Hoes and hashtags: constructions of gender and race in trending topics

This paper examines the possibility of using Deleuze's work to analyse popular culture, noting that he himself had little or no time for the subject. The particular area of interest is nostalgia and popular music. What the paper sets outs to explain using a Deleuzian apparatus is why it is people want to listen to the same song over and over again. It suggests that one answer to this can be found in Deleuze's notion of the refrain.     

Book reviews

Gilles Deleuze and the Question of Philosophy PHILIP GOODCHILD London: Associated University Presses, 1996

Baudelaire and Schizoanalysis: The Sociopoetics of Modernism EUGENE HOLLAND Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993

Australian Television and International Mediascapes STUART CUNNINGHAM & ELIZABETH JACKA Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Sociolingwistics and Language History: Studies based on the Corpus of Early English Correspondence TERTTU NEVALAINEN & HELENA RAUMOLIN‐BRUNBERG (Eds) Language and Computers: Studies in Practical Linguistics No 15, Amsterdam/Atlanta., GA: Rodopi, 1996

Fear of the Dark. ‘Race’, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema LOLA YOUNG London and New York: Routledge, 1996

Deleuze: A Critical Reader PAUL PATTON (Ed.) Oxford: Blackwell, 1996

A Guattari Reader GARY GENOSKO (Ed.) Oxford: Blackwell, 1996

Counterworks. Managing the Diversity of Knowledge R. FARDON (Ed.) London: Routledge, 1995     

The politics of Mikhail M Bakhtin's Carni‐Phallic body

While many scholars attribute Barack Obama's success in the 2008 presidential election to his so-called deracialized campaign strategy, I argue that Obama constructed a persuasive message strategy that was fundamentally based on race. I argue that in pursuing what I call a racial distinction strategy, Obama mobilized race differently than previous Black candidates running in White-voter electoral majorities. Specifically, Obama's racial distinction strategy constructed a seamless racial narrative – deployed through constellations of subtle racial language and imagery – incorporating Obama's own personal biography within a broader narrative of the nation, specifically a narrative of American progress. The fact that Obama employed a racial distinction strategy, and the fact that he succeeded in doing so, sheds new light on, and leads us to reconsider the veracity of popular political theories such as post-Blackness, post-racialism and deracialization, along with the general ideology of colorblindness.     

Chinese interest in Nigeria's oil and the American context

Nigeria is an emerging strategic partner of China. This may at first glance appear to have some important implications for the United States, which has long seen Nigeria as a significant player in the region and has often cast Nigeria as an ally of some import on the continent. However, when examining Sino–Nigerian ties in the context of the United States, the hyperbole about China's role needs to be tamed. Washington, DC does not seem overly concerned by China's rising influence in the country. Though US ties with Abuja are robust, its economic interest in Nigeria is declining and is not threatened by Chinese activities.     

Understanding inclusive peace agreements in Africa: The problems of sharing power

Power sharing has increasingly been seen as a way out of otherwise intransigent conflicts in multi-ethnic African societies. Yet power sharing has obvious problems: power sharing agreements are difficult to arrive at, even more difficult to implement, and even when implemented, such agreements rarely stand the test of time. Indeed, there are relatively few historical examples of successful, formalised power sharing in Africa which would warrant its advocacy. Drawing primarily on the cases of Angola, Somalia, Ethiopia and Rwanda, this paper seeks to explain why a method of conflict resolution so appealing in theory fails so often in practice. The paper will outline general theoretical approaches to power sharing, examine the practical problems associated with its implementation, and suggest ideas for how some of these problems can be overcome.     

State,society and the African crisis

Rehabilitation after violent conflict is today relevant to many countries - especially but not only in SSA - and hopefully will become so for more. It is in generally too narrowly specified, too short term and too fragmented with no macro strategic or conceptual frame. Further it is usually based on quite inadequate knowledge of the history, priorities and dynamics of the afflicted country. Rehabilitation has-or should have-interacting economic (especially livelihood rebuilding), social (stress and perceived inequity reducing) and political (reconciliation and legitimacy restoration not least by rehabilitating basic service access including user friendly, personal security oriented civil police and magistrates courts system). In severely war impacted countries these are likely to be among the most economically efficient ways to regaining growth and restructured economic development as well as of rebuilding social and political reconcilliation and religitimisation.     

Public Support for Political Violence and Paramilitarism in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

Most of the research on paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland has concentrated on either the historical origins of paramilitary organizations or the background characteristics of individuals who engage in this activity. Less attention has been given to analyzing public attitudes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland toward the use of paramilitary violence as a political tool within this society. In this paper we argue that one of the reasons for the intractability of the conflict and the current impasse over the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons is the widespread latent support for paramilitary activity among the civilian population in both these societies. Overall, the results suggest that only a lengthy period without political violence in Northern Ireland will undermine support for paramilitarism and result in the decommissioning of weapons.     

Institutional Design and Corruption Prevention in Hong Kong

In recent years, the Hong Kong government has sought to supplement its highly successful, rule-based anti-corruption strategy with value-based elements which stress the importance of ensuring personal integrity and avoiding conflicts of interest. The introduction of these elements raises issues about the relationship between rules and values within public organizations seeking to enhance their integrity management systems. In the Hong Kong case, it is argued, the predominance of the rule-based system means that value issues, such as potential conflicts of interests, tend to be pushed up through the hierarchy for resolution at higher levels in the organization. In addition, the development of informal rules relating to value issues limits the extent to which public officials can exercise personal discretion. The article is based on a survey of Ethics Officers and Assistant Ethics Officers in the Hong Kong government in June 2010 and on follow-up interviews conducted between October and December 2010.     

Japan and its impact on South‐east Asia

J.E. Dreifort, Myopic Grandeur: The Ambivalence of French Foreign Policy in the Far East, 1919–45 (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1992). Pp.xiv + 334. £31.50. ISBN 0–87338–441–5.

R.J. Aldrich, The Key to the South: Britain, the United States, and Thailand during the Approach of the Pacific War, 1929–42 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1993). Pp.xxiii + 416. £25.00. ISBN 0–19–588612–7.

A. Gilchrist, Malaya, 1941: The Fall of a Fighting Empire (London: Robert Hale, 1992). Pp.185. Price unstated. ISBN 0–7090–4684–7.

P. Elphick and M. Smith, Odd Man Out: The Story of the Singapore Traitor (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993). Pp.xv + 265. £17.99. ISBN 0–340–58762–8.

P. Bates, Japan and the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, 1946–52 (London: Brassey's, 1993). Pp.xviii + 270. £29.95. ISBN 1–85753–000–4.