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Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of 'seeing' world politics. Yet we still know little about how publishing has evolved. This article presents the first systematic exploration of these patterns. It uses an original dataset of global governance research to answer three first-order questions: How has publishing varied over time? What issues have scholars focused on? And who has been publishing in the field? The authors found that research has grown and become increasingly diverse--but selectively so. Some marginalized issues feature more prominently than in the rest of international relations, but there are blind spots too. Further, while research is less American and women have been comparatively more active relative to other areas, geographical diversity remains extremely limited. Scholars based in the Global South have been the first authors of less than 14 percent of all publications. To conclude, the article reflects on implications for the field. Keywords global governance--international relations--research--publishing--diversity--inclusion, 1 Introduction (1) The idea of 'global governance' has been remarkably fecund. Prior to the 1990s, the term was hardly used. It made fleeting appearances in the writings of scholars, [...]

This article aims to expand the social-theoretical and psychoanalytic range of research on ontological in/security, by exploring parallel concerns addressed by Beck, Kristeva, Butler and Zizek. These include, first, the psychic roots of othering processes and their encoding into cultural repertoires. Second, the difficulties and possibilities of displacing othering processes within national and international politics. Third, the disruptive effects of globalising processes on the symbolic efficiency of cultures and on their encoded defences against ontological insecurity. Fourth, the crucial significance for political and international relations of the qualitative characteristics of those defences against ontological insecurity that gain predominance within cultural repertoires and their variable norms of recognition. Likewise, the significance of those norms of recognition that challenge established norms and successfully reorganise cultural repertoires. Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Cultures ofAnarchy, Symbolic Efficiency, Norms of Recognition, Othering Processes. Bu makale, Beck, Kristeva, Butler ve Zizek tarafindan ele alinan paralel kaygilari arastirarak, ontolojik guven(siz) lige iliskin sosyo-teorik ve psikanalitik arastirma kapsamini genisletmeyi amaclamaktadir. Bunlar, ilk olarak, otekilestirme sureclerinin psisik koklerini ve bunlarin kulturel dagarciklara kodlanmasini icermektedir. Ikincisi, ulusal ve uluslararasi siyasette otekilestirme sureclerinin yerinden edilmesinin zorluklari ve olanaklaridir. Ucuncusu, kuresellesme sureclerinin kulturlerin sembolik yeterliligi ve ontolojik guvensizlige karsi kodlanmis savunmalari uzerindeki yikici etkileridir. Dorduncusu ise, kulturel dagarciklarda agirlik kazanan ontolojik guvensizlige karsi bu savunmalarin niteliksel ozelliklerinin ve degisken taninma normlarinin siyasi ve uluslararasi iliskiler icin hayati onemidir. Benzer sekilde, yerlesik normlara meydan okuyan ve kulturel dagarciklari basarili bir sekilde yeniden organize eden tanima normlarinin onemidir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Psikanaliz, Anarsi Kulturu, Sembolik Yeterlilik, Taninma Normlari, Otekilestirme Surecleri., Introduction Over the past 15 years or so, a focus on ontological security and its disorienting and destabilising other, ontological insecurity, has developed in the broad research field of International [...]

