Caught between Europe and the orient: Israel and the EMP

As the case of Transnistria illustrates, the politico-economic arrangements of de facto states are marked by a tendency to sacrifice the economy to political objectives. Despite non-recognition and limited local resources, these entities manage to make use of their ambiguous status and external support to sustain their claims to statehood. Yet, the priority of these claims over economic development, as well as strategies of survival in general can have unintended effects on unrecognised state-building projects, such as the emergence of a spin-off opposition or public disillusionment.     

Preparing for the Future: Reassessing the Possibility of Violence Emanating From Tibetan Exile Communities in India

In his 1997 analysis of the history of Tibetan and Chinese relations (The Snow Lion and the Dragon), Melvyn Goldstein advised in his concluding chapter that Tibetans were unlikely to indefinitely put up with the Chinese occupation of Tibet without resorting to violence. However, despite continuing speculation, more widespread or sustained campaigns of violence have largely failed to materialize. The principle objectives of this study are to establish why the scale of violence that Goldstein warned about has so far failed to emerge; and to assess whether existing evidence supports or undermines claims that violence may in the future emanate from Tibetan exile communities in India. It will be argued that previous analyses have been premised on a relatively narrow assessment of the situation and context, and that a more informed and nuanced evaluation of the potential for future violence requires comprehensive analysis of a much wider range of factors.     

Narratives of the Past and Present: Young Refugees' Construction of a Family Identity in Exile

Little attention has been given to the ‘refugee experience’of children who follow their parents in escaping violence. Thisstudy examines how the experiences of violence become importantevents in the lives of a group of young refugees who were bornin the Middle East, but escaped with their parents to Denmarkten years ago. On the basis of a narrative analysis the studyshows that the adolescents' experience of being a refugee isgreatly influenced by the stories of the past narrated aboutthe family, and the internal relations and conflicts withinthe families. Adolescent refugees who have grown up with violencein their family relations experience greater difficulties increating new homes in exile than adolescents whose memoriesof violence are connected with a narrative of the historicalpersecution and suffering of their family and people.     

International NGOs and unions in the South: worlds apart or allies in the struggle?

In the early 1980s, support for trade unions was a significant component of Oxfam GB's programmes in various parts of the world, most notably Central America and South Africa. In Central America, this was motivated both because organised labour played an important role in popular movements that were pressing for equitable political settlements to the wars ravaging the region, and because unions as such, as well as their members and leaders, were the targets of repression and political violence. This article explores the background to the rise in funding for unions in Honduras, reflects on this experience, and discusses some of the factors that might change a potentially awkward donor‐recipient relationship to one of dialogue and solidarity.     

NGOs,disasters, and advocacy: Caught between the Prophet and the Shepherd Boy

Is it preferable for aid agencies to listen to their prophetic calling and risk their hard-earned credibility by engaging in advocacy that is intended to avert disasters, or should NGOs instead be wary of calling wolf too often? Written from the perspective of an advocacy practitioner, this article looks at the conflicting pressures on NGOs both to scale up and to limit advocacy during disasters. It is important to evaluate NGOs' motives and also the impact of their preventive advocacy efforts: whenever advocacy is an issue, questions of accountability, veracity, and legitimacy are never far from the surface. The paper ends with a plea to NGOs to take seriously their credibility as a resource which should be risked, where necessary, as part of the overall humanitarian ethic of saving lives. The dangers of appearing self-serving and misleading are genuine, but ultimately the potential to change dire events is too important to be surrendered lightly.     

广西前两次大开放浪潮经验启示及对掀起第三次大开放浪潮的对策建议

广西最大的优势是区位,最根本的出路是开放。改革开放以来,广西经历了两次大开放浪潮,特别是近10年来以举办中国—东盟博览会为契机开启的第二次大开放浪潮创造了三大奇迹:一是中央战略地方化,二是地方战略中央化,三是区际开放国际化,以大开放大合作促进大发展,使区情发生了重大变化。当前,广西的对外开放正站在一个新的历史起点上,即将迎来第三次大开放浪潮。本文对广西前两次大开放浪潮进行回顾总结,实录演变历程,浓缩经验精华,提出广西应不失时机地实施以开放为主导的跨越式发展战略等对策建议,供掀起第三次大开放浪潮决策参考。     

The British Nuclear Experience: The Role of Beliefs,Culture, and Status (Part Two)

Part One of this article, which appeared in the last edition of Diplomacy and Statecraft, argued that the origins and early development of British nuclear weapons was largely driven by the particular ideas and beliefs of a relatively small political, scientific, and military elite. It is also argued that these beliefs, which developed into a “deterrence state of mind” amongst the elite, derived in part from a traditional strategic culture that emphasised the importance of producing the most sophisticated weapons of the day to protect Britain's diplomatic and security interests in a largely anarchic international system. Part Two argues that these ideational factors, based on a “realist” perspective of international security held by Britain's political-military leadership, have remained of crucial importance through to the present day.     

