Security and democracy: the ASEAN charter and the dilemmas of regionalism in South‐East Asia

In November 2007, the heads of the ten member governments of the Association of South‐East Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed a charter that will, once ratified, give the association a legal personality. The charter, significantly, requires more of its members than a reassertion of the traditional ASEAN norm of non‐interference and the practice of consensus. The charter lists a number of novel goals among the organization's purposes: ‘to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.’ In view of the wide economic and political disparities between the member states of ASEAN, this article examines whether strengthening democracy would in fact facilitate ASEAN's goal of becoming an integrated political, economic and security community. Rather than enhancing an integrated community, democratization would arguably create a faultline between the more politically mature and economically developed states and a northern tier of less developed, authoritarian single‐party dominant regimes in South‐East Asia. Moreover, given China's emerging political and economic importance to the region, such a strategy would, as if by an invisible hand, draw the more authoritarian ASEAN states into China's less than democratic embrace. This article concludes that rather than strengthening democracy, ASEAN's charter needs urgently to reinforce practices of rule governance and mechanisms of market integration to enhance both ASEAN's economic profile as well as the region's autonomy.     

The double interregnum: UK–US relations beyond Blair and Bush

The downturn in relations between the UK and the US under the premiership of Gordon Brown presents an interesting opportunity to analyse the nature of the relationship between the two states. Brown's policy of creating distance between his approach and that of his predecessor, Tony Blair, and between himself and President Bush, offers a case‐study in whether it is possible to be cool towards an incumbent leader while remaining close to the state he leads. In other words: is it feasible to be anti‐Bush and pro‐American? It also provides an opportunity to analyse the role of political timing in inter‐state relations. By appearing driven by reaction to the events of 2003 despite taking office in 2007, Brown put himself out of step with the prevailing mood of the time. By also acting as if the Bush administration was a lame duck counting out its time to retirement in 2009, Brown allowed himself to be outmanoeuvred in his bid for America's attention by the conciliatorily pro‐American new leaders of France and Germany. By acting as if the Bush administration is a political interregnum, the Brown government has invited the United States to treat his own administration the same way. The result is a dual interregnum in UK–US relations, with each incumbent leader awaiting the political demise of the other before better relations can be resumed.     

Anti‐Providentialism as Blasphemy in Late Stuart England: A Case Study of “the Stage Debate”*

This article develops a cultural history of blasphemy as representation by exploring the nexus between conceptions and perceived manifestations of blasphemy in a theological context. Specifically it uses a case study of “the stage debate”, a controversy about the viability of the theatre in England at the turn of the eighteenth century, to argue that contemporary perceptions of anti‐providentialism informed a sense of practical blasphemy that was commensurate with the Thomistic conception of blasphemy as aggravated unbelief. This interpretation illuminates the theological sensitivity of contemporary godly critics to perceived instances of anti‐providentialism and their belief in the actual diabolism of the theatre.     

“To Prostitute Morality,Libel Religion,and Undermine Government”: Blasphemy and the Strange Persistence of Providence in Britain since the Seventeenth Century

This article looks at the long term history of blasphemy in Britain and its relationship to the phenomenon of providence from the seventeenth century through to the twentieth. This, it is suggested, has substantially dominated the appearance of blasphemy accusation and public concern linked to the moral security of the realm. Using sermons and didactic writing from the seventeenth century, the article demonstrates how conceptions of providence and blasphemy were linked to produce a forceful culture which protected rulers against challenges to the community. Using demonstrations of public opinion the article shows how in the twentieth century the providential fear of misfortune as a result of blasphemy became linked with issues of national safety and prosperity. The article concludes by suggesting that the link between blasphemy and providence enabled both to remain credible into the twentieth century and beyond, undermining many of the linear models of both secularization and the growth of rationality.     

APPROACHING THE LANDSCAPE DIMENSION OF THE MEGALITHIC PHENOMENON IN SOUTHERN SPAIN

Although the megalithic phenomenon in southern Iberia has received attention since the mid‐nineteenth century, there has been very little attention paid to the role that megalithic structures played in the organization of prehistoric landscapes. Just as in other areas of Europe, however, southern Iberian megalithic structures must have played complex roles in the social organization of landscapes that go far beyond their use as funerary containers. Using examples from our work in southern Iberia, we employ GIS‐based spatial analysis to explore for the first time various aspects of the landscape dimension of these monuments. We discuss three case‐studies for which fresh field data have been recently made available. In the first (Almadén de la Plata) we find patterns of association between medieval transhumance routes and megaliths, and we use cost‐surface modelling to suggest that medieval routes may reflect earlier, prehistoric patterns of movement which in turn suggest that megalithic structures functioned in this area as waypoints within an emerging mobility system for people and livestock. In the second case (Aroche) we show correlations between the locations of megaliths and theoretical territories defined by isochrones and contrast this pattern with the distribution of non‐megalithic funerary sites of the Early Bronze Age, concluding that the spatial distribution of megaliths in this region may relate to their role as landmarks. Lastly we describe a far more specific relationship which we have encountered in the Antequera region, where we believe we have identified a relationship between the orientation of the megalithic structure of Menga, a prominent natural feature and several newly discovered prehistoric sites. Together, these three examples suggest that the current focus on typology, chronology and contents in the study of Iberian megaliths needs to be matched with efforts to identify and interpret the often highly complex structure of the prehistoric landscapes of which they form an integral part.     

THE RIVER HAS NEVER DIVIDED US: BRONZE AGE METALWORK DEPOSITION IN WESTERN BRITAIN

The significant quantities of Bronze Age metalwork recovered from the River Thames have focused archaeological attention on the presence of metalwork from riverine locations and led to the expectation that rivers should contain metalwork. Finds from bogs and marshes have also been considered to be part of this practice of deposition in ‘wet places’. Whilst rivers and bogs can indeed be thought of as ‘wet’, this overlooks the fundamental physical and cosmological differences between these two types of wetland. This paper will consider Bronze Age metalwork finds from rivers in the west of Britain, paying particular attention to Britain's longest river, the Severn. The finds will be compared to those from bogs and marshes, and an attempt will be made to explain these differences in terms of the opposing metaphorical qualities of flowing and standing water, and the landscapes in which these wet places are located.