Systemisch verdunkelter Sinn: Beobachtungsschwierigkeiten einer Zentralbank am Finanzmarkt

As an institution that is bound by the instructions of the European Central Bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank performs the monetary politics in Germany. The emphasis on preservation of price stability as primary goal of its policy often obscures how precarious are the means for the fulfillment of its tasks. The article firstly lays out the vicariousness of a strategy called ??monetary mechanism of transmission??, and secondly shows how difficult it was for the Deutsche Bundesbank to detect the approaching world financial crisis in August 2007. The main reasons for this were the systematically blinded risks of ??Asset Backed Commercial Papers?? whose failure are not observable from the point of view of a central bank.     

The Goldkrieg: Revaluing the Bundesbank's reserves and the politics of EMU

In May and June 1997, Germany's commitment to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) underwent its most serious test ever when the Bundesbank and the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl clashed openly over the government's plans to revalue the country's gold reserves. Faced with a budget shortfall and strong political opposition to either tax increases or spending cuts, Finance Minister Waigel attempted to introduce a modest change in the Bundesbank's bookkeeping procedures to bring them in line with the standard practices at other European central banks. The Bundesbank resisted, arguing that the changes would infringe upon its closely guarded independence. This paper explores the political and economic circumstances behind the conflict.     

Finanzplatz deutschland: National or European response to internationalisation?

Germany's has long been held up as a competitive, bank‐based financial system, providing long‐term and secure finance for industrial and service companies. The emphasis here is on the international market and regulatory conditions which have helped to transform the the financial system. In the 1980s, the government remained averse to any ‘Big Bang’ experiment, adapting national securities markets to policy initiatives in the US, and in London and Paris. This aversion was rooted in Bundesbank opposition to the development of money markets, and to the practice of corporate‐bank‐insurance cross‐shareholding among Germany's big publicly listed corporations. The politics of ‘Finanzplatz Deutschland’ achieved a balance between maintaining national institutions and adapting them carefully to international markets and regulation. Implementing monetary union and the European financial area in the 1990s and beyond amounts in effect to a ‘Big Bang ‘ policy which is already under way. The prospect of a liquid ‘Euro'‐market for securities, and increasingly competitive banking and insurance markets, spells a shift in German corporate policies towards Anglo‐American practices. National cross‐shareholding corporate structures will not long survive a single currency.     

Central banking and the crisis of social democracy ‐ a comparative analysis of British and German views

With the demise of the post‐war ‘Keynesian accommodation’, social democratic parties are having to come to terms with the increasingly key role of central banks in the political management of markets. This article examines the differing views of the SPD and the British Labour Party to government‐central bank relations in terms of their differing national contexts. The second part interprets the results of a postal survey of MPs and MEPs from both parties relating to recent developments in national and supranational central banking and identifies significant contrasts between the two and important contradictions in perceptions of policy processes, notably within the SPD group. Such contradictions relate above all to the popularisation of the Bundesbank model of autonomy and the feasibility of (social) democratic politics.     

The politics and economics of German unification: From currency union to economic dichotomy

The political dynamics of unification brought about a rapid transition from a largely self‐contained socialist economy to a monetary union and at the same time initiated a painful adjustment process. The article analyses public debates and interpretations of economic events and prospects which contributed to the construction of the economic‐political dimensions of German unification.     

The Power of Ideas: How Bundesbank Ideas Have Influenced the Reconstruction of the National Bank of Poland

This article is concerned with the qualitative rise of German influence in an enlarged European Union (EU). The point of departure is the assumption that eastward enlargement facilitates the further expansion and manifestation of German power in Europe via the institutionalisation of parts of the Modell Deutschland in the candidate countries prior to their accession. This article examines the power tools that have facilitated the transfer of Bundesbank ideas into the institutional structure of Poland's national central bank, Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP). The analysis demonstrates that the relationship between Germany and its eastern neighbours is not only determined by the former's physical capacities but, in reflection of post-war Germany's foreign policy strategy, relies on the persuasiveness of Germany's ideational lead.     

Bringing the PDS into the coalition equation

This article is intended to be a contribution to the study of the politics of the Anglo‐German relationship, and to the politics of NATO enlargement, seen purely within this context. It is not concerned with the validity of any strategic arguments concerning enlargement, the organisational or the financial problems stemming from this policy, or the wider strategic issues raised by this policy. From 1992 until 1 May 1997 the bilateral Anglo‐German relationship exhibited ever deeper fissures in policy on European integration, and on monetary union in particular. Yet, Anglo‐German policy in respect of NATO's eastern expansion and its relations with the new Russia, which reflected an integrating Europe from a different perspective, was characterised by fundamental agreement. This paradox, it is suggested, indicates that policy on Europe suffered more from ideological conflict on European integration within the governing Conservative Party during the period under review than from an inherent or necessary conflict of national interest between Britain and Germany.     

