Vietnamese civic organisations: supporters of or obstacles to further democratisation? Results from an empirical survey

In political science and in development cooperation, civic organisations (COs) under authoritarian rule are usually seen as supporters of processes that move towards democratisation. However, these organisations are sometimes criticised for their support of those in power. Within this context, critics refer to the fact that many COs have, for example, authoritarian intra-organisational structures. This characteristic clearly limits their potential to be supporters of democratisation processes. In this paper, we proceed from the assumption that Vietnamese COs can be both supporters of democracy and organisations that help to maintain authoritarian rule; they can sometimes even be both at the same time. COs are "polyvalent" (Kößler). More concretely, what COs are and which role(s) they play in the political system is mainly but not exclusively dependent on the impact the state has on them, and is at the same time dependent on the effects that those organisations have on the state.The results from an empirical survey, supported by the German Research Council (2013-2016) and carried out as a co-operation between the Institute of Asian Studies/GIGA Hamburg and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, suggest the following: - Most Vietnamese COs are hierarchically structured, if not organised in an authoritarian way. They are not "schools of democracy", in the sense of Tocqueville. - Most Vietnamese COs that have engaged in the welfare provision sector, either willingly or unwillingly, have helped to foster the foundations of authoritarianism. - In the field of economic policies, the COs invited by the state to participate in and contribute to the formulation of policies do help, overall, to secure existing power structures, even though these organisations also help change various economic policies and even though their activities produce some democracy-promoting effects. - In the policy field of gender equality, women's rights, and rights of sexual minorities, the mass organisation Vietnam Women's Union supports the state's respective discourse. Some NGOs active in this policy field are doing both: They support and criticise the state's discourse on gender norms and the rights of sexual minorities.In the conclusion, we answer the question of which Vietnamese COs can be seen as supporters of further democratisation and which can be classified as obstacles

Zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen in Autokratien: Akteure des Wandels?

Zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen (CSOs) galten lange als Hoffnungsträger für die Demokratisierung. Aber spätestens seit dem "Arabischen Frühling" ist Ernüchterung eingekehrt. In Autokratien stützen CSOs vielfach die Macht der Regierungen. Zur Sicherung ihrer Macht streben autoritäre Regierungen danach, die Gesellschaft zu kontrollieren und zu steuern und insbesondere öffentliche Diskurse zu herrschaftsrelevanten Themen zu dominieren. Vielfach versuchen sie, CSOs für die Verteilung gesellschaftlicher Wohltaten einzuspannen, sie selektiv in Entscheidungsstrukturen einzubinden und dadurch politisch zu neutralisieren. Überregionale und politikfeldspezifische Vergleiche helfen, die Dynamiken von Beziehungen zwischen Staat und CSOs in Autokratien besser zu verstehen. In den postsozialistischen Ländern Algerien, Mosambik und Vietnam beeinflusst der Staat die Art der internen Willensbildung, die Wahl von Aktivitäten und die Auswahl von Führungspersonal in bzw. durch die CSOs. In allen drei Ländern kooptiert der Staat im Wirtschaftsbereich aktive CSOs. In Algerien und Mosambik tragen CSOs zum Erhalt der staatlichen Diskursmacht im Bereich Gender und Frauenrechte bei, in Vietnam haben sie Teil sowohl an deren Erhalt als auch deren Schwächung. Während CSOs in Algerien und Vietnam eher die Macht des Staates im Wohlfahrtsbereich stützen - konkret bei der Bekämpfung von HIV/AIDS -, tragen mosambikanische CSOs in diesem Bereich tendenziell dazu bei, die Macht des Staates zu schwächen. (Entwicklungs-)politische Akteure sollten auf die Durchsetzung der Rechte von Bürgern, sich zu organisieren, drängen. Bei der Zusammenarbeit mit CSOs in Autokratien ist zu prüfen, ob diese zur Verfestigung autoritärer Strukturen beitragen. Geberländer sollten CSOs dabei unterstützen, innerorganisatorische Willensbildungsprozesse demokratisch zu gestalten

Lino, plata, esclavos y café: un enfoque espacial para estudiar los entramados de Europa Central con la economía Atlántica

