Party system change in east Germany

This article examines the development of the east German party system from the peaceful revolution in the former GDR to the aftermath of the 1994 federal election. It takes into account its format, polarisation, fragmentation, asymmetry, volatility, legitimacy, segmentation and government durability. The analysis shows that there was not only a complete transformation of the former GDR's party system between autumn 1989 and autumn 1990 but also a general change of the east German party system between 1990 and 1994. Both at the federal and at the Land level, the high volatility resulted in a considerably less fragmented system with a parliamentary format reduced to three parties: the CDU, SPD and PDS. The change in the electoral dimension also led to an increase in segmentation and to government instability at the Land level and coincided with a decrease of legitimacy. Reasons for the party system change are to be be found in developments at the macro‐level, that is, the institutional framework party competition is subject to, at the micro‐level, that is the cleavage structure and issue structure of east German society, and at the meso‐level, that is the resources and political behaviour of the relevant parties.     

Code-switching as a Strategy for the Decolonisation of Learning: A Case of One University in Swaziland

Although the call for the decolonisation of learning and an African renaissance has been a common trend in research recently, less attention has been paid to code-switching as a strategy for decolonising learning at universities. This article explores code-switching as a strategy for decolonising learning at a private university in Swaziland. The article addresses two questions: 1) What are students’ experiences of code-switching during Englishmedium lectures? 2) What are the students’ perceptions of code-switching during Englishmedium lectures? Data were collected using a mixed methods, single case study among a purposive sample of 30 first-year Bachelor of Education in Mathematics students at a private university in Swaziland. The findings indicated that students code switch to solidify pedagogical content presented in English during lectures. The findings also indicated that students employ code-switching as a strategy for breaking linguistic barriers imposed by the English language. Finally, the findings indicated that students describe code-switching as an invaluable strategy for decolonising learning at university. The study contributed in a unique way to knowledge because it is the first of this kind to explore decolonisation at a Swazi university—hence it does not only add to the growing body of literature—but also pioneers scholarship on the decolonisation of learning at Swazi universities. The article concludes by suggesting a student-centred approach to learning that embraces code-switching as a strategy for decolonising learning at the university.     

The B.B.C. Arabic broadcasts

This is an account of the origins and history of the little-known British Advisory Mission in Vietnam (BRIAM), which sought to transfer to Vietnam the techniques used in the Malayan Emergency to isolate insurgents from the population at large, while at the same time winning the loyalty of that population. This article looks first at the situation in South Vietnam and second at how the US and the UK viewed that situation and what they were doing about it. The third section deals with what BRIAM itself tried to do in introducing the process labelled “strategic hamlets”. The final section seeks to explain why the process failed.     

Lawrence's strategy and tactics in the ARAB revolt

Jason Abbott is Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Political, International and Policy Studies, the University of Surrey. Formerly a Teaching Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies and Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, he is the author of several publications on South East Asian politics.

Oliver Franks is a postgraduate student in Asian Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies.     

The “Indo-Pacific”—New Regional Formulations and New Maritime Frameworks for US-India Strategic Convergence

This article argues three things. First, it argues that at the conceptual level there has been a strategic rediscovery of a maritime regional framework, the Indo-Pacific. Second, it argues that at the policy level there is a significant regional security convergence, a degree of strategic balancing, between India and the United States in this Indo-Pacific. Third, it argues that at the causal level there is a common maritime challenge from China faced by India in the Indian Ocean and by the United States in the Pacific Ocean, a common Indo-Pacific strategic challenge which is generating this significant US-India naval convergence. In order to deal with such matters, the article looks at the strategic discourse employed around the concept of the Indo-Pacific, and the related maritime assets deployed in the Indo-Pacific by the United States and India.     

老挝汉语教学现状研究

老挝的汉语教学在中老两国政府和民间机构的共同努力下,呈现出欣欣向荣的景象.现阶段老挝汉语教学主要分为三个层次:中小学汉语教学、高等学校汉语教学和零星的汉语教学.老挝汉语教学也存在着许多问题,如缺乏合格的师资、教材不适合老挝学生等,如何解决这些问题是关心老挝汉语教学的人们需要共同面对的.     

