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Book reviewed in this article:BALFOUR, A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. By Sydney H. Zebel.THE YOUNG LLOYD GEORGE. By John Grigg.LLOYD GEORGE, FAMILY LETTERS 1885–1936. Edited by K. O. Morgan.LIBERALS RADICALS AND SOCIAL POLITICS 1892–1914. By H. V. Emy.DOCUMENTS FROM EDWARDIAN ENGLAND 1901–1915. Edited by Donald Read.POLITICS AND THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE: Slave Emancipation and the Abolitionist Movement in Britain. By Edith F. Hurwitz.THE MIRAGE OF POWER. By C.J. Lowe and M. L. Dockrill.ENGLISHMEN AND IRISH TROUBLES: British Public Opinion and the Making of Irish Policy 1918–22. By D. G. Boyce.BRITAIN AT BAY: Defence Against Bonaparte, 1803–14. By Richard Glover.CLASS AND IDEOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By R. S. Neale.ENGLAND IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES: A Political History. By M. H. Keen.THE LOADED LINE: Australian Political Caricature 1788–1901. By M. Mahood.AUSTRALIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS 1966–1970. Edited by Gordon Greenwood and Norman Harper.VOTING FOR THE AUSTRALIAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1901–1064. By Colin A. Hughes and B. D. Graham.MODERN AUSTRALIA IN DOCUMENTS. Edited by F. K. Crowley.A HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. Volume III. The Beginning of an Australian Civilization, 1824–1851. By C. M. H. Clark.I, THE VERY BAYONET. Volume One of THE MAJESTY OF COLOUR: A life of Sir John Bates Thurston. By Deryck Scur.BLACK POLITICS: The Inevitability of Conflict: Readings. By E. S. Greenberg, N. Milner and D. J. Oison.THE SEGREGATION FACTOR IN THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY OF 1956. By H. L. Jacobstein.CIVIL DISORDER AND VIOLENCE: Essays on Causes and Cures. Edited by H. M. Clor.THE IBO PEOPLE AND THE EUROPEANS: The Genesis of a Relationship ‐ To 1906. By E. Isichei.THE SOVIET UNION IN ASIA. By Geoffrey Jukes.COMMUNIST PENETRATION OF THE THIRD WORLD. By Edward Taborsky.I. Jan F. Triska and David D. Finley, Soviet Foreign PolicyCHINA: The Land and Its People. By R. R. C. de Crespigny.MAINLAND CHINA TODAY. By L. R. Marchant.REPORT FROM PEKING: Observations of a Western Diplomat on the Cultural Revolution. By D. W. Fokkema.POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN POST‐WAR NAPLES. By P. A. Allum.THE FRENCH COMMUNISTS: Profiles of a People. By A. Kriegel.THE CIVIL‐MILITARY FABRIC OF WEIMAR FOREIGN POLICY. By Gaines Post, Jr.THE GERMAN IDEA OF FREEDOM: History of a Political Tradition. By Leonard Krieger.THE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF WEST GERMANY. By Kurt Sontheimer. Translated by F. Doneeker.GESCHICHTE DER STAATSIDEEN. By Reinhold Zippelius.STRATEGIC THINKING AND ITS MORAL IMPLICATIONS. By Moreton A. Kaplan.ON FREEDOM AND HUMAN DIGNITY: The Importance of the Sacred in Politics. By Morton A. Kaplan.THE FELLOW‐TRAVELLERS: A Postscript to the Enlightenment. By David Caute.LEWIS NAMIER: A Biography. By Julia Namier.R. H. TAWNEY AND HIS TIMES: Socialism as Fellowship. By Ross Terrill.

Abstract: Scholars' increasing interest in studying the musical genre reggaetón reflects el género' s rising global popularity. These studies have revolved around issues such as its origin and its connection to blackness, as well as migration, political repression, and the representation of women. The political upheaval in Puerto Rico during the summer of 2019 encapsulates reggaetón's undeniable role in Puerto Rican society. However, it has typically been thought of only as a space for denouncing oppression. In this analysis I propose that reggaetón serves as a decolonial tool not only to denounce systemic violence, but also as an alternative instrument to create knowledge, and as an archive to record and portray socio-political realities of marginalized communities in Puerto Rico. Using qualitative methods and a decolonial feminist framework, I analyze the music and performance of two urban Puerto Rican artists, Villano Antillano and Cita. After providing background on how music has served as a tool of resistance in Puerto Rico, as well as a brief history of reggaetón in Puerto Rico, I analyze how social realities are presented in the lyrics of both singers. This study invites us to see emergent urban artists as subjects with agency who push back against the conventions of the genre, and their music as alternative archives upon which marginalized communities interpret, build, understand, and negotiate their social and political realities. Resúmen: El creciente interés de los académicos por estudiar el reggaetón refleja la creciente popularidad mundial del género urbano. Dichos estudios han girado en torno a aspectos como su origen y conexión con la negritud así como la migración, la represión política y la representación de las mujeres. Las protestas políticas en Puerto Rico durante el verano de 2019 resaltan el innegable rol del reggaetón en la sociedad puertorriqueña. Sin embargo, comúnmente el género se ha pensado solo como un espacio de denuncia ante la opresión. En este análisis propongo que el reggaetón sirve como una herramienta decolonial no solo para denunciar la violencia sistémica, sino también como instrumento alterno para crear conocimiento y como archivo para registrar y retratar realidades sociopolíticas de las comunidades marginalizadas en Puerto Rico. Utilizando métodos cualitativos y un marco feminista descolonial , analizo la música y el performance de dos artistas urbanas puertorriqueñas, Villano Antillano y Cita. Después de proporcionar antecedentes sobre cómo la música ha servido como herramienta de resistencia en Puerto Rico y una breve historia del reggaetón, analizo cómo se presentan las realidades sociales en las letras de ambas exponentes. Finalmente, punutalizo que este estudio nos invita a ver a las artistas urbanas emergentes como sujetes con agencia que se oponen a las convenciones del género, y su música como archivos alternativos sobre los que las comunidades marginadas interpretan, construyen, entienden y negocian sus realidades sociales y políticas. Résumé: L'intérêt croissant des chercheurs pour l'étude du reggaeton reflète la popularité mondiale grandissante de ce genre de musique urbain. Ces études se sont concentrées sur des aspects tels que ses origines et son lien avec la négritude, ainsi que sur la migration, la répression politique et la représentation des femmes. Les manifestations politiques qui ont eu lieu à Porto Rico au cours de l'été 2019 soulignent le rôle indéniable du reggaeton dans la société portoricaine. Cependant, le genre a été considéré uniquement comme un espace de dénonciation face à l'oppression. Dans cette analyse, je suggère de considérer que le reggaeton serve d'outil décolonial non seulement pour dénoncer la violence systémique, mais aussi comme instrument alternatif pour créer des connaissances et comme archive pour enregistrer et dépeindre les réalités sociopolitiques des communautés marginalisées à Porto Rico. En utilisant des méthodes qualitatives et un cadre féministe décolonial, j'analyse la musique et la performance de deux artistes urbains portoricains, Villano Antillano et Cita. Après avoir expliqué comment la musique a servi d'outil de résistance à Porto Rico et présenté un bref historique du reggaeton, j'analyse la manière dont les réalités sociales sont présentées dans les paroles des deux artistes. Enfin, je souligne que cette étude nous invite à considérer les artistes urbains émergents comme des sujets dotés d'un pouvoir d'action qui s'opposent aux conventions du genre, et leur musique comme des archives alternatives sur lesquelles les communautés marginalisées interprètent, construisent, comprennent et négocient leurs réalités sociales et politiques.

