The dual myths of ‘narco‐terrorism’: How myths drive policy

When held up to the reality and complexity of the relationships between drug traffickers and insurgents, the concept of ‘narco‐terrorism’ falls short of serving as a useful explanatory device. Properly analyzed, ‘narco‐terrorism’ emerges as a political myth based on a stereotypic view of the Andean drug trade, peasant insurgency and the relationships between them. The myth of ‘narco‐terrorism’ coincided with the Latin American policy interests of the Reagan and the Bush administrations. Ironically, the myth's transparency served the policy interests of the opponents of these administrations, who used it to further their own politicized agendas ‐ creating yet another myth. This research traces the evolution and politicization of this concept and shows how it has hindered both scholarship and policy making. The research confirms, in part, earlier work of Australian criminologist Grant Wardlaw and American expert on the Andean drug trade, Rensselaer Lee.     

Getting CIA History Right: The Informal Partnership Between Agency Historians and Outside Scholars

The common task of all historians is to endeavour to present history as accurately and objectively as possible despite gaps in the record or a paucity of evidence. Intelligence historians face particular challenges in making sense of what too often is history deliberately shrouded. Staff historians of the Central Intelligence Agency operate mostly in the secret world and yet rely on the fine work of ‘outside’ historians. There is in effect a largely unstated, certainly informal, but absolutely crucial partnership between CIA historians on the ‘inside’ and dedicated scholars on the ‘outside’. It is not too much to say, in fact, that accurate and objective history about the CIA is possible only through this informal partnership.     

Introduction

The aim of this collection is to analyse the nature of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to consider its future. Given that regional integration is not simply an outcome but a complex and multidimensional process, the prognostic assessments of ASEAN made in this volume are drawn up from examinations of the Association??s historical background, economic interplays, political culture, diplomatic norms, institutional governance, and geopolitical surroundings. Reflecting on the conception and shifting dynamics of ASEAN, the essays expound major pressure points on the Association??s ambitious agenda for building ??one community?? with ??one vision?? and ??one identity?? among its members, and for staying in the ??driver??s seat?? of all regional initiatives in the wider East Asia.     

Coalitions: Beyond the Politics of Centrality?

This article examines the character of oppositional movements in the GDR in the light of post‐Wende revelations of Stasi infiltration. We look at responses by members of the alternative culture to accusations that their work during the GDR was rendered ineffective by the Stasi and is consequently of little importance to a historical reappraisal of the GDR. Whilst they were clearly aware of the Stasi, whose influence did have an effect, our evidence suggests that this influence was not total. Current debates about the Stasi are creating an unbalanced view of the actual situation in the GDR before 1989 in that the Stasi is being portrayed as an organisation of almost Orwellian Big Brother proportions. Our article attempts to deconstruct this paradigm and argues that the complicity of the few with the MfS should not invalidate the activities of the majority of those involved in the alternative culture.     

Inventing Egypt for the Emerging British Travel Class: Amelia Edwards' A Thousand Miles up the Nile

In 1877, the Victorian-era writer Amelia Edwards published a travelogue of her first excursion to Egypt. By placing her work within the context of British–Egyptian relations during the late nineteenth century, this article argues that works like hers created a romantic notion of ancient Egypt for the English middle class, and helped spawn English tourism to Egypt. Travel to Egypt encouraged popular support for Egyptology that ultimately helped the field to develop into a celebrated discipline. A variety of unpublished, archival material from the British National Archives and a collection of Amelia Edwards' private papers support these conclusions.     

Selling Hitler: propaganda and the Nazi brand

In this article we argue that Nazism functioned as a brand, and that this is key to our understanding of the extraordinary success of the Hitler regime in galvanising German public opinion. Nazis understood and manipulated the power of the brand, creating what amounts to a parallel universe of imagery and symbolism. The integuments of this brand strategy were the idea of Hitler himself and his projection, the stress on solidarity, the proclamation of a modernist Utopia with ancient accents, and the construction of an existential threat to the German way of life. But underpinning these were the deployment of what have become classic marketing concepts, such as targeting and segmentation, and a perceptive comprehension of the idea of packaging. Beyond this the regime was anchored in a kind of banality of ordinariness, it looked, at many levels, like a normal Western society and this element was made more credible by the promotion of a vigorous consumer culture. In many ways the Nazis were ahead of their time, masters of such political marketing arts as spin and rapid rebuttal. The fact that all this was done in the service of the most monstrous empire that was ever created, whose lasting legacy to the human race was its unique pictography of genocide, must alert us to the more sinister ends to which political marketing can be perverted. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The phenomenology of sharing: social media networking,asserting, and telling

This article takes up the current promise of computer‐aided social networks as mechanisms for sharing in experiences. The author examines social networks phenomenologically, not merely as a tool for providing information and shaping what we think but as a social construct for what can be shared, how we think, and what can be known. The analysis identifies a connection between social networks and artificial intelligence systems, while also suggesting that significant experiential gaps built into the systems can lead to distortions in the ontology of shared experiences. The author argues, by applying concepts from Kant, Arendt, Schutz, and Heidegger, that computerized social networks offer an unparalleled opportunity for public administrators to discover and learn about social conditions, but these networks are not without significant limitations. An appreciation for the limits to sharing implicit in computerized social networks and artificial intelligence systems can be made explicit by applying concepts from phenomenology. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The nature of economic perceptions in mass publics

Voters who believe that the nation's economy has been worsening are more inclined to vote against the incumbent president than are those who believe it has not been getting worse. This relationship could be present because voters condition their support for the incumbents upon their perceptions of the economy, or, alternatively, because they condition their perceptions of the economy upon their underlying, partisan-based support of the incumbents.