IDENTITY POLITICS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Michael Denison read Modern History at Keble College, Oxford University, where he was the Royal Historical Society's Frampton Prize scholar. He completed an MA at the University of Leeds in European Security Studies and is now writing his PhD at Leeds on the domestic and international dynamics of personal rule. He spent the summers of 2001 and 2002 in Central Asia conducting fieldwork. He has recently returned from Turkmenistan where he participated in a conference hosted by the Turkmen Ministry of Foreign Affairs.     

Exploring Variations in Turnout: Constituencies and Wards in the Scottish Parliament Elections of 1999 and 2003

Elections for the Scottish Parliament and for all Scottish local authorities were held on the same day in 1999 and 2003, allowing a more detailed exploration of turnout variations than has been possible before. On both occasions, turnout in the two sets of elections was almost identical so that reported ward turnout at local level also indicates ward turnout in the parliament elections. Parliamentary turnout is analysed at both constituency and ward levels. The latter gives us greater confidence in the constituency results and also suggests some relationships which are not apparent at constituency level. The strongest determinant of turnout is consistently found to be the proportion of adults with a degree; religious affiliation, here analysed for the first time at the aggregate level, is also strongly related to turnout.     

Categorically misleading,dialectically misconceived: language textbooks and pedagogic participation in Central Asian nation-building projects

Persian language manuals uniformly adopt national categories such as Persian/Farsi (Iran), Dari (Afghanistan) and Tajik (Tajikistan). These categories at once impose an imagined contrast between the languages at the high register that is in fact marginal, while occluding profound linguistic variation within these nation-states at colloquial registers. Similar schemas apply to Central Asian Turkic languages such as Uyghur and Uzbek, which are closely related at the formal/literary register, but regionally diverse at lower registers. This dominant instructional approach ill prepares language learners for engaging the region on its own terms, rather than through the lens of nationalist aspirations. Students would be better served by an integrative method that teaches a transnational high language (in the case of Persian) while introducing a diverse range of dialects.     

The Israeli Disengagement Initiative

Dr. Golan is professor, emerita, in the department of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and professor of government at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya.     

EVACUATION OF SMYRNA (IZMIR) TURKEY, 1922

I. N. Duncan Wallace, QC studied law at his father's old college, Oriel, Oxford University, before spending the war years in the Navy. After the war he completed his law course, was called to the Bar in 1948 and took silk in 1973. His legal career involved practice in Pacific Rim countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Indonesia, as well as stints as ‘visiting’ Scholar and Professor at the University of California at Berkeley and King's College, London. Aged 80, he is still active in producing legal textbooks.     

Some military aspects of the Mesopotamia problem

Professor P. K. Basu is currently lecturing at City University, London. His previous appointment was Professor of International Business and Strategy, and Chairman of the Graduate School of Business at Gyosei International College in the UK. Educated at King's College, Cambridge University, and later elected Fellow of Churchill College, he has held several academic posts: Professor of Management at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta; Chairman of the Geological Survey of India and Visiting Professor in several universites. Professor Basu also served as Permanent Secretary to the Federal Government of India for the Ministries of Public Enterprises, Finance, Steel, Mines, Planning and Programme Implementation.

An earlier draft of certain portions of this paper was presented in a lecture to the Society on 8 May 2001.     

Russia’s image of China and Russian-Chinese relations

Views of China in today's Russia are characterized by great diversity. There are those who stand for strengthening ties with China to counterbalance the West; those who prefer Russia balancing between various power centers; and those who fear China as a growing geopolitical rival with a potential of expanding at the expense of Russian territory. Russia's government for the foreseeable future can be expected to advocate closer ties with China. However, the real question now is not whether a future Russian leadership will advocate a more hostile or more friendly course toward China, but if it will be able to support its wishes (whatever they may be) with the real resources necessary to pursue any consistent policy. Alexander Lukin received his first degree from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations and a doctorate from Oxford University. He worked at the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Soviet Embassy to the PRC, and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. From 1990 to 1993 he was an elected deputy of the Moscow City Soviet (Council), where he chaired the Sub-Committee for Inter-Regional Relations. He is the author of Russian Democrats: A Study in Political Culture (to be published by Oxford University Press in 1999) and numerous articles on Russian and Chinese politics and Russian-Chinese relations which have been published in Russia, the PRC, the U.S., the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In 1997/1998 he was a visiting research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. He is currently a research fellow at the Center for International Studies of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Foreign Ministry (MGIMO-University) and an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University.     

