The Bosnian Muslims and Albanians: Islam and nationalism

Andrew Ezergailis, The Latvian Impact oh The Bolshevik Revolution. The First Phase: September 1917 to April 1918. East European Monographs, no. 144. Boulder, Col.: East European Monographs, 1983. Pp. 432. $30.00. Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Romuald J. Misiunas and Rein Taagepera, The Baltic States — Years of Dependence, 1940–1980. Berkely‐Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983. Pp. 333. $27.50.

Orest Subtelny, The Mazepists: Ukrainian Separatism in the Early Eighteenth Century. East European Monographs, no. 87. Boulder, CO: East European Quarterly, 1981. Pp. 280. $20.00. Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Bohdan Krawchenko, ed. Ukraine after Shelest. Edomonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, 1983. Pp. 119. Paper.

Andrei S. Markovits and Frank E. Sysyn, eds. Nationbuilding and the Politics of Nationalism: Essays on Austrian Galicia. Cambridge: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, distributed by Harvard University Press, 1982. Pp. 343.

Linda Gordon, Cossack Rebellions: Social Turmoil in the Sixteenth‐Century Ukraine. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983. Pp. xiv, 289. $39.50. Maps. Illustrations.

Mykola Horbal. Detail pischanoho hodynnyka: Poemy i pisni. New York: Sucas‐nist, 1983. Pp. 398.

Bohdan Boychuk, Virshi, vybrani i peredostanni. New York: Sucasnist, 1983. Pp. 189.

Zapisy. Volume 17. (Byelorussian Institute of Arts and Sciences), New York, 1983. Pp. 248.

Jack Nusan Porter, Jewish Partisans: A Documentary of Jewish Resistance in the Soviet Union during World War II. 2 vols. Washington University Press of America, 1982. $12.75 each. Paper.

Jack Nusan Porter, The Jew as Outsider: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, Collected Essays, 1974–1980, Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1982. Pp. 232. $10.50, pap.

Anthony Arnold, Afghanistan's Two‐party Communism. Parcham and Khalq. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1983. Pp. xviii, 242. $10.00.

Gregory Guroff and Fred V. Carstensen, eds. Entrepreneurship in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp. 372. $40.00, cloth; $12.95, paper.

Mikhail Agursky, Sovetskii Golem. London: Overseas Publications Interchange Ltd., 1983. Pp. 73.

Mark R. Elliott, Pawns of Yalta: Soviet Refugees and America's Role in Their Repatriation. Urbaha, Chicago, London: University of Illinois Press, 1982. Pp. 287. $17.95.

Richard Georg Plashka and Karlheinz Mack, Wegenetz Europaischen Geistes: Wissenschaftszentren und geistige Wechselbeziehungen zwschen Mittel ‐und Siidosteuropa vom Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg. Vienna: Verlag fur Geschichte and Politik, 1983. Pp. 498. O.Sh. 580.

Roland Breton, Lob der Verschiedenheit: Die Ethnie — Volk und Volksgruppe in der Gesellschaft der Gegenwart. Trans, from the French by Liesl Ehrlich and Erna Appels. Vienna: Wilhelm Braumuller Universitats‐Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1981. Pp. 100.

S.R. Williamson and Peter Pastor, eds. Essays on World War I: Origins and Prisoners of War. New York: Social Science Monographs, Brooklyn College Press, Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York, 1983. Pp. i‐xvii, 3–164.

John R. Lampe and Marvin R. Jackson, Balkan Economic History, from 1550–1950: From Imperial Borderlands to Developing Nations. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1982. Pp. xviii, 728. $37.50.

Norman Davies, Cod's Playground — A History of Poland. 2 vols. Vol. 1: The Origins to 1795; Vol. II: 1795 to the Present. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. $30.00 set. Paper.

Roman Szporluk, The Political Thought of Thomas G. Masaryk. East European Monographs, no. 85. Boulder, CO: East European Quarterly, 1981. Pp. VII, 244. $17.50. Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Prokop Drtina, ?eskoslovensko muj osud. Kniha ?ivota ?eského demokrata 20. století. 2 Vols. in 4 books. Toronto: Sixty‐Eight Publishers, Corp., 1982. Pp. 719. $28.00.

