Ilyas Saliba
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DVPW Section meeting Comparative Politics in Hamburg

3/10/2015

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View towards the GIGA from the opposite side of the Alster lake in dowtown Hamburg

The DVPW (German association for political science) meeting of the section on comparative politics (twitter #DVPWGIGA) was held in my hometown Hamburg at the GIGA (German institute for Global Area Studies) in February 2015. Once again (after the IDCAR confernce in december '14) a pleasent reason for me to return to my hometown for professional reasons.

In general the conference had attracted more than 220 researchers from all over Europe. This alone can probably already be judged quite a success. The wide -range of panel themes to some extend resembled the diversity of topics within the subfield of comparative politics (find the program of the conference with all paper titles & authors here). However there was some clear centres of gravity that could be identified. 

Overall there were four panels with a total of 28 papers dealing with authoritarian regimes. A clear sign that the trend towards political science research on non-democratic contexts is still ongoing. Other main themes at the conference were political behavoir and attitutes, regionalism and regional institutions as well as democratization and transitology.  I participated in the conference with two papers in two different panels both dealing with non-democratic regimes.

The first panel was entitled: "Legitimation, policy instruments and policy performance in autocracies" and organized by Steffen Kailitz (Hannah-Arendt-Institute Dresden) and Stefan Wurster (University of Heidelberg). Most of the contributions in this panel aimed at improving our conceptual understanding of legitimacy and legitimation processes under non-democratic circumstances and to increase our ability to operationalize and measure different types and mechanisms of legitimacy. I presented a paper dealing with legitimation strategies via the institutional reform process initiated by the Morrocan regime in the aftermath of the 2011 demonstrations (working paper paper can be found here).

The second panel was organnized by the IDCAR initiators Christian von Soest and Thomas Richter (both GIGA). Accordingly the panel was named: "Democracy Prevention by International Means: Diffusion and Cooperation of Authoritarian Regimes". In this rich panel with contributions on the post soviet space, the Gulf countries, Sub-Sahara Africa and the Middle East by scholars from all career stages I presented a draft outline on my conceptual dissertation chapter entitled: "The Influence of Authoritarian Learning on Regime Survival in times of Contentious Politics" (the working paper can be found here).

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BBAW conference: Understandings of democracy in Europe & the World

6/14/2014

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In the beginning of April this year I was involved in an international conference organized jointly by the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Science (BBAW) and the Studienkolleg zu Berlin. The conference was supported by the Fritz-Thyssen foundation and the Allianz Kulturstiftung. The bold headline was: “Understandings & meanings of democracy in Europe and the World”. We had some interesting speakers and outstanding scholars participating in this open doors event. The program of the event can be found here.

I was involved in Co-moderating the panel on meanings of democracy on a global scale with my friend & colleague Niklas Kossow. Our podium debate was complemented by Xiabo Lu (Columbia University) and Nora Lafi (center for the modern orient) and Sina Birkholz (Free University Berlin).

The discussion touched upon topics such as the universality of democracy as a normative order and source of legitimacy, justice, economic development, civil society and media pluralism.

The interesting debate on the podium was focused on perspectives from the Arab World and China. Here you can find the link to the audio file of the discussion (last link).

Besides the interesting podium debate I was also involved in organization a workshop on understandings of democracy in the Arab World with my colleague Laura Führer from the Free University Berlin and Thomas Claes from the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation. In the workshop we covered the contestation during the Arab Uprisings and the demands of the protesters such as freedom, justice, an end to corruption and democracy. We discussed varieties of understandings of democracy across the Arab World focusing on Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. We highlighted the differences between these cases and came to the conclusion that the understandings of democracy –even within the seemingly homogeneous bloc of the Arab World, or even within the single countries– are very diverging. In short, there is no such thing as a common Arab understanding of democracy.

All in all the conference was very interesting and enabled a fruitful exchange between established and young academics, journalists and the interested public in Berlin. Overall despite the references to democracy by all actors across all regions the diversity of understandings and meanings of democracy was the central outcome of the conference.