The political discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey is hegemonic. What is central to this discourse is Sevresphobia: the idea that Turkey is surrounded by internal and external enemies who are ready to destroy it. This article aims to explain why the political discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey sustains itself over time and how it captures the collective mode ofbeing. The article argues that fantasmatic narratives play an important role in maintaining the hegemonic discourse and governing collective anxiety. First, fantasmatic narratives simplify the socio-political space by offering a comforting explanation for the ongoing insecurities and making anxiety tolerable. Second, they act as an ideological force by keeping the political dimension of the discourse on ontological security at bay. Drawing on the Post-foundational Theory of Discourse (PTD) and Ontological Security Theory (OST), the article problematizes and analyzes the political discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey. Keywords: Ontological Security, Discourse, Sevresphobia, Hegemony, The Problem of State Survival Turkiye'de devletin beka sorununa iliskin siyasi soylem hegemonik bir soylemdir. Bu soylemin merkezinde Sevr Fobisi yani Turkiye'nin onu yok etmeye hazir ic ve dis dusmanlarla cevrili oldugu fikri yatmaktadir. Bu makale, Turkiye'de devletin beka sorununa iliskin siyasi soyleminin zaman icerisinde kendini nasil devam ettirdigini ve bu soylemin kolektif varolus bicimini nasil etkiledigini aciklamayi amaclamaktadir. Bu dogrultuda makale, fantasmal anlatilarin hegemonik soylemin surdurulmesinde ve kolektif kayginin yonetilmesinde onemli bir rol oynadigini savunuyor. Birincisi, fantazmatik anlatilar suregiden guvensizlikler icin ic rahatlatici bir aciklama sunarak ve kaygiyi katlanilabilir bir hale getirerek sosyo-politik alanin okunmasini kolaylastirirlar. Ikincisi, fantasmal alintilar ontolojik guvenlik soyleminin siyasi boyutunu tartismalardan uzak tutarak ideolojik bir guc gorevi gorururler. Post-yapisalci Soylem Teorisi'nden (PST) ve Ontolojik Guvenlik Teorisi'nden (OGT) yararlanan bu makale, Turkiye'de devletin beka sorununa iliskin siyasi soylemi sorunsallastiriyor ve analiz ediyor. Anahtar Kelimeler: Ontolojik Guvenlik, Soylem, Sevr Fobisi, Hegemoni, Devletin Bekasi Meselesi., Introduction The hegemonic discourse on the problem of state survival in Turkey has been unfolding over a long period. Since the foundation of the country, the hegemonic discourse has shown [...]

Scholars who adopted de-centring as a strategy for globalising IR have embraced the notions of 'centre' and 'periphery' to highlight structural inequalities between North America and Western Europe and the rest of the world in the production of knowledge about world politics. In doing so, however, de-centring IR scholarship has portrayed the 'periphery' as if it is a new entrant to the 'international'. Yet, such a presumption is not in the spirit of globalising IR, which views the periphery as the 'constitutive outside'. By re-visiting the 1970s' centre-periphery approaches, the paper highlights the limitations of the de-centring approaches insofar as they have not always been attentive to the critical concerns of earlier theorisations about 'centre' and 'periphery', and underscores the need for studying the periphery as 'constitutive outside'. The periphery is 'outside' by virtue of having been left out of those mainstream narratives that the centre tells about the international; it is also 'constitutive' because those ideas, practices, and institutions that are typically ascribed to the 'centre' have been co-constituted by centre and periphery in toto. Keywords: Center, Periphery, Constitutive Outside, Decentering IR, Global IR Merkezsizlestirmeyi uluslararasi iliskilerin küresellestirilmesi için bir strateji olarak benimseyen arastirmacilar, dünya siyaseti hakkinda bilgi üretiminde Kuzey Amerika ve Bati Avrupa ile dünyanin geri kalani arasindaki yapisal esitsizlikleri vurgulamakta 'merkez' ve 'çevre' nosyonlarina sarildilar. Fakat bunu yaparken 'çevre'yi sanki 'uluslararasi'na yeni katilmis gibi sundular. Oysa ki böylesi bir kabul, çevreyi 'kurucu dis' olarak gören uluslararasi iliskileri küresellestirme yaklasiminin ruhuna aykiridir. Bu makale 1970'lerin merkez-çevre yaklasimlarini yeniden degerlendirerek, merkezsizlestiren yaklasimlarin daha önceki 'merkez' ve 'çevre' kuramsallastirmalarinin elestirel dertlerine dikkat etmedikleri ölçüde sinirli kaldiklarini vurgulamakta ve çevrenin 'kurucu dis' olarak çalisilmasi gerekliliginin üstünde durmaktadir. Çevre, merkezin uluslararasi hakkinda sundugu ana akim anlatilar tarafindan disarida birakildigi için 'dis'tadir; ancak ayni zamanda da 'kurucudur' zira tipik olarak 'merkez'e atfedilen bu düsünceler, uygulamalar ve kurumlar merkez ve çevre tarafindan birlikte olusturulmustur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Merkez, Çevre, Kurucu Dis, UI'yi Merkezsizlestirme, Küresel UI, Introduction In the 1970s, distinguishing between 'centre' and 'periphery' was offered as a key move by critical scholars who sought to move away from totalizing conceptions of the international which, [...]

