ASEAN as a “Rules-based Community”: Business as Usual

Abstract

In establishing the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN political elites emphasised their commitment to the rule of law. The definition of the rule of law adopted in the ASEAN Charter mirrored UN reforms that recognised the rule of law as interlinked with democracy and human rights. This commitment raises questions, given the various tactics employed by the grouping’s authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes to silence dissent. This article critically assesses this apparent shift in regional governance. It first maps the inclusion of rule of law rhetoric in agreements since ASEAN’s foundation, and then examines the form and implementation of dispute settlement mechanisms. It finds that dispute settlement mechanisms have consistently retained the scope for protracted political and bureaucratic negotiation between disputing parties, and “opt out” clauses that enable their contingent application. These findings undermine claims regarding the development of a “rules-based community”, and indicate the continuation of rule by law rather than rule of law. The emphasis placed on ASEAN’s rule of law reforms by elites suggests, then, the rebranding of this political project in support of the ASEAN Economic Community so as to create confidence for investors in the region’s juridical environment.     

Zhaba as We Know Him

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Auctoritas as sanctitas: Balthild's depiction as ‘queen-saint’ in the Vita Balthildis

This paper assesses the representation of Queen Balthild of Neustrian Francia in her seventh-century Vita as a new kind of saintly figure, a ‘queen-saint’ rather than as a traditional saint-queen. Balthild made herself unpopular among certain factions of the Frankish nobility during her son's minority by interfering in Church matters. In particular, she compelled bishops to grant episcopal exemptions to monasteries and promoted her own, unpopular, candidates to Neustrian dioceses, leading to her identification as a ‘modern-day Jezebel’ by her enemies, and her banishment to the monastic community at Chelles. Modern scholarship on Balthild, led by Lynda Coon, has assumed that Balthild's biographer was keen to erase from popular memory her actions as queen, actions which could be interpreted as inappropriate behaviour for a saint, and that the Life reflects this by emphasising Balthild's more stereotypical saintly behaviour as a nun once she had retired to Chelles. However, it will be argued that, rather than underlining her humility, the author of the Vita Balthildis was in fact keen to show that her interference in Church matters should be seen as contributing to her identification as a saint, by stressing that her autonomous and authoritative use of her power was actually a positive attribute.     

“Religious Violence as Modern Myth”

Abstract

In this essay the author summarizes the argument of his book entitled The Myth of Religious Violence, whose main contention is that there is no reason to suppose that people are more likely to kill for a god than for a whole other host of “secular” ideologies and practices that behave in the way that “religions” do. The author then goes on to respond to various critiques that have been made of the book since its appearance in 2009.     

Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale as Anti-Märchen

The Threshold of Religion. By R. R. Ma rett. Methuen, 1909. Cr. 8vo, Pp. 194. By F. B. Jevons.

Psyche's Task, a Discourse concerning the Influence of Superstition on the Growth of Institutions. By Professor J. G. Frazer, LL.D., Litt.D. Macmillan, 1909. 8vo, Pp. viii + 84. By W. Crooke.

Gaelic Fairy Tales. Edited By Winifred M. Parks. Glasgow: Sinclair, 1908. 8vo, pp. 48. Illus. By Eleanor Hull.

A Biblioographv of Congo Languages. By Frederick Starr. University of Chicago Press, 1908. 4to, pp. 97. By A. E. Scrivener.

Mittellungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten : Ergänzungsheft No. I. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse meiner ethnographischen Forschungsreise in den Südosten Deutsch -Ostafrikas. Von Dr. Karl Weule. Berlin : Mittler, 1908. Pp. x + 150. 63 plates and map. By N. W. Thomas.

The Nandi : their Language and Folklore. By A. C. Hollis. With Introduction By Sir Charles Eliot. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909. 8vo, pp. xl + 328. By A. Werner.

Folk -Tales of Hindustan. By Shaikh Chilli. Allahabad: Indian Press, 1908. By M. Longworth Dames.

Ancient Tales and Folk - Lore of Japan. By Richard Gordon Smith. A. &; C. Black, 1908, 410, pp. xv + 361. 62 col. illus. By A. R. Wright.

The Fijians. A Study of the Decay of Custom. By Basil Thomson. Heinemann, 1908. 8vo, pp. xx + 396. By W. H. R. Rivers.

