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On November 16, 1942, in the New Mexican desert, J. Robert Oppenheimer suggested to his military counterpart, General Leslie Groves, that Ashley Pond's Los Alamos Ranch School would be an ideal location for the establishment of a secret laboratory to pursue research on the design and construction of the atomic bomb. This event sealed the fate of New Mexico, dubbed the "Land of Enchantment," which acquired a new identity as the cradle of the nuclear age. The Los Alamos Laboratory paved the way to a third colonization of the area; a scientific conquest funded by the Federal Government and maintained by the arms race with the Soviet Union. Along the Rio Grande, the derivative installations of the Manhattan Project revolutionized the social, economic, and demographic order in the state while introducing environmental and cultural disruptions. And yet, seventy years later, New Mexico was still among the five poorest states in the nation despite its nuclear Eldorado. This thesis assesses the double-edged quality and the multiple facets of the Manhattan Project's legacy in New Mexico. By evaluating the durability and distribution of the benefits entailed by the nuclear industry in terms of jobs, education, and standards of living, this dissertation focuses on the question of the extent to which local populations actually gained from this high-technology revolution, and of the environmental, socio-economic price, which has been and will have to be paid for the nuclear bonanza. Since the settlement of the first atomic pioneers in Los Alamos, the native populations of New Mexico—be they Indian Pueblo dwellers, Hispanic villagers, or Anglo ranchers—have had to adapt to the ups and downs of the new order based on a dependence on federal funds that were, in turn, determined by global politics, and to face an increasingly harsh competition with outsiders, i.e. nuclear immigrants to the state. A combination of military and government power with secrecy built up the mechanism of a local military-industrial and scientific ...

Статья посвящена антибольшевистскому циклу французского писателя Луи Дюмюра, который также известен как автор антигерманской тетралогии о Первой мировой войне, написанной в 1919-1926 гг. и состоящей из четырех романов: «На Париж!», «Мясник из Вердена», «Пораженцы», «Красный крест и Белый крест». Однако в конце своей жизни Луи Дюмор обратился к русской революционной тематике и создал «русский цикл», состоящий из романов «Боже, царя храни!», «Российский скипетр», «Предвестники Ленина», «Красные волки» (1929-1932). Среди действующих лиц романов присутствуют, в частности, Распутин, великая княгиня Елизавета Федоровна, английский посол Джордж Бьюкенен и французский посол Морис Палеолог, Мария Бочкарева, В. И. Ленин и другие исторические персонажи. Несмотря на видимое различие тематики, эти два цикла имеют много общего в 1929 г. Дюмор рассуждает о революционной России в схожих отрицательных тонах, которыми десятью годами ранее он рисовал Германию. В статье дается анализ четырех романов «русского цикла» в контексте европейской и мировой ситуации того времени. ; After the expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1922 Russian intellectuals made significant efforts to establish a dialogue with French intellectuals. The symbol of this dialogue was the creation of "Franco-Russian studio": 14 meetings in the period from 1929 to 1931 were attended. Stanislas Fumé and Jacques Maritain on the French side and B. Zaitsev, B. Poplawski, N. Berberova, N. Berdyaev, G. Fedotov from the Russian side took part in studio. Although the "studio" existed only several years, it had serious influence on Russian-French cultural dialogue development, especially by opening Russian religious philosophy to French. Though it is necessary to mention that not all French intellectuals were friendly to this dialogue for example, Nikolay Berdiev's view on East and West were not perceived by all. Journal "Chisla" ("Numbers"), based by poet N. Otsup, from 1932 to 1934 seeked to strengthening the positions of Russian literature in the context of French culture ("Paris Note"). Much later these two attempts at dialogue have borne results: the emergence of personalism in philosophy and the Christian Democratic Movement in politics. After the closing of "Chisla" the dialog between French and Russian emigrant cultures failed, though the "Noviy Put" ("New path") journal made efforts on its development.

