Cosmopolitan Pluralism: Beyond the Cultural Turn

The ‘cultural turn’ has had a profound influence across the humanities and social sciences in the last few decades. In calling into question the universalist basis on which conventional methodological and normative assumptions have been based, the cultural turn has focused on the extent to which specificity and particularity underpin what we can know, how we can know it, and how this affects our being-in-the world. This has opened the way to a range of insights, from issues of pluralism and difference, both within political communities and between them, to the instability if not impossibility of foundations for knowledge. Too few studies embracing this ‘cultural turn’, however, pay more than cursory attention to the culture concept itself. This article suggests that conceptions of culture derived mainly from the discipline of anthropology dominate in political studies, including international relations, while humanist conceptions have been largely ignored or rejected. It argues further that we would do well to reconsider what humanist ideas can contribute to how ‘culture’ is both conceptualized and deployed in political thought and action, especially in countering the overparticularization of social and political phenomena that marks contemporary culturalist approaches

ASEM and the politics of regional identity

The initial impetus for the formation of ASEM came principally from economic factors as global restructuring and new developments in regionalization occurred following the end of the Cold War. From the time it came into being, however, ASEM’s agenda has been much broader, including as it does both political and cultural pillars as well as an economic one. And although economic factors do contribute to identity formation, it is largely within the context of political and cultural considerations that questions of identity have arisen. These include (although are by no means limited to) two issues. First, there is the issue of who is included in the formal membership of the meeting process and all its attendant activities – and who is excluded. Second, there is the recurring theme of human rights which the European Union has made a centrepiece of its Common Foreign and Security Policy, and which has therefore become part and parcel of its identity as an international actor. The purpose of this paper is to consider how these issues have played out since ASEM was founded, and to consider future directions

Sneakerheads and Custom Kicks: Insights into Symbolic Mass Customization

This chapter presents an exploratory study involving a group of athletic shoe enthusiasts and their feelings towards customized footwear. These sneakerheads demonstrate their infatuation with sneakers via activities ranging from creating catalogs of custom shoes to buying and selling rare athletic footwear online. The key characteristic these individuals share is that, for them, athletic shoes are a fundamental fashion accessory stepped in symbolism and meaning. A series of in-depth interviews utilizing the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) provide a better understanding of how issues such as art, self-expression, exclusivity, peer recognition, and counterfeit goods interact with the mass customization of symbolic products by category experts

The People Have Spoken: The 2014 Elections in Fiji

The September 2014 elections in Fiji was one of the most anticipated in the history of the country, coming after eight years of military rule and under a radically new constitution that introduced a system of proportional representative (PR) and without any reserved communal seats. The election was won overwhelmingly by FijiFirst, a party formed by 2006 coup leader Frank Bainimarama. He subsequently embarked on a process of shifting the political configuration of Fijian politics from inter-ethnic to trans-ethnic mobilisation. The shift has not been easy in terms of changing people’s perceptions and may face some challenges in the longer term, despite Bainimarama’s clear victory in the polls. Ethnic consciousness has the capacity to become re‑articulated in different forms and to seek new opportunities for expression. This book explores these and other issues surrounding the 2014 Fiji elections in a collection of articles written from varied political, intellectual and ideological positions

Collector’s Relationship to Access-Based Consumption: A Sneakerhead’s Perspective

This research focuses on what persuades sneakerheads to partake in access-based consumption. This research is important because the relationship between collectors, particularly sneakerheads, and access-based consumption has not yet been explored. This topic was studied by conducting semi-structured interviews with sneakerheads, to find themes and correlations that depict motives for consumers to participate in access-based consumption. As well as motives, this topic was studied to discover deterrents that may drive sneakerheads away from renting their sneakers. These findings will contribute something new to the literature based upon access-based consumption, because currently there is no literature that depicts what motivates or discourages collectors/sneakerheads to become access-based consumers. To extract those findings, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The sample was a convenient sample from a Charlotte, N.C. mall. After conducting the interviews, it was found that saving money was a major motive for sneakerheads to rent their sneakers. Other than economic benefits, it was also found that for one-time use and status seeking purposes sneakerheads are motivated to rent their sneakers. Deterrents such as anxiety, hygiene, possessiveness, and sneaker condition were all discouragements that drove sneakerheads away from renting their sneakers. Within this study, there is also a proposed plan of how a sneaker-renting platform could benefit the consumer and the market simultaneously

