Shahs,Doctors, Diplomats and Missionaries in 19th Century Iran

By the mid-nineteenth century the impact of the West was felt in many walks of life in Persia, ranging from the intellectual, cultural, political, social to the economic sphere. In general it was the ideas and ideologies emanating from the West which finally affected every social institution and outlook on life. One of the fields affected was that of traditional medicine. The main agents of this impact were the European doctors of the Qajar Shahs and the nobility, the doctors assigned to diplomatic missions, medical members of Christian missions and the students who were sent abroad to study medicine and who returned to Iran to practice it. This paper will explore some aspects of the history of the introduction of Western medicine to Persia and simultaneously it will also examine the hypothesis that the role of the foreign powers and missionaries in introducing Western medicine into Persia was not entirely altruistic but related to non-medical objectives.     

Can these things be resolved?

This is a report of a presentation on 5th July 2006 by DavidTatham. It focuses on introducing the Uniform Domain Name DisputeResolution Policy (UDRP) and on the ADR procedure of the (then)newly launched .eu domain. The first part provides an excellentintroduction to lawyers     

The politics of misogyny: General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamization of Pakistan’s legal system

General Zia-ul-Haq’s ambitious Islamization program vis-à-vis gender status in an Islamic Republic remains embedded in the legal system to the detriment of Pakistan’s females. Passage of the Hudood Ordinances of 1979 was a harbinger of things to come as the military junta moved to implement laws perceived to be congruent with Shariah (Islamic) law. This article examines specific discriminatory legal measures, which ensured the reversal of the slow but significant gains made by females since Pakistan’s creation in 1947; and explores how certain draconian measures enacted by Zia’s regime served to mobilize some Pakistani women to political activism.