In a social context marked by constant protests that happen in the province of Neuquén for much of the '90s the Mapuche will be constructed along with other social actors (unions, parties, social organizations) to claim their own way so just believe. However, their status as Pueblos Originarios and local history traversed by both the Church and by the provincial government will shape a particular path can be reconstructed from the emergence of the Mapuche activism in the early '90s. This happens simultaneously with the wave of protests by indigenous peoples throughout Latin America in recent decades but particularly visible after the Zapatista uprising in 1994. In Argentina, the Mapuche people then re-starts a long journey of struggles, which combines several factors that make this experience particularly rich: the release of church guidance (especially the figure of James of Nevares), the claim of identity face to the 500 years since the discovery of America, the defense of territories against the advance-privatization policy, the troubled launch of the ruling party and its policies Neuquén state, but their own internal struggles that resulted in the formation of the Mapuche Confederation Neuquén, among others, point to a cultural politics which trait may be more intense at present, the search for a reaffirmation of identity and the construction of a new historical narrative which resizes own past. ; En un contexto social signado por continuas manifestaciones de protesta que ocurren en la provincia de Neuquén durante gran parte de los años '90 los mapuches irán construyendo junto a otros actores sociales (sindicatos, partidos, organizaciones sociales) su propia forma de reclamar por lo que creen justo. Sin embargo, su condición de Pueblos Originarios y su historia local atravesada tanto por la Iglesia como por Estado provincial configurarán una particular trayectoria que puede ser reconstruida a partir de la emergencia del activismo mapuche a inicios de los '90.Esto ocurre en simultáneo a la ola de protestas de ...

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union the role of Russia in international relations has been in flux - a reflection of its changing capacities, positions and interests. To a certain extent, this variability has been defined by the Russian economy, which in the 1990s passed through a stage of deep structural transformation and severe financial crisis, but which then benefited from a period of fast and mainly stable economic growth in the first years of the twenty-first century. Now, the serious economic decline as a result of the global crisis of 2008-2009 has been replaced by an unstable and uncertain recovery. In the 2000s a very specific political regime of personalized power under Vladimir Putin - set to be back as president in 2012 - was established in Russia. During his next term Putin will face the most serious challenges to Russia's economic policy yet. According to some scenarios, these challenges could significantly destabilize the country's politics and economy. Russia is facing a demographic trap; the ageing of the population is increasing the pension burden on the budget, while the shrinking labour force will surely become an obstacle to growth. The dependence of the budget and balance of payments on the price of oil has grown so great that even price stabilization becomes a threat to macroeconomic stability. The poor quality of the investment climate leads to falling private investment which, in turn, hinders the much-vaunted modernization of the economy. If combined, these problems will lead to the widening of the gap in technology and living standards between Russia and developed countries. Elimination of political competition and the impossibility of replacing political leaders through elections have led to widespread corruption and abuses, crony capitalism, and the complete undermining of the independence of the courts and law enforcement which further complicates the search for adequate responses to the mounting economic challenges. As there are no reasons to believe that Vladimir Putin is going to reform the country's current political system, the gradual accumulation of economic problems could well become the main threat to his presidency as Russia heads towards 2020. (International Affairs (Oxford) / SWP)

The relationship between the Romande Mission and the Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO) has been the subject of study by a number of Mozambicanists. Most of them agree that the Romande Mission played a key role in educating nationalist elites and in shaping political consciousness among the Africans. Notwithstanding the relevance of this approach, the current study argues that the Tsonga tribal and Mozambican national identities are civil religious constructs. They resulted from sacrificial ritual performances, the expropriation of traditions and symbols, and the creation of sacred spaces. Formed as a linguistic, cultural, religious and tribal unity, the Tsonga provided a historical genealogy and structural template for the emergence of Moçambicanidade as a civil religion. Drawing upon postcolonial theory and discourse analysis, the thesis uses the analytical category "civil religion" as a focusing lens in order to explore the dynamics of national solidarity in four main archival sources: First, the construction of the Tsonga narratives of the tiMhamba, the Sacred Woods and the expropriation of local traditions recorded in Henri-Alexandre Junod's, The Life of a South African Tribe; second, the pedigree of a heightened value for union, Protestant work-ethics and education, bequeathed to Eduardo Mondlane and evident in his The Struggle for Mozambique; third, Jose Craveirinha's deployment of religious and theological symbolism portraying the earliest signs of Moçambicanidade in Xigubo, Cela 1 and Karingana Wa Karingana; and, finally, the successful nation-building story signified by the Constitutional documents. Since the focus of the thesis is on productions of civil religion rather than their reception, evidence is drawn from textual analysis rather than from fieldwork methods. As a consequence of the analysis, the study argues that both Tsonga and Moçambicanidade are subaltern identities to modernity, perhaps destined to fail, but existing within the frame of modernity as its alter ego. By highlighting civil religious constructions of Tsonga and Moçambicanidade, the thesis hopes to shed new light and advance a discussion at the nexus of African religion and politics.

