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Experience as reporter for Belgian radio and television in Congo between 1980 and 2003. There is no logical progression in the unfolding of events but a succession of original, fragmented, unpredictable experiences probably testifying to a similar functioning of Congolese society, usually qualified as informal. This succession of experiences raises some troublesome questions: How to see without being seen? How to observe without yourself being observed, without upsetting the order and disorder of things? Is it possible for Belgians to film Congolese without their common past getting in the way? The unwavering fact in these experiences is the relationship that Congolese have with a professional camera. This thing is perceived as a foreign, white, outside object, like a surveillance camera, a resolutely post-colonial object, opposite which an attitude of defiance and pride is necessary. The author organizes his reports like an exchange of give-and -- take where money plays an important - but not essential -- role. Whether they are paid or not, filmed Congolese are ultimately alone in deciding what they give to the camera. By controlling their image, they appropriate part of the film. Adapted from the source document.

This paper explores the nature & consequences of the fact that political & religious fundamentalism are not separate phenomena, examining the church-state nexus historically & then considering its implications for republican government & American culture. Statecraft & soulcraft have always co-existed, but Americans have sought to constrain their interplay. Constitutional barriers were placed between the two so that Americans would not find themselves in a situation akin to the medieval church's power monopoly. Americans have tended to believe in an individual god rather than a religious credo. Sam Harris (2004) argues that "societies must protect themselves against a litany of present evils by strengthening their embrace of reason & renouncing religion." However, sociobiologists & this author contend that the major concern at this point is the "apotheosis of secular government." The state's assumption of matters once the province of religion does not fit with Americans' belief in a personal god. M. Ridley (1997) argues that the virtues of reciprocity, trust, & cooperation are rooted in human biology, not the Ten Commandments. If a government invokes religion to control its citizens' behavior, its citizens should rebel. References. J. Stanton

Автор статьи обращает внимание читателей на эволюцию института права частной собственности советского периода России в его историческом ракурсе, который интересен тем, что с 1917 года на планете Земля впервые начался невиданный эксперимент по «выкорчевыванию» права частной собственности граждан на огромном геополитическом пространстве. Человеческая личность оказалась никем и ничем незащищенной. Тоталитарный режим не считался ни с законодательством, ни с Основным законом страны. История все расставила на свои места. Ныне институт частной собственности утвердился надежно и крепко. ; The author of the article pays attention of readers to evolution of institute of law of private property during the Soviet period in Russia from the historical point of view, which is interesting by the facts that from 1917 there has began unprecedented experiment of withdrawal of private property rights of citizens on the huge geopolitical space. Human person became unprotected by nothing and nobody. Totalitarian regime didn't consider neither the legislation, nor the General state law. The history has arranged everything on its own place. Nowadays the institute of private property has become reliable and strongly established.

Статья посвящена анализу взглядов основоположников славянофильства на проблему соотношения государственного и общественного интересов. Точка зрения славянофилов по данному вопросу сопоставляется с позицией представителей либерализма XIX в. Автор выявляет значение понятий «гражданственность», «гражданская жизнь», «земля» в славянофильской политической концепции и приходит к выводу, что они не могут отождествляться с понятием «гражданское общество» в политических учениях либеральных мыслителей. Славянофилы не считали нужным механически заимствовать опыт западных демократий, так как, по их мнению, в России имеются собственные демократические традиции. ; The article is dedicated to analysis the glance of the founders of the Slavophilism to problem of the correlation state and public interest. The Slavophiles` standpoint on given question is matched with position of the representatives of the liberalism of the XIX century. The author reveals the importance of the notions «civil duty», «civil life», «land» in Slavophiles` political concept and comes to conclusion that they can be not identifed with notion «civil society» in political teachings of the liberal thinkers. The Slavophiles did not consider necessary mechanically to plagerize the experience of west democracy, since, upon their opinion, there are own democratic traditions in Russia.

