Negotiating Authority between UNHCR and ‘The People’

Refugee camps are exceptional places that are left to the benevolent governing of international humanitarian agencies, and offer unique opportunities to explore the making and un‐making of public authority. This article examines how certain groups of young men in a refugee camp in Tanzania manage to establish public authority by relating to ideas of a Burundian moral order, while at the same time relating to the ‘development‐speak’ of international relief operations. The refugees' attempts to establish public authority are highly contested and highly politicized, clashing with the relief agencies' vision of the camp as non‐political. Ironically, the young men who engage in politics in the camp are also closely linked to these relief agencies in their role as brokers between the agencies and the ‘small people’. Public authority is partly produced by the powers that are delegated to them by the agencies and partly formed in the ‘gaps' in the agencies’ system. Similarly, authority rests in part on the respect that these brokers gain from other refugees — a respect that is earned in numerous ways, including outwitting the international organizations — and in part on the recognition that they get from the very same organizations. In other words, public authority rests on complex relations between legitimacy and recognition and between sovereignty and governmentality.     

Bahamian Ship Graffiti

In the Age of Sail the Bahamas was on major routes between the Americas and Europe. Bahamians developed a way of life using their location to advantage. Ship graffiti are the first archaeological evidence of Bahamian shipping activity. The graffiti are unique in the region, being incised into a variety of stone surfaces, and probably other surfaces which have not survived. Images depict locally-built vessels such as sloops and schooners as well as larger, ocean-going ships. Graffiti locations are predominantly associated with people of African heritage and lower socio-economic status. Details suggest artists were familiar with ship construction and rigging.
© 2006 The Author     

The Supreme Court, Separation of Powers, and the Protection of Individual Rights during Periods of War or National Security Emergency

To paraphrase Lincoln, there is little that I could say on the history of the Supreme Court's handling of civil-liberties issues during periods of war or national emergency that could add or detract from the truly masterly job Chief Justice William Rehnquist has already done in All the Laws But One . ¹ I highly recommend that book to any who have not yet read it. Because the Chief Justice has provided such an outstanding overview of the subject, I shall depart a bit from what I might otherwise have said on this topic.     

The Marcoses and authoritarian rule in the Philippines

Filemon C. Rodriguez, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation, New York, Vantage Press, 1985, pp.285 (reprinted by Moed Press, Quezon City, 1986. Pesos 130.00, paper).

Charles C. McDougald, The Marcos File: Was he a Philippine Hero or a Corrupt Tyrant? San Francisco, San Francisco Publishers, 1987, pp.345. $14.95 (paper).

Raymond Bonner, Waltzing with a Dictator: the Marcoses and the Making of American Policy, London, Macmillan, 1987, pp.533. $39.95 (cloth).

Belinda A. Aquino, Politics of Plunder: the Philippines under Marcos, Quezon City, Great Books Trading and University of the Philippines College of Public Administration, 1987, pp.208. Pesos 100.00 (paper).

Lewis E. Gleeck, President Marcos and the Philippine Political Culture, Manila, Loyal Printing, 1987, pp. 280. US$20.00 (paper).