IReflect

Student Journal of International Relations Articles

Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies as ‘Battlefields’ in Eastern DR Congo Hanno Brankamp – University of St Andrews

Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict: How Do Films Contribute? An Analysis of Three Films Mia Schöb – The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva Cocaine – Symbol of the Uniting and Dividing Forces of Globalisation? Christian Küsters – Aarhus Universitet The Divided Union: Why the EU Did not Agree on a Comprehensive Financial Transaction Tax. A Comparative Analysis of the German and British Positions Felix Rüdiger – Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

– I reflect – Looking at Global Politics through the Lens of Indigeneity. Interview with Sheryl Lightfoot, Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics, University of British Columbia Claire Luzia Leifert

Volume 2 Issue 1 2015

www.ireflect-journal.de

[email protected]

Konferenzbericht zur 8. General Conference des European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) in Glasgow, 3. bis 6. September 2014 Laura Peitz

Published by IB an der Spree

EDITORIAL BOARD (V.i.S.d.P.): Christina Fanenbruck, Michael Giesen, Inna Maliucova, Sabine Mokry, Isabella Rogner (Students of the joint MA Programme International Relations at Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Universität Potsdam) [email protected] | www.ireflect-journal.de PUBLISHED BY IB an der Spree e.V. EXECUTIVE BOARD: Laura Werner (Chair), Franziska Luttge, Philipp Neubauer, Laura Milchmeyer ADDRESS: Vorstand IB an der Spree e.V. c/o Geschäftsstelle des Masterstudienganges Internationale Beziehungen Ihnestr. 26, D-14195 Berlin (Germany) [email protected] | www.ibanderspree.de This Journal is published under Creative Commons License AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Please cite and use accordingly. Berlin, March 2015 Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to [email protected].

DISCLAIMER: The Publisher and the Editorial Board cannot be held responsible for errors in information contained in this journal or any consequences arising from the use of it; the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Publisher and the Editorial Board. IReflect has been founded in early 2014 by a group of IR-students in Berlin and is published by ‘IB an der Spree e.V.’. The journal focuses on phenomena and developments within International Relations from a students` perspective and links this with active authorship. This means that all authors publishing articles are welcome to reflect on their own positions concerning the subject and the field. All contributions are reviewed in a double blind peer review process by graduate and doctoral students. The journal is published biannually.

Contents Editorial Articles Hanno Brankamp Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies as ‘Battlefields’ in Eastern DR Congo__________________________________________ 5 Mia Schöb Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict: How Do Films Contribute? An Analysis of Three Films___________________________________ 29 Christian Küsters Cocaine – Symbol of the Uniting and Dividing Forces of Globalisation?________________________________________________________________ 49 Felix Rüdiger The Divided Union: Why the EU Did not Agree on a Comprehensive Financial Transaction Tax. A Comparative Analysis of the German and British Positions_____________________________________________________________ 67

– I reflect – Claire Luzia Leifert Looking at Global Politics through the Lens of Indigeneity. Interview with Sheryl Lightfoot, Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics, University of British Columbia___________89 Laura Peitz Konferenzbericht zur 8. General Conference des European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) in Glasgow, 3. bis 6. September 2014_____93

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

1

Editorial Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser, stolz präsentieren wir euch hiermit die zweite Ausgabe unserer studentischen Zeitschrift IReflect. Obwohl erst Anfang 2014 gegründet, konnten wir die erste Ausgabe mit fünf Artikeln und zwei ‚I reflect‘-Beiträgen im Juli 2014 beim Sommerfest des Vereins IB an der Spree vorstellen. Im September folgte dann der nächste Call for Papers, zu dem wir 15 Einsendungen erhielten. Unsere fleißigen Peer Reviewer haben alle Einsendungen kritisch beurteilt und somit erheblich zum Entstehen der zweiten Ausgabe beigetragen. Wir möchten uns hiermit herzlich bei allen Reviewern für ihre Arbeit bedanken! An dieser Stelle möchten wir außerdem ein großes Dankeschön an alle AutorInnen aussprechen, die sich dem Peer-Review-Verfahren gestellt, Feedback angenommen und ihre Arbeiten weiter entwickelt haben. In diesem Sinne möchten wir gerne auch dich, liebe/n Leser/in, auffordern, zu überlegen, ob auch eine deiner Arbeiten für eine breitere Leserschaft interessant ist und publiziert werden sollte. Neben längeren Artikeln ist ebenso die Kategorie ‚I reflect‘ offen für Meinungsbeiträge, Konferenzberichte oder ähnliches. Alle Beiträge der zweiten Ausgabe bilden wieder ein breites Spektrum der Internationalen Beziehungen ab. Hanno Brankamp beschäftigt sich mit sexueller Gewalt gegen Jungen und Männer während des Kongo-Konflikts, Mia Schöb untersucht anhand von drei Filmen die Vergangenheitsbewältigung des Konfliktes in Kolumbien. Christian Küsters wirft durch seine Analyse des Kokainhandels einen neuen Blick auf die Globalisierung. Zudem werden durch Felix Rüdigers Analyse der deutschen und britischen Debatten über eine Finanztransaktionssteuer auch politische Prozesse in der EU beleuchtet. In diesem Sinne wünschen wir unseren Leserinnen und Leser viel Spaß mit der zweiten Ausgabe und freuen uns auf anregendes Lob sowie Kritik. IReflect Editorial Board Christina Fanenbruck, Michael Giesen, Inna Maliucova, Sabine Mokry, Isabella Rogner 2

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

Editorial Dear readers, we proudly present the second issue of our student journal IReflect. Although the journal has only been founded in January 2014, we were able to present the first issue with its five articles and two ‘I reflect’ contributions at IB an der Spree’s annual summer meeting. In September, we then issued the second call for papers and received 15 submissions. Our peer reviewers have critically assessed all submissions contributing a great deal to our second issue with its four extremely interesting articles. Here, we would like to thank all peer reviewers for their amazing work! Besides that, we would like to thank all our authors who have courageously faced the peer-review process, accepted the reviewers’ feedback and further developed their work. Along those lines, we would like to ask you, dear reader, to think about whether one of your student papers might be of interest to a broader readership. Please, do think about submitting your work! We do not only publish longer articles, but also shorter items such as discussion pieces and conference reports. After our review process, we were able to incorporate four articles into our second issue. Again, they cover a vast terrain within International Relations. Two contributions bring fresh perspectives to conflicts that have received a lot of attention. Hanno Brankamp deals with sexual violence against boys and men during the Congo conflict; Mia Schöb analyses memory-building processes after the conflicts in Columbia with the help of three movies. Christian Küsters sheds new light on globalisation processes through his investigation of cocaine trade. Besides that, Felix Rüdiger’s exploration of German and British debates on a financial transaction tax looks into political processes within the EU. We will now, let the authors and their articles speak for themselves. Enjoy reading IReflect’s second issue – we are looking forward to your feedback. IReflect Editorial Board Christina Fanenbruck, Michael Giesen, Inna Maliucova, Sabine Mokry, Isabella Rogner

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

3

Articles

4

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies as ‘Battlefields’ in Eastern DR Congo Hanno Brankamp Abstract While sexual violence against women prominently features on the agendas of international and local actors, sexual crimes against men and boys are vastly neglected. This article seeks to examine the interrelation between notions of victimhood, masculinity, and gender as structural factors in armed conflict, and takes sexual violence against men in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as a case in point. In particular, the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ serves as an alternative, but not exclusive explanatory model for the use of sexual violence and rape during conflicts in the Eastern DRC. In contrast to previous studies, the focus lies on the interaction between widespread notions of ‘female’ victimhood and ‘male’ perpetration that serve as drivers for the emergence of gendered hierarchies, which sanction hegemonic forms of masculinity. The article shows how these rival versions of masculinity in the DRC determine each other’s intensity and prevalence, and how the lack and/or exaltation of these masculinities can translate into predatory behaviour, such as the targeted use of sexual violence against men and women. Keywords: Hegemonic Masculinity, Sexual Violence, Eastern Congo, Gender Roles, Victimhood, Male Bodies, War Rape.

Introduction The prolonged conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are recognised as scenes of widespread civilian suffering. Scholars, politicians, and practitioners routinely emphasise the particular vulnerability of women and children. Hence, these conflicts are often viewed as a war against women. Media coverage on the issue typically displays cynical voyeurism, indulging IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

5

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

in the purposeful depiction of scenarios of gang rape and mutilation. The dimension and prevalence of sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) puts thousands of civilians in the provinces of Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu, and Orientale (especially Ituri) at risk. Despite international responses, many still live in fear of abuse, humiliation, and torture at the hands of militias and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) which operate with de facto impunity (Davis 2009). While sexual violence against Congolese women and girls receives its deserved attention, similar crimes against men and boys remain vastly unreported, and carry an additional social stigma (Christian et al. 2011: 237). On the one hand, it is indisputable that women and girls represent the majority of survivors of sexual violence in the DRC. Prevention strategies and networks supporting medical treatment of survivors thus narrowly focus on women. On the other hand, this imbalance disempowers male survivors who suffer equally from physical pain, psychological traumas and social exclusion. The study of sexual violence during conflict is not merely an academic question posed for its own sake, but aims at illuminating the structure, extent, and nature of the problem, in order to contribute to its solution (Gottschall 2004: 135). The purpose of this article is to examine the interrelation between notions of victimhood, masculinity, and gender as structural factors in armed conflict, and takes sexual violence against men in the DRC as a case in point. To this end, the concept of hegemonic masculinity serves as a key explanatory model, and refers to a specific form of masculinity that sanctions subordinate and deviating gender identities, both male and female. In contrast to previous studies, this article links the emergence of hegemonic masculinity to notions of victimhood and wider debates on gender during times of war. Sexual violence against men is neither new, nor is it geographically or culturally unique. In Eastern DR Congo – as during the wars in the former Yugoslavia – rape and sexual torture of men is an “open secret” (Oosterhoff, Zwanikken and Ketting 2004) rather than a disputed fact. Acknowledging this violence against men eclipses simplistic explanations that solely stress misogyny and ‘patriarchal rage’ as driving factors of armed conflict. Although special SGBV training programmes for Congolese government forces have been underway, positive measures have yet to translate into substantial change. Furthermore, despite progressive steps taken, international law fails to adequately recognise, address, and punish sexual crimes against men (Lewis 2009). Failing to comprehend these structural problems undermines prevention schemes, especially when a detailed analysis of masculinity and gender as conflict factors is neglected. Frankly, gender, as the structural power relation between men and women, is rarely or never the cause of war; this is also true for the DRC. While the roots of the conflict are political, gender and predatory masculinities shape conflict economies and the way that war is conducted. Narratives of victimhood create justifications for the deliberate targeting of certain genders, and exacerbate hyper6

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

masculinising tendencies, thus militarising identities within and around armed groups. This article will proceed in the following way: Firstly, the political dynamics of the Congolese warscape will be examined, focussing particularly on the versatile use of sexual violence by virtually all conflict parties during the First and Second Congo War. Secondly, the discussion will consider conventional narratives of ‘victimhood’ and male/female gender roles which form the backdrop on which hegemonic masculinity can materialise and eventually come into effect. Existing silences on male bodies as ‘battlefields’ are therefore seen as an immediate result of these stereotypical gender positions. In a third step, the article will discuss the concept of hegemonic masculinity, and explicate its growth from and interaction with local, Congolese understandings of masculinity and manhood. Fourthly, sexual violence and rape of men in Eastern DRC will be presented in more detail, using the above frameworks of victimhood and hegemonic masculinity as reference points to explain the socio-psychological effects on communities, families, and survivors alike. Lastly, the author will comment on the usefulness of the concept of hegemonic masculinity, its applicability to Eastern DRC, and propose potential future alleys for research and practice, so that policy responses can eventually follow.

Framing Conflict and Sexual Violence in DR Congo To some extent, rape and other forms of sexual violence seem commonplace and almost unavoidable in war-settings such as the DRC. Following journalistic accounts on DR Congo as the “rape capital of the world” (BBC 2010), structural violence against the local population is sensationalised, omitting a serious analyses of the underlying political and gender-related drivers of conflict. A regional upsurge of “structural militarism” (Baregu 2002) immediately after the Rwandan genocide became evident when the regimes of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi first invaded Zaïre (later DRC) in 1996. Through backing Laurent-Desiré Kabila’s Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL), neighbouring governments pursued the overthrow of long-term dictator Mobutu Sese Seko who had ruled for over thirty years (Prunier 2009). Following Mobutu’s demise, Kabila was installed as president of the then re-named Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Only shortly after, in August 1998, a Rwandan-backed rebellion of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities in Eastern DRC served as a pretext for the allied forces to reinvade the Congo (Reyntjens 1999; Prunier 2009). In this second episode of Africa’s World War, not only bordering countries, but also actors such as Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Sudan, which had political or economic stakes in the conflict, engaged in fighting on Congolese territory (Mamdani 1999: 60; Weinstein 2000: 16). IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

7

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

During the two successive Congo Wars (1996-1997 and 1998-2003) sexual violence became a strategy of war employed by belligerents on all sides. Reports suggest that combatants of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD)-Kisangani, RCD-Goma, the Rwandan Army (then RPA), the Mai Mai vigilante militias, the Ugandan army (UPDF), as well as the Burundian Hutu rebels of the Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie-Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD) routinely and purposefully used sexual violence against civilians. Human Rights Watch quite aptly called sexual violence in the DRC a “war within the war” (HRW 2002). Observers state that sexual violence in the Eastern DRC strongly resembles the violence that was committed during the Rwandan genocide, and which was apparently replicated across the border (Pratt and Werchick 2004: 9; HRW 1996). Despite the withdrawal of the last Rwandan and Ugandan troops in 2003, and the normalisation of political ties between the government actors, civil strife and chronic violence continues to the present day. Dozens of local militias, guerrillas and proxy forces are still operating in the provinces of Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and the district of Ituri, not to mention the FARDC which have become one of the largest perpetrators of sexual violence in the Congo (HRW 2009). While some argue that the rape of women has historically symbolised the so-called “spoils of war”, and has been seen as a common act of warfare (Brownmiller 1993: 32; Elshtain 1995: 4; Leatherman 2007: 53; Cockburn 2005: 22), the scale of sexual violence in the DR Congo and elsewhere suggests otherwise. Certainly, the conquering of space by armed forces ritually involves ‘taking’ enemy women. Nonetheless, this theory sits relatively uneasy with the levels of violence that exceed intercourse rape. Mukwege and Nangini (2009) therefore label these instances “Rape with Extreme Violence” (R.E.V). Ruth Seifert provides more insights into why sexual violence and R.E.V occur so frequently in armed conflict and suggests another four reasons; Rape as an element of male-to-male communication through women’s bodies (also Rejali 1998: 26; Brownmiller 1994), as a means of boosting an army’s masculine identity, as a weapon to destroy the enemy’s culture, and finally as an expression of masculine contempt for ‘femininity’ (Seifert 1994: 58-65). Following this view, once male supremacy becomes unstable, or a re-negotiation of gender roles is forced upon a society (potentially through civil war or invasion), armed groups and civilians are more likely to use sexual violence in order to re-assert pre-existing social structures, or more specifically, hegemonic masculinity. Women’s socially assigned roles as transmitters of identity, ethnicity and race, thus makes them prime targets for sexual violence (Yuval-Davis 2011; Turshen 1998: 9; Blanchard 2003: 1301-1302; Puechguirbal 2001). Perpetrators can socially control local communities, instil fear, and discourage deviant behaviour, but also convey feelings of restoration to disempowered men and youth (Silberschmidt 2005: 196). Strictly speaking, sexual violence constitutes a combined act of terror and torture, rather than a tactic of war (Sivakumaran 2005: 1300; Pratt and Wer8

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

chick 2004). Armed conflicts usually exacerbate these tendencies through the ready availability of small arms and emerging ideals of military manhood. Therefore, warscapes like the DRC, along with Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia and numerous other conflicts, have posed as major precedents for the understanding of ‘gendered places’ in conflict. Civilian women suffer disproportionately not only during, but also after the fighting stops. Between 60-80 percent of women in the most affected (Eastern) regions of the DRC are single heads of households, and many are exposed to sexual violence, and/or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and face rejection from their communities and spouses (Puechguirbal 2001: 1274). Survivors are usually silenced by cultural norms and taboos that ostracise and stigmatise those that openly admit abuse (GTZ 2009: 8; Avigad and Rahimi 2004). Individuals frequently suffer from severe psychological traumas and chronic physical pain. Whereas the vast majority of perpetrators are men, increasing numbers of ‘victims’ are in fact also male. Eriksson Baaz notes that sexual violence in wartime is therefore used to reinforce dominance not just over women, but also over men (Baaz 2009: 498). Apart from the physical infliction of pain and suffering, the symbolic element of sexual violence makes it consequential weapon of war. To analyse this in detail, the following section will scrutinise prevailing notions of gender and victimhood during conflict.

Unravelling Gender in Conflict: Men as Perpetrators, Women as Victims In violent conflicts, issues of gender identity become key. While this is true also for times of peace, war is a moment when social and gender power relations can easily translate into physical combat and cause harm and suffering. For the purpose of this article, gender will be referred to as “a set of discourses which can set, change, enforce, and represent meaning on the basis of perceived membership in or relation to sex categories” (Sjoberg and Gentry 2007: 6-7; Connell 2012: 71-72; Butler 1999). Although feminists have advocated a serious examination of the gendered realities that shape sociocultural, economic, political, and inter-personal power relations, political actors have instead often embraced a reductionist narrative that puts women indeed centre stage, yet reproduces their role as passive “beautiful souls” and collective “victims” rather than agents (Sjoberg and Gentry 2007: 4; Enloe 2000b; Tickner 1992). During war, this view becomes even more prevalent. Overcoming this dilemma means to acknowledge victimisation as a – literally and figuratively – disarming practice, that rather serves the preservation of cemented gender relations than their disruption. As Thompson notes, the study of conflict can therefore not be content “holding women up to the light”, but must question the very foundations of gender relations, both in war and peace (Thompson 2006: 342). Merely emphasising female victimIReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

9

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

hood as a constitutive characteristic of armed conflict in Eastern Congo renders the underlying causes and driving forces of conflict marginal, portraying them as incomprehensible and in fact apolitical. Unravelling gender stereotypes, and rendering their contradictory nature visible, gives more insights about their workings within armed conflict. Stereotypically, women – as opposed to ‘warmongering men’ – tend to occupy at least three roles that are summarised below.

Women’s Threefold Role in Armed Conflict First, women assume the role of the ‘natural victim’. Despite wellintentioned, and sometimes successful efforts to alleviate women’s suffering during war, the mantra-like repetition of a “womenandchildren” narrative has led to the normalisation of victimhood as a feminine trait (Enloe 2000b; Van Dijk 2009: 3,10; Moser and Clark 2005). Scholars and practitioners walk a constant tightrope in trying to weigh grass-root responses to women’s humanitarian needs, and the open re-production of a female imagery that implies passivity and inaction. Cynthia Enloe (2000b) argues that patriarchy needs men and women acting in mutually complementary ways. In this logic, ‘passive’ and victimised women are granted protection by men, usually against the aggressions of other men. Women’s alleged inability to protect themselves also feeds into notions of inherent nonviolence and peacefulness as another marker of womanhood (Cohen 2013: 384). Such notions mask a reactionary and double-edged understanding of the female role. Women are portrayed as embodying ethical aspirations, such as peace and purity, but are at the same time deemed unfit for survival in ‘the real world’, at least in the absence of potent male patrons. Joshua Goldstein points out that feminising peace reinforces the overdrawn masculinity of the male soldier and protector (Goldstein 2001: 59). Women’s second classical role is that of domestic wives and field auxiliaries, or in Steans’ words: “camp followers” (2004: 89). Men’s roles as active fighters contrasts sharply with women’s responsibility to ‘keep the home fires burning’. Historically, these gender constructions were key for the legitimisation of masculine nationalism, the waging of wars, and the colonial conquest at large (Enloe 2000b: 44-45; Amos and Pamar 1984: 14; Steans 2004: 89-90). Sustaining the image of women as virtuous home front labourers co-creates the myth of male ‘warrior heroes’ that they service. Through this, women receive their own heroic wartime representation that is consistent with societal preconceptions of masculinity and femininity (Steans 2004: 81-82; Enloe 1988). Despite existing legislations that sanction women’s (limited) service in many armies around the world, their socio-culturally subjugated position remains largely untouched. The same is not necessarily true for cases in which women substantially participate(d) in guerrilla warfare, such as in Eritrea, Colombia, or in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 10

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Arguably, women’s most consequential role is the ‘nurturing mother’, the third stereotypical image. Women-as-mothers are often seen as the emotional grounding of society and recognised as vehicles for cultural identity (Rich 1986: 30; Elshtain 1995: 96-97). This leads to their ready exposure to spiralling levels of (sexual) violence, torture, and other inhumane acts, especially in conflicts that are infused with ethnic mobilisation. Seifert provides a formidable account of the Bosnian War, and asserts that sexual violence against women serves several interlinked purposes, one of which being the destruction of the enemy’s culture (Seifert 1994: 63). Conflicts in the Congo also feature this deliberate targeting of women. Even in the aftermath of the fighting, women bear further humiliation through the birth of ‘war babies’ which often precipitates social exclusion (Watson 2007). Dominant discourses which, either explicitly or implicitly, feature men as perpetrators, or at least as silent abettors of (sexual) violence, naturally perpetuate women’s status as victims and conversely negate male vulnerability. Some argue that the deconstruction of female victimhood – though desirable – considerably weakens policies that are specifically tailored to women’s protection during armed conflict (Gillespie 1996). This is certainly a case in point. However, a nuanced view on victims and perpetrators, that acknowledges the heterogeneity of all genders, especially during wartime, can only strengthen long-term emancipatory goals that seek to give agency to those voices that otherwise remain unheard. This includes male survivors of sexual violence. Of course, the downside is the acknowledgement of women’s equal potential for murder and cruelty (Sjoberg and Gentry 2007: 4). That said, Gentry and Sjoberg assert, that “[…] the stereotype of women’s victimization holds fast largely because it is not entirely untrue;” (Sjoberg and Gentry 2007: 4). Recognising the reality of women’s violence and men’s vulnerability also means to admit that this is statistically not the norm. For good reasons few would argue otherwise (Puechguirbal 2001). To illustrate these reversed wartime roles, Gentry and Sjoberg put forward the case of sexual abuse in the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Iraq between 2003 and 2004, that displayed women as perpetrators, such as US soldier Lynndie England (2007: 8). The fact that male Iraqi prisoners were publicly exposed to inhumane treatment and sexual abuse at the hands of female soldiers made the case even more noteworthy. Although quite exceptional in their media coverage, the incidents epitomise the existing contradictions between socially assigned wartime roles and the dire reality (Cohen 2013). Without going into detail, the ensuing scandal was a showcase for the structural naturalisation of male perpetration vis-à-vis female victimisation, and society’s unpreparedness to face the subversion of this principle (Blanchard 2003: 1299). Recent reports from the DRC support this view. Militiawomen have been found committing sexual violence against women and men near the town of Walikale (Nord-Kivu), and conducted themselves as brutally as their male counterparts (Hatcher 2013). Putting sexual violence into a wider structural context of inter- and intra-gender relations IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

11

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

helps to dissolve an arbitrary victim/perpetrator dichotomy. While men are commonly associated with committing (sexual) crimes in armed conflict (Eriksson Baaz 2009: 499; Enloe 2000a; Stern 2005), they are too often rendered invisible as ‘victims’. As much as the recognition of some women as perpetrators does not alter the fact that the majority suffers from armed conflict, the reverse is true for male survivors. Men’s bodies have rarely been acknowledged as “battlefields” of war (Brownmiller 1994). The next sections addresses this shortcoming, and illustrates the unfolding of hegemonic masculinity in the DRC.

Who’s a Man? Hegemony and Local Masculinities In Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon notes that “white men consider themselves superior to black men” (2008: 3), and thus states a seemingly banal truth of the colonial age. The corollary of this banality is that colonial power relations – especially blackness and whiteness – are also governed by notions of masculinity, and more precisely, hegemonic masculinity. While masculinity generally refers to ‘a place’ in gender relations, hegemonic masculinity, according to Connell, epitomises the ultimate supremacy in those relations (Connell 2012: 71, 77-78). Drawing from a Gramscian model of hegemony, this particular power position is the centre around which subordinate, marginalised, or complicit masculinities are organised, and which gains validity through their (at least silent) consent (Lears 1985: 568). During colonialism, black or indigenous masculinity condoned the supremacy of colonial (white) hegemons. Conversely, however, African masculinities were perceived as an essential threat to the colonial apparatus, and were thus coerced into submission (Connell 2012: 75). Hegemonic practice is structurally rather than overtly violent and relies on the complicity, consent, or at least the constant fear of its subordinates who acknowledge and internalise their inferiority. Violence and oppression, however, become pronounced and visible when hegemony comes under threat. By portraying colonial male subjects pejoratively as ‘feminine’, white hegemonic masculinity wanted to keep Africans “in their place” (Lindsay and Miescher 2003: 5; Nagel 2000: 119-120) and preserve the colonial order.

