Government and governing through creation, continuity and transitions

Chaired by Ildikó Bellér-Hann, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen.

18 June 2018
Panel session:

Government and governing through creation, continuity and transitions

Room: 35.3.12

15:30-17:30:

Siv H. Oftedal, King’s College London
Chinese Communist Party Rhetoric of Continuity – Three Metaphors Bridging Political Transitions

Mansoor Ahmed, L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) Paris, France

Governmentality of controlled Islam in Pakistan: a study of ‘Council of Islamic Ideology’

Nandini Bhattacharya, Associate Professor in the Department of History, Calcutta Girls’ College

Global Vis-à-vis Local Islam in Post-Soviet Tajikistan: An Uneasy Equation of Religious Education, Political Islam and the Secular State

Abstracts

1.
Siv H. Oftedal, PhD candidate, King’s College London
Chinese Communist Party Rhetoric of Continuity – Three Metaphors Bridging Political Transitions

In Chinese politics, there are political and economic transitions and disruptions between different leadership generations. The economic policies under Mao Zedong and under Deng Xiaoping stand in stark contrast to each other. Xi Jinping's personal power is considerably enhanced compared to his predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Despite this, the Chinese Communist Party successfully creates a coherent historical narrative from 1949 to 2018 (and beyond) as one political project, one continuous goal, and one political party to do the job. This rhetorical bridge-building between different generations is crucial for the continued legitimacy of the Communist Party.

This paper explores the role of three conceptual metaphors in achieving this continuity in political historiography. These metaphors are: 1) the struggle metaphor, 2) the marching metaphor, and 3) the construction metaphor. These are all in contemporary use and underpin the current Secretary General Xi Jinping's goal of Chinese national rejuvenation. The paper evaluates effects of these extended metaphors in: 1) creating narrative continuity, 2) indirectly calling for trust and patience from the Chinese people through long time-lines, and 3) communicating the leadership’s control of the political situation.

To analyze how the CCP portrays their soon 70 years in power as one and the same road, I draw on methodological sources from Political Science, Linguistics and History. An interdisciplinary analysis of extended metaphors can throw new light on how the Chinese Communist Party deconstructs their own generational transitions in order to achieve a coherent story and a single identity.

2.
Mansoor Ahmed, PhD student Le Centre d'Études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (CEIAS), L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) Paris, France
Governmentality of controlled Islam in Pakistan: a study of ‘Council of Islamic Ideology’

This study intends to explore the mechanisms adopted by various governments in Pakistan since its creation through the ‘Council of Islamic Ideology’ (a permanent state institution) by engaging the theoretical framework provided by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. Pakistan came into being after the partition of the Indian sub-continent when the British rule ceased to exist at the night of 14^th August 1947. It was named as the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’ by its first indigenous constitution that was promulgated in 1956. After the first military takeover General Ayub Khan regime promulgated the new constitution of 1962 that renamed the country as ‘Republic of Pakistan’ but after few months through the first amendment, adverb ‘Islamic’ was added to its name, and later its capital was also changed from Karachi to a newly built city named as ‘Islamabad’ (abode of Islam). This constitution also provided the establishment of the ‘Council of Islamic Ideology’ that was to be composed of academics, jurists and the Islamic scholars (Ulema) to provide recommendations regarding the measures to be promulgated in the form of legislations through the confidential reports to the respective government. This institution was carried forward by the next constitution of 1973 during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and it exists to date. Up till now, it was invisible to a larger extent due to the confidential nature of its reports which were made public only recently. This paper will use the notion of governmentality (Gouvernemental) provided by the French philosopher Michel Foucault to help us better understand the working of the Council as ‘knowledge provider’ for the respective regimes to better govern through Islamic measures that suited their political strategy. This paper will attempt to answer the key questions about the intention of the governments for its creation, sustainability and mutation during respective governments and furthermore to explore the role which the Council manifested in introducing Islamic measures in the polity of the country during the said period by going through its annual reports. It concludes that the Council manifested a significant role in the enforcement of Islamic measures in the country and impacted its polity during the said period but was invisible due to more visible manifestations.

3.
Nandini Bhattacharya, Associate Professor in the Department of History, Calcutta Girls’ College
Global Vis-à-vis Local Islam in Post-Soviet Tajikistan: An Uneasy Equation of Religious Education, Political Islam and the Secular State

Politicization of Islam became an issue of major academic concern in Central Asia ever since the collapse of the Soviet regime which officially propagated atheism. The Islamic revival featured in each republic as natural extension of celebration of freedom. However, none of these states as yet became Islamic or theocratic; rather, they continue to maintain a secular image both in principles and practices. Therefore, a careful dialogue between the rising spirit of Islam along with the existing political forces, both in the government and opposition began to feature as a subtle and complex phenomenon. In fact, Tajikistan experienced the worst political turmoil at the very outset that led to a protracted civil war where political Islam had manifested itself through the Islamic Renaissance Party.

But, this officially acclaimed platform is not the only source of political Islam. One must recon with the geo-strategic position of Tajikistan sharing borders with Afghanistan from where constant import of Islamic extremism remains a fait accompli. Moreover, the tendency of acquiring religious education from Orthodox Muslim countries added a further complex dimension. This paper aspires to study the parallel trends emerging in Islam here, from three major perspectives:

- Extent and impact of religious education where the presence of secular education has a strong moral and infrastructural legacy;

- Understanding and differences between Islamic groups trained inland and abroad

- Scope and extent of the influence of Islamic ideologies upon the secular government and their ramification in popular minds in contemporary Tajikistan.