AN ASSESSMENT OF A. W. KÜCHLER'S WORK IN THE CLASSIFICATION AND MAPPING OF VEGETATION

An attempt is made to use the Gorczynski index of continentality to trace changes in the continentality of climate in Central Russia through space and time. The index turns out to be sufficiently sensitive to investigate changes in continentality within a limited area such as the Central economic region of the USSR, but not sensitive enough to identify the effect of a large city (Moscow) on continentality. Changes in continentality over time are found to be in good agreement with the types of atmospheric circulation patterns that have been identified by Soviet climatologists. The continentality of Moscow was less pronounced during the first two decades of the 20th century, when atmospheric circulation was dominated by the so-called zonal pattern. It was more pronounced in the 1930s and 1940s, when the meridional and eastern forms of circulation predominated.     

从班洪事件到中缅"1941年线"的划定

班洪事件及“1941年线”的划定,是近代中国边疆史上较为重要的历史事件,直接影响了今天中国的西南边界。学术界对于班洪事件的发生多认为是英帝国主义的越界入侵,至于“1941年线”的产生则很少有人探讨。本文主要借助中、英双方的有关档案对班洪事件的前因后果进行了探讨,认为英政府利用中国方面“刘陈线”绘制的错误,单方面进入滇缅未定界内进行矿藏勘测,从而激起了中国人民的强烈反对,中国国民政府在边界问题上也进行了一定的抗争,但面对抗战的危局与英国的要挟,最终还是做出让步,划定了中缅边界的“1941年线”。     

“有田—克莱琪协定”在中国的反响——以西南联大国际问题专家的观察与评析为中心

1939年4月,天津伪联合储备银行与海关监督程锡庚在天津英租界被中国爱国人士刺死。日本以"天津事件"为由,迫使英国在与日本举行的东京谈判中达成以中国利益换取缓冲英日关系的"有田—克莱琪协定"。这一妥协性协议在中国引起强烈反响,形成抗战以来国内首次对如何利用国际关系争取抗战胜利的讨论热潮。西南联合大学恰是透视这一讨论的载体,这一协议在师生中引起了相当反响。他们对英国妥协态度的批判、对英日在华矛盾的分析、如何争取抗战胜利等等,他们对英、日、中矛盾的冷静观察与预测,透视出可以由此从更广阔的视野考察中国民众对于国际变化与中国抗战关系的基本认识。     

国家、市场、社会之间新型关系初建时的认识 --建国前夕之临清事件个案研究

临清事件是建国前夕市场秩序混乱情况下的一次抢购涨价风潮,对于事件的揭露、批判和处理,深刻地反映出国家、市场、社会之间新型关系初建时的认识模糊。事件强调资本主义经济因素的危害性,突出政府部门和国营贸易机关对于社会生产、流通的领导作用,市场作用受到抑制,出现了通过行政干预急速发展国营与合作社经济的趋向。     

“Let us create space”: Reclaiming peace and security in a Kenyan Somali community

This article pushes for a postcolonial, feminist critique of “anti-terrorist” securitization, that makes space for transformative peace-building. The post-9/11 securitization of the African continent builds on a long legacy of colonial conquest and racist Othering. Somalia is regularly centered here, portrayed in media and state narratives as a volatile failed state, one that produces terrorist bodies and acts. But rather than building peace, we follow others in arguing that the projects of securitization have stoked violence, intensifying discrimination against the Somali diasporic community (Mohamed, 2017; Wairuri, 2020). To counter this dominant narrative, we centre the Somali-Kenyan Awjama Cultural Centre, in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. A particularly rich and instructive case study of peace-making through community activism, we ask: How do Somalis who use the Centre subvert racist, Islamophobic narratives and reclaim their own modes of representation? And how do these new narratives disrupt systemic violence and build peace? Demonstrating the insights of a feminist, postcolonial geographic approach, we argue that spaces like the Awjama Centre provide interpersonal support and new kinds of (self-) representation. These fundamentally disrupt single stories of Africa and of terrorism, with greater possibilities for establishing long-term embodied peace than projects of geopolitical securitization.     

The Women,Peace and Security agenda and Australian leadership in the world: from rhetoric to commitment?