Taking a second look at Germany's motivation to establish economic and monetary union: A critique of ‘economic interests’ claims

One of the most widespread explanations of Germany's willingness to create European monetary union is that business or economic interest groups supported and lobbied for it, believing it would be good for them. This article refutes the argument that economic interests were actively involved in the process or that they had a causal impact on the German government's acceptance of EMU. Empirical evidence shows that economic interest groups in Germany were hesitant and sceptical about monetary union, especially since the EMS was working well. Economic interests belatedly mimicked the demands of the Bundesbank that EMU be insulated from political pressure and that price stability be enshrined in the charter, but they did not urge the government to join. Moreover, the members of peak business organisations were themselves divided on the merits of EMU. Thus, this article falsifies the claim that business or economic interests were the driving force behind Kohl's willingness to give up the DM.     

Identity creation and the culture of contrition: Recasting ‘normality’ in the Berlin Republic

This paper considers transformations in the concept of national identity post‐unification. In particular, it is interested in examining the changed status of the NS past in contemporary formulations of national identity. Whilst during the Historikerstreit conservative thinkers predicated the plea for conventional patriotism upon a ‘normalisation’ or ‘reladvisation’ of the NS past, left‐liberal discourse based the case for a post‐national Verfassungspatriotismus upon the critical engagement with the NS period. The collapse of the Cold War political framework has profoundly altered the polarised discourse over the German past and during the 1990s the critical consciousness of National Socialism became a central tenet of contemporary formulations of national identity. The paper attempts to place the contemporary discourse on national identity within a broader historical context and to consider reasons for recent transformations in perceptions of the German national past.     

Power of the law or power of the sword: the conflictive relationship between the executive and the legislative in nineteenth-century Peru

ABSTRACT

The Peruvian parliament was a central institution in the early republic, but so far very little has been written on its history. This is due to the fact that military leaders took control of power for most of the nineteenth century. This article reflects on three main questions: what was the role of the legislative in nineteenth-century Peru? What was its relationship with the executive power? And what part did conflict play in these relationships? Most initial congresses were tasked with writing up constitutions, because institutions had to be created, and there was a strong belief that having a written charter mattered. The strongmen who took power felt the need to obtain legitimacy from both constitutions, and elections, but often did not see eye to eye with congress. This led congress to be closed, particularly when legislators refused to bow down to presidential power.     

The West German 68‐ers encounter the events of 1989

Why did the German left react negatively to the events in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989/90? There are several reasons to be given: the problem the left has in dealing with nationalism, the acceptance on the part of the West German left of the GDR as a legitimate German state; the ambivalent attitude it has towards the United States, and its deeply entrenched ‘state‐fixation’. At the present time, the German left is engaged in soul‐searching discussions which show different lines of development, but its most urgent task is to desist trying to salvage anything of value from the ‘socialism’ practised by the GDR and eastern Europe.     

Are We Concerned Yet? Environmental Crisis and Economic Development in China; China on the Edge: The Crisis of Ecology and Development,by He Baochuan; China's Environmental Crisis: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development,by Vaclav Smil

Abstract

The storyline of China's late imperial and modern history typically revolves around questions of economic development: Was China's economy in the late imperial period developing on its own? If so, what is the evidence? If not, why not? What impact did imperialism have? What have been the developmental strategies of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and how successful have they been? Regardless of whether or not the scholar pursuing these questions is a Marxist (of whatever flavor) or neo-Smithian economist working for the World Bank, development remains at the core of the inquiry and is its central problematic.     

Professor Ann Lambton (1912–2008)

Humaniora Islamica: An Annual Publication of Islamic Studies and the Humanities, ed. by Herbert W. Mason, Ronald L. Nettler and Jacques Waardenburg; co‐ordinating editor, Merlin L. Swartz. Vol. I/1973, pp. xii+284, indexes. Mouton, 44 guilders.

The Arab‐Israeli Conflict, ed. by John Norton Moore. Princeton University Press, 1974. Three vols. Vol. I, pp. xxviii + 1067; vol. II, pp. ix + 1193, index; vol. III, pp. xxvi + 1248, maps, bibliography and index. $95.00 the set.

Algerian Bibliography: English Language Publications 1830–1973 by Richard I. Lawless. Bowker, in association with the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies of the University of Durham, . Pp. xvi + 114, index. £9.50.