Hegemonic Masculinity Re-Considered Hegemonic practices such as feminisation and victimisation persist. Leatherman argues that this masculine hierarchy reinforces ethnic, race, and class boundaries, and includes both women and men (Leatherman 2011: 20; Connell 2013: 68). By refining this default patriarchal divide between males and females, gendered power hierarchies also appear within those categories. In effect, hegemonic masculinity not only sanctions control over women, but 12

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

most importantly the domination of other men (Hooper 2001: 69-70; Donaldson 1993: 655). In war-torn societies, like the DRC, predominant ideals of manhood are often popularly exalted and interlaced with emerging “militarised masculinities” that promote hyper-masculinity, gender exclusivism, and intransigent heterosexuality (Lwambo 2011: 19; Connell 2012: 73-74). Wartime models of masculinity reaffirm themselves by the continuous devaluation of femininity and ‘feminine qualities’. Alternative interpretations of manliness are marginalised and deemed illegitimate (Silberschmidt 2005: 197; Turshen 1998: 5; Seifert 1994: 60). However, Eriksson Baaz and Stern suggest that masculinity perceptions within the Congolese army (FARDC) vary quite substantially and rarely equate military masculinity with battle heroism (2012a: 38-39). In reality, the majority of men, particularly soldiers, cannot live up to the idealised versions of maleness to which they aspire. This can potentially lead to compensatory reactions. Although competing masculinities are a universal phenomenon, it is important to point out that interpretations of maleness, as well as womanhood, are highly dependent on local geographies, cultures, and the historical periods they evolve in (Berg and Longhurst 2003). Further, the intensity of these gender locations is in constant change and re-negotiation. The rather simple argument that the “link between ‘being masculine’ and causing violence” in Eastern Congo has become an observable reality (Mechanic 2004: 16) calls for further elaboration. When masculinity is confused with simply ‘being male’, the causal link of ‘man equals violence’ is in harmony with the prevailing narratives on victims and perpetrators. Consequently, the silences surrounding intra-gender (e.g. male-to-male) sexual violence become even more profound. To counter the prevailing narratives, the plurality of masculinities needs to be appreciated, as well as the common occurrence of power struggles among men over the hegemonic interpretation of manliness. Armed conflict often escalates and is also escalated by these tendencies. For a proper framing of these aspects in the Eastern DRC’s conflicts, local understandings of masculinity must be taken into account. For methodological reasons, three strongly interrelated types of masculinity are discussed. Socio-Economic or Status Masculinity Masculinities invoke notions of socio-economic potency, material well-being, and financial security. Lwambo suggests that in the DRC, achieving manhood is a process inherently connected to one’s ability to provide for a wife, family and children, thus gaining status and prestige in the extended community (2011: 55-56). Women also play a vital role in co-creating this masculinity through the reproduction of social expectations and norms (Lwambo 2011: 12). Violent conflict, poverty and war can hamper men and women alike to fulfil their assigned roles, mainly due to loss of property, unemployment, or IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

13

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

physical incapacitation. Status indicators of manhood, womanhood, and ‘familyhood’ are thus key to what is at stake in Africa’s violent conflicts. Aside from material destruction and physical harm, war in Eastern DRC disrupts communal cohesion at exactly this point. By incapacitating men that are considered the heads of households, and the traditional leaders of the community (Christian et al. 2011: 233-234), warmongers question their victims’ status as men within local communities. The absence or perceived incapacitation of men during war makes women develop more independent means of livelihood. Often a necessity of survival, this emancipation causes new difficulties in the post-conflict period, when male returnees expect ‘their’ women to conform to pre-conflict gender roles that are no longer viable. Destabilising existing gender patterns can lead to status emasculation of men. As reintegration poses challenges to women and men, domestic violence and communal disputes increase after the actual fighting stops (Handrahan 2004: 434-435). Sexual Masculinity In discussions on conflict and gender, sexual masculinity is readily equated with rape and other forms of sexual violence as “fuel for soldiers” (Askin 2002: 511) which generates testosterone-driven brutality. This view presumes both a narrow interpretation of sexual violence – as exclusively between males and females – and ignores the multitude of motives, the various types, and the diverging societal implications of sexual violence (Eriksson Baaz 2009; Sivakumaran 2007: 264-267; Carpenter 2006; Seifert 1994: 5765; Avigad and Rahimi 2004). Some accounts elicit notions of African hypersexualisation as the sole cause of sexual violence in the DRC and thus not only reinstate a racist colonial imagery, but also create an atmosphere of inevitability to ‘savage’ violence in the Congo (Levine 2013; Nagel 2000; Eriksson Baaz 2009; Ouzgane and Morrell 2005). Seifert notes that depicting perpetrators as merely following their “instinctive nature” releases them from any responsibility or agency (Seifert 1994: 55). Sexual violence, with rape in particular, is not a violent expression of sexuality, but a sexualised expression of violence (Seifert 1994: 55). Considering the occurrence of male rape committed by heterosexual perpetrators, this insight supports a hegemonic masculinity model based on power, not sexuality. Yet, sexual desires are all but absent from the accounts of Congo’s conflicts (Eriksson Baaz 2009). Elevating sexual potency, promiscuity, competence, and bodily virility is often seen as idealising sexual versions of masculinity. The absence of alternative capacities, such as wealth, social security or fatherhood, can potentially translate into sexualised violence (Ricardo and Barker 2005: 17; Marsiglio 1988). Although war rapes have become a distinct feature of conflicts in the Kivus and beyond (HRW 2002), sexual expressions of masculinity cannot be reduced to this alone. In fact, the structural and personal reasons for commit14

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

ting sexual violence are manifold. Sexual masculinity is a catalyst, not a condition of such violence. Militarised Masculinity War nurtures variants of masculinity that strongly identify with militarism and romanticised versions of military brotherhood (Leatherman 2011: 15). Turshen points out that military institutions – both national armies and renegade militias – function as “male preserves” that celebrate male privilege and gender exclusivism (Turshen 1998: 5-6). Others argue that male soldiers wielding “the brute power of weaponry” (Brownmiller 1993: 32) is a potent image that exemplifies militarised manhood. In the DRC, both national army (FARDC) and rebel groups have institutionalised and embraced this masculinity (GTZ 2009: 4; Yuval-Davis 2004). In contrast to Western armies, military masculinity in the FARDC prominently omits notions of heroism or a nationalist protector/protected narrative (Eriksson Baaz and Stern 2011: 22; 2012b: 721; Eriksson Baaz 2009: 505). Instead, a defining feature of Congolese military identity, and arguably also in other cultural contexts, is a person’s readiness to commit violence and endure the hardship of combat. This unique masculinity materialises against the backdrop of a feminine ‘Other’ (Eriksson Baaz and Stern 2008: 67). Reaffirming adamant ‘non-femininity’ through the use of sexual violence constitutes the performative act of hegemonic masculinity. The interplay of various forms of masculinity as described above is complex. Hegemonic masculinity is informed, altered and co-constituted by them. Decline in one version of masculinity can mean the rise of another. Where socio-economic deprivation prevails, the quest for recognition and power is easily militarised. A flourishing arms market and strong military role models, from Hollywood or Kinshasa, influence both the intensity and the viability of ‘manly’ fantasies. Military masculinity entails both the willing subordination to a higher-ranking masculine authority as well as an opportunistic element of dominating others, most commonly inferior men or women. The perpetrators’ personal failures, in sexual or socio-economic terms, can turn into the purposeful degradation, rape or torture of inferiors during combat. As Seifert notes the more unstable an actor’s real power position is, the more likely becomes the use of sexual violence to bolster perceived power (Seifert 1996: 41; Scarry 1985). This is consistent with hegemonic masculinity and its propensity to violence, especially if faced with rival claims to power. Soldiers in the DRC have expressed feelings of empowerment, hyper-masculinisation, and enhanced self-esteem, by establishing roadblocks, and exercising active control over the local population (Leatherman 2011: 139-140; Trenholm et al. 2012: 216). In protracted conflict situations, sexual violence and rape become synonymous with claiming untrodden territory, breaking taboos, and IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

15

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

living the otherwise unattainable masculine dream of (violent) conquest (Leatherman 2011: 141-142; Richters 1998).

‘Bush Wives’: Male Bodies as ‘Battlefields’ As opposed to women, male survivors of sexual violence have remained widely unnoticed (King 1995). This imbalance stems from deep-rooted cultural silence on male victimhood, especially sexual violence. In the DRC, sexual violence against men bears a special social stigma. Perpetrators dehumanise and humiliate their victims that are publicly ridiculed by their own communities as “bush wives” (Gettleman 2009; Murdock 2011). In neighbouring countries this is exacerbated by legislations that criminalise homosexual acts, and make survivors reluctant to report abuse in fear of prosecution (Seruwagi 2011). Recent reports suggest that the DR Congo’s legislators might soon follow suit (Bah 2014). Further, advocacy organisations focus primarily on the unmatched number of female survivors (Sivakumaran 2005: 1276; Del Zotto and Jones 2002) and disregard men. As a result, sexual violence against men has become incompatible with predominant narratives on conflict in the DRC (Autesserre 2012). Whereas female rape in DR Congo is arguably estimated at the alarming rate of forty-eight women every hour (Peterman et al. 2011: 1065), there are few numbers for men. As in other conflicts, estimates of survivors are highly contested, dependent on reported cases at specific medical facilities, or are entirely unavailable. Autesserre estimates that four to ten percent of all rape survivors in the Eastern DRC are men (Autesserre 2012: 15), whereas Johnson et al. found that over 23 percent of men in the Kivus and Ituri have experienced sexual violence of some kind (2010: 558). The International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) states that nine percent of all men in Nord-Kivu have experienced sexual violence or abuse during conflict, as opposed to 22 percent of women (IMAGES 2012: 5). Despite the lack of statistical hard facts, sexual abuse and rape of men have long spread in the region’s enduring conflicts. Men and boys are not only at risk of being selectively massacred or forcibly recruited, but also of experiencing rape and genital torture (Carpenter 2006). With respect to prevailing Congolese ideals of masculinity that emphasise financial and socioeconomic strength, bodily virility, sexual potency, and fighting capacity, recognising men as targets of such degrading forms of violence is socially ‘unthinkable’.

Male Rape and Sexual Identity Accounts of male survivors of sexual violence, though rare, do exist. Men and boys from the Kivus and Ituri, have reported stories of abduction by armed men, of enduring humiliation, gang rape, and genital mutilation (IRIN 2011). 16

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Experiences range from rape, enforced rape at gunpoint, genital mutilation, enforced nudity, enforced masturbation, to physical emasculation and torture (Sivakumaran 2007: 264-267). Physical and mental challenges of male rape survivors include excessive bleeding and chronic physical pain, psychological traumas, stigmatisation, feelings of dehumanisation, impotence and the perceived destruction of gender identity (SVRI 2011). Cultural taboos and unrestrained homophobia in DRC (DoS 2013) inhibit survivors from reclaiming their own bodies and sexualities which often results in social isolation. Already low levels of reporting are thus effectively diminished. In contrast to women, male survivors are less likely to receive either treatment for their physical and/or mental wounds, or legal support (Carpenter 2006: 95; WHO 2000: 111). Two problems immediately come to mind: the lack of acknowledgement by political actors and institutions which eventually leads to the silencing of male survivors, and their ‘tainting’ as homosexuals (Sivakumaran 2005: 1276; Del Zotto and Jones 2002). Sexual violence and/or rape as performative acts of dominance can only work in ‘gender-stratified’ societies that celebrate the perpetrator’s heterosexuality while feminising, homosexualising and silencing survivors (MacKinnon 1991: 1282). Social unacceptability, patriarchy and idealised heterosexuality are thus key to comprehend these social consequences of male rape. As previously explained, hegemonic masculinity maintains hierarchies and patterns of victimhood that are not bound by an arbitrary male/female divide, but function on a continuum between masculinity and femininity, encompassing both men and women (Skjelsbæk 2001: 71). Sexual violence is deeply symbolic. Rape signifies the ultimate humiliation of the victim and his/her community. Nagel (2000) notes that masculine notions of honour and purity, as well as the existence of more or less strict ethno-sexual boundaries, are supportive of this societal effect. After the Rwandan genocide, ethnic mobilisation projected into the Eastern DRC, making it also a gravity field for genocidal ideology that comfortably links with predatory and in fact exterminationist masculinities.

Gender Inequality and Symbolism of the Masculine The multidimensional study by Christian et al. assesses the effects of sexual violence against men on families and local communities in the DRC (2011: 229). They conclude that the societal impact is mediated by gender constructs, especially pre-existing hierarchies of masculinity (Christian et al. 2011: 228), although they omit a specific reference to hegemonic masculinity. During their fieldwork, male survivors voiced their shame over being ‘transformed’ not only into women, but into the ‘wives’ of the perpetrators, in this case Hutu interahamwe militias (Christian et al. 2011: 237-238). The implicit understanding of women as ‘less than men’ is significant here. Under the influence of a pronouncedly hegemonic version of masculinity, the degrading IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

17

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

act of being ‘made into a women’ has severe repercussions. Brownmiller states that during armed conflict women are not raped because they “belong to the enemy camp, but because they are women and therefore enemies” (Brownmiller 1993: 65). This is equally true for male survivors. Within the confines of hegemonic masculinity, they occupy the lower, subordinate and marginalised ranks of the masculine hierarchy (Connell 2012), and thus become eligible, almost natural targets for abuse and domination. Social norms and perceptions of socio-economic masculinity situate men at the top of the gender hierarchy, making them heads of households, local leaders and nominally defenders of their communities in Eastern DRC. During conflicts, rival sources of hegemonic masculine power, that is rebel groups, armed bandits or government soldiers, severely disrupt indigenous and local social systems and gender hierarchies (Lwambo 2011). On a communal and family level, male survivors typically experience status emasculation and become physically or mentally unable to contribute to the household (Christian et al. 2011: 238). Mies (1986) describes this after-effect as “housewifization” which undermines a man’s position as the family breadwinner. As a consequence, socio-economic deprivation increases and domestic hierarchies begin to unravel. The figurative emasculation of male survivors frequently leads to stigmatisation of the whole family. Children of survivors equally suffer from humiliation, in some cases being ridiculed with the phrase: “your father is a woman” (Christian et al. 2011: 239). Wives of male rape survivors in Eastern DRC may start questioning their husbands’ masculinity and traditionally assigned roles as men (Storr 2011). These socio-psychological implications illustrate how sexual violence not only seeks to physically and psychologically destroy the victim, but also to lacerate the social cohesion of families and communities that are constructed around male supremacy. Violent hegemonic masculinity destroys local gender relations in the target community and establishes new hierarchies, bypassing the emasculated male survivors. On this matrix, gender identities are altered, reversed, re-negotiated, or utterly destroyed. Men affected by sexual violence are ‘downgraded’ to the status of women, their masculinity is negated, and they are made into ‘non-men’, unsuitable for exercising their former social roles. While this opens up new spaces for female agency and selfcontrol, violence is further engrained in the communities’ social psyche and essentially inhibits empowerment. Armed groups in the Eastern DRC use (male) rape for social control, instilling fear, and enforcing obedience (Pratt and Werchick 2004: 10). Incapacitating local resistance at its core, namely the patriarchal social cohesion, in order to freely access land, resources and political power, is the metanarrative of these crimes (Lemarchand 2009: 125). Making also male bodies the battlefields in the Eastern DRC has become another perfidious detail of a conflict which is governed by the symbolism of ‘the masculine’.

18

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Conclusion This article has analysed sexual violence against men in the Eastern DRC, and identified the structural links between victimhood, masculinity, and gender as conflict factors. Explaining wartime rape with the ‘spoils of war’ rationale is insufficient and even confuses the symptoms of conflict with its roots. Asymmetrical gender relations structure the Congolese warscape and exacerbate political and cultural divisions. Hegemonic masculinity is an ordering principle that functions between and within gender categories. Its power position is seldom visibly enforced, but instead relies on the silent acquiescence from marginalised, subordinate, and/or complicit masculinities. Both men and women are co-creators of this gendered system and both are capable of extreme violence. In turn, both can also become ‘victims’ of this violence. While women are not just ‘camp followers’ and ‘nurturing mothers’, men do not always appear as gun-wielding militiamen. Distinguishing only between female victims and male perpetrators is counter-productive to empowering those that suffer most from (sexual) violence, namely people at the social fringes of conflict societies. Victimhood often acts as an enforcement mechanism to ‘brand’ gender positions and to perpetuate a status quo in which these are naturalised and cemented. Making male survivors more visible does not contravene the long-term efforts to contain and prevent abominable crimes against women in the DRC. On the contrary, using the prism of hegemonic masculinity is constructive and viable for several reasons. First, it presents a more nuanced account of the gender dynamics in Eastern Congo and illustrates how social hierarchies are constructed and re-negotiated along the parameters of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’, especially at the interstices of gender, status, sexuality, and ethnicity. Second, during armed conflict, when underlying principles of supremacy, control, and consent are at stake, hegemonic masculinity can turn violent, and may develop a destructive and predatory character. If so, other variables, such as status, sexuality, and military identities become salient as they constantly interact and shape the current hegemonic model. Lastly, hegemonic masculinity provides important insights that can potentially – in a post-conflict setting – facilitate change and counter-hegemonic actions through a detailed understanding of masculinity systems. While this article only explored some of the wider debates on victimhood, gender, and masculinity with respect to the Eastern DRC, further research on more specific localities and social anomalies is necessary. Also the colonial and neo-colonial production of hegemonic masculinities and masculine stereotypes, as well as pre-colonial attitudes towards gender and sexuality, represent fruitful areas of future research that can contextualise and historicise gender debates regarding especially Eastern and Central Africa. Empowerment and prevention programmes for survivors of sexual violence and the reconciliation of families, villages, and communities hinge on the analysis of these long-term processes and cultural stigmas that fuel the internal logic of hegemonic mascuIReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

19

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

linity. In doing so, the combined study of victimhood, masculinity, and gender can set the ground for a deeper understanding of what shapes the Eastern DRC’s conflicts socio-psychologically, and thus create leeway for political action.

20

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

– I reflect – As reiterated throughout the article, research on sexual- and gender-based violence cannot remain an ‘academic question posed for its own sake’, but almost inevitably influences policies, directly and indirectly. This, however, is not to be understood as a fervent appeal for ‘academic activism’, or as a reminder of the academy’s supposedly inherent ‘duty of relevance’. Instead, the point is that any study on the complex manifestations of gender, masculinity, and violence, are naturally relevant and influence the policy world at least through discourse and discussion. This article on Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies as “battlefields” is no exception. Not designed as a series of policy recommendations, but rather as an analytical piece of how masculinity and victimhood are conceptually tied into wider systems of gender construction, the article examines how violence is born out of these complex interactions. For a more in-depth understanding of masculinity in Eastern DRC, more field work is necessary, and academia is well-advised to overthink its temporary ‘honeymoon’ with NGOs and humanitarian actors, and rely on its own data sets and interpretations à la Maria Eriksson Baaz.

Hanno Brankamp MLitt (International Security Studies), 2nd Semester University of St Andrews, UK [email protected]

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

21

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

References Amos, Valerie / Parmar, Pratibha, 1984. Challenging Imperial Feminism, In: Feminist Review, 17, 3-19. Askin, Kelly D., 2002. The Quest for Post-Conflict Gender Justice. In: Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 41, 509-521. Autesserre, Séverine, 2012. Dangerous Tales: Dominant Narratives on the Congo and their Unintended Consequences. In: African Affairs, 111(443), 202–222. Avigad, Jocelyn / Rahimi, Zohreh, 2004. Impact of Rape on the Family. In: Peel, Michael (ed). Rape as a Method of Torture, Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture, pp 119-132. Bah, Valérie, 2014. DRC Looks to Follow in Uganda's Footsteps with Anti-Gay Bill, Think Africa Press, (online) Available: www.thinkafricapress.com/drc/looks-follow-ugandas-footsteps-antigay-bill (Accessed 14th March 2014). Baregu, Mwesiga, 2002. The Clones of ‘Mr. Kurtz’: Violence, War and Plunder in the DRC. In: African Journal of Political Science, 7(2), 11-38. Berg, Lawrence D. / Longhurst, Robyn, 2003. Placing Masculinities and Geography. In: Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, 10(4), pp 351-360. Butler, Judith, 1999. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York / London. BBC Online, 2010. UN official calls DR Congo ‘rape capital of the world’. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8650112.stm (Accessed 4th March 2014). Blanchard, Eric M., 2003. Gender, International Relations, and the Development of Feminist Security Theory. In: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(4), 1289-1312. Brownmiller, Susan, 1993. Against out Will: Men, Women and Rape, New York. Brownmiller, Susan, 1994. Making Female Bodies the Battlefield. In: Stiglmayer, Alexandra (ed): Mass Rape: The War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lincoln / London, pp 180-182. Carpenter, R. Charli, 2006. Recognizing Gender-Based Violence Against Civilian Men and Boys in Conflict. In: Security Dialogue, 37, 83-103. Christian, Mervyn, Safari, Octave / Ramazani, Paul / Burnham, Gilbert / Glass, Nancy, 2011. Sexual and gender based violence against men in the Democratic Republic of Congo: effects on survivors, their families and the community. In: Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 27(4), 227-246. Cockburn, Cynthia, 2005. The Gendered Dynamics of Armed Conflict and Political Violence. In: Moser, Caroline O.N. / Clark, Fiona C. (eds). Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? – Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence, London, pp 13-29.