The Origin of Terms of Human Relationship. By A. Lang. From the Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. iii. Froude, 1909. pp. 20. By W. Crooke.     

Sex‐determination as a multivariate problem

The length, breadth, and thickness of the pubis bone of reindeer are used in the estimation of discriminant functions for sex‐determination of relatively recent bone material from Hardangervidda reindeer population. The method is considered to be most reliable (theoretically, 98 % reliable).     

Seamus Heaney and the “place of writing”: technique as evidence of redress as a construct

This article re-examines the significance of redress for Seamus Heaney’s poetry and prose by illustrating that redress is a deeply considered intellectual construct which incites, facilitates and renews creativity throughout Heaney’s career. Redress neither constitutes a project of self-fashioning nor indicates uncertainty in terms of equivocation. Rather, it suggests Heaney’s characteristic uncertainty of how to create a space for himself from and within which to write. In his early work in particular, his contemplation of redress is indicated by his ritual recourse to spatial metaphor. Having arrived at the “place of writing”, the process of unwriting is immediately initiated and the space deconstructed. It is this deconstruction of the created place and the unwriting of what has been written which, in Heaney’s words, “makes the renewal of artistic effort contemplatable”. And it is that contemplation which functions as an impetus for poetry. This article therefore explores Heaney’s diction, rhetorical strategies and ritual performance of redress.     

Multiculturalism as a New Form of Nationalism?

What is often described today as neo‐nationalism or nationalist populism today arguably looks like the old nationalism. What is emerging as genuinely new are the identity‐based nationalisms of the centre left, sometimes called “liberal nationalism” or “progressive patriotism.” I offer my own contribution to the latter, which may be called “multicultural nationalism.” I argue that multiculturalism is a mode of integration that does not just emphasise the centrality of minority group identities but argues that integration is incomplete without remaking national identity so that all can have a sense of belonging to it. This multiculturalist approach to national belonging has some relation to liberal nationalism. It, however, makes not just individual rights but minority accommodation a feature of acceptable nationalism. Moreover, accommodation here particularly includes ethno‐religious groups in ways that are difficult for radical regimes of secularism. For these reasons, multicultural nationalism unites the concerns of some of those currently sympathetic to majoritarian nationalism and those who are prodiversity and minority accommodationist in the way that liberal nationalism (with its emphasis on individualism and majoritarianism) does not. It therefore represents the political idea and tendency most likely to offer a feasible alternative rallying point to monocultural nationalism.     

‘The Pacific Way’ as Postcolonial Discourse

In 2005, an entry entitled ‘Pacific Way’ appeared in a collection of essays on postcolonial thought. While this seems unremarkable, it invites questions concerning both the Pacific Way idea and the nature of postcolonial critique. This article is especially concerned to examine the specific circumstances in which the term was initially articulated and the precise meaning with which it was imbued. Although the Pacific Way acquired some ‘postcolonial’ characteristics in subsequent years, it was evidently anything but in its original formulation. Rather, it was a conservative discourse embracing notions of class hierarchy common to elites among both colonisers and colonised. This brings into question the status of the Pacific Way as a postcolonial discourse, and whether postcolonialism's ‘anticoloniality’ is in fact hospitable to indigenous hegemony, thus undermining its general anti-hegemonic credentials.     

Iran as a ‘pariah’ nuclear aspirant

This article demonstrates that Iran conforms to Richard K. Betts' model of a ‘pariah’ nuclear aspirant, as its nuclear program is driven by a potent combination of security, normative and domestic political motivations. The regime's commitment to its nuclear program is influenced by Iran's long-standing sense of vulnerability to both regional and international adversaries, and an enduring sense of national humiliation at the hands of foreign powers, in parallel with a powerful belief in the superiority of Persian civilisation. This has resulted in the development of a narrative of ‘hyper-independence’ in Iran's foreign policy that simultaneously rejects political, cultural or economic dependence and emphasises ‘self-reliance’. The presumed security benefits that a nuclear weapons option provides are seen as ensuring Iranian ‘self-reliance’ and ‘independence’. This suggests that current strategies that focus exclusively on Iran's security motivations or on a heightened regime of sanctions are fundamentally flawed, as they fail to recognise the mutually reinforcing dynamic between Iran's security and normative/status-derived nuclear motivations.     

