The Palestinian Issue as Constructed in Jordanian School Textbooks, 1964–94: Changes in the National Narrative

This article will discuss the school textbooks in history and civic in the elementary and secondary schools of Jordan between 1964 and 1994 and will show that the changes in the narrative manifested in the school textbooks in the course of these years were influenced by the political, ideological and national needs of Jordanian regime in this period and especially in the light of the Palestinian component in the Jordanian society that presented not only a national-ideological, but also a physical and existential challenge to the integrity of the kingdom. The article will show how, in view of the developments in the Palestinian arena, the school textbooks reflect an attempt on part of the Jordanian regime to forge a national Arab and Jordanian-Palestinian identity up to the end of the 1960s whereas since the beginning of the 1970s, the emphasis is placed on a separate Jordanian territorial identity.     

The democratic experience in divided societies: The Baltic states in comparative perspective

Abstract

The process of democratization in the Baltic states has been coloured by the question of the political integration of the formerly-dominant Russian-speaking communities. This paper compares the extent of ethnic differences in the experience of democracy in these three states with those in ten other East European societies in the mid-1990s. It examines how polarized ethnic groups are in terms of their satisfaction with the democratic process, representation and responsiveness and where the Baltic states stand in terms of the extent of such ethnic polarization compared with the range of situations found in former-communist Eastern Europe. The Baltic states are shown to be distinct from each other, with Estonia having the most polarized experience of democratic processes, and the findings generally undermine notions of Baltic exceptionalism with regard to democracy and ethnic relations. Finally, we consider the possible implications for membership in the European Union of the experience of unequal involvement in the democratic process in these societies.     

Three Ottoman Pashas at the Congress of Berlin, 1878

In the weakened Ottoman Empire of the nineteenth century, revolts in the Balkans and subsequent Russian intervention led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 which resulted in a great loss of Ottoman territory and population in the European part of the Empire. After the ceasefire at Edirne in January 1878 and the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, the Congress of Berlin was convened in June 1878 in order to achieve a political settlement. High-level plenipotentiaries of the main European Powers took part in the deliberations. Against the backdrop of the Congress of Berlin, details are provided about the lives and careers of the members of the Ottoman Turkish delegation.     

Model or deterrence? The United States presidential election campaigns and the bundestag election campaigns

This article focuses on the election of the President of the United States of America in 2004 and on the premature election of the Bundestag in Germany in 2005. The main questions which are discussed are: Where can we currently discern central similarities in campaigning, which remain functionally powerful despite the considerable differences in system and context? What can be learned from the United States 2004 presidential election campaign for future Bundestag election campaigns in Germany? Can we observe developments in the USA which we have already seen in the 2005 Bundestag election? Could these trends be useful for the German parties in the future? This contribution argues that there are some developments in the United States which may prove useful to the German parties in future Bundestag campaigns.     

The majority as minority: women and contemporary politics in Scotland,New Zealand and Finland,c. 1960–96

SUMMARY

In this article, Catriona Burness seeks to establish the current potential for increasing significantly the level of women's participation in politics in Scotland and the United Kingdom in the light of the experience of their representation in Scotland, New Zealand and Finland since 1960. The comparator countries have been selected because they are small countries of comparable size, with advanced political cultures, in which women have been eligible to vote and be elected to parliaments for a considerable period of time. The article reviews the history of women's representation in each of these countries and seeks to identify patterns in the developments that have taken place. It then discusses the prospects for further advances on the current position, in particular in the light of the probable introduction of a devolved assembly in Scotland.     

Modern education and literary traditions: a comparative view on the development of modern Uyghur and Tibetan literature

ABSTRACT

In 1949, illiteracy among both Uyghurs and Tibetans was similar to that throughout China and estimated as higher than 90%. Since then, the rate of illiteracy in Xinjiang has shrunk considerably, while in Tibet it has remained the highest in China. This gap can explain the difference between the small volume of literature published annually in Tibet and the extensive literature that appears yearly in Xinjiang. A major reason for the high literacy rate and the emergence of a thriving modern literature in Xinjiang is the system of modern education that developed in the region at the start of the twentieth century. In contrast, in Tibet, the religious conservatism of the Buddhist elite prevented the introduction of modern education in order to retain local cultures. The comparison of the influences of modern education on the creation of literary traditions allows us to examine the continuity of Uyghur and Tibetan cultures in the context of contemporary China.     

Antonio Rosmini and representative institutions

SUMMARY

In this article, Georgio Campanini draws attention to the political ideas of the Italian philosopher Antonio Rosmini, who was an active participant in political debate in Italy in the first half of the nineteenth century. The article concentrates on Rosmini's most original idea, his insistence that in a representative system of government it is necessary to separate the securing of the political rights of the citizen from the ordinary processes governing the material interests of the society. Rosmini, who was orthodox in advocating an elected representative system, based on tax and property qualifications, to manage the ordinary business of the state, proposed a special institution, a Political Tribunal elected by universal male suffrage, with an open remit to intervene in government to defend the rights of the citizen. He held that the defence of individual rights could not be left safely in the hands of the state, but must be in the hands of independent representatives of every citizen, regardless of his place in society. Although Rosmini was able to put forward his ideas in the constitutional debates in Italy in 1848, they were not taken up. But his ideas anticipate current interest in Europe into setting up constitutional or supreme Courts to protect individual rights against the state, and Campanini suggests that, in this connection, the idea of their being elected by universal suffrage is worth serious consideration.     