This work is about the spirit of Western civilization and its temptations. Drawing on Hegel's philosophy of history, the text explains
why, until recently, this civilization was dominant over the rest of the world. The thing is that she understood the importance of rationality, subordinated all manifestations of life to her and especially, during capitalism (modernism), developed science and technology, and produced powerful weapons. Along the way, she incorporated all the significant achievements of other civilizations and
peoples into her system of rationality. In this regard, Hegel says in the introduction to the Philosophy of History: "The only Thought which Philosophy brings with it to the contemplation of History, is the simple
conception of Reason; that Reason is the Sovereign of the World; that the history of the world, therefore, presents us with a rational process." In other words, history is exclusively occupied with showing how Reason (Mind) comes to a recognition and adoption of the Truth. Of course, rationality is something that belongs to all civilizations and peoples, but other societies, for various reasons (geographical, climatic, religious, etc.) subordinated rationality to some other imperatives. Therefore, many of these communities were non-historical. Whatever it was, the West exploited its supremacy by colonizing other civilizations and destroying some. From the usual moral point of view, it is unacceptable, criminal. However, Hegel's philosophy, somewhat in Marx and Engels's interpretation, says something else. History makes sense. Its primary goal is to preserve humankind from anything that could destroy it, especially from various natural cataclysms and deadly diseases. The meaning of history is also its progress towards civil society as the realization of freedom and the end of history. This was only possible by adopting and practicing absolute rationality. Why guns and violence? Absolute rationality, in order to be histo-rically efficient, had to cover the whole world. In the West, as a "chosen civilization", it was to make it happen and he, militarily superior, did
so by submiting other civilizati-ons and nations to the extreme violence. On the other hand, with this relentless exploitation of colonized areas, the West was able to develop rapidly in every way and thus, at the level of possibility, achieve the best destiny of humankind. Especially important was the XX century. Then this civilization, developing medicine, genetics, computer science, nanotechnology and robotics, managed to defeat various deadly diseases, begin space exploration, and turn deserts into fertile soils and, with the "green revolution", produce food for all the inhabitants of the planet. Seeing the advantages of rationality, other areas of the world, with varying success, followed the example of the West. Colonialism disappeared, and human rights and international relations were institutionalized, especially throughout the United Nations. The détente
between the two blocs, capitalism and socialism, was established, and the nonaligned movement contributed to the stabilization of the world. As for the world's environmental prob-lems arising from the often-uncontrolled industrialization, they too, although excruciating and slow, seek to be solved on a global scale. Unlike modernism, which was constituted as a modern civil society with the adopted principle of equality of all, the current postmodernism is the opposite of everything
civil. The market economy is functioning less and less, major utopian ideas, Christianity and Marxism, have been abandoned, the "new human rights" destroyed everything noble of the already proclaimed universal human rights. In the resulting hopeless chaos, worried about the rise of
China and Russia, the most important forces in the West crossed in the "illegal" making a global deep state, the New Leviathan. They operate, as needed, both through formal and in-formal mechanisms. If necessary, they also oppose the authorities of their states if they deem their actions to be collapsing this civilization. As good disciples of Carl Schmitt, the German political philosopher, they are against the humanization of interpersonal relations; they have enormous financial and technical means and inhuman, eugenic ideas about reducing the world's population. There is no longer any doubt that their methods include the production and dissemination of deadly viruses. The action of these anti-liberal shadow minds is the destruction of all existing humanism, and has not-hing to do with history or any sense.

Note. Leviathan is a sea monster mentioned in the biblical Book of Job, where it is associated with the forces of chaos and evil. Metaphorically, Leviathan is a huge and powerful social organism living secretly in the darck deep, out of any legal social control.

