This is my 1.5 page contribution to “Un Monde en Crises“, an analytical digest of the world today written by researchers of the Centre de Recherches Internationales. It argues that the Somali state is not a failure for Somali elites, who distribute international funding to their clan constituencies. Since all clans are represented in the current make-up of the Federal State, this maintains some stability in the country.
Continue readingRobert Kluijver | Expert internationale betrekkingen
In de Hoorn van Afrika verkruimelen staatsstructuren. Het Westen moet steun geven aan plaatselijke zelfhulpinitiatieven van burgers, zegt Robert Kluijver.
De Hoorn van Afrika staat in brand en staatsapparaten verkruimelen. In Somalië ging de centrale staat al ten onder in 1991, in Ethiopië nemen sinds 2020 regio’s het op tegen de centrale autoriteit. En in Soedan raakten de machthebbers vorige maand onderling slaags. Maar de bevolking zit niet bij de pakken neer en werkt aan alternatieve vormen van bestuur. De vraag is hoe om te gaan met dit proces van eroderende staatsstructuren. Misschien is het misplaatst om een sterke centrale regering te willen vestigen en moet juist steun worden gegeven aan plaatselijke zelfhulpinitiatieven van burgers, zoals de verzetsgroepen in Soedan en de lokale vredesinitiatieven in Somalië. Dat betoogt Robert Kluijver, die westerse pogingen bestudeert om liberale democratieën te vestigen in landen die cultureel vaak enorm verschillen.
Wat is er over van de staat in Soedan?
Continue readingAbstract
To understand the interplay between international hegemony and the apparent loss of state sovereignty, it is necessary to reintroduce the transnational elite as a global actor. Hegemony, meaning leadership, is based on values. The transnational elite embodies these values and adapts them to the changing global context, integrating counter-hegemonic tendencies and establishing a consensus. That consensus is transmitted through the transnational elite members to domestic societies whose consent – active or passive – is required for socioeconomic reforms which benefit the transnational elite. The role of states as sites for political contestation and debate has decreased, as policy-making, supposedly of a technical/expert nature, is shifted to the inter-state level, leading to an increase in international regulatory regimes which are dominated by the transnational elites. Instead, the state is increasingly becoming an instrument to transmit and enforce the transnational consensus. While transnational values remain largely liberal and elite membership is accessible to anyone sharing them, the manner of establishing consent is increasingly authoritarian. This article retraces the concept of the transnational class in international relations theory and, through a case study of the Trilateral Commission, looks at how the transnational elite has evolved since the 1970s, and how it is integrating counterhegemonic pressures today, becoming increasingly powerful – as the rapidly growing income gap between rich and poor underscores.
Download pdf full text here
Submitted to Millenium Journal of International Studies
Here is the full text of the book I published in 2013, called ‘Contemporary Art in the Gulf – an Introduction’.
And here is the Table of Contents:
7: Foreword
11: Contemporary Art in the Gulf
29: A Cultural History of the Arabian Peninsula
47: Saudi Arabia
69: Kuwait
87: Bahrain
99: The United Arab Emirates
119: Qatar
129: Oman
137: Where the Gulf is Heading
Closing ceremony of the New World Summit in Derik, Syria
I published this article in the December 2015 edition of The Art Newspaper – with first a ‘news’ story on page 3, and then a feature on pages 58-59. Continue reading
Article published in Issue #47 of Afkar / Ideas published in October 2015 by the European Institute of the Mediterranean in Barcelona / French version / Spanish version
Ahmad Angawi: Ottoman Map of Mecca (detail), 2012
Art and Soft Power in the Gulf
Recently, there has been much news and debate about how the Gulf States are acquiring the icons of global culture, such as famous paintings, works by star artists, and even whole museums. This is seen as the exercise of ‘soft power’, defined by Joseph Nye as ‘the ability to get what you want through attraction, rather than coercion or payments’. One may wonder then, which objectives direct the Gulf’s investments in art? And, are they being achieved? Continue reading
Aya Johanna Danielle Durst Britt wrote a thoughtful review, in Flemish, of the exhibition in Amsterdam I curated – and which recently finished – in Al Arte Magazine.
Mehreen Murtaza, from The Dubious Birth of Geography series
Searching for Ancient Arabia: the magazine, with contributions by Rahel Aima, Amal Bsiss, Liane Al Ghusain, Ahmed Makia, Mehdi Sabet and yours truly.
I contributed the following pages to the Ideological Guide, besides being involved in the overall project and, as a jury member, in the award of the e-flux/ideological guide travel grants to three writers.
Ahmed Mater: Muzdalifah (the day after); part of Desert of Pharan/Adam. 180 x 120 cm, 2012
Harper’s Bazaar Arabia published my personal diary about the installation of Desert of Pharan / Adam, by Ahmed Mater, in the Kochi Biennale.
I was curatorial consultant for the Kochi Muziris Biennale; I introduced five of the finally exhibited artists and worked with them on their projects as a curator. These are Ahmed Mater, Amanullah Mojadidi, Gert Jan Kocken, Ibrahim Quraishi and Jonas Staal.
I am now working with Ahmed Mater on the second installment of Desert of Pharan, Room with a View, which will be part of the Sharjah Biennial (opens on March 13).
Moidus Heritage House in Kochi – where the installation of Ahmed’s work took place
