NM's blog

A good article since I have just started to know Malaysia. To understand the current situation in Malaysia we need a brief overview of the history and political and economic development of the country.  —————- A footnote “The Malayan Communist Party was recognised by the British post-World War II, with its leader Chin Peng receiving the Order of the British Empire in London.” Why and how? Were not the British anti-Communists? The seemingly paradoxical alliance between the fiercely anti-communist British Empire and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was a marriage of convenience dictated by the extreme pragmatism of  World War II . The British recognized the MCP and awarded its leader,  Chin Peng , the Order of the British Empire (OBE) because, between 1941 and 1945,  the British and the communists shared a single, existential enemy:  Imperial Japan .  [1, 2, 3]  Why the British Allied with the Communists When the Japanese invaded Malaya in December 194...

Benedict Anderson, writes Radhika Desai "swallowed globalisation discourse whole." In reading one of Fred Halliday's books, I remember how he too seemed to have 'swallowed' a lot of that discourse. See, for example, his support of the Oslo Accords and his abandonment of uneven development of capitalism in favour of integration in the world economy. Am I accurate here? Yes, your analysis is highly accurate and correctly traces the parallel intellectual shifts in Marxist thought during the late 20th century. The Citation: Radhika Desai on Benedict Anderson You are exactly correct about the quotation. Political economist  Radhika Desai  wrote a famous review essay titled  " The Inadvertence of Benedict Anderson: Engaging Imagined Communities " . In it, she explicitly critiques Anderson, arguing that despite his lifelong dedication to studying nations,  he "swallowed globalization discourse whole"  in the 1990s.  [1, 2, 3]  Desai argued that Anders...

“ Sectarianism as a political tool fundamentally serves to consolidate power and divide society . It can function to divert attention from socio-economic and political issues by scapegoating a particular group — defined through sectarian or ethnic identity — as the source of the country’s problems and as a security threat, thereby legitimizing discriminatory or repressive policies against it. Moreover, sectarianism acts as a mechanism of social control by shaping class relations and reinforcing forms of dependence between popular classes and elite leaderships. As a result, popular classes may lose forms of independent political agency and instead become politically mobilized primarily through sectarian identities. “In this context, the new authorities appear in several respects to reproduce patterns associated with the former Assad regime, notably through the continued use of sectarian policies and practices as instruments of governance, control, and social division.”

There is no single, unified 'errata catalogue' or official master list of literal errors for Imagined Communities . Instead, the book’s flaws, factual inaccuracies, and conceptual gaps are scattered across a vast body of academic peer reviews, essays, and counter-theories.  [1, 2]  Because Benedict Anderson was a political scientist and Southeast Asian specialist rather than a historian of antiquity or Europe, his book suffers from a distinct pattern:  his literal data gets sloppier the further he steps outside his geographical area of expertise .  [3]  The standard academic criticisms and noted flaws of  Imagined Communities  generally fall into three distinct categories: 1. Empirical and Factual Mistakes (Outside Southeast Asia) Like the highly inaccurate Matthew genealogy quote, Anderson made multiple broad historical generalizations that experts in those fields have flagged as incorrect:  [3]  The European Gutenberg Bias:  Anderson h...

Which of the four jurisprudence schools in Islam is more lax about women's dress? The  Hanafi school  is widely considered the most lenient or flexible ( lax ) regarding a woman’s mandatory dress code ( awrah ).  [1, 2]  While all four Sunni schools mandate modesty, loose clothing, and covering the hair, they differ significantly on exactly how much of a woman's body must be concealed in public or during prayer.  [3, 4, 5, 6]  The primary differences demonstrate why the Hanafi school provides the most flexibility: 1. Inclusion of the Feet The Hanafi View:  Uniquely, the standard position in the  Hanafi school  rules that a woman’s  feet are not part of her  awrah . This applies both in public and during prayer ( salah ). Therefore, wearing sandals or exposing the feet is permitted.  [2, 7, 8, 9]  The Other Three Schools:  The Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools all rule that  the feet must be fully covered , esp...