A obra de Chico Buarque constitui-se, sem dúvida, uma referência para a produção músical brasileira. Sua coerência ética e as sutilezas empregadas na resistência à censura no período da ditadura militar, no Brasil, o singularizaram como uma personagem emblemática da cultura brasileira. O uso de formas literárias para "driblar" a censura contribui para entender as relações orgânicas que estruturam a cultura de massas, as artes, e a sociedade brasileira. Este artigo procura analisar essas relações, tomando como fonte as informações que integram o sitio : suas músicas, os livros publicados e declarações. Qual o sentido social que se pode atribuir à produção artística de Chico Buarque? Que mudanças e estratégias usou quanto à forma de recepção das suas obras artísticas de forma a resistir à censura? Essas são algumas questões que este artigo busca responder. Para tanto recorre a uma aparelhagem conceitual da sociossemiótica estruturada em três conceitos-chaves: o projeto criador; a performance e o projeto receptivo-apreciador. Alvo da censura, Buarque comunicou suas idéias utilizando estratagemas literários e práticos numa obra que se tornou capital ideológico. O recurso à astúcia na forma literária garantiu passar a sua mensagem, restabelecendo laços sociais entre a elite intelectual esclarecida e um público mais amplo. PALAVRAS CHAVES: Chico Buarque, censura, história sociocultural, projeto criador, projeto receptivo-apreciador.THE POWER OF IMAGINATION AGAINST THE VIOLENCE OF POWER or how, dodging censorship, Chico Buarque transformed the reception of the songs in Brazil of the leaden years Christian Marcadet The works of Chico Buarque are, without a doubt, a reference for the Brazilian musical production. His ethical coherence and the subtlety employed in his resistance to censorship during the Brazilian military dictatorship singled him out as an emblematic character of Brazilian culture. The use of literary ways to "dodge" the censorship contributes to understand the organic relations that structure the culture of masses, arts, and Brazilian society. This paper tries to analyze those relationships, using as its sources the information in the webpage: his music, his published books and his interviews. Which social sense can one attribute to Chico Buarque's artistic production? What changes and strategies did he use regarding the way of reception of his artistic works as a way of resisting censorship? Those are some issues that this paper tries to answer. For that, it falls back upon a conceptual apparel of the sociossemiotics structured in three key concepts: the creative project; the performance and the appreciative – receptive project. A target of censorship, Buarque communicated his ideas using literary and practical stratagems in a work that became an ideological capital. He recurred to cunning literary ways to make sure his message would achieve its aims, reestablishing social links between an intellectual elite and a wider public. KEYWORDS: Chico Buarque, censorship, sociocultural history, creative project, appreciative–receptive project.LE POUVOIR DE L'IMAGINATION CONTRE LA VIOLENCE DU POUVOIR ou comment Chico Buarque, en bernant la censure, a réussi à transformer l'accueil aux chansons du Brésil des années noires Christian Marcadet L'oeuvre de Chico Buarque constitue, sans aucun doute, une référence en terme de production musicale. Sa cohérence éthique et les subtilités utilisées pour résister à la censure pendant la période de la dictature militaire, au Brésil, font de lui un personnage emblématique de la culture brésilienne. L'utilisation de formes littéraires pour "duper" la censure a apporté une contribution à la compréhension des relations organiques qui structurent la culture des masses, les arts et la société brésilienne. Cet article décrit l'analyse de ces relations à partir des données fournies par le site : ses chansons, les livres publiés et les déclarations. Quel est le sens social qui peut être attribué à la production artistique de Chico Buarque? Quels changements et quelles stratégies a-t-il utilisés quant à la forme de ses oeuvres pour qu'à leur réception elles puissent résister à la censure? Voici quelques questions auxquelles on essaie de répondre dans cet article. Pour ce faire, on fait appel à un ensemble conceptuel de socio sémiotique, structuré à partir de trois concepts–clés: le projet créateur, la performance et le projet réceptif appréciatif. Visé par la censure, Chico Buarque a exprimé ses idées en utilisant des stratagèmes littéraires et pratiques dans une oeuvre qui est devenue un véritable capital idéologique. Recourir à la ruse sous forme littéraire a permis de faire passer le message en rétablissant les liens sociaux entre l'élite intellectuelle instruite et le grand public. MOTS-CLÉS: Chico Buarque, censure, histoire socioculturelle, projet créateur, projet réceptif appréciatif.Publicação Online do Caderno CRH: http://www.cadernocrh.ufba.br

'Es ist Ziel dieses Aufsatzes, den von den USA angeführten Antiterrorkrieg in Somalia zu diskutieren und seine Auswirkungen auf die Stellung und Rolle von Frauen in Somalia zu untersuchen. Mit den Anschlägen der al-Qaeda auf die Botschaften der USA in Nairobi (Kenia) und Dar es Salam (Tanzania) im August 1998 entwickelte sich islamischer Fundamentalismus und Terrorismus zu einer bedeutenden Bedrohung für die Region. Als Antwort darauf initiierten die USA in Ostafrika, insbesondere in Somalia, einen Antiterrorkrieg. Sowohl in diesem als auch im somalischen Bürgerkrieg ist die Beteiligung von Frauen bedeutsam. Bislang existiert keine umfassende Studie über die Rolle von Frauen in bewaffneten Konflikten und deren Auswirkungen auf Frauen in Somalia, einem Land, das bereits von Hungersnot, politischer Instabilität, ethnischem Krieg und geschlechterspezifischer Gewalt geprägt war. Bewaffnete Konflikte bringen neue Möglichkeiten und Zuständigkeiten im privaten wie auch im öffentlichen Bereich, durch die die sozialen Beziehungen zwischen Männern und Frauen neu definiert werden. Nach Ende des Konfliktes bestehen diese Veränderungen jedoch nicht immer fort und patriarchal dominierte Geschlechterrollen treten in vielen Gesellschaften wieder in den Vordergrund. Am Fallbeispiel Somalia geht dieser Artikel der Frage nach, warum Geschlechterrollen, die bereits vor dem Krieg existierten, nach Konflikten wieder auftauchen.' (Autorenreferat)

La seguridad pública es uno de los principales problemas que enfrenta el gobierno mexicano en la actualidad. El problema es central al funcionamiento de la democracia en tanto incide en la confianza social, socava el desarrollo social sostenible y puede eventualmente afectar su estabilidad política. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar las estrategias de política de seguridad pública implementadas por el Estado mexicano en el periodo 2006-2020, a través del método descriptivo-analítico que permite realizar un recorrido de la narrativa en torno al uso las fuerzas armadas en la lucha contra el crimen organizado y brindar protección a la población, a fin de comprender el alcance de sus resultados en el país ante la militarización de la seguridad pública. Esto permite establecer la hipótesis de que la debilidad institucional en materia de seguridad pública en México hace que el Estado tenga como principal instrumento al poder militar para reponer la autoridad e imponer la ley en el país. La violencia generalizada es el resultado de las estrategias de política cuya narrativa de la seguridad pública se funda en el control punitivo estatal a través del incremento de las fuerzas armadas en labores policiales de seguridad, pero que no contemplan la previsión primaria, ya que el problema estructural es la cuestión social: empobrecimiento, desempleo, marginalidad, entre otras. De ahí, la idea de que el Estado mexicano ha incumplido con su obligación de garantizar la seguridad de las personas, por la existencia de un débil sistema institucional de seguridad.

Public security is one of the main problems facing the Mexican government today. The problem is central to the functioning of democracy insofar as it affects social trust, undermines sustainable social development and may eventually affect its political stability. The main objective of this work is to analyze the public security policy strategies implemented by the Mexican State in the 2006-2020 period, through the descriptive-analytical method that allows us to carry out a narrative journey around using the armed forces in the fight against organized crime and provide protection to the population, in order to understand the scope of its results in the country in the face of the militarization of public security. This allows the hypothesis to be established that the institutional weakness in matters of public security in Mexico means that the State has as its main instrument the military power to restore authority and impose the law in the country. Widespread violence is the result of policy strategies whose public security narrative is based on punitive state control through the increase of the armed forces in security police tasks but which do not contemplate primary provision, since the social is the structural problem: impoverishment, unemployment, marginality, among others. Hence the idea that the Mexican State has failed to fulfill its obligation to guarantee the security of people due to the existence of a weak institutional security system.