22

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Cohen, Dara K., 2013. Female Combatants and the Perpetration of Violence: Wartime Rape in the Sierra Leone Civil War. In: World Politics, 65, 383-415. Connell, Raewyn W., 2012. Masculinities, Cambridge. Davis, Laura, 2009. Justice-Sensitive Security System Reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Initiative for Peacebuilding (IFP) Security Cluster, Country Case Study: DRC, Available: www.initiativeforpeacebuilding.eu/pdf/Justice_Sensitive_Security_Sy stem_reform_in_the_DRC.pdf (Accessed 9th March 2014). Del Zotto, Augusta, and Adam Jones, 2002. Male-on-Male Sexual Violence in Wartime: Human Rights’ Last Taboo?, Paper presented to the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), New Orleans, LA, 23-27 March. Available: http://adamjones.freeservers.com/ malerape.htm (Accessed 20th March 2014). Department of State (DoS), 2013. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State, Available: www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/human rightsreport/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=220100 (Accessed 10th March 2014). Donaldson, Mike, 1993. What Is Hegemonic Masculinity?. In: Theory and Society, Special Issue: Masculinities, 22(5), 643-657. Elshtain, Jean B., 1995. Women and War, Chicago / London. Enloe, Cynthia, 1988. Does Khaki Become You? The Militarization of Women’s Lives, London. Enloe, Cynthia, 2000a. Manoeuvres: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives, Berkeley. Enloe, Cynthia, 2000b. Bananas, Beaches and Bases, Berkeley. Enloe, Cynthia, 2002. Demilitarization – or More of the Same? Feminist Questions to Ask in the Postwar Moment. In: Cockburn, Cynthia / Zarkov, Dubravka (eds). The Postwar Moment: Militaries, Masculinities and International Peacekeeping, London, pp 22-32. Eriksson Baaz, Maria / Stern, Maria, 2008. Making sense of violence: voices of soldiers in the Congo (DRC). In: The Journal of Modern African Studies, 46(1), 57-86. Eriksson Baaz, Maria, 2009. Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC). In: International Studies Quarterly, 53, 495-518. Eriksson Baaz, Maria / Stern, Maria, 2011. Whores, men, and other misfits: undoing ‘feminization’ in the armed forces in the DRC. In: African Affairs, 110(441), 1-23. Eriksson Baaz, Maria / Stern, Maria, 2012a. Beyond Militarised Masculinity: The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In: Eriksson Baaz, Maria / Utas, Mats (eds). Beyond “gender and stir”: Reflections on gender and SSR in the aftermath of African conflicts, Policy Dialogue, Uppsala. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

23

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Eriksson Baaz, Maria / Stern, Maria, 2012b. Fearless Fighters and Submissive Wives: Negotiating Identity Among Women Soldiers in the Congo (DRC). In: Armed Forces & Society, 39(4), 711-739. Fanon, Frantz, 2008. Black Skin, White Masks, London. Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), 2009. Masculinity and Civil Wars in Africa – New Approaches to Overcoming Sexual Violence in War, Issue Brief, Programme Promoting Gender Equality and Women´s Rights. Available: www.oecd.org/dac/genderdevelopment/44896271.pdf. (Accessed 28th February 2014), 1-11. Gettleman, Jeffrey, 2009. Symbol of Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims. In: The New York Times, 5th August. Gillespie, Terry, 1996. Rape crisis centres and ‘male rape’: a face of the backlash. In: Hester, Marianne / Kelly, Liz / Radford, Jill (eds). Women, violence and male power – Feminist activism, research and practice, Buckingham / Philadelphia, 148-165. Goldstein, Joshua, 2001. War and Gender: how gender shapes the war system and vice versa, Cambridge. Gottschall, Jonathan, 2004. Explaining Wartime Rape. In: The Journal of Sex Research, 41(2), 129-136. Handrahan, Lori, 2004: Conflict, Gender, Ethnicity and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. In: Security Dialogue, 35, 429-445. Hatcher, Jessica, 2013. Congo’s Forgotten Curse: Epidemic of Female-onFemale Rape. In: Time. Available: http://world.time.com/ 2013/12/03/congos-forgotten-curse-epidemic-of-female-on-femalerape/ (Accessed 5th March 2014). Hooper, Charlotte, 2001. Manly States: Masculinities, International Relations, and Gender Politics, New York. Human Rights Watch (HRW), 1996. Shattered Lives: Sexual violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its aftermath, HRW Report. Available: www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Rwanda.htm. (Accessed 4th February 2014). Human Rights Watch (HRW), 2002. The War Within the War – Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo, HRW Report. Available: www.hrw.org/reports/2002/drc/Congo0602.pdf (Accessed 1st March 2014). Human Rights Watch (HRW), 2009. Soldiers Who Rape, Commanders Who Condone: Sexual Violence and Military Reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo, HRW Report. Available: www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/drc0709web.pdf (Accessed 10th March 2014). Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), 2011. HEALTH: Rape as a “weapon of war” against men, IRIN. Available: www.irinnews.org/report/93960/health-rape-as-a-weapon-of-waragainst-men (Accessed 2nd March 2014). 24

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), 2012. Gender Relations, Sexual Violence and the Effects of Conflict on Women and Men in North Kivu, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, SIDA. Available: www.sida.se/Global/Countries%20and%20regions/Africa/DR%20C ongo/International%20Men%20And%20Gender%20Equality%20 Survey.pdf (Accessed 10th March 2014). Johnson, Kirsten / Scott, Jennifer / Rughita, Bigy / Kisielewski, Michael / Asher, Jana / Ong, Ricardo / Lawry, Lynn, 2010. Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights Violations With Physical and Mental Health in Territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In: The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 304(5), 553-562. King, Neal, 1995. Speaking Our Truth, New York. Lears, T.J. Jackson, 1985. The Concept of Cultural Hegemony: Problems and Possibilities. In: The American Historical Review, 90(3), 567-593. Leatherman, Janie, 2007. Sexual Violence and armed conflict: complex dynamics of re-victimization. In: International Journal of Peace Studies, 12(1), 53-71. Leatherman, Janie, 2011. Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict, Cambridge. Lemarchand, René, 2009. Reflections on the Crisis in Eastern Congo. In: Brown Journal of World Affairs, 16(1), 119-132. Levine, Philippa, 2013. Naked Truths: Bodies, Knowledge, and the Erotics of Colonial Power. In: Journal of British Studies, 52, 5-25. Lewis, Dustin A., 2009: Unrecognized Victims: Sexual Violence Against Men in Conflict Settings Under International Law. In: Wisconsin International Law Journal, 27(1), 1-49. Lindsay, Lisa A. / Miescher, Stephan F. (eds), 2003. Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa, Portsmouth. Lwambo, Desiree, 2011. ”Before the War, I was a Man”: Men and Masculinities in Eastern DR Congo, HEAL Africa. Available: www.healafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/men-andmasculinities-in-eastern-dr-congo.pdf. (Accessed 18th March 2014). MacKinnon, Catherine, 1991. Reflections on Sex Equality under Law. In: The Yale law Journal, 100(5), Centennial Issue, 1281-1328. Mamdani, Mahmood, 1999. Preliminary Thoughts on the Congo Crisis. In: Social Text, 60, Globalization?, 53-62. Marsiglio, William, 1988. Adolescent Male Sexuality and Heterosexual Masculinity: A Conceptual Model and Review. In: Journal of Adolescent Research, 3(3/4), 285-303. Mechanic, Eli, 2004. Why Gender Still Matters: Sexual Violence and the Need to Confront Militarized Masculinities. In: Insights, Partnership Africa Canada (PAC). Available: http://dspace.cigilibrary.org/jspui/ bitstream/123456789/14787/1/Why%20Gender%20Still%20 Matters.pdf?1 (Accessed 10th March 2014). IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

25

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Mies, Maria, 1986. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour, London. Moser, Caroline O.N. / Clark, Fiona C., 2005. Introduction. In: Moser, Caroline O.N. / Clark, Fiona C. (eds). Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? – Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence, London, pp 3-12. Mukwege, Denis Mukengere / Nangini, Cathy, 2009. Rape with Extreme Violence: The New Pathology in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. In: PLoS Medicine, 6(12), Health in Action, e1000204. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000204. Murdock, Heather, 2011. Rape in Congo Devastates Male Victims, Voice of America. Available: www.voanews.com/content/rape-in-congodevastates-male-victims-134117048/148375.html, 17 November, (Accessed 3rd March 2014). Nagel, Joane, 2000. Ethnicity and Sexuality. In: Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 107-133. Oosterhoff, Pauline / Zwanikken, Prisca / Ketting, Evert, 2004. Sexual Torture of Men in Croatia and Other Conflict Situations: An Open Secret. In: Reproductive Health Matters, 12(23), 68–77. Ouzgane, Lahoucine / Morrell, Robert, 2005. African Masculinities: Men in Africa from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present, University of KwaZulu. Peterman, Ambera / Palermo, Tia / Bredenkamp, Caryn, 2011. Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In: American Journal of Public Health, 101(6), 1060-1067. Pratt, Marion / Werchick, Leah, 2004. Sexual Terrorism: Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, USAID/DCHA Assessment Report. Available: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/ PNADK346.pdf (Accessed 28th February 2014). Prunier, Gérard, 2009. Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide and the making of a continental catastrophe, New York. Puechguirbal, Nadine, 2001. Women and War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In: Signs, 28(4), 1271-1281. Rejali, Darius, 1998. After feminist analyses of Bosnian violence. In: Lorentzen / Ann, Lois / Turpin, Jennifer E. (eds). The Women War Reader, New York / London. Reyntjens, Filip, 1999. Briefing: The Second Congo War: More than a Remake. In: African Affairs, 98, 241-250. Ricardo, Christine / Barker, Gary, 2005. Young Men and the Construction of Masculinity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict, and Violence. In: World Bank, Social Development Papers, 26, June. Rich, Adrienne, 1986. Of Woman Born, Motherhood as experience and institution, London / New York. 26

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Richters, Annemiek, 1998. Sexual Violence in Wartime. Psycho-Social Wounds and Healing Processes: The Example of the Former Yugoslavia. In: Bracken, Patrick J. / Petty, Celia (eds). Rethinking the Trauma of War, New York, pp 112–128. Scarry, Elaine, 1985. The body in pain. The making and unmaking of the world, New York. Seifert, Ruth, 1994. War and Rape: A Preliminary Analysis. In: Stiglmayer, Alexandra (ed). Mass Rape: The War against Women in BosniaHerzegovina, Lincoln / London, pp 54-72. Seifert, Ruth, 1996. The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars, In: Women's Studies International Forum, 19(1/2), 35-43. Seruwagi, Moses, 2011. Unreported Horrors – Male Rape in DR Congo, Inter Press Service (IPS). Available: www.ipsnews.net/2011/11/ unreported-horrors-male-rape-in-dr-congo/ (Accessed 28th February 2014). Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), 2011. Care and Support of Male Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, Briefing Paper. Available: www.svri.org/ CareSupportofMaleSurviv.pdf (Accessed 3rd March 2014). Silberschmidt, Margrethe, 2005. Poverty, Male Disempowerment, and Male Sexuality: Rethinking Men and Masculinities in Rural and Urban East Africa. In: Ouzgane, Lahoucine / Morrell, Robert (eds). African Masculinities: Men in Africa from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present, University of KwaZulu, 189-203. Sivakumaran, Sandesh, 2005. Male/Male Rape and the “Taint” of Homosexuality. In: Human Rights Quarterly, 27(4), 1274-1306. Sivakumaran, Sandesh, 2007. Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict. In: The European Journal of International Law, 18(2), 253-276. Sjoberg, Laura / Gentry, Caron E., 2007. Mother, Monsters and Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics, London / New York. Skjelsbæk, Inger, 2001. Sexual violence in times of war: A new challenge for peace operations?. In: International Peacekeeping, 8(2), 69-84. Steans, Jill, 2004. Gender and International Relations: An Introduction, Cambridge. Stern, Maria, 2005. Naming Security: Constructing Identity, Manchester. Storr, Will, 2011. The rape of men: the darkest secret of war. In: The Guardian. Available: www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jul/17/the-rapeof-men (Accessed 3rd March 2014). The Guardian (Online), 2011. The worst places in the world for women: Congo. Available: www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/14/worstplaces-in-the-world-for-women-congo (Accessed 4th March 2014). Thompson, Martha, 2006. Women, Gender, and Conflict: Making the Connections. In: Development in Practice, 16(3/4), 342-353. Tickner, J. Ann, 1992. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security, New York. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

27

Brankamp: Hegemonic Masculinity, Victimhood and Male Bodies

Trenholm, Jill / Olsson, Pia / Blomqvist, Martha / Ahlberg, Beth Maina, 2012. Constructing Soldiers from Boys in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In: Men and Masculinities, 16(2), 203-227. Turshen, Meredeth, 1998. Women’s War Stories. In: Turshen, Meredeth / Twagiramariya, Clotilde (eds). What Women do in Wartime: Gender and Conflict in Africa, London / New York, pp 1-26. Van Dijk, Jan, 2009. Free the Victim: A Critique of the Western Conception of Victimhood. In: International Review of Victimology, 16, 1-33. Watson, Alison M.S., 2007. Children Born of Wartime Rape: Rights and Representations. In: International Feminist Journal of Politics, 9(1), 20-34. Weinstein, Jeremy M., 2000. Africa’s ‘Scramble for Africa: Lessons of a Continental War. In: World Policy Journal, 17(2), 11-20. World Health Organisation (WHO), 2000. Reproductive Health during Conflict and Displacement. Available: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/ 2001/WHO_RHR_00.13.pdf (Accessed 7th March 2014). Yuval-Davis, Nira, 2004. Gender, the Nationalist Imagination, War, and Peace. In: Giles, Wenona, and Jennifer Hyndman (eds). Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones, Berkeley, pp 170-189. Yuval-Davis, Nira, 2011. Gender & Nation, London / Thousand Oaks. Zarkov, Dubravka, 2001. The Body of the Other Man: Sexual Violence and the Construction of Masculinity, Sexuality and Ethnicity in the Croatian Media. In: Moser, Caroline / Clark, Fiona C. (eds). Victims, Perpetrators, or Actors: Gender, Armed Conflict, and Political Violence, London, pp 69-82.

28

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 5-28

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict: How Do Films Contribute? An Analysis of Three Films Mia Schöb Abstract This paper adopts an anthropological approach to critically analysing how cinema contributes to memory-building processes and, through its particular discourse, creates potential for long-term reconciliation in conflict-affected societies – as opposed to international concepts like transitional justice. Colombia, a country with a half-century-old armed civilian conflict and an on-going transitional justice process, serves as a case study. Three Colombian films are analysed to this end. The analysis shows that the films follow a different logic than the transitional justice process that seeks to soften the confrontational line between ‘victims’ and ‘perpetrators’. By creating a common ‘Other’ – the ‘armed actor’ – for both the target audience of the films, the urban upper and middle classes, and the peasant victims whose stories these films tell, they contribute to addressing more fundamental fragmentations in the Colombian society, namely the apathy of large parts of the urban society, which hamper reconciliation and peace beyond the victim-perpetrator dichotomy. Keywords: Memory, Critical Discourse Analysis, Cinema, Reconciliation, Transitional Justice

Introduction Colombia has been experiencing internal armed conflict for over five decades and faces desolate human rights and security conditions, counting between 3.4 million (UNHCR 2011: 304) and 5.2 million (CODHES 2011) internally displaced persons (IDPs) as of today, about ten percent of the population. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

29

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

While the conflict goes on, the Colombian government introduced a framework of transitional justice (TJ) in 2005. Besides judicial arrangements with demobilized armed non-state actors, this framework comprises assistance to victims of the armed conflict as well as memory-building efforts. Thereby, this official discourse constructs categories of victims and perpetrators. It is interesting, however, to observe how alternative discourses, for example in film, address other societal categories. As the three recent Colombian films selected for analysis illustrate, the very target audience of these films constitutes another societal group that remains untouched by the TJ process: the urban upper and middle classes. While the TJ discourse centres on reconciliation and restitution along the victim-perpetrator dichotomy, the films analysed in this article implicitly point to another fraction of the Colombian society: the fragmentation into rural and urban societies.1 IDPs from the rural conflict areas are often exposed to stigmatization by the aforementioned urban population when fleeing to the larger cities, and thus become entangled in a ‘cycle of re-victimisation’. This paper hypothesises that films address the urban middle and upper class and seek to awaken their empathy for and understanding of the fate of victims from the rural population. They do so by creating a common ‘Other’ – that is, the ‘armed actor’ – for both the target audience of the films and the victims whose stories these films tell. Thereby, films harden the confrontational line that the TJ process seeks to soften: the line between victims and perpetrators. But, calling for moral support to and identification with the victims by the target audience, films contribute to addressing more fundamental fragmentations in the Colombian society, namely the apathy of large parts of the urban society, which hamper reconciliation and peace beyond the victim-perpetrator dichotomy. The paper is structured in two main parts. The first part sets the theoretical foundation linking TJ, memory, discourse and film and connects them to the Colombian case. The second part elaborates briefly on the methodology applied, and then ponders on the analysis of the three films “Impunity” (2010), “Los colores de la montaña” (2011) and “Pequeñas voces” (2011). While the documentary “Impunity” follows Colombia’s TJ process until 2010, the fiction film “Los colores de la montaña” and the animated documentary “Pequeñas voces” tell the stories of the largest victim group of the conflict, the rural population that are forcedly displaced. Given the lack of literature about Colombian film, findings will draw on academic contributions about film and memory in Lebanon and Algeria. The analysis is complemented by an interview with the Swiss-Colombian director of Impunity, Juan José Lozano.

Juan José Lozano referred to “two societies” or “two worlds” (the urban and the rural population) within Colombia that are complete strangers to each other, but clash when IDPs from rural areas settle in the cities. 30 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48 1

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Theoretical Foundations TJ and the Concept of Memory Transitional Justice (TJ) comprises “the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation“(UN Secretary General 2010: 2). It consists of „both judicial and non-judicial processes and mechanisms, including prosecution initiatives, truth-seeking, reparations programmes, institutional reform or an appropriate combination thereof“(UN Secretary General 2010: 3). Scholars have extensively discussed the normative thresholds between truth and justice (Roht-Arriaza and Mariezcurrena, 2006), and whether TJ can contribute to (national) reconciliation (Jaramillo et al. 2009: 44; Kaminski et al. 2006: 300). Kimberley Theidon (2006: 454) considers reconciliation a threedimensional process: individuals with themselves, community members among each other, and civil society with the state, implying therein that the entire society needs to be involved if the process shall be successful. She describes how hegemonic discourse of political elites can instrumentalise the concept of reconciliation for re-constructing the nation-state (Wilson, 2001, cited in Theidon 2006: 454). Patricia Lundy and Marc McGovern (2008: 265266, 271) furthermore criticise the top-down approach of TJ frameworks regarding truth-telling processes, arguing that, for local dialogue to flourish, it needs to be complemented by the active participation of local communities linked to collaborative oral history models. Originally designed for transition periods out of “repressive rule or armed conflict” (Call 2004: 101; see also Teitel 2003: 69), the ‘toolbox’ of abstract concepts and guidelines to TJ is also being used within internal armed conflicts, in so-called “conflicted democracies” (Aoláin and Campbell 2005: 175), in order to promote transition from conflict to peace (Summers 2012: 219, 235), or to consolidate the existing constitutional order (Jaramillo et al. 2009: 7). The Justice and Peace Law (Law 975) of 2005 introduced TJ to Colombia (Laplante and Theidon 2007: 51), raising the buzzwords of memory, truth, justice and reconciliation to the top of the political agenda (Laplante and Theidon 2007: 52). Scholars and civil society organisations have criticised the design and implementation of Law 975, arguing that it served as a tool of “veiled amnesty” (Laplante and Theidon 2007: 83) to provide impunity for the demobilised armed actors; an allegation that the documentary film Impunity (2010) materializes in images. Other scholars underline particular achievements in the area of memory construction (Uribe 2009: 6). Disregarding the multiple relationships between victims and the armed actors in Colombia that often blur the distinction between victims and perpeIReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

31

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

trators (Arjona 2008: 107), the discourses of both the government and civil society victims’ organisations evolve along a clear victim-perpetrator-line. While victims’ organisations push for the absolute respect of the victims’ “rights to truth, justice and reparations,2 – rights increasingly viewed as central to the broader goal of ’national reconciliation’” (Laplante and Theidon 2007: 52), the official discourse of TJ advocates peace and reconciliation between the two groups through alternative jurisdiction and victims’ rights promotion (García-Godos and Lid 2010: 516). Peace is regarded dependent on both victimisers and victims, who are seen as two sides of the same coin (García-Godos and Lid 2010: 516). However, the majority of the victims included in the Colombian TJ process are IDPs belonging to the ‘rural society’ but migrating to the urban centres to escape violence. The focus of the official TJ discourse on the ‘victims’ and ‘perpetrators’ categories largely ignores the ‘urban society’, and thus undermines a comprehensive and potentially more fruitful process of truth-seeking and memory-building in Colombia.

Discourse, Memory and Cinema Memory-building is an integral part of TJ frameworks. Borrowing conceptually from memory studies, Alexandra Barahona de Brito (2010) locates memory-building processes within the “politics of memory” (Barahona de Brito 2010: 360), a broader process of socialisation and identity formation through the interpretation of past in the narratives of different groups in society. The “politics of memory” is itself a part of “social memory-making” (Barahona de Brito 2010: 361), an inherent and continuous process in societies in which decisions about remembering and forgetting through “historical memories and collective remembrances” (Barahona de Brito 2010: 361) are constantly negotiated. In this process, “[i]t is only by establishing otherness – a constitutive outside – that the modern nation comes into being” (Hourani 2008: 288). In this paper, memory will be understood as “the ways in which people construct a sense of the past” (Cofino 1997: 1386). Memory finds its articulation and actualisation in the discourse of the present, being “a form of knowledge and memory of social practices” (Wodak 2004: 199). To Foucault, objects are systematically constructed through the practices of discourse (Sarasin 2005: 100). Discourses are alimented by the social power of those who use them, while, at the same time, they constrain this very social power (Sarasin 2005: 118). Archives are “the sum of all discursive rules […] the virtual storage of all possibilities, given at a specific historical moment and in Despite of its buzzword-character, the right to truth has proven of crucial importance in practice. As Bell (2011: 209, 218-219) underlines the „long present“ of the Southern Cone, the past needs to be properly accounted for before the future can start, based on the responsibilities derived from the past. Establishing this accountability includes the fight against state-imposed amnesia, and the construction of alternative memories. 32 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48 2

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

the constrained space of communication a discourse has, to express something” (Sarasin 2005: 112).3 As one of these possibilities, film thus forms part of the archives of memory. Barahona de Brito (2010: 362-362) introduces another important concept of memory studies into TJ research: ‘mnemonic communities’. These memory groups are entities within whose boundaries memories are negotiated, e.g. the nation, ethnic groups, families, but also the categories of victims and perpetrators. They result from “mnemonic battles” (Van Drunen 2010: 34) over the “power over discourse” (Jäger and Meyer 2009: 38), strategic decisions, specific memory constellations and meaning-laden social narratives. This “highly political process” (Stern 2004: 124-125, cited in Van Drunen 2010: 34) produces social collective memory, being social because of its negotiated nature and its existence through shared relations and interactions, and collective because it is more than the sum of individual memories (Barahona de Brito 2010: 362; see also Zerubavel 1996: 293-294, cited in Van Drunen 2010: 33). Applied to the hypothesis of this paper, films may help construct a mnemonic community composed of both the urban and rural societies. Film has thus an archival as well as an active function in the present. In “Foucault va au cinema”, Patrice Maniglier and Dork Zabunyan (2011) illustrate Foucault’s relationship to cinema. To Foucault, cinema links the genealogical approach, that is the archival analysis of past discourses, and the contemporary world (Zabunyan 2011: 33-34).4 Problematising the present, cinema changes our relations to the past and fights the tendency to amnesia in our present (Zabunyan 2011: 40). Cinema can thus work as a critique to the present, emphasising different co-existing truths that define themselves in relation to other variants of the past (Maniglier 2011: 70). The aforementioned mnemonic battles resurge in Foucault’s idea that history as an ideological affair is constructed on the battlefield of memory, and cinema is where this battlefield is located (Maniglier 2011: 56-60). Through the “ré-écriture des traces sur des traces” (Maniglier 2011: 60) in film, memory is effectively re-coded, that is, the audience is shown what to remember. The pattern of traces is divided in dominant traces, the official history, and dominated traces, the popular memory. There are qualitative and formal differences between the two traces (Maniglier 2011: 60-61). As part of popular memory, film – and especially documentary film – suggests a specific viewpoint on the “filmed reality” (Gautier 1995: 231; see also Denzin 2000: 425). Films create their “counterhistories to the usual The translation, like all the following, is mine. Zabunyan (2011: 33-34) points out that cinema was too young as a medium to be genealogically approached and thus did not find a solid place in Foucault’s writings. Citing Deleuze he underlines, however, that archival analysis was only one part of Foucault’s work, and that cinema served to Foucault as a vector for the diagnosis of his contemporary world, that is, as the link between his archival analysis – of past discourses – and his actuality (Zabunyan 2011: 35-36). IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48 33 3 4

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

nationalist narratives” (Rosenstone 1995: 5), the official history, according to their own rules of representation (Rosenstone 1995: 3). Contrary to textual archives, the visual archives created by film do not count on abstractions, for example, the victims, but on specific groups of people and their stories who in turn embody these abstractions (Rosenstone 1995: 8), for example a peasant child being mutilated through a grenade attack as the incapacitated Colombian nation. Through these allegorical narratives (Wayne 2001: 130), film is based on the molecularisation of the historical unity, showing le quotidien as micro-events (Maniglier 2011: 62, 100-101). Through organizing the viewers’ perspective (Maniglier 2011: 86) and problematizing the present, film can incite the audience to problematize their relationship to the images on the screen, to question their own identity and standpoint in relation to the past (Maniglier 2011: 116). With regard to the hypothesis of this paper, this means that the urban cinema and television audience could be incited to rethink their present attitude towards the rural population.

Memory-Building in Official History and Popular Memory in Colombia As Vikki Bell (2011: 209-210) argues for the case of the Southern Cone, stories of the past are highly contested politics of the present that evoke a responsibility towards the future; battles are being fought constantly over which of the “collected memories” become part of the “collective memory”. Similarly, memory is a “highly contested terrain in Colombia” (Uribe 2009: 4), the “political battleground” of official history and popular memory (Uribe 2009: 6). Part of the former is constructed by Memoria Histórica, a unit of the CNRR (Comisión Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación) (Law 975, Art. 50). Law 975 (Art. 8) understands historical memory as part of “symbolic reparations”, together with public acknowledgement, apologies, and guarantees of non-repetition. Interestingly, the CNRR is similar in shape and mandate to the state-led truth commissions that were installed subsequent to the dictatorships in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in the early 1980s (Crenzel 2011: 4). In 2012, the second relevant law of the Colombian TJ process, the Victims and Land Restitution Law (Law 1448), replaced the CNRR by the Unidad de Atención y Reparación Integral a las Víctimas (Law 1448: Art. 171) and extended the competences of the Memoria Histórica section, creating the Centro de Memoria Histórica (Law 1448: Art. 144). Further elements are gradually being added to the state-led memory construction process, such as a commemoration day, Día Nacional de la Memoria y Solidaridad con las Víctimas on 9 April (Law 1448: Art. 142) or the Museo de la Memoria (Law 1448: Art. 148). The investigators of Memoria Histórica have been conducting extensive research on massacre-torn communities, and captured the stories and memories of a myriad of victims of armed violence (Uribe 2009: 6). 34

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Yet, alternative discourses continue to counter the dynamics of remembering and forgetting that the official discourse nonetheless creates via the “historical truth” collected by Memoria Histórica and the “judicial truth” gathered in the judicial hearings of demobilized paramilitary leaders. Arts, and especially film, play a crucial role as alternative discourses (Crenzel 2011: 10). As Mike Wayne (2001: 4) holds, “popular memory is an important source for Third Cinema”. Evolved in Latin America after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the politically committed Third Cinema – both documentaries and fiction – positions itself critically towards its social environment (Wayne 2001: 5-6) and pursues an agenda: concientización (Burton 1978: 50), “changing consciousness and raising awareness” (Wayne 2001: 4). Colombian Third Cinema traditionally combines sociological analysis and artisanal production (Burton 1978: 66-68); the Colombian film audience is thus familiar with the film medium as “an effective tool for catalysing and signalling social change” (Burton 1978: 73). Film audience especially refers to the urban upper and middle classes who have access to cinema, internet, television and black market copies of ‘guerrilla cinema’, as Third Cinema is also being referred to (Wayne 2001: 57). It is important to note at this point that most of the theoretical literature refers to discourse and memory-building (through film) with regard to a distant past, to what Foucault describes as “discourses that have just stopped to be ours” (Zabunyan 2011: 34). The past-present-relation of the Colombian films, however, differs from this concept in that the related past reoccurs in everyday life in the present. The filmed time span in Impunity covers the years 2006-2010, but the events that constitute the plots of all three films – the testimonies in both Impunity and Pequeñas voces and the fictional story of Los colores de la montaña – are timeless in the sense that they could have happened any time in the past three decades up to the immediate present. These films thus combine the “regard de proximité, coloré d’affectivité” (Gautier 1995: 232) of films about the present with the power of memory inherent to documentaries about the past (Gautier 1995: 215). Based on a “repertoire of collective knowledge” (Wodak 2004: 207), that is, through the recurrence of emblematic images, documentaries – as well as fiction films – have the power to evoke “l’impact émotionnel du souvenir” (Gautier 1995: 104; see also Denzin 2000: 423) in the film audience. Wayne (2001: 108, 112) emphasises the dialectical relationship between the past and present and argues that repressing the memory of a painful experience even strengthens the ties between past and present, and the pain will resurface unless properly remembered. Giorgio Hadi Curti’s (2008) considerations about the relation between memory, affect and emotion can be helpful to illustrate this point with regard to the selected films, and link these considerations to the idea of social collective memory: by evoking emotion in the audience through this visual affection and memorisation of the victimisation of the rural population in Colombia, these films construct and actualise a common memory of both the porIReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

35

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

trayed rural population and the urban population as target audience of these films. They thus reflect affects and affections embodied in the memories of several generations in Colombia (compare to Curti 2008: 108), memories that are being actualised and modified through film, and thus play an “active role […] in the experience of the presence” (Curti 2008: 107). Following Barahona de Brito’s logic, the “two societies” Lozano refers to could thereby become joined in one mnemonic community, or, as Curti puts it, create identity through the combination of shared emotion and memory (Curti 2008: 107). It is interesting at this point to get back to Foucault’s concept of popular memory, which, rather than adopting a “we”-perspective or giving a different viewpoint than the dominant, relies on the dimension of coming into being, “la dimension du devenir” (Maniglier 2011: 64). Thus derived the hypothesis of this paper is that the selected films promote the coming into being of a mnemonic group composed of the urban and rural societies in Colombia, through the creation of the armed actor as the common Other.

