‘Regimes Theory’ as an Approach to Understanding Educational Cooperation in CARICOM and Commonwealth Countries

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the implication of soft diplomacy in education, in the form of educational cooperation, for the governance of regimes. In drawing upon regime theory, it suggests that the Commonwealth should be viewed as a regime, and its survival is partly dependent upon how it uses educational cooperation to coordinate its functional areas, such as education. Moreover, educational cooperation at the transnational level is different from traditional South-South cooperation in that it is based on the coordination of hierarchic mechanisms. In drawing lessons from the experiences of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) project and extending them to the Commonwealth project, it argues that soft diplomacy, around perceived global norms, propels national educational agenda-setting attitudes. From this it follows that educational cooperation is the new order of things in an era defined by educational multistakeholderism where new regimes and institutions arise and coexist alongside other regimes. In other words, the Commonwealth must now retool itself in an era driven by regime complex(es) where it must coexist and compete with issue-specific regimes as well as complex entities which are comprised of more than one regime.     

Regulating the race: Aboriginal children in private European homes in colonial Australia

Abstract

This article focuses on the incorporation of Aboriginal children into European families on a private basis in the colonial era. While state-based missions and reserves were central sites where Aboriginal children were placed, other Aboriginal children were privately placed with European families during the colonial era. This article explores the shifting reasons for this practice. It finds that Aboriginal children who entered European families away from the control of the state came under the control of Europeans through a variety of ways. Initially, Aboriginal child removals were conducted during the course of violent frontier conflict or involved children who had been impacted by introduced European diseases. Smaller numbers of Indigenous children were taken as objects of curiosity. As the nineteenth century progressed, however, it became increasingly common for settlers to take Indigenous children for labour purposes. The article argues that the white middle-class family was positioned as a site for “civilising” children, where the moral regulation of childhood was conducted. This article adds a new dimension to colonial understandings about the role and structure of the family. It also expands understandings about Indigenous child removal in Australia's past.     

The unitary state and federalism in Italy

SUMMARY

In this article, Carlo Ghisalberti discusses the role of federalist and confederationalist ideas in the history of the development of a united Italy. The issue was always on the agenda after 1815 as a legacy of the Napoleonic era, which had introduced broadly similar institutions through the peninsula. At first federalist models had some support, culminating in the neo-Guelph movement of the 1840s, based on the idea of a federation presided over by Pope Pius IX, though this was already strongly challenged by Mazzini's programme for establishing a unitary republic. The actual unification of the 1860s was based on the unitary concept, and federalist alternatives were increasingly associated with conservative-clericalist factions. The article concludes that the liberalization of the unitary Kingdom of Italy, particularly under Giolitti, gave the unitary model of the state a credibility which made federalist or regionalist alternatives redundant.     

Dependence and opposition. Problems in Soviet Estonian historiography in the late 1940s and early 1950s

Abstract

Soviet rule was established in Estonia by late autumn 1944. By that time only two historians with a PhD degree from the University of Tartu remained in the country, one of whom was Professor Hans Kruus. Until World War II, neither of the two had published any work that interpreted history from the viewpoint of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist ideology. Thus, as far as Estonia was concerned, this type of ideologically based reinterpretation of the past did not exist, and had to be organized from scratch. The main aim of this article is to examine Estonian historians' dependence on the official Soviet interpretation of history after 1945 and during the early 1950s. How were they guided and controlled through the Stalin era, i.e. until 1953? What happened in this respect between Stalin's death and the XX CPSU Congress at the beginning of 1956? And how did the results of that Congress influence later writing of history? The article also examines the possibilities for opposition among professional historians to the official Party interpretation of history. In what context did this opposition arise, how did it manifest itself, and in what ways might it possibly have influenced Soviet Estonian society?     

Scottish parliamentary record scholarship in the devolution era

In 1707 Scotland’s parliament ceased to exist. Yet it has since been the subject of two monumental acts of record scholarship; the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland (1814-1875) in the nineteenth century and the Records of the Parliaments of Scotland (2007) in the twenty-first. Using the first of these as a touchstone, this article examines the ways in which the records of the pre-1707 parliament are presented, positioned and interpreted in the second. Unlike the nineteenth-century edition, which was produced in an era when adherence to the 1707 Act of Union with England went all but unquestioned, the twenty-first-century version was created during a period of constitutional devolution amidst a national debate over the question of independence from the United Kingdom. Approaching this new edition of parliamentary records as a cultural product, shaped and informed by the context in which it was created, therefore enables us to learn much about how the relationship between history and national identity in Scotland has changed since its predecessor was published. From there, the article questions the assumption that present-day understandings of Scottish identity are primarily civic and forward-looking, and argues that they are in fact partly based on claims which, whether secessionist or devolutionist, are fundamentally historical.     