Since the 8th century Turks influenced the Umayyad state on the territory of today's Syria and Ottomans controlled Syria from the 16th century through WWI. Then, Turkish-Syrian relations were shaped [...]

There has been an increase in the impact of media, information communication technology, and social networking on security. However, there has not been a corresponding response in research by international [...]

This article aims at analyzing the major arguments, criticisms and contributions of the feminist international relations approach, which started to become important in the discipline from late 1980s onwards. Feminist international relations approach argues that there is a hidden male perspective in the discipline and female ideas, problems and changes that women go through are neglected. International Relations discipline is also criticised for being particularistic and subjective. This article will first look at the development of the feminist approach in the international relations discipline and analyze its major criticisms of traditional theories and concepts. The article will later look at different types of feminism and will question the contributions and limitations of the feminist approach to the international relations discipline. Keywords: Feminism, Gender, Masculinity, Femininity, International Relations Discipline. Bu calismanin amaci 1980'lerin sonlarindan itibaren uluslararasi iliskiler disiplini icerisinde yer edinmeye baslayan feminist uluslararasi iliskiler yaklasiminin temel savunularini, alana yonelik elestiri noktalarini ortaya koymak ve bu yaklasimin uluslararasi iliskiler disiplinine ne tur katkilarinin oldugunu incelemektir. Feminist uluslararasi iliskiler yaklasimi genel olarak disiplinin temelinde gizli bir erkek bakisinin yer aldigini ve alanda kadinlarin dusuncelerinin, sorunlarinin ve yasadiklari degisimlerin yadsindigini ileri surmekte ve uluslararasi iliskilerin geleneksel yaklasimlarini da, evrensel ve objektif olmamalari noktasinda elestirmektedir. Bu calismada, oncelikle, feminist dusuncenin uluslararasi iliskiler disiplini icindeki gelisimi ve disiplinin geleneksel kuram ve kavramlarina yonelik temel elestiri noktalari ele alinacaktir. Daha sonra farkli feminizm turleri uzerinde durulacak ve feminist yaklasimin uluslararasi iliskiler disiplinine katkilarinin neler oldugu analiz edilecektir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Feminizm, Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Maskulenlik, Feminenlik, Uluslararasi Iliskiler Disiplini., Giris Machiavelli'nin 'Prince', Hobbes'un 'Leviathan' veya Kenneth Waltz'in 'Man, The State and War' gibi eserleri incelendiginde, devleti yoneten, dis politikada soz sahibi olan kisacasi gucu elinde tutan karakterlerin erkeksi ozelliklerle, [...]

It is the nature of aphoristic thinking to be always in the state of concluding: a bid to have the final word is inherent in all powerful phrase-making.--Susan Sontag (1) [...]

Western Europe's twentieth century was characterised by conflict and peace. Between 1900 and 1945, the failings of European liberal democracy led to the First and Second World Wars, which caused [...]

This article examines the importance of exchange programs as channels of political influence and the value that can be gained from examining their impact via various theoretical positions in international relations (IR). Although there are clear possibilities for linking the study of public diplomacy with IR theory, so far this has not occurred to any real extent. Following World War II, a whole swathe of social scientific and behavioralist research, mainly in the fields of communications and psychology, laid the basis for understanding the political implications of public diplomacy and exchanges. Using these studies as a springboard, the article moves on first to consider their continuing relevance and then to insert exchanges within reflections on IR fields such as regime theory, Gramscian-based critical theory, constructivism, epistemic communities, and transnational networks. The article concludes with some observations on the relevance of exchanges as forms of cultural-political interchange and the use of case studies for confirming their importance as an object of study for IR. Keywords: public diplomacy; international relations theory; transnational networks; opinion leader

