Showing papers in "Alternatives: Global, Local, Political in 1997"
TL;DR: The practical problems of international politics are often described in terms of building a bigger and better state, without seeing that such an achievement would leave the problems of inter-state politics precisely where they were.
Abstract: Practical problems of international politics are often described in terms of building a bigger and better state—a European Union or an Atlantic Community or an Arab Union, without seeing that such an achievement would leave the problems of inter-state politics precisely where they were.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the issue of ethnic and religious violence is not meant for academics grappling with the issue as a cognitive puzzle, but for concerned intellectuals and concerned citizens who are concerned about their safety.
Abstract: What follows is basically a series of propositions. It is not meant for academics grappling with the issue of ethnic and religious violence as a cognitive puzzle but for concerned intellectuals and...
32 citations
TL;DR: The other man's death calls me into question, as if, by my possible future indifference, I had become the accomplice of the death of the other, who cannot see it; and as if even before vowing myself to him and accompanying the Other in his mortal solitude, the Other becomes my neighbour precisely through the way the face summons me, calls for me, begs for me and in so doing recalls my responsibility.
Abstract: The other man's death calls me into question, as if, by my possible future indifference, I had become the accomplice of the death of the other, who cannot see it; and as if, even before vowing myself to him, I had to answer for this death of the other, and to accompany the Other in his mortal solitude. The Other becomes my neighbour precisely through the way the face summons me, calls for me, begs for me, and in so doing recalls my responsibility, and calls me into question.2
32 citations
TL;DR: One kind of relativism of special importance to international relations is the notion that members of one culture should not "judge" those of others - especially that the West should not pass judgment on the policies and values of other societies as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Relativism is in retreat on many fronts; it is much less clear what will replace it. One kind of relativism of special importance to international relations is the notion that members of one culture should not "judge" those of others - especially that the West should not pass judgment on the policies and values of other societies. If this facet of unbounded, normative pluralism is waning, too, what will take its place? Such a matter seems rather abstract, but its policy implications are many.
21 citations
TL;DR: In the academic realm, an increasing number of scholars agree on the significance of international migration in its varying forms for improving the quality of life for the people of the places they affect.
Abstract: Once viewed as minor irritants, asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants in the broadest sense are increasingly seen as sources of change and transformation for the places they affect.2 Scholars and policymakers alike seem to concur on this point, though arriving at different interpretive conclusions as to the nature of changes spurred by refugees and immigrants. Most governmental commentaries on the issue see adverse or deleterious consequences in human movements. The Political Committee of the North Atlantic Assembly, for example, calls immigration and asylum "a shortand medium-term security risk" requiring both prompt policy responses and long-term developmental solutions. Rudolf Seiters, the German interior minister in 1993, speaks of population movements as representing a threat to political stability in the whole of Western Europe. Echoing the same theme, Kenneth Clarke, then the British home secretary, intimates that "good race relations and a healthy sense of community depend on an effective system of strict immigration control." "Illegal immigration and asylum threaten the nation-state as a source of identity and cohesion," says Charles Pasqua, the former French interior minister.3 In the academic realm, an increasing number of scholars4 agree on the significance of international migration in its varying forms for
18 citations
TL;DR: The most striking feature of the emerging reality is that the structures for managing issues and dealing with problems, whether in terms of world affairs or of encouraging institutions and leadership within individual societies, are becoming more and more incoherent.