The clash of ideologies: Notions of multiparty (liberal) democracy versus African systems

In South Africa traditional leaders, aka (also known as) chiefs or collaborators, had hoped that the new liberation political environment would retain and safeguard their deeply embedded cultural practices and values, which had existed for centuries, but had been partly violated during the colonial era. However, the new liberation era brought with it notions of liberal democracy—characterised by concepts of meritorious selections, based on democratic “elections”, a practice that further marginalised and frustrated hereditary cultural norms and practices, upon which the pillars and identities of each ethnic group or community were based. In discussing the complex and interlocking interests, epochs of colonial and postcolonial experience, the introduction of “foreign” meritorious notions that dispensed with the craved hereditary positions, the chiefs, traditional leaders and former collaborators appear to have been forced to abandon the liberation project and take up the issue of their survival as custodians of customs and chiefdoms; even against the messaging coming from the new political classes. Inevitably, this has created new tensions in the political governance of urban and rural communities, by elected officials who have either failed or succeeded to coopt traditional leaders. This article argues for a balance between democracy and traditional leadership that can inform modern electoral processes and modernise the cultural practices and eliminate unnecessary conflict and tensions.     

中国参与国际制度的声誉考量——对陈寒溪之学术批评的回应

本文是对陈寒溪博士《中国如何在国际制度中谋求声誉——与王学东商榷》一文所做的回应。本文先进一步澄清国家的"声誉"与"威望"两个概念之间的根本性区别。之后,本文解释了中国在参与国际制度中的声誉考量:在结构性压力下,为了避免受到遏制,崛起中的国家具有建构良好声誉的动力,积极显示自身的意图,采取相应的行为来宽慰其他国家,从而消减被遏制的可能性。既然无政府状态决定了安全困境不可能彻底消除,那么中国之所以通过参与国际制度塑造自己的声誉,主要目的是竭力避免成为体系主导国家集团的遏制对象。最为关键的是,中国积极参与人权与安全制度的两个案例充分说明,中国既不采取制衡战略,又不是简单地追随或者跟风。本文认为,《商榷》一文的价值在于,促进了对国家声誉研究的精致化、层次化与多样化。     

The intersectionality of gender,sexuality, and religion: novelties and continuities in Turkey during the AKP era

ABSTRACT

This article argues that in the AKP era, gender and sexuality play a central role in reshaping the secular-religious divide to instil ‘yeni milli’ (new national) – or as AKP members call it, ‘yerli ve milli’ (homegrown and national)- values. Adopting a feminist and reflexive approach, this article seeks to demonstrate that Erdo?an and the AKP have used gender and sexuality-related issue areas not as diversions to highjack the public agenda, as it is often assumed, but as a medium to regulate the neoliberal redistribution of conservative values. After a brief presentation of the historical background of the gendered evolution of the secular-religious divide in Turkish politics, this article focuses on the following three particular cases: the policies and discourse on LGBTI rights; the link that was established between the reproductive rights of women and ethnic identity; and how the AKP created new types of ‘other men’ and ‘other women.’ The article also seeks to show that in each case the meanings attributed to the secular and the religious in the secular-religious divide have shifted accordingly and that shift was reflective of, and was used to instil the particular set of values supportive of particular political positions.     

Todos juntos: hippies,rock music,and the Popular Unity era

Scholars traditionally have characterized the 1960s and early 1970s as an era of political polarization in Chile stemming from an intensifying rift between those who supported the leftist Popular Unity government (1970–1973) and those who opposed it. While there is little question that this division was the fundamental political axis in Chilean society at that time, it was not the only one. This article traces the development of rock music and culture among Chile’s youth to assert that while Chilean society polarized over the Popular Unity government, an additional segment of society emerged as an additional socio-political pole. During the Popular Unity era, a significant number of Chile’s youth rejected both the political right and left by assertively refraining from taking stances in regards to party platforms or candidates, rejecting those sounds, images, and traditions tied to the right and to the left in favor of an alternative political and cultural orientation tied to rock music and hippie counterculture.     

Manufacturing Black-on-Black Violence in Africa: A Decolonial Perspective on Mfecane and Afrophobia/Xenophobia in South Africa

The phenomenon of “black-on-black” violence among the people of Africa has, ever since the advent of modernity/coloniality, been articulated in such a way that it presents victims as perpetrators. Thus, from the Mfecane violence of the “pre-colonial” era to the xenophobic/Afrophobic violence of the “post-colonial” era in Africa, incidents of black-on-black violence have always attracted explanations that cast doubt on the humanity of the black subject, through the colonial strategy of inventing and inverting causation. This colonial strategy entails both mis-presenting the epochal history of coloniality by representing it in terms of rupture instead of continuity, as well as representing the indigenous African subject as inherently violent. I argue in this article that black-on-black violence is a product of coloniality—a racist global power structure that makes incidents of “non-revolutionary violence” among the oppressed black subject inevitable. Thus, I deploy the case of the Mfecane violence of the “pre-colonial” era in southern Africa, and the Afro-phobic attacks on foreign nationals in “post-apartheid” South Africa to unmask the longue durée of coloniality, and its role of manufacturing blackon-black violence among the black people of Africa.     