AbstractThis proposed contribution to the special issue of ILWCH offers a theoretical re-consideration of the Liberian project. If, as is commonly supposed in its historiography and across contemporary discourse regarding its fortunes into the twenty-first century, Liberia is a notable, albeit contested, instance of the modern era's correctable violence in that it stands as an imperfect realization of the emancipated slave, the liberated colony, and the freedom to labor unalienated, then such representation continues to hide more than it reveals. This essay, instead, reads Liberia as an instructive leitmotif for the conversion of racial slavery's synecdochical plantation system in the Americas into the plantation of the world writ large: the global scene of antiblackness and the immutable qualification for enslavement accorded black positionality alone. Transitions between political economic systems—from slave trade to "re-colonization," from Firestone occupation to dictatorial-democratic regimes—reemerge from this re-examination as crucial but inessential to understanding Liberia's position, and thus that of black laboring subjects, in the modern world. I argue that slavery is the simultaneous primitive accumulation of black land and bodies, but that this reality largely escapes current conceptualization of not only the history of labor but also that of enslavement. In other words, the African slave trade (driven first by Arabs in the Indian Ocean region, then Europeans in the Mediterranean, and, subsequently, Euro-Americans in the Atlantic) did not simply leave as its corollary effect, or byproduct, the underdevelopment of African societies. The trade in African flesh was at once the co-production of a geography of desire in which blackness is perpetually fungible at every scale, from the body to the nation-state to its soil—all treasures not simply for violation and exploitation, but more importantly, for accumulation and all manner of usage. The Liberian project elucidates this ongoing reality in distinctive ways—especially when we regard it through the lens of the millennium-plus paradigm of African enslavement. Conceptualizing slavery's "afterlife" entails exploring the ways that emancipation extended, not ameliorated, the chattel condition, and as such, impugns the efficacy of key analytic categories like "settler," "native," "labor," and "freedom" when applied to black existence. Marronage, rather than colonization or emancipation, situates Liberia within the intergenerational struggle of, and over, black work against social death. Read as enslavement's conversion, this essay neither impugns nor heralds black action and leadership on the Liberian project at a particular historical moment, but rather agitates for centering black thought on the ongoing issue of black fungibility and social captivity that Liberia exemplifies. I argue that such a reading of Liberia presents a critique of both settler colonialism and of a certain conceptualization of the black radical tradition and its futures in heavily optimist, positivist, and political economic terms that are enjoying considerable favor in leading discourse on black struggle today.

[Full article is in Spanish]English:
Femicide has become a serious problem in Mexico. The recorded number
of murders of girls and women increased by 68% in 2007 alone; between
2008 and 2015, more than 1,000 such murders took place in Ciudad Juárez. This article examines femicide in Mexico through a discussion of
the protest groups that have organized around this problem. The article
is divided into four sections. Following the introduction, part two conceptually
discusses femicide and examines its different characteristics.
Part three then presents the situation in Ciudad Juárez. This is followed
in part four by a description of three important protest groups against femicide
in Ciudad Juárez and a discussion of how they have affected public
debates on this subject, particularly by bringing the debate on femicide
in Ciudad Juárez to the attention of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal.Spanish:
El feminicidio se ha convertido en un problema grave en México.
Sólo en el 2007 los asesinatos de niñas y mujeres aumentaron en un
68% de los registros anteriores; y entre 2008 y 2015, más de un millar de
tales asesinatos tuvieron lugar en Ciudad Juárez. Este artículo examina
el feminicidio en México a través de un análisis de los grupos de protesta
que se han organizado en torno a este problema. El artículo se divide en
cuatro secciones. Después de la introducción, la segunda parte se analiza
conceptualmente el feminicidio y examina sus diferentes características.
La tercera parte presenta la situación en Ciudad Juárez, seguida de una
cuarta parte donde se describen tres importantes grupos de protesta contra
el feminicidio en Ciudad Juárez, así como una discusión de cómo dichos
movimientos han afectado los debates públicos sobre este tema. En
particular el debate sobre el feminicidio en Ciudad Juárez para la atención
del Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos.French:
Au Mexique, le féminicide s'est converti en un problème de plus en plus
grave si on considère uniquement qu'en 2007 les assassinats de filles et
de femmes ont augmenté de 68% et qu'entre 2008 et 2015 à Ciudad Juárez
ont été commis plus de mille assassinats. Cett e extrême violence vis-à-vis
des femmes n'a pas pu être éradiquée dans aucune région du Mexique
et au contraire, elle a augmenté de manière exponentielle malgré l'organisation
depuis 1993 de groupes de la société civile et de mères des
femmes et filles assassinées pour exiger justice et sécurité, ce qui a donné
lieu à un débat public qui a cherché à transformer la conscience collective
sur le féminicide et a fait l'objet d'une audience au Tribunal Permanent
des Peuples comme un de ses évènements notables. Ce travail prétend
décrire et analyser ces actions protestataires, en se centrant sur la participation
des mères et des jeunes dans cett e lutt e.

The article deals with the environmental ideology evolution and the Green Movement political development – from groups of activists and ecological non-governmental organizations to influential political parties, at both national and international level (mainly in the Western Europe). The overlook covers the period from early 1970s to present. The mass political Green Movement arose in early 1970s in the Western Europe, USA and Australia in response to vivid ecological threats and the inability of national and international authorities to offer effective solutions. From the very beginning, the Greens declared their commitment to the principles of environmental responsibility, global sustainable development, inclusive democracy, consideration for diversity, personal freedom, gender equality and non-violence. In the political field, the Greens meet two main challenges: formation of political agenda with regard to environmental issues; promotion of effective political decisions and economic mechanisms to protect the environment from an anthropogenic impact. Ecological NGOs, especially large international organizations (like Greenpeace) perform public protest actions against the transnational and state corporations' economic activities violating the environment (f.e. Arctic oil extraction, radioactive waste storage, gene engineering in agriculture etc.). But beyond the active political lobbying and drawing of wide public support to acute environmental issues, NGOs are not able to involve into political process directly. Within 1970s–1980s (and also later on) ecological political parties were formed in most Western European countries, with a target to participate in official parliamentary elections at local, regional, national and supra-national level. Many of them succeeded and became influencing in their countries. Political methods used by the Greens are thoroughly analyzed in the paper. Special attention is paid to political strategy and tactics of the German ecological party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, as well as to participation of the European Union Green parties in work of the European Parliament. German Greens count for the most successful ecological party not only in Europe, but also worldwide. Using flexible tactics of parliamentary coalitions, they managed to facilitate a general turn of the German policy toward ecologization (renunciation of the atomic energy development in Germany, conservation of energy and renewable energy sources programs, ecological taxes implementation, prohibition on gene engineering in agriculture etc.). Being a part of the governing coalition, the "Bündnis 90/Die Grünen" were also involved in many other sociopolitical and international issues. Since 1984, many European ecological parties are present in the European Parliament. In 2004, the European Green Party was created to consolidate electoral efforts of the Greens at the European level. Almost all EU ecological parties are also members of the international Global Greens organization. Owing to activities of the Green Movement as a whole, state authorities of many countries (primarily in the Western Europe) adopted environment friendly legislation and state programs. Despite short periods of reverse, the general development of Greens is progressive and prospective.

