The contentious sovereignties of the camp: Political contention among state and non-state actors in Italian Roma camps

The global proliferation of camps manifests an alarming phenomenon of burgeoning marginalization, and shows that the concept of ‘camp’ is today increasingly crucial to grapple with current changes in the world’s geographies of exclusion and inclusion. Specifically, this article focuses on ‘institutional camps’, i.e. created by government agencies in alleged emergency situations and aims to conceptualize sovereignty over this type of camp. After critically reviewing the ongoing scholarly debate on camp sovereignty, I situate my approach within the work of scholars who see political authority over the camp as comprising a multiplicity of both state and non-state actors. The article contributes to this perspective by drawing on the theory of ‘contentious politics’ advanced by McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly (2001). Through this analytical framework, I suggest construing camp sovereignties as contentious, i.e. inherently constituted by conflicting and ever-evolving power relations that change according to framing strategies, political opportunities, resources and repertoires of action. In order to show the benefits of such approach, the paper focuses on the empirical case of the Italian Roma camps in Rome, through which I show that camp sovereignty is not only fragmented into a multiplicity of actors but is also the result of conflict, compromise, negotiation, and co-optation among actors whose frames, opportunities, resources, and repertoires constantly change over time.     

The foreign policy of First Republic Italy: new approaches

This introductory article deals with the most recent contributions by Italian historians on the Italian Republic's international role. It aims mainly to demonstrate that a new generation of younger Italian historians is successfully offering new views and interpretations on First Republic Italy's role in the international system, and is also focusing on aspects such as the culture of Italy's political parties, the economic dimension, the role of public opinion, and the influence of external actors on domestic Italian politics – in short, that there has been a turn away from traditional diplomatic history based upon the archives of the Foreign Ministry.     

A tale of regional transformation: From political community to security regions the politics of security and regionalism in West Africa

This article draws attention to the intersection between the politics of regionalism and the politics of security by investigating the recent reorganisation of the West African space. It shows how international actors’ reinvestment in West Africa is driven by their security priorities, and how these actions, in particular those of the European Union, are deconstructing West Africa into smaller security regions such as the Sahel. This transformation is legitimised through a regional imaginary depicting the Sahel as a fuzzy region constituted by fluctuating boundaries of networks of organised crime and terrorism. This imaginary strongly contrasts with an earlier one that conceived of West Africa as a regional political community. The tensions between these two imaginaries raises important questions about how these perceptions emerged, which agencies and interests have driven them, and what consequences this has for the re-allocation of political authority and sovereignty practices in West Africa. Hence, drawing on International Political Sociology, Critical Geopolitics and Political Geography, this article symmetrically engages with the simultaneous processes of spatialisation of security and securitisation of space to understand the production and transformation of security regionalism in West Africa.     

‘Las Vegas is not where we are’: Queer readings of the Civil Partnership Act

This article interrogates the United Kingdom's new Civil Partnership Act, which is intended to create a new legal status of ‘civil partner’. The Act confers benefits and imposes legal responsibilities on those same-sex couples who register their relationships. Analysing the Governmental material produced in support of the legislation, as well as Parliamentary debates, the article provides a critical analysis of the ideological underpinnings of civil partnership. A series of dichotomies—marriage/not marriage; sex/no sex; status/contract; conjugality/care; love/money; responsibilities/rights—informs the Government's construction of the category of ‘same-sex partner’. Those dichotomies lend themselves to a deconstructive analysis, applying the insights of queer theory. The result is a skepticism regarding the Act's replication of a marriage model for same-sex couples. Instead, the article concludes by advocating the search for more pluralistic and flexible legal models that better represent the diversity of relationship forms found today.     

