Northern NGO advocacy: Perceptions,reality, and the challenge

This article reports the results of and conclusions from a survey of Northern NGOs conducted during 1998 and 1999 for the purposes of testing generalised criticisms of Northern NGO advocacy and providing benchmarks for further research on the policy impact of the Washington Advocacy office of Oxfam International. Based on the survey findings, the author challenges Northern NGOs to evaluate more thoroughly their advocacy so that they may effectively demonstrate their advocacy achievements and, by so doing, confidently invest a greater proportion of resources into advocacy programmes which effectively contribute to their goals of reducing poverty.     

The US,the USSR and the Berlin crises: Perceptions and motivations

Berlin has been a central issue in the postwar dispute between East and West. Often it has been the site of political tensions that brought the Soviet bloc and the West to the brink of open combat. Its geographical location, unique political status, and dramatic division have made Berlin an important symbol in the struggle for the control of Germany and central Europe. Berlin's present role in international politics is noticeably muted. Yet its political status remains essentially unchanged. It remains sharply divided between the East and West even after the past decade's concessions from both sides. Its geographical location is now no less important strategically or politically.     

当代西方恐怖主义威胁认知与治理目标和路径

恐怖主义威胁认知对治理政策的有效性具有决定性的影响,也是外部政策评估的有效切入点:威胁认知通过影响政策目标与政策路径,构成恐怖主义治理能够在多大限度内发挥其有效性的前提。九一一事件以来,西方对恐怖主义威胁出现了"传统智慧""本土恐怖主义"和"极端意识形态"三种不同的认知,治理政策经历了"全球反恐战争""反激进化"和"反极端化"三个阶段,政策目标经历了"文化安全化—族群安全化—思想安全化"的演进,政策路径出现了从"群体化"到"个体与群体兼重"再到"个体化"的转变。恐怖主义威胁认知的三个阶段演进,更多的是面对新恐怖威胁的被动更新,而非针对前一阶段问题所做的主动修正。这导致当代西方恐怖主义治理的既有政策有限性将会持续,反恐的政策负担会越来越重,甚至"越反越恐"。在当前国际恐怖主义不断发展变化的背景下,西方乃至全球的恐怖主义治理又处于一个需要更新威胁认知的关头,这可能会进一步影响当前恐怖主义治理的效果。     

伊斯兰教婚姻制度的伦理之维——对一夫多妻制、妇女观念及其婚姻禁忌的再思考

一夫多妻制不仅是为了解决战乱造成寡妇众多和财产无主的现实矛盾,更重要的是,在兼顾旧风俗基础上建立有效新秩序的伦理需求.<古兰经>以信仰和品德判断为标准,给予妇女相应的权利,既体现真主创生的仁慈,又使社会呈现一体性而促成伦理精神的形成.穆罕默德扩大了婚姻禁忌的范围,以神圣的道德规范和伦理价值观念约束新生的穆斯林团体,进而建立起崭新的社会伦理秩序.     

克劳福德的东方观——克劳福德《出使暹罗和印度支那王朝日记》的研究

萨义德的东方学理论为重新解读克劳福德的名作《出使暹罗和印度支那王朝日记》提供了新的分析工具。本文通过重新审视书中蕴含的前提和假设，揭示出了克劳福德的东方观。克劳福德认为东方总是低劣的、野蛮的和感性的，其东方观是在他的作品与殖民主义制造的总体政治语境之间进行交换的过程中生成的。克劳福德的个人体验和对东方的传记描述最终向权威的东方学发生了转移，他的东方观随之也带有东方学浓厚的气息。今天，重新审视那些貌似客观公正，实际上却蕴含着西方文化霸权的著作是历史文化非殖民化的一项非常重要的工作。     

Perceptions of Time and Their Impact on Negotiations in the Arabic-Speaking Islamic World

This article examines how perceptions of time affect Arabic-speaking Islamic negotiators and how their attitudes about time, and their corresponding behaviors, may differ from those of their Western counterparts. We begin by identifying cultural differences in the conceptualization of time and then comment on the role of time in negotiations, discussing how time influences bargaining, trust, and negotiation tactics. In the section on tactics, we discuss stall-and-delay tactics, the use of the past as an objective standard, and limits on negotiating the future. Our purpose is to encourage negotiators from the West to be knowledgeable about the way they, as well as negotiators from Arabic-speaking Islamic cultures, conceive of and use time in negotiations. We believe that understanding that the very concept of time is often quite different in these two cultures is an important step in facilitating negotiations that cross these cultural boundaries.     

Berko Anat. The Path to Paradise,the Inner World of Suicide Bombers and Their Dispatchers. Forward by Moshe Addad,and translated by Elizabeth Yuval

This article conceptualizes political radicalization as a dimension of increasing extremity of beliefs, feelings, and behaviors in support of intergroup conflict and violence. Across individuals, groups, and mass publics, twelve mechanisms of radicalization are distinguished. For ten of these mechanisms, radicalization occurs in a context of group identification and reaction to perceived threat to the ingroup. The variety and strength of reactive mechanisms point to the need to understand radicalization—including the extremes of terrorism—as emerging more from the dynamics of intergroup conflict than from the vicissitudes of individual psychology.     

Speech by H.E. Bertie Ahern,Co-chair of the InterAction Council,former Taoiseach of Ireland

正I am honoured to have been invited to speak to such a distinguished gathering on the occasion of the centenary of the Communist Party of China. The theme of this summit, For the People's Well-Being: The Responsibility of Political Parties, is interesting and timely during this period of rapid global change. Political leaders must all reflect upon their responsibilities and that priority is something that the Inter Action Council of former leaders,