A proper study of the discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Methodological implications of a large-scale study of the first Gaza war

Drawing on a large-scale study examining the British broadsheets’ coverage of the first Gaza war, this paper proposes some methodological considerations for analyzing the particularly emotive discourse on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and suggests a reflective multi-methodological approach to account for both the complexities and the intensities of the conflict. The paper starts by arguing that, working with a large data-set, quantitative data are both required and required to be interpreted by acts of contextualisation. Two strategies of contextualization are then introduced: interpreting patterns and associations in the numerical data. Following this, the paper continues by examining the findings and dilemmas that have emerged from quantitative analysis, using qualitative analysis of editorial extracts. It therefore shows examples for how quantitative codes can be built into and built up by narratives and arguments. Doing this, it also demonstrates possible ways of connecting qualitative to quantitative research: explanation, extension, and transformation/subversion.     

From ethnic exclusion to terrorism? The case of radical Basque nationalism

ABSTRACT

This article reflects upon the beginnings and development of radical Basque nationalism in light of its ethnic exclusion criteria. We argue that the existence of a tradition of “strong” alterity does not necessarily lead to the appearance of tendencies favoring the use of violence to confront the other. Without rejecting the importance of a discourse of hate proceeding from the past, such tendencies are due more to a combination of the historical context and individual and group decisions. It is important to bear this in mind to underscore the responsibilities of those who were not satisfied with constructing the image of a despicable enemy, but instead decided to employ violence to solve the problem that the latter might cause.     

Martinique’s Accession to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States: A New Chapter in Caribbean Regionalism?

The admission of Martinique as an associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States in 2015 has been seen as an event of significance in the Caribbean region for a number of reasons. Among other things, it was the first example of a non-Anglophone country being accorded that status, and it was the first French territory allowed to join one of the core regional groupings of the Commonwealth Caribbean. This article argues that the deepening of Martinique’s relationship with its neighbours within a multilateral framework may offer new practical possibilities for regional integration.     

Standort Deutschland in the globalising economy: An end to the economic miracle?

This article reviews the economic position of Germany in an era of increased internationalisation of economic activity. Since unification there have been worrying trends in the German economy: in particular, high unemployment, increasing government debt and a substantial increase in the overseas activities of Germany's major companies. However, this article argues that the micro‐economy in general, and the institutional structures inherent to the social market economy of post‐war Germany in particular, are strong. Indeed, only by understanding the historical interrelationships between the individual structures of the German social market economy is it possible to appreciate the continued strength of the German economy.     

Does Moderation Pay in a Consociational Democracy? The Marginalisation of the SDLP in the North of Ireland

A central question in the debate between “centripetalists” and “consociationalists” concerns whether power‐sharing arrangements provide incentives for moderation. This article helps to formulate an empirical answer through an examination of the electoral decline of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) following the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in the North of Ireland. Drawing on primary qualitative interviews with key players, this article argues that the SDLP were electoral losers under a system of ethnic out‐flanking. Sinn Féin has successfully presented itself as the “greener” and more robust representative of nationalist interests, whilst simultaneously moderating its message and operating the institutions of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin has taken ownership of the GFA and has positioned itself as the party best able to ensure its delivery. Sinn Féin’s rights‐based agenda, and vibrant electoral machine, has resonated with the nationalist electorate who are less sure of what the contemporary SDLP stands for.     

Perspectives on the study of culture and international politics: From Nihonjinron to the new Asianism∗

Stephanie Lawson, Professor of International Relations at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, considers the role that the concept of “culture” has come to assume in the study of international politics, especially in relation to the Asia‐Pacific region. Much of the cultural nationalist rhetoric associated with the “Nihonjinron” as well as discourses surrounding the “new Asianism” has had two main consequences. One has been to reinforce static perceptions of culture as a marker of essential difference. On the other hand, some obvious instrumental uses to which it has been put by some political elites in the region has generated a great deal of cynicism about the concept. Taking culture seriously requires a different approach—one which stresses the dynamic properties of culture and its potential role in transcending the “East‐West” divide. The original version of this paper was presented at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, St. Antony's College, Oxford, on 29 November 1998.     

Lessons Learned? German Security Policy and the War in Afghanistan

The mission in Afghanistan revealed fundamental shortcomings, inconsistencies and contradictions of core elements of German security policy. In an effort to contribute to the debate about the factors that account for the idiosyncrasies of German security policy, the purpose of this study is to assess how far Germany learned lessons from its policy failures in Afghanistan. The study introduces a typology of learning, which is mainly based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF); delineates the German security policy belief system; and explores two prominent cases of policy failure: the deployment of the Bundeswehr and leadership of the international police training mission. Utilising different sources of data, the study confirms assumptions of the ACF about the stability of core beliefs and shows that the lack of precise policy objectives was a significant barrier to learning. Instead of clarifying Germany's strategic viewpoint, Afghanistan has further enhanced its disorientation in security policy.     

A note on the Ottoman socio‐economic structure and its response to the Balkan war of 1912

Agrarniye strukturi stran Vostoka, Agrarian Structure of the Countries of the East (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1977; 280 pp.)

Idiyolojiyat al‐Dimuqratiyya al‐Thawriyya al‐Ifriqiyya, The Ideology of African Revolutionary Democracy (Moscow: The Soviet Academy of Science, 1983; 144 pp.)

Partii v riyevolyutsionniy protsyess b stranakh Azii i Afriki, sbornik statyey, Parties in the Revolutionary Processes in the Countries of Asia and Africa: A collection of articles (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 254 pp.)