In German scholarship of the post-war period, the category of space was regarded as discredited, because of its abuse during the Nazi period. This applies in particular to the 1970s and 80s, when novel approaches in social and economic history were developed. Research on proto-industrialisation, broadly examining its internal structures, did not take into account the export orientation of Central Europe’s early modern commodity production. At the same time, the expanding research on Europe’s Atlantic empires, including the trans-Atlantic slave trade, did hardly take notice of the manufactures from the Holy Roman Empire, distributed all around the Atlantic basin. This paper examines those conditions favouring German proto-industries which are relevant for a ‘spatial approach’ to the phenomenon. It also covers the late medieval beginnings of this process, in order to demonstrate the continuity of Central Europe’s entanglement with the Atlantic world. The paper further emphasises that any future research using spatial categories must be aware of the ideological contamination of the German term ‘Raum’ during the 19th and 20th century. The interlace of economic and social history with historiography demands a compilation from current and older research literature, some of it on different regions and subjectsEn la escuela alemana del período de pos-guerra la categoría de espacio fue desprestigiada debido a los abusos sucedidos durante el período nazi. Esto se aplica en especial a los años de 1970 y 1980, cuando se desarrollaron los nuevos enfoques en historia social y económica. Las investigaciones sobre la proto-industrialización en Europa Central durante la Edad Moderna que examinan, en líneas generales, sus estructuras internas, no tuvieron en cuenta la dimensión espacial de las exportaciones de su producción. Al mismo tiempo, las crecientes investigaciones de los imperios europeos en el Atlántico, incluso del comercio de esclavos transatlántico, no hacen referencia a las manufacturas del Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico, distribuidas todas alrededor de la cuenca del Atlántico. El trabajo examina aquellas condiciones favorables de la proto-industria alemana que son relevantes para un ‘spatial approach’ (enfoque espacial) del fenómeno. También incluye los inicios de este proceso en la Baja Edad Media con el fin de demostrar la continuidad de los entramados de Europa Central con el mundo atlántico. El estudio hace énfasis en la idea de que cualquier investigación futura usando categorías espaciales debe tener en cuenta la contaminación ideológica del término alemán ‘Raum’ durante los siglos XIX y XX. El entrelazado de la historia económica y social con la historiografía ha exigido una compilación de literatura investigativa tradicional y actual, alguna de ellas en diferentes regiones y temáticas

Do associations support authoritarian rule? Evidence from Algeria, Mozambique, and Vietnam

Whether associations help to democratize authoritarian rule or support those in power is a contested issue that so far lacks a cross-regional, comparative perspective. In this article we focus on five types of associations in three post-socialist countries, situated in different world regions, that are governed by authoritarian regimes. We first explore how infrastructural and discursive state power impact such associations and vice versa. We then discuss whether these associations support the development of citizens' collective and individual self-determination and autonomy and/or whether they negate such self-determination and autonomy - a state of affairs that is at the core of authoritarianism. Our analysis addresses decision-making in associations and three specific policy areas. We find that most of the covered associations accept or do not openly reject state/ruling party interference in their internal decision-making processes. Moreover, in most of these associations the self-determination and autonomy of members are restricted, if not negated. With respect to HIV/AIDS policy, associations in Algeria and Vietnam toe the official line, and thus contribute, unlike their counterparts in Mozambique, to negating the self-determination and autonomy of affected people and other social minorities. Looking at enterprise promotion policy, we find that the co-optation of business and professionals’ associations in all three countries effectively limits democratizing impulses. Finally, in all three countries many, but not all, of the interviewed associations support state-propagated norms concerning gender and gender relationships, thus contributing to limiting the self-determination and autonomy of women in the private sphere

Managerial power in the German model: the case of Bertelsmann and the antecedents of neoliberalism

Our article extends the research on authoritarian neoliberalism to Germany, through a history of the Bertelsmann media corporation – sponsor and namesake of Germany’s most influential neoliberal think-tank. Our article makes three conceptual moves. Firstly, we argue that conceptualizing German neoliberalism in terms of an ‘ordoliberal paradigm’ is of limited use in explaining the rise and fall of Germany’s distinctive socio-economic model (Modell Deutschland). Instead, we locate the origins of authoritarian tendencies in the corporate power exercised by managers rather than in the power of state-backed markets imagined by ordoliberals. Secondly, we focus on the managerial innovations of Bertelsmann as a key actor enmeshed with Modell Deutschland. We show that the adaptation of business management practices of an endogenous ‘Cologne School’ empowered Bertelsmann’s postwar managers to overcome existential crises and financial constraints despite being excluded from Germany’s corporate support network. Thirdly, we argue that their further development in the 1970s also enabled Bertelsmann to curtail and circumvent the forms of labour representation associated with Modell Deutschland. Inspired by cybernetic management theories that it used to limit and control rather than revive market competition among its workforce, Bertelsmann began to act and think outside the postwar settlement between capital and labour before the settlement’s hotly-debated demise since the 1990s

A Novel Liquid Multi-Phytonutrient Supplement Demonstrates DNA-Protective Effects

This study explored the DNA protective (anti-mutagenic) effects of an oral, liquid, multi-phytonutrient dietary supplement containing a proprietary blend of fruits, vegetables and aloe vera concentrated components in addition to a proprietary catechin complex from green tea (VIBE Cardiac & Life, Eniva Nutraceuticals, Anoka, MN; herein described as “VIBE”). This study tested the hypothesis that VIBE would reduce DNA damage in skin cells exposed to UVR. Human epidermal cells, from the cell line A431NS, were treated with 0% (control), 0.125%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% VIBE, and then exposed to 240 J/m2 UVR. The amount of DNA damage was assessed using the COMET assay. At each concentration tested, a significantly smaller amount of DNA damage was measured by the COMET assay for the VIBE treated cells compared to the control cells exposed to UVR without VIBE. The dose response curves showed a maximal response at 0.5% VIBE with a threefold reduction in COMET tail density compared to the control samples without VIBE (p < 0.001). Additional research is warranted in human clinical trials to further explore the results of this study which demonstrated the DNA protective and anti-mutagenic effects of VIBE for human skin cells exposed to UVR-induced DNA damage