Essential Threats to the Security of the GCC Countries in the Post Arab Spring Era

The so called Arab Spring has brought more challenges to the security of the Arabian Gulf states members of the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC). This article aims to reach a better understanding of the main threats facing the GCC states in the post Arab Spring era. It argues that the conservative system of the GCC states, originated in the paternalistic conservatism, is facing an essential threat from three very important elements that are instigated by the eruption of the so called Arab Spring: political liberal ideas, political Islamic movement, and sectarianism. The article investigates the impact of these elements on the GCC states.     

The Sense of Oklahomaness: Contributions of Psychogeography to the Study of American Culture

What the authors are calling “Oklahomaness” is meant to evoke that (psychogeographic) feeling of what it is to be Oklahoman, both as experienced by Oklahomans and by those outside Oklahoma as well. While this study will delineate Oklahomaness per se, the authors hope that it will stimulate the reader's imagination so that the reader might take from it a new way of looking at, and feeling into, the human sculpting of natural and social space.     

Bibliometric Indicators of the Scholarly Productivity of Researchers and Scientists in Kuwait as Documented by Citation to Their Published Works

The study uses the bibliometric method of research to examine the productivity of academic scientists and re searchers in Kuwait. The Institute for Scientific Information's Arts and Humanities Index, Social Science Index, and Science Citation Index are surveyed to gather the data by department and year from 1986 through 1995. Analysis of Kuwaiti cited papers show the majority of journals (35%) which cited Kuwaiti institutions are published in the U.S. Analysis of the papers published in 1994 revealed that Kuwaiti's participation in the international scientific literature is higher than those of their colleagues from Morocco or Egypt. The data is discussed in light of theories of bibliometrics and the Bradford Law of Scattering.     

陈垣对清史研究的贡献

陈垣学术源于清学,从早期编辑《柱下备忘录》到晚年考证两封无名字无年月的信,其研究经历始终于清史、清学,在清人基础上,治宗教史、历史文献学和元史,并开辟清史研究新领域,揭示宗教与清代政治、文化之关系,全面调查《四库全书》,论衡清人著述,总结清代学术与建立近代意义之史讳学、年代学、校勘学,考述清代人物年事,利用档案、僧人语录、学人手札等新材料考史,拓宽清代史料范围。其对清史研究的贡献,开拓与集成兼俱。     

The chance for change in the Arab world: Egypt's uprising

As the largest Arab country, Egypt has always played a crucial role in the politics of the Arab world; however, the internal political dynamics of Egypt have until the January 2011 uprising hardly attracted a glance from international observers. This article gives an overview of the political arena and the various political forces at play in post‐Mubarak Egypt. With many unpredictable variables currently at play in Egyptian politics, the result of the elections scheduled for November 2011 will likely surprise many, both within the country and beyond. The article also looks at what impact the political changes in Egypt may have had on the relationship between Egypt and Israel. There have been increasingly frequent demands within Egypt to revise the Camp David accords—but not at the expense of war with Israel. While Israel is unlikely to accept any calls to revise the peace treaty, Arab public opinion has become newly relevant for policy‐makers and Israel will have to make corresponding adjustments to its regional security strategy.     

The 9/11 Events: A Precursor to the Arab Spring

Despite the fact that the Arab revolutions that swept important Arab countries by the beginning of 2011 from North Africa to the Middle East were the result of precarious economic and social conditions, still the causes and roots of these uprisings at that very moment indicate some inherent potential drives that are the result of years of simmering. The United States had long supported the expansion of democracy in the world, but the Arab world had always been seen as an exception. The September 11 events destroyed that approach to the Middle East. Accordingly, all attempts to explain the uprisings have been overwhelmed and distorted by the concurrent conditions of the Arab world in relation to its social, political, and cultural deficit. However, the underpinnings of the Arab revolutions can be traced to a distrust of people in their governments and a deep understanding of the new world order triggered by the 9/11 events and the invasion of Iraq. This article traces the impact of the 9/11 events on the Arab mindset ever since the Iraq war and how it resulted in the turmoil of the Arab revolutions.     