Analysis Reflections on Methodology For Jutta Weldes (2009: 182), film pertains to “low data”, everyday meaningful commonsensical representations that aim to challenge or support dominant representations in “high data”, the official history or hegemonic discourse. Rather than a film critique or conventional critical discourse analysis (CDA), the analysis in this paper is adapted to the goal of uncovering the representations of victims and perpetrators in the three selected films in a synthesised manner. The analysis draws partly on discourse-historical CDA regarding topics, discursive strategies and linguistic (and visual) means applied and the critical contextualisation of the films (Wodak 2004: 199, 205207). The questions posed towards the films reflect a social science perspective; the analysis focuses on the discourse of the films. In line with Norman K. Denzin’s instructions for “Reading Film”, four narrative levels are analysed in each film: visual text, spoken text, the combination of both within a story, as well as my interpretations of the three precedent levels (Denzin 2000: 423).5 For the sake of brevity, only the relevant findings of the elaborate analysis are presented here. The following questions are central to the analysis: Whose story is being told? How do the films sensitise the audience for the story 5 Due to a lack of literature on the films, I rely on the fourth step of this analysis mainly as a basis for interpreting their effect on the audience. I am aware that this is to a high extent subjective, and that my own background and experience introduce certain bias to the analysis, rendering the potential generalisability of the latter debatable. 36 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

that is being told? How do the stories evolve along the victims-perpetratorsline? Questions of outreach – funding, distribution and audience – will be included to the extent deemed possible, to clarify who is addressed and whether the target audience is potentially being reached. Finally, the analysis is complemented by a semi-structured interview I conducted with Juan José Lozano, the director of Impunity. The interview serves as a means to consolidate or contest findings in the analysis of ‘Impunity’,6 and provides useful information about the film and cinema in Colombia.7

The Films The three selected films contribute to the Colombian popular memory about the armed conflict, collectively as Colombian-made films, and individually through their plot (compare Austin 2010: 30). Like contemporary Algerian cinema, Colombian cinema works potentially as a “vector of memory” (Austin 2010: 32), “a crucial instrument against amnesia” (Austin 2010: 34), by recording the past and the present through the voices suppressed or distorted in official discourse. ‘Impunity’ (2010) is a documentary film by the Swiss-Colombian filmmaker Juan José Lozano, and the Colombian journalist Hollman Morris. The documentary accompanies the Justice and Peace Process, therein included the localisation of mass-graves, from different angles: the paramilitary accounts in the judicial hearings, victims’ personal accounts of their tragedies, expert interviews from academia, national and international jurisprudence and politics. The film contributes to building a visual archive of the Colombian TJ process, covering accounts that date back to the 1990s. ‘Pequeñas voces’ (2011) is an animated documentary by the Colombian filmmakers Oscar Andrade and Jairo Carrillo, based on interviews with and drawings from eight to 13 year-old victims of forced displacement. The film gives an account – through the children’s own voices – of their war experiences, actualised in the combination and animation of their drawings. The experiences told by the children capture all forms of victimisation: threats and armed attacks against civilians, bombings of the village and armed battles, forced disappearances, child recruitment by the guerrilla, forced displacement, and the subsequent problems of unemployment, poverty and stigmatisation in the cities. It was published in 2011 and produced over a period of seven years. Given the age of the interviewed children, the related events may date back 15-20 years.

6 The interview took place on 5th April 2013 in Geneva and was conducted in Spanish. All translations are mine. 7 Ideally, interviews should have been conducted with the directors of all three films. Contacting the other directors, however, proved more difficult than expected. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48 37

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

The fiction film ‘Los colores de la montaña’ (2011) by the Colombian filmmaker Carlos Arbeláenz tells the story of a village disputed between paramilitaries and guerrillas, whose inhabitants eventually suffer from different forms of victimisation: from daily harassment of armed groups to antipersonnel landmines in their fields to the assassination of villagers and, finally, to the displacement of the entire population of the village. The film is set in a village somewhere in the Colombian Andeans, and the story could take place anytime in the past three decades.

Whose Story is Being Told? In ‘Pequeñas voces’, the animated drawings only mumble unintelligibly, which gives exclusive voice to the child-narrators. The film gives an account of their remembrances. As for ‘Los colores de la montaña’, there is no narrator, but the plot accompanies mostly the main protagonist, the boy Manuel. The problematic of anti-personnel landmines and the physical presence of armed actors is elaborated upon through the soccer field and Manuel’s soccer ball that ends up trapped in a mine field. Further problems, especially with regard to cooperation of the villagers with one armed actor or another, arise around the local school. The choice of locations reflects a children’s perspective, their “truth” about the events that lead to their displacement from their everyday experiences. ‘Impunity’ contrasts with the two latter because it offers a multiplicity of testimonies and perspectives from different groups in society, though favouring the victims. A male narrator, who appears on the audio level only, comments on developments. As ‘Lozano’ stresses in the interview, the main protagonist of the documentary is the TJ process itself. The purpose of the film was to create a visual archive for the future, to capture as many angles of history as possible. This would prevent the emergence of a one-sided official history. We might conclude that ‘Impunity’ challenges “the structural power to silence” (Hourani 2008: 304) of the state, for the long-term objective of a multi-faceted history. Contradictions within the multiple accounts are possible and even desirable (Hourani 2008: 304), and form an integral part of the technique the film uses to provoke emotion: contradictions between the visual and the spoken text, even ranging to ironic remarks.

How Do the Films Sensitise the Audience for the Story that Is Being Told? If the films construct the nation, “the tragedy suffered by [the] characters embodies the tragedy of the nation” (Hourani 2008: 291). But how is the audience of the films, the second half of the mnemonic community in creation, being included in this nation? On the one hand, the films make the na38

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

tion known by creating the ‘armed actor’ as the common Other, and as such as a threat to the nation (compare Hourani 2008: 303). Similarly to the militiaman icon in Lebanese cinema, parties to the conflict – the military, paramilitary groups (AUC) and guerrilla groups (FARC, ELN) – are subsumed in all films under the stereotypical ‘armed actor’, who embodies destruction, terror and death, and thereby provides the “otherness” (Hourani 2008: 288) in opposition to both the victim-protagonists and the audience. In the entry scene of Impunity, a woman tells how her 12-year-old brother was decapitated by “some armed men” (00:00:17), she does not specify which group they belonged to and it does not seem to be of importance to her. Following an armed battle between military and guerrillas, one boy in Pequeñas voces (00:39:17) summarizes: “All the forces that bear weapons saw terror, even if they didn’t want to, they saw terror.” In Los colores de la montaña, the villagers equally fear both the uniformed guerrillas and the ‘plain-clothed’ paramilitaries.8 All three films provoke the same emotional effect in the audience: aversion and a feeling of alienation towards the armed actor. Through the accounts of the emblematic paramilitary leader “HH”, Impunity works to uncover the lie behind the “great theatre peace” of the Justice and Peace Process (Interview Lozano): the political and economic links between the Colombian elite and the paramilitary, referred to as parapolítica and paraeconomía. Impunity thereby contributes to filling the archival absence of state responsibility (compare to Hourani 2008: 303-304), and adds another layer to the depicted otherness: the ‘armed actor’ in Impunity is a complex figure that incorporates both the armed parties to the conflict as well as the economic and political elites. On the other hand, the absence of the urban society is not complete in the films. Impunity and Los colores de la montaña portray members of the urban society whose engagement and comprehension for the rural victims evoke empathy, compassion and admiration in the audience, serving as a model of identification for the audience. In Impunity, this function is taken by the street demonstrations in Bogotá against the “process of impunity” (00:48:50 – 00:50:40). Los colores de la montaña, on the other hand, counts on an emblematic character to this end: the young female school teacher from the city, whose devotion and social commitment is articulated in her resistance against threats and her refusal to leave the village until most villagers have fled. Contrary to the other films, Pequeñas voces does not count on a particular protagonist from the urban society, but the entry and final scenes are located in Bogotá, where the child-narrators fled to after their displacement. Two key scenes shall be mentioned here: on the one hand, the city enables While the identification of the actors is less clear (and less important due to the infantile perspective) in Pequeñas voces and Los colores de la montaña, Impunity clearly distinguishes paramilitary, military and guerrilla action. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48 39 8

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

the children to recover their childhood. The mutilated boy receives artificial limbs in Bogotá (00:57:40), and learns to walk and even to play soccer again (01:01:40). On the other hand, the life in the crowded outskirts of the city is placed in stark contrast with the peaceful and happy life on the countryside, as the children recall their lives before the armed actor intruded into their areas. The children are intimidated by the urban violence directed against them: “We are doing well at home now, but not in our area. Because in the street, there are those señores who kill boys” (00:01:24), tells Yasmin, daughter of a forcedly disappeared coffee farmer. These scenes furthermore give an account about the poverty in which the children are living, with their parents struggling to find labour as unskilled workers to feed the family (00:01:40). While the former account implies the potential of reconciliation and recovery of the Colombian nation, the children’s account of the hostile urban environment – or of their re-victimisation in the cities – also has the potential evoke empathy within the urban society in one respect: both “societies” suffer from the violence in this environment, and the suffering of the IDPs reveals that they, themselves, are not the evil cause of this violence. There is a hidden argument in these scenes, which, through evoking empathy for these children and their families, through the children’s truths about their own existence, re-humanizes IDPs and works to relieve them from their stigma. Their positive attitude towards the future suggests that there is potential for reconciliation: a boy who lost his right arm and leg in a grenade explosion reflects: “I never wondered who it was, I never wanted to blame anybody for it (…) the worst thing is to be pitied by others (…) I am human (…) I am pressing forward” (01:00:20-01:01:20). Furthermore and disregarding the type of film, children as the main protagonists – and the victims of armed violence related in interviews, such as in the entry scene of Impunity – increase the possibility of identification ‘among mothers and fathers’, rather than among the two societies. Children are not only what links adults of different social classes, but they incorporate the past of a nation, as well as its future, and “function as symbols of survival beyond trauma” (Austin 2010: 30). Focusing on children also facilitates the demarcation between innocence – of the ‘victims’ – and guilt – of the ‘armed actor’.

How Do the Stories Evolve along the Victims-Perpetrators-Line? Impunity, accompanying the official Justice and Peace process, adopts the categories of victims and perpetrators. They are treated as two separate groups, and an emphasis is given to the victims’ indignation about being treated as guerrilla members by the state and paramilitary (Interview Lozano). The spatial separation of victims and perpetrators during the judicial hearings gives further weight to the separation of the legal categories. 40

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Similarly, Pequeñas voces makes a clear distinction between the rural population (“we”, from the children’s perspective) and the armed actor. That a child identifies the armed actor with the terror of the villagers further underlines this distinction. The way in which child recruitment is problematized is in line with this approach: even though the recruited boy feels attracted to the false promises of the guerrilla leader at the beginning (00:17:20), the forceful nature of this commitment becomes evident soon, and the focus of his story lies in his fear and reluctance to shoot, and his relief when finally returning to his mother (00:59:31). At no point is he identified with the otherness that distinguishes the armed actor from the civilian population. On the contrary, the story of his recruitment serves to further dehumanise the ‘armed actor’, while raising empathy for the boy. While transmitting the same message about the victimisation of the rural population and their dead-end situation between different armed fronts, Los colores de la montaña develops differently along the victim-perpetrator line in two aspects: first, Julian, one of the child protagonists has an elder brother who allegedly joined “the guerrilla” (00:15:52). Julian, who suffers from domestic violence, considers joining his brother (00:35:31) who has given him a number of different bullets as a present before leaving the family (00:37:05). Second, the concierge of the local school, Luisa, allegedly opened the school for a paramilitary meeting (01:02:24). While it remains unclear whether her motives are fear or opportunism, Los colores de la montaña problematises the many facets of voluntary and involuntary collaboration with the ‘armed actor’. Its general evolution along the victim-perpetrator line is thus less straightforward, even though the red line of the story evolves along Manuel’s family, who is clearly positioned as victims, unwilling to collaborate in any way – which leads to the forced disappearance (01:17:40) and indicated killing (01:19:07) of Manuel’s father. In sum, the films acknowledge to some extent the blurry distinction between victims and perpetrators. At the same time, their main plot evolves along clear categories, and their main protagonists are stereotypes of the ‘innocent victim’. The emotions evoked in the audience are thus empathy and pity for the victims, contrasted by aversion and condemnation of the perpetrators.

Distribution and Funding Lozano hints to an interesting development in Colombian cinema in the past decade: Firstly, Colombian cinema production has risen from a couple to approximately 20 Colombian film productions a year, thanks to Law 814 (2003) that helped finance and professionalise the small national film industry. Secondly, a shift has taken place with regard to the topics addressed: while documentaries orient away from conflict-related topics, fiction films have taken their place. Since the latter have a larger audience, are shown in IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

41

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Colombian cinemas and thus also reach the non-sensitised population, this is an important development (Interview Lozano). As shown in Table 1, both Los colores de la montaña and Pequeñas voces are Colombian productions funded by the Fondo para el desarrollo cinematográfico that was created under the aforementioned Law 814. Both films were released in the Colombian cinema in 2011.9 Impunity, on the contrary, is an internationally funded production. According to Lozano, the therein incorporated prospect of catching international attention incited the Colombian jurisprudence (at first) to open their doors to the filmmakers. Table 1: Distribution and Funding

Source: Author. Contrary to the other two films, Impunity could not be distributed legally in Colombia, but the documentary was diffused by television channels from 15 countries, received great attention in international film festivals, and is being distributed on a hand-to-hand basis (and via black market copies) within Colombia by NGOs and students. Thus, although it was shown in many projections in community centres and universities, the receptors are “not the ideal audience” because they are already sensitised for the problematic. Lozano underlines that in order to reach the indifferent part of the “two worlds” in Colombia, diffusion through cinema would be necessary. Another Due to a lack of further accessible information, I am limited to the DVDs as a source of information, completed by the internet sources provided in Table 1 . 9

42

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

interesting point is that all three films, the censured version of Impunity included, can be watched in Colombia on Youtube. 10 This is especially relevant for the younger generation.

Conclusion “Some years ago, I had the ingenuous idea that documentaries could impact the immediate future, but this is not the case. A documentary serves for constructing memory for later, years later, not for now” (Interview Lozano). Citing the Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, Lozano underlines the archival character of film: “The documentary is for a country what a photo album is for the family: it captures our history, tells what we are in a specific moment. A country without cinema is a country without mirrors to look in, without photos, without reflecting about itself.” Cinema, by constructing and archiving memory, works as a medium for societies to capture their history in order to understand their own identity on the long run. Similarly to what Hourani (2008: 289) finds for the case of Lebanese cinema, the Colombian narrations of the civil war in film are thus “hybrid documents” that combine different “memories, knowledge formations and logics of representation”. Yet, as outlined above, they are more than the sum of individual accounts, but the construction of a “social collective memory” (Barahona de Brito 2010: 362), or, as Najib Hourani (2008: 288) puts it, “the narrative construction of a nation.” As the findings suggest, the selected films pursue the latter by excluding the ‘armed actor’ as the common Other for both the victim protagonists, the rural society, and the audience, the urban society. Thereby, they indeed harden the confrontational line between ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ that the TJ process seeks to soften. Whether intentionally or not, the three selected films have the potential to affect the urban society emotionally, and thereby to function as a vehicle for their concientización. Given that the films reach the non-sensitised part of the urban society, their potential effect could help construct a larger mnemonic community in exclusion of the ‘armed actor’.11 Their contribution could thus reach even further and is portrayed in the fate of the aforementioned mutilated boy in Pequeñas voces, who can be regarded as an allegory for the nation incapacitated by the conflict. In Bogotá, where the two societies coincide, he receives artificial limbs and unexpectedly learns to walk again. Therein implied is a potential for future reconciliation between the urban and rural societies, which stands in contrast to the goals 10 Unfortunately, I could not get the number of views per country from the owners of the videos. 11 This is more likely in the case of the legally distributed films ‘Los colores de la montaña and Pequeñas voces’ than for ‘Impunity’. Due to access constraints, I could not obtain the distribution data for each film that would allow for assessing whether the films indeed reach the target audience, the non-sensitised urban society. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48 43

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

of (imposed and official) reconciliation between ‘the victims’ and ‘the perpetrators’ in the Colombian TJ process. Consequently, films contribute to memory building for times after the conflict, but, as Lozano emphasises, cannot necessarily contribute to accelerating the end of the Colombian conflict.

44

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

– I reflect – This article reflects my fascination for Colombia as a case study for conflict research, as well as a site of thriving culture driven by incredibly brave, creative, influential and bright minds. As a student of conflict and peace research, I am interested in the manifold conflict resolution and peace-building mechanisms that the country has been applying and developing for decades. Analysing the official discourse(s) of transitional justice and memory-building in Colombia, I found a number of contradictions to the social identities constructed in music, art, and film. With an academic background in Hispanic literature, I believe that popular culture shapes at least as many minds and possibly touches more hearts through affect than any official conflict resolution or peace-building mechanism ever could. Therefore, I developed this paper as an exemplary demonstration of the diverging discourses of ‘high’ and ‘low data’ and their putative diverging effects on the social fabric. To me, this article is about us as future international relations scholars opening our minds and lending our skills to cultural productions, about taking them seriously. Why? Because, to paraphrase Richard Geertz, there’s turtles all the way down, and not all of them utter official discourses.

Mia Schöb MA (International Affairs), 2nd Semester The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva [email protected]

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

45

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

References Aolaín, Fionnuala Ní / Campbell, Colm, 2005. The Paradox of Transition in Conflicted Democracies. In: Human Rights Quarterly, 27(1), 172-213. Arjona, Ana María, 2008. Grupos armados, comunidades y órdenes locales: interacciones complejas. In González G. / Fernán E. (ed.). Hacia la Reconstrucción del País: Territo-rio, Desarrollo y Política en regiones afectadas por el conflicto armado. Bogotá, Colombia: CINEP, pp. 105167. Austin, Guy, 2010. Against amnesia: representations of memory in Algerian cinema. In: Journal of African Cinemas, 2(1), 27-35. Barahona de Brito, Alexandra, 2010. Transitional Justice and Memory: Exploring Perspectives. In: South European Society and Politics, 15 (3), 359-376. Bell, Vikki, 2011. Afterword. The Politics of ‘Memory’ in the Long Present of the Southern Cone. In: Lessa, F. / Druliolle V. (eds). The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, New York, pp. 209-221. Burton, Julianne, 1978. The Camera as ‘Gun’: Two Decades of Culture and Resistance in Latin America. In: Latin American Perspectives, 5(1), 4676. Call, Charles T., 2004. Is Transitional Justice Really Just? In: Brown Journal of World Affairs, 11(1), 101–113. CODHES, 2011. De la seguridad a la prosperidad democrática en medio del conflicto. Boletín de la Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento. 78, Bogotá, Colombia. (online) Available: www.internal-displace-ment.org/8025708F004CE90B/(httpDoc uments)/081D0486B7FEB864C125796E004F4F13/$file/Codhes+Bo let%C3%ADn+Septiembre+2011.pdf (Accessed: 6th April 2013). Cofino, Alon, 1997. Collective Memory and Cultural History: Problems of Method. In: The American Historical Review, 102(5), 1386-1403. Congreso de Colombia, 2005. Ley 975 de 2005. Bogotá, Colombia: Congreso de la República de Colombia. (online) Available: http://web.presidencia.gov.co/leyes/2005/julio/ley975250705.pdf (Accessed: 2nd April 2013). Congreso de Colombia, 2011. Ley 1448 de 2011. Bogotá, Colombia: Congreso de la República de Colombia. (online) Available: www.putumayo.gov.co/documentos2012/ley_devctimas.pdf. (Accessed: 2nd April 2013). Crenzel, Emilio, 2011. Introduction. Present Pasts: Memory(ies) of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone of Latin America. In Lessa, F. / Druliolle V. (eds). The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. New York, pp. 1-13.

46

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Denzin, Norman K. (2000) Reading Film – Filme und Videos. In: Flick Uwe / Kardorff Ernst v. / Steinke Ines (eds). Qualitative Forschung: Ein Handbuch. Hamburg, pp. 416-429. García-Godos, Jemima / Lid, Knut Andreas O, 2010. Transitional Justice and Victims' Rights before the End of a Conflict: The Unusual Case of Colombia. In: Journal of Latin American Studies, 42(03), 487–516. Curti, Giorgio Hadi, 2008. From a wall of bodies to a body of walls: Politics of affect – Politics of memory – Politics of war. In: Emotion, Space, Society, 1(2), 106-118. Jäger, Siegfried / Meyer, Florentine, 2009. Theoretical and Methodological Aspects of Foucauldian Critical Discourse and Dispositive Analysis. In: Wodak, R. / Meyer, M. (eds). Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis. London, p. 34-61. Jaramillo, Sergio / Giha, Yaneth / Torres, Paula, 2009. Transitional Justice and DDR: the case of Colombia. New York: International Center for Transitional Justice. (online) Available: http://ictj.org/publication/transitional-justice-and-ddr-casecolombia-case-study. (Accessed: 22nd April 2013). Kamninski, Marek M. / Nalepa, Monica / O’neill, Barry, 2006. Normative Strategic Aspects of Transitional Justice. In: The Journal of Conflict Resolutions, 50(3), 295–302. Laplante, Lisa J. / Theidon, Kimberly, 2007. Transitional Justice in Times of Conflict: Colombia’s Ley de Justicia y Paz. In: Michigan Journal of International Law, 28(1), 49-108. Lessa, F. / Druliolle Vincent, (eds), 2011. The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. New York. Lundy, Patricia / Mcgovern, Mark, 2008. Whose Justice? Rethinking Transitional Justice from the Bottom Up. In: Journal of Law and Society, 35(2), 265-292. Maniglier, Patrice, 2011. Versions du present: la métaphysique de l’événement. In: Maniglier, Patrice / Zabunyan, Dork (eds). Foucault va au cinéma. Montrouge. Rosenstone, Robert A, 1995. Revisioning history: film and the construction of a new past. Princeton. Roht-Arriaza, Naomi; Mariezcurrena, Javier (eds), 2006. Transitional Justice in the Twenty-first Century: Beyond Truth versus Justice. Cambridge. Rourani, Najib, 2008. The Militiaman Icon: Cinema, Memory, and the Lebanese Civil War. In: The New Centennial Review, 8(2), 287-307. Sarasin, Philipp, 2005. Michel Foucault zur Einführung. Hamburg. Summers, Nicole, 2012. Colombia’s Victims Law: Transitional Justice in a Time of Violent Conflict? In: Harvard Human Rights Journal, 25, 219235. Teitel, Ruti G., 2003. Transitional Justice Genealogy. In: Harvard Human Rights Journal, 16, 69–94. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

47

Schöb: Memory Building within the Colombian Conflict

Theidon, Kimberley, 2006. The Micropolitics of Reconciliation in Postwar Peru. In: The Journal of Conflict Resolutions, 50(3), 433-457. UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, 2011. Colombia. In: UNHCR Global Appeal 2011 Update (online) Available: www.unhcr.org/4cd9734c9.html. (Accessed 22nd April 2013), pp. 304-307. United Nations Secretary General, 2010. Guidance Note of the SecretaryGeneral. United Nations Approach to Transitional Justice (online) Available: www.unrol.org/files/TJ_Guidance_Note_March_2010FINAL .pdf (Accessed 22nd April 2013). Uribe, María Victoria, 2009. Memory in Times of War. In: Public Culture, 21(1), 3-7. Van Drunen, Saskia, 2010. Struggling with the Past. The Human Rights Movement and the Politics of Memory in Post-Dictatorship Argentina. Amsterdam. Wayne, Mike, 2001. Political Film. The dialectics of Third Cinema. London, UK. Weldes, Jutta, 2006. High Politics and Low Data. In: Yanow D. / SchwartzShea P. (eds). Interpretation and Method: Empirical Research and the Interpretative Turn. New York / London, pp. 176-186. Wodak, Ruth, 2004. Critical discourse analysis. In: Seale, C. / Silverman, D. / Gunrium, J. F. / Gobo, G. (eds). Qualitative Research Practice. London, pp. 197-213. Zabunyan, Dork, 2011. Ce que peut un film: Foucault et le savoir cinématografique. In Maniglier, P. / Zabunyan, D. (eds). Foucault va au cinéma. Montroug. DVDs Arbeláenz, Carlos, 2010. Los colores de la montaña, DVD. Switzerland: Filme für eine Welt. Carrillo, Jairo, 2011. Pequeñas voces, DVD. Switzerland: Trigon films. Lozano, Juan José / Morris, Hollman, 2010. Impunity, DVD. Switzerland: Intermezzo films.

