scholarly journals Everyday Nationalism in Unsettled Times: In Search of Normality during Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Paul Goode ◽  
David R. Stroup ◽  
Elizaveta Gaufman

Abstract Pandemics and other crisis situations result in unsettled times, or ontologically insecure moments when social and political institutions are in flux. During such crises, the ordinary and unnoticed routines that structure everyday life are thrust into the spotlight as people struggle to maintain or recreate a sense of normalcy. Drawing on a range of cases including China, Russia, the UK, and USA, we examine three categories of everyday practice during the COVID-19 pandemic that respond to disruptions in daily routines and seek a return to national normality: performing national solidarities and exclusions by wearing face masks; consuming the nation in the form of panic buying and conspiracy theories; and enforcing foreign policies through social media and embodiment. This analysis thus breaks with existing works on everyday nationalism and banal nationalism that typically focus on pervasively unnoticed forms of nationalism during settled times, and it challenges approaches to contentious politics that predict protest mobilization for change rather than restoration of the status quo ante. In highlighting the ways that unsettled times disrupt domestic and international structures, this work also presents a first attempt to link everyday nationalism with growing work on international practices.

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Prior

This paper reviews the status, position and legacy of Bourdieu in the sociology of music, the waxing and waning of his influence and the recent move away from Bourdieu towards something like a post-critical engagement with musical forms and practices. The idea is to show the reaction to and treatment of Bourdieu’s ideas as a gauge of where we are in the sociology of culture, the various strands of influence that emanate from his work, and to assess what is at stake in a ‘post-Bourdieu’ moment when a position once considered progressive and critical now acts as the foil against which new work is being conducted. The article engages with some recent contributions to the music/society debate from figures in the UK and France, and points to the ways these contributions move debates on musico-social relations into territories more sensitive to the complex mediating qualities of music. Such work is better placed, it is argued, to represent music as an animating force in everyday life, including its specific mediating qualities ‘in action’. At the same time, however, the construction of a new sociology of music is not without its perils. The article will conclude with some potential problems with these approaches, and take stock of what might be lost as well as gained by adherence to them.


Significance The differing perspectives of unionists and nationalists on the creation of Northern Ireland as a political entity within the United Kingdom, together with Brexit and tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP), have brought the contentious issue of Irish reunification onto the political agenda in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Impacts Scottish independence would likely increase momentum for a referendum on Irish unity. Successful implementation of the NIP, giving firms access to EU and UK markets, may support arguments for maintaining the status quo. If the UK government abandons the NIP, the adverse trade impact on Northern Irish firms could increase support for unification.


2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
Andrea Theocharis ◽  
Marcus Graetsch

We all study political science, but - what do we actually do here anyway? This essay expresses our thoughts about our subject. The everyday life in University doesn’t seem to give enough space for questioning what is this all about. Maybe a debate on that issue does not exist extensively because of fears of the loss of entitlement. The aim of this essay is to support the heightening of student’s awareness about the status quo of research and teaching in political science as we can judge it from our modest experiences. Trying to get to the basis of such a problem is not easy. The things here written are surely not the state of the art, but they could shine a better light on the problem what had been called the 'politics of political science' in an earlier Internet discussion on the IAPSS website. This paper should be understood as a start for a discussion, where we all can express our surely different experiences and ideas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Reinikainen ◽  
Jaana T. Kari ◽  
Vilma Luoma-aho

Young people are avid users of social media and have appeared as a powerful force for social change, as shown by the ranks of those who have joined Greta Thunberg in the global climate movement. In addition to challenging political institutions and governments, young people today are also holding the corporate world accountable. To respond to young people’s expectations, brands, and organizations have turned to social media to interact and build relationships with them. However, critics have lamented that these attempts often fail and that young people’s trust in institutions, brands, and organizations continues to decline. This article asks how young people perceive organizational listening on social media and whether their perceptions are related to their trust in the information shared by brands and other organizations on social media. Data for the study were gathered through an online survey in Finland and the UK. The respondents (N = 1,534), aged 15–24, represent the age cohort known as Generation Z. The results show that organizational listening is connected to higher levels of perceived benefits from social media as well as higher levels of trust in the information that brands, public authorities, and non-governmental organizations share on social media. The results highlight the role of competent listening on social media, bolstering the previous literature connecting both organizational listening and trust with higher levels of participation and engagement online.