“Characteristically Generous”? Australian Responses to Refugees Prior to 1951

When Australia pledged to accept 15,000 Jewish refugees from Europe in 1938, it was applauded by the London Times as “a characteristically generous contribution” and an example for others. Australia's reputation for generous humanitarianism was solidified after the war when it absorbed more than 180,000 of Europe's Displaced Persons and committed to international human rights instruments designed to protect refugees and asylum seekers. This reputation has been used to both defend and critique the nation's contemporary responses to asylum seekers. Recent Australian Prime Ministers have invoked Australia's proud record of refugee resettlement to deflect criticism of their tough border control policies, policies which critics charge repudiate the nation's humanitarian traditions. This article critically reviews the history of Australia's responses to refugees and asylum seekers prior to 1951 and demonstrates that contemporary border control policies are neither a deviation from, nor defence of, a proud humanitarian record. Rather, they embody the migration management approach to refugees that provided impetus for Federation in 1901, governed Australia's response to the Jewish refugee crisis in the 1930s, and shaped its conditional acceptance of the Displaced Persons and the position it adopted in the drafting of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951.     

Drones over Pakistan: Secrecy,Ethics, and Counterinsurgency

Abstract

The US government appears to be using drones to launch air strikes inside Pakistan. This article details uncertainties regarding the ethical soundness of these strikes and highlights the consequent need for greater official transparency. Available evidence is assessed in the light of traditional ethical requirements that the use of force is beneficial to a legitimate military objective, that it discriminates between combatants and noncombatants, and that it generates harm that is proportional to the expected military benefit. The murky picture that emerges is an inadequate foundation for determining whether US drone strikes in Pakistan constitute a just or an unjust use of force. Arguably, however, the very persistence of doubt on this point undermines international norms on the use of force and the reputation of the United States as a champion thereof. The US government should therefore either refrain from drone strikes or explain publicly how they are beneficial, discriminate, and proportionate.     

External engagement: The Baltic experience

Abstract

The analysis of the Baltic transition reveals the importance of external actors' participation in the process of state transformation. Based on the experiences of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, this article establishes six broad policy principles for effective external engagement. First, the nature, level, and scope of engagement directly correlates with the sustainability of transition. Second, equality in bilateral cooperation brings trust and openness among partners. Third, for a transitional state to succeed it needs sufficient external motivation to sustain it through political and economic fluctuations. Fourth, if foreign aid does not come hand in hand with adequate accountability standards, it brings corruption and stagnation. Fifth, building local (and not foreign) capacity is the primary duty of an external actor. Finally, the reputation of an external actor is as important as the work that this actor conducts. All these principles form the backbone of successful and sustainable actor-to-actor cooperation.     

Traditionalization,or the making of a reputation: women,weddings and expenditure in Tajikistan

ABSTRACT

This article aims to show how traditionalization is enforced by women in Tajikistan in the realm of marriage, focusing on the economic dimension of life cycle rituals: ritual expenditure and gift-giving. It shows that from women’s points of view, performing ceremonial competition may itself be a resource to recover their reputation, for example when a matrimonial rupture has harmed it. Focusing on single mothers, it demonstrates how practices of traditionalization performed by women can be directed at addressing gender constraints and stereotypes, such as the normative relation between marriage and femininity, and how they may also secure women’s separate sphere of competence and relative financial autonomy.     

Reducing Poverty Intensity: What Alternative Poverty Measures Reveal About the Impact of Brazil's Bolsa Família

Brazil's conditional cash transfer program Bolsa Família (Family Allowance) has gained a worldwide reputation as an effective antipoverty program. However, studies applying the dominant headcount poverty measure, which counts the percentage of households falling below a given poverty line, only credit the program with a first‐order reduction in poverty (and extreme poverty) of 0.15 to 1.88 percentage points. This raises the puzzle of how such a modest impact could lead to Bolsa Família's political popularity. This article argues that Bolsa Família does dramatically reduce poverty, but measuring this impact requires thinking of poverty as how far a household is from meeting its basic human needs; choosing a continuous variable; and using income gap, intensity, and ordinal measures that reflect this conceptualization. The more substantial reduction of poverty intensity helps explain the program's reputation.     