Drawing on grassroots activism by the women's rights NGO GAMCOTRAP (Gambian Committee on Traditional Practices), this article considers contested forms of sexuality in the Gambia. Among these are polygamy, early marriage, sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, marital/statutory rape, forced retirement by spouse from sex due to menopause, trafficking in women, and lesbianism. Arguments relating to Gambian culture and Islam are central to the contestations around these issues. For example, some men cite articles in the Koran as justifying polygamy, and many women accept this as their right. In fact, the Koran condones polygamy only where all wives are treated with equal justice, a condition it describes as impossible, thus monogamy can be inferred to be the recommended course of action. The reality is that many women suffer when their husbands take other wives. The author cites grievances, for example men's material contributions decrease, and they may also cease having sex with older wives leaving them unsatisfied but unable to leave the marriage or seek sex elsewhere due to social and economic constraints. (IDS Bull/GIGA)

Este artículo pasa revista al proceso de diálogo entre la Unión Europea y la Comunidad Andina. Los requerimientos establecidos por la UE para los acuerdos de asociación y la posibilidad de que los mismos sean cumplidos por los países de la CAN son analizados por el autor, quien señala que la falta de "profundidad" y una serie de obstáculos políticos e institucionales están vigentes en el grupo andino, lo que de alguna forma restringe la consolidación de espacios a nivel internacional. García señala que un Acuerdo de Asociación con la UE podría fortalecer la cooperación en lo que a cohesión social andina se refiere. ; This article reviews the process of dialogue between the European Union and the Andean Community of Nations. It analyses whether the Andean countries could satisfy the European requirements for the signature of Association Agreements. According to the author, there are several political and institutional obstacles that inhibit the Andean countries to consolidate their space at the international arena. An association agreement with the European Union could foster cooperation actions aimed at strengthening social cohesion at the Andean Region.

En un intento de historia inmediata, el autor pretende tratar con la mayor objetividad posible los seis primeros años de gobierno del presidente ruso Vladimir Putin: política interior, relaciones exteriores, economía, demografía y religión son los puntos examinados a partir del seguimiento cotidiano de la actualidad de Rusia. La guerra de Chechenia ha contribuido a la evolución hacia un incontestable autoritarismo. ; In an attempt of immediate history, the author pretends, as objetivity as possible, to deal with the first six years of the Russian President Vladimir Putin: domestique policy, foreign relations, economy, demography and religion are the issues analyzed from the daily Russia. The war of Chechenia has contributed to an indisputable authoritarianism. ; L'auteur se livre à un essai d' histoire immédiate de la Russie entre l'été 1999 et février 2006, soit l' arriveé au pouvoir du président Vladimir Poutine et son gouvernement durant son premier mandat et la moitié du second. Politique intérieure, durement marqueé par la deuxiéme guerre de Chéchénie, écomonie et société, démographie et religion, politique extérieure sont les points traités.

The author criticizes article 1348 (section second) of the Chilean Civil Code that, referring to a partition, states that "The rescission on grounds of lesion is granted to which has been harmed in more than half of his quota", as unfair and inconvenient, proposing its legislative modification (and meanwhile, a flexible interpretation), arguing that "the nature of things" in a partition is diverse, in all that matters to this problem, to the one of the contractual relations with which the mentioned disposition assimilates it. ; El autor critica la norma del apartado segundo del artículo 1348 del Código Civil, que dispone –refiriéndose a las particiones– que "la rescisión por causa de lesión se concede al que ha sido perjudicado en más de la mitad de su cuota", como inconveniente e injusta, y propone su modificación legislativa (y en tanto ello no ocurra, una interpretación flexible), argumentando sobre la base de que "la naturaleza de las cosas" en una partición es diversa, en cuanto importa a estos efectos, a la de las relaciones contractuales con las cuales la citada disposición la asimila.

The Mediterranean Games, insofar as they are intended as a relevant international sporting event on the world scene, have belonged, since their inception in 1951, to a diffuse context. On the one hand, they are supposed to facilitate international understanding and cooperation; on the other, they must face a world of political ambitions, grievances and claims, regional conflict and social and economic differences within participating states. The author aims to review the different historical, social and cultural aspects of this sporting event in an always convulsive Mediterranean. ; Los Juegos Mediterráneos, en tanto que competición internacional que se pretende de carácter relevante, se han situado históricamente, desde sus inicios en 1951, dentro de un contexto difuso. Un contexto que, por un lado, aboga por un entendimiento y una colaboración internacional a partir del encuentro deportivo; pero que, por otro lado, se encuentra inmerso en un sistema de ambiciones políticas, reivindicaciones, conflictos en la zona o diferencias sociales y económicas existentes entre los diferentes estados participantes. El presente artículo pretende revisar diferentes aspectos históricos, sociales y culturales ligados a esta competición, dentro del siempre convulso contexto mediterráneo.