罗马共和国后期行省治理的弊端与规范

行省治理是罗马共和国后期政治生活的一个重要内容,直接关乎共和政治的运作与国家的命运。然而,在行省治理过程中,作为实际治理者的罗马官员滥用权力,通过多种途径大肆搜刮钱财,成为行省治理中的首要弊病。为遏制这种弊病,规范行省治理,罗马当局围绕着官员搜刮钱财现象,不断加强法律建设,呈现出立法条款细致化、诉讼程序固定化以及惩处严厉化的倾向。但是,行省治理制度中总督权力缺乏制衡,荣誉任职的传统观念以及税收体系的混乱等因素为罗马官员滥用权力、非法敛财提供了条件,而相关法律实践过程面临着距离、语言、时间与经济成本等实际障碍,且法庭充斥着腐败与偏见,导致治理局面未因法律建设的加强而得以有效改善。行省治理的失当从行省与共和国政治两个层面加速了共和政治的失序,推动了内战的爆发,进而加速了罗马共和国的衰亡。     

Generational transformation of Chinese families: A survey of the Republic period

Family division is the way of reproduction of Chinese families and the starting point of building new families. Reasons of family division in the Republic of China include bad terms among sisters-in-law, among brothers, between father and sons, between mother-in-law and daughters-in-law, or working outside. There are three patterns of family division: one-time thorough division, serial division, and special types of division. The circumstances of family division include: inheritance while parents are alive or after their death; equal inheritance among brothers hosted by their uncle (mother’s brother), inheritance rights attributed to the eldest son or grandson, and special principles of property distribution. The rite of family division is quite solemn; documents of family division definitely need to be made with specific regulations. There are three ways of supporting for the eldly, among which leaving some land to parents is popularly adopted in rural China during the Republic period. Translated into English by Luo Hui     

Tooth marks and human consumption: ethnoarchaeological mastication research among foragers of the Central African Republic

Taphonomically, much research has focused on the way in which predators and humans vie for calorically rich sources of protein. Anecdotal evidence from ethnographies and experiments indicate that humans will—as do other obligate carnivores and omnivores—modify animal bones with their teeth during consumption. Recent ethnographic research among the Bofi foragers of the Central African Republic provides an opportunity to explicitly understand the way in which humans imprint bone during mastication. This research identifies the signature of human tooth marks on small mammal skeletons and addresses the way in which these marks may be archaeologically visible. The data presented herein suggests that any model seeking to discuss the range of human dietary choices would be strengthened by considering the impact of humans in zooarchaeological small fauna assemblages that may or may not have technological indicators of a human presence.     

Public funding of culture in the Czech Republic since the fall of the iron curtain: contemporary dilemmas

The article deals with explicit cultural policy and its outcomes in the post-communist Czech Republic. In the first part, the authors look at the organisational and conceptual impact on culture of the transition from a centrally managed economy to a pluralist parliamentary democracy following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. The cultural sector experienced privatisation, property restitution, commercialisation, globalisation, decentralisation and devolution, as well as the emergence of the private sector and the non-governmental non-profit sector (NGO). Although the process of societal transformation is now complete, certain key issues of cultural policy remain unresolved. The authors focus on three contemporary issues in theatre, namely: political intervention in the management of public cultural institutions, the persistent debate on funding through grant systems and the lack of trust culture professionals have in the creators of cultural policy. As a result, even though after 1989 it was expected that the private or NGO sector would dominate in the area of culture, there still exists a relatively dense network of public cultural institutions (contributory organisations) characterised by a resistance to proposed organisational and funding changes.     

美国早期运河热潮的舆论准备:论共和国初期大众刊物对国家命运的关注

修建运河以连接自然河流和湖泊成为美国建国初期的一大政治共识。逐渐增多的大众刊物为美国早期运河意识从政治领域向社会生活领域普及提供了重要媒介,在美国早期运河热潮中发挥了积极作用。通过报道和评论当时仍然比较零星的运河工程,共和国初期的大众刊物不仅为以1825年伊利运河为代表的运河建设高潮打下了舆论基础,崭露头角的刊物本身也因此表达了对美国命运的关注,有机地融入了美国联邦的巩固进程。     

对编纂资料性国史书的几点思考——以《中华人民共和国日史》为例

中共十一届三中全会以来,随着中华人民共和国史研究的广泛开展,一批体例各异、详略不一的资料性国史书相继出版。四川人民出版社2003年8月推出的卷帙浩繁的《中华人民共和国日史》(以下简称《日史》),就是其中之一。该书以年分卷,逐日记事,上自1949年10月1日起,下至1999年12月31日止,共计50卷。编纂者称该书是国家断代性质历史,     

