Liberalism's loyal opposition : contemporary attitudes to Russia in the wake of the cold war

The thesis explores the continuities that underpin public debate about Russia in the post-Soviet era. It approaches the question using the conceptual framework of new Cold War warriors and re-invented fellow travellers for two reasons. The first is that debates that seek to re-conjure spectres of Marxism or socialism in contemporary Russia are not a notable feature of the work of today's academic scholarship. Instead most of the analysis is centred on evaluating either civilizational or sociological perspectives on the country. Much of it is focused too on the governance of Vladimir Putin, an approach which includes a singular amount of psychologising about his alleged personal failings, both as a leader and as a foreign policy strategist. The second reason is that, though radically opposed, these two concepts anchor the dissertation in the spectrum of liberal thought from classical Liberalism, to economic Liberalism, to neo-liberal utopianism and, more recently, liberal pluralism. The implication is that, in one way or another, for most commentators, both within Russia and internationally, Western liberal norms provide a benchmark with which to appraise Russia's response to the demands of modernity and modernisation, the vagaries of global capitalism and the institutionalisation of democratic freedoms. Within these contentious arenas, the dissertation falls broadly into two camps. On one side are those who are still welded to either a Cold War skepticism or an ideological rigidity that invites a ready condemnation of the new Russia; and those who are more hopeful that the country's future can be more humane than its past. The approach is not aimed at adjudicating about which side will carry the day. Rather it constitutes an inevitably selective, innovative and ambitious commentary about commentaries. Its intention is to foster in both writer and reader a more reflective understanding of the assumptions and presumptions, as well as the areas of uncertainty, in interpretations of today's governance. Admittedly, given the breadth of historical and ongoing research, as well as the myriad ways real existing social worlds defy easy categorisation, the result is more likely to veer towards an impressionistic effect. Admittedly too, it is also an effect which veers towards an antipathy about many of the claims of the new Cold War warriors

Digital Participatory Culture: Assessing the Moroccan New Media Legal Challenges

This paper discusses the development of freedom of speech regulation in the Moroccan legal system.   It especially looks at the intersection of legal texts in the context of new media use. While it highlights that Internet regulation is still an understudied subject, it sheds light on the Moroccan legal apparatus and how it has responded to the growing challenges of new media use. Through an assessment of the myriad of intersecting codes and bills that apply to new media and affect freedom of expression in particular, it demonstrates how the existing and developing new media regulation tends to impact the growth and the enjoyment of the full potential of the Internet through continuous "chilling effects". To demonstrate the probability of these chilling effects, a sample of a dozen historical legal cases is presented to substantiate how the judicial system is reproducing the legal atmosphere that characterized the practice of freedom of expression in traditional media. Keywords: new media, Morocco, freedom of expression, chilling effects

Six representative American masters of short story technique

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University PLEASE NOTE: page 14 appears to be missing from the thesis. Our determination is that this is the result of misnumbering by the author, and no substantive content is actually missing. If you are able to determine otherwise, please contact us

A Comparative Overview of the (Sometimes Uneasy) Relationship between Digital Information and Certain Legal Fields in South Africa and Uganda

The present article focuses on the (sometimes problematic) relationship between digital information and certain legal fields. Most legal rules developed long before the arrival of the computer and the digital telephone, and these rules are now under considerable strain to adapt.   Digital information is rapidly becoming one of the 21st Century’s most valuable assets. This raises the question as to whether or not the law is able to adequately protect this phenomenon against the many attacks being launched against it. The present article analyses certain legal fields in this regard, namely privacy, criminal law, and the law of evidence. The world seems suddenly to have woken up to the fact that digital technology might be a mixed blessing, especially as is shown by certain recent incidents relating to privacy in the USA. In order to obtain an “Africa perspective” the legal situation in South Africa is compared to that in Uganda (East Africa) against a background of multilateral treaties that might apply in this regard. An important point to keep in mind while weighing up legal interests is whether the State may attempt to be both neutral umpire (by means of its judicial power) as well as one of the players who want to win (as the executive power, when government information is at stake). A number of recent incidents in which the United States government has been involved seem to indicate that this attempt to sit on two stools at the same time is likely to diminish respect for the government (and its regulatory efforts) amongst the general population.   A specific problem with enforcement consists of the international nature of infringements. The Internet knows no borders and this factor suggests that effective international co-operation is an essential prerequisite for the law to function adequately in an international context. The concluding of International treaties between groupings of countries is put forward as perhaps the most effective solution in this regard.   &nbsp

Manual / Issue 14 / Shadows

Manual, a journal about art and its making. Shadows. This anti-visibility is not the same as being invisible, rather it is the power to operate against systems of imperial domination, including the gaze. It asks: How do we force the gaze to surrender? What if explanation were off the table? By enabling a petit marronage that can be expressed in the visual and symbolic use of shadow, the gaze is challenged. This issue of Manual and the accompanying exhibition (opening at the RISD Museum Fall 2020) posit that the right to opacity de-burdens contemporary work by artists who identify as Black and/or queer and/or feminist and/or non-binary and/or OVER IT—whatever sociocultural constriction “it” signifies. Opacity extends to artists who are simply not interested in explaining themselves or offering the emotional labor that is expended for inclusion. This right says, “I have given enough.” It also legitimizes and reclaims the shadow as a place of refuge, instead of being a place from which to escape. –Anita N. Bateman The RISD Museum’s fourteenth issue of Manual shines a light on the shadow, centering the black body as a site of possibility, liberatory self-awareness, radical non-conformity, and joyful defiance. This issue serves as a companion to the exhibition Defying the Shadow. Manual 14: Shadows opens with an excerpt on the shadow from W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, followed by an introduction by Dr. Anita N. Bateman, who elucidates: “Operating in the shadow comes with a legacy of resistance, both in spiritual and ideological forms.” Softcover, 108 pages. Published Fall/Winter 2020 by the RISD Museum. Manual 14 (Shadows) contributors include: Andrea Achi, Emanuel Admassu, Anita N. Bateman, Makeda Best, Gina Borromeo, Rashayla Marie Brown, Shuriya Davis, Akwaeke Emezi, Tayana Fincher, Melanee C. Harvey, Kate Irvin, Sade LaNay, Kelly Taylor Mitchell, Dominic Molon, Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Kevin Quashie, Matthew Shenoda, and Leslie Wilson. This issue complements the RISD Museum exhibition Defying the Shadow, curated by Dr. Anita N. Bateman.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/risdmuseum_journals/1040/thumbnail.jp