Searching for Certainty: Rugby and Male Identity in a Former Model C School

This essay investigates the significance of rugby in a former “Model C” high school in South Africa. It examines the ideological and practical connections between rugby and disciplinary practices in this school under apartheid, and it traces those connections to the present day. By doing so, it argues that rugby owes much of its contemporary importance in such schools to the fact that parents, teachers, and coaches can watch as boys respond to the sport’s combination of immediacy and violence. In an era of desegregation and changing educational regulations, rugby’s structural dependence on immediacy and violence allows the sport’s disciplinary potential to remain tantalizingly stable and definitive. Recent concerns about “the scourge of steroids” in school rugby and schoolboys “playing for professional scouts rather than for their school,” however, present new threats to rugby’s apparent stability. These concerns are not random. Rather, they are born of a specific combination of the agentive decisions of schoolboys, the intense importance that adults place on rugby, and the economic and social contradictions that sustain former “Model C” schools. As such, this essay argues that the performance of schoolboy rugby produces an unexpected result in post-apartheid era: the greater the sport’s importance in these schools, and the more parents, teachers, and administrators depend on rugby for displays of discipline and certainty, the starker and more troubling the social contradictions within these schools could become.     

Education and the development of Turkish and Yugoslav immigrants' political attitudes in Germany

A primary challenge facing both immigrants and German society more generally is immigrants' integration into the wider social, economic and political community, including the development of their political attitudes and behaviour in the host country. This paper examines how one aspect of the immigrant experience – individuals' educational experiences – has influenced the development of immigrants' political attitudes and behaviour. Twenty-five in-depth interviews conducted in 2002 with second-generation Turks and Yugoslavs living in Berlin illuminate how individuals' educational experiences in German schools influence the development of their political attitudes and behaviour. Survey data from the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP) are then used to test specific hypotheses concerning the relationship between education and various political attitudes and behaviour. Results suggest that, while interviewees reported numerous negative experiences in German schools and often used these experiences to form unfavourable opinions about government policies, quantitative analyses reveal that German education has generally benefited the political engagement of immigrants.     

Urban change in China. Politics and development in Tsinan,Shantung, 1890–1949

Abstract

Over the last decade, in response to the metropolitan, heavily political concerns of the “China's response to” school in Western research on modern Chinese history, there has been a move toward local (regional, provincial, county and urban) studies. A focus on localities has meant increased emphasis on social and economic change and their linkages with political events. A new sub-field has emerged—Chinese cities. David Buck's ambitiously titled Urban Change in China is the first monograph to appear from the urban history sub-field. Its publication should, therefore, be an occasion for assessment of the parameters it assumes for the sub-discipline.     

Music education literature in German-language polyethnic schools in Estonia, 1860–1914

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on music education literature in German-language schools in Estonia from 1860 to 1914. Music education literature in Estonian schools with German as a language of instruction has been an unexplored field of research. As a result of this systematic research, a representative sample of music education literature was formed: 30 German-language editions and 2,330 songs. The songbooks and music textbooks were considered as signs of German culture being dominant. The profound social, economic, and political changes, characteristic for the nineteenth century, caused tensions, which were expressed in the content of music literature.     

‘Unsatisfactory national identity’: School inspectors,education and national identity in interwar Latvia

Abstract

The trajectory of the school system in inter-war independent Latvia was a microcosm of the larger experiences of the state. The devastation of World War I and the battles that followed undermined seriously the capacity of the new state. The first post-war years were spent laboriously rebuilding from near abject ruin. After initial reonstruction passed, however, the dominant concerns became what was to be taught and how in Latvia's schools. The process of this debate and the at times conflicting, at times complimentary, demands of schoolteachers, school inspectors, local government officials, teachers, and students built a modern, effective school system. This school system reflected an inreasingly sophisticated pedagogy, a professionalism of schoolteachers, and impressive construction of schools.