Contributions to Change in the Input-Output Model: The Search for Inverse Important Coefficients

The relationship between changes in input-output structural coefficients and changes in the coefficients of the Leontief inverse is explained in a calculus-based framework. Knowledge of this relationship is essential for understanding how structural changes in one sector are transmitted across the economy, and is useful in forming updates to I-O tables given limited information. Empirically, we identify those coefficients likely to be the most important in causing inverse changes. We find that a selective and systematic updating procedure can lead to accurate updates without the need for complete data.     

The symbolism of the Arab flag in modern Arab states: between commonality and uniqueness*

ABSTRACT. The national flag, anthem and emblem are the three symbols through which an independent country proclaims its identity and sovereignty. Although each state has its distinctive flag, there are similarities in the flags of certain countries, such as in Scandinavia (the cross) and Africa (colours). These symbolise certain propinquity in terms of ideology, culture and history. Similarity is also to be found in the flags of the Arab countries: out of the twenty‐two current members of the Arab League, ten share the same colours on their flags (green, white, black and red), while a certain Islamic symbol (eagle, star) in some flags represents the uniqueness of that country. Of the other twelve countries, most rely on one colour of the four (usually red or green) while nine use Islamic symbols (stars, crescent and sword) on their flags. In spite of the importance of this national symbol, the study of the modern Arab flag is almost non‐existent. This article explores the modern evolution of the Arab flag and the reasons for the similarities in many Arab flags. In particular, it will deal with the pan‐Arab flags of the Hashemites Kingdom of the Hijaz (1916–26), Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Egypt.     

Gendered Contributions to Parliamentary Debates: The Case of Euthanasia

This paper seeks to extend our understanding of the contribution women parliamentarians make to the Commonwealth parliament. The euthanasia debate, precipitated by the 1996 Andrews Bill, provided a rare opportunity to compare male and female parliamentarians' contributions without the constraint of formal party discipline. This unusual set of circumstances allowed us to focus on whether women make a distinctive contribution to parliamentary debate, without the complicating influence of party. We have been able to show that under certain circumstances, women do bring a different focus to parliamentary debate, and in so doing, may, in sufficient numbers, alter the status quo.     

New Directions in Bioarchaeology: Recent Contributions to the Study of Human Social Identities

As a discipline that bridges the biological and social sciences, bioarchaeology has much to contribute to a contextualized and theoretically sophisticated understanding of social identities. Here, we discuss the growing methodological sophistication of bioarchaeology and highlight new developments in osteological age and sex estimation, paleodemography, biodistance analysis, biogeochemistry, and taphonomy, particularly anthropologie de terrain. We then discuss how these methodological developments, when united with social theory, can elucidate social identities. More specifically, we highlight past and future bioarchaeological work on disability and impairment, gender identity, identities of age and the life course, social identity and body modification, embodiment, and ethnic and community identities.     

Anthropological Contributions and Challenges to the Study of Children and Childhoods

This essay considers the anthropology of childhood's recent growth. It summarizes the sub-field's extensive if often unacknowledged past, reviews its late 20th-century bourgeoning, and then highlights three influential teaching texts, each of which argues for a more considered, culturally informed understanding of children and childhood while performing the vital service of bringing together heretofore scattered ideas and data. To ensure the field's further maturation, scholars must leverage what an integrative, four-fields approach has to offer, attend to the conjoined, coterminous, and coeval facets of adulthood and childhood; leverage what an integrative, four-fields approach has to offer; expand the pediatric lens; and otherwise guard against our own cultural biases.     

国外贝丘遗址研究略论

贝丘遗址广泛分部在世界各大洋、河流和湖泊的沿岸。国外贝丘遗址大量出现于全新世,新石器时代尤为常见,在一些太平洋岛屿上,直至近年仍在持续堆积。国外贝丘遗址研究史,以20世纪60年代中期和20世纪90年代为界,大体上可以分为三个阶段,即早期阶段、发展阶段和繁荣阶段,各阶段的研究内容和研究方法各有侧重。