...

""This festschrift in honor of Professor Ayodeji Olukoju, one of Nigeria’s brightest historians, brings together scholarship representative of the third wave of historical scholarship on Nigeria. Olukoju, a pioneering historian of Nigerian maritime history, also produced significant revisionist scholarship in the areas of economic, urban, and infrastructure history. The contributions in this volume epitomize the groundbreaking directions of his career; they are marked by a search for new explanations and venture into uncharted terrain in Nigerian history. Aside from its critical engagement of Olukoju’s impressive scholarship, this volume presents chapters on such underresearched aspects of Nigerian history as sexuality, children and youth, crime, memory, and HIV/AIDS. It offers historical explanations of a host of development challenges confronting Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, and resilient reinterpretations of the place of history in nation building. The contributors, pioneering experts in their various subfields, bring their research and teaching experience to the fore and deploy neglected data as they unfold topics that shed light on Nigeria, its peoples, and cultures. They show that history both as a daily practice and as an academic endeavor remains vital as Africans seek solutions to the continent’s critical development challenges.

http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/The-Third-Wave-of-Historical-Scholarship-on-Nigeria--Essays-in-Honor-of-Ayodeji-Olukoju1-4438-3994-9.htm""

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929), Caddy Compson moves outside the borders of language and resides in silence . In “Hearing Caddy’s Voice” (1990), Minrose Gwin admits that despite her disbelief in Caddy’s silence, she does not fully understand what she is saying, for “s he is something more than we can say” (36) . Likewise, in her single monologue, in As I Lay Dying (1930), Addie Bundren reveals a skeptical stand point about language, stating that “words are no good. [. . .] Words don’t even fit what they are trying to say at” (159-60) and dreaming of “the dark land talking the voiceless speech” (163). Caddy’s and Addie’s silence is indeed an experience that crosses the confines of a masculine-biased linguistic system and that can arguably be read in Sociocultural feminist theories question ethnocentric assumptions which privilege voice as the only medium of intelligible communication and try to draw attention to the silences spoken words are preloaded with. Tillie...

Review of the Jules Verne novel Paris in the 20th century. The article also reflects the growing digitization and also gives thoughts to its possible political implications.
Recenze románu Julese Verna Paříž ve 20. století, která je zároveň reflexí narůstající digitalizace a zamyšlením nad jejími možnými politickými důsledky.

A közjó és a civilek Tanulmányom azon az előfeltevésen alapul, hogy a 21. század komplex válság-jelenségei (gazdasági és pénzügyi világválság; a liberális demokráciák válságai; a szélsőjobboldali és populistának bélyegzett erők előretörése; az Európai Unió válsága) abba az irányba mutatnak, hogy alapvetően kell újragondolni a képvi-seleti demokrácia intézményrendszerét. A válságjelenségek azért sűrűsödnek és kezdenek lassan eljutni egy kritikus pontra, mert a képviseleti demokrácia és annak a liberális intézményekkel összeolvasztott változata, azaz a liberális de-mokrácia alkalmatlanná vált a közjó képviseletére, megjelenítésére. Ennek az az egyik fő oka, hogy a liberális demokrácia depolitizálta a közéletet, és azt remélte, hogy a közjó (aminek a kimunkálására, megvitatására, képviseletére tulajdon-képpen maga a demokrácia, illetve a demokratikus deliberáció szolgálna) kizá-rólag intézmények útján megvalósítható. Ezt a tételt két jelentős tendencia is cá-folja: az egyik a populizmus térhódítása a nyugati demokráciákban, a másik pe-dig a részben ehhez kapcsolódó, de ettől el is különülő tendencia, vagyis a civil szféra megerősödése, végső soron pedig a populizmus és a civil szféra maró kritikája a liberális demokrácia képviseleti intézményeivel szemben. Tanulmá-nyomnak az a célja, hogy röviden felvillantsa azt, hogy mit is jelenthet egy modern demokráciában a közjó, és annak képviseletét hogyan veszítették el a libe-rális demokrácia képviseleti intézményei a depolitizálás stratégiája közepette. Ez az elméleti kiindulópont csakis konkrét eseten és példákon keresztül érthető meg, éppen ezért állításaimat a magyar helyzeten keresztül kívánom bizonyítani. A magyar helyzet kapcsán arra szeretnék rámutatni, hogy a civil társadalom minden eddiginél jobban megérezte az itt leírt folyamatokat, és meg kívánja óvni a közjót magától a képviseleti demokrácia negatív tendenciáitól. Fő állításom az, hogy a közjó megfogalmazása és képviselete csakis politikai folyamatok ered-ménye lehet, ugyanakkor a liberális demokrácia bürokratikus intézményeinek kudarca bebizonyította, hogy az intézmények csak részben alkalmasak a közjó megvalósítására, s mindenképpen szükséges a közjó egyfajta személyes megjele-nítése. Erre pedig kiválóan alkalmasak lehetnek a civil szerveződések.

