Towards World Heritage. International Origins of the Preservation Movement 1870–1930

This article examines the negotiations in the years 1945–7 between Soviet and Swedish diplomats over the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who was arrested by the Soviets in Budapest on 17 January 1945. As is clear from both Soviet and Swedish archival records, including the recently de-classified encrypted Soviet diplomatic cables, the nature of the communication about Wallenberg went through a number of shifts, dividing the years 1945–7 into three periods. Despite in-depth reviews of both the Soviet and Swedish Foreign Ministry archives, no instructions from the political leaderships of Sweden and the USSR explaining these shifts have been identified. Why is it that we can distinguish changing patterns of communication despite the absence of corresponding instructions from the leaders of the two states? This article argues that dynamics inherent to the diplomatic dialogue itself go a long way to explain the shifting communication patterns. In order to make the case viable as well as communicable, Soviet and Swedish diplomats, short of authoritative guidance, were bound to ascribe meaning and purpose to the behaviour of ‘the other’ on the basis of analogical reasoning founded on their experiences from parallel matters on the Soviet–Swedish agenda.     

Swahili Cosmopolitanism in Africa and the Indian Ocean World, A.D. 600–1500

Coastal peoples who lived along the Eastern African seaboard in the first millennium A.D. onwards began converting to Islam in the mid-eighth century. Clearly rooted in and linked throughout to an indigenous regional Iron Age tradition, they created a marked difference between themselves and their regional neighbors through their active engagement with Islam and the expanding Indian Ocean world system. In this paper I explore three ways in which interrelated cultural norms—an aesthetic featuring imported ceramics, foods, and other items, Islamic practice, and a favoring of urban living—created and maintained this difference over many centuries. These qualities of their identity helped anchor those who became Swahili peoples as participants in the Indian Ocean system. Such characteristics also can be seen to have contributed to Swahili attractiveness as a place for ongoing small-scale settlement of Indian Ocean peoples on the African coast, and eventually, as a target for nineteenth-century Arab colonizers from the Persian Gulf. This paper examines the archaeology of these aspects of Swahili culture from its early centuries through ca. A.D. 1500.     

Artisans From the Roof of the World──Story of the Lhasa Chengguan District Antigue Building Renovation Co.

LHASA CHENGGUAN DISTRICT ANTIQUE BUILDINGS CO.In 1980 the CPC Central Committee and the State Council held its firstnational conference on work in Tibet,raising the curtain on reform andopening-up in Tibet.When the news reached theLhasa Chengguan District WheatFlour Mill, its 35 workers were ecstatic. As the city was oversupplied withwheat flour and the Mill was operatingwell under its capacity, the local government decided it should halt production and seek new business.…     

The Grandest Canyon in the World

Ｔｈｅ　Ｇｒａｎｄｅｓｔ　Ｃａｎｙｏｎ　ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　ＷｏｒｌｄＴｈｅＧｒａｎｄｅｓｔＣａｎｙｏｎｉｎｔｈｅＷｏｒｌｄ￥ｂｙＹａｎｇＹｉｃｈｏｕＦｏｌｌｏｗｉｎｇｎｕｍｅｒｏｕｓｉｎｖｅｓｔｉｇａｔｉｏｎｓａｎｄｅｘｐｅｄｉｔｉｏｎｓ，ｅｘｐｅｒｔｓ...     

Individual vs. collective responsibilty: From the ancient near east and the bible to the Greco‐Roman World

Abstract

The question of individual and collective responsibility and punishment in the Hebrew Bible has been discussed since the 19th century as an important indicator of the changing standards of justice present at different historical periods in ancient Israel. The question, of course, of changing standards of justice based on changing social, religious or political circumstances is itself of interest here. If one has a standard of justice mentioned in one section of the Bible and in another section of the Bible this standard is negated, one is confronting the issue of the mechanism for change of Biblical Law itself. I will for the sake of clarity during this paper be using the standard of “Poqed Avon Avot” as a short marker for individual responsibility. I realize, of course, that it is usually taken as simply intergenerational punishment, but as I will delineate, it was seen from the biblical period through the early medieval period as much more.     

Were there Municipal Networks in the British World c. 1890–1939?

The concept of ‘networks’ in the British world has captivated the attention of historians in recent years, with theoretical frameworks now offered to chart the chronology of such phenomena. This article examines these frameworks critically through the lens of British world municipalities, examining the transfer of people and ideas between 1890 and 1939. It contemplates the significance of British world publications such as the Municipal Journal, appearing after 1890, in the facilitation of British world progressivism and its role in formalising networks; also the travels of municipal employees and the correspondence of town clerks in the first half of the twentieth century. Consideration is given to the place of Australian and New Zealand cities in such global networks. The article reflects on whether a move from ‘ad hoc’ networks before 1914 to more formal ones after 1920 is a credible way of characterising the period from the perspective of the Southern hemisphere cities.     

