China’s Death Grip on Tibet
Recent unrest in Tibet and the protests which followed the Olympic Torch relay around the world have attracted a new level of international attention to the long standing struggle between Tibet and China. Scott Lowe gives some insight into the history of this struggle and addresses the question that baffles so many in the West – why the PRC is so unwilling to consider Tibetan independence.
China and Bhutan: Crushing Dissent
China and Bhutan still have a chance to avoid the brutal confrontation their policies of ethnic suppression nurture. But to do so, they must stop propounding the cheerful narrative that writes their troublesome minorities out of the picture of national identity, and instead grant them the respect and rights to which they are entitled
Media Coverage, Ideological Effects, and Naxal Violence
Recently, the violent activities of left wing extremist in India have increased. The continual violent activities of these groups have attracted much media attention. The movement has been given front-page coverage in the print media and the broadcast in prime time televised news. This paper argues that the increased coverage of Naxal activities has produced ideological effects which further strengthen mobilising the cadres and sympathisers of Naxal, consequently, increasing the frequency of violence.
Who Will Save Darfur
Genocide in Darfur is stuck between international bureaucracy and lethargic, discriminate Sudanese politics. Pkalya probes Western states, special interests, and humanitarian aide initiatives, while we sit and wait to see who will save Darfur.
International Cooperation to Control the Intergovernmental Small Arms Trade: Case Study China-Sudan
After outlining the deadly scope of today’s small arms trade, this paper touches on questions of international law and responsibility, or lack thereof, as illustrated by the legal intergovernmental transfer of arms from China to the Sudan, despite international pressure urging the contrary. References include United Nations documents, task force and international NGO campaign reports, contemporary media coverage and University for Peace lecture discussions.
Comfort Women and the Failure of International Law
Seong Eun Lee discusses the failure of international law to hold states responsible for their use of women as sexual slaves during the Pacific War. The history of international treaties and regulations outlawing such behaviour are briefly reviewed, as is the current state of the former comfort women’s struggle for justice. The author argues that interlocking structures of oppression based on power imbalances of gender and ethnicity have continued to frustrate this struggle in the arena of international law.
Key words: Korea, Japan, comfort women, international law, development, South Asia, World War II, gender, peace and conflict, ethnicity, sexual slavery, justice.
Deconstructing Reconstruction
David Ekbladh unravels the real meaning of “post-war reconstruction”.
Teaching Peace from Tales of the City: Peace Education through the Memoryscapes of Nagasaki
To what extent can the memoryscapes of a city contribute to peace education? I argue that narratives both create and destroy the imaginaries of peace. The failure of peace museums to create an effective vision of peace reduces them to the level of historical museums. Using the framework of peace education, I explore the exhibitions, contents, objects, and messages presented in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the Oka Masaharu Memorial Nagasaki Peace Museum. To demonstrate their contributions toward peace education, I analyze the power of narratives contained in these two peace museums and their positioning in the geography of peace education in Japan. Finally, I suggest which factors support the realization of peace education in peace museums.
Has Democracy Enhanced Development in Africa?
Whether democracy guarantees development and whether development depends on democracy remain hard to answer questions to any looking outside the continent for inspirations. From the East, we find examples of significant development without the blue prints of modern state democracy or liberal democracy while in the west we find significant contribution of the values of democracy to development endeavors. This article discusses this paradox and suggests that for Africa it is imperative to take the two on board.
China’s Oil Security: Diplomacy, Economics and the Prospects for Peaceful Growth
How does China’s pursuit of oil security drive its foreign policy and its participation in world markets? Analysis by Sigfrido Burgos Cáceres.