Set the junta free: Pre-transitional justice in Myanmar's democratisation

Myanmar is in political deadlock. In part, this is because the opposition has not confronted problems of transitional justice, notably how to deal with members of the military junta who have participated in gross human rights violations. There are therefore few incentives for the ruling generals to consider talking about change. To tackle this problem, the article develops a model of pre-transitional justice that is focused on the critical ‘torturer problem’. It is also informed by recent developments in international criminal law, and by the spread of truth commissions and lustration systems. The integrated reconciliatory model that results is suitable for political negotiation, capable of generating discontinuities with an authoritarian past, and legally and technically feasible. Applying it to Myanmar, the article holds that qualified amnesty is necessary for political reform.     

Gender representation in geography: Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper explores key skills required by potential employers of geography graduates. Academic ability combined with a variety of transferable skills such as communication, organisation and self-motivation appeal to many of the employers questioned. Graduates can face potential difficulties expressing these key skills in standard application forms and interviews. Extracurricular activities and previous employment can provide impressive ways to display skills relevant to the job. Key skills are dynamic; graduates need to keep pace with ever changing expectations particularly with regard to information technology.     

Cleaning up the Pacific: anti-corruption initiatives

Despite possessing relatively well-developed domestic legislative and policy frameworks, corruption continues to be a problem for the island states of the Pacific. The lack of effectiveness can be traced back to issues of capacity. This article shows that some of these capacity issues can be overcome through the use of regional networks and organisations. These networks and organisations can provide a way to share work across a number of different countries, as well as providing a point of articulation between frameworks at the global level and programs of reform and action at the domestic level.     

MINGAG GOINBO:Retired But Still Working

WhenIpaidarecentvisittoMingagGoinboathishome,the74-year-oldmanwasdoinghisread-ing.Hegreetedmeintohissittingroom.GoinboandIsatinthearmchaiLBeforeIcouldsaysomething,theoldmanfishedoutasnuffbottIefromhisjacketpocket,andpouredabitofsnuffontothenailofhisrightt…     

Athapaskan kinship: Still an open question

Isidore Dyen and David F. Aberle. Lexical Reconstruction: The Case of the Proto‐Athapaskan Kinship System. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1974. xx + 498 pp. Maps, tables, works cited, and indices. $27.50.     

GUGE CIVILIZATION:Still Mysterious and Unknown

EDITOR'S NOTE:Although Swedish explorer Sven Hedin ventured into Ngarifrom Xinjiang in 1902, the region remains mysterious and unknown to the outside world.This prompted the State Cultural Relics Bureau and the Cultural Relics to senda team into Ngari along the Lhasa-Ngari-Yecheng(Xinjiang)route. The purpose was toexplore the Zhangzhung Civilization that existed prior to the Guge Kingdom.According to legend, Zada in the Xianquanhe River Valley is the central part ofthe Zhangzhung Kingdom, which was so formidable that the kingdom was divided intoInternal, Central and External Zhangzhung and Internal Zangzhung alone coveredpresent-day Ngari and Ladakh. This writer was one of the team members.     

Selkirk in Singapore

This article explores the strained relationship between HaroldMacmillan's Conservative government and its senior representativein South-East Asia, the former minister George Selkirk. In particularit considers the impact of that relationship on the final yearsof colonial governance in Singapore. Between 1959 and 1963 Singaporeremained a British colonial territory enjoying internal self-government,and the most important British military base in South-East Asia.During these years Britain was the People's Action Party's guarantoragainst subversion. Newly released British documents deal withthe assessment of the communist threat. They reveal that Britaindid not have a single view of that threat. The British HighCommission in Kuala Lumpur and Britons remaining in the employof the Federation of Malaya after it gained independence inAugust 1957 argued that Britain should act as if the threatwas serious, in order to encourage the Malayan government tocreate a Malaysian federation. The United Kingdom Commissionin Singapore believed that Singapore's communists were indigenousleftists with valid claims to political legitimacy. They arguedthat these leftists could be overcome by political means ratherthan by mass detention. The British government in London hadlittle interest in Singapore's internal politics. Iain Macleodand Reginald Maudling were tardy in establishing any firm policyfor the island. Their successor as Colonial Secretary, DuncanSandys, accepted the advice of Selkirk on most issues in Singaporeanpolitics but overrode his reluctance to suppress the leftists.Singapore provides a case-study of the dilemmas of British ColdWar policy during the process of decolonization. ^* The author wishes to thank the Humanities Research Board ofthe British Academy for its generous financial support of theresearch upon which this article is based.     