Eager to capitalize on the sensationalist appeal of a new anti-U.S. 'axis,' the international press often perpetuates a perception that Cuba and Venezuela are, in spirit and in deed, inseparable. Such depictions diminish the significant differences in the ways and the success with which each country promotes its image abroad. Although Cuba and Venezuela employ many of the same public diplomacy tactics to advance their related anti-U.S. worldviews, the Cuban regime has proven much more successful at playing the role of the victim and using this position as a way to increase its international legitimacy. Likewise, Cuba is far more sophisticated at employing cultural products to support diverse political, diplomatic, and economic ends--many of which arguably serve a market-oriented purpose rather than a strictly anti-imperialist or antiglobalization agenda. Keywords: Cuba; Venezuela; public diplomacy; medical diplomacy; foreign aid; solidarity; anti-Americanism

Soft power is the ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction rather than coercion or payment. A country's soft power rests on its resources of culture, values, and policies. A smart power strategy combines hard and soft power resources. Public diplomacy has a long history as a means of promoting a country's soft power and was essential in winning the cold war. The current struggle against transnational terrorism is a struggle to win hearts and minds, and the current overreliance on hard power alone is not the path to success. Public diplomacy is an important tool in the arsenal of smart power, but smart public diplomacy requires an understanding of the roles of credibility, self-criticism, and civil society in generating soft power. Keywords: power; soft power; hard power; smart power; public diplomacy

This article reviews four special issues of The Annals devoted to international exchange programs and the U.S. image. These volumes offer four decades of insight into personal contact across national borders through international exchange programs during the cold war era. The article concludes that cold war accounts of international face-to-face contact reveal important public diplomacy lessons for the twenty-first century, particularly for the U.S.-led war on terror. Methods of public diplomacy developed then are applicable now, including the importance of dialogue in overcoming stereotypes, building relationships, and enhancing the national reputation of the United States during ideological contests. The article includes a reassessment of the international exchange of persons in light of this historical review. Keywords: United States; educational exchange; international education; intercultural education; international relations; study abroad; exchange of persons; Fulbright; foreign students

This article pushes beyond hard power and soft power to insist on smart power, defined as the capacity of an actor to combine elements of hard power and soft power in ways that are mutually reinforcing such that the actor's purposes are advanced effectively and efficiently. It argues that advancing smart power has become a national security imperative, driven both by long-term structural changes in international conditions and by short-term failures of the current administration. The current debates over public diplomacy and soft power suffer from failures to address conceptual, institutional, and political dimensions of the challenge, three dimensions the author addresses in this article. Keywords: foreign policy; public diplomacy; soft power; smart power

This work presents and critically evaluates attempts to theorize and conceptualize public diplomacy within several disciplines, including international relations, strategic studies, diplomatic studies, public relations, and communication. It also examines research methods used to investigate public diplomacy, including models, paradigms, case studies, and comparative analysis. The work identifies promising directions as well as weaknesses and gaps in existing knowledge and methodology and outlines a new research agenda. The presented analysis and examples suggest that only a systematic multidisciplinary effort and close collaboration between researchers and practitioners can lead to a coherent theory of public diplomacy. Keywords: the new public diplomacy; instruments of public diplomacy; models of public diplomacy; international public relations; national image and reputation; nation branding; soft power; media framing

Relation of international diversification plans and the performance in emerging market firms in Mexico are presented.

Progress in the study of international polities depends on systematic, rigorous theory and empirical testing. International Relations is most useful when scholars can identify with some confidence the causal forces that drive foreign policy and international interactions, not when they use their detailed empirical knowledge to offer opinions, however intelligent and well informed. Deterrence theory, the democratic peace research program, and the political economy of trade policy demonstrate the importance of both theory, and empirical research in enhancing the understanding of international relations. The bargaining theory of war and open economy politics are the current frontiers of research on international relations and promise even greater understanding in the future. Keywords: deterrence; democracy; trade policy; war; bargaining

The study revisits the arms race to war relationship with the hope of resolving a lingering debate in international relations over the effects of arms races. Previous empirical studies in this area suffered from a possible selection effect, rendering them unable to differentiate between the escalatory and deterrent effects of arms races.