Wolf Oschlies, Rumäniens Jugend— Rumäniens Hoffnung. [Jugend in Osteuropa, Band 3]. Köln/Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 1983. Pp. 271 +xii. DM 48.

Z. J. Kosztolnyik, Five Eleventh‐Century Hungarian Kings: Their Policies and Their Relations with Rome. East European Monographs, no. 79. Boulder, CO: East European Quarterly, 1981. Pp. 288. $20.00. Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Jon V. Kofas, Authoritarianism in Greece: The Metaxas Regime. East European Monographs, no. 133. Boulder, CO: East European Quarterly, 1983. Pp. 192. $20.00. Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Andrew L. Zapantis, Greek‐Soviet Relations, 1917–1941. East European Monographs, no. 111. Boulder, CO: 1982. Pp. 635. Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Kitty Weaver, Russia's Future: The Communist Education of Soviet Youth. New York: Praeger, 1981. Pp. 228. $21.95.

Donald Quataert, Social Disintegration and Popular Resistance in the Ottoman Empire, 1881–1908. Reactions to European Economic Penetration. New York University Studies in Near Eastern Civilization, No. 9. New York and London: New York University Press, 1983. Pp. xxii, 2.05. Tables. $35.00.

Joseph Chada, The Czechs in the United States. SVU Press, 1981. Pp. 234.     

Illiberal democracy and the future of opposition in Singapore

There are quite a number of ways by which politics in Singapore can be meaningfully approached. One perspective is to focus on the guiding beliefs and values of the People’s Action Party (PAP) governing elite and its nature of state governance since its assumption of power in 1959; it has ruled the state continuously since then. Its success in turning Singapore into a modern metropolis the envy of many has helped to buttress and legitimise its rule. Despite the growing criticisms, especially by the opposition parties, of the highly regulated manner by which the country has been managed, the PAP government, led by its first and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and now by Goh Chok Tong, has unrepentantly stuck to its long-held world-view and governing paradigm. To the government, Singapore’s rapid economic growth and political stability could not have been achieved if the country were to follow the Western liberal democratic path and its attendant notions of development. While gradually allowing for greater citizen participation in the formulation of policies in more recent times, the present leadership, mindful of opening up a Pandora’s box, is still cautiously wary of the growth of a more pluralistic political environment; hence, its preference for what can be described as an illiberal, (soft) authoritarian democratic culture. Given this particular regime mindset and its parameters of governance, it is indeed a Herculean task for Opposition parties to make any significant inroads in the Republic’s future politics. However, all may not be lost for opposition parties and for those aspiring to see the evolution of a civil society. If they can capitalise on some probable future happenings—such as intra-party PAP factionalism consequent to the departure of the ‘old guard’, a prolonged economic downturn, and the rise of a new educated, IT generation—then their political future may hold some promise.     

The Identity of Turkey: Muslim and secular

Abstract

This article analyses the rise of political Islam in Turkey in the context of the akp's tenure in power with reference to complex social, economic, historical and ideational factors. It aims to answer one of the key questions, which has wider implications for the West and Islamic world: ‘having experienced the bad and good of the West in secularism and democracy’, as claimed by Samuel Huntington's ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis, is Turkey in transition from a secular to an Islamic state? The article first questions Turkey's ‘bridge’ or ‘torn-country’ status and then explains the akp's ambivalent policies towards religious and identity issues in relation to the increased public visibility of Islam and a ‘performative reflexivity’ of ‘Muslim-selves’. It concludes that the real issue at stake is not the assumed clash of secular and Muslim identities but the complex of interdependence between Islam, secularism and democratisation in Turkey.     

Islam and the West in world history

Rejecting the thesis that Islam and the West are on a collision course, this article examines the nature of their relations over the centuries and concludes that, although convergence between them is not likely, grounds for mutual tolerance and co-existence have always existed and can, in future, exist. Understanding that proprietary liberalism is not the only model for democracy is a necessary first step in the assessment of the long-term prospects for stable relations between Islam and the West. In this article intellectual, social, economic and political trends are examined, the causes of tensions and conflicts between the two sides are analysed, the nature of the contemporary Islamist project is identified, and the possibilities for effective dialogue between mainstream tendencies in both the West and the Muslim world are assessed.     