第二次世界大战前美国制造业的郊区化——兼论美国郊区化与城市化的关系

从19世纪中叶开始,随着生产规模的扩大、生产技术的进步和生产流程的优化,工厂对空间的需求越来越大,再加上重工业对资源、能源的需求,使得美国制造业产生了向郊区发展的动力。工业地产商的开发活动和铁路的出现也使工业在郊区的发展成为可能。在多种因素作用下,1879~1954年间,美国郊区制造业的发展速度和新增制造业就业岗位的绝对数量都超过了中心城市,呈现出郊区化的态势。在19世纪末20世纪初,美国城市兼并郊区的过程中,制造业郊区化的部分成果被城市化吸收,从而促进了美国城市化在1920年的基本实现。     

Confederates and Yankees under the Southern Cross

Following the Civil War in the United States of America, colonies that were predominately ‘Yankee’ and Confederate sprang up in Brazil. In contrast to the subject's historiography, we seek to show how these colonies were the result of in the first case, the actions of Imperial diplomacy and in the second case, spontaneous interest by Southerners due to the existence of slavery in Brazil. This proposition is supported by primary sources, as they indicate the presence of significant teams of slaves in the Confederate colonies in Brazil, while slavery was prohibited in their ‘Yankee’ counterparts.     

Structuring parliamentary politics: Party organization in eighteenth‐century Sweden

SUMMARY

The English universities were enfranchised as parliamentary constituencies in letters patent issued by James I in 1604. The various approaches made to the Tudor regime by some of the senior members of Oxford and Cambridge to have ‘burgesses in parliament’ to protect and promote the rights of the respective universities and their colleges were largely responses to the problems caused by the persistent contentions and conflict of interests between ‘town and gown’ in both places. These abortive attempts to add new constituencies to the expanding parliamentary system in the sixteenth century are seen against the background of medieval precedents for the summoning by the Crown of university lawyers to parliament. On three separate occasions after the Reformation, the petitions for the privilege of representation addressed to the monarch and privy councillors were associated with requests that the lower clergy in the Church of England be represented in the House of Commons as well as in the Convocations of the Church. Parliament itself does not seem to have played a part in initiating these overtures or in sanctioning the final grant of representation, which, like the enfranchisement of incorporated boroughs, was an exercise of the royal prerogative. Both universities responded positively to the advice tendered in 1604 by the attorney-general, Sir Edward Coke, that they return as their representatives civil lawyers rather than clerical members of their governing bodies. The possible constitutional significance of this recommendation and its implementation is considered in the context of some contemporary ideas of representation and the failure at this time of the ‘inferior clergy’ generally to gain a presence in the House of Commons to complement that of the spiritual lords in the upper chamber. In the later modern period the separate university franchise was extended in turn to all modern academic institutions on attaining full university status, but was abolished by the post-war Labour Government in 1948.     

Uprooted cosmopolitans? The post-war exile of Spanish anarchists in Venezuela, 1945-1965

This article considers the activity of anarchist refugees in exile after the Spanish civil war in the light of their professed cosmopolitan and internationalist outlook. It first examines the trajectory of anarchist internationalism in Spain and its perceived shortcomings in the period up to and including the civil war. It then provides a brief survey of the post-war re-organisation of Spanish anarchists in exile, before proceeding to the case study of Venezuela. Anarchist activity in this country is analysed through the lenses of internationalism and cosmopolitanism in the ambivalent context of exile.     

疫情大考中党员干部能力的价值与提升路径研究

疫情大考,突出表现为对党员干部能力的大考。党员干部能力如何,直接影响到党组织的组织力、领导力、决策力、凝聚力、战斗力,直接关系到能否切实肩负起领导责任去打好、打赢这场疫情防控的人民战争、总体战、阻击战。疫情大考是对党员干部能力的综合性大考,从组织领导力、决策判断力、精神凝聚力、法治规范力、人文感染力等主要方面,充分显示党员干部能力的重大价值。必须正视党员干部能力存在的突出问题,如组织领导力失职问题,决策判断力失误问题,精神凝聚力失落问题,法治规范力失范问题,人文感染力失色问题。要在强化马克思主义权力观中提升党员干部能力,在学习型、服务型、创新型、法治型党组织建设中提升党员干部能力,在推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化中提升党员干部能力,在构建智慧社会、智慧城市、智慧社区中提升党员干部能力,在加强文化软实力建设中提升党员干部能力。     

Russian Archival Sources for the Study of the Iranian Communist Party: The Pre-Tudeh Years, 1917-1942

In recent decades, the field of history of Communism in Iran has been enriched by a number of studies that deal with different aspects of the subject. Still some core aspects, such as the role of the Comintern in the Iranian Communist movement, remain largely understudied. This could be partly explained by the inaccessibility of archival documents during the Soviet era. Yet, despite the opening of many former Soviet archives after 1991, access to certain archives still presents great difficulties. In the framework of a research conducted in Russian archives, an inventory has been located in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Sotsial'no-Politicheskoi Istorii / RGASPI) in Moscow. The inventory originates from the Comintern’s archive and consists of a large number of files and documents in various languages (primarily Russian, but also Persian and Azerbaijani) relevant to Communist activities in Iran. Given the importance of this inventory to the study of Communism in Iran, Iran-USSR relations and the extent of Soviet involvement in Iran in the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods, we decided to translate and annotate it and to provide an introductory discussion of the highlights of Communist activity in Iran between the years 1917 and 1942.     

