Servants of Empire: An Imperial Memoir of a British Family

This article assesses three recently published books on various aspects of Afghanistan:-

- A Long Goodbye: The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan by Artemy M. Kalinovsky, an assistant professor of history at the University of Amsterdam;

-The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Francis J. West, a US Marine combat veteran;

-Vulcan's Tale: How the Bush Administration Mismanaged the Reconstruction of Afghanistan. by Dov S. Zakheim, a US Government official;

The background and training of these authors largely shape their viewpoints. However a careful reading of their books can sharpen our understanding of how the Soviet and US wars resembled and differed from each other, particularly with respect to nation-building, decision making, use of technology, and conflict termination. For the Russians, the similarities outweigh the differences, but there are still Americans who want to prove that they can win a war that the Soviets lost. From their perspective, the differences between the wars outweigh the similarities. The international context is completely different, the US has spent fifty times more money than the Russians and has deployed far more most sophisticated technology. Equally important, the outcome of the end-game is, as yet, unknown. But to most Afghans, comparisons are pointless; the Soviets and Americans both equally deserve to be labelled imperialists.     

An Imperial Aspect: The Australasian Town Planning Tour of 1914–15

The international diffusion of town planning theory, techniques and ideology was facilitated by many agencies in the early twentieth century, with lecture tours a popular mechanism. Driven by a mix of evangelism and imperialism, the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association (GCTPA) became a logical focus for the export of British planning ideals relating to better housing and planned local environments. The Australasian Town Planning Tour of 1914–15 organised by Charles Reade on behalf of the GCTPA was a major event in the development of Australian planing thought. There has, however, been no extended analysis of its origins, organisation and impacts. Drawing on contemporary sources, that task is attempted here. Discussion is set against the backdrop of the rise and decline of British imperialistic influence.     

Capital and the Lagos Presidency: Business as Usual?

Business-state relations in Chile's new democracy had been relatively tension-free for the first two governments of the centre-left Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia. However, during the first two years of the third Concertación administration, under the presidency of Ricardo Lagos, the relationship soured dramatically. At first glance, an ideological shift in the ruling coalition's centre of gravity would seem to explain the change in business-state relations. During the first two governments more conservative factions of the centrist Christian Democratic party had controlled the Concertación. Lagos, on the other hand, represented the left pole of the coalition and his socialist credentials brought the long shadow of the past on his presidency. This, however is an insufficient cause, three additional conditions must also be taken into account. The first one considers changes in the institutional and economic context that eroded the private sector's confidence in the Concertación's commitment to maintain the free-market socioeconomic model imposed under military rule. The second and third conditions are a decline in the electoral fortunes of the Concertación in favour of conservative parties and a shift in power relations among employers' associations towards more confrontational factions.     

普京连任后的俄罗斯国内政治与经济政策走向

普京在第二个任期内,仍坚持实施以体现俄罗斯思想为指导的治国方略和政策,因此,与第一个任期一样,他的治国方略或基本政策仍是两条:政治上的集权化和经济上的自由化。从今后国家政策的总趋势看,俄罗斯所推行的改革和发展政策与措施,都将围绕加速经济发展与加强中央权力这两个轴心来进行。俄罗斯经济将继续保持较快的增长速度,但 2010年实现GDP翻番的目标仍存在不少困难。     

Democratic Tradition and the Failed Presidency of Lucio Gutierrez in Ecuador

In April 2005, Lucio Gutiérrez was removed from office in the context of a fast‐growing economy. With no economic hardship to fuel social outrage, the failure of Gutiérrez illustrates how political and institutional factors can be the most important forces determining presidential survival. In this article, we qualitatively analyse the path toward confrontation between Gutiérrez and the congressional opposition which led to his political demise. We find that Ecuador's weak democratic tradition working through more proximate causes – radicalism, normative preference for democratic institutions and a negative institutional equilibrium – coupled with other institutional and political variables accelerated Lucio Gutiérrez's fall from power.     

French Africa policy: Sarkozy's legacy,and prospects for a Hollande Presidency

This article assesses the record of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Sub-Saharan Africa. It finds that significant reforms were made to France's role on the continent, most notably in the re-structuring, and reducing, of France's military presence. However expectations of less military intervention were met, as the French armed forces have been active in three very different crises — in Côte d'Ivoire, Chad and the West African Sahel. Equally, Sarkozy did not make a clear break with past practices of support for undemocratic leaders, nor did he put an end to the exceptional status of Africa in French diplomacy. The article goes on to consider African perspectives on France's role, both popular resentment and elite level strategies. Finally, it provides a preliminary assessment of French policy in the first 100 days of Francois Hollande's presidency.     

Russia,Ukraine, and the Imperial Legacy

Three specialists in social services present an assessment of Hungary's performance during the economic transition from the perspective of social policy and the general welfare of the population. Using figures drawn from a variety of European sources, they offer a review of social expenditure, labor market tendencies, and the social security, health and education systems, comparing throughout with data from the Czech Republic, Poland and the European Union.     

Imperial classifications and anti-colonial resistance in North Africa

In reviewing the books of Mathilde von Bülow (2016), Liat Kozma (2017), and Odile Moreau and Stuart Schaar (2016), this review article makes a series of important observations on trans—Mediterranean relations. Along with the longevity of Europe's concerns over migration and migrants from North Africa and the wider Middle East, and the parallels between France and Britain's treatment of their colonised populations and domestic minorities, it notes the opportunities for anti-colonial resistance generated by the imperial powers' classification of individuals, groups and organisations operating in and out of their respective Mediterranean territories.     

日本的皇位继承制度与《皇室典范》

《皇室典范》是基于宪法制定的天皇皇位继承等有关皇室事务的法律。明治时代出于建立天皇专制主义政权的需要,于1889年颁布的《皇室典范》结束了皇位继承混乱无序的历史,作为与宪法具有同等效力的最高法规,确立了天皇至高无上的地位。第二次世界大战结束后,根据新宪法制定的新《皇室典范》,天皇的地位和性质发生了本质变化,但在皇位继承制度方面依然沿袭了明治《皇室典范》的基本原则。这一战后改革不彻底的后果,束缚了皇室的发展,也是当今日本皇室出现继承危机的根源。     

The Nation and its Sermons: Islam,Kemalism and the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey

This article will attempt to develop an in-depth examination of the pivotal role of Islam in the articulation of Turkish nationalism and Turkish official identity by examining the sermons authorized and imposed by the Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA), the state agency regulating religion, and how the their cosmologies of social, moral and political order are entwined. We will further argue that this role involves a twofold process; firstly, the Muslim identity was imagined as a prerequisite for being considered as a Turk and a Turkish citizen and, secondly, the ‘cultural intimacy’ of Turkish nationalism is grounded on the ‘root paradigms’ inherited and attained from the Islamic tradition and theology. These arguments are particularly pertinent at a time when Islamist JDP (Justice and Development Party) consolidated its power and began to instrumentalize PRA for its priorities and visions of Islam. This, however, does not bring a radical reshuffling of PRA. On the contrary, the continuity from the Kemalist-monitored PRA to the JDP-monitored PRA can be attested not only in its organizational features but also in its ideological make up; especially in terms of its perceptions of society, state and social order.