Kharaktyerniye chyerti sotzial'no‐politichyeskogo razvitiya Arabskikh stran v 1950–1970ye godi, Characteristic Traits of the Socio‐Political Development of the Arab Countries from the 1950s to the 1970s (Erevan: The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia, 1980; 208 pp.)

Arabskiye strani, istoriya i sovryemyennost, The Arab Countries: History and Contemporary Affairs (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 248 pp.)

Contemporary Development of the Arab Countries (Oriental Studies in the USSR, No. 8 – Moscow: ‘Social Sciences Today’ Editorial Board for the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1984; 236 pp.)

V.L. Fatis's Liviya (Moscow: Misl’ Press, 1982; 160 pp.)

N.I. Proshin's Istoriya Livii v novoye vryemya (syeryedina XVI – nachala XXv.), The History of Libya in Modern Times: The Mid‐Sixteenth Century to the Beginning of the Twentieth (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 288 pp.)

Aldzhirskaya narodnaya dyemokratichyeskaya ryespublika, konstitutsiya i zakonodatyel'nye akti, The Algerian Popular Democratic Republic: The Constitution and Legislative Documents (Moscow: Progress Press, 1983; 414 pp.)

Istoriya Aldzhirskoy ryevolyutsii, 1954–1962, History of the Algerian Revolution, 1954–62 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 287 pp.) by R. G. Landa

Sturm und Drang years, V.S. Svyetlov's Aldzhir syegodnya, Algeria Today (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981: 222 pp.)

Ochyerki Marokkanskoy istorii (Moscow: Progress Press, 1982; 384 pp.)

V.G. Rasnitsin's Marokko na rubyedzhye dvukh epokh, 1956–1960 g., Morocco Between Two Epochs, 1956–60 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 144 pp.)

Anna Kowalska‐Lewicka's Mavritaniya, Mauritania (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 304 pp.)     

Democratization in the Middle East and North Africa: A More Ambidextrous Process?

Democratization is always an ambidextrous process. On the one hand, it triggers a universalistic set of norms, events, processes and symbols. On the other hand, democratization involves a much more particularistic set of ‘realistic’ adaptations to the structures and circumstances of individual countries. In analysing the structures and conjunctures of countries in the Arab World during the past decades, scholars looked at them from the perspective of persistent authoritarianism. This essay exploits democratization theory – as well as its converse ? by analysing the universalistic set of events, processes and symbols of democratization elsewhere in the world, and then identifying the particularistic characteristics of timing, location and coincidence that seem likely to affect the political outcome of regime change in the countries affected by recent popular uprisings in the Arab World.     

From trade to empire in the near East — II: the repercussions of the incident at Nakhilu in 1803

Jews among Muslims. Communities in the Precolonial Middle East edited by Shlomo Deshen and Walter P. Zenner. London: Macmillan, 1996. Pp.ix + 292. £16.99 (paperback).

War in the Gulf, 1990–91: The Iraq‐Kuwait Conflict and Its Implications by Majid Khadduri and Edmund Ghareeb. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp.299. £22.50.

Britons in the Ottoman Empire 1642–1660 by Daniel Goffman. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1998. Pp.xxv + 310, maps, notes, bibliography, index.

Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban edited by William Maley. London: Hurst &; Co., 1998. Pp.xiii + 253, index. £14.95.

The History of Saudi Arabia by Alexei Vassiliev. London: Al‐Saqi, 1998. Pp.576. £45.00.

The Remaking of Saudi Arabia: The Struggle between King Saud and Crown Prince Faysal, 1953–1962 by Sarah Yizraeli. Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Pp.219. £14.95 (paperback).

Saudi Arabia Outside Global Law and Order by Anders Jerichow. Surrey: Curzon, 1997. Pp.xiv + 171. £12.99.

The Saudi File People, Power, Politics by Anders Jerichow. Surrey: Curzon, 1998. Pp.340, index. £40.00.

Ottoman and Persian Odysseys: James Morier, Creator of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, and his Brothers by Henry McKenzie Johnston. London: I.B. Tauris British Academic Press, 1998. Pp.xv + 258, notes, chronology, bibliography, index. £29.50.

Central Asia Meets the Middle East edited by David Menashri. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1998. Pp.xiii + 240, notes, index. £37.50/$49.50 (hardback); £18.50/$24.00 (paperback).     

‘Bringing the state back in’: A political economy analysis of Portuguese immigration policy

Southern European states are recurrently represented as ‘safe havens’ for irregular immigration in face of powerless national governments. Drawing from an interdisciplinary approach combining the domestic politics approach and the political economy of migration, this investigation explores the effectiveness of the Portuguese policy towards labour and irregular inflows during the 1990s and the 2000s. Against the increasing exclusion of politics and national governments in immigration studies, this research focuses on the agency of the Portuguese state. This article associates the intensity of irregular inflows with the covert expansive approach towards immigration adopted by the Portuguese state, driven by economic objectives.     

The Far North Act in Ontario,Canada: a sons of the soil conflict in the making?

In 2010, the Government of Ontario, Canada passed the controversial Far North Act. The Act purportedly aims to promote land use planning and sustainable development while recognising Aboriginal and Treaty rights. There are, however, early warning signs that the Act could be a breeding ground for future conflict between Indigenous peoples and other stakeholder groups. This article adopts a ‘sons of the soil’ conceptual framework to explore the mechanisms that could give rise to the escalation of Indigenous vs. non-Indigenous conflict. The findings provide important insights for theorising the contentious politics around land and territory in diverse settler-colonial contexts.