AFGHANISTAN AS A CULTURAL CROSSROADS: LESSONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF ELLA MAILLART,ANNEMARIE SCHWARZENBACH AND NANCY HATCH DUPREE

Much has been written about Afghanistan, a complex cultural space that different people see in different ways. But not all of their views are of equal value. Stereotypes do no-one any favours. Ella Maillart and Annemarie Schwatzenbach were two Swiss women writers who set off for Afghanistan in June 1939. Ella was a traveller who wrote, Annemarie a writer who travelled, but their books give a sense of the realities of Afghanistan, Nancy Dupree first visited more than twenty years later than the two Swiss, but stayed involved for decades in a variety of different ways. She accepted and coped with the fact that the country was changing and would change still further.     

MANAGING THE RISE OF CHINA(REVIEW ARTICLE)

A survey of a number of books about how the overall international system will need to be modified so as to cope with the rise of China. Clearly the single most important relationship will be that between the US and China. The present structure of that bilateral relationship is inadequate for future needs.     

WESTERN APPROACHES TO THE MIDDLE EAST (REVIEW ARTICLE)

This article considers five books about western countries' actions and policies in the Middle East over the twentieth century and beyond. The British with their mandates in Iraq, Palestine and Jordan, and the French in Syria and Lebanon, employed similar techniques. The role of the British in Palestine comes in for a deal of criticism By the time the Americans took over the dominant role in the region, the policy challenge was rather different. But the mistakes the Americans made were just as serious and the lessons of history were too often ignored.     

PAKISTAN (REVIEW ARTICLE)

Victoria Schofield reviews two books on Pakistan:- the third, much revised, edition of Owen Bennett Jones’ Pakistan In the Eye of the Storm and Hilary Synnott's Transforming Pakistan, Ways out of Instability. Both books are arranged thematically and are full of useful information. They underline how important it is for outsiders to understand the course of recent events. For even though the problems facing Pakistan can in the end only be resolved by Pakistanis, outsiders undoubtedly have a crucial role to play.     

CHARLES MASSON OF AFGHANISTAN: DESERTER,SCHOLAR, SPY

This is an edited version of the talk, which he delivered in the Library of the Society on 29 November 2007.     

THE ROHINGYA CRISIS: WHY THE WORLD MUST ACT DECISIVELY

The dimensions of the crisis generated by the systematic persecution and expulsion of Rohingyas by the Myanmar authorities have been a sustained subject for global debate in these present times. The refusal of the Myanmar government to heed the world's warnings, its obfuscations in the matter of following through on the recommendations of the Annan Commission, and the dogged reluctance of Aung San Suu Kyi, once an ardent advocate of democracy and human rights in her country, to speak up for the Rohingyas have left the international community deeply disappointed. And disturbing too is a report by UN investigators on human rights abuses in Myanmar's Rakhine state. The problem does not look about to be resolved any time soon, with more than 750,000 Rohingyas taking refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, pushing social dynamics in an already over-populated country to the edge. The fear is that the crisis could fester before getting dangerously out of hand, unless the global community goes for decisive action.     

THE ASSYRIANS IN WORLD WAR ONE AND THE 1933 MASSACRE: NEW DISCOVERIES IN THE RSAA ARCHIVES

The recent discovery of a bundle of documents in the archives of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs has shed more light on the history of the Assyrian Christians of Iraq from the time of the First World War up to the Simele massacre in 1933. The documents are accounts and correspondence written primarily by a number of leading British players including Major-General Dunsterville, Sir Henry Dobbs, Colonel J.J. McCarthy, and also the Assyrian Patriarch Mar Shimun. They also shed further light on the role played by Leo Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies. The documents appear to have been compiled by Sir Percy Sykes, the then Secretary of the Royal Central Asian Society (as the Royal Society for Asian Affairs then was) as part of an investigation into the situation of the Assyrians. This article introduces the newly-discovered collection of documents and discusses how they advance our understanding of this period.     

DROUGHT: THE ACHILLES HEEL OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Approximately 97% of the country is experiencing drought conditions. Due to gross water mismanagement and its damaging impact on the country, Iran faces the worst situation in water resources of any industrialized nation. Tens of thousands of villages have been deserted and most of the major urban centers have passed their limits to absorb new rural migrants. Some officials predict that in less than 25 years, 50 million Iranians would be displaced from their current homes because of the pressing ecological conditions. This is happening at the time that the gap between the grassroots and the state has widened and there is increasing dissatisfaction with governance plagued by corruption, nepotism, economic mismanagement, unaccountability and a foreign policy which has produced various regional and trans-regional adversaries. This paper evaluates the pressing ecological challenges in Iran and by conceptualizing political resilience it critically evaluates whether the Islamic Republic is prepared to face the devastating ecological crisis and its socio-economic consequences.     

AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY: THE CALL OF THE FUTURE

African archaeology, both in theory and practice, suffers froma burdensome colonial experience. By gaining independence, thetemptation to fashion the past in terms of models of Europeannationalism must be countermanded by a serious considerationof the role and character of nation states in an open globalsociety. The emergence of divisive sectarian, ethnic or linguisticfactions requires new models of nation-building that can facilitatethe integration of diverse groups without the authoritarianhegemony of any ruling party. African archaeology should aimto provide examples of such forms of government in pre-Europeancontexts. Africa's archaeological and cultural heritage in the light ofthe current global economic disparities should not only contributeto a sense of pride and achievement, but must also become ameans to economic development and trans-cultural education.Archaeologists can provide policy-makers with models of alternativetourism, and may contribute to the revival of traditional crafts,as well as the use of archaeological know-how in locating waterresources, discovering sustainable modes of subsistence, andworkable models of social organization. None of these contributions,however, can be achieved at the current pitiful level of financialsupport. Local governments and international organizations areasked to contribute effectively to the capacity building ofAfrican archaeological institutions. The road to a better futurelies in reshaping our notions of our common past and our sharedhuman bonds. Africa is no longer the dark continent it was oncebelieved to be, but, by contrast, the continent where humanitysaw the dawn of its day. Africa has been and remains an integralelement in the fabric of humanity. The veil of its recent colonialexperience should be lifted to reveal the shining face of itsachievements in the art of living.