This article provides a critical analysis of how discourses of trauma and the traumatic event constituted the ethico-political possibilities and limits of the sub-prime crisis. Metaphors of a “financial tsunami” and pervasive media focus on emotional “responses” such as fear, anger and blame constituted the sub-prime crisis as a singular, traumatic “event” demanding particular (humanitarian) responses. Drawing upon the work of
Giorgio Agamben, we render this constituted logic of event and response in terms of the securing of sovereign power and the concomitant production of bare life; the savers and homeowners who became “helpless victims” in need of rescue. Using Agamben’s recent arguments about “the apparatus” and processes of subjectification and de-subjectification, we illustrate this theoretical approach by addressing the position of
the British economy, bankers and homeowners. On this view, it was the movement between subject positions—from safe to vulnerable, from entrepreneurial to greedy, from victim to survivor—that marked out the effective manner of governance during the sub-prime crisis. In the process sovereign categories of financial citizenship, asset based welfare and securitisation (which many would posit as the very problem) were confirmed as central to our future “survival”. In short, (the way that the) crisis (was constituted) is governance.

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929), Caddy Compson moves outside the borders of language and resides in silence . In “Hearing Caddy’s Voice” (1990), Minrose Gwin admits that despite her disbelief in Caddy’s silence, she does not fully understand what she is saying, for “s he is something more than we can say” (36) . Likewise, in her single monologue, in As I Lay Dying (1930), Addie Bundren reveals a skeptical stand point about language, stating that “words are no good. [. . .] Words don’t even fit what they are trying to say at” (159-60) and dreaming of “the dark land talking the voiceless speech” (163). Caddy’s and Addie’s silence is indeed an experience that crosses the confines of a masculine-biased linguistic system and that can arguably be read in Sociocultural feminist theories question ethnocentric assumptions which privilege voice as the only medium of intelligible communication and try to draw attention to the silences spoken words are preloaded with. Tillie...

The role of social media during 16th Lok Sabha elections has led to several insights in the manner in which the youth of today is consuming political news. Several social media platforms have played a significant role in voting behaviour. Social media platform acted as  a game changer and a catalyst in wooing young voters and influencing their opinion. While Internet users grew 7% in Urban India reaching 315 million users in 2018, digital adoption is now being propelled by rural India, registering a 35% growth in Internet users over the past year. Also, there have come a general perception that television will play a lesser role in this upcoming election and digital media will play a never before seen influence on voters. This research examines the behaviour of youth in India and examines the level of influence by social media in casting their vote in Lok Sabha elections. Whether social media can be a game-changer or an influencer. These findings will be carried out by this research work

All elections use advertising. Over the years, we have seen an increase in aggressive advertisements that seek to attack opponents rather than build their own case as a leader. Is all of this money being wasted? Or is their tactic actually working?

The dream of great African leaders and individuals of high repute, as regards an ideal and sustainable African state, most of this endeavor captured in the books of history and others no record of them to be found, who fought earnestly and passionately with strong will for the independence of most African states and emancipation of the black race all over the world for a politically stable and economically buoyant African state is going down the drain. Today's so called statesmen and leaders profess to see visions as regards the future of our dear Africa ,which can be likened to the exact vision of the false prophets, to no avail it does not come to pass as they were mere means to assume positions of power. It is so sad the African dream is already slipping from grasp and the future of this great continent of ours is still uncertain. We face as a continent so many daunting challenges and the chief of our problem is the political and economic instability in most African states. The political atmosphere in most African state is so tense that even the best economic policies will crumble in the face of political adversities, as we chasing shadows on the island of strong delusion. Most states in Africa claim to practice democracy which is a caricature of the values of a sane democracy promulgated in the words of great Abraham Lincoln, who defined democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people. Political tyranny is displayed in some African states in which democracy have been abused and it is fast losing ground as it more like a de facto government under the mask of democracy. When an individual imposes himself for more than two terms and if opposed would lead to so much unrest, as witnessed in some African countries, where poverty is rampaging and the government is blinded to this fact, but the zeal for power and the feel of it is their ultimate goal and pleasure. The rate at which people die, when thousands of citizens are forced to the streets out of frustration and helplessness in the aim to get dividend of the own very democracy is disturbing, as they are killed by the sword of their own so called leaders absent reason of external aggression. In April 2015 protest broke out in Burundi a country tagged one of the saddest and poorest country in Africa and the world,relying heavily on foreign aids and international support after the ruling party announced President Pierre Nkurunziza would seek a third term in office. The citizens kicked against the 3rd time agender of President Pierre Nkurunziza claiming he could not run for a third term in office but the country's constitutional court agreed with the president. Reports show that 100,000 people had fled the country by 20 May causing a humanitarian emergency. There are reports of continued and widespread abuses of human rights, including unlawful killings, torture, disappearances and restrictions on freedom of expression. The international communities have in the past tried some African leaders in the international criminal court set up for leaders accused of the manslaughter of their own people, which is seemly always the next course of action when it seems they have lost the people's mandate, they go out all against them to pour out the wrath of their distaste.