The Anthropology of Islam as “AppliedAnthropology”

Thomas R. Berger. Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland: The Report of Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. Vols. 1 &; 2. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1977. xxvii +213 pp. and xxii+ 268 pp. Illustrations, maps, figures, bibliography, and appendices. Each volume is $5.00 (paper) in Canada and $6.00 outside of Canada.

Johanna Brand. The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash. Toronto: James Lorimer &; Co., 1978. 171 pp. Illustrations, map, bibliography, chronology. $6.95, paper.

James Burke. Paper Tomahawks: From Red Tape to Red Power. Winnipeg: Queenston House, 1976. 406 pp. $2.95, paper.

Harold Cardinal. The Rebirth of Canada's Indians. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1977. 222 pp. $9.95 (cloth) and $4.95, paper.

Robin Fisher. Contact and Conflict: Indian‐European Relations in British Columbia, 1774–1890. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1977. xvii+ 250 pp. Illustrations, map, bibliography, and index. $18.00, cloth.

Cornelius J. Jaenen. Friend and Foe: Aspects of French‐Amerindian Cultural Contact in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Toronto: McClelland &; Stewart, 1976. 207 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, and index. $10.00, cloth.

Martin O'Malley. The Past and Future Land: An Account of the Berger Inquiry Into the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1976. xiv +280 pp. Map and Index. $15.00, cloth, and $4.95, paper.

Frederick W. Rowe. Extinction: The Beothuks of Newfoundland. Toronto: McGraw‐Hill Ryerson, 1977. 166 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. $10.95, cloth.

Joan Ryan. Wall of Words. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1979. 190 pp. $4.95, paper.

John Snow. These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places: The Story of the Stoney Indians. Toronto: Samuel Stevens, 1977. xiv + 185 pp. Illustrations, maps, references, appendix, and index. $12.95, cloth.

David H. Stymeist. Ethics and Indians: Social Relations in a Northwest Ontario Town. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1975. viii+ 98 pp. Tables and references. $8.95, cloth and $3.95, paper.

Peter Such. Vanished Peoples: The Archaic, Dorset and Beothuk People of Newfoundland. Toronto: NC Press, 1978. 94 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, glossary, index. $12.95, cloth and 55.95, paper.

Marc‐Adelard Tremblay, ed. Les facettes de l'identité Amérindienne ! The Patterns of “Amerindian” Identity. Quebec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1976. xiv ‐ 317 pp. Bibliographies, panelists and sponsors. $16.50, paper.

Mel Watkins, ed. Dene Nation: The Colony Within. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. xii+ 189 pp. Map and references. $4.95, paper.

George Woodcock. The Indians of the Pacific Northwest. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1977. 223 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index. $17.95, cloth.     

Siyāvoš as a Vegetation Deity

Because of annual communal lamentations dedicated to Siyāvo?, he is considered to be a unique character among heroes of the ?āhnāmeh. The elements of the rituals revolving around Siyāvo? are compatible to those of vegetation deities in some other religions. Of particular interest is the cycle of birth-death-rebirth of vegetation deity that takes place according to a specific sequence of events. In the present article, the author attempts to trace conformities and nonconformities in the Siyāvo? tale as described in the ?āhnāmeh and correlates them with the life-death-rebirth cycle of vegetation deity.     

European Corridors as Carriers of Dynamic Agglomeration Externalities?

Transport corridors are viewed as a promising way forward in European Union (EU) transport policy, assumed to contribute positively to regional economic development. However, the validity of this assumption is not evident. The aim of this paper is to empirically test whether agglomeration economies in European transport corridor regions are positively related to indicators of regional economic development compared to regions outside the scope of corridors. The results build on the notion that the type of agglomeration economy in combination with the structure of the economy matters for prospects of structural economic growth in different regions. In this way, the analysis not only contributes to enhancing the empirical scrutiny of the corridor concept in EU transport policy, but also provides new insights into how corridors contribute to regional economic growth. We find only limited evidence for a corridor effect across European regions on productivity and employment growth externalities. Instead, we find a large degree of spatial heterogeneity interacting with corridors—a heterogeneity that has been little recognized in EU policies. We suggest that recent attention to place-based development strategies may accord well with the kinds of agglomeration effects related to corridor development observed in this study.