48

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 29-48

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

Cocaine – Symbol of the Uniting and Dividing Forces of Globalisation? Christian Küsters Abstract This article asks to what extent cocaine symbolises uniting and dividing tendencies of globalisation for continents, peoples, and societies. Cocaine is used as an example to show the magnitude to which globalised networks of communication, transport, and market mechanisms exert uniting as well as dividing power. Following its geographical route from production via trafficking to consumption, different cases in point will be studied to show globalization’s features and interlinkages with the global drug business. The paper reveals that concerning cocaine, the increasing compression of time and space through progress in communication and transport does have uniting effects on a large scale but divides societies at the local level. Keywords: Globalisation, Cocaine, Trafficking, War on Drugs

Introduction Globalisation – an enormous word that describes processes which bring people from highly distant places closer together. It shortens links in production chains, fosters communication and travel across continents and leads to a blending of cultures, habits, and lifestyles. One might say that the numerous processes of globalisation unite the planet and its people. At the same time one witnesses the consequences of processes pointing in the opposite direction. Rising economic inequality within and across regions as well as conflicts fuelled by ethnic and religious prejudices or migration are examples of the other side of the coin. By studying the global cocaine markets, this paper will address the topic of how they illustrate the dividing and uniting forces of globalisation. Trade has been one of the drivers of globalisation while simultaneously being promoted by the processes of globalisation – and this refers not only to the lawful markets from food to steel, from clothing to finance, but also to the IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

49

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

understudied illegal bazaars of human and drug trafficking, of illegal arms and money laundering. Cocaine is an especially suitable example since it is an inherently globalised product: Coca, as the base of cocaine, is almost exclusively cultivated in the Andean region of South America. But the consumer markets are in the developed countries of North America and Europe,1 which makes trade inevitable. Furthermore, this example is appropriate to take a closer look at the processes underlying the production, trade, and distribution of such a globalised good. The product and especially its basic resource, the coca leaf, have a century-long history, having been put on the global map (from a euro-centric point of view) with the colonisation of South America. Large parts of the world are nowadays involved, from the Andean region and the Caribbean to West Africa and finally Europe and North America. This fact allows for a perspective on the illegal and illegitimate economies benefiting and mutually being influenced as well as influencing globalising tendencies.2 As background, first the term “globalisation” will be introduced drawing on extensive literature and definitions. Then a brief history of cocaine and the coca leaf will be presented before taking a closer look at the globalisation of cocaine production, trafficking, and consumption for which a number of case studies will be illustrated. Methods and routes of trafficking, the developments in producer countries and along trading routes as well as patterns of consumption will be singled out to portray how globalisation influences drug trade and how drug trade reciprocally has global consequences and shapes not just individuals but nations and societies. The paper concludes with highlighting that cocaine, a globalised product, has uniting effects which are visible against the backdrop of liberalisation in (financial) trade. However, cocaine symbolises dividing features of globalisation as well: the ‘War on Drugs’ makes a clear distinction between producer and consumer countries, and the drug works as a separating status symbol within societies.

Theoretical Background: What is Globalisation? The concept of globalisation consists of four central aspects: space, time, the increasing interaction between people and societies worldwide, and, lastly, the organisation thereof. David Harvey (1990: 241) identifies globalisation as a “time-space compression.” He refers to innovations in communication and transport technology as well as in travel which bring people and products from all over the world closer together. The ensuing effects are put Global consumption patterns have recently started to change (see section 4). to the limited scope of this article some of the topics will only be touched upon briefly while others – the ones depicting growing social, cultural, political, economic division respectively unity of the planet through the processes of globalisation – will be explored more extensively. 50 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66 1

2 Due

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

eloquently by Milton Santos (2000: 25): “information has a determinant role in the use of time […] assuring the simultaneity of actions and, consequently, accelerating the historical process.” Hennayake (2010: 4) extends Harvey’s definition by conceptualising globalisation as “a process that involves a dramatic increase in the relationships and interconnections of different degrees among various places and people in all sphere of life at different scales”. The author not only takes up the first two aspects of Harvey’s definition, but adds a third aspect, which is growing global interaction and linkages. In order to reach a definition that is sufficiently holistic for the analysis undertaken in this paper, Held et al. (1999: 16) are taken into consideration. The authors perceive globalisation not as one process (as did Hennayake) but as “a set of processes […] which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions – assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact – generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and the exercise of power”. This definition now contains all four aforementioned aspects characterizing globalisation. Thus, the underlying categories of time and space become less and less important through means of “the technical-scientific-informational milieu” (Santos 2000: 191), thereby changing the interaction patterns of people globally as well as their organisation. Globalisation reveals itself on the international, regional, national, and local level, and one has to take into account that “globalization […] produces problems that manifest themselves in intensely local forms but have contexts that are anything but local” (Appadurai 2000: 6). This effect lies at the heart of every example examined in this article: coca eradication in Bolivia, the War on Drugs in Mexico, and social decay in drug consuming societies. Despite globalisation’s perceived “newness,” some authors already date it back to the Roman Empire, while for example Andreas (2011: 412) traces the globalisation of illicit products (in the form of smuggling) back to the 16th century with the start of transatlantic trade. Vélez Quero (2000: 30) identifies central features that link globalising effects with the international drug business. She recognises the idea of free trade as the driving force behind globalisation: therefore, the reduction of tariffs, trade regulation, and border control is at the forefront of political efforts to promote globalisation (Vélez Quero 2000: 31). Additionally, the improvements in communication and transport technology have allowed goods, services, and people to float more freely across borders (Vélez Quero 2000: 31). These tendencies have led and continue to lead to an increasing permeability of borders (“mayor permeabilidad de las fronteras”, Vélez Quero 2000: 31), significantly facilitating the flow of criminal goods as well (Vélez Quero 2000: 31). This is what Andreas (2011: 406) calls the “illicit side of global economy”. Under this label, the author does not only subsume the trade in prohibited commodities like cocaine and heroin, or the smuggling of IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

51

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

legal commodities like cigarettes and alcohol in order to avoid taxation, but also the clandestine movement of people, the trafficking of endangered species, and money laundering (Andreas 2011: 406).

History of Cocaine Regarding the history of cocaine, three central aspects can be highlighted that symbolise its uniting and dividing effects. A biological discovery made in Germany in the 19th century turns a millennia-old plant from South America into a highly popular drug, thereby linking the two continents in a business cycle. The coca bush is a plant that has been cultivated for millennia in the Andean region of South America, especially in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia. The approximately 250 types of coca bushes play a major role in regional customs, traditions, diets, and medicines. The ingredients of the coca leaves that are set free whilst chewing them (“acullico”) reduce hunger, tiredness, thirst, and make living under the straining conditions of extreme climate and high altitude much more bearable (Farfán 2002). Coca also contains the alkaloid “Cocaine” which was isolated and extracted for the first time in the 1860s by German chemists. It started to become known to a wider audience, amongst other reasons, for its medicinal purposes promoted by the German company Merck at the beginning of the 20th century (Wink 1998: 31). This alkaloid is the basis for the drug cocaine. Due to its euphoria-inducing effect the white powder became highly popular during the last century in the Western world (Vale 2007: 607). The change in usage of cocaine over the course of the 20th century provokes a concerted international effort to condemn the drug in a UN convention in the 1960s, thereby uniting and, paradoxically, dividing nations in the fight against cocaine. The increasing public health costs of drugs led to a United Nations (UN) convention on illegal substances in 1961 during which the production of coca for any reasons other than medicinal purposes was prohibited. Even the acullico – although a long-standing tradition in the Andean region – was abolished (Quiroga et al. 1991) and coca was included in the UN list of illegal substances. Two further conventions on the topic during the 1970s and at the end of the 1980s only marginally changed the official opinion of the UN on coca and cocaine (Farfán 2002). These three treaties 3 symbolise how countries that are affected in entirely different ways by the drug, its production, consumption, and trade, unite in efforts (at least on paper) to control it. On the other hand, the three conventions clearly distinguish 3 The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961; The Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971; The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988. 52 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

between producer and consumer countries, consequently differentiating between respective responsibilities. They thereby entail a strongly divisive feature. From 1961 on coca was not just a national or at best regional topic anymore: it became an issue of international scope. During the 1970s global demand for cocaine rose, especially in the USA. Particularly under the presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ was being militarised. American troops and officers of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) were deployed in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia in order to watch over suppression policies on coca (Marcy 2010).4 The applied policies of eradication proved to be of ambiguous success. On the one hand, eradication has partially worked and the area where coca had been illegally cultivated has been reduced significantly in some regions in the Andeans. At the same time, the lack of alternatives to gain livelihoods only made the coca cultivators (“cocaleros”) shift their fields to less accessible areas (Farfán 2002). At the end of the 1980s, for example, the coca economy in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia combined was worth about US$ 4.5 billion with about one million people depending on it economically (Marcy 2010). Nowadays the cooperation of Andean countries with the USA has been reduced significantly due to the fact that a) it has proven to be inefficient but very cost-intensive and b) a political shift towards the left took place that perceives the US-drug policy as an inappropriate intervention in domestic politics. Yet in its most radical form, the ‘War on Drugs’ led to a clear distinction on the international level between producer and consumer countries, resulting in international quarrels over drug policy and finally driving a wedge between North and South America.

Current Situation of the Global Flow of Cocaine It is estimated that in 2011 between 776 tonnes and 1061 tonnes of pure cocaine were produced globally, which is about as much as the years before (UNODC 2013: X). Meanwhile, a constant reduction in coca cultivation (to 155.600 ha in 2011) of about 30 percent compared to the area in 2000 is registered. The rise in cocaine production between 1990 and 2011 can be explained by increasing efficiency in the manufacturing processes (UNODC 2013: X).5

For further information on the USA’s role in South America see Mott (2002). For further information: UNODC World Drug Report 2013. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66 4 5

53

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

Figure 1: Trend in main indicators of drug supply and drug supply reduction, 2003-2011.

Source: UNODC World Drug Report 2013, p. 18. One major change compared to the years before is the stabilisation of Central/Western European markets for cocaine and the fall in consumption by about 40 percent in the USA between 2006 and 2011 (UNODC 2013: X), two markets that account for about half of global consumption (UNODC 2013: 12). This means that a shift of use and trafficking towards newly emerging regions on the global cocaine map is recognisable: Asia, Oceania, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, all show surging rates of cocaine prevalence (UNODC 2013: X).6 However, increases in those regions barely set off the losses from the U.S. market. Thus, overall the international cocaine market is stabilising (see Figure 1). Importantly, newly emerging markets bear the potential of massive growth, with cocaine prevalence currently far below the average in North America and Central/Western Europe (UNODC 2013: 18).

6 One reason for this are so-called ‘spill-over’ effects in South America and West Africa: More people consume cocaine because of its geographical proximity and consequently comparatively low prices (UNODC World Drug Report 2013: 39). 54 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

Figure 2: Cocaine seizures in Western and Central Europe, 2000-2011.

Source: UNODC World Drug Report 2013, p. 44. The geographical shift in consumer markets brings along a realignment of smuggling routes. The Atlantic route towards Europe is gaining importance, with Brazil emerging as one major transit hub but also – against the backdrop of rising incomes – as a destination (UNODC 2013: 42). From there the drug is shipped to West Africa which has gained a pivotal role since the 2000s as a region of storing, repacking, and trafficking cocaine (UNODC 2013: 23). After having used carrier flights and maritime routes for trafficking, land routes are becoming more popular. They are leading through the Sahara towards Europe (UNODC 2013: 46), where the drug mostly enters through Spain (see Figure 2). In Latin America, law enforcement in Mexico has led to increasing usage of routes through Central America, particularly through Guatemala and Honduras (UNODC 2013: 48). In an effort to bypass law enforcement at the Mexican-US border, Ecuador is emerging as a hub for maritime trafficking of cocaine (UNODC 2013: 24). This data shows how interconnected the global market for cocaine is: Local consumption in the USA is falling while economic development in Asia and Africa increases demand; this in turn results in shifting trafficking routes affecting formerly untouched countries (for example in West Africa). Crackdowns on coca production in Bolivia change cultivation and production patterns, while increased law enforcement in Mexico leads to Ecuador and Brazil rising as hubs for maritime trafficking. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

55

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

How Does the Cocaine Business Interact with Globalisation? This section illustrates cocaine’s globalising effects on people, societies and politics. The examples chosen evoke an impression of the range of dimensions and levels on which globalisation and cocaine mutually impact each other: the economic and social effects in producing regions, social and political consequences along the routes of trafficking, and the ramifications of consumption in the Western markets.

Production As mentioned before, the production of cocaine is limited to certain geographical regions. In 2008, for example, Colombia was the world’s largest producer of clean-cut cocaine worth US$ seven to nine billion which was more than half of the world’s production (Pontón 2013: 140). The existence of consumer demand mostly in the USA and Europe – the largest consumers of cocaine, with 30.8 percent and 25.7 percent of annual consumption in 2010 respectively (Pontón 2013: 140) – stimulates the maintenance of an international production and distribution chain of cocaine. With increasingly cheap and fast methods of communication and transportation, globalisation enables the functioning of an international market for cocaine. The market has been growing for a long period of time regardless of states’ efforts to curb it. As Marcy (2010) explains in detail, the USA have been at the forefront of fighting coca production in the Andean countries since the 1960s. But not only is this a bilateral issue potentially leading to the violation of countries’ sovereignty, it has also become a multilateral topic since the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961, which called for the elimination of illicit production and non-medical use of cannabis, cocaine, and opioids (Room/Reuter 2012: 84). The first convention was expanded and complemented by two other ones in 1971 and 1988, extending the list of illegal substances (Busse 2010: 1). Singer (2006: 469) sheds light on the ties between drugs and development since developing countries are usually “located at the rear end of the (commercial) chain”. By looking at Central Asian countries along the heroin route, he identifies ambivalent effects of drug production on local development: On the one hand, they provide income and livelihood for thousands of families (Singer 2006: 472). Illicit production receives public support by directly employing locals in the field and during the manufacturing processes. Furthermore, it also leads to investments in infrastructure and in better living conditions for the workers and their families through the compensation for natural disasters etc. (Bastos et al. 2006: 100). In the case of cocaine UNODC (2010: 79) points to the US$ 500 million profit Andean farmers made of the product in 2008 alone, which do have a positive influence on local development (see section 3). 56

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

On the other hand, illicit substances pose health and social threats through a variety of effects: During production, the workers come into contact with dangerous chemicals, usually without proper security gear (Singer 2006: 472). With regard to social issues, illegal drug production fosters corruption within the local and regional governments of that area (Singer 2006: 474), UNODC (2010: 70) finding similar results for cocaine production in the Andean region and the West African trading hub. These developments contribute to the erosion of social institutions (Singer 2006: 474, UNODC 2010: 70). Furthermore, wherever a large amount of illicit and profitable substances is produced, moved, or consumed, violence increases (Singer 2006: 475; Bastos 2006: 101). In this context Borba and Cepik (2011) outline the strong economic, social, and structural ties to organised crime. The UNODC (2010: 70) underlines the threat of political instability against the backdrop of terrorist groups being involved in the cocaine business (for example FARC in Colombia, Sendero Luminoso in Peru). These consequences eventually lead Singer (2006: 476) to the conclusion that “legal and illegal drugs contribute to the maintenance of social inequality internationally because of their effect on hindering development”. The dimension of cocaine production illustrates the mutual influences between the product and globalisation: First of all, an international cocaine market can only function due to the technological advances in means of communication and transport – the central drivers of globalisation. On the other hand, international treaties for combating illicit substances drive a wedge between producer and consumer countries. Lastly, Singer (2006), Bastos (2006), and the UNODC (2010) point to the dividing and uniting effects the global cocaine market has on the local producers by allowing them to gain revenue and to move up to the rest of society in terms of development, while alienating them socially from the majority.

Trafficking Pontón (2013: 137) estimates the world’s drug trade (‘narcotráfico’ in the context of South American cocaine) to be a market worth US$ 320 billion. This explains the high risks that actors take on and the perseverance with which cocaine trafficking is pursued. Trade is the way in which globalisation manifests itself most visibly, since a product has to go from the place of production – in this case, South America – to the lucrative markets of consumption. The two traditional routes to Europe go either through the Caribbean, or via Cape Verde/Madeira/Canary Islands to the old continent (Stori/De Grauwe 2008: 38). But new routes are arising. Benson and Decker (2010: 134) study the organisational structure behind the ‘narcotráfico’. Instead of the large cartels of the 1970s and 1980s, drug trade is currently organised by smaller, informal groups that prove to be more flexible in adapting to external changes of context and therefore IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

57

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

more successful (Benson/Decker 2010: 135). This structure poses a challenge to communication since there is no strict line of command anymore, now taking place face-to-face (Benson/Decker 2010: 135). This is only made possible by advances in communication and transportation techniques, by a growing number of international flights and decreasing prices of intercontinental travel – a “time-space compression” (Harvey 1990: 241). Burillo-Putze et al. (2012: 523) bring up an example of how the success of trafficking depends not only on the means of transport and communication but also on a way to hide the product. By referring to liquid body-packing7 the authors show how increasing law enforcement and control mechanisms only lead to more innovative ways to circumvent them, and how (inter-) national legislation triggers creativity thousands of kilometres away in the regions where cocaine is stored and repacked. ‘War on Drugs’ – The Mexican Case Piñeyro (2012: 5) identifies the ideologies underlying the global war on drugs initiated by the USA in the 1960s. After the replacement of ‘developmentalism’8 as the prevailing model of economic development in the Andes, the author nowadays recognises neoliberalism with its focus on public security (for foreign and domestic capital and means of production) as the theoretical ground for statesmen to act. At the same time, the relevant actors fail to understand that ‘narcotráfico’ is not a provisional but a structural problem affecting societies in their entirety (Piñeyro 2012: 6). In Mexico, for example, around 18,000 people went missing since 2006; 100,000 to 150,000 orphans and widows/widowers have been left behind on the civilian side of the war alone, while the society as a whole experiences a life in fear – “el vivir con miedo” (Piñeyro 2012: 6). Interesting in this case is the complexity of globalisation regarding this phenomenon: Originally, Mexico was not involved in the global cocaine market, and was only affected by this issue due to its convenient geographical location. However, the drug business provides jobs for about half a million people in the country and is estimated to contribute three to four percent to Mexican GDP (Piñeyro 2012: 13; Lee 2014). In the meantime, it provokes bilateral and multilateral reactions, like the ‘War on Drugs’, supplied with funding and intelligence by the USA (Lee 2014), which in turn lead to the decomposition of the society (Lee 2014; Piñeyro 2012: 11). Paradoxically,

7 The “mule” swallows a solution of cocaine and gel that is not detectable by x-ray scans. 8 Developmentalism: A national economic strategy promoting industrialisation and inward-looking policies to increase value of production and decrease reliance on commodity exports (Bresser-Pereira 2012: 384-385). For further information see Magno (1983) and Berberoglu (1992: 7-48). 58 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

this development makes the drug business even more attractive and raises serious questions about policy approaches to the issue.9 Liberalisation of Financial Markets/Flows Another factor that proves to be linked with globalisation is the liberalisation of national financial markets and flows. These developments have pushed for the creation of global financial markets and at the same time are driven by the forces of globalisation – the interests of corporations and politicians. They are made possible by new technologies in communications and the ITsector. Seddon (2008: 723) argues that the increasing flows of money have also enhanced the capability of money laundering across national borders. Ever faster and more complex flows of cash in combination with an abundance of fiscal products and investment opportunities have made it more difficult to track them. This in turn facilitates laundering and simplifies the injection of money earned in the drug markets into the legal economy. In the USA alone the cocaine market is valued at around US$ 19.5 billion annually, of which about US$ nine billion have to be laundered (Pontón 2013: 149). Decreasing Border Control in Europe Seddon (2008: 723) underlines that the free movement of people, goods, and services is at the core of the European Union (EU). Alongside its own statutes, borders within the Union have been diminished over the last decades while the entity itself expanded and came to include 28 states. This in turn means that it is extremely easy to travel from country to country and to transport goods within the EU. The author also points towards the doubling of international migration since the 1980s to about 200 million people moving regularly between countries in the 2000s (Seddon 2008: 723). Migrants move across borders, thereby creating new ties between host and home country. This facilitates the entry of new markets for drugs since a distribution network can easily be built up in the host country (Seddon (2008: 723). Cocaine trafficking shows how globalisation manifests on the political level, with a group of states diminishing (financial) borders and border controls amongst themselves, but also on the individual level with a rising number of people migrating to other countries. Both developments facilitate

For further information see Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, (2009). IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66 9

59

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

the spread of drugs by diminishing the risk of drug trafficking across borders and by lowering the threshold of entering new markets for cocaine.10

Consumption Studying informal control and illicit drug trade, Jacques and Wright (2011: 729) outline that, theoretically, legislation and law enforcement are at the forefront of combating illegal drug trade and are the most popular measures on the local, national, and international levels (Wright 2011: 732) – they point to a global convergence in the tools applied against drug consumption. In their surveys, the researchers also came across linkages between the type of drugs a person consumes and the income that he/she earns, thereby localising certain drugs within particular socio-economic milieus (Wright 2011: 757). Interestingly, drugs do not solely lead to division on a global scale, namely into producer, trafficking, and consumer countries. They also illustrate socio-economic differences between people on a local scale (Haasen/Springer 2002; Miech/Chilcoat 2007). As the UK Home Office found in a study in 2009, cocaine was more widely used amongst participants with a diploma or a degree as their highest qualification than amongst respondents without a degree who were about as likely to consume drugs. Similar results were discovered when comparing household incomes, with 3.8 percent of respondents with a household income of more than £ 50,000 consuming cocaine, whereas only 2.6 percent of respondents earning less than £10,000 took the drug even though being twice as likely to do any kind of drug (Rogers 2009). In the same direction points a study recently conducted by Mark K. Greenwald and Caren L. Steinmiller (2014) on cocaine users in the USA: the respondents’ income positively correlates with cocaine intake. Jacques and Wright (2011: 759) reach the conclusion that repressive measures in the fight against drugs, which are designed to drive up prices to curb consumption, are currently not working and need to be further diversified in order to tackle specific consumer groups. Braun (2002: 364) offers a similar verdict comparing different social and legislative approaches to substance abuse, for example in the Netherlands and Germany: Repressive approaches are less successful than policies focusing on prevention mechanisms. Global drug consumption patterns “reflect the second wave of globalization” (Singer 2006: 469) marked by the removal of trade barriers which enables uncontrolled flow of products across national boundaries. A

Other aspects and features linked to globalisation that also play a significant role in the global cocaine business are technological progress and the increasing possibilities of transferring knowledge and expertise. Since further examples would reach beyond the scope of this article they are not portrayed in detail. 60 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

10

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

second link between globalisation and the global drug business can be seen in the political efforts to fight consumption. As already pointed out, many international conventions and treaties on illegal substances exist (Room/Reuter 2012). Global efforts, no matter how questionable and (un-) successful, are applied and generate impact, especially in the field of suppression of production and coca eradication. Although it seems like cocaine has uniting effects on a global governance level, it becomes apparent that it is driving individuals apart on the local level, thereby threatening entire societies.