Europe and the Asia-Pacific: culture, identity and representations of region

Issues of culture and identity have been prominent themes in social and political enquiry over the last decade or so. They have become just as conspicuous in political debates outside the academy as well. This has been especially evident in the Asia-Pacific region, especially with respect to relations with Europe and, more generally, ‘the West’. For much of the 1990s, the ‘Asian values’ debate held sway as the major discourse surrounding key developments in the region. From normative issues such as democracy and human rights, to the analysis of the world of business and finance, Asian ‘culture’ – and therefore values – has been regarded as a major factor in defining the region and its identity. These definitions of region, moreover, have usually taken ‘the West’ as the major point of contrast. This paper provides a conceptual overview of some of the issues involved in the politics of cultural representation, highlighting the fact that gross exercizes in stereotyping, including self-stereotyping, have plagued many discussions of regionalism and inter-regional relations. It will be argued that social scientists have made their own distinctive contributions to these stereotypes with some promoting theories of relativism and determinism on the one hand, and others resorting to a dogmatic universalism on the other. Both ways of thinking appeal because they present simplifications of a rather messy world and for that reason, among others, are likely to remain attractive to many scholars as well as politicians and policy makers

Tradition versus democracy in the Kingdom of Tonga

Until relatively recently, what struck most outside observers of Tonga's conservative sociopolitical structure was an image which exuded stability, contentment, and durability. The only remaining kingdom in the entire Pacific, Tonga had also been the only island country to escape formal colonization during the period of European expansion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and was therefore spared the turbulence which has typically accompanied most moves to decolonization. It is widely accepted that Tonga's ability to remain independent had been achieved largely through the development of a unitary, centralized political system, presided over by an indigenous monarch, and which incorporated major elements of traditional sociopolitical organization. This system was entrenched through the promulgation in 1875 of a formal written constitution which established the monarchy and a landed nobility, and codified a set of principles and practices designed to sustain them as a ruling class,. The superimposition of certain Westminster-style institutions such as a prime minister, cabinet, legislature, judiciary, and electoral system, as well as a declaration of rights, gave the system some addition legitimacy in the European-dominated sphere of nineteenth century international politics, although these by no means added up to a democratic system of responsible government. The concentration of power in the hands of the monarch, and the extent of privilege granted to the nobility under the constitution, enshrined instead the basic principles associated with the descending thesis of government. In this respect, there is little doubt that the provisions of the 1875 constitution resonated very clearly with traditional Tongan sociopolitical notions concerning the proper locus of political authority and legitimacy.(First paragraph of Introduction)

Regime Change as Regime Maintenance: The Military versus Democracy in Fiji

In recent years there have been some dramatic changes of political leadership in the Asia-Pacific region, and also some drama without leadership change. In a few countries the demise of well-entrenched political leaders appears imminent; in others regular processes of parliamentary government still prevail. These differing patterns of regime change and regime maintenance raise fundamental questions about the nature of political systems in the region. Specifically, how have some political leaders or leadership groups been able to stay in power for relatively long periods and why have they eventually been displaced? What are the factors associated with the stability or instability of political regimes? What happens when long-standing leaderships change?This paper is a modified version of a chapter forthcoming in V. Selochan and RJ. May (eds). The Military and Democracy in Asia and the Pacific.This paper is a modified version of a chapter forthcoming in V. Selochan and RJ. May (eds). The Military and Democracy in Asia and the Pacific