Poliarchie / Polyarchies 2/2018

The article examines the constitutional and legislative framework devoted to prior consultations in Ecuador. The questions that this research intends to answer are: What is the source of legitimisation of the participation in environmental matters in its deliberative variant? Which are the subjects authorized to participate in the consultations and what effects do the dialogical processes produce? How is the decision procedure structured? Is it guaranteed the representation of interests of Mother Earth? The aim is to highlight the tensions of a State that is ecological and extractivist at the same time.

Poliarchie/Polyarchies is multi-disciplinary journal which aims at promoting the encounter of the social sciences and humanities, ranging from sociology and political science to history, economics, law and philosophy. The analysis of political and social change can indeed be investigated from different perspectives and with the help of a variety of methodological tools. Poliarche/Polyarchies embraces a range of contemporary issues: processes of supranational integration and democratization in the world; the transformation of contemporary societies under the pressure of immigration and environmental challenges; the crises of “electoral democracy” in Europe and the development of a deliberative model of democracy; the potential “clash of civilizations” and socio-religious conflict; the resurgence of nationalisms and micro-regionalism in Europe and in the world; the integration of policy processes into networks and of communities into new frameworks and governance systems. The journal has an anonymous referee system and two issues per year are expected.

According to the Lisbon Treaty, the common commercial policy is one of the exclusive policy competences of the European Union with reference to the member states. In recent years, several international agreements have been negotiated. Among them, there are the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Transatlantic Trade and investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States. The EU is also discussing an agreement with the Latin American Mercosur states. A common feature of these treaties is the presence of a ‘labour chapter’ dealing with the recognition and enforcement of work-related rights. In the literature, studies suggesting that such provisions can encourage improvements are confronted by contributions arguing that trade openness can lead to a downgrading of working and welfare standards, with a lack of political will to rights enforcement. In addition, social clauses may vary depending on their subject. The article examines the three agreements under the viewpoint of labour and industrial relations conditions. Since these international treaties are supposed to play a regulatory function, their potential influence should be considered in times of intense globalisation.

Stability is defined as an international system with the same distribution of power for a long period of time. World order is defined as a governance anchored to the promotion of four steady values (the units of measurement) in each arena of international relations: democracy (political), market (economic), peace (military), national self-determination leading to single-nation states (cultural). Multipolar and bipolar systems were stable, but disordered, as values promoted by the main powers were not steady. Change periods were/ are unstable: from 1915 to 1945 and after 1989. In the 1990s there was an attempt to consolidate both order and stability, through the concert of powers; as pluri-national states prevailed after 1989, it was only a ‘near order’. Since 2001, there has been neither stability (both unipolarism and multipolarism failed), nor order, as the promotion of those values has been weakened by the West (especially by Obama and Trump) because of the objections of Islamic fundamentalist groups (and in part by China, Russia, Venezuela). A “disordered stability” and the return to the conservative diplomacies of ‘real-politik’ (with the West promoting ‘lesser evil’ authoritarian regimes and waging wars to fight Islamic fundamentalism) has not re-emerged yet. The Usa are not a great power anymore, as both Obama and Trump were/are shy and uncertain in foreign policy. An “unstable order” would be anchored to the promotion of single-nation (only Shiite or only Sunni, Palestinian, Kurd) states.

Since the 1980s the Pakistani society has been characterized by a rise of sectarian violence that has especially involved the Sunni and Shiite communities in the Punjab province. While there is a long history of communitarian and sectarian violence in South Asia before 1947, the contemporary phenomenon has significantly innovated the forms of violence. Sectarian clashes in the past were typically sporadic and localized, where the contemporary Sunni-Shi’a violence is based on a perception of religious identity as collective and homogeneous. Sunni and Shi’a conflicts in the Punjab are connected to the activity of sectarian organizations that combine requests for religious purification with socio-political themes. The essay analyzes the historical evolution of this phenomenon in connection with the larger economic and social change in the Punjab province from the 1970s onwards.