A prominent American geographer discusses geopolitical implications of U.S. penetration into a vast Eurasian Convergence Zone, within which the influence of major world geopolitical powers (Maritime Europe, Russia, China, India, and Japan) converge. Following a discussion of the nature of U.S. activity in major subsections of the Zone (Eastern Europe, Transcaucasus, Central Asia, and East Asia), the author examines economic, demographic, and military strategic stakes of the major geopolitical powers in the region. Concluding sections assess the complex relationships (both cooperative and competitive) among the U.S. and abutting powers in the Zone and outline ways that U.S. foreign policy objectives might be supported. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O10, O18, R10. 3 figures, 46 references. Key words: geopolitics, Eurasia, foreign policy, world system, gateway, shatterbelt.

Lyndon Johnson took office in late 1963, determined to continue pursuing the late President Kennedy's policy of detente with the Soviet bloc. Kennedy had increased trade with the Eastern European [...]

In a recent study, I examined the connection between economic freedom and internal conflict (Tures 2003). This article expands upon the earlier study by examining file link between economic liberty [...]

For more than fifty years, the Soviet Union was the main threat to U.S. security and the main justification for the size, training, equipment, and doctrine of the U.S. armed [...]

In Cosmopolitan Justice Darrel Moellendorf sets out to develop a Rawlsian theory of justice applicable to the sphere of international relations broadly conceived. (1) He develops his ethical theory through [...]

Despite the position of the United States as de facto global hegemon, China is a rising power in the world. As Chinese power grows, the projection of Chinese influence will be felt most acutely in Southeast Asia. Whether to accommodate, contain or resist China will depend on future developments that none can foresee, including Chinese ambitions, the policies of other international players (the U.S., Japan), and the cohesion or fragility of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN). This paper argues that in deciding how best to deal with China, two factors that will influence the countries of Southeast Asia are their own long histories of bilateral relations with China and their own differing conceptions of how foreign relations should be conducted. TMs is to argue that history and culture are central to any understanding of the likely future shape of China-Southeast Asia relations. Only by taking history and culture into account will analysts be in a position to predict how the mainland and maritime states of Southeast Asia are likely to respond to a more powerful, confident and assertive China., Introduction: China's Regional Ambitions China has strategic interests and goals that it is determined to pursue, even in the face of U.S. opposition. (1) These are summed up in the [...]

The name of our land has been wiped out. --Euripides, Trojan Women Not to be a fan of the Greens or Blues at the races, or the light- armed or [...]

Byline: Mark Dibben (1,2), Simon Harris (3), Colin Wheeler (4) Keywords: export market development; interpersonal trust; entrepreneurial venture strategies; national values; planning and relationship processes Abstract: This article makes an initial exploration of whether and to what extent different national values may affect the development of export markets through business to business relationships between entrepreneurs in different countries. It does this by specifically examining the trust between people and the nature and role of business planning in the export market development process. To do this, different modes of both planning and relationship development are first distinguished, based on two separate research traditions. Notions of national values developed in previous research are outlined and used to develop formal tabulated propositions regarding how national values might influence business planning and trust formation. The relevance and applicability in understanding different approaches to business development in different countries is then explored. The discussions of three matched case entrepreneurs from different countries are examined in terms of the propositions detailed by means of verbal protocol analysis. This exploratory study helps concrete propositions to be suggested why and how national values influence export market development processes through the development of theoretical typologies. Planning and relationship processes were both important but the relationships came first, in all three entrepreneurs. Different types of trusting relationships were sought and required by the individuals examined, however, that largely concurred with national values stereotypes. These, in turn, led to different approaches to the timing, role, and nature of export planning. It is hoped that the article contributes an understanding of how different national values might lead to different roles for planning and relationships in export market development. Author Affiliation: (1) University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK (2) University of Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand (3) University of Stirling, Scotland, UK (4) University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK Article History: Registration Date: 06/10/2004