German-Dutch economic relations have been so intense since the late nineteenth century that their economies have often been regarded as being mutually dependent. Although protectionism and monetary problems undermined these contacts during the interwar period, this mutual dependency has remained largely intact. The question of the relevance of this economic interdependence has been widely debated. The main protagonists in this field of discussion were, on the one hand the Liberals and on the other the (neo-)Realists. According to the Liberals, intense economic contacts guarantee political security and peace. In this they adhered to the ideas of the eighteenth century philosopher Immanuel Kant, who, in his Zum ewigen Frieden – Perpetual Peace – stated that: "The spirit of commerce, which is incompatible with war, sooner or later gains the upper hand in every state. As the power of money is perhaps the most dependable of all the powers (means) included under the state power, states see themselves forced, without any moral urge, to promote honourable peace and by mediation to prevent war wherever it threatens to break out. They do so exactly as if they stood in perpetual alliances, for great offensive alliances are in the nature of the case rare and even often less breaks out". Not only did Kant state that economic interdependence would ensure peace, he also believed that democracy would do so. According to Kant, merchants can influence politics and if politicians were to listen to them, peace could be achieved. After all, merchants are primarily concerned with business, and war is harmful to trade. If two countries in which the people have something to say are economically dependent on one another, this mutual dependence could lead to peaceful relations and to a desire to treat one another with respect and consideration. In De l"esprit des Lois – The Spirit of the Laws (1758) – Charles de Montesquieu stated something similar: "The natural effect of trade is to bring about peace. Two nations which trade together, render themselves reciprocally dependent; for if one has an interest in buying, the other has an interest in selling; and all unions are based upon mutual needs".

Abstract Background In Germany, educational deficits or potential benefits involved in global health education have not been analysed till now. Objective We assess the importance medical students place on learning about social determinants of health (SDH) and assess their knowledge of global health topics in relation to (i) mobility patterns, their education in (ii) tropical medicine or (iii) global health. Methods Cross-sectional study among medical students from all 36 medical schools in Germany using a web-based, semi-structured questionnaire. Participants were recruited via mailing-lists of students' unions, all medical students registered in 2007 were eligible to participate in the study. We captured international mobility patterns, exposure to global health learning opportunities and attitudes to learning about SDH. Both an objective and subjective knowledge assessment were performed. Results 1126 online-replies were received and analysed. International health electives in developing countries correlated significantly with a higher importance placed on all provided SDH (p ≤ 0.006). Participation in tropical medicine (p < 0.03) and global health courses (p < 0.02) were significantly associated with a higher rating of 'culture, language and religion' and the 'economic system'. Global health trainings correlated with significantly higher ratings of the 'educational system' (p = 0.007) and the 'health system structure' (p = 0.007), while the item 'politics' was marginally significant (p = 0.053). In the knowledge assessment students achieved an average score of 3.6 (SD 1.5; Mdn 4.0), 75% achieved a score of 4.0 or less (Q 25 = 3.0; Q 75 = 4.0) from a maximum achievable score of 8.0. A better performance was associated with international health electives (p = 0.032), participation in tropical medicine (p = 0.038) and global health (p = 0.258) courses. Conclusion The importance medical students in our sample placed on learning about SDH strongly interacts with students' mobility, and participation in tropical medicine and global health courses. The knowledge assessment revealed deficits and outlined needs to further analyse education gaps in global health. Developing concerted educational interventions aimed at fostering students' engagement with SDH could make full use of synergy effects inherent in student mobility, tropical medicine and global health education.

