Anarchy,Geography and Drift

Abstract: The consumerist economies of the late modern city, in combination with contemporary models of urban policing, operate to close down the public spaces of social life. In response, social groups dedicated to democratic urbanism utilize anarchic tactics of “dis‐organization” and direct action to reopen public space and to revitalize it with unregulated activity. Complicating and animating these spatial conflicts is the issue of drift. On the one hand, consumerist economies and contemporary policing strategies exacerbate urban drift, spawning the very sorts of spatial transgression they seek to control. On the other hand, many of the progressive movements that battle for open space and alternative economic arrangements themselves embrace a culture of drift, and explore drift for its anarchic and progressive potential. In this context drift can usefully be investigated as an emergent form of epistemology, community, and spatial politics.     

Review Article: Brigands,Emperors, and Anarchy

PHILIP DE SOUZA. Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. x, 276. $59.95 (US); KURT RAAFLAUB and NATHAN ROSENSTEIN, eds. War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Mesoamerica. Washington: Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University, 1999; dist. Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard University Press. Pp. viii, 484. $50.00 (US); B. D. HOYOS. Unplanned Wars: The Origins of the First and Second Punic Wars. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1998. Pp. xviii, 326. $80.00 (US). Reviewed by Arthur M. Eckstein     

中国传统国家主义的发端及其对近代和现代社会的影响

中国传统国家主义的发展脉络与特定的历史,地理因素联系在一定,它的典型特征表现于封建皇权社会之中。在现时期,国家主义生存的土壤虽然已不复存在,但历史上所遗留的那些因素对人们观念上的消极影响仍然存在。为此,笔认为,当前关键在于以有效的手段推动社会经济的发展,从而才能逐渐消除传统国家主义观念的消极影响。     

Thomas Hobbes as a Theorist of Anarchy: A Theological Interpretation

Summary

Scholars of international relations generally invoke Hobbes as the quintessential theorist of international anarchy. David Armitage challenges this characterisation, arguing that Hobbes is regarded as a foundational figure in international relations theory in spite of as much as because of what he wrote on the subject. Thus, for Armitage, Hobbes is not the theorist of anarchy that he is made out to be. This article agrees with the general thrust of Armitage's critique while maintaining that it is still possible to imagine Hobbes as a theorist of anarchy. Hobbes is a theorist of anarchy, not in a political sense, but in a metaphysical sense. This conception of anarchy is a reflection of a comprehensive theological account of reality that is grounded in an omnipotent God. Any historical inquiry into the foundations of modern international thought must take account of theology, because theology defines the ultimate coordinates of reality in terms of which the concepts of international thought are intelligible.     

The Supreme Court and the Interstate Slave Trade: A Study in Evasion, Anarchy, and Extremism

Opponents of slavery often argued that the federal government possessed the constitutional authority to outlaw the interstate slave trade. At its founding in 1833, the American Anti‐Slavery Society declared that Congress “has a right, and is solemnly bound, to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several States.” The idea had been endorsed earlier, during the Missouri controversy of 1819–1820, by both John Jay and Daniel Webster. Later on, in the 1840s and 1850s, it was supported by such prominent politicians as John Quincy Adams, Salmon P. Chase, and Charles Sumner. Defenders of slavery were, of course, horrified by the suggestion that the South's peculiar institution might be attacked in this way, and they vehemently denied that the Constitution permitted any such action. The prolonged debate over the issue focused on two key provisions of the Constitution. One was the Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3), which says that Congress has the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” The other was the 1808 Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 1), which says that the “Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight.” Abolitionists held that the Constitution sanctioned congressional interference in the domestic slave trade both generally, by virtue of the Commerce Clause, and specifically, by virtue of the 1808 Clause. They argued that since slaves were routinely bought and sold, they obviously were articles of commerce, and therefore Congress had unlimited authority over interstate slave trafficking. Furthermore, they said, the words “migration or importation” in the 1808 Clause meant that as of January 1, 1808 Congress had acquired the right not only to ban the importation of slaves, but also to prohibit their migration from one state to another. Defenders of slavery replied that Congress could not interfere in property rights and that the power to regulate commerce did not include the power to destroy it. They also said that the word “migration” in the 1808 Clause referred, not to the domestic movement of slaves, but to the entry into the United States of white immigrants from abroad. ¹     

Challenger and Chernobyl Lessons and Reflections

Abstract

It is argued that Psychological research on 'race' and 'ethnicity' issues presents a number of ethical problems. These relate to the sociopolitical impact of such research, particularly when it purports to find differences of an 'innate' character; to the use of naive subjects, particularly children, in research which is aimed at demonstrating their 'inferiority'; and, within the academic community itself, to the working relationships between researchers who believe in 'innate' 'race' differences and colleagues belonging to allegedly 'inferior' groups – this being particularly significant within a teaching environment. Although the 'race differences' question has a long and controversial history, ethical issues relating to the research process itself have received less focused attention. Moreover, replacement of the genetically obsolete concept of 'race' with the idea of 'ethnicity' does not solve the problem entirely, and the term 'ethnicity' is itself unsatisfactory in several respects.     

Climate and energy security policies and measures: synergies and conflicts

Concerns about climate and energy security are leading to increased government intervention in the energy sector, in particular as they relate to the choice of energy supply options. While many of these options will improve both energy and climate security, many measures will benefit one while harming the other. This raises an important question for governments and energy planners: how can conflicts between climate and energy security be resolved? This article outlines some of the barriers and problems that may arise as governments and companies try to address climate and energy security concerns simultaneously in various energy supply areas. It concludes by arguing against choosing one objective over the other, and by outlining steps that can be taken to help resolve conflicts between the two agendas.     

我和我的兄弟姐妹

1938年．我出生在金沙江畔一个叫巴塘的小县城里。生在哪一天．至今不知道．因此．六十多年过去了．我从来也没有过过生日。     

Power and Ethnicity History and Anthropology

This essay reflects on the relationship between anthropological and historical scholarship of ethnicity, picking up on themes explored by Andre Gingrich, by considering the epistemological and evidentiary limitations of social scientific and historical analysis and reconstruction. Beginning with the consideration of the pioneering transdisciplinary efforts of Robert Darnton and Clifford Geertz, it argues that many of the weaknesses ascribed to such efforts are actually part of the nature of social scientific investigation which, in the terms of Peter Winch, must take into account two sets of relationships: that of the relationship between the scientist and the phenomena that he or she observes and the symbolic system that he or she shares with other scientists, which can only be understood from the social context of common activity. How these two relationships challenge social scientific analysis of ethnicity are examined through a consideration of the difficulties of applying Anthony Smith's definition of an ethnie to either Fredrik Barth's classic essay on “Pathan Identity and its Maintenance” or Helmut Reimitz's study of Frankish identity. It concludes that neither anthropologists nor historians are simply describing societies as they are or as they were but rather attempt to describe societies as witnesses within them thought they should be, and we do this for our own society, not for those of the participants, past or present.     

On information and significance,possession and property,force and power

C. F. Hockett. Man's Place in Nature. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Company, 1973. 739pp. Illustrations, maps, tables, notes on sources, and index. $12.95.