The Diwaniah: A Traditional Kuwaiti Social Institution in a Political Role

A s sociologists try to uncover the reasons why Kuwait was not only able to endure the oppression of the Iraqi invasion and occupation but also to recover relatively rapidly, some social institutions in the country are being explored for their value in understanding the coping strategies available within the culture. One such traditional institution is the diwaniah. This informal institution in Kuwait served as a natural and largely unchallenged survival mechanism both during historical conflicts and turmoil as well as recently during the Iraqi invasion and occupation. As a culture-wide tradition, the diwaniah, by providing the meeting places for men to discuss important political and social issues, played several significant roles during the Iraqi invasion and occupation. In this paper, the author investigates the growth of and changes within the traditional institution of the diwaniah over the years in Kuwait, describing its structure and development, and evaluating its influence and the roles it has played in Kuwait's sociopolitical history. The study includes results of a an informal survey of the roles the diwaniah has played during the last decade in the social future of the diwaniah in Kuwait is positive and promising, because its importance and traditional influence are increasing each day. While the diwaniah is a Gulf Arab tradition, it is in Kuwait that it has maintained its strength. Kuwaitis are proud of this unique institution, they see how it helped them cope with the dangers of an occupying army, and they understand that it made possible the swift recovery after the war. Therefore, it is the wish of every Kuwaiti to preserve the diwaniah for the coming generations for the welfare of the society and the individual.     

Language as an instrument of nationalism in Central Europe

This article presents a brief survey and analysis of the most intimate coupling of culture and national projects that occurred in Central Europe following the success of the Italian and German nation‐states established in this manner during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Language is the very ‘stuff’ of culture as well as the instrument of communicating and reaffirming cultural difference vis‐à‐vis other cultures. As such, language became central to the processes of nation‐ and nation‐state‐building in Central Europe, leading to politicisation of language and also of linguistics and philology, which were expected to fortify the nations and their nation‐states than rather to lend themselves to objective research. It is proposed that this specific Central European interweaving of language and national projects may be better comprehended through the application of Einar Haugen's model of language standardisation and Miroslav Hroch's model of nation‐building. These two models in the Central European case seem to be closely corresponding to each other. The short catalogue of language elements used to produce national differentiation closes this contribution.     

‘Defining Moments’ and Refining Myths in the Making of Place Identity: the Newcastle Knights and the Australian Rugby League Grand Final

This paper deals with the role of the media in refashioning place identity and in repositioning places in the cultural system of space. Specifically, it examines as a case study the media coverage of the September 1997 success of the ‘Newcastle Knights’ in the Australian Rugby League Grand Final. This event produced an intriguing moment in the reimagination of the identity of Newcastle (New South Wales), an industrial city undergoing ‘deindustrialisation‘. The paper draws on Hall’s (1997) notion of ‘resemanticisation‘ in repositioning place identity to explore how key elements of Newcastle’s dominant identity myths were utilised by the media in the post‐match media coverage. Traditional industrial narratives of embattled place were merged with the vision of a bright economic future for a re‐identified Newcastle and recoverable elements of Newcastle’s problematic industrial place identity were recast, stripped of their troubling connotations, and deployed in furthering the project of reimagining a prosperous future for the city. The paper thus considers the role of the media and sport in locating and relocating places in the Australian cultural system of space.     

Government, Business, and U.S. Economic Expansion in the Americas in the Late Nineteenth Century: A Reappraisal

Books reviewed in this article:
Pletcher, David M. The Diplomacy of Trade and Investment: American Economics expansion in the Hemisphere, 1865-1900     

Panorama of the Basque Country and its Competence for Self-Government

The aim of this article is to present a panoramic view of the Basque Country's capacity and competence for self-government. We have analysed the historical process of industrialization, the effects of the industrial crisis and new possibilities for development of the area's own regional policy based on new institutions (Government and Provincial Councils) that emerged from administrative decentralization in Spain after 1980. In the following section, we analyse the scope of authority in EU regions. Some of the cultural and transport infrastructure projects backed by these Basque institutions are studied. These projects have had a considerable impact on the Bilbao Metropolitan Area. The changes observed in the nation state, specifically in Europe, show contradictory effects. However, they have reduced the State's sovereignty but at the same time have prompted the State to retain powers rather than transfer them to lower institutional levels. This clashes with the desire of some regions or historical nations to access greater shares of self-government, such as the case of the Basque Country.