Suchergebnisse

This article presents the different phases of the public life of W. Maathai, explaining her socio-political engagements (women's associations; NGOs for environmental protection; and, in the 1990s, in favor of multi-party politics). The author insists on Maathai's engagement in Gikuyu politics, and especially in the renaissance of ethnic nationalism. By resituating these different levels of political intervention, the author sheds light on some of her complex, and at times contradictory, messages about her vision of democratization for African societies. (Polit afr/DÜI)

The author uses the problematic of modernization to attempt to explain the Turkish political institutions. He first describes briefly the formal institutional framework as set up by the current Constitution. He then analyzes the way the Turks experience their transformation conveyed by ancestral myths. As a result a political culture emerges, a sort of unwritten Constitution that sustains & defines Turkish political life. According to the author, this accounts for both the strength & weakness of the experiment. Adapted from the source document.

The author describes the ways in which mafia organizations work & the ways in which the Camorra exemplifies the traits of criminal gangs. He discusses the organization, the objectives, the types of activities, & its territorial scope of the Camorra. Much of this information is summarized in a lengthy table at the end of the article. Tables, 1 Map. D. Knaff

The author examines the effect of French & English colonial thinkers of native policies, focusing on how the idea of spreading civilization came to be replaced by an ideology of development. This shift occurred during the 1930s, a period when colonial government rules as a whole were being rethought in both France & Great Britain. The new policy was less paternalistic than the one that preceded it, although it certainly retained elements of paternalism in it. D. Knaff

As far as cults dealing with the extreme (including mass suicides) are concerned, an important literature has shown the insufficient or even the non scientific character of theories which are only making reference to psychopathology or "brainwashing". Moreover, several researches on ultra-fundamentalist "martyrdom" showed how the question of the economic discomfort of the candidate to suicide was not sufficient either. It is thus important to also focus on theology. On the one hand, this paper explores the theological genealogy of this phenomenon in Islam, based on the theories of F. Khosrokhavar (who sees in the post-Khomeinist Shi'ism, the matrix of a theology capable of justifying suicide attacks). There is no doubt about the origin of this matrix, even if the arguments developed by F. Khosrokhavar have sometimes been criticised. On the other hand, unlike the numerous condemnations from recognised Islamic authorities towards al-Qaida, the author shows that the local djihad campaigns are facing little religious or juridical opposition in the Islamic world. Based on the analysis of a fatwa - "Hawa Barayev: suicide or martyrdom?" (2000) - and the document from al-Qaida - "The last night" - a text probably written by Mohammed Atta, the author shows how suicide terrorism is perceived and justified in the ultra-fundamentalist circles. (Maghreb-Machrek/GIGA)

An article in the Jan. 2005 issue of "National Defense" argued that ground troops will no longer play an important part in the nation's defense. In response to this article, a general of one of the ground forces divisions, Pierre-Dominique d'Ornano, offers an analysis that contradicts the earlier published one. D'Ornano, the author of this piece, argues that ground troops, working as seamlessly as possible with other elements of the armed forces, are & will remain an important part of the national defense. Adapted from the source document.

This paper is dealing with the concept of martyr, shahid, as it is presented in the Islamic tradition. After an etymological approach of this concept, the author reports on some hadiths that are related to this theme, such as to that person who "falls dead while into love". He then explores the manner through which the jurists are dealing with the necessary conditions for considering an act of martyrdom valid. Finally, he shows how much this theme is dependent on a call for exemplarity. (Maghreb-Machrek/GIGA)

To tempt to understand the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (A.I.G.) through its writings, notably those distributed within the Muslim community of Belgium, such is the goal of this survey on a topic that was until then little studied. The shape and the language, the politics and the religion are analyzed there systematically, and if the author recognizes that the political content of these writings is relatively little solid, it brings nevertheless a contribution to the history of the A.I.G., from the origins to the death of Djamal Zitouni, in July 1996. (Maghreb-Machrek/DÜI)