I herewith also want to thank the organizers and my collegues for their efforts and participation in planning and contributing to the success of the event.
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podium on meanings of democracy on a global scale

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from the workshop on understandings of democracy in the Arab World

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case study presentation on Morocco

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case study presentation on Tunisia by Thomas Claes

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case study presentation on Egypt by Laura Führer
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ECPR Joint Sessions 2014 in Salamanca

4/17/2014

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Jean Blondel giving the reception speech in the old building of the university
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“Researching legitimacy only makes sense if investigated in combination with power or authority”[1]

During April 10th-15th the 2014 ECPR[2] joint Sessions were held in Salamanca, Spain. Host of the Sessions was the University of Salamanca, one of the oldest Universities in the world (established 1218).

I was happy to present my paper: The Impact of Authoritarian Learning on Reforms & the Legitimacy of Contested Regimes at the session on Regime Legitimisation Through Institutional Reform: Analysing its Dimensions and Effectiveness organized by Magnus Feldmann (University of Bristol) and Honarata Mazepus (University of Leiden).

The two convenors selected 20 papers from participants representing universities all across Europe and even as far as Australia. The topics were as manifold as the approaches to the rather broad topic. The overarching aim was to account for the recent re-emergence of legitimacy as a subject of investigation within political science. Reflecting upon the literature common approaches were mapped and categorized. The distinction between normative and empirical assessments of legitimacy and legitimation was the central outcome. Most participants agreed that normative approaches remain important signal posts but do barely wield advantages for assessing legitimacy and legitimation processes in the ‘real word’ due to their subjectivity. We agreed on a need to develop further the empirical approaches to legitimacy with regards to their underlying concepts and operationalization for empirical assessment.

Fundamental typologies of legitimacy and legitimation from Weber, Easton and Schumpeter were intensively discussed in the workshop. Furthermore most of the participants agreed that a focus on the processes of legitimation promises a more fruitful angle to the issue than studying levels of legitimacy at a certain moment in time. A number of papers focussed on legitimation processes in non-democracies –primarily through case studies- whereas others focussed on comparative perspective on legitimacy across the range of rather established OECD democracies.

The format of the Joint Sessions offer truly a great possibility to discuss papers and ideas under a common theme with peers from all over Europe that are working in this field. The fixed workshop belonging generates an intense working atmosphere in which scholars get to know each other and can develop thought together over the course of the 5 days. Despite differences in terms of the positions of the participants the discourse in the workshop was largely ‘Herrschaftsfrei’. Which means that there was no difference being made between me (as a first year PhD student) and distinct Professors amongst the participants.

The collegial atmosphere of the workshop contributed to getting to know each other and enjoying Spanish tapas together after the hard work was done.


All in all I can only recommend the ECP Joint Sessions as a place of scientific deliberation and debate of ones research and ideas. The comprised and intense form of working together across all hierarchical structures is a great chance to receive feedback and comments to your own work, to get a grasp of what scholars within one’s topic of interest are doing, to discuss current state of the art approaches and concepts and finally to get to know other scholars in your field.


[1] Quote form the opening presentation of the convenors
[2] European Consortium for Political Science Research

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IPSA SummerSchool in Sao Paolo

2/15/2014

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After two weeks of intensive course work, assingments and discusssions the IPSA summer school has come to an end today.
I took the course comparative case study methodology taught by Derek Beach from the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

The course was great designed in a way that the participants had to apply the taught prinicples and methods straight away on their own research projects. This way the course really got you thinking about your own project from the beginning.

Actually as a result of teh course I have changed my research design from a pure case study design to a mixed method design including a QCA followed by 2-3 in-depth case studies investigating causal mechanisms through process tracing.

The more hands-on methodological trainnig was embedded in many discussions about the philosophy of science and how we make claims in the social sciences based on what kind of empirical material.

The neo-positivist but qualitative approach that was brought forward during the lectures is based upon a deterministic understanding of causality that is paired with bayesian arguing based on contextualizing and critically engaging wioth ones own evidence.

I have found the thoughts extremely interesting and refreshingly systematized and transparent for qualitative method standards. I aim to apply some of these concepts in my dissertatiuon and forthcoming works to undermine the methodlogical strength of my works. 

In march Derek will also give a two day workshop on process tracing in Berlin that I am already looking forward too. 

