Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature brings to light the deep sense of crisis within the profession of academic philosophy which is similar to the paralyzing pluralism in contemporary theology and the inveterate indeterminacy of literary criticism. Richard Rorty's provocative and profound meditations impel philosophers to examine the problematic status of their discipline— only to discover that modern European philosophy has come to an end. Rorty strikes a deathblow to modern European philosophy by telling a story about the emergence, development and decline of its primary props: the correspondence theory of truth, the notion of privileged representations and the idea of a self-reflective transcendental subject. Rorty's fascinating tale—his-story —is regulated by three fundamental shifts which he delineates in detail and promotes in principle: the move toward anti-realism or conventionalism in ontology, the move toward the demythologizing of the Myth of the Given or anti-foundationalism in epistemology, and the move toward detranscendentalizing the subject or dismissing the mind as a sphere of inquiry. The chief importance of Rorty's book is that it brings together in an original and intelligible narrative the major insights of the patriarchs of postmodern American philosophy—W. V. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, and Nelson Goodman— and persuasively presents the radical consequences of their views for contemporary philosophy. Rorty credits Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Dewey for having "brought us into a period of 'revolutionary' philosophy" by undermining the prevailing Cartesian and Kantian paradigms and advancing new conceptions of philosophy. And these monumental figures surely inspire Rorty. Yet, Rorty's philosophical debts—the actual sources of his particular anti-Cartesian and antiKantian arguments—are Quine's holism, Sellars' anti-foundationalism, and Goodman's pluralism. In short, despite his adamant attack on analytical philosophy—the last stage of modern European philosophy—Rorty feels most comfortable with the analytical form of philosophical argumentation (shunned by Wittgenstein and Heidegger). From the disparate figures of Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Dewey, Rorty gets a historicist directive: to eschew the quest for certainty and the search for foundations.

Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature

The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, by Benny MorrisThe Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, by Benny Morris. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1987. xx, 380 pp. $39.50 U.S.

Traces the history of Palestine, discusses the formation of Israel, and describes the attitudes on each side of the Mideast conflict.

The Arab-Israeli Dilemma

Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question

This article discusses why Turkey has failed to propose an effective political solution of the Kurdish problem. It is argued that Turkey's failure to propose an effective political agenda is the main explanation of why Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan (PKK) insurgency has been rampant for so long. Turkey's commitment to militaristic methods worsened the Kurdish problem by creating deeper social problems. Furthermore, it is argued that the explanations tendered also point out the important factors that may affect the fate of any political agenda on the Kurdish problem, including that of the recent Kurdish initiative of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

The PKK Problem: Explaining Turkey's Failure to Develop a Political Solution

In conflict situations the protagonists are driven by rival visions of the past. The protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a particularly extreme case to illustrate this point. In protracted conflict like the Israeli–Palestinian conflict historians themselves are acting as combatants. In this regard, the article argues that history writing, particularly in the cases of protracted conflicts, constitutes an important part of the construction and reconstruction of security discourses whether by supporting mainstream security discourses or by challenging them. By discussing the role of history writing in the securitization process, this article aims to contribute to the centuries-long debates over the history-writing–politics nexus by taking a security studies perspective.

History writing and securitization of the other: the construction and reconstruction of Palestinian and Israeli security discourses

Securitisation theory, which has been developed by a number of scholars affiliated to the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, has become one of the most attractive analytical tools in contemporary critical security studies. The work of Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and others has made a major contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of security by introducing the concepts of ‘securitisation’ and ‘desecuritisation’. However, while this approach has made a major theoretical contribution in general, there have been few attempts at applying the concept of desecuritisation in particular. Moreover, at the theoretical level, there are also problems, notably an under-theorisation of the desecuritisation. This article is an attempt to apply the under-employed/under-theorised concept of desecuritisation to the Israeli–Palestinian case with a particular focus on the potential for desecuritisation arising from Israeli–Palestinian cooperation/coexistence efforts. Based on a conceptual framework that integrates dese...

Analysing desecuritisations: prospects and problems for Israeli–Palestinian reconciliation

This article discusses the role of the Israeli and Palestinian environmental NGOs as desecuritising actors who have attempted to initiate a desecuritisation process. In this regard, the article first reviews the Copenhagen School’s securitisation theory with a particular focus on the concept of desecuritisation and desecuritising actor. Based on the notion of desecuritisation, an analytical framework for analysis will be suggested here to integrate Israeli-Palestinian environmental NGOs’ water management efforts as contributions in desecuritisation of relations between Israelis and Palestinians with wider conflict resolution efforts.

Cooperation over Water Resources as a Tool for Desecuritisation: the Israeli – Palestinian Environmental NGOs as Desecuritising Actor

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fpalgrave.jird.1800148.pdf

Bezen Balamir Coskun

Papers

The PKK Problem: Explaining Turkey's Failure to Develop a Political Solution

History writing and securitization of the other: the construction and reconstruction of Palestinian and Israeli security discourses

Analysing desecuritisations: prospects and problems for Israeli–Palestinian reconciliation

Cooperation over Water Resources as a Tool for Desecuritisation: the Israeli – Palestinian Environmental NGOs as Desecuritising Actor

Jef Huysmans, The Politics of Insecurity: Fear, Migration and Asylum in the EU