Bosnia and Herzegovina Five Years after the Dayton Accords

A specialist on financial issues in the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina assesses economic performance in that country during the five years following conclusion of the Dayton Peace Accords. The basic provisions of the Accords relating to economic activity and post-war reconstruction are presented, after which the analysis focuses on developments in the economy, privatization, and banking-sector reform, to the extent that available data allow. Coverage then turns to a review of the role of the Office of the High Representative in administration of the State's two constituent Entities: the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Serb Republic. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O11, O18, O52. 5 tables, 33 references.     

Muslims' nation‐building process in socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1960s

During the 1960s, the Yugoslav Socialist authorities gradually recognised Bosnia and Herzegovina's Muslims as a nation. Interestingly, in the 1940s, the Yugoslav Communist leaders refused to consider Muslims even as an ethnic group and saw them only as a religious community whose members had to designate themselves as Serbs or Croats. Why did the regime decide to recognise Muslims as a nation in the 1960s, whereas 20 years earlier they supported the opposite position? To understand the shift, this nation‐building process must be understood as the result of a dual dynamic on the federal and the republican level, where important changes occurred. At the federal one, the Communist authorities initiated a decentralisation process within the context of Yugoslav self‐management in the 1950s, which significantly reinforced the republic elites. This coincided with the resurgence of the national question in the whole of Yugoslavia. Simultaneously, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a new elite progressively rose to power in the 1960s and put the ‘Muslim question’ on the political agenda. This led to the gradual increase in status of the Muslims from a religious community to an ethnic group at the beginning of the 1960s and then to a nation at the end of the decade.     

Bosnia: The Crime of Appeasement

Few international journalists have been as intimately involved in the conflict in former Yugoslavia as Ed Vulliamy. In this vivid personal account of the war years he argues that the international community's response to Serbian claims amounted to nothing less than appeasement.     

The missionary position: NGOs and development in Africa

This article traces the evolution of development non–governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa, and suggests that their role represents a continuation of the work of their precursors, the missionaries and voluntary organizations that cooperated in Europe's colonization and control of Africa. The authors maintain that the work of the NGOs today contributes marginally to the relief of poverty in Africa, and significantly undermines the struggle of the African people to emancipate themselves from economic, social and political oppression. Development NGOs have, unwittingly or otherwise, become a part of the neo–liberal system that has resulted in widespread impoverishment and the loss of the authority of African states to determine their own agenda. NGOs could, and some do, play a role in supporting an emancipatory agenda in Africa, but it involves breaking with the 'missionary position' by disengaging from their paternalistic role in development.     

The Limits of Geopolitical Remote Sensing

Two Finnish scholars provide critical commentary on a paper on Finland's identity politics and national identity, published in a 2005 issue of Eurasian Geography and Economics (Antonsich, 2005). In the process, they criticize the practice of "geopolitical remote sensing" more generally, arguing that it is symptomatic of a broader methodological problem in human geography. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O52, Z13. 17 references.     

The Respectable Politics of Climate Change: The Epistemic Communities and NGOs

Climate change is unusual compared with most environmental issues in the extent to which it has become accepted among orthodox policy institutions and public-and private-sector organizations. The authors explore the conditions that have led to the establishment of an epistemic community that brings together a broad array of actors, including the various NGOs, and the operational dimensions that define the participation of NGOs within the community. An epistemic community does not imply conformity of opinion or approach but allows for differentiation in terms of how its members construct the problem, and their objectives, core beliefs and favoured responses to climate change. Three broad styles of engagement through which NGOs contribute to this debate are identified: developing creative policy solutions, knowledge construction, and lobbying or campaigning. It should be noted that the authors refer primarily to development or environmental NGOs (ENGOs), though they do discuss business NGOs at a few points.     