The Ambiguity of Veto Power in Coalitions: German Liberals' Role as a Watchdog in Justice and Home Affairs and their Failure to Sell Stalemate as Success in the Federal Elections of 2013

The article demonstrates that the rigid use of veto capacity in coalitions causes risks for re-election. Justice was a high-salience domain of the German Liberal Democratic Party (FDP), which occupied this portfolio in its coalition with the Conservative majority in the federal legislative period from 2009 to 2013. By analysing several legislative projects the article shows that their contents or non-adoption were an effect of liberals' vetoes. This policy-seeking strategy provoked conflicts within the coalition and stalemate making it impossible to realise popular measures that would have enhanced the Liberals' reputation and the importance of the domain for the voters who were mainly interested in economic and social policy. Moreover, the Liberals' vetoes led to a loss of support from its major coalition partner in the pre-election campaign. Thus governmental parties have to trade off policy and vote-seeking goals in order to get re-elected.     

The İnönü era translation movement: classics in the service of Turkish nationalism

In 1939, a comprehensive and systematic translation movement began in Turkey under the supervision of ‘Turkish humanists’ who believed in the survival of the traces of ancient Greek culture within the daily lives and literary traditions of Anatolian peoples. This article, which is based on the premise that translations should be discussed as records of cultural contestation and ideological struggles rather than as simple linguistic transpositions, examines this state-sanctified movement vis-à-vis the nationalist project. The Turkish humanists’ belief in a geography-based nationalism was promoted by the state insofar as their attempt to influence the direction of the development of ‘nascent’ Turkish identity and literature coincided with the aims of the state. Ostensibly initiated to introduce the Turkish reading public to Western classics, the translated texts were used, I argue, as a means in fashioning and controlling the emergent national identity during the first decade of the Inonu era.     

Doing business in Yabaolu Market,Beijing: (inter-)ethnic entrepreneurship,trust and friendship between Caucasian and Chinese traders

ABSTRACT

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in China and Georgia, this article traces the origins and describes current practices of post-Soviet tourist trading in Yabaolu Market in Beijing. While traders from across the Caucasus visit Yabaolu, my focus is on Georgian traders who today perceive themselves as biznesmeny. Focusing on a typical trade visit, the article explores the role of ethnic and kinship ties in the organization of this trade. It questions the notion of ethnic entrepreneurship and the idea that ethnic cooperation itself may serve a basis of trust and underpin traders’ activities. Instead, the article illustrates how enduring transnational linkages are built on other forms of reliability and reputation. These are framed in the lexicon of friendship, as well as kinship and pseudo-kinship vocabulary, and facilitate commercial transactions between traders of different ethnic, social and religious backgrounds in an environment where state regulation and legal law enforcement are almost absent.     

Hierarchy in Asian International Relations: 1300-1900

Abstract

Scholars in the field of international relations tend to treat the contemporary Asian system as if it emerged fully formed from nothingness in the post-World War II and post-colonial era. This essay explores a major historical epoch—the Asian international system from 1300 to 1900. During that time, the Asian international system was both intensive and extensive, in both interactions and relations between Asian states. Thus, understanding and incorporating this system into our theories of international relations is critical. To date, scholars have rarely described the main features of this system. In this article, I attempt such a task, and will also draw implications for mainstream international relations theories. In short, the research in this essay reveals that the historical Asian international system was stable and hierarchic in nature. The main theoretical finding is an alternative to the balancing proposition. That is, the findings in this article present a major empirical challenge to the argument that balance of power is a recurrent phenomenon across time and geography. Furthermore, this article shows that hierarchy may be more stable than balancing as an organizing principle in international relations.     

Reevaluating the Taiwanese Democracy Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Opposition Organizations under Japanese and KMT Rule

This article reevaluates the first phase of Taiwan's democratization process (1914-1986) by exploring the similarities and differences between oppositional political organizations under Japanese and Kuomintang (KMT) rule. Employing a parallel structure, the article compares two distinct periods of time, 1914-1937 and 1977-1986. Including the Japanese colonial era in the evaluation of Taiwan's democratization process makes it possible to examine long-overlooked issues in Taiwan's political development such as the question of continuity and disjuncture. The author argues that the Japanese colonial era should be recognized as the starting point of Taiwanese political activities and the era of KMT one-party rule that followed as a re-colonization of Taiwan (lasting from 1947 until the early 1980s). The author's analysis reveals that (1) Taiwanese political opposition during both eras originated within rather than outside repressive political frameworks and that moderate opposition organizations emerged as the best possible reaction given those circumstances; (2) domestic organizations had a greater impact on the Taiwanese polity and society than those in exile; and (3) peaceful approaches were an important alternative to revolutionary movements. The author recounts the story of Taiwan's democratization process (until 1986) through the careers of two long-neglected moderate political activists, Lin Xiantang (1881-1956) and Kang Ningxiang (1938-).