Islamic radicalisation and violence in Liberia

In the last two to three decades, Liberia's image in Africa has oscillated from one extreme to the other. Historically, the country was seen as a beacon of hope as Africa's first Independent Republic and it played its role in the African liberation process. However, 14 years of civil war have punctured this image and the attendant political and economic difficulties have removed the country from the list of countries to be envied. Importantly, the country's political past is complex and its ethnic composition is diverse but what is often neglected as an identity issue is religion. Although Liberia is widely held as a ‘Christian nation’, largely because of the historical fact that those who established it were Christians, there is now emerging the critical dimension of Islamic concerns in the country. Such concerns could become critical to the national security of Liberia, especially if it connects to the wider sub-regional dimension of Islamic radicalisation. The central argument of this article is that the issue of Islamic radicalisation in Liberia is somewhat peculiar as it never manifested itself in the form in which others have in the sub-region. In this sense, what is referred to as radicalisation in Liberia is more the protests and advocacy of Muslims for their rights on a number of specific issues. While these can serve as triggers of radicalisation, they cannot be equated with it.     

Deadly Doves: Liberal Nationalism and the Democratic Peace in the Soviet Successor States

This article's purpose is to assess the arguments of democratic peace scholars as they apply to the states of the former Soviet Union. The claim that liberalism is associated with nonviolent means of conflict resolution, in particular, is questionable in the case of newly independent states, in which liberalism bears a closer resemblance to nineteenth-century European liberal nationalism than it does to the universalist liberalism envisioned by theories of the democratic peace. I argue that this nonuniversalist form of liberalism is in fact widespread among the Soviet successor states and that, as a result, liberalism's implications for peace are not nearly as benign as had previously been believed. In other regards, however, the attitudes of elites, the mass public, and liberals are in fact fairly consistent with those posited by democratic peace theory, though relative elite bellicosity declines as the policy-making arena broadens. A democratic peace in the region is therefore viable but particularly vulnerable to national issues, as well as to the effects of concentration of political power in the hands of a narrow group of elites.     

Introduction: South Africa's multiple languages in a shifting media environment

Abstract

The global South, as the collective for the peripheries of mainstream development is known, is often regarded as merely a beneficiary of Northern-borne notions in the field of organisational communication. The problem is that the Southern context and circumstance do not always mirror those of the North, meaning that these dominant, revered theories are not necessarily applicable. One Southern context is that of the South African mining and construction industries, which is seen as notoriously dangerous, plagued by various obstacles to internal organisational communication (such as illiteracy and diversity), and what Le Roux and Naudé (2009, 29) refer to as ‘historical baggage’. The research question of this article is whether congenital Northern communication theories can be adequately incorporated into the unique global South, in order to fulfil the important task of communicating safety information to employees. The article explores the appropriate implementation of the principles of the excellence theory, the stakeholder theory as well as the relationship management theory, and the research methodology includes interviews, focus groups and quantitative questionnaires at two organisations. The result of the empirical research is the amalgamation and reworking of these theories’ principles into a model for internal safety communication applicable to the South.     

从《马来纪年》看古代马来人对中国形象的认知

《马来纪年》被马来人奉为历史经典,本文通过对《马来纪年》中相关中国章节的分析,认为马来人对中国形象的认知是:中国人与马来人同源而生,中国是与马来古代王国一样强大的大国,与马来古国有着密切的亲缘关系,友好往来,和睦相处;中国不畏强权,爱好和平,十分富有,人口众多,兵强将广;中国皇帝具有巨大的财富和强大的兵力,威仪非凡,但也不能违抗真主的意志而要求马来国王称臣纳贡;中国人充满智慧、机智和勇敢,彬彬有礼,温文敦厚,不信奉伊斯兰教,而吃猪肉和猪油。当然,《马来纪年》中勾勒出的中国形象是马来人自我认同中而相应产生的"他国"形象,也只是"虚幻"和"真实"的产物。     

基于大系统优化理论的中国—东盟自由贸易区物流协调体系研究

本文认为,根据大系统优化理论构建中国—东盟物流协调系统,将有效解决当前自由贸易区各国物流合作中存在的基础设施总体落后、管理体系与相关法律不健全、物流合作机制作用受限等问题。这是一项艰巨的工作,亟需各国政府、物流行业和企业真诚合作,共建跨国物流"协调器",并根据"标准化"内涵将大系统有效"分解"成若干子系统;同时要借助日益发达的信息化技术,协调公路、铁路、航空和水运等跨国物流子系统之间的关系。     

会展旅游:马来西亚旅游业增长的新引擎

会展旅游,即国际市场上通称的MICE(Meetings,Incentives,Conferences and Exhibitions),是一种通过举办各种会议、博览交易、文化体育、科技交流、奖励旅游等活动而开发的一种旅游项目①.它是随着经济社会、旅游业的发展而出现的一种新的综合性旅游形式,因盈利性好、市场潜力极大,而成为旅游业界发展的热点.     

Minority Religions and the Context of Violence: A Conflict/Interactionist Perspective

Violence (broadly defined to include collective as well as individual violence) associated with the recent rise of newer religious groups or 'cults', as well as longer-term minority religions, is examined, using a conflict orientation. The interactional nature of such violence is discussed, with accusations of violence concerning minority and newer religions placed in a conflict perspective that stresses the interdependency of religious groups and their opponents. Special attention is given to allegations of: (1) violence derived from group teachings and practices, with a focus on major recent tragic events involving religious groups; and (2) violence directed against members and groups by others, including private individuals and organization, as well as governmental entities.     

