WHERE DID BHUTAN'S GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS COME FROM? THE ORIGINS OF AN INVENTED TRADITION

The Kingdom of Bhutan has attracted international attention for adopting “Gross National Happiness” (GNH) as its national development policy. The central notion is that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product; the four pillars of GNH are sustainable economic development, good governance, preservation of the natural environment and preservation of the national culture. This paper traces the historical origins of the concept of Gross National Happiness and finds that GNH is newer than the literature and the propaganda usually suggest. Close study of GNH's origins and salience over several decades reveals evidence of the invention of a tradition, in Hobsbawm and Ranger's terms [Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (Eds.), The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: CUP, 1983]. The meteoric rise over the last 15 years of GNH as Bhutan's official ideology is a key part of the Bhutanese state's efforts at nation building in the context of rapid and disruptive social and economic change in a highly plural society.     

CHINA'S GLOBAL GOALS AND ROLES: CHANGING THE WORLD FROM SECOND PLACE?

Whilst there is a general acceptance amongst Chinese analysts that the country's global power has really increased (and for very good reasons), how best to use this power to generate real change in the global order remains a subject of considerable debate. The nature of that international order itself is a key determinant of what China can do. On one level the rise of new powers is leading to a depolarised order with fluid and changing alliances that create possibilities for China to build partnerships for change. But on another level, the residual power of the US creates clear limits on what can be done. This creates a rather unique set of circumstances where a partially dissatisfied rising power has to try to find ways to responsibly change (but not fracture) the existing system as self-perceived No.2, with the No.1 rather reluctant to accept the No.2's agenda.     

KONY'S MESSAGE: A NEW KOINE?THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY IN NORTHERN UGANDA

The article offers a sketch of Joseph Kony's Lord's ResistanceArmy (LRA) both in historical perspective and in a wider frameworkof the world system. The authors discuss the different stagesand content of Acholi nationhood, from vague notions in pre-colonialdays, through the building of an ethno-military identity duringthe colonial period, until the Acholi heyday after Obote II.The second period can be described as Acholi-hood on the defensive.Initially, the campaign of resistance fought by the Acholi-dominatedUganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA) still fits into standardconceptions of political resistance. However, social collapseeventually gave birth to Alice Lakwena's Holy Spirit Movementand finally to the LRA. Possessed of a charisma bordering onthe prophetic, Kony has forged a new vision of Acholi-hood,based on individual salvation and purity. This ‘biblical’vision of political redemption, at first sight an inward-lookingstrategy, is making this movement extremely vulnerable to outwardmanipulation.     

KURDISTAN’S REFERENDUM: THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE KURDISH FORCES IN KIRKUK

Less than a month after the Kurdistan independence referendum, the Iraqi Army and units of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) attacked the disputed province of Kirkuk on October, 16, 2017. Unlike most national defence forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga is divided along partisan lines between the two largest parties in Iraqi Kurdistan. This particular area was largely under the control of units affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which decided to make a strategic withdrawal in the face of superior numbers and firepower. The city was then retaken in short order by forces loyal to Baghdad, as were all other disputed territories previously under Kurdish control. Subsequently, the allegation that the PUK had retreated too easily has been described by the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and others as a betrayal of the Kurdish people by the PUK. This has created two competing post-event perspectives: first, that the Peshmerga forces should have defended Kirkuk to the last man and should not have left their front line trenches; second that the withdrawal of the Peshmerga was a deliberate and rational military reaction to overwhelming opposition. This article critically assesses both perspectives and finds that partisan divisions in the Peshmerga critically undermined the ability of Kurdish forces to defend the disputed areas that they controlled. Instead of serving as motivation of create a unified fighting force, the loss of Kirkuk has only served to deepen those divisions.     

CAN THE ETHIOPIAN CHANGE HIS SKIN? THE BETA ISRAEL (ETHIOPIAN JEWS) AND RACIAL DISCOURSE

The arrival of over 55,000 Ethiopian immigrants in Israel hasproduced a situation whose social implications extend beyondthe borders of a single state. The arrival of a black Africangroup in a predominantly white country with virtually no previousexperience with such a population is unusual, if not unique,in the second half of the twentieth century. This article seeksto examine the Ethiopian encounter with Israeli society throughthe exploration of racial concepts. It is argued that EthiopianJews have been characterized as ‘black’ to a (forthem) unprecedented degree and have also been depicted as ‘notblack’ in a number of subtle and significant ways. Theexploration of the racial discourse about this specific populationis used to demonstrate the way in which global and local racialcategories exist side by side. Since Israel, like other countriesincluding South Africa and Brazil, has been shaped by, but isnot at the centre of Euro-American culture, this example alsooffers interesting insight into the cultural determinants ofracial discourse.     

IS THIS RUSSIA’S MOMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, formerly British permanent representative to the UN, who has had long experience of dealing with Russia in the context of diplomacy, considers whether the current moment of Russian dominance in Syria and the Middle East, combined with the recent general disengagement of the western powers in the region, could be considered as marking the beginning of a general period of Russian hegemony in the Middle East. The article takes into account the global geopolitical situation, the recent history of Russia and the Middle East, the consequences of western intervention in Iraq, and the motivations of the Russian government particularly in view of its recent engagement in Ukraine.     

