Communal conflict,NGO s,and the power of religious symbols 1

This article describes the activities of an indigenous NGO in Ahmedabad, India in attempting to prevent communal violence. It attempts toexplain why the use ofreligious symbols seems to be particularly potent in causing slum riots. Finally, it discusses various lessons learned for international and indigenous NGOs which are attempting to counteract communal violence.     

What is Ideology? Theoretical Problems and Lessons from Soviet-Type Societies

The article contrasts two approaches to ideology which view it, respectively, as a belief system and as a form of discourse, and argues for the second. Viewing ideology as a belief system involves unwarranted assumptions about the uniformity of convictions among the adherents of an ideology and reduces its causal power to its contingent capacity to condition beliefs. Viewing ideology as a discourse enables a more adequate account of the diversity of beliefs among members of an ideological movement and also locates its causal power at the level of social conventions rather than individual psychology. The power of ideology is based on respect, not faith. This theoretical discussion is linked with the case of Soviet-type societies, serving as the basis for a reinterpretation of ideology's role in the maintenance and more recent decline of these political systems.     

Kids,guns, and killing fields

He has written widely on problems of firearms and gun control, including two books. His is currently researching the effect of poverty on the urban underclass, alcohol and drug treatment programs for the homeless, and health and other social problems of street children in Latin America.     

Sovereign immunity and international organization: The case of DeLuca v. the United Nations

Conclusion DeLuca v. the United Nations has brought many unanswered questions to the American and international public regarding the immunity of the United Nations and the consequences such a policy has had on that organization over the last fifty years. By diplomatic tradition, immunity has been very important to the United Nations in maintaining its freedom of action, as called for in Articles 104 and 105 of the United Nations Charter. Through immunity, the United Nations has escaped the fate of the former League of Nations and has become an organization which has contributed tremendously to the solving of the world's many political, economic and social problems.Yet, immunity has also cloaked and protected the United Nations from its own internal administrative weaknesses and abuses. Accountability has become harder to obtain from the UN bureaucracy due to this immunity. Simultaneously, for the American legal system, immunity has become somewhat analogous to the previous difficulties of piercing the corporate veil, namely attempting to redress the wrongs by preserving the legal rights of individuals through the effective use of the judicial system.Should the world continue to grant immunity to actions which can be classified as suspect or being with improper motive or bad faith by the United Nations or any other international organization? Will the United Nations ultimately be above the law? Only future actions by the UN General Assembly, national legislatures such as the United States Congress or cases likeDeLuca v. the United Nations will determine the final answer.     

Book reviews

Central Asia and Transcaucasia: Ethnicity and Conflict Vitaly V. Naumkin (editor) Westport, CT.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994, 239 pp, $60.00

Turks and Greeks: Neighbours in Conflict Vamik Volkan and Norman Itzkowitz Huntingdon, Cambs: Eothen Press, 233 pp, biblio, ISBN 0906719 25 9 £24.95 hardback; ISBN 0906719 30 5 £12.50 paperback

Moguls and Mandarins: Oil, Imperialism and the Middle East in British Foreign Policy, 1900–1940 Marian Kent Frank Cass Publishers, 1994, viii‐169, pp bibliography, index, $70.00

Central Asia: Its Strategic Importance and Future Prospects Hafeez Malik (editor) London: Macmillan Press, 1994, 337 pp, £47.50

Religion, State and Politics in the Soviet Union and Successor States John Anderson Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 236 pp, index, biblio., hardback £35/$54.95, paperback £14.95/$18.95

China Considers the Middle East Lillian Craig Harris London: I. B. Tauris, 1993, 345 pp, £34.50

Splendours of the Bosphorus: Houses and Palaces of Istanbul Chris Hellier London: Taurus Parke, 1993, 228 pp, index, £35

The Remaking of Istanbul Zeynep Celik Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, 183 pp, paperback

Afghan Embroidery Bernard Dupaigne, Françoise Cousin and Roland Pavia Paris: Fondation de France, Musee de l'Homme and UNHCR, 1993, 136 pp, illus.