L’impossible Incarnation D’une Monarchie Une Crise de la Régence du Dernier Habsbourg d’Espagne (1668–1669)

Through the crisis of the regency of the last Habsburg, which triggered a “conflict of legitimation”, this article analyses the notion of legitimacy from the viewpoint of the action and from the viewpoint of the ideas that underlie the action. Our investigation shows the interactionist nature of the practices of legitimation and emphasises the limit of an explanation based on rhetoric. In a conflict that cannot be equated to the mere physics of confrontations, the key question is that of the incarnation of the sociopolitical body.     

The Consolidation of the Suzerain-vassal Relationship between Tibet and Bhutan

Pho-lha-nas quelled the civil strife in Bhutan in 1730,and in 1734,and both sides of the conflict respectively dispatched envoys to Beijing to ask the Qing Court to confer honorific titles,which resulted in the final establishment of the Suzerain-vassal relationship between Tibet and Bhutan in the Qing Dynasty.However,the establishment of the political subordination relations did not necessarily eliminate the estrangement caused by the confrontations between Tibet and Bhutan in the past over 100 years.     

Wills,deeds, acts: women's civic gift-giving in Ottoman Istanbul

The waqf (plural awqaf) is the Islamic pious endowment founded for charitable purposes. The Ottoman waqf, especially between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, became a gift-giving practice of solidarity in which women played an active role in founding and maintaining endowments as benefactors. These endowments served almost exclusively civic public services. While there has been considerable research on women and waqf, by moving beyond interpreting the ostensible motives that are always intertwined with women's role as ‘family caretakers’ or ‘devout Muslims’, we attempt to suggest that, interpreted as acts of piety, awqaf, and especially those that were founded as organized spaces known as külliyes, became institutions by which women were able to cultivate (in themselves and others) civic identities, and articulate civic solidarities as citizens of their cities. This image of women as civic gift-givers recasts them as active citizens of Ottoman cities, especially Istanbul.     

Beyond ethno‐nationalism: emerging trends in Cypriot politics after the Annan Plan†

ABSTRACT. Historically, conflict between the two communities in Cyprus has been characterised by the diverging demands of ethno‐nationalists. The introduction of the Annan Plan for the solution of the Cyprus problem has fostered new trends in Cypriot politics and a new alignment of the political forces on the island. This paper argues that the conventional ethno‐nationalist division and the left–right divide are no longer sufficient in understanding the conflict in Cyprus. The new dividing and unifying elements in Cypriot politics can be best understood through analysing the views of political actors on such issues as sovereignty, territoriality, identity and power‐sharing.     

NEPALESE HISTORY IN A EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE: A CASE STUDY IN TRANSCULTURAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

In March 2013, a group of German, Nepalese, and Swiss historians, Indologists, and an architectural historian gathered for a workshop in Nepal to develop a new approach to the understanding of South Asian historiography, especially the Nepalese chronicles from the nineteenth century. The outcome is the present collaboratively written article. It is argued that, in the past, the analysis of South Asian historiography has been preoccupied by arguments based on an understanding of history that highlights facts and events. A transcultural and multidisciplinary approach, however, would overcome the common dichotomies of factuality and fictionality, history and myth, or evidence and truth. Recognizing the specificity of South Asian historiography, the article develops an approach to bridge asymmetries and entanglements in the academic use of the past in a way that also opens up a new perspective on Western historiography. By analyzing the religious, spatial, literary, and historical, and contemporary or context‐related aspects of a nineteenth‐century chronicle and by using “fieldwork” as a methodological tool for studying historiography, it is proposed to understand the framing of time and the making of sequences and historical periods as an open process that results in the constant and synchronic creation of chronological spaces.     

ENGINEERING EVALUATION OF THE 1 OCTOBER 1995 DİNAR EARTHQUAKE (ML = 5.9)

In 1995, a swarm of earthquakes affected the city of Dinar, Turkey, which is located in Southwest Anatolia and has a population of 35 000. The mainshock having a local magnitude of 5.9 occurred on 1 October 1995. It was preceded by foreshocks in the previous four days, the largest one with a magnitude of 4.7. These foreshocks initiated structural damage in many buildings, which was then severely aggravated by the mainshock and a strong aftershock two hours later, with a magnitude of 5.0. Numerous aftershocks were recorded throughout the following three months. Strong ground motions were recorded within the city. The mainshock produced peak horizontal accelerations of 0.28 g and 0.29 g. The Dinar earthquake caused a death toll of 92 and more than 200 injuries. The economic losses due to structural damage alone are estimated at 250 million USD.     

Managing escalation: missile defence,strategy and US alliances

Missile defence plays an increasing role in NATO and in most US alliances in Asia, which raises the question of what impact it has on the management of extended deterrence. Extended deterrence relies on the threat of escalation. Since the costs of escalation are different for different allies, the management of extended deterrence is inherently difficult. Missile defence shifts the relative costs of conflict, and therefore also impacts on the alliance bargains that underpin agreement on extended deterrence strategy. Although increased defensive capacity is a clear net benefit, the strategic effects of its deployment and use can still be complex if, for example, missile defence increases the chances of localizing a conflict. The article discusses the role of missile defences for the US homeland, and of the territory and population of US allies, for extended deterrence credibility and the reassurance of US allies in Asia and in NATO. It argues that there is increased scope in strengthening deterrence by enmeshing the defence of the US homeland with that of its allies, and that allies need to pay closer attention to the way the deployment and use of missile defence influence pressures for escalation. In general, missile defence thus reinforces the need for the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia to negotiate an overall alliance strategy.