Conclusion By studying the global cocaine markets, this paper scrutinised how they illustrate the dividing and uniting forces of globalisation. As shown in section 2, the concept of globalisation consists of the four central aspects space, time, the increasing interaction between people and societies worldwide, and the organisation thereof. Appadurai (2000) points out that these developments manifest themselves in local contexts where they affect individuals and communities. Regarding the global business of cocaine, one realises the complexity of globalisation’s consequences: uniting but also dividing the international society. Cocaine is an inherently global product with large geographical distances between production and consumption regions, making trafficking inevitable. From the start – the discovery of the alkaloid cocaine in the coca plant in Germany – this drug has linked regions and continents. The specific (natural) conditions needed in the context of cocaine production inescapably lead to an international division of labour in the business. Another effect making the uniting power of globalisation apparent is the fight against illegal substances. Repressive measures that are applied in either producer or consumer countries inevitably take a toll on the other end of the cocaine business. These connections can affect states that formerly had nothing to do with it, through shifting trafficking routes. For example, West African countries were pulled into the vicious circle of drug trade. The uniting efforts of global (UN) conventions and treaties against illegal substances prove to be dividing as well. They draw a line between producer, consumer, and trafficking countries, which is converted into the idea of shared but differentiated responsibility,11 hindering concerted efforts to Shared responsibility: „joint undertaking involving government institutions, the private sector, civil society, local communities and individuals who have agreed to work together as partners and who have a shared mutual obligation for concerted action at different levels in response to the drug challenge” (International Narcotics Control Board 2012: 1); differentiated in this context refers to the different challenges countries affected by production, trafficking, and consumption are faced with (Costa 2008). IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66 61 11

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

combat drug trade. Additionally, they allow states like the USA to exert force in foreign territories as part of their ‘War on Drugs’, further repelling nonconsumer states. Interestingly, the division of societies by cocaine is not just visible on a global scale, but also in very local contexts amongst societies. The consumption of cocaine works as a defining symbol of one’s own economic affluence and an assertion of the proper socio-economic status in contrast to consumers of other drugs. In the end, the paradoxical yet mutual influence between globalisation and the cocaine business becomes apparent: “[there] is a quest for uniformity in the service of hegemonic actors, yet the world is becoming less unified” (Santos 2000: 19). Globalisation has been studied in the social sciences for long, but its illegal and illegitimate sides – from international drug and weapons markets to trafficking of people and organs – deserve further academic research to be fully understood. This article sheds light on the strong connections between globalising effects and an illegal economy operating internationally. It focuses on the global cocaine market revealing globalisation’s uniting, yet similarly dividing social, cultural, economic, and political effects. Similar academic effort can be put into the economies of weapons smuggling, trafficking of endangered species, of precious wood etc. in order to provide a better understanding of the interlinkages between illegal economies and globalization.

62

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

– I reflect – The phenomenon of globalisation has been studied widely. Its positive cost-cutting effects on production processes to an increasing exchange of culture and ideas have been pointed out just as much as its negative impacts ranging from rising global inequality to environmental pollution. But what about the people affected by this development, the ones who find themselves outside the limelight, sometimes even outside of society? Cocaine symbolises a long and complex history of use and abuse, of power and dependence. Globalisation allows for an ever faster and wider spread of the drug around the globe, links the producers tighter to the consumers and, therefore, bears ramifications from the individual to the inter-state level. The global ‘War on Drugs’ is one manifestation of this development. However, in order to deal with cocaine (and other globalised narcotics) appropriately, we need to understand its dependence on globalising processes, every step from production to consumption. And maybe, maybe we even need to rethink our approach of repressiveness and prohibition.

Christian Küsters MA (International Studies), 1st Semester Aarhus Universitet [email protected]

References Andreas, Peter, 2011. Illicit Globalization: Myths, Misconceptions, and Historical Lessons. In: Political Science Quarterly, 26(3), 403-425. Appadurai, Arjun, 2000. Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination. In: Public Culture, 12(1), 1-19. Bastos, Francisco. I. / Caiaffa, Waleska / Rossi, Diana / Vila, Marcelo / Malta, Monica, 2006. The children of mama coca: Coca, cocaine and the fate of harm reduction in South America. In: International Journal of Drug Policy, 18(2), 99-106.

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

63

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

Benson, Jana. S. / Decker, Scott. H., 2010. The organizational structure of international drug smuggling. In: Journal of Criminal Justice, 38(2), 130-138. Berberoglu, Berch, 1992. The Political Economy of Development: Development Theory and the Prospects for Change in the Third World. New York. Braun, Norman, 2002. Rationalität und Drogenproblematik, München. Bresser-Pereira, Luiz. C., 2012. Structuralist Macroeconomics and the New Develop-mentalism. In: Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, 32(3), 347-366. Burillo-Putze, Guillermo / Travería Becker, Lissete / Galvez Rodríguez, Manuel / Sánchez Torres, Javier / Nogué, Santiago, 2012. Liquid cocaine body packers. In: Clinical Toxicology, 50(6), 522-524. Busse, Anja, 2010. Illegale Drogen und Suchtproblematik als Herausforderung für Entwicklungsländer. In: Public Health Forum, 18, (2), 16-18. Cepik, Marco / Borba, Pedro, 2011. Crime organizado, estado e segurança internacional. In: Contexto international, 33(2), 375-405. Costa, Antonia. M., 2008. Free drugs or Drugs Free?, In: UNODC. Online: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/free-drugs-or-drugs-free.html (Website visited 16th November 2014). Farfán, Fernando. R., 2002. La Economía de la Coca. Instituto de Investigaciones Socio Económicas. In: Documento de Trabajo No. 06/02, Universidad Católica Boliviana, La Paz. Greenwald, Marc K. / Steinmiller, Caren L., 2014. Cocaine behavioral economics: From the naturalistic environment to the controlled laboratory setting. In: Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 141, 27-33. Haasen, Christian / Springer, Alfred, 2002: Kokain und Crack. Big Bang, Teufelsdroge oder Schnee von gestern?. In: Suchttherapie; 3(1): 1, Stuttgart / New York. Harvey, David, 1990. The Condition of Postmodernity. An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural, Oxford. Held, David / Mcgrew, Anthony / Goldblatt, David / Perraton, Jonathan, 1999. Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture, Cambridge Hennayake, Nalani. M., 2010. Globalization from within: Interplay of the local and the global in Sri Lanka. In: Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 33/34(1 & 2), 1-14. Jacques, Scott / Wright, Richard, 2011. Informal Control and Illicit Drug Trade. In: Criminology, 49(3), 729-765. Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, 2009. Drugs and Democracy: Toward a Paradigm Shift. Statement by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy. Online: www.drogasedemocracia.org/Arquivos/declaracao_ingles_site.pdf (Website visited 15th November 2014). 64

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

Lee, Brianna, 2014. Mexico’s Drug War. In: Council on Foreign Relations. Online: www.cfr.org/mexico/mexicos-drug-war/p13689 (Website visited 16th November 2014). Magno Alexander R., 1983. Developmentalism and the “new Society”: The Repressive Ideology of Underdevelopment. Quezon City. Marcy, William. L., 2010. The Politics of Cocaine – How U.S. Foreign Policy has created a thriving drug industry in Central and South America, Chicago. Miech, Richard /Chilcoat, Howard, 2007. The Formation of a Socioeconomic Disparity – A Case Study of Cocaine and Marijuana Use in the 1990s. In: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32(6S), 171-176. Moreira, Manual B., 2004. Agriculture and food in the Globalization Age. In: International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 12(1), 1728. Mott, William H., 2002. United States military assistance: an empirical perspective. Westport CT. Piñeyro, J. P., 2012. El ¿saldo? De la Guerra de Calderón contra el narcotráfico. In: El Cotidiano, 173, 5-14. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Azcapotzalco México. Pontón, Daniel C., 2013. La economía del narcotráfico y su dinámica en América Latina. In: Íconos 47, 135 - 153. Quiroga T. / HOSE, Antonio / GONZALEZ, Raul, 1991. Koka für (Versprechen auf) Entwicklung. In: Koka-Kokain Reportagen, Analysen und Dokumente aus den Andenländern, pp. 19–82. Rogers, Simon, 2009. Age, sex, money and race: how the drug use figures break down. The Guardian. Online: www.theguardian.com/news/ datablog/2009/jul/23/drugs-drugspolicy (Website visited 16th November 2014). Room, Robin / Reuter, Peter, 2012. How well do international drug conventions protect public health?. In: Lancet, 379(9810), 84-91. Santos, Milton, 2000. Por uma Outra Globalizaçã: Do Pensamento Único à Consciência Universal. Record, Rio de Janeiro. Seddon, Toby, 2008. Drugs, the informal economy and globalization. In: International Journal of Social Economics, 36(10), 717-728. Singer, Merril. (2006). Drugs and development: The global impact of drug use and trafficking on social and economic development. In: International Journal of Drug Policy, 19(6), 467-478. Storti, C. C./de Grauwe, P. (2008). The cocaine and heroin markets in the era of globalization and harm reduction policies. In: International Journal of Drug Policy 20 (2009), 488-496. Storto, Cláudia C. / De Grauwe, Paul, 2008. Illicit Trade and Globalisation – Modelling the Cocaine and Heroin Markets in the Era of Globalization and Drug Reduction Policies. CESifo Venice Summer Institute. Uunied Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013. World Drug Report 2010. Vienna. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

65

Küsters: Cocaine – Forces of Globalisation

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013. World Drug Report 2013. Vienna. Vale, Allister, 2007. Cocaine. In: Medicine, 35(11), 607. Vélez Quero, Silvia E., 2000. Globalización y narcotráfico: El úo dinámico de la Posguerra Fría. In: el Cotidiano, 16(100), 28-41. Wink, Michael, 1998. A Short History of Alkaloids. In: Roberts, M. F./Wink, M. (Eds): Alkaloids – Biochemistry, Ecology, and Medicinal Applications, pp. 11-44.

66

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 49-66

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

The Divided Union: Why the EU Did not Agree on a Comprehensive Financial Transaction Tax. A Comparative Analysis of the German and British Positions Felix Rüdiger Abstract This paper investigates two EU member states’ disagreement over the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in the aftermath of the financial crisis. By using Schirm’s societal approach, it conducts a comparative analysis of the German and British governmental positions between 2011 and 2013 seeking to explain why Germany approved an FTT while Great Britain strictly opposed such a tax. Following the societal approach, it argues that the governments’ diverging positions were strongly influenced by domestic economic interests, societal ideas and regulatory institutions: While more regulation-friendly societal ideas and institutions dominated the government’s decision in Germany, the UK’s distinct interest in supporting its financial sector and keeping "light-touch" regulation in place led to its refusal of an FTT. Keywords: Financial Transaction Tax, financial market regulation, societal approach, Comparative Political Economy.

Introduction In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, substantial differences in the way governments pursued the regulation of global finance became apparent. This holds especially true for the idea of a European Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). After having failed in the G20, the topic has, since 2009, been widely discussed among European Union (EU) member states where it has sparked heated debate. Disagreement over the European Commission’s proIReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

67

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

posal for a European FTT eventually led to the decision of eleven EU member states to move forward with an FTT under enhanced cooperation, disregarding other members’ refusal to follow their path. This paper seeks to understand the European Union’s disagreement over an FTT. After outlining the core components of the Financial Transaction Tax as proposed by the European Commission, this paper will focus on possible reasons for disagreement among European governments. For this purpose it will employ the societal approach (Schirm 2009a, 2009b, 2011, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2014) which holds that diverging governmental positions arise from differences in important economic sectors’ cost-benefit calculations, fundamental values held by the countries’ societies as well as institutions of their respective regulatory frameworks. It will be used to conduct a comparative analysis of the German and British positions over an FTT between January 2011 and February 2013 which marks the period that eventually led up to the failure of a comprehensive, EU-wide tax. Germany and Britain were chosen because they can be viewed as representative of the two diverging European positions – in favour and opposed to an FTT – and therefore allow the comparison between two different sets of ideas, interests and institutions. This paper draws on various resources in the wide field of domestic politics approaches as well as Comparative Political Economy (CPE). Many scholars1 have approached the puzzle of diverging governmental positions in global economic governance in the aftermath of the financial crisis. This paper contributes to this lively discussion and intends to fill in a research gap as divergence over the European FTT has not yet been investigated using the societal approach or any similar CPE research design.

The Proposed European FTT The recent momentum for the introduction of a transaction tax was triggered by the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008 which, to many observers2, revealed the instability of financial markets and has cast doubts on the benefits of financial market liberalisation. As a consequence, the crisis reignited the debate over the pros and cons of a tax on financial transactions (Schulmeister et al. 2008: 5). The European Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive on a common system of Financial Transaction Tax on 28 September, 2011. This proposal was instantly met by approval as well as rejection. The UK government has repeatedly pointed to the numerous negative effects which it thinks an FTT would have on the EU’s economy – especially in times Zimmermann (2010), Heyes (2012), Fioretos (2010), Kalinowski (2013), Schrim (2009) and Hodson (2009) seek to explain diverging governmental positions after the crisis. Schirm (2009), Schrim (2011), Franke (2012) and van Loon (2013) employ employ this paper’s societal approach to explain the German and British governments’ differing positions in global economic governance. 2 See Kalinowski (2013), Talani (2011), Semmler (2010), Bieling (2013). 68 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87 1

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

of crisis. Citing the European Commission’s own original impact assessment in 2011,3 British Prime Minister David Cameron indicated that a European Financial Transaction Tax could end up reducing the GDP of the EU by €200 billion, cost nearly 500.000 jobs and force much of the financial industry out of Europe: “Even to be considering this at a time when we are struggling to get our economies growing is quite simply madness” (Cameron 2012). The British government further expressed concerns over the negative impact an FTT would particularly have on Britain with its large financial industry. David Cameron has repeatedly insisted that he considered the financial service industry as one of Britain’s main strengths which it should openly support (see, for example, Cameron 2013). The German government, on the other hand, supports an FTT since the CDU/FDP Coalition had reached consensus on this question in May 2010 (Tagesschau 2013). The financial sector, among others, was considered responsible for the financial crisis as well as the ensuing economic crisis (Bundesregierung 2012a; Merkel 2011). As a result, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble repeatedly demanded that the industry must make a fair contribution to the costs imposed on states and taxpayers during and after the crisis (Bundesregierung 2012b; Schäuble 2012c). It was in turn regarded unacceptable that financial gains were privatised while costs were socialised (Schäuble 2012a). An FTT was furthermore viewed as a proper means to limit high frequency trading and its “exaggerations”, thereby stabilising financial markets (Schäuble 2012b). Due to these diverging governmental positions, it became clear during the seven meetings of the Council’s Working Party on Tax Questions as well as the European Council meeting on 22 June 2012 that unanimous support for an EU-wide FTT could not be reached. As a consequence, eleven Member States4 – representing about two thirds of the entire EU27 economy – voiced their intention to request an authorisation for engaging in enhanced cooperation (European Commission 2013a: 2). The European Commission (2013b) names three main objectives for a Financial Transaction Tax in the European Union: "Harmonizing legislation concerning indirect taxation on financial transactions […], ensuring that financial institutions make a fair and substantial contribution to covering the costs of the recent crisis […] and creating appropriate disincentives for transactions that do not enhance the efficiency of financial markets thereby complementing regulatory measures to avoid future crises" (European Commission 2013b: 2). The proposal includes specific tax rates on securities trading as well as derivate agreements which the Commission considers "financial-market See European Commission (2011). Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87 69 3 4

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

bets" (European Commission 2013a: 8). Securities trading, including shares and bonds, will be taxed 0.1 percent of the market price, whereas trading with derivative agreements is taxed by 0.01 percent of the notional amount underlying the product. Whereas earlier statements suggested an introduction of the tax by January 2014, the cooperating member countries now plan to have a legal basis for the tax by the end of 2014 and implement it by 2016 (Reuters 2014). But why did it come this far? Why was the United Kingdom strictly opposed to an FTT while Germany seemed determined to pull through with the tax even under enhanced cooperation – thereby unfolding a deep division within the European Union?

The Societal Approach This paper will employ the societal approach developed by (Schirm 2009a; 2009b; 2011; 2013a; 2013b; 2013c; 2014). It rests on the liberal theory of International Relations (Moravcsik 1997; Frieden, Rogowski 1996; Katzenstein 1978; 2005), the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) literature (Hall, Soskice 2001; Fioretos 2001) and historical institutionalism (Fioretos 2011; Farrell, Newman 2010). Moravcsik (1997) argues that the state is a representative institution constantly subject to the influence of coalitions of social actors. The relevance of domestic factors for governments’ foreign economic policies is furthermore emphasised by Frieden (1996) who holds that the preferences of national economic sectors are crucial for governmental policy decisions. The role of institutional factors in shaping government positions in domestic as well as foreign economic politics is underlined by the Varieties of Capitalism approach (Hall, Soskice 2001). VoC assumes that there are two distinctive ideal types of Western economies due to their institutional design (Hanke et al. 2010). Whereas market coordination mechanisms dominate in Liberal Market Economies (LME), Coordinated Market Economies (CME) tend to rely on the institutional governance structures of non-market coordination. LMEs are typically represented by the United States and Great Britain, while Germany is the main representative of CMEs. The VoC-literature therefore provides useful insights into institutional peculiarities of the German and British national economies, especially their regulatory frameworks for financial markets. According to VoC, institutions reflect ideas of the past and develop over time. They consequentially constrain future actions – illustrating VoC’s linkage to historical institutionalism. As its core argument, the societal approach holds that "divergence and/or convergence of the positions of governments towards the financial crisis, new regulation and economic stimulus are strongly influenced by domestic ideas and interests" (Schirm 2009b: 4). Governmental standpoints reflect preferences originating from domestic societal influences prior to interna70

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

tional negotiations (Schirm 2014: 2). Furthermore, it assumes that since governments in democratic systems want to be re-elected, they are responsive "to the way in which both domestic material interests and value-based ideas relate to globalization and (global) governance of markets" (Schirm 2009b: 4). The societal approach features three independent variables – economic interests, societal ideas, and domestic institutions – whereas governmental positions are treated as the dependent variable (Schirm 2014: 2). Interests are defined as material considerations of specific domestic sectors which react rapidly according to short-term benefits and costs induced by the global economy and new national, regional and global economic governance initiatives, such as regulatory reforms (Schirm 2009b; 2013b; 2014). Ideas are defined as path-dependent and value-based collective expectations about appropriate governmental positions and behaviour, in particular, on how politics should govern the (financial) market (Schirm 2013c; 2009b). These societal attitudes are thought to be more path-dependent than interests and can therefore not change as rapidly as the latter (Schirm 2013c: 6). Institutions are defined here as “formal regulations which structure domestic political and socio-economic coordination” that result in “long-term complementarities” resulting from these regulations (Schirm 2014: 3). The government is expected to act consistent with long-term institutional settings because they are, for one thing, considered the foundation of economic groups’ competitive advantage (Fioretos 2010: 701) and because of their path-dependent ideational legitimacy. In the context of this paper, institutions as regulatory frameworks are thus expected to reflect society’s basic convictions concerning the relationship between state and market and the main goals of regulating financial markets as well as economic considerations for a regulatory framework consistent with a national economy’s competitive advantage (Gottwald 2010: 57). The societal approach expects diverging governmental positions to be rooted in differing material interests, societal ideas and institutions. Ideas and interests may interact by reinforcing or weakening each other (Schirm 2009b: 5). Interests are expected to prevail over ideas if governance issues imply direct cost-benefit calculations of a specific, well-organised economic sector. Ideas, on the other hand, dominate a governmental position if an issue does not directly affect sectorial cost-benefit calculations, affected sectors are less relevant to a nation’s economy and an issue instead involves fundamental questions on the role of politics in governing the market. Domestic institutions do not constitute a variable competing with the two but rather weaken the impact of those ideas and interests that oppose institutional settings and, in turn, strengthen the impact of ideas and interests that reinforce them (Schirm 2014: 4). Concerning the German and British positions on an FTT, the following hypotheses apply: H 1.1: Since Great Britain opposes a Financial Transaction Tax, it is to be expected that societal ideas, economic interests IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

71

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

and/or domestic institutions cut across increased regulation of the financial sector. H 1.2: Because the financial sector contributes significantly to Britain’s GDP, economic interests predominantly influence Downing Street’s rejection of a Financial Transaction Tax. H 1.3: Pro-market ideas, typical for Liberal Market Economies, are expected to reinforce the opposition to a Financial Transaction Tax H 1.4: Furthermore, it is to be expected that the British system for financial market regulation reinforces economic interests and societal ideas opposed to an FTT and, consequently, the government’s opposition to an FTT. The hypotheses on the German case studies in turn reflect the country’s position in favor of an FTT. H 2.1: Since Germany favors a Financial Transaction Tax, it is to be expected that societal ideas, economic interests and/or domestic institutions support increased regulation of the financial sector. H 2.2: With a much smaller financial services sector compared to the UK, an FTT does not pose a major threat to the German economy. Therefore, material interests of sectorial lobby groups, be they in favor or against an FTT, cannot dictate the German governmental positions. H 2.3: Germans are generally more regulation-friendly, which is considered typical for Coordinated Market Economies. Their ideas will prevail over sectorial material interests and therefore predominantly influence the government’s decision making. H 2.4: The German Coordinated Market Economy’s regulatory framework for financial markets is expected to reinforce regulation-friendly interests and ideas and, in turn, the government’s position in favor of an FTT.

Operationalisation This paper will conduct an empirical analysis of all three independent variables as well as the dependent variable of governmental positions. Economic interests will be examined through a content analysis5 (Mayring 2010) of recent publications of business associations concerning the The text is interpreted using categories, which are developed and revised inductively in the course of the analysis (Mayring 2000: 3). Reliability is ensured by coding the examined material more than once (intracoder-reliability) and by allowing other 72 IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87 5

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

(non)desirability of a Financial Transaction Tax in the European Union. Three business associations were selected for each case study: For Germany, the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Association of German Banks (Bankenverband) and Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) have been selected. British economic interests, on the other hand, will be examined through publications by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) and the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe (COBCOE). For the content analysis, two to three publications were selected for each association, encompassing the period between January 2011 and February 2013 which corresponds to the political process resulting in the member states’ disagreement over an FTT. The three respective business associations represent similar sectors in each country and thus allow for a convincing comparison. Furthermore, they are supposed to represent not only the financial sector but also parts of the countries’ manufacturing industries. The empirical examination of societal ideas will focus on ideas as attitudes concerning the appropriate regulation of markets, taxation and the general role of government. As ideas are thought to be more stable than interests, it is necessary to focus on values that are persistent over time and whose validity has been observed over a period of many years (Schirm 2013c: 6). This is why ideas will be evidenced using longer-term surveys, namely the World Values Survey and Pew Research’s Global Attitudes Project. More short-term oriented polls on the specific issue of an FTT will thus only be analysed in the context of their coherence with longer-term values. As a third independent variable, the study of country-specific institutions of regulatory frameworks will be based on an analysis of secondary literature on the subject. Including regulatory institutions is a substantial enrichment to this paper’s analysis of ideas and interests and can help to explain why in some cases one of the two variables might predominantly influence the government.

Economic Interests As could be expected, the examined British lobby organisations voiced their distinct opposition to an FTT. They feared that, unless adopted worldwide, the tax would especially affect the City of London as Europe’s largest financial centre and European financial markets in general, putting the European Union at a competitive disadvantage with other trading hubs and thereby diverting financial activities to other jurisdictions (CBI 2012: 1; COBCOE 2011: 2). Particular attention was paid to the presumed negative impact of an FTT on the real economy, stressing that a Financial Transaction Tax “would coders to potentially reexamine the material of the content analysis (intercoderreliability). The content analyses were conducted with the help of MAXQDA. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

73

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

actually weaken both financial sector operators and the economies in which they do business, which would ultimately be detrimental to European tax revenue, to employment and to the citizens of the EU” (BBA 2011: 5). The European Commission’s strategy of applying a very low tax rate on a very broad base of transactions was not expected to precisely target speculative trading – especially because it is considered impossible to distinguish between “good” and “bad” transaction types (BBA 2011). Rather, as an FTT is expected to be a disincentive to risk hedging in the form of derivatives, according to BBA (2011), systemic risks could actually increase. Accordingly, British interest groups openly applauded the British government once the latter had made clear its refusal of an FTT, calling it “absolutely the right decision not to adopt the European Financial Transaction Tax in the UK” (CBI 2012: 1). In the examined period leading up to the European Commission’s proposal for an FTT under enhanced cooperation, the material interests of Germany’s leading business associations did not differ significantly from its British counterparts. First of all, BDI, Bankenverband and DIHK shared the concerns over the negative impact of an FTT on Germany’s real economy as well as on private actors. The main concern referred to possible migration of financial institutions such as banks and investment funds to jurisdictions in which transactions were not generally taxed. Furthermore, the business associations voiced concerns that it would become more difficult for German enterprises to borrow money and appropriately hedge risks (DIHK et al. 2011: 3; Bankenverband 2013: 1; BDI, BDA 2012: 1). As a result, the FTT was expected to even further decrease growth and employment (DIHK et al. 2011: 4). Considering that British and German business associations jointly voiced their opposition to the introduction of an FTT, both questioning its meeting the EU’s objectives and underlining possible destructive effects for the Union’s economy: Why did the British government oppose an FTT from the start whereas the German government eventually became one of its foremost proponents? Following the societal approach, the answer lies in country specific economic structures. Whether or not a government will conform to sectorial economic interests depends on the relevance of the most affected sectors to the entire national economy ("sektorale Betroffenheit" Schirm 2013a: 176). In the United Kingdom, the financial industry’s role for the country’s whole economy is exceptional: In 2011, the financial and insurance industry amounted to a share of 9.6 percent of the United Kingdom’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest of all G7 countries (Office for National Statistics UK 2013: 4; Monaghan 2014). Moreover, the sector employs about 1.1 million people, representing four percent of the British workforce (PwC, City of London 2013: 2). Altogether, these factors presumably serve as economic reasons to keep the financial industry strong and maintain the global importance of the City of London (Gottwald 2010: 92). 74

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

The extraordinary relevance of Britain’s financial sector to its national economy is even more apparent when compared to the German economy. In 2013, the financial sector contributed a share of only four percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), down from more than five percent in 2004 (Statistisches Bundesamt 2014: 60). The sector currently employs one million people or 2.3 percent of the German workforce (Bundesagentur für Arbeit 2014: 46). These figures show that compared to the UK, the financial sector in Germany – as a percentage of GDP and overall employment – is less relevant to the overall economy. As a consequence, the fact that Germany’s main business associations have voiced their opposition to an FTT does not mean that the societal approach’s assumptions need to be refuted. Rather, because the financial sector does not constitute a major cornerstone of the German economy as it does in the UK, societal ideas are expected to ‘fill in’ this explanatory gap. The analysis of economic interests therefore suggests that H 1.2 and H 2.2 can be verified.

