The union Européenne des fédéralistes and its ‘third force’ programme

Environmental Education (EE) is broadly discussed in the Federal Republic of Germany. The different conceptions may be classified as the cognitive, the emotive, the cognitive-experiential and the system-critical model. In the article, the role of institutions in the educational system, dealing with EE, is described. Current activities in empirical research work and some findings on EE in German schools are reported.     

The Société Européenne de Culture's Dialogue Est-Ouest 1956: Confronting the ‘European Problem’

This essay, which is part of an ongoing monographic study of the Société Européenne de Culture, looks at the SEC's relationship with Europe's communist intelligentsia during the first phase of the Cold War. European intellectual life during this period is generally associated with the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Yet the SEC, the membership of which included some of Europe's most eminent figures, ranging from Camus and Jaspers, to Adorno and Merleau-Ponty, to Lukács and Sartre, can be seen as having provided a reference point particularly for the European left, not least because of its unique openness to communist participation. Giving special attention to the Dialogue Est-Ouest (Venice, March 1956), one of the earliest encounters between Europe's eastern and western intellectuals since before the war, this essay considers how the SEC's engagement with contemporary Marxist theory there not only embedded the dialectic as the SEC's operational method. It also provided an early indication of that institution's imminent shift from a preoccupation with universal values to an awareness of cultural difference and diversity, as a result of the critique of current western liberal ideology and its cultures, undertaken by the SEC in light of the Thaw.     

La lutte pour la supranationalité en Europe: un combat contre des chimères? L'engagement de l'Union européenne des Fédéralistes pour la Communauté Politique européenne (1952–1954)

Militant federalism in postwar Europe contrasted with moderate Europeanism by asking for an integrated European society. Its main organ, l'Union européenne des Fédéralistes (created in December 1946), was immediately on the defensive against better organised European movements. Persevering, the UEF maintained its vanguard role and became increasingly heard as European integration progressed after the CED project and Schuman plan. The federalist influence became more prominent through political discourses and events that seemed to favour its integrationist logic. This hope was crushed by the 20 August crime which pushed the federal idea aside as Utopian. Yet federalists undoubtedly broadened their activities and evolved from being advisers to actually influencing the treatise of the Communauté politique européenne (article 38). External events undoubtedly played a role, as did the cold war; by making the European project a more viable solution, the federalists used this opportunity but their relative successes could not hide a weak coalition that would not resist the difficult political climate of the period.

résumé ?Le fédéralisme militant, tel qu'il apparaît dès l'après-guerre, ne peut que trancher par rapport à un européisme majoritairement modéré, dans la mesure où il réclame d'emblée la constitution d'une société véritablement intégrée au niveau européen: son principal représentant, l'Union européenne des Fédéralistes (créée en décembre 1946), entre tout de suite ‘en résistance’ face à des groupes plus prestigieux, qui vont être à la base de la création du Mouvement Européen. L'UEF doit alors défendre son originalité dans une période qui ne semble pas propice aux succès de ses idées. Cette persévérance a permis au mouvement fédéraliste de devenir le mouvement le plus à la pointe du combat européen et le plus écouté de ses pairs, à partir du moment où l'idée d'intégration n'est plus aussi marginale, avec le Plan Schuman puis le projet de CED, auquel vient s'ajouter très vite celui de CPE. L'influence fédéraliste se fait alors sentir à travers des débats, des discours, des faits qui semblent donner raison à la logique intégratrice. La désillusion n'en sera que plus forte lorsque sera perpétré le ‘crime du 30 août’, qui relègue toutes ces hautes priorités au rayon des utopies. Le mouvement a-t-il réellement été entendu des gouvernements, les seuls à même de transformer l'idée en réalité ? On peut remarquer, dans notre courte période, un élargissement de sa sphère d'influence. Cette fonction de ‘conseillers’, dans laquelle les fédéralistes excellent de plus en plus, évolue elle-même avec le temps, de la simple préparation psychologique à l'idée européenne, à laquelle l'UEF n'est pas seule partie prenante, à la fonction d'‘éminence grise’, qui permet au mouvement de contribuer à changer l'esprit du traité politique européen le plus audacieux, celui de la Communauté politique européenne (article 38). Il convient de s'interroger sur le rôle de la conjoncture internationale dans cette évolution. Celle-ci est en effet consubstantielle à l'histoire de l'UEF, comme elle l'est à l'idée d'Europe dans l'après-guerre: c'est la Guerre froide qui rétrécit l'espace européen susceptible de s'unir, mais qui l'érige en espoir. Les fédéralistes, surpris de cette aubaine, sauront en profiter et trouver les bons interlocuteurs. L'impression dominante est cependant que l'action fédéraliste, qui va effectivement profiter des grands débats européens qui émaillent la première moitié des années cinquante, ne repose pas sur des bases bien stables. Peut-être est-ce du à l'hétérogénéité trop importante du Fédéralisme, dont le ‘front commun’ ne pouvait pas sérieusement résister aux aléas et aux révisions constantes entraînés par un contexte dramatique qui échappe aux Européens eux-mêmes.     

