Iran and Terrorism: The Transatlantic Responses

Since 1979 the United States and several European countries have accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of supporting terrorism. This article does not seek to examine the validity of these accusations. Rather, it analyzes how Washington and Brussels have sought to change Tehran's policy. Special attention is given to organizations such as Hizbollah, Hamas, Jihad, and Mujahideen-e Khalq. In addition, Ayatollah Khomeini's Fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the Mykonos trial, and the Flatow Amendment are discussed. The article highlights the differences between the American and European approaches toward Iran and suggests that more cooperation between the two sides of the Atlantic is needed.     

Peeling Away the Western Veneer

Going through a protracted period of transition since the end of the Cold War, the world order in the making is neither what was nor what it is yet to become. It is in “the middle of the future.” To get our bearings in this uncertain transition, we explore the two grand post‐Cold War narratives—“The End of History” as posited by Francis Fukuyama and “The Clash of Civilizations” posited by the late Samuel Huntington. Mikhail Gorbachev looks back at his policies that brought the old order to collapse. The British philosopher John Gray critiques the supposed “universality” of liberalism and, with Homi Bhabha, sees a world of hybrid identities and localized cultures. The Singaporean theorist Kishore Mahbubani peels away the “veneer” of Western dominance. Amartya Sen, the economist and Nobel laureate, assesses whether democratic India or autocratic China is better at building “human capacity” in their societies.     

Peeling Away the Western Veneer

Globalization has indeed flattened the earth, paving the way for new beginnings and the resurgence of old cultures alike by levelling the playing field for all comers. While this new era of post‐globalization certainly heralds de‐Westernization by century's end, is it more likely to mean a revival of the old ways of the East or the new hybrid ways of the first global civilization? Some of Asia's most provocative voices, as well as the world's most renowned cellist and cross‐pollinating musician, offer their views.     

Japan: Shifting Away from American-led Globalization

Thanks to the draining effects of the Iraq war and the financial meltdown emanating from Wall Street, a powershift away from American dominance is taking place. Caught between a rising China and an America in relative decline, the new leadership in Japan is recalibrating its post-World War II relationships. The G-20 has usurped the role once played by the G-8 as the governing committee of globalization. And the symbiotic coupling of Chimerica, born out of the credit bubble built up over the past two decades, is being put to the test.
In this section, the new prime minister of Japan, the president of the European Union, the president of Brazil and a leading economic historian assess these shifts.     

Washing Away the Sins of the Past

Abstract

The National Water Act of 1998 is the legislative framework for integrated catchment management in South Africa. It is a progressive legislation that advocates inclusion and aspires to narrow the agp of unequal access to water in South Africa. The legitimacy and representativity of the catchment management agency depends largely on the success of the process leading to its establishment. The dynamic between the creation of trust and the construction of water management institutions is examined. The article highlights the problems that have emerged in the attempt to reform management systems and concludes that water management bodies need to more assertively build trust and reduce shame relations particularly amongst ordinary water users.     

Away From Home: Somali Women's Mediated Entry Into the United Kingdom

Based on in-depth interviews with 26 Somali women refugees, this article discusses structural arrangements around their settlement in the United Kingdom (UK). Their “male-centered” migration can be viewed as a specific form of patriarchal institution where men control women's trajectories. Based on Bourdieu's concept of social capital, I introduce a new category of knowledge capital—supplementary capital—to discuss sociocultural/political stratifications that affect integration of my informants in the UK. I show how a lack of familiarity with the dominant language became central to their integration difficulties. These underexamined problems are key factors in immigration processes.     

Legacies Versus Politics: Herbert Hoover, Partisan Conflict, and the Symbolic Appeal of Associationalism in the 1920s

The concept of a policy legacy has come into widespread use among scholars in history and the social sciences, yet the concept has not been subject to close scrutiny. We suggest that policy legacies tend to underexplain outcomes and minimize conventional politics and historical contingencies. These tendencies are evident in the revisionist literature on American politics in the aftermath of the First World War. That work stresses continuities between wartime mobilization and postwar policy, especially under the auspices of Herbert Hoover and the Commerce Department. We maintain that a rupture marks the transition between the war and the Republican era that followed and that the emphasis on wartime legacies distorts the political realities of the Harding–Coolidge era. We conclude by noting the risks of policy legacy approaches in historical analysis.     

初入狱青年男性罪犯的人格特征研究

本研究以273名初入狱男性青年罪犯为被试,以16PF为测量工具,探讨了初入狱男性青年罪犯人格的基本特征,并比较了不同文化程度和不同刑期青年罪犯的人格特点。结果发现。与对照组相比。初入狱青年罪犯在B、E、H、I、O和Q2六个人格特质、X2和X4两种次元人格因素和Y1综合人格因素上存在显著差异;不同文化程度罪犯在B,F,H,O,Q1和Q4六个人格特上存在显著差异,不同刑期罪犯在所有人格特质上的差异均不显著。该结论提示,未来的研究应采用纵向研究的手段以进一步了解处于不同服刑期罪犯的人格特质。     

俄进行改革:总统掌控军工贸系统

俄罗斯的军事贸易和军事工业是一个涉及到政治、经济、军事和国防安全的全局性问题.普京任总统后加速了军贸、军事订货和军工管理体制的改革,建立了以国防部为核心亦即为总统掌控的军工贸权力管理体系.     

一些政党长期执政防范风险的经验

一个执政党从上台那一天开始,就存在着潜在的执政风险.     

前进途中多挑战 中东和平路漫漫——齐皮·利夫尼当选前进党主席后的以色列政局

以色列执政党前进党举行的党主席选举吸引了很多人的目光，不仅仅因为这是年轻的前进党自2005年11月成立以来举行的第一次主席选举，更在于它发生在地处中东风暴中心的以色列，而且当选者极有可能取代党主席埃胡德·奥尔默特成为以色列新一任总理。