The Longest Painting Scroll in the World

Zongza Lhagyicannot forgetDecember 3,1999,When hereceived the entry certifi-cate from me London-based Guinness Book ofWorld Records while hewas in Shanghai.It reads:China Tibetan Cultural ArtColor Painting, the longest.measures 618 meters longand 2.3 meters wide.     

Ancoient Roads On the Roof of the World In History

Giventheharshenvironmentatanelevationofover4,OOOmeters,especiallycoldandoxygenscarcitv,theOinrhai-TibetPlateauhassinceancienttimebeenvirtuallyinaccessible.Itisinsuchanenvironment,however,thatitsinhabitantshavecreatedabrilliantcivilization.Outofneedforsocialandeconomicdevelopment,itwasalsothepeopletherewhosoughtclosetieswithChina'shinterland.ThisexplainswhytheycanbepartoftheChinesenationtoday.ArchaeologistssaytheyhavefoundartifactsintheTibetPlateaushowingthetiesthatexistedbetweenTibetandth…     

Dominating nature and colonialism. Francis Bacon’s view of Europe and the New World

Francis Bacon’s works are pervaded by the firm belief that he was living in a new epoch. He thought of this epoch as based on knowledge and mechanical arts, which would permit dominion over nature. This dominion arises from mankind’s taking concrete action to improve the living conditions of humanity. Defining the nature of this action leads to individuate a plural historical subjectivity in Bacon’s thought. The different kinds of agency, and different kinds of technologies, define peoples in ethnological and spatial terms. Imperiality, that is human dominion over nature, implies the necessity of improving the conditions of the whole mankind, in a manner that opens the way of thinking in which ‘backward’ peoples are subject to this action of improvement. Colonialism is strictly related to imperiality. The idea of colonialism, in the New World in particular, rests on the assumption that human race can improve its living conditions, exercising power over nature. Therefore, imperiality and colonialism are not simply a tool of a British dominion, but elements of the new epoch that Bacon is theorising. In this sense, imperiality and colonialism are part of the philosophical structure of Bacon’s modernity.     

Calls for educating girls in the Third World: futurity,girls and the ‘Third World Woman’

In this article I examine three calls for Western support for girls' education in the ‘developing world’. Using transnational feminist theory and discourse analysis I look at three examples of these calls; Three Cups of Tea, ‘Because I Am a Girl’ and the United National Girls Education Initiative. I suggest that what Mohanty (1988) terms the ‘Third World Woman’ – a homogeneous, static image of women in the third world – is the spectre used to motivate Western support. Through representations of girls, Western viewers/readers are hailed to invest in order to save the girl-child from the haunting ‘Third World Woman’. The girl-child, through her particularity as a girl, her future womanhood as motherhood and her neoliberal potential, becomes presented as emblems of a better future with the investment of Westerners.     

＂The Excellences of the Republic＂ Produced on the Roof of the World

Since its peaceful liberation, Tibet, at the roof of the world, has been keeping abreast with the motherland to constantly renew its progress.     

Russia’s Accession to the World Trade Organization

Two noted British economists survey a range of issues linked to Russia’s forthcoming accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its implications for the Russian economy. They describe the far-reaching commitments Russia has undertaken in the realm of tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and openness to inward investment, identifying factors that tend both to support and challenge realization of these commitments. They follow with a brief historical account of the reasons why the accession process for Russia was so protracted and an assessment of the likely medium- and long-term economic impacts of accession for the country as well as for its particular regions and social groups. The arguments suggest that the likely direct impacts of accession will overall be modest (at least over the near- to medium-term), and focused in spheres in which a foreign presence may enhance the productivity of Russian firms in the domestic market (e.g., business services). Potentially, more substantial indirect benefits will largely depend on the scale and seriousness of domestic reform policies launched in support of WTO compliance (i.e., effects of accession on Russia’s political economy). Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F130, F500, P330. 3 figures, 6 tables, 54 references.     

Can the World Bank Enforce its Own Conditions?

In the 1980s, the World Bank stepped up policy‐based lending, making loans conditional on government policy and institutional reforms in the borrower country. In 2002, policy‐based lending (or adjustment loans) accounted for 64 per cent of total commitments. Some critics have argued that conditionality has failed because borrowers do not comply with conditions, and that borrowers do not comply because donors do not enforce the conditions, due to their own institutional incentives to lend. Accordingly, they argue that conditionality should be abandoned in favour of selectivity, a strategy in which donors would lend to governments that already have good policies and institutions in place. This article reviews the evidence that has been offered for this ‘enforcement critique’ and finds that it is not sufficient to support the argument. Although the critique is often asserted, and although there is ample evidence of lending pressures, no studies have attempted to determine whether borrower non‐compliance is a serious problem, or whether Bank failures to enforce are the principal reason for the failure of borrowers to meet conditions; nor have any studies been carried out to show whether lending pressures are the main reason for the Bank's failure to enforce.