Inhaltsanalytische Erfassung von Nachrichtensendungen im Fernsehen.

Themen: 1. Analyse der Sendung; Titel der Nachrichtensendung;
Sendedatum (Jahr, Tag, Monat); Sendungsbeginn und Sendungsende (Stunde,
Minute, Sekunde); Sendungsdauer; Coder-Identifikation.

2. Analyse des Beitrags: Beitragsbeginn und Beitragsende (Stunde,
Minute, Sekunde); Beitragsdauer; Identifikation untersuchungsrelevanter
Beiträge: thematisch klassifizierbarer Beitrag; Ankündigung des
Beitrags im Vorspann der Sendung; journalistische Darstellungsform
(Sprechernachricht, Nachricht im Film, Filmbeitrag, Reporter vor Ort,
Interview, Kommentar, eigenständige Moderation); Hauptgegenstand des
Beitrags; Hauptthema (ALM-Codierung, Politik, gesellschaftlich
kontroverse Themen sowie nicht kontroverse Sachthemen,
Human-Touch-Themen, Lebensweltthemen, Sportthemen, Servicethemen);
Bezug des Beitrags auf Deutschland; Bezug des Beitrags auf die deutsche
Politik; politischer Kontext; bei fehlendem Bezug auf deutsche Politik:
Charakter der politischen Themen und Ereignisse; Bezugnahme auf
deutsche politische Akteure; politischer Hauptgegenstand des Beitrags:
Bezugnahme des Beitrags auf die Bundestagswahl 2005; explizite
Bezugnahme auf das TV-Duell (vom 04.09.2005 zwischen den
Kanzlerkandidaten Schröder und Merkel) sowie auf Umfrageergebnisse;
zentrales Ereignis als Berichterstattungsanlass; Bezugnahme auf
Politics-, Polity- und Policy-Themen sowie jeweils als Haupt- oder
Neben-Thema; Vorkommen ausgewählter Politikfelder (Arbeitsmarktpolitik,
Bildungspolitik, Steuerpolitik und Sozialpolitik); Erfassung
politischer Akteure, die innerhalb eines Beitrags thematisiert werden,
in ihrer institutionellen Rolle als auch der sonstigen Rolle: Gerhard
Schröder als Bundeskanzler, Joschka Fischer als Außenminister, Angela
Merkel als Fraktionsvorsitzende von CDU/CSU, Guido Westerwelle als
Bundestagsabgeordneter (MdB) bzw. in sonstigen Rollen sowie von Oskar
Lafontaine und Paul Kirchhof; sonstige Politiker oder Gremien von SPD,
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, CDU/CSU (Union), CDU, CSU, FDP, Linkspartei PDS,
institutionell bzw. der vorgenannten Parteien sowie die Bundesregierung
allgemein; (jeweilige Reihenfolge der Aussageform: Sprecher/Akteur im
Original-Ton oder zitiert); Coder-Rating: Beurteilung des Gesamttons
eines Beitrags hinsichtlich seiner Vorteilhaftigkeit für den jeweiligen
Akteur auf einer vierstufigen Skala (Gerhard Schröder/SPD, Joschka
Fischer/Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Angela Merkel/CDU, Edmund Stoiber/CSU,
Guido Westerwelle/FDP, Oskar Lafontaine/Linkspartei.PDS, Koalition aus
CDU/CSU/FDP (Schwarz-Gelbe-Koalition) sowie Koalition aus SPD/Bündnis
90/Die Grünen - Rot-Grüne-Koalition); Personalisierungsanalyse Schröder
versus Merkel: Thematisierung der politischen Sachkompetenz, der
politischen Führungs- und Managementkompetenz, der politischen
Kompetenz als Wahlkämpfer, der politischen Kommunikationskompetenz
sowie der Integrität und Vertrauenswürdigkeit in Bezug auf Gerhard
Schröder bzw. Angela Merkel; Vorkommen einer untersuchungsrelevanten
Aussage im TV-Beitrag.

3. Aussagenanalyse: Bewertung deutscher politischer Akteure, Aussage
zu bzw. Bewertung von Wahlchancen oder Koalitionsaussage
(Koalitionssignal).

