Conceptualizing “Ethnicity” and “ethnic conflict”: A controversy revisited

The literature on “ethnicity” and “ethnic conflict” still fails to yield either definitional precision or usable empirical referents for the study of either phenomenon. This article offers a critique of the key literature on these subjects and a propositional inventory summarizing points of scholarly agreement, a discussion of the empirical problems that face scholars in this field, and, finally a general model for the analysis of particular ethnic conflicts, including consideration of the correlative tangents of resolution intervention.     

Collaboration,confrontation, and controversy: the politics of monument restoration in Georgia and the case of Bagrati Cathedral

This paper examines the history of the restoration, or more accurately, reconstruction of Bagrati Cathedral in western Georgia. Constructed in 1003, Bagrati Cathedral is an important cultural monument in the political and architectural history of Georgia. Destroyed by an explosion in 1691, the cathedral was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1994 in its ruined state. However, the Georgian government under President Mikheil Saakashvili and Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) officials made the reconstruction and reconsecration of the cathedral a priority. The reconstruction of Bagrati Cathedral, completed in September 2012, brought the differing aims of Georgian politicians, GOC officials, and architectural historians – the major players in the process – into sharp focus. This paper maintains that the rebuilding of Bagrati Cathedral was part of Saakashvili’s political agenda, which merged with the interests of the GOC and worked against the objectives of architectural historians and the aims of academic principles of restoration and preservation. The result is that Bagrati has been rebuilt but is under threat of removal from the World Heritage List. The story of Bagrati’s reconstruction has implications for the future of monument preservation and restoration in Georgia.     

The economics of dispossession: The Palestinians

Reviewing the study of US policy towards Africa: from intellectual ‘backwater’ to theory construction

White Men Don't Have Juju: An American Couple's Adventure Through Africa. Pam Ascanio, Chicago, IL: The Noble Press, 1992. 345 pp.

Beyond Safaris: A Guide to Building People‐to‐People Ties With Africa. Kevin Danaher, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1991. 193 pp.

Free at Last? US Policy Toward Africa and the End of the Cold War. Michael Clough, New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1992. 145 pp.

US Economic Policy Toward Africa. Jeffrey Herbst, New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1992. 82 pp.

High Noon in Southern Africa: Making Peace in a Rough Neighborhood. Chester A Crocker, New York: W W Norton, 1992. 533p

African Americans and US Policy Toward Africa 1850–1925: In Defense of Black Nationality. Elliott P Skinner, Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1992. 555 pp.

An African American in South Africa: The Travel Notes of Ralph J Bunche. 28 September 1937–1 January 1938. Robert R Edgar, (ed), Athens, OH: Ohio University Press; Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1992. 398 pp.

Mobutu or Chaos? The United States and Zaire, 1960–1990. Michael G Schatzberg, Lanham, MD: University Press of America; Philadelphia, PA: Foreign Policy Research Institute, 1991. 115 pp.

The United States, Great Britain, and Egypt, 1945–1956: Strategy and Diplomacy in the Early Cold War. Peter L Hahn, Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992. 359 pp.

Nigeria, Africa, and the United States From Kennedy to Reagan. Robert B Shepard, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991. 193 pp.

American Intellectuals and African Nationalists, 1955–1970. Martin Staniland, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. 310 pp.

The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money, and US Policy in the Congo Crisis. David N Gibbs, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 322 pp.

Arms for the Horn: US Security Policy in Ethiopia and Somalia 1953–1991. Jeffrey A Lefebvre, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991. 351 pp.

Latin American church and politics

Politics and the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. John M Kirk, Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1992. 246 pp.

Popular Voices in Latin American Catholicism. Daniel H Levine, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992. 403 pp.

Kingdoms Come: Religion and Politics in Brazil. Rowan Ireland, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991. 262 pp.

Commentaries on Muslim Women

Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting boundaries in sex and gender. Nikki R Keddie and Beth Baron (eds), New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991. 333 pp. £19.95 hb

Women and Gender in Islam. Leila Ahmed, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992. 248 pp.

Women, Islam and the State,. Deniz Kadiyoti (ed), London: Macmillan Press, 1991. 271 pp.

Negritude and Africa: Armah's account