Empire and modernity: dynastic centralization and official nationalism in late imperial Ethiopia

Conventional accounts of modern state-formation either underplay its contradictory and variegated character or neglect its international dimensions. Against these approaches, alternative theories of state-formation have emerged centred on the constitutive significance of intersocietal relations and differential temporalities. This article develops the latter approaches in relation to the Ethiopian state. Contrary to widespread assumptions of Ethiopia's political insularity, it suggests that at three crucial turning points geopolitical exigencies provided the critical impetus for the political and cultural reconstitution of the state. Late nineteenth century European colonial encroachment triggered a reaction in the form of an Ethiopian imperial expansion to rival them. And the political shock of Italian occupation 40 years later provoked a concurrent project of dynastic centralization and official nationalism in the post-restoration period. But precisely because divine monarchy and nationalism are antithetical orders by virtue of their opposed principles of sovereignty, the attempt to conjoin them generated deep social and cultural contradictions that erupted in two successive revolutions that were internationally overdetermined and resulted in a profound reconstitution of the Ethiopian state.     

西亚北非变局对西方的影响

西亚北非发生变局,对相关国家和地区局势发生了巨大和深刻的影响,并对以西方为主导的现有国际秩序产生冲击。而今变局仍在持续、变化和发展之中。国际社会一直对此予以高度关注。有关变局对于相关各方造成的影响,也是值得各方关心和热议的话题。变局将对西方产生何种影响？本文认为应从西方的主要利益关切、西方所依托的主要势力、西方应对变局的做法及效果等方面,加以观察和评判。     

调整中的中印巴三角关系

冷战时代的中印巴三角关系以敌视和对抗为结构特征、以权力竞争和传统安全关切为主要内容。冷战结束后,大国开始调整南亚政策,印巴在国际舞台上的地位和作用发生变化,中印和印巴间的冷漠与对峙被打破,调整中印巴三角关系的历史机遇已经出现。但是构建良性互动和结构相对平衡的中印巴三角关系的前景并不乐观。     

马六甲海峡西段海盗活动适用于普遍管辖权

长期以来,马六甲海峡沿岸国家负责海峡航运安全管理,他们坚持对海峡内的海盗活动进行排他性管理,仅同意非沿岸国家间接参与。通过对相关统计数据与《联合国海洋法公约》等国际法律制度的详细分析,作者认为海峡西段为海盗活动重心,这一区域的海盗活动适用于普遍管辖权制度,海峡沿岸国的做法缺乏国际法依据。主要由沿岸国实施的现有反海盗制度是有效的,海盗活动猖獗的局面不大可能重现。     

A Bargaining Theory of Minority Demands: Explaining the Dog that Did not Bite in 1990s Yugoslavia

This article develops a general theory of bargaining between a minority, its host state, and outside lobby actor to explain why minorities shift their demands from affirmative action to cultural autonomy to secessionism and back, often in the absence of clear economic or security incentives. This paper uses a simple game tree model to show that if a minority believes that it enjoys significant support from a powerful national homeland or other external actor, it radicalized its demands against the host state, even if the center has credibly committed to protect minority rights . Conversely, if a minority believes that it enjoys no external support, then it will accommodate the host state, even in the presence of significant majority repression . As a general theory of claim-making, this model challenges structural theories of demands that rely on static economic differences or historical grievances to explain claim-making. It also challenges security dilemma arguments that hold that minority radicalization is mainly a function of ethnic fears. The model's hypotheses are tested using longitudinal analysis of Hungarians in Vojvodina during the 1990s, as the Yugoslav dog that "barked but did not bite." Careful examination of claim-making in this case demonstrates the superior explanatory power of the ethnic bargaining model as compared with dominant theories of minority mobilization in the literature.     

War,liberalism, and modernity: the biopolitical provocations of ‘Empire’

The relationships between war, liberalism and modernity remain heavily under‐theorised within international relations. Existing critiques emphasise the ways in which the developments of liberal societies have been facilitated by the deployment of instrumental forms of force and violence in the extension and control of spaces beyond the boundaries of the zone of ‘liberal peace’. Yet, the ordinary functioning of liberal societies themselves can also be understood in terms of the roles of war. This article utilises ideas derived from Michel Foucault and Antonio Negri to advance our understanding of the ways in which liberal powers pursue security through the creation of what this author terms a logistical order of relations between the subjects that they govern. Simultaneously, the strategisation of social relations within liberal societies fosters the development of new forms of antagonistic subjectivities that contest the logistical foundations of liberal societies. This dual set of developments poses problematic questions as to how we should understand the relationships between the organisation of liberal societies and the forms of resistance that emerge in their midst. As the author details, these questions are made all the more pressing by the current context of the War on Terror.     

