Suchergebnisse

One of the neglected areas in research of civil‐military relations is the perpetual struggle over allocation of manpower resources between the military and other societal sectors. This paper explores the various considerations and the different treatment accorded to various groups and individuals under the universal compulsory conscription law in Israel. The paper evaluates the outcome of applying different rules to the same age groups in relation to three variables: 1) demands of national security, 2) management of intensive national and ideological conflicts within the country, and 3) accommodation of religious‐related norms and social norms in a diversified society. Data presented here show that considerations of national security and of equality before the law are not the only or even the most important considerations taken into account in forming national conscription policy.

The article analyses Sweden as a critic and as a mediator and bridge-builder on the international arena since 1945. Some researchers have claimed that in the mid-1960s Sweden took on the role of critic at the expense of that of mediator. Was this true? Has Sweden's participation in international opinion-building had a negative effect on her usefulness as mediator or bridge-builder in international conflicts? And what role do the actions of a nation as critic play for the image of that state as an impartial mediator? First, the relevance of a mediator/bridge-builder's impartiality is discussed. Thereafter, Sweden as critic and mediator/bridge-builder since 1945 is presented. Sweden's actions in two concrete cases are focused on the Vietnam and Iran-Iraq wars. In both cases Sweden tried to combine the role of mediator and bridge-builder with that of critic. Finally, some general conclusions are formulated about the relationship between the role of critic and that of mediator/bridge-builder. The results show that in the mid-1960s Sweden began to take part in international opinion-building and to formulate criticism of other countries to a much greater extent than previously. But Sweden's taking on of the critic's role in the 1960s was not followed by a decrease in her mediation or bridge-building missions. The hypothesis that Sweden took on the critic's role at the expense of the mediator's role is thus not supported in this study. It is concluded that there are no objections to a country that wants to act as a mediator or bridge-builder taking an active part in international opinion-building or formulating criticism of other countries in terms of different issues. But restrictions on criticism and attitudes come up in conflicts where that country is also acting as a mediator or bridge-builder.

'What is a chief?' and 'what do chiefs do?' are the two questions which begin this study of political authority in rural Lesotho. These questions are contained within a broader one, 'why do villagers often hold chiefs, individually and generally, in contempt but recoil at the suggestion of dissolution of the chieftainship?' The latter question arose from the author's initial field experiences to become the basis for a study which examines the history of the chieftainship in Lesotho. This history is seen as a dialectical process involving a struggle over, and a struggle for, the chieftainship. The former struggle refers to the interventions of elites in society, namely senior chiefs, colonial government officials and, in more recent times, post-independence governments and foreign aid agencies. The latter struggle refers to the interventions of chiefs and the rural populace. Having outlined different ethnographic descriptions of Lesotho's chieftainship, in order to illustrate the different criteria of authority which were applied in the making of the chieftainship, the study goes on to consider the efforts of different agencies to make the chieftainship in the image they desired. The contradictions within, and between, these interventions are explored as the study moves towards consideration of why rural Basotho still support the chieftainship. This analysis takes the discussion from the colonial context, during which Basutoland and the chieftainship were created, to contemporary regional and local rural contexts, in which the chieftainship exists. The discussion illustrates how chiefs have been personifications of family and society, and how this representation is being challenged amongst the rural populace today. The multiplicity of forces which have shaped the chieftainship are then drawn together in a conclusion which examines the pivotal role of the chieftainship in the creation of a national identity and in the crisis of legitimacy facing the contemporary state in Lesotho. The study is informed by a marxist theoretical perspective, but it is also influenced by the debate on postmodernism in Anthropology. This leads the study to acknowledge the current context of theoretical uncertainty for ethnographic research, and the opportunities this affords for exploration of new perspectives. One result is that the study examines tentatively the role of bio-physical phenomena in the way Basotho have constructed society and nature, and represented this construction in their collective understanding of political authority.