也谈“中华人民共和国”作为国名的原因——兼与潘焕昭老师商榷

《党的文献》2007年第3期发表了潘焕昭的文章《"中华人民共和国"国名考》(以下简称潘文),第5期又发表了宋月红的文章《"中华人民共和国"国名补考》(以下简称宋文),对"中华人民共和国"提出的时间、命名的由来和作为国名的原因等问题进行了探讨,宋文既是对潘文观点的补充,同时在一些观点上也进行了商榷。笔者认为,潘文提出选择"中华     

The global,the ethnic and the gendered war: women and rape in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the perspectives of women who experienced sexual violence perpetrated in the warscapes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Civilians are targeted for rape, loot and pillage yielding deleterious effects on the social fabric and the sustenance the community provides. The article is based on 11 qualitative semistructured interviews and 4 written narratives from women of reproductive age, recruited from organizations providing support post-sexual violation. The study departs from a larger ethnographic project investigating the phenomenon of war-rape. Thematic analysis guided the analysis through the theoretical lenses of structural violence and intersectionality. The women expressed total insecurity and a multitude of losses from bodily integrity, health, loss of family, life course possibilities, livelihoods and a sense of place; a profound dispossession of identity and marginalization. Pregnancies resulting from rape reinforced stigma and burdened the survivor with raising a stigmatized child on the margins of society. Perpetrators of rape were mostly identified as Interhamwe (Rwandan Hutus rebels) who entered Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Their goal, according to the women, was to spread HIV and impregnate Congolese women, thereby destroying families, communities and society. The women survivors of war-rape described experiences of profound loss in this conflict which has global, ethnic and gendered dimensions. Congo's conflict thus requires critical reflection on how local wars and subsequent human suffering are situated in a matrix of globalization processes, enabled by transnational actors and embedded in structural violence.     

The Cold War Politics of Cultural Minorities: Jews and Sorbs in the German Democratic Republic, 1976-1989

This article compares cultural identity politics relating toJews and Sorbs in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from1976 to the collapse of communism in 1989. Drawing on stateand party sources, oral histories, literature and documentsfrom the Ministry for State Security (Stasi), it juxtaposesstate constructions of minority identities with the views andactions of Jewish and Sorbian students, writers and intellectuals.In its first three decades, the East German Communist party(SED) generally treated Jewish culture with suspicion or indifferenceand often conflated Jewishness with the capitalist West. Incontrast, the party celebrated a folkloric vision of Sorbianculture that linked Germany with the Slavic East. By the mid-1980s,the SED altered its posture towards Jews and Sorbs. In the GDR'sfinal decade, SED officials attempted to cultivate Jewish culturewhile viewing Sorbs with increased suspicion. The main reasonfor this shift was that SED officials placed Cold War foreignpolicy concerns over Marxist–Leninist ideological consistency.Treatment of Sorbs worsened as Sorbs forged ties with dissidentsin other Eastern Bloc nations. Meanwhile, celebrations of Jewishculture aimed to improve the GDR's ties with Western Europeby embracing Western Holocaust memory. The article also showsthat SED efforts to cultivate minority cultural identities oftenbackfired at the grassroots level. The minority cultural imagespromoted by the state often had little resonance outside leadershipcircles. Average GDR citizens frequently grew disenchanted withSED cultural minority policies, ultimately helping by the 1980sto destabilize the regime.     