Uneven space of everyday modernity: the colonial logic of the suburb in Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's A Fool's Love

Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's A Fool's Love (1924–1925) has been widely studied as a representative text of the modern popular culture of the Taisho period. This article treats the work as a key text that reveals the colonial relations embedded in everyday modernity of Japan's interwar years, and examines the articulations of colonial relations in three registers of the text. It first investigates the protagonists' unrestrained embrace of cosmopolitan culture as a manifestation of Japan's ambiguous imperialist consciousness, shaped in the interstices between Western and Asian others. The second and third registers concern a particular kind of space dominant in the story: the modern suburb, which became a major symbol of Japan's modernity in the 1920s. In its subordinate relationship with the city, the suburb exemplifies colonial relations. The second register explored in the article is the overlap between the text's exoticism and suburban topography. A key scene on a resort beach is examined for its reference to Hawai'i and the setting's suburban nature in relation to Tokyo. The last register is the suppression of the story's suburban setting. The article analyzes the disappearance as a manifestation of the anxiety about the unevenness of capitalist development that the suburb represents.     

东方的“炎热与尘土”：杰哈布瓦拉的印度书写——“英语世界中的印度书写”研究系列之九

杰哈布瓦拉是当代著名的后殖民小说家之一。她以印度为背景创作的长篇小说《炎热与尘土》因为其复杂暧昧的东方主义手法而引人注目。本文将这一作品放在殖民与后殖民文学的历史语境中进行研究,揭示了它的文化复义性。     

西非的口头文学

yh古代西非的马里帝国(13～15世纪)不仅在开采黄金、炼铁、农业生产等方面有重要历史地位,而且在文学和音乐舞蹈等文化艺术领域也有辉煌成就。虽然西非的文化艺术受到西方入侵与殖民统治的冲击与蹂躏,但它们却能在各种劫难中生存发展流传至今,口头文学就是其中之一。西非口头文学起源于马里帝国时期的曼丁哥文化;曼丁哥文化的思想基础是相信自然神的原始宗教。原始宗教也称拜物教,正是拜物教奇特的宇宙观孕育了口头文学。伊斯兰教、天主教,以及西方各种文化思想与价值观相继进入西非,同时随着时代的变迁与科学技术的发展,人们的宇宙观也发生…     

EU trade relations with Emerging Asia: identifying the issues

Trade interdependence between Europe and Asia has rapidly increased in recent years. Europe–Asia trade flows now constitute a ‘third link’ in the global economy. As trade expands, however, global trade governance has declined and free trade agreements (FTAs) have increased. Hence, the Global Europe strategy has been designed to enhance trade relations with emerging Asia which is the most dynamic region in the global economy today. But Asia’s model of export led growth leaves it more exposed to shocks emanating from outside the region than ever before raising questions about its sustainability. Deep integration agreements between Europe and Asia are needed to foster economic growth. They also need a development dimension to help Asian countries address their key development challenges. Brigid Gavin was the Research Coordinator of the workshop on ‘Deep Integration and North–South Free Trade Agreements: EU Strategy for a Global Economy’ which provided the papers and discussion forum for the articles in this special edition. The workshop took place at the United Nations University-Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) centre in Bruges, Belgium on 19–20 June, 2008. She wishes to express her thanks to Mr Luk Van Langenhove, Director of UNU-CRIS for financial support and to all the authors and participants in the workshop for their contribution to making this project a real success. A special word of thanks goes to Lars Nilsson, Chief Economist Unit, DG Trade, European Commission for his opening presentation to the workshop. Alice Sindzingre is Research Fellow, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), University of Paris and Visiting Lecturer at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. This analysis draws from her paper ‘The EU Economic Partnership Agreements with Africa’ which she presented at the workshop and available on the UNU-CRIS website.

---

前事不忘后事之师--回忆中日邦交正常化谈判

文章从回忆中日邦交正常化谈判开始,本着以史为鉴,面向未来的精神,认真总结30年来中日关系正反两方面的经验教训,强调维护中日关系大局的重要意义.     

西方民族主义研究现状及历史刍议

西方学术界对民族主义问题的持久研究兴趣缘于民族主义对近现代世界历史和国际关系的直接影响,也因为民族主义具有既对人类的安全、公正等最深层的迫切要求作出积极回应,又引起世界性的动荡和人类之间的大规模兵戎相见的两面性.在对民族主义进行全面系统的研究方面,西方学术界显然走在了前面,但国内学术界对之的了解和研究似乎并不很透彻.西方学术界对民族主义的研究可以分为19世纪、19世纪末至20世纪50年代和自20世纪60年代延续至今天的三个阶段.当西方的民族主义研究进入第三阶段之后,各种不同的民族、民族主义理论应运而生,这对依然在当今的国际社会有着重大影响的民族主义意识形态和运动产生了明显的促进作用.