Studies of signaling in international relations reveal how punishing bluffing ex post through domestic audience costs or opposition groups facilitates credible ex ante communication among states and reduces the impetus toward war. Global integration of economic markets may also reduce uncertainty by making talk costly ex ante. Autonomous global capital can respond dramatically to political crises. To the degree that globalization forces leaders to choose between pursuing competitive political goals and maintaining economic stability, it reveals the intensity of leaders' preferences, reducing the need for military contests as a method of identifying mutually acceptable bargains. Asymmetric integration can dampen the pacific effects of globalization, but asymmetry does not in itself exacerbate dispute behavior. We present the theory and offer preliminary corroborative tests of implications of the argument on postwar militarized disputes.

Abstract This paper explores border residents' strategies for coping with topics which they perceive as difficult or sensitive in their discourses about people living in such European border locations. Thus [...]

The article investigates the relationship between cultural similarities and differences on the part of the representatives of contending states and mediators, and outcomes of mediation efforts in militarized disputes. A distinction is made between social culture, defined primarily in terms of religious identity, and political culture, defined according to the state's political system. Analysis of 752 mediation attempts in militarized disputes occurring between 1945 and 1995 yields support for the hypothesis that mediation is more likely to succeed when the parties are from similar social cultures. The results, however, suggest that the relationship is more complex than that suggested by a simple categorization of states based on Huntington's 'clash of civilizations' thesis. We also find that mediation is more likely to succeed when the parties share democratic political cultures, a finding that is consistent with the cultural/normative explanation for the democratic peace.

This article illustrates the importance of testing empirical models in samples appropriate to the theories the models are intended to test. While social science appears to mandate that we prefer general theories to limited ones, the generality of a theory rests in its logical application to a set of observations, not solely to its statistical survival in a large data set. Theories in international relations, especially those linking domestic turmoil and international conflict, are advancing, but are sometimes applied to samples larger than the related theories indicate. This paper examines the statistical consequences of estimation in overexpansive samples with unmodeled treatment effects; we argue that samples containing cases that cannot experience the causal phenomenon in question produce unmodeled treatment effects, and we reexamine three published articles whose samples are perhaps broader than their theories suggest they should be. The empirical analyses demonstrate that overexpansive samples can produce somewhat misleading results: the new models produce interesting findings that emerge as treatment effects are identified.

Many statistical studies in international relations investigate the claim that democracies do not fight one another. Virtually all of these studies employ a single-equation design, where the dependent variable measures the presence or absence of a dyadic militarized interstate dispute (MID). A separate group of studies argues that conflict affects democracy and that its effect could be positive or negative. By and large, these two bodies of literature have not incorporated one another's insights. We argue that democracy and dyadic conflict affect each other significantly and that statistical models that ignore the reciprocal nature of these effects may make incorrect inferences. To test this argument, we develop a simultaneous equations model of democracy and dyadic conflict. Our sample includes all the politically relevant dyads from 1950 to 1992. We find that dyadic military disputes reduce joint democracy and joint democracy reduces the probability of MIDs. Compared with the single-equation estimates in the literature, the absolute effect of joint democracy in our paper is smaller while in relative terms, the effect is similar in size. The effect of joint democracy on MID involvement is considerably smaller for noncontiguous countries than for contiguous ones. The effects of a number of control variables in the MID equation are also found to differ from those reported previously in single-equation-based studies.

This is the second issue of LARR to appear under the masthead of the University of Texas at Austin. The editors are pleased to have received such a favorable response [...]

This paper analyses the way in which the USA developed alliances in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington DC. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is used as a way of trying to understand how these alliances are put together. The emphasis is on two elements of ANT: first, we stress how vital the role played by non-human actors (especially planes and buildings) is in the development of politics; second, we stress that interests are dynamically constructed in networks, and that actors do not come into networks with pre-existing interests that they simply 'play out.' Further, we explore Michel Callon's notion of 'entanglement' to explain how the USA's construction of its political interests requires a certain amount of disentangling of old relationships.