The power of words: the changing role of the Italian head of state during the Second Republic

Many authors use the metaphor of an accordion to describe the enlargement of the constitutional functions of the Italian head of state: because of the weakness of the political parties the president is able to ‘open and play the accordion’ according to his own interpretation of his institutional powers. While useful, this metaphor does not take into account the structural changes that have occurred over the last 30 years, as well as the informal powers that recent presidents have resorted to, which were the most important factors in the metamorphosis of the presidential figure. Structural changes include the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the First Republic and the mediatisation and personalisation of politics and party structure. Informal powers include those of ‘esternazione’ (a term that roughly means ‘to render public personal statements without previous consultation with the cabinet’) and of moral suasion. By analysing the development of these two powers, this article aims to describe the changing role of the head of state during the Second Republic. It also defines a typology of presidential moral suasion, which is proposed as a useful tool to analyse presidential style and strategy in influencing law-making. The analysis of the innovative use of communicative powers by the last two presidents, Ciampi and Napolitano, shows how the transformation of the Italian presidency can probably be considered permanent.     

论清末民初语言的“日化”现象——以鲁迅作品为例

清末民初盛行通过日译本转译西方著作,汉语中引进了大量的日语词汇和句法。笔者认为,比起一直以来通用的“欧化”的说法,把此现象称为“日化”更为贴切。本文以鲁迅作品中的具体“日化”语言实例为证,论证了“日化”的语言事实。对于“日化”语言一直以来遭忽视的现象,笔者从政治、经济、文化心理、汉字等方面分析了原因。     

制度转型的多样性因素及关系分析——魏玛共和国和联邦德国民主试验的经验比较

民主政治制度的稳定运行不仅需要合理的制度安排和稳定的经济发展,更需要与之相适应的政治文化。魏玛共和国民主试验的失败是其制度设计上的重大缺陷、经济上的失败及政治文化转型迟滞的复合性后果,而联邦德国民主制度的成功运作,则得益于它精致完备的制度安排、成功的经济与社会发展和努力培育与民主政治相适应的公民文化。因此,制度转型与文化转型具有内在的深层互动关系,政府效能和合法性与政治文化特质高度关联,而文化转型则是一个渐进发展的长期过程。     

民初泗水华侨交涉案研究

在收集整理中国第二历史档案馆馆藏有关档案的基础上,描述了民国时期荷属东印度泗水地区华侨升旗案的发生和交涉过程;分析了其给海外华侨对中国认同、中国与东南亚各国外交关系发展变化所带来的重要影响;并总结了本涉侨案件的三点历史意义。     

学术转型期的民国史研究--中华民国史国际学术讨论会纪要

2002年8月21－23日在北京举行了“中华民国史国际学术讨论会”。从提交此次会议的论文可以看出近年来民国史研究的几个基本特征：民国政治史在致力于突破,民国外交史因新史料的出现而凸现新意,民国社会史的研究日益深化,民国经济史的研究更加细化,民国思想文化与教育史领域的研究在不断拓宽,民国史料的不断发掘与学术史研究的重视。     

文本与权力:清至民国时期江西万载地方志分析

As the main literature of socio-economic history, local gazetteers display the dynamic process of local socio-economic structuring and reflect local conflicts among various interest groups. Focusing on local gazetteers in Wanzai County of Jiangxi Province from the Qing to the Republic, this essay shows how local literati played an active role in constructing their local community. These gazetteers reflected the complicated power relations, especially the conflict between the natives and immigrants, and they themselves became the important part of the process of local power reproduction and culture construction. __________ Translated by Luo Hui from Shixue Yuekan 史学月刊 (Journal of Historical Science), 2008, (9): 70–81     

When Nazi dreams come true: The third Reich's internal struggle over the future of Europe after a German victory

In the present article it is argued that Pieter de la Court's Political Maxims of the State of Holland presented a remarkably consistent grand strategy for Holland in relation to its Dutch allies and the European powers. I present an outline of this strategy, which was built around the accomplishment and defence of commercial goals; I sketch a historical context that takes into account the general historical shift from tribute-taking agrarian societies towards commercial wealth-generating polities, and also the violent contemporary military and ideological background against which De la Court's strategy stands out; I argue that his strategy can be understood by his use of three basic game theoretic concepts (prisoner's dilemma, assurance game and free-riding); and I stress the distinctive character of De la Court's work, by comparing the practical and strategic use of these concepts in the Maxims with the function of the same concepts in the philosophical contract theories of Thomas Hobbes and Benedict de Spinoza.