Inter‐German relations in historical perspective: The risks of biased hindsight

It is a mixed blessing to know that the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist in late 1989 and the German nation was reunified less than a year later. While scholars can now comment definitively on what made these events possible, they must fight the temptation to think deterministically about the past and to read German history as though it were destined to culminate in the outcomes of 1989 and 1990. In this essay on the risks of biased hindsight, the author considers three respects in which such historical reasoning may lead to distorted impressions of the 40‐year relationship between East and West Germany. In line with the non‐deterministic view of history that he espouses, he concludes by suggesting one way in which the revolutionary autumn of 1989 could have taken a dramatically different turn.     

Inner‐party reforms: The SPD and labour party in comparative perspective

In the wake of the crisis of the Keynesian Welfare State the social democratic parties in western Europe have been searching for new concepts to retain their image as reform parties. One way to achieve this is to democratise and renew the intra‐party structures. In the 1980s and 90s, the SPD and the Labour Party have developed different patterns to implement the process of intra‐party reforms. The objectives are to increase the autonomy of action for the parties’ various sub‐units, in particular the party elite, and to reduce the political influence of the body of delegates. On paper the individual member is to get greater rights to participate, in practice this coincides with greater influence of powerful elites. In between, there have been different problems of the intra‐party reforms. In the SPD, personal controversies and the old battles between old and new left and the right wing still determine the political agenda. Its reform got stuck halfway after Rudolf Scharping took office as party chairman. His counterpart Tony Blair tries to continue the reform process initiated by Neil Kinnock. In the Labour Party, the modernisers have had some success in reducing the internal power of the unions and in strengthening individual members. But these are only a few steps in becoming a ‘New Labour Party’.     

A note on the “ Hudud al‐'Alam “

The Sino‐Soviet Conflict 1956–61. By Donald S. Zagoria. Princeton University Press; London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. 484. Notes. Appendices. Bibliog. Index. 50s.     

A note on the Ottoman socio‐economic structure and its response to the Balkan war of 1912

Agrarniye strukturi stran Vostoka, Agrarian Structure of the Countries of the East (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1977; 280 pp.)

Idiyolojiyat al‐Dimuqratiyya al‐Thawriyya al‐Ifriqiyya, The Ideology of African Revolutionary Democracy (Moscow: The Soviet Academy of Science, 1983; 144 pp.)

Partii v riyevolyutsionniy protsyess b stranakh Azii i Afriki, sbornik statyey, Parties in the Revolutionary Processes in the Countries of Asia and Africa: A collection of articles (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 254 pp.)

Kharaktyerniye chyerti sotzial'no‐politichyeskogo razvitiya Arabskikh stran v 1950–1970ye godi, Characteristic Traits of the Socio‐Political Development of the Arab Countries from the 1950s to the 1970s (Erevan: The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia, 1980; 208 pp.)

Arabskiye strani, istoriya i sovryemyennost, The Arab Countries: History and Contemporary Affairs (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 248 pp.)

Contemporary Development of the Arab Countries (Oriental Studies in the USSR, No. 8 – Moscow: ‘Social Sciences Today’ Editorial Board for the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1984; 236 pp.)

V.L. Fatis's Liviya (Moscow: Misl’ Press, 1982; 160 pp.)

N.I. Proshin's Istoriya Livii v novoye vryemya (syeryedina XVI – nachala XXv.), The History of Libya in Modern Times: The Mid‐Sixteenth Century to the Beginning of the Twentieth (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 288 pp.)

Aldzhirskaya narodnaya dyemokratichyeskaya ryespublika, konstitutsiya i zakonodatyel'nye akti, The Algerian Popular Democratic Republic: The Constitution and Legislative Documents (Moscow: Progress Press, 1983; 414 pp.)

Istoriya Aldzhirskoy ryevolyutsii, 1954–1962, History of the Algerian Revolution, 1954–62 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 287 pp.) by R. G. Landa

Sturm und Drang years, V.S. Svyetlov's Aldzhir syegodnya, Algeria Today (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981: 222 pp.)

Ochyerki Marokkanskoy istorii (Moscow: Progress Press, 1982; 384 pp.)

V.G. Rasnitsin's Marokko na rubyedzhye dvukh epokh, 1956–1960 g., Morocco Between Two Epochs, 1956–60 (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1983; 144 pp.)

Anna Kowalska‐Lewicka's Mavritaniya, Mauritania (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 304 pp.)     

Indonesia and the “conflictual consensus”: a discursive perspective on Indonesian democracy

In this essay we propose an alternative approach to assessing the state of democracy in Indonesia. We focus not on institutional indicators (as is usually the case) but on manifestations of political discourses in the public sphere. In applying post-Marxist political theory through the work of Slavoj ?i?ek and Chantal Mouffe, we argue that democracy’s main defining feature is that it allows antagonistic discourses about alternative policies to coexist, yet still manages to coalesce around a minimal consensus on how these discursive conflicts are to be dealt with in a fair way. Applying this approach to democracy analysis to Indonesia, we suggest that the major obstacles to democratic practice do not emerge from institutional problems, but from an overbearing political discourse that imposes broad consensus and harmony on most political issues. Political discourse in Indonesia is generally structured around “Islam” and “the people.” These themes provide a basis for a political consensus that conceals economic and social contradictions and reveals considerable depoliticization in Indonesian democratic practice.     