Living or surviving: Reflections on Central America

As the civil wars in Central America subside, the region is undergoing far-reaching changes in its economies, and in the role of the State, in particular in the growth of the maquila (assembly plant) industry, and the reduction of the public sector. However, poverty has increased, and is associated with high levels of violence and delinquency, as well as with a decline in food security. The challenge facing the social forces within the region, as well as NGOs such as Oxfam, is to develop a self-sustaining alternative, while also responding to the needs of the present.     

The contested capacity of the Indian state

State capacity is often seen as simply the resources and capabilities of state organizations to perform those functions that are seen as essential to monopolizing coercion, maintaining legitimacy, and providing key public and social goods. As such, it is often conceptualized as value-neutral and comparable across national contexts. By contrast, this article posits that in the Indian context, state capacity is a politically contested concept, because there is deep and enduring political conflict in India over the appropriate roles and related capabilities of state power. This conflict is grounded in disagreements between those who wish to use the state as a tool to transform society and those who see it as a means to preserve and protect social relations. As a result of this conflict, the state in India is not weak or captured but internally divided and thus disarticulated. This article demonstrates these dynamics through an examination of state intervention in the statist and post-liberalization political economy of India.     

浙沪接轨：长三角农业“新合力”探究

长江三角洲地区以上海为龙头、苏浙为两翼, 是中国经济、科技、文化最发达的地区之一,也是中国最具活力和竞争力的经济区域之一。它以仅占全国2.2%的陆地面积,10.36%的人口,创造了占全国25.06%的国内生产总值和36.03%的进出口总额(2004年度统计数据),成为世界公认的第六大城市群。在新的形势背景下,顺应经济全球化、区域化、一体化的发展趋势,谋求长三角地区之间的经济合作与发展,积极推进长三角地区经济的一体化,必将促进资源要素的充分、合理配置,形成新的区域竞争优势。浙沪农业合作就是其中的一个重要组成部分。     

充分发挥图们江开发区作用 加快实现东北经济区现代化

图们江地区是我国东北经济区具有突出特点的经济开发区,目前应加快其开发以尽快实现东北经济区现代化的进程。这是由于图们江地区在全国对外开放格局中占有重要地位,是拉动东北经济发展的重要增长点,并将成为东北经济区缓解进出口运输紧张局面和发展国际运输的重要据点等决定的。但目前图们江地区正处于起步阶段,面临着许多制约性问题,因此,必须认真解决图们江地区开发中的瓶颈性、先决性、牵动性的问题。     

Assessment of country‐risk on the euromarkets

Recent years have seen several studies and proposals from national parliaments (NPs) to deepen their direct involvement in European decision-making, most notably by strengthening the early warning mechanism (EWM – also known as yellow card procedure). The EWM is a technical-legalistic procedure that is restricted to subsidiarity. This ‘straightjacket’ is too limited as a monitoring tool for European policies more broadly and can hardly be seen as a response to current democratic concerns. Framing the EWM as a democratic solution to empower NPs thus risks becoming one of Europe’s empty mantras.     

Endogenous development in Somalia: bridging the gap between traditional and Western implementation methodologies

This practical note examines the implementation approach of African Development Solutions (Adeso) in Somalia, a country which is recovering from over two decades of conflict. It discusses how their endogenously derived targeting method, known as ICBT, is implemented and the way it challenges social norms for positive outcomes. Cash-based response is analysed as a recovery method as well as a way to engage community participation, particularly with marginalised groups. Implementation challenges are highlighted to explore the relationship between traditional and globalised (Western) values.     

Disruptive democracy: analysing legislative protest

This introductory article outlines the conceptual approach of this special issue on legislative protest and suggests that this form of protest alerts us to the negotiated institutional politics of parliaments. Together with many contributors to this issue, this article briefly puts forward a performative approach to studying legislative protest that brings into focus the spaces in which performances take place, the speech and rhetoric through which is performed as well as the bodies that convey the somatic norms of institutions as well as to alert us to issues of representation and representativeness of legislative institutions. Legislative protest then is viewed not simply as disruptive and inefficient, bringing into disrepute the reputations of legislative bodies; rather the performance of protest is regarded as yet another register through which we can productively map the changing cultural and historical development of representative politics.     

Election law violations as campaign effort: turnout in Japan's House of Councillors elections

Electoral fraud is a form of corrupt behaviour but it is also a form of electoral behaviour. Once the grosser forms of stuffing the ballot box have been eliminated, illegal campaigning often involves precisely the same activities as does legal campaigning. What makes it electoral fraud is ‘stepping over the line’, spending X?+?Y when the legal limit is X for example. In this study we analyse the determinants of legal and illegal campaign efforts as well as the impact of such efforts on voter turnout. We use the aggregate number of election law violations per district as a measure of Y, which is normally unobserved because it is illegal and thus unreported. We further distinguish between various types of election fraud such as vote-buying and canvassing and determine their effects on turnout. We find that electoral fraud is more common in close races and when there is intraparty competition. Similarly, illegal campaign effort in general mirrors legal efforts in increasing turnout although its effects depend on the type of violation in question.     

Books

This paper deals with the relationship between communication, politics and warfare. Communication is frequently regarded as the solution to all problems and it is often said we only need to communicate more to prevent conflict. The aim is to give an overview of opinions to indicate that communication is used not only as an instrument for seeking peace, but also as an offensive (and defensive) instrument in politics and warfare; also that politics without communication cannot exist and that politics and warfare are closely related. Clausewitz's dictum that warfare is the continuation of politics through other means has been extended by Communism to mean that peace is the continuation of war. Only if the reciprocal relationship between communication, politics and warfare is taken into consideration, can communication be used as an instrument to provide peace in the age of the delicate balance of nuclear terror and international terrorism.