The erosion of women's rights and the political economy of customary law in Zimbabwe

Government has squandered much of the goodwill shown to the new South Africa by making ill‐considered foreign policy blunders and backing dubious agendas and political leaders.     

Local plant use and traditional conservation practices in Nhema communal area,Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article is based on a study that was carried out in Nhema communal area in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, with the main objective of documenting local plant use and traditional conservation practices. Data collected through household semi-structured and open interviews showed that 46 plant species in 40 genera and 24 families were mainly used for firewood, construction wood, food and traditional medicine. Other minor uses included using plant species for making mats, rope and shading. Firewood and construction wood ranked as the most important tree products used. The preferred plant species included: Julbernardia globiflora (Mutondo); Brachystegia spiciformis (Musasa); Terminalia sericea (Mususu); Brachystegia boehmii (Mupfuti); Combretum imberbe (Mutsviri); Combretum molle (Mubondo) and Burkea africana (Mukarati). Some of the highly preferred species, considered to be declining in the local environment, included Adenium obesum (Chisvosve); Azanza garckeana (Mutohwe); Brachystegia boehmii (Mupfuti); Brachystegia spiciformis (Musasa); Burkea africana (Mukarati); Combretum imberbe (Mutsviri); Combretum molle (Mubondo); Dalbergia melanoxylon (Mukonashanhu); Diospyros mespiliformis (Musuma); Elephantorrhiza goetzei (Ntorani); Julbernardia globiflora (Mutondo); Phragmites australis (Shanga; Poulzozia hypoleuca (Munanzwa); Pterocarpus angolensis (Mubvamaropa); Terminalia sericea (Mususu) and Uapaca kirkiana (Muzhanje). Highly preferred and declining species were characteristically large trees and shrubs. Local people are aware of the need to conserve plant resources in order to protect the environment and avoid the extinction of these rare species.Traditional conservation practices have substantially contributed to the conservation of plant species in Nhema communal area. The protection of indigenous timber, fruit trees, trees with social and cultural significance, the use of deadwood for firewood, the use of eucalyptus trees as construction wood and the occurrence of sacred woodland areas represented some of the traditional conservation techniques employed in Nhema communal area. These local practices demonstrate the dynamism and significance of African indigenous knowledge systems.     

The Hadhramaut and its past

Sir Aurel Stein: Archaeological Explorer. By Jeannette Mirsky. Chicago and London, Chicago University Press, 1977. Pp. 547. Maps. Illus. Bibliog. Notes. Index. $17.50.     

柬埔寨王位继承问题及其影响

2004年10月6日柬埔寨国王西哈努克宣布退位.10月14日,诺罗敦·西哈莫尼王子被推举为新国王.王位的顺利移交,为柬埔寨国内政局的持续稳定创造了条件,也使君主立宪政体得以继续维持.     

Singapore's cultural policy and its consequences

Abstract

This article explores the effects of Singapore's Global City for the Arts project on the local theater industry. It begins by describing the character of the Singapore state and its ability to meet the challenges of globalization. It then shows that while historically global in orientation, the city-state's early cultural policies were resolutely local and insular prior to the economic recession in 1985. From that year on, local arts and culture was driven by an economic rationale — eventually culminating in the birth of a globally oriented national cultural policy: the Global City for the Arts project. The author contends that the Global City for the Arts project has pressured the Singapore state into shedding some of its authoritarian practices in order to conform to international norms. However, the author also illustrates how certain theater companies with the requisite cultural capital for the Global City for the Arts project have benefited from the country's cultural policies while others that do not possess such cultural capital are marginalized. The article concludes by arguing that the Singapore state, in going global, exacerbates the economic disparity by accentuating preexisting inequalities and divisions in the local.     

Azerbaijan and its foreign policy dilemma

Nazrin Mehdiyeva is a PhD research student in International Relations in St Antony's College, Oxford.     

Neopopulism and its limits in Collor's Brazil

The election of Fernando Collor de Mello as President of Brazil in 1989 was regarded as part of a new wave of neopopulist leaders in contemporary Latin America. The article explores the conditions of emergence of Collor's neopopulist project, the nature of his appeal and the causes of his downfall. The article argues that the emergence of Collor's neopopulist challenge was the result of a crisis of representation in Brazil's edging democratic order. The article concludes that Collor's demise from power in 1992 had to do with the precarious nature of his appeal and his failure to ground his project in a new set of political institutions.     

他信政府的危机及其启示

今年年初以来,泰国政坛发生了一场政治危机。本文首先回顾了此次泰国他信政府政治危机的由来与发展过程,然后分析为什么颇有作为和成就的他信政府会面临一场自1992年以来大规模的反政府示威活动,最后作者试图从这场危机中找出一些令人深思的教益。     

Changing Japan and its ties with Australia

In his assessment of Japan‐Australia relations, Former Ambassador to Australia and IIPS President Yoshio Okawara emphasizes that both countries have vital roles to play in the Asia‐Pacific cooperation process. While Australia was instrumental in APEC's 1989 launch, now Japan must give momentum to its development at the upcoming Osaka APEC meeting. President Okawara originally gave this speech at the Japan‐Australia Relations Symposium in Canberra shortly before the 50th anniversary of WWH's end. In addition to his term in Australia, President Okawara has served as Ambassador to the United States and is currently Executive Advisor to Keidanren.     

Purpose in Turkish politics and its outcome

(Dr. Mübeccel Kiray, Ere?li. A?ir Sanayiden önce Bir Sahil Kasabasi [Ere?li. A coastal market town before the advent of heavy industry], Ankara, 1964, pp. 146, 184).

(Nuri Eren, Turkey Today and Tomorrow. An Experiment in Westernisation, London 1963, p. 1).