As of 2003, there were 581 city managers in Texas, 50 (8.6 percent) of whom were Hispanic. The author of this descriptive study conducted a survey of these city managers in 2004 to determine their educational and professional backgrounds, their similarities to non-Hispanic city managers, and the barriers to their progress in municipal management. The findings show that there are differences in how Hispanic and other city managers prioritize quality-of-life criteria for their communities. Hispanic city managers are relatively new to the field, but they nevertheless tend to be supported by their respective city councils and regard themselves as being truly representative of their communities. Statistically, Hispanic city managers are not being replaced by Hispanic assistant city managers, although there is a significant pool of Hispanic midlevel managers ready to move up. The article concludes with an argument that the field of public administration must place more emphasis on training future city managers and public administrators who will not only be professionally qualified but also better reflect the populations they serve. Adapted from the source document.

In this article, the way the Turkish state treats Kurds is put under the spotlight. The Kurds in Turkey have been subjected to extensive oppression since the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The author places oppression of the Kurds in the context of official dogmatic Turkish nationalistic ideology, Kemalism, which is based on the political philosophy of the founder of the Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal "Ataturk." The military have assumed the position of his foremost spokesmen after Ataturk's death. It was hoped that the process of adaptation to the ED would result in ending the 80-year-long oppression of the Kurds & the other minorities, after Turkey acquired candidate status to the EU in 1999, but the country's powerful military are trying to thwart this process. The article is discussing how the military are using their role in the Kurdish question to hamper the democratization process. In Turkey there is widespread agreement that the unsolved Kurdish question is the main reason for the problems which have arisen in connection with the process of adaptation to the EU. References. Adapted from the source document.

The debate on democratic transferability based on the assumption that US military occupations of Germany & Japan resulted in rapid & fundamental societal transformation is refuted to argue that the design model of Germany is based on the misperception of postwar German politics. Analysis of the Allied effort in Germany compares the assumed goal of democratization to actual US actions aimed at denying German war-making potential, nonfraternization, & the US intent to inflict economic privation in the policies of privation, obstruction, & deliberate destruction. The abandonment of the failed & vengeful US denazification program, confused education policies, & delay of party formation are asserted to contradict the assertions of leading scholars of democratic development. The promotion of democracy in Germany by the US is concluded to have been extraordinarily inept, supporting the author's conclusion that German democracy was the result of political leaders decisions to engage in nonviolent politics, thus implying that military interventions have failed. The author proposes broadening theory to be inclusive of cultural factors that are not amenable to manipulation by policymakers. Tables, Figures, References. J. Harwell

AbstractThis article addresses multiple issues of how the ongoing debates of 'Thai Buddhism in crisis' (wikrit phutthasatsana) are perceived and discussed in popular films. Purposefully selecting three film stories, namely, Fun, Bar, Karaoke (1997), Mekhong Full Moon Party (2002), and Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003), as case studies, the author argues that the contemporary state of Thai Buddhism is narrated and interpreted in remarkably different tones. There is virtually no moral crisis concerning Thai Buddhism reflected in the films, but a firm faith in Buddhist teachings and principles is presented, with some critical concerns of its religious agencies and performances in Thailand's post-1997 economic crisis context. In the turbulent decade of the 1990s and the new millennium, the Thai people have strongly expressed a desire for religious sanctuary. Faith in Buddhism is still strong and powerful, but its form and content are always plural and multi-dimensional. Everyday life religion, not the official or canonical Buddhism, has continuously posted itself as a prominent frame of reference for ordinary people to re-assess and re-define the problems of modernity in the midst of emerging threats of global capitalist challenges.