Aussagegruppe 1, Bewertung deutscher politischer Akteure:
Aussagesubjekt; Aussageform (Sprecher/Akteur im O-Ton oder wird
zitiert); Bewertungsobjekt; negative oder positive Bewertungstendenz;
Zeitbezug der Bewertung; Policy-Bezugspunkt.

Aussagegruppe 2, Aussage zu Wahlchancen in Deutschland:
Aussagesubjekt; Aussageform, Gegenstand der Aussage bzw. des
Aussageobjekts (Kanzlerkandidaten, Parteien und deren Mitglieder sowie
Koalitionen); Chanceneinschätzung statisch und dynamisch; Explikation
der Wahlchance; Bezug zu Umfrageergebnissen.

Aussagegruppe 3, Koalitionsaussagen: Aussagesubjekt; Aussageform;
mögliche Koalitionskonstellationen sowie deren Bewertung.

This dissertation explores the vibrant world of motion picture amusements in Asian immigrant communities in the United States between 1900 and 1945. It traces a circuit of movie-going that spanned from the migrant cities of Seattle and Stockton to the rural plantation towns of the Hawaiian islands. Starting in the nickelodeon era, Japanese showmen crafted a world of cheap attractions in major spots of Asian migration and settlement in the transpacific West. The cultural politics of first generation elites, alongside their struggles with local and national communities, shaped these entertainment spheres. Racial segregation, alien land laws, and prewar governmental surveillance also demarcated the possibilities for a viable public culture during the first half of the twentieth century. In Hawaii, the cultural sphere of movie-going emerged in relation to sugar planters, Japanese showmen, and the thousands of immigrant laborers who crowded into the show houses to view a diverse program of moving pictures from Hollywood as well as Japan and the Philippines. With the first major labor strike in 1909, sugar planters sought to promote the movies on plantations as a means to appease labor unrest and create a docile labor force. With the increasing threat of organized labor, however, sugar planters grew increasingly distrustful. I trace the apprehensions and anxieties that planters exhibited over the movies, the showmen, and their spectators in order to suggest that this film scene comprised an alternative sphere in rural Hawaii. Beyond simple pleasures, the dangers of Japanese run amusements extended a counter public for laborers beyond the union hall and into the world of leisure and attractions. This study of early film culture in Asian immigrant communities brings together the field of film studies with Asian American history, U.S. social and cultural history, migration studies, and urban studies. It sheds insight into the ways that race, labor, and migration formed the public sphere of the cinema in the first decades of its inception. The project illuminates how the social experience of the movies, and the engagement with the pleasures and fantasies of the cinema, shaped the relationships of Asian immigrants to both their national communities and American modernity

Environmental journalism history extends well before the 1960s. Only recently have researchers begun to examine it. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of that evolution by examining news coverage of Utah's five national parks from 1919 to 1971. Specifically, it looks at coverage from two newspapers published in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News , and two outside the state, The New York Times and the San Francisco Examiner . Utah newspapers suggest that the boosterism of the frontier press was present but waning when Zion National Park (1919) was established. These newspapers presented the park as validation for the state's membership in the Union and balm for its cultural anxiety. In The New York Times , Zion was presented as evidence of the nation's greatness as equal to the culture, arts, and architecture of Europe. Foremost, however, the parks were covered as an economic venture. Reporting on Bryce Canyon National Park (1923-1928) suggests that boosterism continued its declining trajectory. Unlike reporting on Zion, signs of tensions emerged as national park designation competed with land ownership and development. National pride was reflected in The New York Times and the San Francisco Examiner , while state pride continued to permeate reporting from Utah's newspapers. Coverage of Canyonlands National Park (1964) delved into political minutiae. However, it also suggested that the national park idea was evolving to consider a broader scope of what a park would protect. The way the park was reported suggests boosterism was replaced by a journalism that reported divergent views but provided little or no analysis. In news accounts, the language used to describe the land faded from unabashed awe to detached descriptions. News coverage of both Capitol Reef and Arches national parks (1971) shows that the sentiments of state and national pride that had basked in the boosterism of a fading frontier press disappeared and a view emerged that the state was a victim of tourism. This coverage also focused on Washington politics. At the same time, a nuanced voice emerged that began to consider the environment as a subject rather than a stage for debate.

