“Why not love our language and our culture?” National rights and citizenship in Khrushchev's Soviet Union

This paper highlights campaigns for national rights among two non-titular communities in the Soviet Union and places them in local historical contexts. Drawing on archival sources and oral history interviews, the author not only delves into the campaigns themselves, but also explores broader debates about the nature of Khrushchev's Thaw and Soviet citizenship, which was far from an empty concept in the Khrushchev era. Petitioners invoked discourses that indicate both an awareness of national rights and an expectation of the state's obligation to protect them. Oral history interviews with surviving petitioners and community members support the notion that petition language can serve as a reflection of how petitioners viewed their place in Soviet society and interpreted the Soviet citizen contract.     

Passing on the history of ‘comfort women’: the experiences of a women’s museum in Japan

This article explores the activities and experiences of a women’s peace museum in Japan which especially tries to pass on the history of Japan’s military sexual slavery, or the ‘comfort women’ issue. The system of Japan’s military sexual slavery had not been written as a part of history until courageous survivors testified and documentary evidence was unearthed in the 1990s. With few material exhibits of sexual violence, testimonies play a significant role in the exhibitions. Panels displaying the testimony of both survivors and former soldiers try to represent the person as a whole, situating sexual enslavement or crimes as part of their overall life, rather than extracting the harsh experience in an isolated way. The concrete and detailed activities of this privately run museum show the challenges faced by museums dealing with the dark history of their own country.     

Exit from agriculture: a step forward or a step backward for the rural poor?

World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development recommends that rural smallholders unable to compete in higher value production should exit agriculture. For the old and new landless, the way forward is wage labour in agriculture, in rural off farm work, or in urban areas. Disjunctively, the Report also proposes ‘farm-financed social welfare’ as a safety net when urban workers are ejected back to countryside at times of ‘urban shock’. My essay contrasts the Report's narrative about felicitous trajectories away from and back to the farm with the historical and contemporary experience of Asia's rural poor.     

The Importance of Blind Forensic Odontology Analyses

Forensic odontology cases examined from 2012 to 2019 at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) laboratory were reviewed. Five cases from World War II and the Korea War were selected. Three of the cases presented involve dental assemblages, which were built by previous analysts. Postmortem radiographic analyses at the DPAA laboratory of these cases were complicated by the use of an older version of a digital x-ray program and the assumption that teeth placed in the parent bone (maxilla and mandible) did not fully articulate due to the presence of debris at their root apices. Conflicting mitochondrial DNA test results for the submitted teeth and previously believed to be parent bone indicated these elements were not from the same individual. The remaining two cases are examples of how knowledge of findings from other disciplines may sway an opinion and could possibly lead to the rendering of erroneous opinions by the forensic odontologist. Having knowledge of previous examinations or results from other scientists, disciplines, and lines of evidence may lead to a bias in findings or opinions. If not careful, even the best-intended scientist may fall victim to a bias in their opinion/analysis. The forensic odontologist should perform all analysis in the blind, not knowing any information which may bias their opinion, and utilize current versions of digital x-ray software available and their tools when performing their examinations.     

Two post-war paths: popular violence in the Bohemian lands and in Austria in the aftermath of World War I

The study explores the phenomenon of popular violence in the first months and years after the end of World War I on the basis of a comparison between the Bohemian lands, forming the central part of the newly established Czechoslovakia, and Austria, as another successor state to the former Habsburg monarchy. Aside from the continuities, new forms of violence increasingly emerged in the first years after the end of the war, and also the “language” of violence was transformed. While in Czechoslovakia, the framework within which people were learning to understand the new world was shaped by the national and republican discourse oriented to the future, in Austria the collective identities and mentalities were being formed along the lines of particular party political blocks. In both cases, the nationalization and politicization of violence respectively contributed to the emergence of new forms of popular violence; but at the same time they could also be used for its de-escalation, necessary for the re-integration of society disrupted by the wartime experience. However, even if both countries went out from the war on different paths, the violence stayed part of their political culture and it could be mobilized again.     

Recalcitrant spoiler? Contesting dominant accounts of India’s role in global trade governance

India is frequently cast as a troublemaker and blamed for the breakdown of the Doha Round. This article provides a critical re-reading of India’s trade policy and its position in multilateral trade negotiations. It challenges the widespread characterisation of India as a recalcitrant spoiler, intent on derailing trade liberalisation at the WTO. It shows that with the emergence of its highly-competitive, export-oriented services sector, India became one of the leading advocates of global services trade liberalisation in the Doha Round. Yet, not unlike the traditional powers, India’s offensive trade interests are also combined with significant defensive concerns in agriculture.     

Congressional voting on funding the international financial institutions

The United States is the largest contributor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, providing resources in exchange for voting power in these international financial institutions (IFIs). While the Treasury Department manages the day-to-day aspects of US participation in these institutions, Congress retains authority on funding. With the aim of understanding the microincentives of US support for the IFIs, I analyze congressional voting on bills to fund the IFIs. I argue that members of congress are more likely to support a funding increase (1) the more “liberal” their ideology, (2) the larger the share of campaign contributions they get from banks that specialize in international lending, and (3) the larger the share of voters that gain from economic globalization that reside in their districts. Statistical analyses of voting on five IFI funding bills since 1977 provide support for these arguments.

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Amerikanische Außenpolitik im Zeichen des „Krieges gegen den Terror“

The review article systematizes the current academic debate on U. S. foreign policy after 9/11. The main focus lies on different explanations of the causes and consequences of the “war on terror”. Such a problem-oriented approach mirrors the heterogeneity of the debate which cannot adequately be captured by the conventional categories of IR research and foreign policy analysis. It is fair to say that the analysis of U. S. foreign policy as a case of empirical investigation profits from this disciplinary emancipation.     

Tourism in Society

This essay starts with a discussion of the scope of tourism as a major force in our contemporary global consumer culture. It also contains information on the development of tourism education in universities and problems students studying tourism often face in the workplace. The main function of the essay is to introduce the articles I have solicited from a number of tourism scholars, which reflect various disciplinary approaches to tourism. They deal with the following topics: sociological studies of tourism and modernism, questions about postmodernism and the role of authenticity in tourism, a historical perspective on the growth of the cruise industry, a case study investigating the role of advertising in tourism and an analysis of the functions of stereotypes in tourism. It is hoped that these essays will induce scholars not working in the area to consider investigating tourism in future research.

创新与超越:新地缘政治与国家安全

运用地理关系谋划国家安全是地缘政治的本来使命.以扩张、对抗和谋霸为核心的传统地缘政治存在逻辑缺陷,不能合理解释当代国际政治现实,也无法有效应对国家安全面临的新挑战.为此,需要创新并超越传统地缘政治思维,以新地缘政治观来重新审视和谋划国家安全.中国在此方面进行了有益的探索和尝试,新安全观与和谐世界理论的提出与实践,表明新地缘政治具有相当的发展空间和现实应用价值.