Civil society and democracy in the third world: Ambiguities and historical possibilities

The terminology of “civil society” has gained currency in recent discussions of democratic movements around the globe. Although less grandiose in its implications than claims about the “end of history,” this terminology does suggest a certain universality in human experience. We argue that this claim of universality is warranted, but also problematic. We establish the relevance of our argument in reference to the literatures in African and Indian studies. We note first that the common employments of the concept ignore the theoretical and historical specificity of civil society: civil society is used to label any group or movement opposed to the state, regardless of its intent or character, or used so generically that it is indistinguishable from the term “society.” Instead, we argue that civil society is a sphere of social life, involving a stabilization of a system of rights, constituting human beings as individuals, both as citizens in relation to the state and as legal persons in the economy and the sphere of private association. Thus, we link the wide resonance of the concept to its embeddedness in the logic of liberal capitalist society and the capitalist global division of labor. This conception allows us to see that, although the emergence of a sphere of civil society involves at least minimal democranization and is supportive of struggles for further democratization, the status of democracy is also made quite problematic by the tensions endemic to liberal capitalism and the processes of uneven development within international capitalism. Our usage also allows us to distinguish more clearly movements dedicated to the construction of civil society from those that may count actually as counter-civil society movements. David L. Blaney received his M.A. and Ph.D. at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. He is on leave from Hanover College, Hanover, Indiana as a visiting scholar for the 1993–94 academic year at The Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052. His main research interests include international political economy, culture and international relations theory, and democratic theory. Mustapha Kamal Pasha received his M.A. and Ph.D. at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. Currently, he is an assistant professor in the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C. 20016. His main research interests include international political economy, with particular regard to the Third World, and South Asian politics.     

Evidence-based prevention strategies of suicide behavior in the world: implications for Slovenia

In this review we consider how Slovenia could consider tackling its high rate of suicide (overall 29 per 100,000, 46 in males, 13 in females). First, we consider the evidence for risk factors that may contribute to Slovenia's high rate of suicide. Second, we describe the interventions to try to reduce the impact of these factors and the evidence for such interventions. We categorize interventions in terms of their operation at either the population level or that of high-risk groups. However, it should be borne in mind that settings often assumed to provide access to population groups, such as general practice and schools, do not reach some people who are likely to be at high risk; for example those who have dropped out of school or who have been excluded from a GP's list. We focus particularly on those for high-risk groups, as a number of East-European countries with high suicide rates such as Slovenia, Hungary, and the Baltic republics are currently considering a shift toward more community-based mental health services. The provision of community mental health services in Slovenia would provide an opportunity to study their impact on the suicide rate. However, we conclude that their development should be accompanied by other initiatives operating at population levels. This multilevel approach acknowledges the complexity of the etiology of suicide, the impossibility of reaching all those at risk through services and the lack of strong evidence for any one intervention.     

Missing the Third Wave: Islam,Institutions, and Democracy in the Middle East

This article explores why some societies witnessed less political liberalization during the Third Wave of democratization than others, and importantly, the conditions under which opposition forces may refrain from pressing for political reform. Focusing on the Muslim world, it also presents a more complete understanding of when and how political Islam hinders democratization. Specifically, historical experiences with Islamists in the 1970s and institutional structures established by the 1980s created a condition of uncertainty that enabled some incumbents to thwart liberalization during the Third Wave. Incumbents exploited the fear of political Islam, convincing many secularist opponents that they were better off with the current regime than with Islamist rule. The extent to which incumbents could succeed varied, depending on whether or not Islamist movements had been allowed to mobilize openly and the extent that the regime based its legitimacy on Islam. The argument extends beyond the Muslim world. What is fundamentally at stake is not whether Islam exists as a mobilizing ideology, but whether democratically-minded opponents believe that non-democratic opposition groups exist that would potentially subvert a democratic opening.     

Inequality,democracy and taxation: Lessons from the post-communist transition

Using data for the period 1989 – 2002, we examine the determinants of income inequality in post-communist economies. We find a strong positive association between equality and tax collection but note that this relationship is significantly stronger under authoritarian regimes than under democracies. We also discover that countries introducing sustainable democratic institutions early are characterised by lower inequality. We also confirm that education fosters equality and find that larger countries are prone to higher levels of inequality.