This book examines the history of the political demography of Indonesia. Chronologically, the book begins by introducing the colonization program as a predecessor of transmigration program after independence. The transmigration program, Indonesia’s state policy on migration, is discussed at length in the book but other migration related issues are also presented to show the complex relationship between migration and other social, economic and political issues in Indonesia. In the final chapter, the book discusses the contemporary issues and challenges of disintegration that is facing Indonesia as a nation-state. The book ends with an epilog that shows Indonesia’s political demography challenges in the 21st Century.

The history of globalization is anything but a no-frills affair that moves smoothly along a clear-cut, unidirectional path of development, eventually leading to seamless global integration. Accordingly, scholarship in the social sciences has increasingly argued against equating the history of globalization processes and transcultural entanglements with the master narrative of the gradual homogenization of the world. Examining the shifting patterns of global connections has, therefore, become the main challenge for all those who seek to understand the past, the present and the future of modern societies. And this challenge includes finding a place for the nation state. The studies presented here argue that looking at the nation state from the perspective of global entanglements opens the door for its interpretation as a dynamic and multi-layered structure that takes part in globalization processes and plays various and at times even contradictory roles at the same time.

The Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano is widely considered to be a foundational figure of the decolonial perspective grounded in three basic concepts: coloniality, coloniality of power, and the colonial matrix of power. His decolonial theorizations of these three concepts have transformed the principles and assumptions of the very idea of knowledge, impacted the social sciences and humanities, and questioned the myth of rationality in natural sciences. The essays in this volume encompass nearly thirty years of Quijano’s work, bringing them to an English-reading audience for the first time. This volume is not simply an introduction to Quijano’s work; it achieves one of his unfulfilled goals: to write a book that contains his main hypotheses, concepts, and arguments. In this regard, the collection encourages a fuller understanding and broader implementation of the analyses and concepts that he developed over the course of his long career. Moreover, it demonstrates that the tools for reading and dismantling coloniality originated outside the academy in Latin America and the former Third World.

Covers the major historical problems of China in the twentieth century, namely imperialism, nationalism, state-building, religion and the role of history from the perspective of global and regional circulations and interactions.

The social sciences and humanities worldwide are discovering the necessity to self-critically reshape their theorizing: The first critique of social science theorizing calls for ‘globalizing’, the second, parallel critique, for ‘de-colonizing’ social thought. In his highly topical book, Michael Kuhn discusses · why and how the ‘globalization’ of social science theorizing introduces thinking through nation state perspectives as an up-to-date methodological must; · how the ‘de-colonialization’ of social science theorizing with the critique of Eurocentrism and its thinking through space paves the way for the worldwide implementation of thinking through nation-state views, transforming the social science world into a multiplicity of ’provincialized’ theories; · with which odd argumentations the ’indigenization’ of thought produces contributions to the ideological armament of the new states in the so-called 3rd world after their transformation into the very society system of the former colonizers; · how these indigenized theories make discourses among de-colonized theories a matter of which ‘provincialized’ theory manages to rule the worldwide creation of theories; · how the masterminds of globally de-colonized thinking present imperial thought as guiding theories for mankind’s thinking; · what templates for the turn from anti-capitalist towards nationalistic thinking Historical Materialism has provided, and · what consequences all this has for the social sciences as a voice in political debates about the world.

The creation of Afghanistan in 1880, following the Second Anglo-Afghan War, gave an empowering voice to the Pashtun people, the largest ethnic group in a diverse country. In order to distil the narrative of the state's formation and early years, a Pashtun-centric version of history dominated Afghan history and the political process from 1880 to the 1970s. Alternative discourses made no appearance in the fledgling state which lacked the scholarly institutions and any sense of recognition for history, thus providing no alternatives to the narratives produced by the British, whose quasi-colonial influence in the region was supreme. Since 1970, the ongoing crises in Afghanistan have opened the space for non-Pashtuns, including Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks, to form new definitions of identity, challenge the official discourse and call for the re-writing of the long-established narrative. At the same time, the Pashtun camp, through their privileged position in the political settlements of 2001, have attempted to confront the desire for change in historical perceptions by re-emphasising the Pashtun domination of Afghan history. This crisis of hegemony has led to a deep antagonism between the Pashtun and non-Pashtun perspectives of Afghan history and threatens the stability of political process in the country.

Democracy promises rule by all, not by the few. Yet, electoral democracies limit decision-making to representatives and have always had a weakness for inequality. How might democracy serve all rather than the few? Democracy Beyond the Nation State: Practicing Equality examines communities that govern their own lives without elites or centralized structures through assemblies and consensus. Rather than claiming equality by abstract rights or citizenship, these groups put equality into practice by reducing wealth and health divides, or landlessness or homelessness, and equalizing workloads. These practices are found in rural India and Brazil, in Buenos Aires, London, and New York, and among the Iroquois, the Zapatistas, and the global networks of La Via Campesina farmers and the World Social Forum. Readable accounts of these horizontal democracies document multiple political frames that prevent democracy from being frozen into entrenched electoral systems producing modern inequalities. Using practice to rewrite political theory, Parker draws on collective politics in Spivak and Derrida and embodied relations from Povinelli and Foucault to show that equal relations are not a utopian dream, not nostalgia, and not impossible. This book provides many practical solutions to inequality. It will be useful to students and scholars of political theory and social movements and to those who are willing to work together for equality.

Using original research by a number of highly regarded specialists, this book brings together comparative materials and distinct disciplinary approaches on the origins and dynamics of ethnic conflicts, ethnic policies of nation states, and different attempts to contain, transform and resolve ethnic conflicts. It is one of the results of a research project on ethnic conflicts and development undertaken by the United Nations Research Institute on Social Development. Includes material on Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, the former socialist countries, the United States, and Latin America.

Recasts the commonly dismissed colonial project pursued in Hokkaido during the Meiji era (1868-1912) as a major force in the production of modern Japan's national identity, imperial ideology, and empire.

This edited volume adds to the literature on Myanmar and its borders by drawing attention to the significance of geography, history, politics and society in the construction of the border regions and the country. First, it alerts us to the fact that the border regions are situated in the mountainous and maritime domains of the country, highlighting the commonalities that arise from shared geography. Second, the book foregrounds socio-spatio practices "e;economic, intimate, spiritual, virtual"e; of border and boundary-making in their local context. This demonstrates how state-defined notions of territory, borders and identity are enacted or challenged. Third, despite sharing common features, Myanmar's borderscapes also possess unique configurations of ethnic, political and economic attributes, producing social formations and figured worlds that are more cohesive or militant in some border areas than in others. Understanding and comparing these social practices and their corresponding life-worlds allows us to re-examine the connections from the borderlands back to the hinterland and to consider the value of border and boundary studies in problematizing and conceptualizing recent changes in Myanmar.