The content of schools, however, was also severely contested. With the Depression of the early 1930s the opinions of some quarters of society became more emphatic in identifying a great crisis in society, a crisis that demanded more authoritarian action, a return to traditionalism, and increased importance on nationalist content. This trend supported and was supported by the Ulmanis regime, which considerably restructured the school system, the state, and society at large in the last half of the 1930s.

This article relies primarily on archival sources drawn most from school inspectors' reports and other officials within and around the Ministry of Education.     

The Tian Anmen massacre

The aftermath of the 2008 general election saw a series of upheavals occur in the Malaysian political landscape, not least of which was the emergence of a so-called “new politics.” Driven primarily by concerns over issues of public governance, this politics contained a set of interrelated questions involving changing notions of legitimate political authority. Although much has already been written about whether or not the post-2008 changes to Malaysia's socio-political terrain are genuine and enduring, I argue that many such analyses are too narrow in scope and fail to adequately recognise the complexity involved in such social realities. By distinguishing between the images and practices of the Malaysian state, this article aims to highlight the dynamic, contingent and contested nature of processes of legitimation. A detailed investigation of the consensus/dissensus surrounding Prime Minister Najib Razak's concept of 1Malaysia as the basis of a collective national identity reveals a more fundamental contestation occurring within contemporary Malaysian politics and society over the source(s) of political and moral legitimacy. While the opposition's challenge to Najib's administration remains formidable, of more pressing concern to Najib might be the objections arising from within his own party over the direction in which he is taking them. To define the present horizon of socio-political possibilities in Malaysia it is not enough, therefore, to simply explain how legitimation occurs; we must also be able to account for the way(s) in which it can occur.     

Lost in Historiography: An Essay on the Reasons for the Absence of a History of Limited Government in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire

This article tackles the question of why an attempt to uncover an indigenous history of limited government in the early modern Ottoman Empire has not been undertaken in twentieth-century Turkish historiography despite the obvious existence of several constituents for such a history, such as the political power and prestige of jurists (ulema), the political role of the janissary corps, and the many depositions and other revolts that they staged in cooperation with the jurists, which, in practice, limited the political authority of the sultan. The answer suggested by the article focuses on the political concerns of the early republic, the socio-economic concerns of the Muslim democrats currently in power, and the theoretical concerns of contemporary western historians who have been influenced by Edward Said's critique of Orientalism.     

Indonesian local party politics

Since the fall of Soeharto in 1998, economic reforms have been linked to internationally supported programs to introduce market-facilitating “good governance” practices, which include the promotion of democratic elections and administrative and fiscal decentralization. International development organizations have thus put forward decentralization as necessary, essentially, to save Indonesia from becoming an irredeemably “failed state” — an issue that has now grown in importance because of the current nature of Western security concerns in Southeast Asia. But this article suggests that the way decentralization has actually taken place can only be understood in relation to the entrenchment of a democratic political regime run by the logic of money politics and violence, and primarily dominated by reconstituted old New Order elites. Taking local party politics in North Sumatra and East Java as case studies, the article shows that local constellations of power, with an interest in the perpetuation of predatory politics, still offer significant sites of resistance to the global neoliberal economic and political agenda.     

Tribes and telegraphs in lower Iraq: The Muntafiq and the Baghdad–Basrah telegraph line of 1863–65

Aside from a few exceptional works, studies on the subject of the Ottoman Special Organization (SO, Te?kilat-? Mahsusa) are marred by confusing, vague, and inconsistent sets of arguments and assumptions. This may be attributed to certain methodological and linguistic shortcomings of particular studies and a general laziness in the use of existing primary and secondary sources. It is also an outcome of the degree to which contemporary political and ideological currents and concerns colour the nature of the historical inquiry into the subject. Based on a comprehensive and systematic critical reading of existing literature in the light of certain sets of hitherto unused archival material, the present study aims to re-open to discussion such historiographical problems both by revisiting the most speculative, and well-trodden, research topics in the literature, such as the very nature of the organization as well as its administrative features, and offering insights into the potential(s) of certain little-explored Turkish archives.     

