Peace through the lens of human rights: Mapping spaces of peace in the advocacy of Colombian human rights defenders

What kinds of peace do human rights defenders advocate? This question has become controversial in light of heavy criticisms raised against the scholarly paradigm that peace and human rights are co-constitutive universals. In this article, I explore how Colombian human rights defenders navigate potential tensions, erasures, and vested politics in their peace advocacy during the current peace process with the FARC-EP. I follow the trend in the geographies of peace literature to study the articulation of peace with human rights as situated and constitutive practices. My analysis of published activist statements maps out the discursivity of peace advocacy, that is, how human rights defenders articulate different political demands as interconnected conditions for peace and maintain a common activist space that cuts across the uneven geographies of violence in Colombia. The visualization of my results as discursive networks shows how activist practices open social and discursive spaces that integrate multiple understandings of peace, instead of obliterating differences in a single and homogenized, ‘local’ representation of peace. I further submit that elucidating how human rights defenders address peace beyond the end of guerrilla insurgency, the ambiguous role of the state, societal discrimination, and structural transformations helps us nuancing conceptual debates. We can learn from Colombian activists to move beyond rigid conceptual juxtapositions of human rights as either panacea or liberal fuel for conflict and to pay attention to how concepts are animated in political struggles to end violence.     

Criteria for the Assessment of the Modern Use of Ancient Theatres and Odea

ERATO is a research project entitled ‘Identification, Evaluation and Revival of the Acoustical Heritage of Ancient Theatres and Odea’ that was implemented within the Fifth Framework INCO‐MED Programme of the European Commission, under the thematic title ‘Preserving and Using Cultural Heritage’. The project was designed to identify virtual restoration and the revival of the acoustical and architectural heritage. The project also addressed the issue of establishing criteria for the assessment of the modern use of ancient theatres and odea. Ancient theatres are threatened by erosion through time and improper use. The desire to use ancient sites with theatres and odea for modern activities is very tempting for modern societies. In fact, reuse is currently used as a means of conservation as well as justification for the enormous costs that restoration and conservation entail. However, decision makers and those involved with conservation are generally more conservative and reluctant to encourage reuse. It is important to realise that we are dealing with man‐made space designed for dialogue between audience and actors and hence criteria should be developed to enhance consistent and conscious decisions aimed at the conservation of such spaces. Criteria should be sought that consider several parameters related to human comfort, besides architecture and acoustic qualities. This paper discusses and evaluates, in general, the criteria relating to the modern use of ancient theatres and odea through understanding their value, ancient and current use, kinds of contemporary use, causes of deterioration and threats, and their cultural significance, while reviewing the main issues related to the international charters on the use of ancient places of performance.     

‘Iustitiam non includo’: Carl Schmitt,Hugo Grotius and the Ius Publicum Europaeum

Through a discussion of Hugo Grotius’ conception of just war, this essay shows that within his critique of liberalism, Schmitt clashed with the very intellectual tradition he claimed to represent. Both historically and philosophically Schmitt's concept of the Ius Publicum Europaeum was a mirage. Indeed, his concept of the political was a rejection of the moral and civil philosophy that sees politics as the world of active citizens and commonwealths arguing with each other about fundamental questions of justice and equity.     

对日和约与朝鲜停战谈判

朝鲜战争的爆发迫使美国最终确定了单独媾和的对日和约新方针,并且期待战局好转而实现对日媾和;美国为了阻止中国出席旧金山会议,在对日和约签订之前采取了拖延谈判的策略;旧金山会议后美国急于停战,而因对日和约在远东陷入困境和被动局面的苏联和中国却决心在停战谈判中坚持强硬的和不妥协的立场,以便在朝鲜战场吸引和消耗美国的力量。这就是在冷战大背景下对日和约与朝鲜停战谈判之间的微妙关系。     

试析尼印《和平与友好条约》签订的历史背景

1950年尼泊尔与印度缔结的《和平与友好条约》有着复杂的历史背景。悠久的文化联系、开放的边界以及密切的经济和政治交往,是该条约签订的基础。从尼泊尔方面来看,在稳定国内政治局势以及发展经济方面求助于印度,是它签订该条约的现实考虑;对印度而言,该条约可用来对尼泊尔国内的政治改革施加必要的影响,进而在地区安全构想方面,让尼泊尔成为其南亚安全框架的一部分,并借此抵制中国在这一地区的影响,这是它此时对尼外交政策的指导思想。     

蒋介石从"三二0"到"四一二"的心路历程

蒋介石从“三二0”走向“四一二”,从尝试“限共”最终走向公开反共,经历了一个相当复杂的并且是充满了矛盾心理的转变过程。其实,蒋介石并没有像以往一些著作所说的那样,从“三二0”之后开始,就处心积虑地准备清党反共。相反,走向“四一二”最初并不在他的设想之中。其对容共政策的态度转变,固然带有某种程度的必然性,但也带有相当程度的偶然性。深入考察蒋在这一过程中心态与环境矛盾冲突的复杂情况,对全面了解国共两党历史恩怨的形成或能有所帮助。     

Physik und Politik in der frühen Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Max Born,Werner Heisenberg und Pascual Jordan als politische Grenzgänger

Physics and Politics in the Early Federal Republic of Germany. Max Born, Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan between Scientific and Political Discourse. – Contrasting the historiography of two major developments in 20th century German history, the creation of quantum mechanics in 1925 and the dispute on the nuclear armament of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957, the question is raised to which extent the scientific culture was able to bridge political disagreement within the German physicists' community. A twofold story of the private and public exchange between Max Born, Werner Heisenberg and Pascual Jordan among others on the scientists' position to nuclear armament on the one hand and the writing of the history of quantum mechanics on the other hand displays different types of relating scientific work and moral responsibility. Neither politics nor science went on unaltered after the disputes between physics and politics in the early Federal Republic of Germany.     

徐承祖与中日长崎事件

1886年8月发生的“长崎事件”,是甲午战前中日两国之间的一次重要外交斗争。徐承祖作为清政府驻日本的最高代表,直接负责处理这一事件。他在处理伊始的献言,使交涉迅速走上了依托法律解决的正确轨道;“彼此抚恤、伤多恤重”方案的及时上呈,终使僵局得以化解,清政府尚能体面下台。“崎案”的结局助成了两国海军事业不同的发展方向,判定了甲午战争中日本中国一胜一败的前景。