Living with patriarchy and poverty: women's agency and the spatialities of gender relations in Afghanistan

This article examines the spatialities of gender relations and women's oppression in urban Afghanistan under conditions of poverty and strict patriarchy. Using empirical data from biographical interviews with Afghan women from urban households in Kabul, Herat, and Jalalabad, the article questions how gender as social relation and gender as difference is lived and experienced among the urban poor in Afghanistan. Looking at urban livelihoods through the lens of feminist geography helps to better understand the gendered spaces of home and the outside world, of households as sites of security and violence, and of urban contexts and ethnic affiliations. The approach allows for reflection on women's subjectivities and their own understandings of gender inequality and injustice. Examining the gendered geographies in urban Afghanistan shows how social difference is lived under conditions of patriarchy and poverty and how women's agency contributes to the livelihoods of their households.     

Das erste Jahrhundert deutschsprachiger meteorologischer Lehrbücher

Sequences of text books published during a longer time span offer the opportunity to describe the development and forming of scientific disciplines. Here, the forming of meteorology as a separate discipline is analysed from German textbooks published between 1803 and 1901. This first century of meteorological textbooks can be divided into three phases: (1) a phase of the final definition of meteorology as a discipline within physics (1800–1840), (2) a phase which sees meteorology as an established part of physics (1839–1870), and (3) a phase of further developments within meteorology on the basis of the theoretical equations of hydrodynamics (1875–1901) during which meteorology finally forms as a separate discipline. In phase 1, meteorological textbooks were written by physicists, mathematicians, and other natural scientists. In phase 2, the textbooks were based nearly completely on Pouillet's textbook on physics and meteorology, and finally in phase 3, meteorologoical textbooks were written by meteorologists. The Germanlanguage meteorological textbooks from 1803 to 1901 are listed in Table 1. These books document the shaking off of old views in the beginning of the 19^th century, the establishment of meteorology as a separate discipline in natural sciences in the middle of that century, and the beginning of a specialisation within meteorology at the end of that century.     

Idealistisch geprägte Axiomatik des Selbstorganisationsparadigmas

The essay shows that the axiomatics of the systemic‐cybernetic‐biological theory of self‐organization by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela have their roots in the philosophy of German Idealism. Especially the completely subject‐centered philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Fichte already contains the central axiomatics of Maturana and Varela.     

Selbstständigkeit als Berufsalternative?!

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Mittlerin im Dienste der Umwelt—die Europ?ische Umweltagentur in Kopenhagen

Immer größer wird der Einfluß der EU auf alle Lebensbereiche. Kaum ein Gesetz kann verabschiedet werden, ohne zuvor mit den Richtlinien europäischer Politik abgestimmt zu werden. In großem Maße betrifft dies auch den Umweltbereich. Als Mittler zwischen den Mitgliedsländern und der Kommission setzt die EU verstärkt auf thematisch spezialisierte Agenturen. UTE C. BAUER sprach mit DIPL.-GEOGRAPH STEFAN JENSEN , der seit zwei Jahren als Projektmanager bei der Europäischen Umweltagentur in Kopenhagen tätig ist.     

Headscarves,Judicial Activism,and Democracy: The 2007–8 Constitutional Crisis in Turkey

How are we to understand and analyse the constitutional tension in Turkey between the judiciary and the political sphere? In this article the issue is mirrored in the political crisis which started in April 2007 with the nomination of Abdullah Gül as presidential candidate by the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP). The more detailed empirical background consists primarily of the dress code problematics including the matter of party closure. Theoretically, the “hegemonic preservation” thesis elaborated by Ran Hirschl turned out to be a useful instrument when it comes to explaining this political crisis as well as the origin of the so-called new constitutionalism. This is illustrated by the judicial activism in the headscarf affair as well as by the eagerness of the Republican People's Party (CHP), as the political representative of the secular establishment, to play the ‘Atatürk card’ and to submit the protection of their interest to an independent judiciary and not to the uncertainties of the mechanisms of majoritarian democracy. However, with regard to the current Turkish case my analysis also shows that Hirschl's thesis is too static and should be complemented with a more dynamic perspective of constitutional politics as a repeated game. One example of this is that even if the Turkish Constitutional Court (TCC) had declared the constitutional amendment on the headscarf invalid and voted for economic sanctions against the AKP, it did not close the party down.