Playing the Vertical Power Game: The Impact of Local Authorities in Cantonal Parliaments on the Financing of Special Schools

This study analyses the effect of local authorities in the Swiss cantonal parliaments on the allocation of special school costs. The empirical findings show that a higher share of local authorities in the cantonal legislature leads to a higher share of special school costs borne by the cantonal authorities. The effect is stronger for mayors compared to all members of local governments. Hence, mayors have a strong connection with their home municipality and use the political power of the accumulation of mandates for shifting undesirable costs from the local up to the cantonal level. This specific finding does not depend on the overall national constitutional framework, as the introduction of the NFA (Neuer Finanzausgleich) – in the course of which the federal state fully withdrew from financing special schools ‐ has not changed the magnitude of this effect.     

Hizb ut Tahrir: Islam's Ideological Vanguard

Hizb ut Tahrir (HT) or the Liberation Party, established in 1952, has continued to challenge the widespread conception that political Islam has so far failed in the contemporary era to provide a systematic philosophical, political and social alternative to global capitalism and the nation state. Yet HT's ideological and political construct has been largely unexplored. Academic discourse on the movement seemed to be moving in the right direction until the events of 9/11, when the focus radically changed and HT was increasingly considered through the lens of international terrorism. This article critically assesses the validity of these more recent perspectives from the standpoint of the pre-9/11 established academic discourse on the movement. It argues that HT remains unique amongst all contemporary movements in its ability to develop Islam as a modern but distinct ideological force, positioning it effectively in the global vanguard.     

Israel: ethnocracy or multicracy?

Much of the recent academic literature that assesses democracy in Israel labels it either as incomplete or flawed, yet such literature employs minimal systematic analysis of how the state is actually governed. Since the 1990s, there has been a tendency to describe the Israeli political regime as an ethnocracy. This article argues that the term ‘ethnocracy’, when applied to Israel, has certain weaknesses and instead proposes the concept of ‘multicracy’ (multiformocracy) as a more appropriate term by which to describe Israel's political organization. It will demonstrate that existing Israeli democratic institutions do not control the state's policymaking in full and that several politically important processes are controlled or at least influenced by various other politically active forces. Whilst these forces can influence, stimulate, inhibit, and otherwise change governmental decisions and actions, they can be labeled as kratiae. While the capacity of Israel's democracy to govern is weak, these other kratiae can intervene in policymaking and the state's regime acts as democracy-dominated multicracy.     

The BRICS and the South Atlantic: Emerging arena for South–South cooperation

Over the past decade, power dynamics within the South Atlantic region have undergone significant changes. While the area has historically been dominated by North–South ties, both in terms of material flows and with respect to political influence, more recently there has been a surge in cooperation between developing countries within this space. As trade, investment and other forms of exchange and dialogue increase among actors from within the region (notably between South America and Africa) and with states located outside the region, the BRICS countries become more relevant to the South Atlantic. Individually, they have become relevant players in the South Atlantic's economic, political and security dimensions. Collectively, as inter-BRICS flows and political coordination intensify, new configurations of cooperation emerge within the South Atlantic. These initiatives suggest that rising powers are contributing towards making the South Atlantic – long dominated by North–South ties – a space where South–South cooperation and norms predominate.     

Falling Foul of Section 44(i): Australian's Dual Citizenship Saga and the Problems of Institutional Inertia and “Drift”

Australia's “dual citizenship” crisis erupted in 2017 when several elected members of the federal parliament discovered that they were ineligible to sit because their dual citizenship status meant that they were in breach of s 44 (i) of the Australian constitution. The controversy has had enormous political consequences, prematurely ending several political careers and confirming that millions of Australians are ineligible to sit in the federal parliament because they hold dual citizenship. It has raised important questions about the contemporary relevance of s 44 (i) for multicultural, trans-national Australia, given its association with singular, racialized (British-colonial) notions of identity, allegiance and belonging. Using a historical institutionalist approach, and associated concepts of policy “drift”, I demonstrate the inevitability of the recent controversy, given decades of government inertia and both unintentional and purposeful non-decision-making on s 44, despite repeated expert warnings about its risks. I reflect upon the possible interests and ideological biases that have compelled political leaders’ resistance to proposals to decisively fix the constitutional anomaly by holding a popular referendum. I argue these failures have left Australia vulnerable to ongoing political instability and raise considerable concerns about its democratic quality.     