The ‘cult of the insurgent’: its tactical and strategic implications

More important than the potential geographical spread of a specific weapon, tactic or expertise is the emulation or inspiration of the ‘culture’ surrounding a terrorist or insurgent movement. This article argues that a ‘cult of the insurgent’ has arisen as a result of the aura of success surrounding both the Iraqi insurgents in their ongoing confrontation with the United States military and Hezbollah in its confrontation in the northern summer of 2006 with Israel. Further, this ‘cult of the insurgent’ will prove the most critical factor in inspiring, motivating and animating the spread of lethal and destructive expertise among other terrorist and insurgent groups worldwide. In the future, therefore, our adversaries will likely conclude that the best and most cost-effective means to confront either a superpower or the superior, conventional military forces of an established nation-state is through a campaign reliant on terrorist and insurgent tactics involving stand-off attacks utilising IEDS (improvised explosive devices) and portable missiles and mortars1 1. I am indebted to my close friend and valued colleague, Professor Ami Pedahzur of the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin for the discussions and exchanges of e-mails that helped to crystallise the arguments presented in this article. I am also indebted to our mutual friend and researcher par excellence, Dr. Arie Perliger, of the National Security Studies Center at Haifa University, Israel, for the very helpful assistance he provided with respect to cataloguing for me the vast array of off-the-shelf and improvised weapons used by both the Iraqi insurgents and Hezbollah in their respective confrontations with the US and coalition military forces in Iraq and the Israel Defence Forces in south Lebanon. View all notes.     

The poverty of Australian defence and security studies: The ‘secure Australia project’ and its critics

Graeme Cheeseman and StJohn Kettle (eds), The New Australian Militarism: Undermining Our Future Security (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1990).

Gary Smith and StJohn Kettle (eds), Threats Without Enemies: Rethinking Australia's Security (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1992).

Peter Jennings, Searching For Insecurity: Why the ‘Secure Australia Project’ is Wrong About Defence (Current Issues, Institute of Public Affairs, June 1994).     

‘The Bashful and the Boastful’

The creation and maintenance of influential leaders and authorities is one of the key themes of archaeological and historical enquiry. However, the social dynamics of authorities and leaders in the Mesolithic remains a largely unexplored area of study. The role and influence of authorities can vary remarkably in different situations, yet they exist in all societies and in almost all social contexts from playgrounds to parliaments. Here we explore the literature on the dynamics of authority creation, maintenance and contestation in egalitarian societies, and discuss the implications for our interpretation and understanding of the formation of authorities and leaders and changing social relationships in the Mesolithic.     

The ALP and the union movement: ‘Catch‐all’ party or maintaining tradition?

Considerable debate continues over whether the Hawke government has been loyal to or betrayed the ‘Labor tradition’. This article argues that two important ideological influences upon Labor are ‘labourism’ and ‘social democracy'; both depend upon the union movement for ideas and practical support While labourism explains much about the accord process and suggests that the ‘Labor tradition’ was not betrayed by the Hawke‐Keating axis, it cannot capture the complete ideological landscape of the contemporary labour movement Labourism fails to explain the more social democratic aims of the Australian Council of Trade Union's objective of ‘strategic unionism’. Yet, ironically, strategic unionism may well fail due to the steady decline in union membership over the last fifteen years. The influence of social democracy and labourism upon the Australian Labor Party (ALP) would diminish should unions’ coverage of the work force continue to decline and with it arguably, so would the'Labor tradition’.     

The Nazi equation of Jewish partisans with ‘bandits’ and its consequences1

This article deals with the history of Jewish partisans during the Second World War, with the general aim of encouraging further research into the subject. Despite the facts that partisan activity was a significant part of the war experience for Jews, and an important dimension of the conduct of the war against the Third Reich and its accomplices, the history of Jewish partisans occupies only a minute portion of Holocaust and World War II historiography. This article analyses the treatment of Jewish partisans from the perspective of the Nazi perpetrators, while also seeking to shed light on the evolving self-perceptions of the partisans themselves. The focus is the Nazi categorization of the Jewish partisans as ’criminals’, equating them with ‘bandits’ and ‘plunderers’. In large part, this accusation shaped Nazi actions and simultaneously played a critical role in the partisans' imagination of, and construction of their own identity as ‘Jewish fighters’.     

