The spatial manifestation of threat: Israelis and palestinians seek a ‘good’ border

Boundary studies in political geography have largely focused on the presentation of empirical case studies. There has been little development of a theory focusing on the multi-faceted nature of both spatial and group boundaries, and the interlinkages between them. An analysis of the boundary concept within the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict points to the importance of understanding both internal and external perceptions of threat. This is reflected in the dual political discourse of physical security and space purification, the former being used as a means of securing territorial boundaries, the latter in an attempt to obtain boundaries between competing national groups. Idealistic solutions to the Israeli-Arab conflict would result from an emphasis on human rights as an alternative to the traditional spatial discourse.     

Quality Challenge in Iran's Higher Education: A Historical Review

Higher education at Iran's state-run universities is not supported by a deeply-rooted tradition of quality assessment. For several decades, Iranian universities have not been able to monitor themselves and develop efficient, internal structures of quality assurance. The academics' attempts at internal monitoring have failed, giving way to a system of bureaucratic supervision and control. Recent changes in Iran have given rise to new concepts, including the principle of universities' self-evaluation, based on academic autonomy and scientific freedom. But the dominant tendency in Iran's political structure and administration is still toward external, bureaucratic control. The conflict between more or less advanced texts and typically solid structures is a reflection of inconsistencies within the Iranian society, pursuing its transitional stage.     

Crisis of Ageing in Less Developed Countries: Too Much Consumption or Too Little Production?

The age structure in many developing countries is changing—the population is ageing. There is increasing concern over the social and economic costs of caring for this ageing population, and the capacity of the state to finance the expected rising social expenditure has come to dominate the debate on the economics of population ageing. In this context the elderly are considered primarily as consumers and ‘dependent’ on the working population. Following the Keynesian and post-Keynesian literature, this article argues that such a view of the elderly is incorrect, for several reasons. Firstly, empirical evidence shows that the aged do not consume (relative to their income) more than the rest of the population. Secondly, the issue of ‘dependency’ of the aged should be put in the broader context of the dependency of the unemployed and under-employed in a market economy. Thirdly, the focus of the debate should move away from consumption and towards production; and finally, since the old make claims on the national output on the basis of their accumulated assets, savings and pensions, the distributional issues (with regard to assets as well as incomes) have to be an integral part of any pension system in order to alleviate poverty among the elderly.     

RE-ENVISIONING CURRENT DISCOURSE: ALTERNATIVE TERRITORIAL CONFIGURATIONS OF PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD

This paper explores seven scenarios of Palestinian state formation and attempts to propose a suitable peaceful territorial solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ features of each scenario are examined against the backdrop of recent geopolitical developments and the complex geographic and demographic realities of the region. Some of these scenarios suggest that a peaceful territorial arrangement should involve incorporating some Israeli territory, encompassing a broad segment of the Palestinian population and exploring the possibilities of sharing territory through condominium arrangements. Drawing anew upon the boundaries and partitioning principle of the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, the author offers a proposal for the peaceful and permanent settlement of the conflict. According to this scenario, Palestine would be repartitioned and divided into four political entities: A Palestinian sovereign area on 30.3 percent of the territory, a Palestinian autonomous region on 4.5 percent, an Israeli sovereign area on 55.6 percent, and areas under a condominium arrangement on 9.6 percent of the land. Arguably, such territorial configuration of space proposes genuine options for dealing with the geographical problems of refugee settlement, demography, ethnic composition, and the retention of Israel's national identity (i.e., Jewishness), whilst also suggesting a concrete basis for peaceful coexistence rooted in the geographical imperatives and realities of the region. Cet article évalue sept configurations possibles de l'État palestinien et tente de proposer une solution pacifique au conflit entre Israel et la Palestine. A la lumiere des développements géopolitiques récents ainsi que des réalités ggographiques et démographiques de la rggion, l'auteur examine le pour et le contre de chacune des sept configurations. Certaines configurations font éat du fait que, pour en arriver a une rgsolution pacifique, (a) Ifftat palestinien devra comprendre des territoires actuellement sous le contrdle d'lsrael; (b) il devra regrou- per une forte majorite de la population palestinienne; et (c) le partage des territoires par l'entremise d'enten- tes genre ‘condominium’ mérite d'sêtre exploré. S'inspirant à nouveau du principe des ‘frontieres et du morcellement des terres’ dont fait l'objet le United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine de 1947, l'auteur propose une solution pacifique et perrnanente au conflit. Selon le scenario prefgrt?, la Palestine serait redivisge sur le plan territorial. Quatre entité politiques résulteraient de ce re-morcellement: un état Palestinien souverain sur 30,3 pour cent du territoire, une rggion d'autonomie palestinienne sur 4,5 pour cent du territoire, un état Israélite souverain sur 55,6 pour cent du territoire et une région (9,6 pour cent du territoire) gérge par l'entremise dententes genre ‘condominium’. En même temps qu'elle propose des methodes concrétes de composer avec les problemes ggographiques en ce qui concerne l'établissement des réfugiés, la demographie, la composition ethnique des états individuels et le maintien de l'identite nationale d'lsrael, cette solution propose aussi une base solide pour la coexistence des deux nationalitgs, base ancrtée dans les imperatifs et les réalités ggographiques de la region.     

A hobby no more: Anxieties of engaged anthropology: at the heart of empire (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Previous calls for an engaged anthropology were met by scholars who rose to the challenge successfully. But the current conservative political climate witnesses a regression of ‘academic standards’ to the traditional publish‐or‐perish model in many institutions, which themselves claim as mission not ivory‐tower academics but contribution to world affairs. Anthropologists may have to place themselves at the forefront of institutional reform if the ‘engaged anthropology’ moment is to be more than a passing fashion.