Representing the state? School and teacher in post‐Sendero Peru⋆

The school and the teacher give rise to different images and sets of meaning. Locating schools is a technique of government and teachers are supposed to act as mediators between state and society. But teachers are also local intellectuals and have actively engaged in discourses of dissent and challenges to the state. This article explores the changing identity, situation and representation of provincial schoolteachers in post‐conflict Andean Peru. It draws on material from Tarma province to debate the extent to which the former racist “social order”, upheld by school and teacher, has been destabilised and superseded.     

大湄公河次地区合作的国际政治经济学分析

大湄公河次地区(GMS)合作是澜沧江-湄公河流域相关国家及省区之间的地区性合作机制,是东南亚乃至东亚范围之内地区主义发展的一种表现。本文在简要介绍有关概念及理论的基础上,从国家和市场这一国际政治经济学的角度,对GMS的特点及其定位进行分析,然后重点讨论了GMS发展过程中面临的问题。文章认为,国家和市场的作用及其互动,直接决定和制约着GMS的性质和发展。     

From German Philology to Local Usability: The Emergence of ‘Practical’ Arabic in the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa' 1913–48

This article examines the pedagogical shifts in the study of Arabic at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, the leading school for Arabic studies in the Jewish education system. Analyzing the moulding of Arabic studies in the crucial years of educational institutionalization (1913–48), it demonstrates an inevitable tension with regard to Arabic studies: between the German philological approach and the ‘practical’ approach. In light of this tension, it shows the gradual emergence of a new ‘practical’ approach in the Jewish education system in Palestine, which was not only the result of a clash between different pedagogical methods, but was propelled by another, powerful, clash: that of the heated political conflict in Palestine. Using primary sources from seven different archives, in Israel, Britain and Germany, this article reveals that the shift towards practicality was motivated by political developments and ideological shifts as much as by pedagogical considerations, and therefore has had significant ramifications for the emerging field of Arabic studies in Jewish schools in Palestine/Israel.     

Policymaking by Referendum in Presidential Systems: Evidence from the Bolivian and Colombian Cases

Government‐initiated referendums (GIRs) have so far been neglected by the debate on the effects of institutions on policymaking in presidential systems. The literature on Latin American politics has focused on isolated cases of GIRs, which are largely interpreted as epiphenomenal to a regional trend toward personalistic neopopulism. This article provides a conceptual framework for the systematic comparative study of GIRs. It argues that presidents' propensity to promote legal changes through referendums and their concomitant capacity to dominate policymaking are subject to the interaction of two institutional variables (constitutional rules regulating the competences of elected officials in GIR processes and minimum turnout requirements) and two political variables (preference distribution in the legislature and the position of the median voter). These propositions are tested through a comparative analysis of referendum experiences in Colombia and Bolivia, two cases with similar political settings and significant variation in each of the institutional variables.     

Politics,Economics and Saudi Military Intervention in Bahrain

The March 14, 2011 Saudi military intervention in Bahrain to suppress pro-democracy uprisings created serious regional and global concerns. Political analysts and commentators have interpreted the Saudi intervention primarily in terms of domestic and regional political and strategic dynamics. This paper analyses the intervention issue from both political and economic perspectives and argues that the Saudi decision to intervene in Bahrain to trample the democratic rights of common Bahrainis was no less, if not more, influenced by economic factors than political and strategic calculations. Moreover, similar Saudi interventions in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries remain a reality if the status quo is seriously threatened by any internal pro-democracy forces, with or without external support.