A summary of the proceedings of the International Symposium on Damage & After Effects of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (ISDA), obtainable in English from Pergammon Press, Oxford, England, & in Japanse from Sahi Evening News, Tokyo. ISDA conducted research in Japan in 1977, with help & advice from WHO, UNESCO, IAEA, UNSCEAR, SIPRI, & Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) of Japan. Gaps were revealed in existing research & knowledge, & an inexcusable lack of urgency in some medical circles. The bombs were unnecessary to defeat Japan, & whether they shortened the war or not, they increased the loss of life & augmented the suffering, which still continues thirty-three years afterwards. The bombs were used because they existed, & as experiments on human beings, to prevent the USSR from contributing to the defeat of Japan. The numbers of deaths & survivors have been underestimated. Hiroshima & Nagasaki are probably the greatest single disasters, natural or man-made, in human history. Nagasaki's plutonium bomb was mistimed & misaimed due to several factors, & regarded as a prototype of future nuclear accidents. The described effects on the survivors are gruesome. Many are discriminated against in marriage & employment, & are always anxious about trivial ailments that could be the onset of terminal illnesses resulting in deaths best described as "the death of things" rather than "the death of persons." Advised to convalesce at length, many have to work excessively in inferior jobs to buy treatment, & fall into a poverty trap. State support increases due to public pressure, but is still inadequate. The criterion for registration is nearness to the explosion, difficult to prove. Linkage between radiation-based disease & the bombs is not scientifically established. This link could be established & other gaps filled, wtih a massive injection of finance & modern technology into research programs. There is no evidence of life-shortening among Hibakusha from effects other than maglignancies, probably because exposure to the whole gamut of fire, blast, & radiation produced a naturally selected group. Among the significant findings are social & psychological effects, without which knowledge of the A-Bomb experience would be incomplete. A culture of quality -- art, music, poetry -- has grown around the Bomb, & some Japanese schools have made surprising advances in peace education. Because of the Japanese language, little is known of this elsewhere. The destruction of cities in WWII allowed for human courage to show itself in attempts to save one's city, possessions, friends, or relatives. Even this display of human feeling was denied to Hiroshima & Nagasaki, where everything happened in a flash, & Hibakusha are consumed with guilt at their inability to act in a truly human way, although they realize the circumstances were beyond their control. They believe that nuclear weapons are at the root of the growing violence in the world, & that until this is squarely faced, no major improvement in public morality is possible. The bombs could have been dropped anywhere, & in this sense, we are all survivors. Modified AA.

In the fall of 1956 a survey was made in Guilford County, North Carolina into readiness for Sch desegregation (SchD) of a stratified area sample of the white, adult M's in its LF (See SA 5707). Simultaneously, `Hunter type' ratings by various officials were used to locate 28 leaders of the industrial, 'progressive' central city in Guilford County. 23 of these leaders were interviewed for from 1.5-3 hours using a moderately standardized set of open-ended questions. This present article, Part III, reports the findings from the leader interviews & discusses them within a speculative & evaluative framework. Occup'ly, the leading group consisted of the city mayor, 6 businessmen, 6 clergymen, 4 educ'al officials, 4 newspaper editors, 2 lawyers, 2 association officials, 2 labor leaders & 1 highly placed Federal gov official. The mayor, 2 businessmen, 1 clergyman & a labor leader could not be interviewed. Of the 23 leaders interviewed, 14 favored SchD & 9 opposed. Leaders' opinions on SchD were not related to diff's in euuc'al attainment or to length of residence & integration in the local community. With the exception of clergymen, all of whom either openly favored SchD, or, at least, did not speak openly against it, leaders' occup's were not related to their opinions on the issue. Leaders favoring SchD followed a strategy of active agitation, openly expressing their views more often than leaders opposing SchD. However, as pressures for change in traditional Sch arrangements from outside & inside the community mounted, the conservative leaders tended to drop their strategy of quiet, dignified but determined resistance & participated openly in the public debate. In interviews, leaders expressed a range of att's on the issue corresponding to that of a majority of the county sample, the minority of white, adult M's willing to close the Sch's & use violence if necessary to maintain segregation not being represented among the top leadership group in the city. Ur leaders on both sides of the issue almost without exception expressed the kind of larger-than-local perspective, moderation, willingness to compromise & respect for law & order which, in the county sample, differentiated those most ready for SchD from from those less ready. In addition, leaders on both sides consider desegregation of the public Sch's in the city inevitable, differing mainly on how long the change will & should take. Given current trends in the southern US towards industrialization & urbanization; given current pressures from US courts, national mass media & opinion; &, assuming the kind of local community leadership uncovered in the present study, the following pol'al forecasts are made: (a) SchD will surely triumph; (b) it will do so quickly & with relatively low intermediate `costs' (in bitterness & hostility engendered among persons & groups, privation of Negro rights during the conflict period, loss of manpower & productive capacity, & rents & tears in the pol'al fabric). W. Delany.