What is the ‘Women, Peace and Security agenda’ and why is it relevant now for Australia? During 2013–14, Australia is a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and, with a growing foreign military, peacebuilding and aid presence around the world, the country must play a role in preventing conflict, in protecting women and girls from violence before, during and after conflict, and in encouraging the participation of women in these peace and security decisions in order to create the structural, gender-equal conditions for lasting peace. This article highlights the promises made by Australia during the campaign for the Security Council seat. It evaluates the credibility of the campaign commitments by assessing Australia's foreign policies and overseas aid spending on women and peacebuilding in Asia and the Pacific; exploring the avenues for government-funded research on women, peace and security issues to influence government policies and programs; and taking stock of the government's record of engaging with civil society in developing and carrying out its National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. The article suggests concrete actions that would allow Australia to fulfil its promises and progress its international leadership on the major pillars of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.     

Implementing Australia's National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325

Australia's victory in securing temporary seats on the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Executive Board has been much celebrated. This provides an important platform for Australia to further the agenda of women's rights worldwide. As part of this agenda, Australia has provided a commitment to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security through the development of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012–2018, released in 2012. This article examines the early thoughts and efforts towards the implementation of this plan. It demonstrates that while there is a broad rhetorical commitment to implementation by Australian actors, there are nonetheless challenges that may threaten its success. Based in part upon interviews with Australian government representatives and policy makers, and activists and advocates of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, this article highlights the success, challenges and opportunities that have so far been associated with implementing this important Resolution.     

Chiang Kai-shek’s faith in Christianity: the trial of the Stilwell Incident

Chiang Kai-shek’s faith in Christianity has long been a controversial issue. Some have held that his faith was genuine while others have claimed that it was merely a posture to curry favor with the Americans. Now that the Hoover Institution has released Chiang Kai-shek’s diaries, historians are in a better position to explore this long-ignored part of Chiang’s life. This paper will examine Chiang’s faith as it developed during the Stilwell Incident, the most serious crisis of US–China military cooperation during World War II. While facing American pressure to grant military command to General Joseph W. Stilwell, Chiang reveals in his diaries how he relied on his faith in the Bible, how he interpreted the Bible, and how he applied his understanding of the Bible to his political decision making. An examination of Chiang’s diary during this crisis will help us understand his practical relationship with Christianity, which in turn will provide insight into Chiang’s attitudes and methods in dealing with the Stilwell Incident.     

论宋代士人群体公益慈善事业简

宋代是中国古代民间公益慈善事业发展至成熟阶段的重要时期。在儒家博施济众思想的影响下,宋代士人群体积极投身民间公益慈善事业,他们在其中担负着发起者、组织者或领导者、管理者的作用。宋代士人群体的民间公益慈善活动,对维护社会稳定、促进社会和谐具有非常重要的意义。     

Europe at the crossroads of three worlds: alternative histories and connections of European solidarity with the Third World, 1950s–80s

Abstract

Over the past few years, there has been growing interdisciplinary interest in the history of European solidarity movements that mobilized on behalf of the ‘Third World’ in the wake of the post-war decolonization process. Focusing on European campaigns against the Vietnam War and Pinochet’s Chile, this article aims at positioning these international solidarity movements in the broader history of North–South and East–West exchanges and connections in Europe during the Cold War. It explores some key ideas, actors and alternative networks that have remained little studied in mainstream accounts and public memories, but which are key to understanding the development of transnational activism in Europe and its relevance to broader fields of research, such as the history of Communism, decolonization, human rights, the Cold War and European identity. It delves into the impact of East–West networks and the Communist ‘First World’ in the discovery of the Third World in Western Europe, analyses the role of Third World diplomacy in this process, and argues how East–West and North–South networks invested international solidarity campaigns on ‘global’ issues with ideas about Europe’s past and present. Together, these networks turned resistance against the Vietnam War, human-rights violations in Pinochet’s Chile, and other causes in the Third World into themes for détente and pan-European cooperation across the borders of the Iron Curtain, and made them a symbol to build a common identity between the decolonized world and Europe. What emerges from this analysis is both a critique of West-centred narratives, which are focused on anti-totalitarianism, as well as an invitation to take North–South and East–West contacts, as well as the role of European identities, more seriously in the international history of human rights and international solidarity.