SUMMARY:
The article by Xavier Le Torivellec is devoted to an exploration of the entangled history of the Bashkir and Tatar nation-building projects in the larger context of historically evolving political space of the Russian empire, Soviet Union, and contemporary Russian Federation. The central question of the article is how to interpret the contemporary situation in the titular republic of Bashkortostan. Linked to this question is the problem of whether it is possible to make sense of the present reality without references to the entangled past of the region and comparison with the historical genealogy of the present day Tatarstan. The situation in Bashkortostan is characterized by nationalizing intentions of the political elite of the republic of Bashkortostan, the dissimilating and protectionist project of the Tatar minority in the republic of Bashkortostan, and the current revision of the Soviet legacy of ethno-territorial constitution by the federal government. The article employs a long-term historical perspective, from the seventh century until the present, for contextualization of contemporary dilemmas of nation-building, ethnic conflict, and federalism as they unravel in the republic of Bashkortostan. The author combines the historical and ethnographic exploration of the Bashkir identity with a critical analysis of the twentieth century invention of the Bashkir tradition in the context of Soviet ethnic essentialism and nationalizing policy. He demonstrates how the production of knowledge about territory, culture, and history was part of politics of institutionalization and legitimation of Bashkir national autonomy. This analysis extends to the history of intellectual competition, telling the story of how nationalizing interpretation of the past from Kazan were perceived and sometimes countered with a different nationalizing interpretation coming out from Ufa. Focusing on the history of the twentieth century, the author observes that the policy of ethno-territorial federalism did no put an end to the historic conflicts and the diversity of social and political loyalties. It is this conflict-ridden and diverse nature of political process in Bashkortostan that provides the opportunity for the success of overall building of civic nationalism in contemporary Russia.

El trabajo apunta a destacar los desafíos de la integración en América Latina y el Caribe a comienzos del siglo XXI. Se parte de la nueva situación política y social verificable en la región a partir de procesos de cambios en la dinámica social e incluso en gobiernos. Son cambios que generaron debates sobre la política económica en cada uno de los países, el rumbo estructural del orden económico y social y que tienen impacto en los procesos de integración. Existe una mutación recurrente del escenario de la integración con movimientos al interior de cada uno de los protocolos de integración. Se analiza la nueva estrategia de Estados Unidos ante el fracaso de las negociaciones multilaterales mediante el ALCA y especialmente el avance de los nuevos procesos, tal como la Alternativa Bolivariana de las Américas (ALBA). En ese marco se considera la política exterior de Venezuela y su múltiple pertenencia al MERCOSUR, al ALBA y a la Unión de Naciones Sudamericana. Son pertenencias que desafían el destino de la integración regional. ; This work highlights the challenge of integration in Latin American and the Caribbean in the 21st century. That is the main aim of this paper. From the beginning it is considered the new social and political situation in the region, and also the changes in social dynamics and in the governments. These changes have generated some debates on the economic policies inside the countries and have contributed to define the economic and social structure, and in the integration process. There are some changes in the integration scene that are analyzed in this paper: the USA strategies on integration, the ALCA´s failure, and the new bilateral negotiations from USA. At the same time, attention is focused on the new process called ALBA and the external politics from Venezuela in Latin American and the Venezuelan membership of Mercosur, ALBA and UNASUR. There are challenges of destiny of regional integration. ; Instituto de Integración Latinoamericana (IIL)