Author's introductionThis review of recent feminist analyses and theorizing of labor markets uses a global lens to reveal the forces shaping gender inequality. The first section introduces the key words of globalization, gender and work organization. Next, I examine gender as embodied labor activity in globalized worksites, and the effects of globalization on gendered patterns of work and life. Putting gender at the center of globalization discourses highlights the historical and cultural variability of gender relations intersecting with class, race and nationality, and highlights the impact of restructuring on workers, organizations and institutions at the local, national and regional as well as transnational levels. Then I turn to look at labor market restructuring through commodification of care, outsourcing of household tasks and informalization of employment to show how these processes shape the complexity of relationships between and the interconnectedness of social inequalities transnationally and in global cities. Place matters when analyzing how service employment alters divisions of labor and how these labor market changes are gendered. Global restructuring not only poses new challenges but also creates new opportunities for mobilization around a more robust notion of equality. The final section explores the development of spaces for collective action and the rise of new women's and feminist movements (e.g., transnational networks, non‐governmental agencies). The study of globalization, gender and employment has broad importance for understanding not only the social causes but also the social consequences of the shift to a post‐industrial society.Author recommendsAcker, Joan 2004. 'Gender, Capitalism and Globalization.'Critical Sociology 30, 1: 17–41.Feminist scholarship both critiques gender‐blind globalization discourses and an older generation of women and development theories. By tracing the lineage of current feminist literature on globalization to women and development research, Joan Acker shows both the continuities and distance traveled from the previous terrain of debate. New feminist scholarship on globalization owes a debt to these important, albeit limited, studies of women at work in Latin America, Africa and Asia, but acknowledges the need to go beyond the category of women to analyze specific forms and cultural expressions of gendered power in relationship to class and other hierarchies. One of the major advances in feminist theory comes under the microscope of Acker's keen analysis when she excavates how gender is both embodied and embedded in the logic and structuring of globalizing capitalism. This extends the case she made in her earlier pioneering research on gender relations being embedded in the organization of major institutions. For the study of globalization, Acker posits that the gendered construction (and cultural coding) of capitalist production separated from human reproduction has resulted in subordination of women in both domains. Acker uncovers the historical legacy of a masculine‐form of dominance associated with production in the money economy that was exported to and embedded in colonialist installation of large‐scale institutions. By the late 20th Century large‐scale institutions promoted images and emotions that expressed economic and political power in terms of new articulations of hegemonic masculinity. As an article outlining debates on the nature of globalization and of gender, it serves as a good introduction to the topic.Chow, Esther Ngan‐Ling 2003. 'Gender Matters: Studying Globalization and Social Change in the 21st Century.'International Sociology 18, 3: 443–460.Chow's introduction to the special issue on 'Gender, Globalization and Social Change in the 21st Century' in International Sociology (2003) reviews the literature on gender and globalization and provides an excellent overview of 'gender matters.' Her definition of globalization captures salient features of the current era. This definition encompasses the economic, political cultural and social dimensions of globalization. Further, she offers a framework for studying the 'dialectics of globalization', as 'results of conflicting interaction between the global and local political economies and socio‐cultural conditions…' A dialectics of globalization is a fruitful approach for studying transformative possibilities. This article could serve as background reading or as part of an introductory section.Arlie Russell Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2003. 'Love and Gold.' Pp. 15–30 in Global Women: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy, edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild. Metropolitan Books.Hochschild's chapter in Global Women examines the transfer of traditional women's work to migrant women. Women in rich countries are turning over care work (nannies, maids, elder care) to female migrant workers who can be paid lower wages with few or no benefits and minimal legal protections. This global transfer of services associated with a wife's traditional role extracts a different kind of labor than in prior migrations based on agricultural and industrial production. Emotional, sexual as well as physical labor is extracted in this current phase of globalization; in particular, emotional labor and 'love is the new gold'. Women migrate not only to escape poverty, but also to escape patriarchy in their home countries by earning an independent income and by physical autonomy from patriarchal obligations and expectations. Many female migrants who leave poor countries can earn more money as nannies and maids in the First World than in occupations (nurses, teachers, clerical workers) if they remained in their own country. Thus, migration can be seen as having contradictory effects on women's well‐being and autonomy. This chapter can be used in a section dealing with the specific topic of globalization and care work or in a section introducing the topic of gendered labor activities.McDowell, Linda, Diane Perrons, Colette Fagan, Kath Ray and Kevin Ward. 2005. 'The Contradictions and Intersections of Class and Gender in a Global City: Placing Working Women's Lives on the Research Agenda.'Environment and Planning A 37, 441–461.This group of prominent social geographers from the UK collaborates to great effect in a welcome addition to the literature theorizing the complex articulations of gender and class in global cities. Their detailed research comparing three localities in Greater London is a corrective to the oft‐cited multi‐site study of global cities by Saskia Sassen. They find that Sassen underestimates gains and losses for both men and women in the 'new' economy. Place makes a difference when assessing the impact of women's increased rates of labor market participation on income inequality and patterns of childcare. The article outlines a new research agenda by 'placing' working women's lives at the center of analysis.Parrenas, Rhacel Salazar 2008. The Force of Domesticity: Filipina Migrants and Globalization. New York: New York University Press.Rhacel Salazar Parrenas brings together her influential research on Filipina migrants and extends her path‐breaking ethnographic analysis to include Filipina domestic workers in Rome and Los Angeles and entertainers in Tokyo. David Eng incisively captures the importance of Parrenas's analysis when he states, 'Extracted from home and homeland only to be reinserted into the domestic spaces of the global north, these servants of globalization exemplify an ever‐increasing international gendered division of labor, one compelling us to reexamine the neo‐liberal coupling of freedom and opportunity with mobility and migration'. The book is well suited to illuminate discussions of domesticity and migration, transnational migrant families, the impact of migration laws in 'home' and 'host' countries, and transnational movements among migrant women.Walby, Sylvia. 2009. Globalization and Inequalities: Complexity and Contested Modernities. London: Sage.This book introduces new theoretical concepts and tests alternative hypotheses to explain variation in trajectories of gender relations cross‐nationally. It synthesizes and reviews a vast literature, ranging from the social sciences to the natural sciences to construct a new approach to theorizing the development of gender regimes in comparative perspective. Sylvia Walby seeks to explain the different patterns of inequalities across a large number of countries. The analysis differentiates between neo‐liberal and social democratic varieties of political economy, and makes explicit the gender component of institutions and their consequences. The project builds on Walby's pioneering work on comparative gender regimes, and extends the research by operationalizing empirical indicators for a range of key concepts, and by analyzing links between a wide set of institutions (including economy, polity, education and violence) and how these are gendered in specific ways. As in the past, Walby is not afraid to tackle big questions and to offer new answers. Throughout the book, like in her previous body of research, Walby takes on the question of social inclusion/exclusion and critically interrogates concepts of democracy, political participation, equality and rights. Walby uses a comparative lens to examine the democratic 'deficit' in liberal and social democratic countries, and how migration restructures patterns of inequality and the consequent reconstitution of national and ethnic relations within countries. There is more to the book than abstract theoretical debates. Walby poses and assesses alternative political projects for achieving equality. The book is an original contribution that will likely influence sociology in general and theories of social change in particular.Online resourcesStatus of women in the world: United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) http://www.unifem.orgUNIFEM was established at the United Nations in order to foster women's empowerment through innovative programs and strategies. Its mission statement summarizes UNIFEM's goals as follows: 'Placing the advancement of women's human rights at the center of all of its efforts, UNIFEM focuses on reducing feminized poverty, ending violence against women; reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls; and achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war'. The website includes information on global initiatives such as zero tolerance of violence against women, the impact of the economic crisis on women migrant workers, and strategizing for gender proportionate representation in Nigeria. Primary documents relevant to women's advancement appear on the website; these include the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. UNIFEM publishes monographs assessing the progress of women around the world. One notable example is the 2005 publication on Women, Work & Poverty by Martha Chen, Joann Vanek, Francie Lund, James Heintz with Renana Jhabvala and Christine Bonner. http://www.unifem.org/attachments/products/PoWW2005_eng.pdf Gender equity index http://www.socialwatch.org/en/avancesyRetrocesos/IEG_2008/tablas/valoresdelIEG2008.htm Social Watch produces an up‐to‐date gender equity index composed of three dimensions and indicators: empowerment (% of women in technical positions, % of women in management and government positions, % of women in parliaments, % of women in ministerial posts); economic activity (income gap, activity rate gap); and education (literacy rate gap, primary school enrollment rate gap, secondary school enrollment gap, and tertiary education enrollment gap). These separate indicators in addition to the gender equity index are arrayed by country. There are 157 countries, representing 94% of the world's population, in the sample. Mapping these indicators across countries presents a comparative picture of the absolute and relative standing of women and gender equity in the world.Focus QuestionsKey words: Globalization1. What is meant by globalization?