On top of all the input it was also a great opportunity to engage with PhD and graduate students from all over the world in a nice environment at teh University of Sao Paolo.
It seems intensive workshops are even possible despite regular samba, sun and caipirnhas.

All in all it was it was a great two weeks and I would recommend teh course (which is also taught at teh ECPR summer schools) and the summer school in Sao Paolo to any methodologically interested graduate student.
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Former Tunisian Prime Minister Jebali in Berlin

1/6/2014

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Mr Jebali during his keynote speech at the Freie Universität

On Decemeber 1st Mr Hamadi Jebali the former Tunisian prime minister gave a keynote speech at the campus of the Free University of Berlin.
The topic of the talk was an analysis of the current situation of Tunisia.
Unfortunately Mr Jebalis picture of the situation in Tunisia remained very superficial. On the contrary he went on at length about the international environment around Tunisia and the imminent dangers and problems connected with it. His sometimes involute speech (maybe this was also due to the translators) Mr Jebali painted a picture of Tunisia as an isle of democracy in the middle east that is endangered from all sides (geographically) and dimensions (political, economic, security). the notion of terror triangles situated close to Tunisian boarders was the highlight of this talk (see foto).

The whole story telling finally concluded in Mr Jebali teklling teh audience at the FU that Tunisia is in desperate need for support from Germany & Europe and it could not cope with the challenges it is facing without European support.

To be honest I would have preferred a keynote focussing on the primarily domestic issues and ongoing political developments in the post-revolutionary Tunisia. The challenges do not only lie at Tunisias boarders as implied by Mr Jebali but also in the very heart of Tunisias capital and its constitutional assembly. Three years after the ousting of the cleptocratic autocrat Ben-Ali Tunisia is still struggling to give itself a new jurisiticial foundation for its new polity. Alongside this long lasting process political violence against members of the non islamic political elite is growing. None of these challenges were sufficiently addressed in Jebalis speech.
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Discussion with Claus Leggewie & Remi Brague on the mediterranean Space at the Berlin Academy of Science

9/24/2013

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©Susanne Hauer

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©Susanne Hauer
On tuesday evening I was moderating an event at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Science (BBAW). It was the first event of a series called "Zukunftsorte Europas" (future places in Europe) and was dedicated to the "Mittelmeerraum" ergo the mediterranean space. The first speaker was the french philosopher Remi Brague a Prof at Universite Paris 1 and the Ludwigs Maximilian Universität München. He talked about the history of the medierranean region and its mystification as an aerea of multicultural exchange. He criticised precisely this backward looking and in his view incorrect view on the mediterranean. Arguing that looking into history there has barely been a true exchange through dialogue between the three main monotheistic religious cultures around tghe mediterranean sea. The Only thing that did have positiv impacts in terms of civilisatory improvements were products of imperialism or chance such as the translation of the great greek philosophers from arabic into latin. Furthermore he argued that a truly mutual multicultural dialogue can only be reached through beginning it focussing on common interests not on cultural or religious matters.
The second talk was given by Prof Claus Leggewie who is the director of the Institute for advanced study in the humanities in Essen. He had less of an historical perspective on the mediterranean but more of an utopic vision for the future arguing from an assesment of todays situation around the central sea. Criticizing the negative images of the southern sea (from german perspective) especially during the ongoing economic crisis. He developed a future vision for the region that entails sustainable investment in green energy, eco-tourism, infrastructure, environmental protection and scientific and educational exchange throughout the mediterranean region. His main arguments can be found in the book "Zukunft im Süden".
The following discussion was focussing especially on the remarks of Prof Leggewie and the audience engaged in a lively debate about the crisis management, multiculturalism and the future of the mediterranean region. Moderating the event was an inspiring and exciting experience overall.
The Deutsche Welle Radio had a short report about the event that can be found here.
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    Ilyas Saliba

    is a researcher and PhD student in political science, freelance journalist and photographer interested in Democracy, Transition, Authoritarianism and Security especially in the MIddle East and North Africa.

    From time to time I will publish links, comments and thoughts relating to my research, events, current political issues and the life as a PhD student on this Blog.

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