Dictionary of Oriental Literature, general ed., Jaroslav Prin?ek; vol. I, East Asia, ed. by Zbigniew Slupski, pp. xxii + 226; vol. II, South and South‐East Asia, ed. by Du?an Zbavitel, pp. viii+ 191; vol. III, West Asia and North Africa, ed. by Ji?i Be?ka, Pp. x + 213. London: George Allen &; Unwin 1975. £5.85 per vol.

A Near East Studies Handbook 570–1974 by Jere L. Bacharach. University of Washington Press, (American Universities Publishers Group) 1975. Pp. x + 147, indexes. £2.50.

A Bibliography of Pre‐Islamic Persia J. D. Pearson, ed. Mansell. Pp. vii + 288, index. £11.

A World Bibliography of Oriental Bibliographies, Theodore Besterman and J. D. Pearson, eds. London: Basil Blackwell, . 727 columns, index. £30.     

Political Mobilisation,the Poor and Democratisation in Neo-liberal India

Abstract

Globalisation has had far-reaching implications for the dynamics of liberal democracy and governance in India. With the opening of the Indian economy in the 1990s, global market forces and private sector organisations have played an increasingly significant role in the political life of the nation. Given this background, several central questions are addressed. How has globalisation affected the way that state and civil society relations in India are constituted? In particular, what are its political implications for the poor who had previously relied on the services provided by the post-colonial state that carried out significant welfare-orientated functions? The paper argues that the contradictions of globalisation have transformed the dependent identity of the poor and marginalised toward a greater propensity for collective mobilisation. While the longer-term outcomes of such mobilisation remains unclear, the hegemonic position of entrenched elites is more clearly being challenged by the emergence of new agendas of inclusion, welfare rights and social justice appearing under conditions of neo-liberal globalisation.     

The Ottoman Ceremony of the Royal Purse

Churchill's Secret War: Diplomatic Decrypts, the Foreign Office and Turkey by Robin Denniston. Stroud: Sutton Publishing; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Pp.xv + 208, bibliography, index, illustrations. £25.00 (hardback).

The Kurdish Question and Turkey: An Example of a Trans‐state Ethnic Conflict by Kemal Kiri?ci and Gareth Winrow. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1997. Pp.xvi + 237, bibliography, index. £32.50 (hardback); £17.50 (paperback).

The Army and the Creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran, 1910–1926 by Stephanie Cronin. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1997. Pp.vii + 296, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. £39.50.

Religious Radicalism in the Greater Middle East edited by Bruce Maddy‐Weitzman and Efraim Inbar. No.4 in the Cass Series on Political Violence. London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1997. Pp viii + 264, index. £29.50 (hardback); £12.99 (paperback).

Indigo in the Arab World by Jenny Balfour‐Paul. London: Curzon Press, 1997. Pp.xx + 283, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. £45.00.

Languages of Dress in the Middle East edited by Nancy Lindisfarne‐Tapper and Bruce Ingham. London: Curzon Press, 1997. Pp.196. £12.99.     

Paradoxes of Regionalism and Democracy: Brexit’s Lessons for the Commonwealth

Abstract

On 23 June 2016, 52% of Britons voted in a referendum to exit (Brexit) the European Union (EU) while 48% opted to remain. This is a watershed moment in world politics, given the implications for the future of the UK, the EU and the rest of the world. This paper uses the case of Brexit to analyse paradoxes of regionalism and democracy. The central question is, what does the case of Brexit suggests about the contradictions of democracy and regionalism in the 21st century? Importantly, what broad lessons may be gleaned from the case for regionalist projects among Commonwealth countries?     

The Al Saud family and the future of Saudi Arabia

Summary

We have started by asking the question: why are there international income inequalities? We have ascribed them to differences in applied productive knowledge. This raised the question: why can productive knowledge be communicated and diffused within an advanced nation, but not between nations or within underdeveloped nations? What are the obstacles to the international diffusion of benefits ?

We have found these in two areas: obstacles to communication and absence of suitable technologies. The obstacles to communication can again be divided into those due to costs of transfer and those due to intentional restrictions or the exercise of monopoly power. But even perfect communication would not meet the need for quite different technologies from those developed in high‐income countries.