The republic is a natural geopolitical core of Central Asia, therefore the game the world centers of power are playing around Kazakhstan is very important for Central Asian politics. This is especially true in a situation where the number of challenges to regional stability is growing and the threats are becoming increasingly dangerous. Kazakhstan is located deep inside Eurasia; it is a large state (five times larger than France and four times the size of Ukraine); it is ninth in the world in terms of size (2,724,900 sq km). With the largest territorial production complexes found along its frontiers, the country is fairly vulnerable. Conventionally speaking, described in geographic, economic, and climatic terms, the geopolitical heartland of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a purely continental country, can be identified as a triangle: Almaty-Semipalatinsk-Aktiubinsk. Its eastern flank touches on the geographic center of Eurasia (the 78th meridian and 50th parallel); it includes vast expanses of hummocky topography (Sary Arka), parts of the Turgay Plateau, and the Turgay Lowland. The heartland is economically undeveloped, its poor transport and information infrastructure being hugely overloaded. The central geopolitical space of the Republic of Kazakhstan faces serious environmental problems, while its natural and climatic conditions are adverse. The heartland is depopulated: with an average population density of 5.8 people per 1 sq km across the country, there are 0.3-0.5 people per 1 sq km in the country's center. Objectively, the North and the South, divided by the depopulated geopolitical Center, might move apart as they are attracted by stronger neighbors. The "void" of the heartland interfered with state development as such, and stimulated regional separatism among the local elites that belong to different tribal unions and pursue different foreign economic aims. Most of the Kazakhs of the Elder Zhuz are closely connected with Uzbekistan (with the South in the wider sense); the Middle Zhuz with Russia and partly (the Naymans and Kereis) with China. The Younger Zhuz looks at Russia, yet wants more independence than the other Kazakh alliances.

The African renaissance - the renewal of the continent - effectively started in the last decade of the second millennium. A critical element is the increasing and widespread democratic awakening in all parts of Africa since the early 1990s as evidenced by the number of multi-party elections. Demonstrating their commitment to democracy, African leaders, under the auspices of regional organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), have increasingly made a number of treaties, declarations and other political commitments in the field of democracy and good governance (including the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Declaration on Africa's Response to Unconstitutional Changes of Government). Significantly, the recent politico-constitutional crisis in Togo, occasioned by the sudden death of President Gnassingbe Eyadema in early February 2005, after he had ruled the country with an iron-fist for 38 years, and the interim succession of his son, Faure Gnassingbe, to the presidency, raised issues of democracy and good governance and provided an opportunity for African countries to test the effectiveness of the various democracy-related instruments. Adopting a legal-jurisprudential perspective, the author skillfully examines the contradictions between the regional-international legal instruments that permit interference in the internal affairs of a Member State of ECOWAS and AU and the principles of international law that provide for sovereign equality of States and non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign State. Undoubtedly, this work will interest scholars, students and researchers in international law, international politics and international relations as well as general readers, especially those interested in African affairs. CONTENT Introduction Politico-Constitutional Antecedents of the Recent Developments Regional Instruments on Democratic Principles in Africa Some Basic Principles of International Law: In a Nutshell Faure's Succession: Validity of the Removal of Fambare Ouattara Natchaba from Office Faure's Succession and Legality of Constitutional Amendment Faure's Succession and the Doctrine of State Necessity Faure's Succession and Regional Instruments on Democracy and Good Governance Concluding Remarks References

The signing of the "deal of the century" in Bahu creating one of the first major Caspian energy consortiums between Azerbaijan and western oil companies signaled the beginning of a new era in world energy politics. The discovery of potentially huge oil and gas reserves in the newly-independent states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan opened the door for western oil companies rushing to gain a competitive foothold in the new energy market. For Asia and the West this discovery provides a golden opportunity to ensure market stability through diversification of energy export routes. For the United States and its political allies, however, the Caspian region holds the key to the realization of a long-term strategic agenda. By establishing its presence in the region, Washington could: 1) weaken the influence of the Persian Gulf states and prevent the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from monopolizing the production and distribution of world energy reserves; 2) create a controlled environment ensuring that the flow of petro-dollars will lead to political and economic reform in Central Asia and the Caucuses; and 3) undermine the historical dominance of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran not only in the Caspian Sea region but in Eurasia and Central Asia. The political and economic changes brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reemergence of the Caspian region as a focal point of geopolitical importance have broad implications for the new government in Tehran. On the one hand Iran clearly finds itself in a tough and unfamiliar neighborhood. It seems to have lost the game of political and cultural influence over the newly-independent states to Turkey, which claims common ethnic and linguistic bonds with its Turkic brethren in the east. It has failed to play the religious card effectively--both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and even Shi'ite Azerbaijan have looked to secular Turkey as the model of governance and reform. On the economic front the discovery ...