Radicalisation in the Philippines: The Cotabato Cell of the “East Asia Wilayah”

ABSTRACT

The backgrounds of seven suspects arrested in connection with a September 2016 bombing in Davao, Philippines provide clues to how extremist ideology and support for ISIS took root in a middle-class urban environment. The seven men, part of the coalition that eventually took over Marawi in 2017, were drawn in by the idea of a caliphate, propaganda videos that became discussion material for charismatic young religious scholars, and the pull of friends and family. They represented overlapping networks of neighbours, business partners, and students. Their interwoven journeys to violent extremism provide a glimpse into how ISIS managed to transcend traditional clan and regional loyalties in the Philippines, but much more research is needed among pro-ISIS detainees to understand the phenomenon and take measures to address it.     

Appeasement: Before and After Revisionism

Few of the enduring ‘lessons of history' have had greater staying power than the legacy of appeasement. Decision-makers have used the crises of the 1930s to eschew and condemn appeasement. However, historians have not been so single minded in their analyses or applications. An historiographical survey of ‘appeasement studies’ then posits that a linear projection from orthodoxy, to revisionism, to counter- or post-revisionism’ is not accurate. As to why recourse to the appeasement analogy is so prevalent is linked to the engagement, or lack thereof, between historians and public history and the decision-making process.     

Nucleotide variability of HV-I in admixed population of the Brazilian Amazon Region

The analysis of genetic variation in the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA has been used as a tool in the study of history of different human populations, as Amerindians, Afro-descendents populations and furthermore admixed populations. In this study, the mitochondrial DNA was analyzed in 158 unrelated individuals in an admixed population of the Amazonian Region: Santarém-PA-Brazil. The polymorphisms were detected using both levels, analysis of restriction enzyme and direct sequencing. We observed a total of 49 different haplotypes were found determined by 46 variable nucleotides. The more frequent haplotypes (Hap03) was shared by five samples and 43 sequences were unique. The genetic diversity was estimated to 0.989+/-0.0067 and the probability of two random individuals showed identical mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes were 2.8%.     

Outsiders Inside and Insiders Outside: Linking Transnational and Domestic Public Action for Human Rights

Human Rights Review - “Is the traditional divide between domestic and international politics breaking down?” and, if so, with what effects on transnational human rights activism? This...     

Between the Letter and the Spirit: International Statebuilding Subversion Tactics in Burundi

This article explores the appropriation dynamics of international statebuilding in Burundi, with a focus on the period from 2010 to 2015. If international statebuilding is most commonly presented (and debated) as practices leaning towards the achievement of a liberal democracy, this article argues that it can also be used towards undemocratic ends. The central claim is the following: the (most) recent authoritarian trend observed in Burundi’s main political force in government, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), did not only occur against international statebuilding but also through its appropriation and, more specifically, through self-reinforcing subversion tactics of appropriation. The article conceptualizes these tactics, examines the factors of emergence and conditions of existence, and presents the main expressions along three major editorial lines of international statebuilding: pluralist democracy, vibrant civil society and respect of the rule of law.     

THE ESTABLISHMENT CONCEPT IN STRIKE DISQUALIFICATIONS UNDER UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE LAWS

Of things that are called one in virtue of their own nature some are so called because they are continuous, e. g. a bundle is made one by a band, and pieces of wood are made one by glue; and a line, even if it is bent, is called one if it is continuous, as each part of the body is, e. g. the leg or the arm⃜ Those things are continuous by their own nature which are one not merely by contact; for if you put pieces of wood touching one another, you will not say these are one piece of wood or one body or one continuum of any other sort.