Ecuador strikingly illustrates two contradictory forces of the global cultural economy: the pressures of market integration that erode economic independence and the pursuit of 'autonomy' that has motivated native movements. Examining here how Quichua communities practice self-determination during enactments of popular justice and negotiations for urban market access, the article shows the political limitations and economic risks of autonomy defined in the context of bounded indigenous territories. It also argues against the practicality and even desirability of autonomy formulas that assume new, unified multicultural identities as a means of framing relations among autonomous peoples. Instead, the author contends that Quichua peoples have been working towards a 'relational autonomy' linked to the geographic mobility of peasant careers. It manifests itself not through zonal separation and new pluricultural identities, but rather through strengthening and restricting relations with others. The autonomy that emerges, then, is situational, reflecting the responsiveness of indigenous organizers--rather than programmatic commitment to ideals, multicultural or otherwise. Key Words: Indigenous people, Latin America, Andes, Autonomy

Scholarly attention to the processes of globalization and the construction of regional blocs such as the European Union, NAFTA, and Mercosur has resulted in the relatively widespread belief that borders are in the process of disappearing. Yet, ethnographic studies on political borders have for several years been evincing various redefinitions of border areas comprising new conflicts and mechanisms for strengthening certain barriers between countries. This article attempts to contribute to the discussion of the interplay between nation, state, and border in the Mercosur by analyzing transformations on the Argentinian-Brazilian border. My particular interest is in examining how sociocultural conflicts and negotiations at borders in this region are affecting the construction of new meanings of nationality, and conversely, how new policies (especially 'hygienic' barriers) being defined from the politico-economic centers are transforming local populations' everyday lives and experiences. Border populations can be as important in the construction of state and nation as are areas deemed to be central. Key Words: borders, nation, Mercosur, policy, Argentina, Brazil, public health

In the 1990s, Ulster-Scots language and culture was mobilized by some Ulster unionists in Northern Ireland as a badge of their cultural identity. The Ulster-Scots language and culture had its eighteenth century, premodern heyday in the north-eastern counties of the north of Ireland where it expressed distinctiveness from English and Englishness. However, in common with many regional dialects elsewhere in Europe, the processes of modernization signalled the demise of Ulster-Scots. The contemporary reinvention of an Ulster-Scots identity was precipitated by the 1990s political transformation of Northern Ireland. This reinvention has multiple manifestations. It is, variously, a myth of origin, a language and culture, a communal consciousness, a reaction against Irish nationalist cultural assertiveness in Northern Ireland, an embryonic nationalism, and a component part of the British identity. Ultimately, the reinvention of the Ulster-Scots cultural narrative appears designed to offset advances made by Irish nationalists in the assertion of their culture in Northern Ireland. Ulster-Scots has also been reinvented in an attempt to provide the Ulster unionist identity with the cultural booster required to deliver security and continuity to an identity experiencing chronic insecurity and doubt during a period of political transformation. However, the ability of Ulster-Scots to deliver on these aims is questionable. Key Words: Ulster-Scots, cultural politics, reinvention, Irish nationalist, agreement

This article examines the politics of Hindu revivalism among Tamils in Malaysia. In examining the dramatic pilgrimage and ritual of Thaipusam and the activities of a leading Hindu reform and performing arts organization, it is argued that the present resurgence of Hinduism is related to a growing sense of displacement experienced by Tamils in Malaysia. Thaipusam, while representing a collective assertion of Tamil and Hindu identity, also signifies 'Indian' within an Islamic-modernist discourse of the Malaysian nation. Becoming an ethnic subject within a multicultural nationalist discourse, in turn, produces ambivalence among some Tamils which is manifested in status concerns and social distancing within the Tamil community. Many elite Hindus, in turn, are drawn to the apparently ecumenical and modernist teachings within Hindu reform organizations. The vicissitudes of Malaysian Hinduism bring into focus some of the complex ways that diasporic sentiments are produced and differentiated along lines of status and class within and against modernist state-ideologies. Key Words: diaspora, ethnicity, Malaysia, nationalism, religious revivalism, Tamils