IS THIS RUSSIA’S MOMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, formerly British permanent representative to the UN, who has had long experience of dealing with Russia in the context of diplomacy, considers whether the current moment of Russian dominance in Syria and the Middle East, combined with the recent general disengagement of the western powers in the region, could be considered as marking the beginning of a general period of Russian hegemony in the Middle East. The article takes into account the global geopolitical situation, the recent history of Russia and the Middle East, the consequences of western intervention in Iraq, and the motivations of the Russian government particularly in view of its recent engagement in Ukraine.     

Oversight of the Executive in the Eastern Cape Province,South Africa

This paper examines legislative oversight of the Executive in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, since the divisions within the ANC in the run-up to the party's 2007 Polokwane conference. It explores the dynamics of oversight and experiences of MPLs of the governing and opposition parties and of legislators and senior officials of government. Importantly, it assesses the perception and confidence of citizens in rural communities in the oversight process of the Legislature. The paper argues that the factions within the ruling party have had remarkable impact on the oversight of the Executive in the Eastern Cape. Whilst a vital element of the legislative process in the Eastern Cape, oversight is weak and ineffective: ineffectual oversight intersects with citizen apathy in legislative and oversight processes in the province.     

民主在东南亚的前提条件和发展趋势

20世纪50、60年代民主政体在东南亚国家的实行均以流产而告终,威权主义代替民主政体对东南亚国家的稳定和发展起到了巨大的作用.本文认为"民主"之树移植容易,但是开花结果却需要许多前提条件.本文从经济、文化和社会基础三个角度分析东南亚国家实行"民主"所需的相应条件.并对"民主"在东南亚的发展趋势作了简短预测.     

In Search of Strategies to Face the Economic Crisis: Evidence from Greek Farms

This study examines the strategies – defensive or aggressive, individual or collective – undertaken by sheep farms in a Greek rural area in order to face the repercussions of the economic crisis and their effects on the productivity and economic performance of these farms. The article presents the results of a farm management survey conducted in 2010 and repeated in 2014 in northern Evros, Greece. The mix of strategies – mainly passive – adopted by farmers shows their confusion in the face of crisis conditions, which has resulted in reduced productivity, more use of family labour and a rise in collective actions.     

The Media Salience of Germany's Bilateral Relations to the United States,France and Britain

This article provides a comparative analysis of the salience of Germany's bilateral relations to the United States, France and Britain in the German media since the end of the cold war. It offers a media content frequency analysis which identifies long-term similarities and differences in media reporting across the three relationships as well as short-term upswings of media interest in each of them individually. This is relevant because the media salience of bilateral relations is a measure of their underpinnings in public discourse and speaks to the significance of domestic drivers in conducting such relationships. The article finds that media reporting on Germany's three bilateral relations under study has significantly increased in the post-9/11 period and that US–German and Franco–German relations attract far more attention in the German media than Anglo–German relations. Short-term upswings in media coverage are triggered by specific types of events, in particular crises in European integration and international military missions.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Lockhart, Of Things of the Indies: Essays Old and New in Early Latin American History
Barman, Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–91
Harding, A Refuge in Thunder: Candomblé and Alternative Spaces of Blackness in Brazil
Buffington, Criminal and Citizen in Modern Mexico
Ochoa, Feeding Mexico: The Political Uses of Food since 1910
Clarke, Class, Ethnicity, and Community in Southern Mexico: Oaxaca's Peasantries
Rovira, Women of Maize: Indigenous Women and the Zapatista Rebellion
Assies, The Challenge of Diversity: Indigenous peoples and reform of the state in Latin America
Tulchin and Garland, Social Development in Latin America. The Politics of Reform
Gelles, Water and Power in Highland Peru: the Cultural Politics of Irrigation and Development
Starn, Nightwatch: the Politics of Protest in the Andes
Payne, Uncivil Movements: The Armed Right Wing and Democracy in Latin America
Silva, The Soldier and the State in South America: Essays in Civil-Military Relations
Roniger and Sznajder, The Legacy of Human Rights Violations in the Southern Cone, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay
Smith, Inevitable Partnership: Understanding Mexico-US Relations
Roniger and Sznajder, (eds.) Constructing Collective Identities and Shaping Public Spheres: Latin American Paths
Larraín, Identity and Modernity in Latin America
Caister, Mexico City: A Cultural and Literary Companion