SIACHEN GLACIER,THE FULCRUM OF THE GREAT GAME: COLONEL ‘BULL’ KUMAR’S PERSPECTIVES

This article, written by Prateek Joshi in close collaboration with Colonel Narender “Bull” Kumar, discusses the development of the conflict over the Siachen Glacier between India and Pakistan. It sets out the Siachen Conflict in the broad framework of the Great Game and explains the crucial role of Colonel Narender “Bull” Kumar's Siachen expeditions in rekindling this old flashpoint in High Asia. Based on Colonel Kumar's two expeditions to the Siachen Glacier region, namely the Teram Kangri expedition in 1978 and the Siachen expedition in 1981, it discusses the perspectives regarding the dispute and its relation to reviving a consciousness of the Great Game. The first perspective discusses Colonel Kumar's expeditions in light of the Indo-Pak conflict as these two visits became the precursor to Operation Meghdoot, following which the Indian Army occupied the Siachen Glacier in 1984. The second perspective discusses a crucial cartographic blank which was filled only after Colonel Kumar's Siachen expedition.     

RETHINKING AFRICAN SEXUALITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF HIV AND AIDS: THE LIFE AND DEATH DISCOURSE OF ‘MODERNISED POLYGAMY’ IN SUE NYATHI'S THE POLYGAMIST

ABSTRACT

This article is a study of Sue Nyathi's novel The Polygamist as a cultural production dealing with African modern polygamy1 in the context of HIV and AIDS. What is termed ‘modern polygamy’ in this article is a practice where men have several ‘wives’ but not in the African traditional sense, especially within the Shona culture, but in the sense of what is popularised as a ‘small house’ phenomenon. Nyathi's novel is discussed within the following frameworks corresponding to the three distinct parts of the article. In the first part of the discussion, the dichotomy between economic/ social status and ‘modern polygamy’ is explored. The second part of the discussion is a gendered perspective of ‘modern’ polygamy and particularly highlights gender constructions in Nyathi's representation of ‘modern’ polygamy. In the last section, multiple sexual relations and HIV and AIDS are discussed. Significantly, the article demonstrates that imaginative literature is a cultural site that can help us understand human behaviour and HIV and AIDS; particularly in what in religious terms would be referred to as ‘old testament’ polygamy that poses a danger to health and the social fabric in its new form in modern Zimbabwean society.     

THE END OF FOREIGN AID TO AFRICA? CONCERNS ABOUT DONOR POLICIES

For more than three decades, a key feature of Africa, and Africanrelations with the outside world, has been the aid relationship.In recent years, donors have given high priority to using aidresources to help solve Africa's poverty problems. In this article,contemporary policies and their likely impact on African povertyare put under the microscope. Six challenges to conventionaldonor views are presented. Firstly, the amounts of aid providedto Africa are not based on Africa's poverty needs and the gapbetween aid needs and aid provided is widening. Secondly, donorcommitments to poverty reduction in Africa are not new; theyare severely weakened by divisions among donors and large gapsremain between the rhetoric of support for poverty alleviationand the reality of sectoral aid allocations. Thirdly, thereare serious doubts about whether the devel opment model withinwhich aid funds are located will be able in practice to ‘deliver’the growth and employment generation required. Fourthly, thoughdonors have given increasing prominence to aid which reachesthe poor directly, there are doubts about the scale and effectivenessof such aid. Fifthly, the growing emphasis which donors areplacing on the results and effectiveness of aid risks shiftingaid towards the less poor. Sixthly, aid donors have tended inrecent years to place less emphasis on politics, the power ofself-interested elites and asset distribution in helping tosolve Africa's poverty problems—though these were dominantthemes when donors last focused so vigorously on aid for povertyreduction, in the mid-1970s. The article ends with some briefproposals for addressing these problems.     

AFGHANISTAN AFTER 2014 – WHO WILL BE THERE WHEN THE SOLDIERS LEAVE?

A number of the NGOs now working in Afghanistan, like Oxfam, Afghan Aid and the Agha Khan Foundation have been there for many years and show no sign of planning to leave when NATO troops withdraw. This article is written by a committee member of the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, which was formally established in Bergen in 1980, as a political reaction to the Soviet invasion. In 1983, the Committee started sending health workers into unoccupied areas of the country and their activities have continued ever since, though the Soviets left nearly a quarter of a century ago. The goodwill and contacts built up over time by the Committee and other NGOs have been important in validating their presence, their activities and their motives. To be useful in Afghanistan needs a commitment to the long haul.     

THE END OF POLITICS BY THEYOUTH? HIGHER EDUCATION,YOUTH IDENTITY AND RECESSION OFPOLITICAL PARTICIPATION BY SOUTH AFRICA'S ‘BORN-FREES’:1 THE CASE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study is to examine the effects of political socialisation by the family and significant others on the political participation by South Africa's born-frees using a sample of undergraduate students at a public university in a metropolitan area. Overall, political participation is relatively low among the born-frees even though political awareness is very high. Political socialisation in the form of discussion of politics with parents, other relatives and peers is found to be an important predictor of youth participation in political activities. The youth of mothers with school leaving certificates or undergraduate education are more likely to be politically engaged compared to those of mothers with either no education or postgraduate education. Finally, older youth are more likely than younger ones to be politically engaged.