Religious Institutionalism: A Domestic Explanation for External Support of Rebel Groups

ABSTRACT

What motivates state support for rebel groups? The literature on state support for rebel groups has made critical developments. In particular, scholarship has shed light on the impact of religious identity links. Less work, however, examines the level of religious institutionalism in external states. I argue that the impact of religious links is conditional on the extent to which religion is institutionalized in the external state. Religiously institutionalized states allow domestic religious forces more space in the political arena, which increases pressure on state leaders to support co-religious rebel groups. Using statistical analysis, I find that the interaction of religious institutionalism and religious links affects the likelihood of support. When an external state and rebel group have religious links, and the external state has a high level of religious institutionalism, the likelihood of support is high. In contrast, without a high level of religious institutionalism in the external state, religious links do not increase the likelihood of support. The relationship is driven by cases where the external and target states do not share a religion. This article contributes to existing literature by moving beyond transnational religious links and focuses on how religious institutionalism increases domestic pressure to support co-religious rebel groups.     

From Ahogado to Zorrillo: external causes of mortality in the California missions

The history of grandparents is too often founded on a demographic prejudice, that is, the very low statistical possibility of children having known their grandparents before the rise in life expectancy in the twentieth century. On the basis of a sample of several thousand children bom in the region of Vernon (Normandy) at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the article contests this idea and shows that newborns knew about half of their grandparents, with a slight advantage on the grandmothers' side. Inequalities were present between elder and younger siblings, but the latter also profited from the presence of their forbears. Consequently, the study of the different functions served by grandparents in the traditional family should be pursued, and questions should be raised about the contemporary concept of “new grandparents” by separating it from the demographic assumption on which it is based.     

The regional outcome of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement five years down the road: Are external forces playing a progressive role?

ABSTRACT

The Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 2005 is the outcome of regional and international mediation led by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)1 and the IGAD Partners’ Forum broadened to include the United States of America, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy and the United Nations. Five years into its implementation the peace agreement appears to have transformed the war between North and South Sudan into a series of engagements of conflicting nature. Numerous contradictory actions by both the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP) (the main political forces behind the CPA) have been noted during the ongoing implementation process (Grawert forthcoming 2010; Grawert and El-Battahani 2005; Wassara 2008). Although internal Sudanese forces are the key actors in implementing the CPA, external forces are critical in providing the support and pressure needed for a complete realisation of the peace deal. The New Regionalism Approach (NRA), as advanced by Grant and Soderbäum (2003), is instrumental in understanding this dynamic. This article is based on the result of a study that seeks to examine why positive engagements of external forces are needed for a timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.     

War and Democratization: Legality,Legitimacy and Effectiveness

Promotion of democracy in post-war and post-conflict societies became a hot topic during the 1990s. External actors linked their peace-building efforts to the promotion of democracy. Four modes of promotion of democracy by external actors can be distinguished: first, enforcing democratization by enduring post-war occupation (mode 1); second, restoring an elected government by military intervention (mode 2); third, intervening in on-going massacres and civil war with military forces (‘humanitarian intervention’) and thereby curbing the national sovereignty of those countries (mode 3); and fourth, forcing democracy on rogue states by ‘democratic intervention’, in other words, democracy through war (mode 4). In this special issue we consider the legality, legitimacy, and effectiveness of the four modes where the international community of states not only felt impelled to engage in military humanitarian or peace-building missions but also in long-term state- and democracy-building. All cases analysed here suggest that embedding democratization in post-war and post-conflict societies entails a comprehensive agenda of political, social, and economic methods of peace-building. If external actors withdraw before the roots of democracy are deep enough and before democratic institutions are strong enough to stand alone, then the entire endeavour may fail.     

论债之对外效力的表现

债之效力区分为对内效力与对外效力。对外效力是对债之关系当事人之外的第三人所产生的效力。一般情况下债权仅在当事人之间发生拘束力,但为了保障债权的实现,在特殊情况下法律对合同相对性予以突破。债的对外效力的表现主要包括:债权的保全,债权的物权化,第三人侵害债权,涉他合同。     

孔子的政治伦理思想浅探

孔子的政治伦理思想,在内圣层面,要求为政者加强以“仁”、“礼”为核心的道德修养;在外王层面,孔子主张通过恢复和重建尊卑有序的西周政治层级,选拔德才兼备的人才,教化民众,以实现一种纯以道德礼教调整人与人之间关系的理想社会。     

贺氏火针温通法治疗肱骨外上髁炎临床观察

目的 观察贺氏火针温通法对肱骨外上髁炎的疗效。方法 收集2014年1月至2014年12月首都医科大学附属北京中医医院针灸科肱骨外上髁炎患者60例,按就诊顺序将患者分为治疗组和对照组,每组30例。对照组每日毫针刺肘髎、曲池、手三里、合谷穴,治疗组加用贺氏火针隔日点刺阿是穴,两组均连续治疗10 d。以疼痛视觉模拟量表（visual analogue scale,VAS）、Mayo肘关节功能评分表（mayo elbow performance score,MEPS）为观察指标,判定临床疗效。结果 与治疗前比较,治疗后两组VAS评分均显著降低（P<0.05）,MEPS评分均显著升高（P<0.05）,治疗组VAS评分降低值和MEPS评分升高值均显著大于对照组（P<0.05）。结论 贺氏火针温通法可有效缓解肱骨外上髁炎的疼痛程度,改善肘关节功能。     

中小企业外部股权融资难的原因分析

目前,我国中小企业外部股权融资还面临着诸多困难。构建制度环境是缓解中小企业外部股权融资困境的主要途径。     

Normative transformations in EU external relations: the phenomenon of ‘soft’ international agreements

Abstract

The European Union increasingly uses ‘soft’ international arrangements rather than formal international agreements in establishing relations with non-EU states. This contribution aims to raise the question of to what extent a move from hard to soft law in relations between the EU and its partners can be seen as allowing the Union to ‘step outside’ the legal framework (if that indeed is what is happening) and disregard the rules and principles that define the way in which EU external relations are to take shape. Possible consequences include the risk that these instruments are not subject to appropriate safeguards, that parliamentary influence (by the European Parliament as well as by national parliaments) is by-passed and that transparency is affected. There are various reasons for the EU not to use formal procedures, but a turn to informality does come at a price.     

文化安全视阈中汉字安全的潜在危机

中国文化安全中的重要要素是汉字安全。汉字安全是指:汉字系统这项中华民族文化的重要载体处于没有危险的,即既没有外部的威胁又没有内部的混乱和疾患的客观状态;在中国国家文化中不失去其主导地位;保持合理的纯洁性;不给人民带来不便和害处;中国人使用汉字的权利不受外部强权的威胁和侵害。目前,汉字在中国媒体以及社会生活各领域中的应用方面存有潜在危机,人们对汉字安全问题的认识存有误区,不重视汉字应用的合理性、纯洁性和规范性,出现了汉字系统的混乱和疾患,给人民生活带来了一定程度的不便和害处,汉字安全的危机由此萌生。中国大众传媒过度使用英文字母缩略词对汉字安全构成外源性的冲击。海峡两岸以及港澳地区汉字字形不统一、中国人书写汉字能力下降以及不雅汉字的滥用,形成对汉字安全的内源性冲击。正视汉字安全的潜在危机,积极应对,维护祖国汉字体系的安全、完整和稳定,对于落实总体国家安全观,保持对自身文化的自信、耐力和定力,提升文化软实力,都具有极其重要的意义。