Measures that reduce the Communications Gap might make the Suitability Gap wider and vice versa, but a set of integrated actions attacking both gaps has a chance of success. Technical knowledge cannot be marketed like other products or factors because it possesses peculiar features: (i) indivisibility, (ii) inappropriability, (iii) embodiment in other factors, (iv) uncertainty and (v) impossibility to know its full value until bought. Policies for closing the two gaps are interdependent, so that the pursuit of any one in isolation might make matters worse. What is needed is a set of integrated actions, attacking both the Communications Gap and the Suitability Gap. Transfer must be supplemented by indigenous capability; adaptation by invention and innovation.     

A Kurdish Lampoonist: Shaikh Riza Talabani

Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, or The Seven Books of Wisdom of the Great Path, according to the late Lama Kazi Sawa‐Samdup's English rendering. Arranged and edited with Introductions and Annotations to serve as a Commentary by W. Y. Evans‐Wentz. With Foreword by Dr. R. R. Marett. London: Oxford University Press (Humphrey Milford). 1935. Pp. xxiv + 389. 16s.

India's New Constitution. A Survey of the Government of India Act, 1935. By J. P. Eddy, ex‐Judge of the High Court, Madras, and F. H. Lawton, B.A. (Cantab.). Macmillan. 6s.

Popular Hinduism, the Religion of the Masses. By L. S. S. O'Malley, C.I.E., I.C.S. (retired). Pp. viii+246. Cambridge University Press. 7s.6d.net.

Financial Problems of Indian States under Federation. By Sahibzada A. Wajid Khan. With a Preface by Hugh Dalton. 8?"×5¾”. Pp. xvi+256. Jarrolds. 8s. 6d.

The Brahui Problem. By Sir Dcnys Bray, K.C.S.I. Etymological Vocabulary. (Part II. of the Brahui Language.) Delhi: Manager of Publications. 13s. 6d.

Tungkhungia Buranji. A History of Assam, 1681–1826. Edited by S. K. Bhuyan, Honorary Assistant Director of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Assam. 5?"x 8?”. Pp. xxxii + 262. Oxford University Press. 15s.

Wissenschaftliche ergebnisse der Niederländeschen Expeditionen in der KaraKoram und die angrenzender Gebiets in der jahren 1922, 1925, und 1929–1930. Band I. By Dr. Ph. C. Visser und Jenny Visser‐Hooft. (Leipzig, In kommission bei F. A. Brockhaus.)

Secrets of Tibet. By H. E. Giuseppi Tucci and Captain E. Ghersi. Translated from the Italian by M. A. Johnston. 8¾” x 5¾”*. Pp. xiv + 210. Map; illustrations. Blackie. 15s.

Hui‐Hui. By Wilhelm Filchner, Dr.phil.h.c. Pp. 423, with map. Published by Peter Oestergaard, Berlin‐Schoneberg. 1928.

Om Mani Padme Hum. By Wilhelm Filchner. Pp. ix+352, with map and numerous photographs by Jack Mathewson. Published by F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig. 1929.

Soviet Trade from the Pacific to the Levant. With an Economic Study of the Soviet Far Eastern Region. By Violet Conolly. Oxford University Press. London: Humphrey Milford. 1935.

Ziya Gökalp. Étude biographique publiée à l'occasion de l'anniversaire de la mort de Ziya Gökalp. Paris: Editions Berger‐Levrault.

Modern Persia and Her Educational System. By Issa Khan Sadiq, Ph.D. Pp. 125. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers’ College, Columbia University. 1931.

The Journal of Robert Stodart. With an Introduction and Notes by Sir E. Denison Ross. 6½” x 5¼”. Pp. 128. Map. Luzac. 1935. 5s.

Palestine of the Arabs. By Mrs. Steuart Erskine. 8?” x 6¾”*. Pp. 256. Illustrations. Harrap. 10s. 6d.

The Doctrine of the Sûfîs. (Kitâb al‐ta'arruf li madhhab ahl al‐tasawwuf.) Translated from the Arabic of Abû Bakr Al‐Kalabâdhî by Arthur John Arberry, M.A., Assistant Keeper of Oriental Books and MSS. in the India Office, formerly Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. 8?"x5¾”. Pp. xviii+174. Cambridge University Press. 10s. 6d.

An Early Mystic of Baghdad. A study of the life and teaching of Härith b. Asad al‐Muhäsibi. By Margaret Smith, M.A., Ph.D. Pp. 311. London: The Sheldon Press. 1935. 15s.

Palestine Caravan. By Moshe Smilansky. Crown 8vo. Pp. 276. Mcthucn. 1935. 7s. 6d.

Galilee Galloper. By Douglas V. Duff. 8?"” x 5?"”. Pp. 298. Frontispiece. John Murray. 1935. 10s. 6d.