The role of social media during 16th Lok Sabha elections has led to several insights in the manner in which the youth of today is consuming political news. Several social media platforms have played a significant role in voting behaviour. Social media platform acted as a game changer and a catalyst in wooing young voters and influencing their opinion. While Internet users grew 7% in Urban India reaching 315 million users in 2018, digital adoption is now being propelled by rural India, registering a 35% growth in Internet users over the past year. Also, there have come a general perception that television will play a lesser role in this upcoming election and digital media will play a never before seen influence on voters. This research examines the behaviour of youth in India and examines the level of influence by social media in casting their vote in Lok Sabha elections. Whether social media can be a game changer or an influencer. These findings will be carried out by this research ...

The main outbreaks of the millennium have to do with the discovery, extraction and using of oil that totally and rapidly transformed the world and in fact have been the core of the geopolitical politics of the great powers. From the late nineteenth century until the present, the story of industrial civilization as we know it is the story of oil and petroleum, so called black gold. Based on this reason, one of the central places in the world has been Azerbaijan, which constitutes the south border between Europe and Asia. The purpose of this investigation is to explore the outbreaks affecting Azerbaijan, to explore a causative effect between the industrial and geopolitical dynamics surrounding the country and the political and ethnic violence that ravaged it. Furthermore, the paper will address how position of Baku as "the oil kingdom" was additionally complicated by the geopolitical interference caused by the First World War and the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh and their aftermath. The city of Baku and surrounding area is one of the best-known oil regions in the world. This work aims to analyze and illustrate how the industrialization of oil secured Baku as a place of immense importance in the global economic order of the period. In order to accomplish this task, this study will examine elements of social, economic, and political history across the late nineteenth, twentieth and early twenty first centuries in its analysis of the factors influencing the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as the neighboring states. These elements continually interacted with the process of industrial production and political economy that defined the place and period.

The Darfur region of Nothern Sudan has seen a host of conflicts over resources, identity and political ideologies which over the years have led to mass displacement of people and a collapse in the region's social, political and economic strata.

This paper seeks to expound on the details of the Darfur conflict and analyses the conflict complexities within the region.

Este capítulo pretende responder a la hipótesis de que si en Marruecos resultase el cambio político subyacente del espíritu motivador de las Primaveras, este vendría no solo de la mano del Movimiento 20 de Febrero (M20F), sino también del Hirak del Rif, como movimiento trascendental en el espacio de activismo político y social en Marruecos en los últimos años. Consideramos, por tanto, que el Hirak del Rif sería una expresión social y política que irrumpe en el espacio del activismo como continuidad de las Primaveras en el Magreb, pero con una idiosincrasia propia que le distingue del M20F (Daoudi, 2020; Naimi, 2020). Del mismo modo, consideramos el Hirak del Rif como “una forma de ampliar las prácticas de ciudadanía, resistiendo la cultura hegemónica desde la marginalidad y la precariedad” (Sánchez García y Touhtou, 2021: 4).

At the turn of the Twenty-first Century relations between Italian Americans and other ethnic groups in New York City had been defined in the minds of the general public largely by the mass media coverage of the most notorious of violent interracial incidents. The facile media accounts of these tragic crimes must be corrected in order to provide an objective context for understanding Italian Americans' relations with other groups that is partially explained by their territorially-centered culture. As Italian neighborhoods slowly changed during the 1970s and 1980s, despite local resistance, individual Italian Americans, and citywide Italian American organizations, worked positively, but mostly unnoticed, with other ethnic groups. All this took place during a turbulent era in New York City punctuated with other instances of intergroup violence, urban riots as well as hotly contested municipal elections that exploited racial, ethnic, and religious divisions. As a consequence today m...

This article examines the organizational context of social workers in Philippine municipal governments. Recognizing the influence of the organizational context on social work practice, the article analyzes the distribution of power in Philippine municipal bureaucracies and the extent of influence municipal mayors have over the administration of local social welfare programs and services and the social workers who manage them. The analysis explores how workers manage to thrive in the face of the highly unequal relationship they have with their superiors and considers the implications for social work practice.

Apocalyptic prophets are full-time workers. When times of peace and tranquility are lived, they foretell terrible events just around the corner. And when difficult moments are lived, his voice is heard more strongly. But the pretended causes of the hecatombs that they predict change over time. Foreign objects in the skies were, in times past, unequivocal signs that the end of the world was near, until astronomy revealed that they were comets or meteorites. But that did not stop these prophets from looking for new symptoms of catastrophic futures: famines caused by the disproportionate growth of human populations, nuclear holocausts, computer errors that would return us to the paleolithic era, intelligent robots that will subjugate the human species, and so on. successively. Without a doubt, we are living difficult times. The Covid-19 pandemic has radically changed our daily lives, causing much uncertainty about the future. Certain fears are more than justified, due to the current threat we face and its possible consequences. And of course this has become fertile ground for apocalyptic prophets. How justified are his omens? How real are the dire consequences of the pandemic?