Societal Ideas According to Schirm (2011: 50), the British society is expected to oppose more regulation due to their “pro market ideas” whereas the German society is depicted as more “regulation-friendly” which would, in the case of an FTT, correspond to society’s opposition in Britain and its approval in Germany. But do these assumptions hold true? Basic societal ideas are empirically tested with data from the World Values Survey 2006 (WVS)6 which includes both Great Britain and Germany and therefore allows a comparison. As both countries are capitalist societies, they share certain core ideas. For instance, a wide majority of Germans (79.7 percent) and Britons (72.5 percent) tend to agree that competition is rather good than harmful which is considered an indicator for the support of free market capitalism (World Values Survey 2006). More recent numbers by Pew Research (Pew Research 2012: 3) underpin this overall support for free markets, yet they observe a decline in support in Britain (61 percent in 2012, down from 72 percent in 2007) while increased support is indicated in Germany (69 percent in 2012, up from 65 percent in 2007). Similarly, most German (58.6 percent) and British (55.6 percent) respondents rather agree that wealth can be acquired so there’s enough for everyone and not just at the expense of others (World Values Survey 2006). Concerning specific characteristics of the market system, moderate, not fundamental, differences can be observed among the two countries:

6 The WVS 2006 constitutes the most current wave in which both the UK and Germany were included. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87 75

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Concerning the question of the proper role of the state, 66.7 percent of Germans but only 42.5 percent of Britons rather support the statement that “governments should take more responsibility” whereas a majority of 56.6 percent of British respondents agree that people should take more responsibility, compared to only 31 percent in Germany (World Values Survey 2006). Yet, it must be noted that more recent figures by Pew Research (Pew Research 2012: 1) suggest a bigger convergence on a similar subject: A majority of both German (62 percent) and British (55 percent) respondents found that it was more important that the state guarantees nobody is in need than the freedom to pursue life’s goals without state interference. The different values assigned to individual responsibility as opposed to collective responsibility endorse this tendency of moderate differences: While 63.6 percent of Germans agree that incomes should be made more equal and only 31.3 percent maintain that large income divides are required as incentives, British respondents are virtually split on the subject (49 percent versus 48.8 percent) (World Values Survey 2006). A third variable, the respondents’ “willingness to pay taxes” is considered especially relevant for the topic in question: Again, more Germans than Britons display views that rather correspond to CMEs than LMEs (Schirm 2009a: 509). The fact that governments tax the rich and subsidise the poor is considered rather an essential part of democracy by a vast majority of Germans (71.1 percent) and – to a lesser extent – Britons (59.9 percent) (World Values Survey 2006). More recent publications confirm these moderate differences in societal ideas which tend to support the societal approach’s argument of pro-market ideas in Britain and more regulation-friendly attitudes in Germany. Yet, ideas and attitudes expressed in these opinion polls tend to express more shortterm perceptions that greatly depend on the country’s current socioeconomic situation. While a majority of both Germans and Britons agree that the current economic system favours the wealthy (72 percent vs. 65 percent), to close the rich-poor-gap seems far more urgent to Germans, 42 percent of which view it the government’s top priority compared to 16 percent in the UK where the lack of employment opportunities dominated peoples’ perceptions (Pew Research Center 2013: 17). Asked about the major threats to their state’s economic well-being, the results are similar: While the lack of jobs tops the list in Britain with 87 percent of respondents regarding it as a major threat compared to 70 percent of Germans, the power of banks is perceived as a serious threat to 78 percent of Germans compared to 65 percent in Great Britain (Pew Research Center 2012: 21). Considering these and the preceding WVS numbers, the hypothesis that the German and the British society have different attitudes about appropriate governmental behaviour towards markets can be validated, yet it must be kept in mind that differences were often small. This can be attributed to the 76

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

fact that both countries, as market economies, share core assumptions and both agree that the state is to govern markets to a certain extent (Schirm 2011: 50). Differences in societal opinions on the Financial Transaction Tax are, however, a lot clearer than these numbers might suggest: For the entire period between 2011 and 2014, Germany continually shows the highest approval rates for a Financial Transaction Tax, whereas the UK is one of only three countries in which a majority of the population opposes an FTT. Figure 1: Approval Rates of Financial Transaction Tax

Source: Eurobarometer Nov 2011-Jun 2014. This large divergence of public opinion on a Financial Transaction Tax in the respective countries underlines the need to check the societal approach against other variables that might better – or jointly – explain the British and German attitudes towards a European regulatory measure such as the Financial Transaction Tax. This holds especially true for the societies’ overall stance towards the European Union. Nevertheless, the findings of this part confirmed the societal approach’s main expectations about differing ideas and values in both countries. Whereas in Britain societal ideas opposed to increased regulation might have reinforced the opposition of business towards an FTT (H 1.3), the more regulation-friendly attitudes of Germans who maintain the relevance of the role of the states towards markets and largely support an FTT are expected to have shaped the government’s approval of such a measure (H 2.3).

Institutions of Financial Market Regulation The analysis of regulatory institutions complements the notion that the financial sector is not as relevant to the German economy as it is in Britain and that path-dependent societal ideas and values about the role of the state towards markets could eventually dominate the German governmental posiIReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

77

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

tion. In Britain, on the other hand, the regulatory framework is expected to correspond to regulation-averse interests and ideas already observed. The UK’s system of financial regulation has long been considered to pursue a ‘light-touch’ regulatory approach. While prior to the 1980s, the City of London had been under the sway of a self-regulating “old-boys network” (Zimmermann 2010: 131), the growing importance of the City of London as an international financial centre and several regulatory scandals raised increased concern over the system’s effectiveness. The creation of the Financial Services Authority in 1997 by the New Labour government can hence be seen as an attempt to strengthen the City’s regulation and thereby its competitiveness and assuage investor’s worries about the credibility of their savings (Westrup 2007: 1105). Even though equipped with major competences, the FSA was nevertheless perceived as ostensibly market friendly which made it popular among financial institutions (Gottwald 2010: 94; Zimmermann 2010: 132). The FSA’s seven principles reflected a market-oriented, light-touch regulatory approach by including, among others, the promotion of financial innovations, the need for due regard of the internationality of financial markets and services, the preservation of the competitive position of the British market place and the minimisation of any adverse effects of regulatory measures (FSA 2001: 4). These principles translated into a policy which was primarily aimed at keeping the financial industry in London: by reducing the capital gains tax from 40 to ten percent on assets held for at least ten, later two years, government boosted incentives for hedge funds and private equity funds to keep their firms in the City (Augar 2009: 41). The overall aim to encourage new financial innovations and push the City’s competitiveness was proclaimed a main goal of any British government’s regulatory approach towards financial markets in the past decades: While in November 2005 Gordon Brown called for "no inspection without justification, no form filling without justification and no information requirements without justification, not just a light touch but a limited touch" (Brown 2005), the UK government’s impetus of ensuring that London remains a pre-eminent financial centre has withstood the financial crisis. In 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron argued that "this government has done everything business has asked for. Business wanted lower corporate taxes, and we have cut our corporation tax to 20 percent. Business wanted lower personal taxes: we’ve addressed that issue" (Cameron 2013: 1). The FSA remained the main institution of the UK’s regulatory system of financial markets for this paper’s examined period between January 2011 and February 2013 which led to Britain’s refusal of the European Commission’s FTT proposal and the ensuing failure of an EU-wide FTT. Yet, as a consequence of its presumed regulatory failure resulting in the financial crisis of 2007/2008, the British government has restructured its regulatory system and passed the Financial Services Act in December 2012. It abolished the FSA and created a new regulatory structure consisting of the Bank of England’s 78

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority. Whilst taking into account these current reforms, they do not constitute a paradigm shift in British financial markets’ regulation. Britain’s experience with market failures has led to what Kalinowski (Kalinowski 2013: 485) calls “a pragmatic approach to financial regulation that acknowledges the need for a strong regulatory framework for financial actors and products”. Yet, the United Kingdom remains opposed to any regulation of financial flows. In line with this pragmatic approach, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, defined the new regulatory system’s main principle as “to protect and enhance confidence in the UK’s financial system” (Hoban 2011: 2). Therefore, the British government is still expected to assess any regulatory reform in the light of its economy being equipped with one of the major global financial centres. These observations affirm VoC’s main assumptions about Liberal Market Economies which are characterised by free market flows and a low degree of taxation on market transactions. The financial system in Germany and its corresponding regulatory system had, for many decades, been oriented towards the great relevance of the German manufacturing sector. This manifested itself in a close industrycapital-nexus with a system of the so-called “Hausbanken” (house banks) which provided affiliated companies with long-term finance and allowed companies to pursue long-term strategies (Zimmermann 2010: 125). This system, often dubbed “Deutschland AG” (Deutschland Inc.), was accompanied by a corporatist regulatory framework involving federal and state governments as well as the leading German banks and stock exchanges. The financial supervision thus concentrated on the manufacturing industry’s needs (Gottwald 2010: 79). In 2002, this regulatory system was partly reformed when the coalition government of Social Democrats and the Greens established the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). It centralised much of the supervision of financial markets and thereby corresponded to repeated calls of German banks, such as Deutsche Bank, which considered the fragmented regulatory structure an impediment to its strategic development. The system was furthermore adjusted to financial globalisation and the emergence of new investors such as hedge funds and private equity in 2004 when the so-called investment modernisation law was passed (Vitols 2004). As a consequence, the major German banks started to enter more profitable areas such as investment banking, soon followed by smaller institutes which had previously focused on lending to SMEs (Zimmermann 2010: 129). Eventually, the financial crisis revealed the surprising extent to which German institutes had been involved in risky, short-term speculation. Yet, the regulatory regime was never as favourable to these new investors as the UK’s authorities. This is partly due to the German system traditionally being subject to “incremental change” which favours small adjustments over “systemic innovations” (Gottwald 2010: 77). In 2003-2004, unlike most other IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

79

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

countries, the German government introduced direct regulation models and distinct legal instruments for hedge funds (Fioretos 2010: 710). According to Zimmermann (2010: 132), the ensuing calls for increased and coordinated global regulation of financial markets by the German government can be interpreted as a defensive strategy which aims to keep new financial actors under control, to preserve the state’s autonomy and legitimacy and to limit adjustments in the German SME sector. Countries with a large financial sector profit from short-term-oriented, volatile financial markets as they can charge more for an increased number of financial transactions and are able to offer more complex financial products. This does not hold true for the CME Germany which is, also due to its export-driven economy, stability-oriented and therefore interested in restricting short-term financial flows (Helleiner 2010). From a VoC-perspective, Germany is thus oriented towards the availability of long-term finance, regulated labour markets and extensive coordination among firms. This allows companies to pursue long-term strategies and protects them from hostile takeovers. ‘New investors’ such as hedge funds and private equity are viewed as threatening this traditional basis of German industry. As a consequence, the initiatives for a Financial Transaction Tax by Germany (and France) constitute a roll-back from previous adjustments to globalised finance. They correspond to CMEs’ continued regulatory hesitance towards market liberalisation which was confirmed and gained momentum after the financial crisis (Kalinowski 2013: 489). In sum, a rather light-touch regulatory system which is supposed to strengthen the City of London’s competitiveness in globalised financial markets is expected to have boosted the observed economic interests and societal ideas which mainly opposed further regulation through a Financial Transaction Tax in the UK. The German regulatory framework, even though partly reformed and liberalised for ‘new investors’, is traditionally less favourable to short-term investment and favours long-term investment opportunities for its export-oriented, manufacturing sector, especially SMEs. This regulatory framework has further weakened the sectorial economic interests which were opposed to a Financial Transaction Tax whereas it facilitated the capability of societal ideas to influence the government’s position. As a consequence, H1.4 and H2.4 can be verified using a societal approach.

Conclusion Why did the British and German government hold contrary positions concerning a Financial Transaction Tax which eventually led to the failure of its implementation in the entire EU? Departing from this question, the preceding analysis sought to explain the two countries’ diverging views. It therefore employed a societal approach whose core assumptions were found to be consistent with the empirical evidence concerning a European FTT which is why this paper’s main hypotheses H 1.1 and H 2.1 can be verified: 80

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Economic interests in Great Britain as well as in Germany as expressed in publications of leading business associations proved to be opposed to the idea of a Financial Transaction Tax in the European Union. Whereas in Britain this opposition is expected to have highly influenced the government’s decision concerning an FTT, German economic interests were not met by the government due to the financial sector’s comparably small significance to the overall German economy. Following the societal approach, the relationship between its three different variables can be conflictual. In the case of an FTT, the small contribution of financial markets to the German economy has facilitated societal ideas to predominantly influence the German government’s decision. Whereas British society holds more regulation-averse values which translates into a predominant refusal of an FTT, German society is more regulation-friendly and has proven to be largely in favour of the European Commission’s FTT proposal. Herein lies, according to the societal approach, the main reason for the German government’s decision to collect such a tax in the future. Finally, the examination of country-specific regulatory frameworks has helped to understand the government’s decision in a wider institutional context. This paper has only attempted to show whether correlations between ideas, interests and/or institutions on the one hand and governmental positions and measures on the other hand, as suggested by the societal approach, could be empirically demonstrated. But how exactly do ideas and interests make their way into policy measures and how do institutions confine governmental actions? In order to answer these questions and thereby enhance a mere correlation with concrete mechanisms, the societal approach needs to be supplemented by theories of political decision-making and political legitimacy (Zimmermann 2010: 122). Moreover, the impact of two other variables should further be investigated to control for alternative explanations, namely the differences in general attitudes towards the European Union and the role of party politics in the respective countries. Further research could thus help to draw a more distinct picture and replace mere correlations with mechanisms. This seems particularly promising, as this paper has proven the overall rich explanatory power of comparative, sub-systemic approaches to disagreement in global political economy.

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

81

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

– I reflect – In the aftermath of the financial crisis, politicians around the globe pledged to introduce policies that would prevent financial market actors from continuously trading with highly speculative products that had destabilised the financial sector as well as the world economy as a whole. Soon, many critics contended that after the obvious bail-outs of financial institutions, the promised stricter regulation of financial actors had failed to appear, once again proving that state policies were solely concerned with the interests of global capital. To me, the Financial Transaction Tax seemed to deliver a much more nuanced picture, with a number of European states continuously committed to introducing an FTT. The societal approach seemed promising in terms of explaining the apparent divergence in governmental positions with the help of variables other than solely material interests, such as societal ideas. Yet, as I reflect upon my findings, I wonder if the approach really fulfils this promise. Concerning the German case, my analysis suggests that only because of the relative irrelevance of its financial sector, the German government found itself able to deliver to the popular demand for an FTT. Thus, it has to be acknowledged that material variables still figure very prominently in the societal approach.

Felix Rüdiger BA (Politik und Wirtschaft), 6th Semester Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster [email protected]

82

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

References Augar, Philip, 2009. Chasing Alpha: How Reckless Growth and Unchecked Ambition Ruined the City’s Golden Age. London. Bankenverband, 2013. Finanztransaktionssteuer – Wer zahlt? Available:_ http://bankenverband.de/publikationen/reihen/@@shopitem/abb2 876dc9894cc895dabc62802acf8d (Accessed 13th August 2014). BBA, 2011. BBA Responds to the European Commission´s Consultations on Financial Sector Taxation. Available at www.bba.org.uk/ policy/financial-and-risk-policy/taxation/fs-taxation/bba-responseto-the-european-commissionis-consultation-on-financial-sectortaxation-2/ (Accessed 13th August 2014). BDI and BDA, 2012. BDA und BDI: Keine zusätzlichen Belastungen durch neue Finanztransaktionssteuer. Available at www.bdi.eu/163_Presse mitteilung_BDI_BDA_zur_Finanztransaktionssteuer_08_06_2012.htm (Accessed on 13 August 2014). Bieling, Hans-Jürgen, 2013. Shattered Expectations: the Defeat of European Ambitions of Global Financial Reform. In: Journal of European Public Policy, 21(3), 346–366. Brown, Gordon, 2005. Speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the CBI Annual Conference, 28 November. London. Bundesagentur für Arbeit, 2014. Tabellen und Grafiken Juli 2014. Available: https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de/Statischer-Content/StatistischeAnalysen/Analytikreports/Zentrale-Analytikreports/MonatlicheTabellenhefte/Generische-Publikationen/ArbeitsmarktBranchen/Arbeitsmarkt-Branchen-201407.pdf (Accessed 15th August 2014). Bundesregierung, 2012a. Finanzmärkte an den Kosten beteiligen. Available: www.bundesregierung.de/ContentArchivDE/Archiv17/Artikel/2012 /06/2012-06-27-finanztransaktionssteuer-kabinett.html (Accessed 13th August 2014). Bundesregierung, 2012b. Pressestatements von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel und dem Ministerpräsidenten der Italienischen Republik, Mario Monti. Berlin. Available www.bundesregierung.de/ContentArchivDE/ Archiv17/Mitschrift/Pressekonferenzen/2012/01/2012-01-11merkel-monti.html (Accessed on 18 August 2014). Cameron, David, 2012. PM Davos Speech Delivered on 26 January 2012. World Economic Forum. Davos, 2012. Available: www.gov.uk/government/ speeches/pm-davos-speech (Accessed 18th August 2014).

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

83

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Cameron, David, 2013. Transcript of PM's speech at the Global Investment Conference. London, 2013. Available: http://r.search.yahoo.com/ _ylt=A7x9Uk4Yj.tT_gUAiUCz4IlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTBydWpobjZlBHNlYwN zcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2lyMgR2dGlkAw-/RV=2/RE=1407975321/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.gov.uk %2fgovernment%2fspeeches%2ftranscript-of-pms-speech-at-theglobal-investment-conference/RK=0/RS=2s.neZ0o1DVoF8ne OloCP9qR.8Y- (Accessed 13th August 2014). CBI, 2012. CBI Welcomes Government Decision on Financial Transaction Tax. Available: www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2012/10/ cbi-welcomes-government-decision-on-financial-transaction-tax/ (Accessed 13th August 2014). COBCOE, 2011. To Bin or Not To Bin. Available. www.cobcoe.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2011/10/PP1011.pdf (Accessed 13th August 2014). DIHK / BDI / ZDH / BDA / BDB / GDV / HDE, 2011. Öffentliche Anhörung zur Finanztransaktionssteuer. Available: www.dihk.de/ressourcen/ downloads/verbaende-finanztransaktionssteuer (Accessed 18th August 2014). European Commission, 2011. Council Directive on a Common System of Financial Transaction Tax and Amending Directive 2008/7/EC. Brüssel. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/ documents/taxation/other_taxes/financial_sector/com(2011)594_ en.pdf (Accessed 19th September 2014). European Commission, 2013a. How the FTT Works in Specific Cases and Other Questions and Answers. Brussels. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/ taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/other_taxes/ financial_sector/ftt_examples.pdf (Accessed 3rd July 2014). European Commission, 2013b. Proposal for a Council Directive Implementing Enhanced Cooperation in the Area of Financial Transaction Tax. Brussels. Available: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources /documents/taxation/com_2013_71_en.pdf (Accessed 3rd July 2014). Farrell, Henry / Newman, Abraham L., 2010. Making Global Markets: Historical Institutionalism in International Political Economy. In: Review of International Political Economy, 17(4), 609-638. Fioretos, Orfeo, 2001. The Domestic Sources of Multilateral Preferences: Varieties of Capitalism in the European Community. In: Hall, Peter A. / Soskice, David (Eds): Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford / New York, pp. 213-244. Fioretos, Orfeo, 2010. Capitalist Diversity and the International Regulation of Hedge Funds. In: Review of International Political Economy, 17(4), 696-723. Fioretos, Orfeo, 2011. Historical Institutionalism in International Relations. In: International Organization, 65(02), 367-399. Franke, Michael M., 2012. State Intervention in Times of the Global Economic Crisis. EPCR Graduate Conference. Bremen. 84

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Frieden, Jeffry A. / Rogowski, Ronald, 1996. The Impact of the International Economy on National Policies: An Analytical Overview. In: Robert O. Keohane, Helen V. Milner (Eds): Internationalization and Domestic Politics. Cambridge, pp. 25-47. FSA, 2001. Principles of Good Regulation. London. Available: www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/about/aims/principles/index.shtml (Accessed 13th August 2014). Gottwald, Jörn C., 2010. Regulierung der Finanzmärkte in der EU. BadenBaden. Hall, Peter A. / Soskice, David (Eds), 2001. Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford / New York. Helleiner, Eric, 2010. A Bretton Woods Moment? The 2007-2008 Crisis and the Future of Global Finance. In: International Affairs, 3, 619-636. Heyes, Jason / Lewis, Paul / Clark, Ian, 2012. Varieties of Capitalism, Neoliberalism and the Economic Crisis of 2008-? In: Industrial Relations Journal, 43(3), 222-241. Hoban, Mark, 2011. Speech by Financial Secretary to the Treasury to APCiMS on 11 October 2011. Available: www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ speech-by-the-financial-secretary-to-the-treasury-mark-hoban-mpto-apcims (Accessed 13th August 2014). Hodson, Dermot / Quaglia, Lucia, 2009. European Perspectives on the Global Financial Crisis: Introduction. In: Journal of Common Market Studies, 47(5), 939-953. Kalinowski, Thomas, 2013. Regulating International Finance and the Diversity of Capitalism. In: Socio-Economic Review, 11(3), 471-496. Katzenstein, Peter J. (Ed.), 1978. Between Power and Plenty: Foreign Economic Policies of Advanced Industrial States. Madison. Katzenstein, Peter J., 2005. A World of Regions. Asia and Europe in the American Imperium. Ithaca. Mayring, Philipp, 2010. Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken. Weinheim. Merkel, Angela, 2011. Pressestatement von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel beim G20-Gipfel. Cannes, 2011. Available: www.bundesregierung.de/ ContentArchivDE/Archiv17/Mitschrift/Pressekonferenzen/2011/10 /2011-11-03-bkln-cannes.html (Accessed on 18 August 2014). Monaghan, Angela, 2014. Seven things you need to know about the UK economy. The Guardian. Available: www.theguardian.com/ business/economics-blog/2014/apr/24/uk-economy-seven-thingsneed-to-know-ons-g7 (Accessed 11th December 2014). Moravcsik, Andrew, 1997. Taking Preferences Seriously: A Liberal Theory of International Politics. In: International Organization, 51(4), 513-553. Office for National Statistics UK, 2013. United Kingdom National Account. The Blue Book. 2013 Edition. London. Available: www.ons.gov.uk/ ons/rel/naa1-rd/united-kingdom-national-accounts/the-blue-book-2013-edition/index.html (Accessed on 13 August 2014). IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