   a. To what extent is globalization new? Or is globalization another phase of a long historical process?
   b. Can we differentiate inter‐national (connections between) from the global (inter‐penetrations)?

Feminism and globalization

 How do feminist interventions challenge globalization theories (for example the presumed relationship between globalization and homogenization and individualization)?
 How do different feminisms frame and assess the conditions of globalization around the world?

Gender and globalization

 What role do women, and different women, play in the global economy?
 Are patriarchal arrangements changing as a result of greater economic integration at the world level?

Migration and mobilities

 What does Parrenas mean by partial citizenship?



 How does it relate to the case of Philippine migrant workers?
 What is the relationship between 'home' and 'host' nations?
 How important is a vehicle like the Tinig Filipino in forging 'imagined communities' and new realities?



 What is the mix of choice and compulsion in the different migrations mobilities of men and women?

Globalization and politics

 Are women subject to the same kinds of legal protections (and regulations) that evolved in earlier periods?
 Do new flexible production processes and flexible work arrangements undercut such legal protections?

Globalization and collective mobilization

 Does globalization open spaces for new women's movements, new solidarities, new subjectivities and new forms of organizing?

Sample syllabusCourse outline and reading assignments Conceptualizing the 'Global' and 'Globalization' Dicken, Peter, Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell. 1997. 'Unpacking the Global.' Pp. 158–166 in Geographies of Economies, edited by Roger Lee and Jane Willis. London: Arnold.Amin, Ash and Nigel Thrift. 1996. 'Holding Down the Global.' Pp. 257–260 in Globalization, Institutions, and Regional Development in Europe, edited by Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Acker, Joan. 2004. 'Feminism, Gender and Globalization.'Critical Sociology 30: 17–42.Background Reading:Gottfried, Heidi. 2006. 'Feminist Theories of Work.' Pp. 121–154 in Social Theory at Work, edited by Marek Korczynski, Randy Hodson, Paul Edwards. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Peterson, V. Spike. 2008. 'Intersectional Analytics in Global Political Economy.' in UberKeruszungen, edited Cornelia Klinger and Gudrun‐Axeli Knapp. Munster: Wesfalisches Dmpfboot.Chow, Esther Ngan‐Ling. 2003. 'Gender Matters: Studying Globalization and Social change in the 21st Century.'International Sociology 18 (3): 443–460.Walby, Sylvia. 2009. Globalization and Inequalities: Complexity and Contested Modemities. London: Sage. Gender and Globalization Gottfried, Heidi. Forthcoming. 'Gender and Employment: A Global Lens on Feminist Analyses and Theorizing of Labor Markets.'Sociology CompassFernandez‐Kelly, Patricia and Diane Wolf. 2001. 'Dialogue on Globalization.'Signs 26: 1243–1249.Bergeron, Suzanne. 2001. 'Political Economy Discourses of Globalization and Feminist Politics.'Signs 26: 983–1006.Freeman, Carla. 2001. 'Is Local: Global as Feminine: Masculine? Rethinking the Gender of Globalization.'Signs 26:1007–1037. Theorizing Politics and Globalization Sassen, Saskia. 1996. 'Toward a Feminist Analytics of the Global Economy.'Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 4: 7–41.Parrenas, Rhacel Salazer. 2001. 'Transgressing the Nation‐State: The Partial Citizenship and 'Imagined (Global) Community' of Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers.'Signs 26:1129–1154.Bosniak, Linda. 2009. 'Citizenship, Noncitizenship, and the Transnationalization of Domestic Work.' Pp. 127–156 in Migrations and Mobilities: Citizenship, Borders, and Gender, edited by Seyla Benhabib and Judith Resnik. New York: New York University Press.Background Reading:Benhabib, Seyla and Judith Resnik. 2009. 'Introduction: Citizenship and Migration Theory Engendered.' Pp. 1–46 in Migrations and Mobilities: Citizenship, Borders, and Gender, edited by Seyla Benhabib and Judith Resnik. New York: New York University Press. Migrations, Mobilities and Care Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2003. 'Love and Gold.' Pp. 15–30 in Global Women: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy, edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild. Metropolitan Books.Hondagneu‐Sotelo, Pierrette. 2001. Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring the Shadows of Affluence. Berkeley: University of California Press.Parrenas, Richard Salazar. 2008. The Force of Domesticity: Filipina Migrants and Globalization. New York: New York University Press.Pyle, Jean 2006. 'Globalizations, Transnational Migration, and Gendered Care Work.'Globalizations 3(3): 283–295.Qayum, Seemin and Raka Ray. 2003. 'Grappling with Modernity: India's Respectable Classes and the Culture of Domestic Servitude.'Ethnography 4: 520–555. Restructuring and Gender Inequality in Global Cities McDowell, Linda, Diane Perrons, Colette Fagan, Kath Ray and Kevin Ward. 2005. 'The Contradictions and Intersections of Class and Gender in a Global City: Placing Working Women's Lives on the Research Agenda.'Environment and Planning A 37: 441–461.McDowell, Linda. 1997. 'A Tale of Two Cities? Embedded Organizations and Embodied Workers in the City of London.' Pp. 118–129 in Geographies of Economies, edited by Roger Lee and Jane Willis. London: Arnold.Bruegel, Irene. 1999. 'Globalization, Feminization and Pay Inequalities in London and the UK.' Pp. 73–93 in Women, Work and Inequality, edited by Jeanne Gregory, Rosemary Sales and Ariane Hegewisch. New York: St. Martin's Press. Embodiment and Restructuring Halford, Susan and Mike Savage. 1997. 'Rethinking Restructuring: Embodiment, Agency and Identity in Organizational Change.' Pp. 108–117 in Geographies of Economies, edited by Roger Lee and Jane Willis. London: Arnold.Gottfried, Heidi. 2003 'Temp(t)ing Bodies: Shaping Bodies at Work in Japan.'Sociology 37: 257–276. Gender in the Global Economy: Post‐Socialist and Emerging Economies Salzinger, Leslie. 2004. 'Trope Chasing: Engendering Global Labor Markets.'Critical Sociology 30: 43–62.Kathryn Ward, Fahmida Rahman, AKM Saiful Islam, Rifat Akhter and Nashid Kama. 2004. 'The Nari Jibon Project: Effects on Global Structuring on University Women's Work and Empowerment In Bangladesh.'Critical Sociology 30: 63–102Otis, Eileen. 2007. 'Virtual Personalism in Beijing: Learning Deference and Femininity at a Global Luxury Hotel. Pp. 101–123 in Working in China: Ethnographies of Labor and Workplace Transformation, edited by Ching Kwan Lee. Routledge.Background Reading:Ferguson and Monique Mironesco (eds.). 2008. Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pactific: Method, Practice, Theory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Globalization and Policy Developments Lenz, Ilse. 2004. 'Globalization, Gender and Work: Perspectives on Global Regulation.' Pp. 29–52 in Equity in the Workplace: Gendering Workplace Policy Analysis, edited by Heidi Gottfried and Laura Reese. Lexington Press.Woodward, Alison. 2004. 'European Gender Mainstreaming: Promises and Pitfalls of Transformative Policy.' Pp. 77–100 in Equity in the Workplace: Gendering Workplace Policy Analysis, edited by Heidi Gottfried and Laura Reese, Lexington Press.Fraser, Nancy. 2007. 'Reframing Justice in a Globalizing World.' in Global Inequality, edited by David Held and Ayse Kaya. Polity. Gender and the New Economy Walby, Sylvia, Heidi Gottfried, Karin Gottschall and Mari Osawa. 2006. Gendering and the Knowledge Economy: Comparative Perspectives, Palgrave, See chapters by Sylvia Walby, Mari Osawa, and Diane Perrons.Ng, Cecelia. 2004. 'Globalization and Regulation: The New Economy, Gender and Labor Regimes.'Critical Sociology 30: 103–108. Globalization and Transnational Organizing Ferree, Myra Marx. 2006. 'Globalization and Feminism: Opportunities and Obstacles for Activism in the Global Area.' Pp. 3–23 in Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights, edited by Myra Marx Ferree and Aili Mari Tripp. New York: New York University Press.Yuval‐Davis, Nira. 2006. 'Human/Women's Rights and Feminist Transversal Politics.' Pp. 275–295 in Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights, Myra Marx Ferree and Aili Mari Tripp. New York: New York University Press.Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 2006. "Under Western Eyes" Revisited: Feminist Solidarity Through Anti‐Capitalist Struggles.' Pp. 17–42 in Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, edited by Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