Rapport sur le Pèlerinage au Hedjaz de L'Hégire, 1353 (A.D. 1935). (Conseil Sanitaire Maritime et Quarantenaire d'Egypte.)

The First Grossing of South‐Western Arabia. By Hans Helfritz. Geographical Review, published by the American Geographical Society of New York, July, 1935.

General Rigby, Zanzibar and the Slave Trade. By Mrs. Charles E. B. Russell. 8¾” x 5½”. Pp. 404. Allen and Unwin. 16s.

Transcaucasia: An Example of Bolshevik Conquest Policy. This article in the German periodical Ost Europa deserves notice. It is by Professor Gotthard Jäschke, whose contribution to Die Welt des Islams, headed “The Road to Russo‐Turkish Friendship,” was reviewed in this Journal last quarter.

Glory and Downfall: Reminiscences of a Russian General Staff Officer. By General P. A. Polovtsoff. Pp. 359. With index and fifteen illustrations and a map of the Caucasus on the end‐paper. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1935. 15s.

Soviet Geography. The New Economic and Industrial Distributions of the U.S.S.R. By N. Mikhaylov. With a Foreword by the Right Hon. Sir Halford Mackinder. London: Methuen and Co. 10s. 6d. net.

Dawn Over Samarkand. The Rebirth of Central Asia. By Joshua Kunitz. Pp. 348. New York: Covici Friede, Publishers. $3. No date.

Changing Asia. By Egon Erwin Kisch. English version by Rita Reil. Pp. 267. Map; illustrations. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $3.

Clashing Tides of Colour. By Lothrop Stoddard. 8¼|” x 5¾”. Pp. 414. Scribner's. 1935. 10s. 6d.

North to the Orient. By Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Large Crown 8vo. Pp. 248. Chatto and Windus. 1935. 10s. 6d.

The Problem of the Far East. By Sobei Mogi and H. Vere Redman. 7½” x 5¼”. Pp. 352. Victor Gollancz, Ltd. 1935. 5s.

Japan and the Pacific. By Nathaniel Peffer. 9” x 5¾”. Pp. 256. Hamish Hamilton. 10s. 6d.

People in China : Thirty‐two Photographic Studies from Life. By Ellen Thorbecke. With an Introduction by Dr. W. J. R. Thorbecke, formerly Netherlands Minister to China. George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd., London, Bombay, Sydney. Price 15s. net.

The Romance of the Western Chamber (Hsi Hsiang Chi): A Chinese Play written in the Thirteenth Century. Translated by S. I. Hsiung. With a Preface by Gordon Bottomley. London: Methuen and Co., Ltd. Price 8s. 6d. net.

China Changes. By G. J. Yorke. Pp. 334. Jonathan Cape, Ltd. 1935. 10s. 6d.

Chinese Art. Edited by Leigh Ashton. Kcgan Paul. Paper 2s. 6d., cloth 3s. 6d.

Beauty in Exile : Chao Chun. By Shu Chiung (Madame Wu Lien‐teh).

The Real Abyssinia. By Colonel C. F. Rey, C.M.G. 8¾ × 5¾”. Pp. 291. Illustrations and map. Seeley Service. 10s. 6d.

England, Italy, Abyssinia. By Major‐General H. Rowan‐Robinson. 8?” x 5¾”. Pp. viii + 148. Illustrations. Maps. Clowes. 5s.

Women Called Wild. By Rosita Forbes. Grayson and Grayson. 12s. 6d.

Sixty Years in the East. By Sir William Willcocks, K.C.M.G. 8¾” × 5¾”. Pp. iii+338. Blackwood. 15s.     

A historical and dignity‐centred perspective on Haiti's struggle for justice

Abstract

In 1804 Haitian and African revolutionaries defeated their French former masters to achieve the only successful slave revolt in history. In C. L. R. James's (1963, 391) standard account of this event, it is described as the moment West Indians first became aware of themselves as a people. Slavery was abolished and Haiti was transformed to a legal sanctuary for all Africa ‐ descended people seeking freedom; a great justice milestone. However, the country's subsequent 200‐year history has been dominated by the struggle for justice; crippled by a dysfunctional judicial system with ‘justice’ bought and sold to the highest bidder. What justice? Better yet, whose perspective of justice? This article attempts to explicate a Haitian conception of justice by looking at the historical underpinnings of justice theories in Haiti, the ‘inside‐the‐court formal system and the outside‐the‐court form of community justice’ (Moore 1992, 15). It argues that for any system of justice to work it must be based on a Haitian perspective of justice grounded in Haiti's history and its dignity‐centred approach to justice.