85

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Pew Research Center, 2012. European Unity on the Rocks. Available:www.pewglobal.org/files/2012/05/Pew-Global-AttitudesProject-European-Crisis-Report-FINAL-FOR-PRINT-May-29-2012.pdf (Accessed 13th August 2014). Pew Research Center, 2012. Pervasive Gloom About the World Economy. Available: www.pewglobal.org/files/2012/07/Pew-Global-AttitudesProject-Economic-Conditions-Report-FINAL-July-12-2012.pdf (Accessed 13th August 2014). Pew Research Center, 2013. The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union. Available: www.pewglobal.org/files/2013/05/Pew-Research-CenterGlobal-Attitudes-Project-European-Union-Report-FINAL-FOR-PRINTMay-13-2013.pdf (Accessed on 13 August 2014). PwC, City of London, 2013. Total Tax Contribution of UK Financial Services. Available: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/economic-researchand-information/research-publications/Documents/research2012/Total_tax_Contribution_OnlineVersion_PDF.pdf (Accessed 13th August 2014). Reuters, 2014. EU Financial Transaction Tax Won´t Come Before 2016: Diplomats. Available: www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/05/us-eurozonebanks-tax-idUSBREA440KR20140505 (Accessed 3rd July 2014). Schäuble, Wolfgang, 2012a. Ein neuer Ordnungsrahmen für die Finanzmärkte. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2012. Available: www.bundesregierung.de/Content/ArchivDE/Archiv17/Namensbeit rag/2012/11/2012-11-15-schaeuble-faz.html (Accessed 13th August 2014). Schäuble, Wolfgang, 2012b. Es gibt für Europa keinen bequemen Weg. Interview mit Wolfgang Schäuble. In: Handelsblatt, 2012. Available: www.bundesregierung.de/ContentArchivDE/Archiv17/Interview/20 12/06/2012-06-05-schaeuble-handelsblatt.html (Accessed 13th August 2014). Schäuble, Wolfgang, 2012c. Verursacher von Krisen müssen Kosten tragen. In: Handelsblatt, 2012. Available: www.bundesregierung.de/ ContentArchiv/DE/Archiv17/Namensbeitrag/2012/09/2012-09-06schaeuble-handelsblatt.html (Accessed 13th August 2014). Schirm, Stefan A., 2009a. Ideas and Interests in Global Financial Governance: Comparing German and US Preference Formation. In: Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 22(3), 501-521. Schirm, Stefan A., 2009b. Varieties of Strategies: Britain, Germany and the EU in the Global Economic Crisis. EPCR. Lisbon. Schirm, Stefan A., 2011. Varieties of Strategies: Societal Influences on British and German Responses to the Global Economic Crisis. In: Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 19 (1), 47-62. Schirm, Stefan A., 2013a. Domestic Politics-Theories und Societal Approach. In: Wullweber, Joscha / Graf, Antonia / Behrens, Maria (Eds). Theorien der Internationalen Politischen Ökonomie. Wiesbaden, pp. 167-184. 86

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

Rüdiger: The Divided Union

Schirm, Stefan A., 2013b. Global Politics are Domestic Politics: a Societal Approach to Divergence in the G20. In: Review of International Studies, 39 (03), 685-706. Schirm, Stefan A., 2013c. The Domestic Politics of the Euro Crisis: Societal Foundations of Policy Divergence. European International Studies Association. Warsaw. Schirm, Stefan A., 2014. Domestic Ideas, Institutions or Interests? Explaining Governmental Preferences Towards Global Economic Governance. In: International Political Science Review, 1-15. Schulmeister, Stephan / Schratzenstaller, Margit / Picek, Oliver, 2008. A General Financial Transaction Tax. Motives, Revenues, Feasibility and Effects. In: Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. Vienna. Available: www.wifo.ac.at/jart/prj3/wifo/main.jart?content-id=12 98017551022&publikation_id=31819&detail-view=yes (Accessed 18th August 2014). Semmler, Willi / Young, Brigitte, 2010. Lost in Temptation of Risk: Financial Market Liberalization, Financial Market Meltdown and Regulatory Reforms. In: Comparative European Politics, 8(3), pp. 327-353. Statistisches Bundesamt, 2014. Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnung. Available: www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/Volkswirtschaft licheGesamtrechnungen/Inlandsprodukt/Inlandsproduktsberech nungVorlaeufigPDF_2180140.pdf?__blob=publicationFile (Accessed 13th August 2014). Tagesschau, 2013. Zocker sollen die Zeche zahlen. Available: www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/finanztransaktionssteuer118.html (Accessed 15th August 2014). Talani, Leila Simona, 2011. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the City of London: Towards the End of Hegemony?. In: Competition & Change, 15(1), 11-30. van Loon, Aukje, 2013. Restructuring Financial Supervision in the EU: A Societal Approach to British and German Policies. Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Bochum. Vitols, Sigurt, 2004. Changes in Germany´s Bank-Based Financial System: A Varieties of Capitalism Perspective, WZB Working Paper. Westrup, Jonathan, 2007. The Politics of Financial Regulatory Reform in Britain and Germany. In: West European Politics, 30(5), 1096-1119. World Values Survey, 2006. Values Survey Databank. Selected Countries/Samples. Germany [2006], Great Britain [2006]. Available: www.worldvaluessurvey.org (Accessed 13th August 2014). Zimmermann, Hubert, 2010. Varieties of Global Financial Governance? British and German Approaches to Financial Market Regulation. In: Helleiner, Eric / Pagliari, Stefano / Zimmermann, Hubert (Eds): Global Finance in Crisis. The Politics of International Regulatory Change. London/New York, pp. 121-136. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 67-87

87

– I reflect –

88

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

– I reflect – Lightfood / Leifert: Interview Looking at Global Politics

Looking at Global Politics through the Lens of Indigeneity Interview with Sheryl Lightfoot, Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics, University of British Columbia Claire Luzia Leifert Leifert: You are researching indigenous peoples' global politics. What are you exactly looking at? Lightfoot: My research agenda focuses around indigenous rights movements at the United Nations (UN). However, if you start looking into indigenous rights work at the UN you end up looking at the movement as a social movement as well as what I would call 'indigenous diplomacies', which I define as meaning indigenous relationships with states, with non-state actors, with international organisations such as the UN and also indigenous nations' relationships with one another. So what starts out as a quite particular project ends up self-expanding very quickly. And necessarily critical IR and postcolonial literatures end up in the mix as well. What sparked your interest in the intersection of indigenous peoples and International Relations? This is a personal story that has to do with the two sides of my own identity. On my mother's side I am Anishinaabe1 and come from the Great Lakes territory of North America. My mother's political background is rights-based activism coming out of the Red Power Movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. I grew up surrounded by the ethos of a resurgence in indigenous rights that was looking not only domestically but also transnationally at how the human rights regimes could be used to leverage some changes in state behaviour. On the other side, I have a father who was a World War II refugee, a stateless person. I approached my studies from a very particular lens that Anishinaabe is an indigenous nation, formerly called “tribe”, whose traditional territory is located around the Great Lakes of North America, especially around Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. An Algonquin-speaking people, this is one of the largest indigenous nations in North America, located in numerous reservations in the United States and reserves in Canada. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 89-92 89 1

– I reflect – Lightfood / Leifert: Interview Looking at Global Politics

looks at why do certain violences exist? What do human rights mean? How can we mitigate conflicts so dreadful for people like those that had happened in Europe? By the time I reached my early thirties I started to ponder if there was not an intersection between these two interests. I always had an interest in international politics and tried to answer the kind of larger questions that I asked. At that time there were a lot of other people in indigenous communities starting to ask these questions: What do these UN movements mean? What does the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights mean? How can that help us reach more peaceful relationships for our peoples? So I set about the task of looking for those intersections. The indigenous rights movement, the history of it and its activities at the UN presented a natural subject matter to bring these two very diverse areas together. You said you are Anishinaabe. In what way do you feel this part of your identity influences your academic work? Oh, completely. It defines where I come from. It defines how I see the world, how I see avenues of resistance, avenues of reconciliation, avenues of conflict resolution. And also how I see the potential to exist for a better relationship between indigenous peoples and states. I think in terms of ontology it is inescapable. Epistemologies and ontologies come from one's backgrounds, you cannot get away from them. Indigenous ontologies certainly inform both my methodologies and also the subject matter of what I am looking for. Speaking of ontologies and epistemologies, in terms of IR theories what approach are you taking to explore your subject matter? I have been asked this question since my comprehensive exams: “Where do you place yourself in IR?“. It is an interesting question because when I look back at my studies and scholarship in IR, there are realist elements of my work, there are constructivist and critical elements of my work. One of the things I have noticed early on was that this particular way of studying global politics brings in all kinds of different traditions and can be studied from a multitude of perspectives. I seem to have landed in the critical constructivist camp. I certainly am sensitive to identities and how those are constituting actions and reactions to global politics. And 'critical' because indigenous politics is inherently critical of the way that global politics is done. Do you think this is a rather new approach to the study of global politics? It is, but I would say it is very similar to other critical approaches like feminist and postcolonial IR and overlaps with both of them. Yet at the same time it has a slightly different twist on things. Feminist IR would look at IR through the lens of gender, I see indigenous IR as looking at the world and global politics through the lens of indigeneity. Postcolonial theory is again very 90

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 89-92

– I reflect – Lightfood / Leifert: Interview Looking at Global Politics

similar: It challenges binaries, eurocentric thinking, challenges us to look beyond some of the assumptions or exposes some of the assumptions and presumptions within global politics. Also similarly, I would say, it looks at relations of power within the colonial structure and for us it is still emancipatory but how could we arrange power structures after the colonial structure – that would mean if we could reach such a thing. However, most of the postcolonial literature is Indian/subcontinent-based and African-based. And for those contexts colonialism is a post-reality: the coloniser has left, there is a state behind that is postcolonial that is studied by postcolonial theories. We do not have this. We have to rather look at how we can define our relationship with the state while the settler-colonial state remains. So it is a very different course of study but it is definitely coming out of the same tradition and intellectual history as postcolonial theories: It is emancipatory, it is liberationist. But it is doing so in a very different context. Do you think your research findings are relevant for the wider discipline of IR beyond the study of indigenous peoples' politics as such? I would say, yes. One of the big debates in IR is: “Is the state growing or shrinking?“. I think indigenous global politics helps us problematize the state and start to answer this question. Is there something that will come to exist that is beyond the state or post-state? State structures have only been with us for several hundred years – in indigenous views that is not very long. There were other forms of political organisation that existed prior to the state and there will be something that comes after it, whenever that happens to be. I think indigenous global politics in practice, and certainly then in theory, is working towards a reconceptualisation of state sovereignty and in some ways is actually leading the charge in problematizing the state or even decoupling the state from territorial understandings of sovereignty. Some call it the miner's canary. The miner's canary? It's an old saying. When coal miners worked in the underground mines they would have a canary in there. If the canary fell ill or died, they knew there was something happening that they could not detect. The 'miner's canary' is a way of saying: “Is this the first sign of something new?“. It may be or it may be an anomaly, time will tell. But why we should study indigenous global politics in theory is that it may be one of the first openings to something beyond the state structure. And I think we should be paying attention to that – all of us studying IR.

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 89-92

91

– I reflect – Lightfood / Leifert: Interview Looking at Global Politics

Going back to your own research projects, what are you currently working on? I have two projects on the go. One is a book project based on my dissertation which was called simply ‘Global Indigenous Politics’. The book situates indigenous global politics within IR, why it is important for people to look at indigenous politics within IR studies and also in IR practice. Secondly, the book looks at how and why the indigenous rights movement actually got a set of rights articulated by the UN: what that journey was like, why it was so difficult and how they overcame all the obstacles to get there. The UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) passed the UN in 2007 after about a thirty year effort on the part of indigenous actors at the UN. The third part of the book is looking at state responses to the Declaration. I try to learn about state behaviour – is this the miner's canary? Is this something new that we are looking at that states are particularly resistant to and why? The second project is on the particular topic of state apologies to indigenous peoples. I am looking at three case studies Canada, the United States, and Norway. How did the states apologise? Why did they apologise? And also what policy changes went along with or did not go along with the apologies? Thank you for the interview! – Sheryl Lightfoot (Ph.D. Minnesota) is an assistant professor in the First Nations Studies Program and the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her research interests include global Indigenous peoples’ politics, Indigenous rights, Indigenous diplomacy, social movements, and critical international relations. She is currently working on a book project based upon her dissertation, “Indigenous Global Politics” which won the 2010 Best Dissertation Award in Race and Ethnic Politics from the American Political Science Association. She also has fifteen years’ volunteer and contract experience with a number of American Indian tribes and community-based organisations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, including nine years as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Indian Policy Center, a research and advocacy group. – The interview was conducted by Claire Luzia Leifert, student in the Joint MA International Relations in Berlin, currently on exchange at UBC Vancouver. Contact: [email protected]

92

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 89-92

– I reflect – Peitz: Konferenzbericht 8. General Conference ECPR

Konferenzbericht zur 8. General Conference des European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) in Glasgow, 3. bis 6. September 2014 Laura Peitz Einleitung Das ‚European Consortium for Political Research‘ (ECPR) ist eines der führenden Netzwerke zur internationalen Kooperation und Vernetzung in der Politikwissenschaft. Es organisiert regelmäßig Workshops, Konferenzen sowie Sommer- und Winteruniversitäten; vergibt diverse Preise und veröffentlicht wissenschaftliche Arbeiten. Seit 14 Jahren veranstaltet die Vereinigung ihre Generalversammlung in verschiedenen europäischen Städten. Das Programm ist in thematische Sektionen unterteilt, in denen eine Handvoll inhaltlich verwandter Panels angeboten werden. Die Generalkonferenzen schaffen so alle zwei Jahre einen Ort fruchtbaren wissenschaftlichen Austauschs. Vorträge, Roundtables, Grundsatzreferate sowie ein ansprechendes Rahmenprogramm runden das Programm ab. ECPR goes Glasgow Gastgeber der 8. General Conference des ECPR war vom 3. bis 6. September 2014 die schottische University of Glasgow. Gegründet 1451 ist sie eine der ältesten Universitäten im englischsprachigen Raum. Die politikwissenschaftliche Tradition begann hier 1760 mit einer Vorlesungsreihe von Adam Smith. Heute ist die Universität eine der führenden politikwissenschaftlichen Institutionen im Vereinigten Königreich, insbesondere in der Vergleichenden und Internationalen Politik sowie der Politischen Theorie. In diesem Jahr brachte die Konferenz die sagenhafte Anzahl von 2500 Politikwissenschaftlerinnen aus der ganzen Welt zusammen. Im Rahmen von 67 Sektionen wurden 403 Panels angeboten, in welchen über 1600 Forschungspapiere vorgestellt und diskutiert wurden. Wirft man einen Blick in das fast 200 Seiten umfassende Programm, stechen einige Themen hervor, die in der wissenschaftlichen Debatte derzeit besonders maßgebend zu sein IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 93-96

93

– I reflect – Peitz: Konferenzbericht 8. General Conference ECPR

scheinen. Auffallend viele Panels beschäftigten sich mit verschiedenen Aspekten der Wirtschaftskrise und mit Themen zu politischer Repräsentation. Das Rahmenprogramm umfasste eine Willkommensrede der Stellvertretenden Ersten Ministerin Schottlands Nicola Sturgeon sowie einen KeynoteVortrag von Iain McLean (University of Oxford) zum Thema Steuerföderalismus. Darüber hinaus wurden zwei Roundtables angeboten. Im Rahmen des ersten gingen unter dem Titel ‚Democracy and its Discontents‘ Dirk BergSchlosser (Universität Marburg), Rosie Campbell (University of London), Leonardo Morlino (LUISS University, Rome) und Matthew Flinders (University of Sheffield) Ursachen und Herausforderungen für erfolgreiche politische Repräsentation nach. Im zweiten Roundtable diskutierten Todd Landmann (University of Essex), John Dryzek (University of Canberra), Christina Boswell (University of Edinburgh) und Jan W. Duyvendak (University of Amsterdam) verschiedene Aspekte des Menschenrechtsregimes. In sehr ansprechenden Vorträgen wurde ein Einblick gegeben in verschiedenste Menschenrechtsthemen: Die Quantifizierung der Einhaltung von Menschenrechten, Demokratie als Menschenrecht, Rechte von Flüchtlingen und Migranten sowie LGBT-Rechte. Die große Vielfalt dieser Vortragsthemen verhinderte bedauerlicherweise nach Öffnung des Podiums für Fragen aus dem Publikum eine konstruktive Diskussion der Panelteilnehmer untereinander. Die Anzahl der Panels, die der Teildisziplin der Internationalen Beziehungen zugeordnet werden können, war überschaubar. Sie hatten zu einem großen Teil EU-Bezug; darüber hinaus wurden einige Sitzungen zu Internationalen Organisationen, Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik und internationaler Kooperation, insbesondere in der Umwelt- und Energiepolitik, angeboten. Veranstaltungen zu weiteren Themen der Internationalen Beziehungen, wie beispielsweise Entwicklungspolitik oder Friedensforschung, waren leider dünn gesät. Aus aktuellem Anlass und aufgrund der qualitativ sehr hochwertigen Präsentationen sowie der angeregten Diskussion im Anschluss sei an dieser Stelle das vom GIGA Hamburg organisierte Panel ‚Democracy Prevention: The International Repertoire of Authoritarian Regimes‘ erwähnt. Die darin vorgestellten Beiträge sollen in naher Zukunft in einer Sonderausgabe des European Journal of Political Research veröffentlicht werden und gehen der Beständigkeit und Zusammenarbeit autoritärer Regime in ihrer Vermeidung von Demokratisierung nach. Die präsentierten Forschungsprojekte, allesamt auf einen starken theoretischen Unterbau bedacht, schienen einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Theoriebildung in einem relativ neuen Forschungsfeld zu leisten. Kritische Würdigung Allein durch die Größe der Konferenz schafft das ECPR eine für die europäische Politikwissenschaft einmalige Plattform zum internationalen Austausch und zur Weiterentwicklung von Forschungsprojekten. Die große Anzahl von 94

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 93-96

– I reflect – Peitz: Konferenzbericht 8. General Conference ECPR

TeilnehmerInnen hat meiner Meinung nach allerdings auch Nachteile: Die hohe Vielfalt an behandelten Themen erschwerte die Teilnahme an untereinander thematisch stimmigen Sitzungen. Selbst innerhalb der Sektionen unterschieden sich die Panels inhaltlich teils sehr; sogar die im Rahmen einer Sitzung vorgestellten Forschungspapiere standen sich desweilen nur bedingt nahe. Mit über 400 Panels in nur drei Konferenztagen war das Programm sehr dicht gedrängt. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass die Zeit zum Austausch außerhalb der planmäßigen Sitzungen sehr begrenzt war. Oft reichte sie nur aus, um noch rechtzeitig den Veranstaltungsraum zu wechseln. Bei einigen Sitzungen waren zudem nur sehr wenige TeilnehmerInnen anwesend. Die im Anschluss an die Präsentationen geplanten Diskussionen fielen deshalb gelegentlich knapp und unbefriedigend aus. Ein weiterer Grund hierfür waren möglicherweise die vollkommen verschiedenen Forschungsstadien der präsentierten Artikel. Einige Vorträge boten somit wenig Inhalt, geschweige denn konkrete Methoden und Ergebnisse, die diskutiert werden hätten können. Zuletzt noch ein Punkt zur Selbstreferenzialität des wissenschaftlichen Betriebes. An den häufig vorgebrachten Elfenbeinturmvorwuf erinnerten mich Sitzungen, bei denen die Mehrzahl der vorgestellten Forschungspapiere von ein und derselben Universität, ja sogar vom selben Lehrstuhl stammten und darauffolgend von einer weiteren Mitarbeiterin eben jenes Lehrstuhls als Discussant kommentiert wurden. Diese Panels schienen nicht nur von der nicht-akademischen Außenwelt entrückt, wie der Wissenschaft häufig angekreidet wird; vielmehr fehlte es hier sogar an zwischenuniversitärem Austausch. Für derartige Besprechungen hätte nicht nach Glasgow gereist werden müssen. Bei einer solchen Panelzusammenstellung wird das ECPR seinen eigenen Ansprüchen von internationalem politikwissenschaftlichem Austausch nicht gerecht. Fazit Die General Conference des ECPR stellt eine gelungene Gelegenheit zum wissenschaftlichen Dialog dar. Für eine Nachwuchswissenschaftlerin wie mich schuf die Teilnahme dank des vielfältigen und sehr umfangreichen Programms die Möglichkeit, einen umfassenden Einblick in verschiedenste aktuelle Forschungsthemen zu erhalten. Erfreulicherweise hatte ich die Möglichkeit bekommen, meine eigene Forschungsarbeit zur Kreditvergabe der Weltbank an ehemalige Bürgerkriegsländer anhand des Risikos einer Konfliktwiederkehr auf der Konferenz vorzustellen. Dies gab mir die Gelegenheit, mich mit anderen Forschenden mit ähnlichen fachlichen Schwerpunkten über meine eigene Arbeit auszutauschen, wertvolle Hinweise für deren weitere Ausarbeitung zu erhalten und erste konkrete Erfahrungen in der Welt der Wissenschaftspraxis zu sammeln. IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 93-96

95

– I reflect – Peitz: Konferenzbericht 8. General Conference ECPR

Insgesamt betrachtet beeindruckte das größte europäische politikwissenschaftliche ‚Klassentreffen‘ durch eine große Panelvielfalt, die jedoch enttäuschend wenig IB-relevante Themen bot. Dennoch bestachen die angebotenen IB-Panels durch hohe wissenschaftliche Qualität und fruchtbare Diskussionen zu aktuellen Forschungsthemen. Doch auch „unser“ Feld war teilweise nicht vor der oftmals kritisierten Selbstreferenzialität gefeit. Ein sorgfältiges Durcharbeiten des vollen Programmheftes lohnte sich aber allemal: Besonders als junge Wissenschaftlerin konnte man einen gewinnbringenden Einblick in den Wissenschaftsbetrieb erhalten. Die nächste Generalkonferenz des ECPR findet von 26. bis 29. August 2015 an der Université de Montréal (Kanada) – und damit erstmalig außerhalb Europas – statt. Der zugehörige Call for Papers startete am 2. Dezember 2014. Darüber hinaus veranstaltet das ECPR alle zwei Jahre eine Graduate Student Conference, die nächste im Jahr 2016 in Tartu (Estland). – Laura Peitz studiert im 3. Fachsemester den Master Internationale Beziehungen an der Freien Universität Berlin, der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin sowie der Universität Potsdam. Sie hat auf der Konferenz ein Forschungspapier vorgestellt. Kontakt: [email protected]

96

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1): 93-96

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

97

Peer Reviewer The Editorial Board would like to express its deepest gratitude to all reviewers who volunteered to contributed to the evaluation of all articles submitted for this volume. Sevda Arslan Marlen Barthel Maria Beihof Anny Boc Johanna Bögel Tobias Bunde Helena Burgrová Friederike Cossey Lisa Ditlmann Jonas Fritzler Thomas Fröhlich Sofia Ganter Patrick Gilroy Bruno Gomes Guimarães Daria Goscinska Nina Guérin Charlotte Christiane Hammer Isabella Hermann Angela Heucher Annette Hidber Maximilian Hoell Elena Hofmann Philipp Huchel Katrin Jaschinski Elisabeth Kath Markus Kirchschlager Jens Knickenberg

Cedric Koch Hannah König Elise Kopper Anne Köster Daniela Kroll Laura Krug Janosch Kullenberg Christian Küsters Johanna Küther Claire Luzia Leifert Mathis Lohaus Stefan Maetz Henning Möldner Katharina Nett Philipp Neubauer Jesper Nielsen Philipp Olbrich Christian Opitz Sandra Rau Anne Reiff Björn Reschke Janna Rheinbay Maksim Roskin Tim Rühlig Anna Rutetzki Christina Salerno Jan Sändig Johannnes Sauerland Sonja Schiffers

Sarah Schmid Lisa Schnell Annette Schramm Felix Schulte Marc Schütz Marie Schwager Kilian Spandler Dorothée Stieber Florian Stöhr Franziska Strack Fabian Stroetges Felix Syrovatka Marius Thermann Lamprini Tsodoulou Christoph Unrast Anna Veit Damjan Vinko Anastasia Vishnevskaia Benjamin Vrucak Stefan Wallaschek Jana Wattenberg Tobias Weise Wiebke WemheuerVogelaar Josef Westermayr Anna Wolkenhauer

Master´s and PhD students who see themselves situated within the field of International Relations are welcome to join our Peer Reviewer Pool. For applying, please fill out the document ‘Field of Study’ (available at ireflectjournal.de) and submit it to [email protected]. 98

IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

Call for Papers Option 1: Academic Article Main criteria:  Develop your student paper into an academic article  The article’s topic relates to the field of International Relations  At the time of writing, you are at least in your fifth B.A. semester Formal criteria:  Approximately 5000 words excluding references  Not older than two years  Written in German or English  Includes an abstract of 100‐150 words and five keywords  Times New Roman, Font size 12, 1 ½ line spacing, margins 2,5 cm  Cover page includes title, author, study program, university, semester and seminar in which the paper was written  Citation style ‘Harvard’, the use of a reference management system (Citavi or EndNote) is highly appreciated, please hand in the project file  Word file (no pdfs)  Hand in two versions of your contributions: open version with all your information and an anonymised version Option 2: Opinion piece – I reflect – The section ‘I reflect’ includes book reviews, conference reports and discussion pieces. They should not be longer than 1000 words and should focus on current issues. Please include three keywords. Note: Previously submitted papers not published by IReflect are welcome to be submitted and reviewed again. Submission  Until April 30th, 2015 to board@ireflect‐journal.de  Only contributions that meet the listed criteria can be considered  In case of questions of any nature, feel free to contact us! We are looking forward to your contributions! The Editorial Board of IReflect IReflect 2015, Vol. 2 (1)

99

www.ireflect-journal.de | [email protected] Published by IB an der Spree