The Arab‐Israeli peace process: A house built on sand?

While the Declaration of Principles agreed between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in September 1993 was widely welcomed as the major breakthrough in the seemingly intractable Arab‐Israeli conflict, progress proved to be difficult, uncertain and, at times, bloody. This article places the agreement in the context of previous peace endeavours in an attempt to explain why the apparent early promise proved so difficult to sustain.     

The Wadi al-Hawarith affair (Emek Hefer): disputed land and the struggle for ownership: 1929–33

The Wadi al-Hawarith (Emek Hefer) affair was considered to be one of the prominent land disputes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine during the British mandate period. The region in which the dispute broke out was found south of Hadera in Emek Hefer.

The purchase of lands of Wadi al-Hawarith, by Jewish bodies, had already started at the end of the nineteenth century and continued for four decades, and during this there were disputes between the Jews and Arabs, which were accompanied by legal hearings.

The Jewish National Fund tried to reach an arrangement by means of compensation for the Bedouin tenants who dwelled on the lands of the valley, in exchange for their willingness to leave the territory. From time to time, the Bedouins agreed to this, but they went back on their agreement.

Despite the effort to reach compensation arrangements with the Bedouins, the Palestinian political leadership was interested in inflaming the opposition of the Bedouins to leaving the land. This is what caused a long string of trials, which continued for many years.     

A short journey through North‐Western Kansu and the Tibetan border country

Kashmir, at present, is not being treated as a priority by politicians or policy makers. The author argues that this is a grave mistake. The ground realities which have continued to blight the lives of millions in the region for decades have not been resolved. Not only do they demand resolution, but leave the region fragile and unstable, a danger exacerbated by the nuclear capabilities of India and Pakistan. The domestic narratives within India and Pakistan which lead to heightened hostility have been exacerbated by recent events such as the Mumbai Hotel attacks and cross-border skirmishes. A resolution of Kashmir would reverse these inherent tensions. The unresolved situation also undermines the human rights of the inhabitants of Kashmir. Likewise, it leads to an unconscionable waste of the natural resources of the region, as well as needless restrictions in Indo-Pakistani trade and money being tied up in military conflict. A resolution of the conflict would also have wide-scale benefits in the region, reaching to Afghanistan and China. In conclusion, the author surveys what might be practical ways of resolving the Kashmir problem.     

Irrigating the famished fields: The impact of labour-led struggle on policy and action in Nigeria (1999–2007)

Between 1999 and 2007, a broad-based labour-led movement which focused most of its energies on its struggle against unpopular fuel price hikes in Nigeria was able to exert considerable, though limited, influence on an Obasanjo-led executive arm of government that was at best quasidemocratic in its orientation. This article argues that, despite the very important roles played by other factors (notably the presence of more democratic space in Nigeria post-1999), the movement's adoption of a mass social movement approach facilitated its ability to exert such influence.     

Identity,dignity and development as trajectory: Bihar as a model for democratic progress in Nepal? Part I. Bihar's experience

Down into the last decades of the twentieth century, Bihar remained India's poorest state and one under the domination of its landowning upper castes – a well-nigh hopeless case for development in the view of most outside observers. But in the 1990s, a fresh leader gained a new dignity for the Backward castes, even as the state's poverty and corruption continued unabated. And then in the mid-2000s, another Backward leader was able to combine this societal uplift with a remarkable level of economic development. This article in two parts endeavours to make a case that Nepal, long suffering under conditions similar to those hobbling Bihar until recently, might follow a similar two-stage path of dignity and then development.     

Identity,dignity and development as trajectory: Bihar as a model for democratic progress in Nepal? Part II. Nepal’s promise

Part I of this article traced the experience of India’s Bihar state as it shifted in the last decade of the twentieth century from a region dominated by landowning upper castes and plagued by entrenched poverty to one led by newly emergent middle castes. In a two-step process, these groups first attained a significant dignity and self-respect and then it became possible in the 2000s to turn to economic growth and improvement in living standards. Part II makes a case that Nepal, long suffering under conditions similar to those hobbling Bihar until recently, might follow a similar two-stage path of dignity and then development.     

‘Conflict and confrontation’: A comparison of the effect of trade embargoes on executive‐legislative relations in the USA during the Truman and Reagan years

This article examines the conflict between the American Congress and Presidency in US trade embargo policy during the Truman and Reagan years. After reviewing two cases of legislative‐executive confrontation over trade embargoes against the Soviet Union in the late‐1940s and early‐1950s and South Africa in the 1980s, it concludes that Congress has been successful in modifying presidential policy‐making that it believes does not serve the national interest. This is due to its powerful position in the American political process as the initiator of legislation. Its law making powers have allowed it to review executive foreign policy decisions forcing the Presidency to change its approach to particular policy concerns.