Zapiro and Zuma: A symptom of an emerging constitutional crisis in South Africa?

In September 2009 The Sunday Times (South Africa) published a controversial cartoon depicting Jacob Zuma preparing to rape the figure of Lady Justice. This image precipitated a barrage of complaint and criticism surrounding issues of race, gender violence and freedom of speech. The cartoon represents a critical geopolitical moment through which to analyse the entrenchment of democracy in South Africa. I argue that careful analysis of the image and the responses generated provides insights into a series of constitutional challenges in South Africa and provides an entry point for those researching and teaching about political geographies outside of the traditional ‘core’ of the discipline. Problems with colonial legacies and the strategic depoliticisation of race are highlighted as key concerns for post-apartheid nation-building. Opposition to the cartoonist's freedom to criticise political leaders highlights the continued deployment of race in political ways while reminding us of the transitional challenges facing the state and the African National Congress party. The cartoon also provides a moment to address threats to the independence of the judiciary from political bodies through inflammatory and intimidatory rhetoric and protest. Questions over gender equality and security are highlighted through the rape motif of the image and responses to the cartoon. It is argued that the challenges made visible through this cartoon are critical to the consolidation of democracy in South Africa. The potential for political cartoons to be used by political geographers to engage with issues beyond the discipline's geographic ‘core’ is also stressed.     

Negara Ubud: The Theatre‐state in Twenty‐first‐century Bali

In his book Negara: The Theatre‐state in Nineteenth‐century Bali (1980), Clifford Geertz argued that ceremonial display, rather than material power, was the real basis and indeed the purpose of pre‐colonial states in Bali, and by extension South East Asia. This article argues, on the basis of historical and ethnographic evidence from one of these kingdoms, that he was largely wrong about pre‐colonial Bali, but that, ironically and presciently, his model makes increasing sense in early twenty‐first century Bali. The article also discusses the reasons for this and finally suggests a more dynamic model based on Bourdieu’s metaphor of material and symbolic capital, which seeks to bring Geertz’s essentially static model to historical life.     

The first nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula, 1975–76

This article discusses how and why South Korea tried to develop its own nuclear programme in order to safeguard its national security after the US withdrawal from Southeast Asia in 1975 and 1976. Because Washington did not want nuclear proliferation in East Asia, the South Korean leadership decided to use its fledgling nuclear programme as a trump card in negotiations with the US. This article will demonstrate the process in which the client states of the US came to understand how to negotiate with Washington in order to further their own national interests in the Cold War era.     

The Cape‐to‐Cairo railway

Among the Berbers of Algeria. By Anthony Wilkin. London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1900. Pp. xiv + 263. Price 16s.

The Siege of Kumassi. By Lady Hodgson. New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1901. Price 21s.

Hints to Travellers : Scientific and General. Edited for the Council of the Royal Geographical Society. By John Coles, F.R.G.S., F.E.A.S. Eighth Edition. London : The Royal Geographical Society, 1901. 2 vols.' Price 15s. net.

The Indian Borderland, 1880–1900. By Colonel Sir T. Hungerford Holdich, K.C.I.E., etc. With twenty‐two illustrations and a map. London: Methuen and Co., 1901. Pp. xii + 402. Price 15s. net.

Un Séjour dan l'Ile de Ceylan. Per Jules Leclercq. Paris : Plon‐Nourrit et Cie., 1900. Pp. xii + 293.

The Statesman's Year‐Book Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1901. Edited by J. Scott Keltie, LL.D., with the assistance of I. P. A. Eenwick, M.A., LL.B. Thirty‐eighth Annual Publication. London : Macmillan and Co., 1901. Pp. 1320. Price 10s. 6d.

The Civilisation of the East. By Dr. Fritz Hommel. (“The Temple Primers.”) London: J. M. Dent and Co., 1900. Pp. xii + 140.

Ethnology. By Dr. Michael Hoberlandt. Translated by J. H. Loewe. (“The Temple Primers.”) London : J. M. Dent and Co., 1900. Pp. viii + 169.

Chinese Pictures. Notes on Photographs made in China. By Mrs. J. F. Bishop, F.R.G.S. London : Cassell and Co. Price 3s. 6d.

A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages. By Stanley Lane‐Poole. London : Methuen and Co., 1901. Pp. 382. Price 6s.

The Story of the War in South Africa, 1899–1900. By Captain A. T. Mahan, U.S.N. With Map and Portrait of the Author. London : Sampson Low, Marston, and Company, 1900. Pp. vi + 322, including Index. Price 10s. 6d.     

Recognise what? The limitations of settler colonial constitutional reform

In settler colonial societies such as Australia, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have turned to constitutional reform as a means of addressing historical exclusions and colonial injustice. In practice, however, the promise of constitutionalism has revealed clear limits. This article explores these limits in the context of the current Australian campaign for the constitutional ‘recognition’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, where the loudest dissenting voices have come from Indigenous people themselves. In light of this, this article proposes a more agonistic engagement of diverse and dissenting opinions, with a view to opening up a more radical, decolonising space for constitutional politics.     

The prefects and party‐state relations in Fascist Italy

Abstract

This is a study of the prefects, the arm of central government in the provinces, under the Fascist regime. Using the author's own survey of those appointed prefects after the decision to establish the ‘totalitarian’ state, it considers the phenomenon of the ‘Fascist prefects’ in relation to the progress of career officials, methods of recruitment and the prevailing bureaucratic culture, in order to assess the extent of the ‘Fascistization’ of the Interior Ministry. It then looks at how both career and ‘Fascist prefects’ actually operated on the ground and their relations with the Fascist Party in the provinces. The article concludes, on the evidence of continuing party‐state conflict throughout the 1930s, that there was a ‘totalitarian’ regime in the making.