Awareness and Action: The ethno-gender dynamics of Sri Lankan NGOs

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the modus operandi in the development arena at this juncture. Many, including feminists, place much faith in these actors for creating a progressive space for social, political, and economic activities to be undertaken. This article employs fieldwork evidence from eastern Sri Lanka, carried out in 1998–1999 and early 2004, to challenge this simplistic reading. The primary social group that was studied during the fieldwork period was female-headed households. This article argues that there are different types of NGO working in multiple ways in the region, and it is important to distinguish between these differences. NGOs that primarily execute development-oriented projects without considering the ethno-nationalist and gender politics are culpable of the violence of development. It is only when NGOs are in local communities for the long haul that they are able to develop a commitment to reassess and evaluate the social transformative potential of their activities. Using a feminist political economy perspective this article argues that it is important and necessary that NGOs confront social, political, and economic structures, including ethnic identity politics, if their activities are to lead to transformative feminist politics. In other words, NGOs would have to do more than pay lip service to gender mainstreaming, as is more often the case. These actors need to recognize and understand the potency of ethno-nationalist politics, social structures, social exclusion, and social injustice in order to create social spaces that are enabling of women's agency in the local communities within which they work and operate.     

The Ottoman Empire and Russia in Light of Their Geopolitical Demarcation

The article analyzes Russian—Ottoman relations from the territorial point of view. The author traces stages of these relations and shows how the attitudes of Russian power and society to the problem of southward expansion changed through centuries. She concludes that in the nineteenth century Russia ceased to be interested in the military solution of the “Eastern Question” and it was often the pressure of European international affairs that made the country wage war against its southern neighbor.     

Framing Food Policy: The Case of Raw Milk

Policies governing the sale of raw milk—making the sales of raw milk more permissive—are gaining traction on the legislative agendas of dozens of states. This paper examines one contributor to this movement on the policy agenda: the role of competitive framing. By combining theoretical approaches from policy studies and political psychology theories of competitive framing, we offer evidence supporting the recent relative success of raw milk activists in several state legislatures. Using an Internet survey‐based experiment with a sample size of 1,630 respondents from seven Midwestern states, we show that a frame emphasizing consumer choice and food freedom is more effective than the frame that dominates among the policy establishment, that emphasizing public health risks. This is true in both one‐sided and competitive framing contexts. We further show that those previously aware of this issue were less influenced by the public health frame than those naïve to the issue. Our results suggest that the pro‐raw milk movement may be making strides on the state policy agenda because their frames are more resonant among the public. We also highlight the advantages gained from considering psychological and policy processes simultaneously to understand policy change.     

The Rhetorical Framing of Policy Intervention

When prime ministers speak, the nation usually listens. In the Australian federation, prime ministers have consistently used the power of their political pulpit to launch policy interventions into areas of traditional State responsibility. This article suggests that there is an emerging rhetorical pattern to the way these policy interventions are presented. Prime ministers of both major parties have used rhetoric to portray the Commonwealth as acting on behalf of the legitimate interests of constituents who have been ignored by State governments. Occurring in close proximity to federal elections, policy interventions are shown to be weapons which favour incumbent prime ministers in their battles with State governments and federal oppositions alike.     

Introduction: Singularization of History and Archaeological Framing

Microhistory and historical archaeology are important comrades, even in the broad-scale analysis of the modern world. Two scholars in Iceland have been paying close attention to the theory of microhistory. This brief introduction to their papers provides my thoughts on the linkage between historical archaeology and microhistory.     

Third Carthage: Struggles and Contestations Over Archaeological Space

This paper investigates how the archaeological site of modern Carthage was (re)produced and (re)appropriated by various interest groups from the early 19th century to the present. It traces the struggle of archaeologists and conservationists to protect Carthage’s ancient ruins within a changing urban environment invariably dominated by Tunisia’s most powerful and influential elites. The paper highlights some controversial issues that have affected the unity of an envisaged archaeological park in the area. In doing so, it brings to the fore the ongoing conflict between the different statuses of Carthage: symbolic capital of Tunisia, historic site, living city and tourist destination.