Medicine in Africa as I have seen It

This address by Dr. Smith was given before a joint meeting ofthe Royal African Society and the Royal Empire Society withLt.-Col. Sir Stewart Symes in the chair. Dr. Smith is May Readerin Medicine at Oxford University and Physician-in-Charge ofthe tuberculous Meningitis Unit at the United Oxford Hospitals.She formerly worked with Sir Hugh Cairns at the Radcliffe Infirmary,and was associated with him in starting certain research projectsin Africa concerned with various aspects of tuberculosis.     

Determinants of young people’s civic and political participation in Turkey

This special section provides a timely reflection on current debates that are of extreme relevance in order to gain a better understanding of the concepts of citizenship and active citizenship in Turkey, by looking at the determinants of civic and political participation, at the patterns of political and civic mobilization and at the orientations of political behaviour. Its originality stands on the specific focus on young people in comparison to other age groups. The different papers remark upon the importance that the reframing of the notions of citizenship and active citizenship have in the Turkish context along with the determinants that make this remark more relevant than ever.     

Effects of Institutional Reforms on Women's Representation in Colombia, 1960–2014

Starting in the 1990s, reforms aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of women have been implemented in Colombia. However, research on the consequences of these reforms has been inconclusive. This article analyzes the influence of institutional variables on the proportion of nominated and elected women in Colombia between 1962 and 2014, at both the national and local levels of government, in three different institutional environments. Results confirm the influence of institutional change, indicating that decentralizing reforms and the introduction of the gender quota have had a positive impact on the proportion of women's candidacies and elections, but that the adoption of the open list negatively affected the percentage of elected women.     

Maximising small party potential: The effects of electoral system rules on the far right in German sub‐national elections

Drawing on a data base of election results at national, regional and sub‐national level, this paper examines the impact of the German electoral system on the representation of far right parties. While the electoral threshold of five per cent is a hindrance to small parties at all levels, low district magnitude at sub‐national level tends to exacerbate under‐representation and the minority status of small parties while high district magnitude may result in over‐representation, in particular if a party secures around ten per cent. The paper concludes that electoral representation of small parties with limited resources is affected by votes gained, district magnitude and seat distribution at a given electoral level. Depending on the combination of these factors, the system of translating votes into seats may favour or disadvantage small parties.     

Environmental diplomacy,regional security,and the limits of “green aid”

Environmental diplomacy could play a vitally important role in the complicated political world of Northeast Asia, according to Shohei Yonemoto and Robert Triendl. If handled carefully, they argue, environmental objectives could serve as important substitutes for addressing security questions and as opportunities for institution‐building. Shohei Yonemoto is Director of the Science and Society Program at the Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences in Machida, near Tokyo. Robert Triendl is a science policy analyst formerly affiliated with the Center for the Sociology of Innovation at the Paris School of Mines, and is presently a research fellow at the Mitsubishi Kasei Institute.     

The many phases of nuclear energy

Nuclear energy, stresses the author, whether used for peaceful or other purposes, is associated with a wide range of complicated and unresolved issues. Efforts to find solutions — indeed, even to take the next steps toward that end — will be successful only when these diverse but closely interrelated issues are clarified and understood. Ryukichi Imai, formerly Ambassador of Japan to Kuwait, to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and to Mexico; Counselor to the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan; Professor of Social Sciences at Kyorin University; and author of many books and articles on nuclear issues, is a Distinguished Research Fellow at IIPS. He first presented this paper at the Oxford Energy Seminar cosponsored by OPEC and OAPEC at St. Catherine's College in September 1994. Some additions and deletions have been made since then.