Abstract: For some time now we have been inhabiting a world of extreme tentativeness. Major shifts in power and influence are under way, bringing new demands for the redefinition of priorities as well as greater fragmentation and polarization among and between peoples. We are witnesses to major convulsions of thought and identity, and yet at the same time there is a major ideological vacuum. Meanwhile, both traditional diplomacy and conventional ideas of "development" (including "alternative development") seem to be moving in the same old grooves. The most striking feature of the emerging reality is that the structures for managing issues and dealing with problems, whether in terms of world affairs or of encouraging institutions and leadership within individual societies, are becoming more and more incoherent. The old structures and balances are disappearing. New ones that seek to replace them are in a state of flux. We seem to have entered a long period of geopolitical imbalance, ethnic turmoil, and a new upsurge of nationalism that is being expressed in far more traumatic ways than was the case in the past. These are leading to an upsurge of violence and social breakdowns in multiple locations across various regions, North, South, East, and West. The new turbulence is not limited to the peripheries of the industrial capitalist world. The countries and cultures within this core are facing a variety of crises involving new divisions, new reassertions of national identity, and new conflicts over trade and technology. The grand utopias of a unified Europe and an integrated trilateral world system are increasingly coming apart. The crisis of the Japanese state and the Japanese economy and the growing impasse between the United States and Japan (once considered partners in global hegemony, though performing different and often contradictory roles) only underscores this falling apart of the trilateral world. Meanwhile, new powers are joining in or are struggling to enter the
18 citations
TL;DR: The Great Law of Peace as discussed by the authors is composed of 117 wampum that codify a number of inter-nation (al) matters of the Iroquoian people, including war and emigration.
Abstract: In one sense The Great Law of Peace, a document of the Iroquois nations - the Mohawks, the Seneca, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Onondaga - appears to be merely a straightforward and uncomplicated text about the relations between nations The Great Law, which is at least five hundred years old (and possibly much older), is composed of 117 wampum that codify a number of inter-nation (al) matters of the Iroquoian people1 It therefore parallels many contemporary treaties, conventions, or charters Wampum 72 through to 92, in particular, codify the principles of international relations and war "When the War of the Five Nations on a foreign rebellious nation is ended," wampum 87 reads, "peace shall be restored to that nation by a withdrawal of all their weapons of war by the War Chief" Wampum 71 establishes the procedures for emigration: "When a person or family belonging to the Five Nations desires to abandon their Nation and the territory of the Five Nations they shall inform the chiefs of their Nations and the Council of the League of Five Nations shall take notice of it" Wampum 36 through to 41 establish the selection procedures and functions of the war chiefs Interestingly, when contrasted with the United Nations Charter, with its emphasis on collective security, some of the provisions of the Great Law appear to be harsh Wampum 85, for example, declares that "[w]henever a war against a foreign nation is pushed until that nation is about exterminated all their rights, property, and territory shall become the property of the Five Nations" A more careful perusal of The Great Law of Peace, however, reveals that many essential and fundamental aspects of life are covered in
17 citations
Abstract: In 1994, as part of an intensifying “war on immigrants,” ”House Republicans pledged, in their Contract with America, to cut off virtually all welfare benefits for legal immigrants who are under 75 years old.”l Recently, the war was extended to foreign tongues; a House committee approved a bill ”making English the official language of the United States.”2 Throughout US history, “strangers in the land” have been subjected to a variety of anxiety-driven forms of hostile scrutiny and policy initiative.3 During the period of the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts at the end of the eighteenth century, for example, the Federalists whipped up an anti-alien hysteria, arguing that “the root of all evil in the United States was the large foreign-born population,” which, among other things, would “contaminate the purity and simplicity of the American character.”4 The contemporary political climate, which encourages attacks from various segments of the social and political order (right-wing journalists, nativist groups, regional labor organizations, state governors, national leaders, and legislative bodies) is part of a venerable US tradition. If there is a consistent impetus to the various episodes of an anti-alien initiative in the history of US politics, it is to be found in the cultural anxieties that the actions and articulations reflect. Alien “others,” who, in various periods, have been “Indians,“ French speakers, Roman Catholics, Irish, southern European, eastern European, Asian, and Third World immigrants, and, most recently, “illegal aliens” crossing the US border with Mexico, have been constructed as threats to valued models of personhood and to images of a unified national society and culture.
14 citations
14 citations
6 citations