Serpent Mound: Still Built by the Adena,and Still Rebuilt During the Fort Ancient Period

Radiocarbon dates from the base of Serpent Mound in Ohio demonstrate that it was built 2,100–2,300 years ago during the Adena period but was subsequently rebuilt or repaired about 900 years ago during the Fort Ancient period. We describe the basis for supporting the chronology of this building sequence, why it is the best and most complete explanation from the data at hand, and discuss the errors and misconceptions that critics of it have put forth. Our interest is in establishing a chronology of mound construction in order to address questions about cultural continuity/discontinuity, appropriation, and reuse of cultural monuments and religious/political symbols. We also plead that researchers jointly collect new data from Serpent Mound to end the back-and-forth questioning of chronological context and research competence.     

Democracy,nationalism and (lack of) sovereignty: the complex dynamics of democratisation in unrecognised states†

ABSTRACT. Unrecognised states are among the least likely candidates for democratisation: they tend to be driven by ethno‐nationalism, many are marked by the legacy of war and most are facing international isolation. Nevertheless, the claim to democracy has become a central part of their legitimising narrative. This article examines this apparent paradox and finds that neither ethno‐nationalism nor non‐recognition represents insurmountable barriers to democratisation. However, what we tend to find in these entities is a form of stagnated ‘ethnic democratisation’. These findings throw new light on the relationship between democracy and nationalism; they highlight the importance of (lack of) sovereignty; and they are used to evaluate Sammy Smooha's concept of ‘ethnic democracy’.     

The far side of international business: local initiatives in the global workshop

This article presents a case study of the entry of two Norwegianlifeboat companies into the Chinese production system. Ratherthan merely studying the situation through the eyes of thesecompanies, it includes a perspective from the far side of internationalbusiness, i.e., the local competitors. The article argues thatto understand the dynamics and development of both internationalcompanies and localized production systems in a global economy,it is necessary to explore how international and local actorsreflexively evaluate and act upon each other. The article, thus,presents a model for studying the internationalization processand localized production systems.     

Thai migrants in Singapore: state,intimacy and desire

In this article, I analyse Thai migration to Singapore, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork (2004–06) to discuss the experiences of male construction workers and female sex workers in negotiating heterosexuality during their temporary residence. I argue that these Thai migrants engage in transient heterosexual encounters as one of many calculated, strategic ways of negotiating their intimate identity and subjectivity in the survival circuits of this global city. Their transient sexual acts are intimate products of negotiated moves, which form a major part of their semi-anonymous, temporary life in a foreign land. The sexual practices of Thai migrant workers in Singapore, I argue, are best understood by taking the following factors into account: the host government's regulation and control of its migrant population; the foreign workers' economic and social situations of mobility as inscribed in their highly dynamic traveling biographies; and their rationalized willingness and desire to embrace transient sexual intimacies as part of their employment and/or struggling lives in the global city's survival circuits.     

新加坡小印度 充满咖喱味儿的幻彩世界

新加坡虽是个弹丸小国,却有着十分多元的文化。除了占人口总数3/4的华人外,还有马来人和印度人（泰米尔人）,各民族和谐共处,各自保留着独特的生活习性和灿烂的民族文化,为新加坡增添了独特的魅力。在新加坡,实笼岗路（Serangoon Road）一带是印度社群聚集的地方,这里充满了印度风情,好似印度的缩影,人们习惯把这里称作“小印度”。     

The Implementation of Public Policy: Still the Missing Link

Although theories of public policy and theories of governance both seek to establish relationships between policymaking and its consequences, they do not complement each other very well. Public policy models tend to de-emphasize that which governance theories tend to emphasize: the influence on government performance of implementation, broadly described as the actions taken by those engaged in administration (including managers at all levels, those engaged in service delivery, and third-party agents) after a policy has been lawfully promulgated by elected officials and interpreted by the courts. A comparison of a recently developed theory of public sector performance with several prominent theories of policymaking suggests that multilevel governance theories can supply what continues to be the missing link in public policy theories. At the same time, governance theories might be enriched by the process modeling of public policy theories.