Violence,displacement and democracy in post-conflict societies: evidence from Mali

This article examines the political crisis in Mali, 2012–2013, to test the impact of violent conflict on public attitudes to democracy. In post-conflict situations, democracy building depends on interim steps to restore trust among citizens and to address national reconciliation and transitional justice. According to the results of a custom-designed opinion survey, recent experiences of violence and displacement in Mali have undermined both interpersonal and interethnic trust as well as public confidence that elected governments can resolve national conflicts. While internal displacement is frequently accompanied by violence against property, violence against persons increases popular demand for a retributive brand of transitional justice. Nonetheless, the Malian experience suggests that citizens in post-conflict societies – including those displaced from their homes – still yearn to live in a peaceful and unified country and have not abandoned a widespread preference for democracy.     

Estonian school societies in St. Petersburg Province, 1885–1914

Abstract

Using published reports and contemporary newspaper accounts, the author argues that Estonian school societies in St. Petersburg Province provided Estonian-speaking settlers of the region with a sense of community, the nucleus of a national self-identity, the basic attitudes and ideals of civil society, and chances to participate in local community affairs. These school societies achieved their educational objectives and encouraged active social relations within new Estonian communities in the region.     

A democratic paradox: The communalisation of politics in Ceylon, 1911-1948

Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran. By Henry Field, Curator of Physical Anthropology, University of Chicago, December, 1939. Vol. 29, No. I, 508 pp., 22 text figures, 1 map. 9½” × 6½”. $5.50. Vol. 29, No. II, 198 pp., 4 text figures, 144 plates. 9½” × 6½”. $2.25. Maps A and B, Distribution of Tribes in Iraq and Western Iran, 10” × 24½”, with list of tribal names.

Once in Sinai. By J. M. C. Plowden (Madame Charles Jullien), with a foreword by Major C. S. Jarvis. 9” × 6”. XXV. + 302 pp. 18 Illustrations. 7 Sketch Maps and 1 fold‐in Map. Methuen and Co., Ltd. 1940. 12s. 6d.

La Turquie, Centre de Gravité des Balkans et du Proche Orient. By Gerard Tongas. Préface de S. E. M. Suad Davas. Pp. 276. 7¾” × 5¾”. Paris : Geuthner. 1939.

Gelawêj (Sirius). A Kurdish literary and cultural monthly magazine, 9¾” × 6¾” each number about 64 pp. Baghdad: Najah Press, December, 1939; January and February, 1940.

Rome and China. By F. J. Teggart. Pp. xii, 245; 14 Maps, 9½” × 6½”. University of California Press. 1939. 18s.

Mohammed and Charlemagne. By Henri Pirenne. Translated by Bernard Miall. Pp. 293. Allen and Unwin. London. 1939. 10s. 6d. net.

Jenghiz Khan. By C. C. Walker, Squadron‐Leader Royal Canadian Air Force. 10” × 6½”. Pp. 215. 7 Maps in Colour. London : Luzac. 1940. 17s. 6d.

What are the Jews? Their Significance and Position in the Modern World. By Rabbi Israel I. Mattuck, A.M., D.H.L. 7½” × 5½” Pp. 256. Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.

The Throne of the Gods. By A. Heim and A. Gansser. Translated by Eden and Freda Paul. 22 Plates, 18 Sketches in text, 11 musical items, and Relief Map. 233 pp. of text. 9½” × 6¼”. Macmillan. 21s

Cultural Relations on the Kansu‐Tibetan Border. By Robert B. Ekvall. University of Chicago Press. Pp. 87. $1.50.

A Cavalier in China. By Colonel A. W. S. Wingate, C.M.G. With a Foreword by Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E. Illustrated. Pp. 327. Grayson. 1940. 15s.

Dersu the Trapper. Exploring, trapping, hunting in Ussuria. Translated from the Russian of V. K. 8½” × 6”. Secker and Warburg.

Shanghai and Tientsin. By F. C. Jones‐ With the co‐operation of certain members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. 9” × 6”. Pp. x + 182. Five plans. Oxford University Press. 7s. 6d.

Warning Lights of Asia. By Gerald Samson. With 32 plates and 7 maps. Pp. xvii + 311. Robert Hale. 1940. 15s.

Memorandum on the Kahilu Sanctuary. By D'Arcy Weatherbe. (Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. XLI., No. I, August, 1939.)

The Arabic Listener. Published by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Printed in England by Stephen Austin and Sons, Ltd.

Climate and Ecliptic Tilt. By Brigadier N. M. McLeod, from the R.A. Journal, April, 1940.

A Winter in Arabia. By Freya Stark. 9¼” × 6½” Pp. xii + 328. Illustrations from the author's own collection of photographs and 3 maps. London : John Murray. 1940. 16s.     

The two Koreas’ societies reflected in stamps

The stamp is “an arena for conveying every possible kind of message through pictures”. Since stamp motives are not chosen arbitrarily, this study considers what stamps issued by North and South Korea since their foundation in 1948 tell about these states. Firstly, the number of stamps made by each state from 1948 until 2002 is investigated. This time is divided into ten-year periods. Conclusions are drawn from the number of stamps made. Secondly, the motives are investigated in detail. Eight motives—commemoratives, history, famous persons, culture, politics, economics, nature and miscellaneous are identified. Quantitative data on the motives are presented in tables that are followed by facts about the issues. Thirdly, the main findings are presented on a general level and under the motives identified. Implications of the motives on North and South Korean stamps are discussed and similarities and differences are highlighted.     

Representative institutions among contemporary American Indian tribal societies

SUMMARY

In this article Rebecca Starr examines how a broad political consensus was maintained in the politics of South Carolina during the difficult transitional period that followed the gaining of independence. The colony's legislature had been firmly controlled by an oligarchy of planter and merchant families from the coastal plain, and centred in Charleston. Even before the revolution there had been tensions emerging between the oligarchy and the inhabitants of the developing up-country settlements, who had reason to feel that they were being neglected and excluded from representation. The article explains how the oligarchy succeeded in sustaining consensus, while preserving its own ultimate hegemony over the politics of the new state. This was done mainly by a skilful use of committee and petitioning procedures to neutralize and conciliate the potentially divisive political challenges from the up-country. These tactics enabled the oligarchy to maintain its grip on power until the economic development of the decades after independence generated a renewed planter oligarchy which transcended the old geographical divisions and provided a solid foundation for a new consensus in South Carolina politics that held good until the Civil War.