Subject Importance of social media in the United Arab Emirates. Significance The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is among the most connected countries in the Middle East, with one of the highest rates of social media penetration. Compared with Western countries, UAE consumers are more likely to engage with brands and to be less worried about issues of privacy and tracking. The government engages in extensive monitoring, surveillance and censorship of social media and apps. Impacts Both global brands and local businesses have additional scope to develop social media strategies to capitalise on rising usage. Content with the status quo and tight monitoring will prevent activists from leveraging social media platforms to bring about change. Extraterritorial aspects of the cybercrime law could be applied to non-residents and travellers in transit. Non-renewal of visas could become a more common, low-profile way to exclude expatriates who transgress on social media.


Significance Although this remains against the law, he said police enforcement could lead to a "wide-scale negative reaction". An ongoing Iranian conversation about economic and political women’s rights has gained more attention since 2017, through the global #metoo movement. Impacts Gradual changes to social realities are more likely than revised legislation on women’s rights. Social media will be the dominant method of spreading the Iranian feminist agenda. Momentum created by economic discontent could be used by the women’s movement to question the status quo.


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Liu Carriger

The 1870–71 tabloid trial of cross-dressers Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park revealed Victorian society wrestling with the concept of “theatricality” in everyday life. The prosecution sought to expose that the traditionally unspeakable act of sodomy was (paradoxically) encoded in cross-dressing; while the defense employed the “theatre defense”—a systematic insistence that the defendants were just amateur actors. But within British society theatre was both part of the status quo and a haven for a disturbing doubleness—“conspiracies of meaning” that troubled Victorian obsessions with truth-telling and the “natural.”


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-156
Author(s):  
Ademuni Odeke

This article: First, (a) re-examines the fraud exception rule in letters of credit transactions with specific reference to the United City Merchants v Royal Bank of Canada (the American Accord) and against the background of a recent commonwealth decision accepting nullity as a new exception; (b) evaluates its impact on over/under invoicing under the WTO Agreement on Pre-shipment Inspection of Goods in International Trade (PSI); and (c) assesses its implication on the IMF Agreement on Exchange Control implemented in the UK by the IMF Agreement Regulations 1946 made under the IMF Agreement Acts 1945 as amended. Secondly, it argues that the current UCP 500 is outmoded and inadequate to meet current needs and is therefore in need of urgent revision. Thirdly, it recommends, inter alia, that in accordance with the said commonwealth decision, fraud by third parties should be recognised by English law as an independent and separate nullity exception. Fourth, and finally, it concludes that the status-quo acts as an unwitting Crooks’ Charter for money launderers, documentary fraudsters and other white collar crimes.


Author(s):  
Linda Herrera ◽  
Abdelrahman Mansour

This chapter examines Arab youth from within the historic backdrop of the Arab uprisings that engulfed more than half of the Arab states. Millions of people, the overwhelming majority of them born between the 1980s and 2000s, took to streets, schools, and social media, with demands for change. Within a short period, they were met with counterrevolutions, and a period of instability. Among the questions posed for contemplation at this historical juncture are: are the youth who crystallized into the generation of the uprisings causing a disruption to the prevailing order, and if so, in what direction? What are the active and passive strategies young people are pursuing to unsettle the status quo and for what kind of alternative order? We address these questions through a focus on two areas: education and schooling; and virtual communities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-155
Author(s):  
Andrew Thangasamy

Regional governance efforts in South Asia have been missing regional political institutions. There is no shortage of ideas and suggestions by scholars, practitioners, diplomats and others in terms of areas for integration in South Asia. And yet, regional integration continues in a piecemeal like stuttering fashion. Integration lags not because there are questions about the efficacy of regional integration or questions about where or what to integrate, it lags because of the path forward—in terms of how—is unclear. Regional or sub-regional political institutions vested with the decision-making authority can aid in integration better than the status quo. Political institutions in contrast to forums or summit-convening authorities can make decisions of their own benefiting the interests of those whom they represent. This article examines the current state of regional governance efforts in South Asia and evaluates the argument for regional and sub-regional political institutions.


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