The policy agendas of the Euro-Atlantic community, wielding as it does enormous weight-political, economic, military and other -- in world relations, will continue to dominate the international system at least in the short to medium term. The year 2003 was one of extremes for Euro-Atlantic relations, moving between traumatic divisions and efforts to restore unity. In the first months of the year events were driven by the national policy priorities of the United States, on the one hand, and the diverging reactions of major Western partners and Russia, on the other. Later in the year, more constructive use was made of organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, even if the political reconciliations opening the way for this were mostly made elsewhere. Programmed changes, not related to Iraq, such as NATO's continuing transformation from a territorial defence organization, negotiations on the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and the countdown to both organizations' enlargement, continued largely as planned. In 2003 the Bush Administration's declared security policy moved to the implementation phase. The lessons of Iraq did not directly alter its doctrines and policy emphases. However, by the end of the year, the balance and style of its activities in pursuit of them had shifted notably towards more diplomatic, multilateral and even international legal approaches. Many shortcomings in homeland security were also remedied. In its international non-proliferation efforts, the USA placed the emphasis on launching new programmes designed to meet its national priorities (such as the Proliferation Security Initiative and a UN draft resolution to criminalize the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction). Developments in 2003 put NATO to an existential test as a security actor. Its leading member, the USA, appeared to use it as a military 'toolbox' for building 'coalitions of the willing' in time of need -- rather than a political forum or a vital partner. The attack on Iraq and the disputes during its build-up precipitated a profound rift between NATO members, which bred new doubts about the organization's viability. Among NATO's efforts to maintain its relevance and seek a new role, it was the initiatives launched outside its treaty area of activity that gave hope for its revitalization. In the last months of the year there were signs of recovery as the USA adopted a more positive attitude to the organization. NATO's problems did not discernibly affect progress in the other areas of its adaptation to the new security environment- enlargement and the transformation of its forces and structures. The EU is also facing the challenge of redefining its role and place on many fronts, ranging from its traditional competences to new ones such as a shared foreign policy and security identity and military strength. The draft Treaty under discussion since 2002 is designed to make the EU system more effective, more accountable (democratic) and more comprehensible to its citizens, alongside the enlargement which took effect from 1 May 2004. The Iraq war caused new divergences which added to existing concerns, fears and uncertainties about leadership and future commitments, power sharing and the shape of the organization. It proved impossible to adopt the new Constitution on schedule in December. However, the effort to build a strategic personality produced a chance to operationalize the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy, while the common initiatives put forward with regard to the European Security and Defence Policy seemed to offer promise of a fresh boost to this project. West-West dynamics dominated the security scene in 2003 -- to such a degree that even Russia seemed to spend most of its time deciding where to place itself within the Western spectrum. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, seeking to find its relevance and utility against the background of the NATO and EU enlargements, was dealt a blow at the end of the year by the rising tension between the West and President Putin's Russia over the latter's southern perimeter. That the Western Balkan region is still not fully immunized against ethnic hatred and terror was painfully brought home to the international community by the outbreak of violence in Kosovo in March 2004. During the first years of the 21st century, at least, the northern hemisphere's family of democratic states does not seem to have found the formula for becoming at once more inclusive and more united. Adapted from the source document.