The German politics of war: Kunduz and the war in Afghanistan

This article analyses the way in which Germany's participation in the international intervention in Afghanistan has shaped and transformed the country's politics of defence and deriving policies. It argues that in the wake of operational challenges posed by the insurgency in northern Afghanistan since 2007, and in particular the increasing rate of German combat fatalities, established post‐Cold War dogmas of German politics are becoming subject to erosion. Developments in the Kunduz region of northern Afghanistan, with the tanker bombing of 4 September 2009 as its apex, have had a catalyst function in this process. In particular, strategic, operational and tactical requirements for counterinsurgency operations have had significant politico‐strategic repercussions for the country's defence and security policy more generally. As a result, in recent years the Bundeswehr has begun to undergo a far‐reaching structural process of military adaptation and innovation. The article explains and analyses this phenomenon of political change and military learning in the context of political paralysis.     

Observations on the Population of Vilnius: The Grim Years and the 1942 Census

An American geographer, commenting on the preceding paper in this issue (Weeks, 2006), focuses more deeply on the results of a little-known but significant census organized by the Germans in May 1942. The author seeks to produce a credible estimate of the city's Jewish population (excluded from the census) some 11 months after the German invasion of Vilnius, and explores the factors underlying various claims that the census distorted the size of the Lithuanian and Polish populations. In the process, he sheds light on a deep interlayering of relationships among the city's diverse ethnic groups that contributes to a unique "sense of place" experienced by city residents. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O15, O18, R14. 7 figures, 3 tables, 63 references.     

The trauma of war rape: A comparative view on the Bosnian conflict and the Greek civil war

This paper explores the practice and the political context of war rapes in the former Yugoslavia (1992-1995) and in the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). It argues that conceptions about accountability and expected gender roles may lead social actors to commit atrocities that transgress the moral codes of their own society, while condemning their victims to silence. On the other hand, a change in the political context may undermine the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators and ultimately lead war rape victims to break their silence and bear witness. This argument is illustrated by a detailed analysis of one particular interview, in which a woman raped during the Greek Civil War decided to break her silence fifty years after the event. The interview material offers the opportunity to explore the effects of trauma and the multiple ways in which war rape victims may try to cope with past trauma and give meaning to a shattered life.     

抗战时期国统区“妇女合作运动”探析(1942—1945)——以《妇女合作运动》为中心

妇女合作运动,即"各机关公务员工眷属生产合作运动"(简称"眷合运动"),是国民政府于抗战后期在陪都及周边地区发起倡办的一项动员机关公务员女性亲属参与经济生产的合作运动。此次运动历时3年,被其领导者赋予了改善公务员生活、扶植后方生产、扩大合作运动、妇女解放等多重政治、经济意涵。然而,目前学界对该运动的研究尚付之阙如。因此,笔者尝试以眷合运动的指导机关——眷属生产合作推广部编印的刊物《妇女合作运动》为中心,对这一运动的基本情况加以初步的介绍与分析。     

古文字考释中使用通假方法的历史回顾--从晚清至二十世纪中叶以前起

古字考释中常常要遇到通假现象．本从学术史的角度出发,追溯古字考释中使用的通假方法．这种方法的使用有其产生的相关学术背景,经历了从不自觉的实践到理论的提出,至反过来用理论指导实践这一过程．     

被“局外中立”遮蔽的历史:清政府日俄战争善后筹议

清政府的日俄战争善后,不仅涉及主权恢复与利益挽回,更与东北边圉安全以及“龙兴之地”的未来命运息息相关,清廷上下极为重视,对战争善后的筹议与“局外中立”平行展开.从战事爆发到两国议和,内外臣工数次集中讨论日俄局势因应之策与战后东北经营方略,有针对性地提出调停争端、严守中立、加强边防、改制行省、推行新政、开埠通商以及联日抗俄等涉及内政外交的多项建议,基本确定了战争善后的总体框架,拉开了清政府日俄战争善后的序幕并为之奠定基础.梳理这一过程,可见清政府应对两国战和局势、处理战争善后的心路历程,有利于把握战争善后事务的基本脉络及各项举措之间的内在联系,且对于清末新政研究不无裨益.     

“西藏民主改革50周年”学术研讨会综述(英文)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of quelling down the armed rebellion and carrying out the Democratic Reform in Tibet,and March28 was endorsed by the Tibetan legislature to be     

The ‘war on terror’ and extremism: assessing the relevance of the Women,Peace and Security agenda

Recognizing the critique of sexual essentialism in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, this article moves beyond this familiar narrative to address the narrowness of conflict frames that have to date been engaged by the WPS agenda. The events of 11 September 2001 brought new urgency and vibrancy to state action in the realm of counterterrorism. This momentum was illustrated both by the response of national legal systems and by more concerted efforts to achieve multilateral and multilevel counterterrorism cooperation on the international level. Notably, terrorism and counterterrorism have long been of only marginal interest to mainstream feminist legal theorists. Until recently concerted analytical feminist scrutiny has been missing in the assessment of terrorism, radicalism and counterterrorism discourses. This article addresses the lack of attention to terrorism, counterterrorism and countering violent extremism (CVE) initiatives in the WPS mandate and its consequences for mainstreaming gender interests in foundational aspects of peace and security practice. Recent normative augmentations including UNSCR 2242 and the amplified mandate of the Counter‐Terrorism Committee to include gender considerations are assessed. The article argues that these moves to include gender come late, and on the terms set by security‐minded states. The late attention to gender in counterterrorism leaves little capacity to produce an inclusive and reimagined feminist agenda addressing the causes conducive to the production of terrorism and the costs to women of counterterrorism strategies. This pessimistic assessment warns of the pitfalls of exclusion and inclusion in the new security regimes that have been fashioned post 9/11 by states.     

The ‘new home front’ and the war on terror: ethical and political reframing of national and international politics

This article adopts the notion of the ‘new home front’ to consider the spatial complexity of the war on terror and the blurring of domestic and foreign policy divides. It considers the politics and ethics of the war in three main areas: new media and everyday life; liberalism under strain; and citizens’ lives, multiculturalism and gender. It discusses the increasing role of horizontal (bottom up) influences alongside vertical (top down) ones, not least in the context of new media, which adds the sociospatial (virtual) realm of online communications to the familiar geospatial (physical) world of politics. Implications of the extended nature of the war on terror are assessed, as well as the potential for developments that have been part of it to impact on the broader sphere of liberal international politics in the future.