The Saga of the ‘Second industrial divide’ and the history of the ‘third Italy’: Evidence from export data

The idea of the Third Italy has achieved an iconic status in geography. It has come to represent one of the main geographical manifestations of the so‐called second industrial divide between Fordist mass production and flexible specialisation. Yet the idea has received limited critical attention since acquiring its elevated status. It deserves to do so, because it involves confusing a localised model of economic development with the economic character of a larger geographic region. Examining province level export data for the years 1985, 1991, 1995 and 1999 for both total exports and two key sectors using exploratory spatial data analysis, provincial rankings and LISAs (local indicators of spatial association) suggests that the export‐based homogeneity and dynamism of the Third Italy can be exaggerated. Italy's urban hierarchy, particularly the centrality of Milan, continues to play a significant role in the Italian economy. Common use of the term ‘Third Italy’ confuses an economic process with a specific geographical configuration.     

L’impossible constitution d’une théorie générale des machines ?

Three projects on the theories of machines are presented: “mecanology” of the architect Jacques Laffite (1932) inspired by biological evolution; “mecanical analysis ” of Louis Couffignal, a specialist in computing machines (1938), which pre figures functional analysis, and the algebraic theory of machines by the mathematician Jacques Riguet (beginning of the 1950’s). During those years, the three men are members of the Circle of Cybernetic Studies. The article focuses on the dialogue between projects, the axes of unification and divergence, and the styles, strategies and postulates of these three candidates, for generalization converging toward the reference constituted by cybernetics.     

The condition of ‘Cosmo-housewives’: leisure shopping,the mainstream and its ambiguities

‘Leisure shopping’ is a particular kind of shopping activity that is devoted mainly to fashion clothes and accessories. Women are commonly represented as the main leisure shoppers, and consequently, they tend to be at the centre of shopping centres' mainstream discourses. This article argues that interpretations of representations of ‘leisure shopping’ and the corresponding practice have too often ignored the daily and seemingly ‘banal’ experiences of the social actors involved. The primary purpose of this article is to show how gender roles are performed and reified in high-end factory outlet villages in Italy. It adopts a cross-sectional approach to ‘leisure shopping’ that includes an analysis of the ‘languages’ of two Italian high-end factory outlet villages, the ‘social space’ represented by the same sites and the ‘stories’ about a few ideal-typical female shopping experiences. These aspects are situated in the Italian cultural and political context at the time the research was conducted. Very different demands – such as sensuality, efficiency and motherly care – are put on women in Italy, as well as in the majority of Western societies. The analysis reveals that through their practice of browsing in a high-end factory outlet village, women often reproduce stereotypes while simultaneously trying – though ambiguously – to challenge them.     

Feminism and its ‘other’: representing the ‘new woman’ of Bangladesh

This essay examines women's oppression and organizing against gender violence in contemporary Bangladesh through the lens of television. I argue that the telefilm Ayna (The Mirror, 2006), written and directed by popular film actor and women's rights activist Kabari Sarwar, offers a window into the changing social and economic landscape of contemporary Bangladesh and the complex negotiations of power and inequality across gender, class and community. Furthermore, it offers an opportunity to unpack the social messages underlying development and modernization initiatives, the new kinds of alliances as well as dependencies engendered by them, and their multiple and uneven consequences. An investigation of the representations of competing and contradictory notions of women's subjectivity and agency in this telefilm allows us to understand how these intersect with shifting notions of local/global patriarchies, feminist solidarity and women's empowerment in Bangladesh today. Further, this essay illuminates the disjunctures between representations of the ‘new woman’ circulated through development and certain feminist advocacy narratives with women's lived realities of oppression, and survival.     

The UK and ‘genocide’ in Biafra

In late August 1968, following a British proposal, Nigeria announced that it would allow an international observer team into the country to show that it was not pursuing a campaign of genocide in Biafra. This article analyses why the United Kingdom pushed for the creation of the observer team, and shows how the team's work was incorporated into the British government's justifications for its support of the Nigerian government. The experience of the observer team illustrates the difficulties of providing an ‘objective’ view regarding whether or not genocide is taking place.