Cultural and Spiritual Constructions of Mental Distress and Associated Coping Mechanisms of Tibetans in Exile: Implications for Western Interventions

The Tibet-TPO project in Dharamsala, North India aims to provideculturally sensitive psychosocial support to Tibetan refugees.In this study we have examined the cultural and spiritual constructionsof mental distress of Tibetan exiles from a secondary analysisof previously published data. Tibetans refugees' constructionsof mental distress were intimately linked to cultural, religiousand political factors. Family and religious support were regardedas key coping strategies, yet many new refugees lacked bothfamily support and detailed knowledge and understanding of TibetanBuddhism. Not all of those interviewed were positive about ‘westernapproaches’ to dealing with mental distress, but thoseusing the service seemed to do so in a pragmatic and integrativeway. We conclude that culturally sensitive psychosocial supportcan usefully ‘fill a gap’, especially for new refugeeswho lack both family support and access to, or understandingof, traditional religious coping mechanisms.     

目标与现实之间:论俄罗斯与亚太经合组织的经济合作

21世纪初期,俄罗斯积极致力于发展与亚太经合组织的经济合作并取得了一系列积极成果。俄罗斯的战略目标在于,通过"搭乘亚太地区经济快速发展的列车"来推进本国远东地区的发展和国家经济的现代化,维护并增进俄罗斯在亚太地区的经济利益,实现俄罗斯对外经济联系的多元性与平衡性,提高俄罗斯在亚太地区和全球的大国地位。然而,在俄罗斯与亚太经合组织的经济合作中存在一系列无法回避的严重问题和制约因素,这使俄罗斯面对的客观现实与希望达成的目标之间存在巨大"鸿沟"。     

委内瑞拉政府反腐败的经验与绩效评估

委内瑞拉的腐败问题在拉美地区具有一定典型性。查韦斯执政后加大反腐败力度,出台了系统的反腐败措施,注重减少体制性腐败,重视反腐败机制的构建,完善反腐败法律体系,注意借鉴其他国家的反腐败经验,主动参与美洲国家组织及联合国等机构所开展的反腐败国际合作。委内瑞拉虽然已逐渐形成反腐败的社会氛围,政府主导的反腐败斗争也取得一定成效,但腐败产生的主要根源并未根除,监督机制依然脆弱,腐败仍未从根本上得到遏制,新的腐败现象仍在滋生,腐败文化根深蒂固,反腐任务依然异常艰巨。     

War and Democratization: Lessons from the Portuguese Experience

The literature on democracy suggests that new democracies should have difficulty emerging during war or in the aftermath of armed struggle, yet Portugal's current democracy emerged simultaneously with the end of the nation's unsuccessful war in Africa. This article addresses the reasons and argues that democracy triumphed not simply in spite of the war but also, in part, because of it. The costs and geography of the war itself, the capacity and rootedness of the state that waged the war, the political culture of the regime's military officers, and the war-related timing of Portugal's first elections all helped prevent the emergence of an anti-democratic coalition and contributed to ensuring a successful transition to democracy. The article ends with three ideas that merit closer examination: that different sorts of wars leave different legacies for democracy; that wars that leave state bureaucracies intact or stronger are more likely to be followed by lasting democracy than those which do not; and, finally, that the ideologies of military elites are pivotal to the outcome of post-war democratic transitions.     

International Administration Between the Wars: A Reappraisal

This article traces the chronology of the interwar decline of European influence and power, arguing that its origins outside Europe are to be found as much in the paradoxical status of international administration of colonial and post-colonial areas as in the direct challenges posed to European stability by revisionist states in the early 1930s. It demonstrates that an inherent ambivalence toward the interwar colonial world and its relationship to Europe presaged and conditioned the collapse of Europe's own balance of power.