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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history
Environmental and developmental matters have long proved key to
North Korea's "revolutionary" industrial and economic strategies.
They have equally been important to Pyongyang's diplomatic and
geo-political efforts both during the Warsaw Pact period and in our
contemporary era following the collapse of its supportive and
collaborative partners. However, while environmental issues have
been very important to North Korea, academic analysis and
commentary addressing this field of governmental and institutional
functionality has been almost entirely lacking. This book fills
this analytical void. Taking a narrative view of developmental
approach throughout the political and ideological history of North
Korea, Winstanley-Chesters first considers its impact on its
landscapes and topographies in general throughout the era of the
Kim dynasty. Second, in light of recent academic analysis
suggesting North Korea as a space of Charismatic politics, the book
focuses on the specificity of individual developmental sectors and
projects, such as those addressing forestry and hydrology, seeking
to trace general trends into these more particular environmental
fields.
This book provides a systematic study of the political, economic,
cultural, and educational changes that have taken place in China
since 1978, and examines the impacts of these changes on the
Chinese people's thinking and behavior. Jing Lin traces the gradual
change of the Chinese from obedient, unquestioning citizens to
critical and intelligent thinkers. She points out that with the
more relaxed political and economic environment the Chinese people
have gone through a period of reflection on their communist past,
which has resulted in a new sense of identity and a more
independent spirit. The book also looks at how the Chinese have
begun to learn from other countries, resulting in an ongoing desire
for openness and democracy.
Belonging across the Bay of Bengal discusses themes connecting the
regions bordering the Bay of Bengal, mainly covering the period
from the mid-19th through the mid-20th centuries - a crucial period
of transition from colonialism to independence. Focusing on the
notion of 'belonging', the chapters in this collection highlight
themes of ethnicity, religion, culture and the emergence of
nationalist politics and state policies as they relate to the
movement of peoples in the region. While the Indian Ocean has been
of interest to scholars for decades, there has been a notable tilt
towards historicizing the Western half of that space, often
prioritizing Islamic trade as the key connective glue prior to the
rise of Western power and the later emergence of transnational
Indian nationalism. Belonging across the Bay of Bengal enriches
this story by drawing attention to Buddhist and migrant
connectivities, introducing discussions of Lanka, Burma and the
Straits Settlements to establish the historical context of the
current refugee crises playing out in these regions. This is a
timely and innovative volume that offers a fresh approach to Indian
Ocean history, further enriching our understanding of the current
debates over minority rights and refugee problems in the region. It
will be of great significance to all students and scholars of
Indian Ocean studies as well as historians of modern South and
Southeast Asia.
"Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change since the
1980s" presents a comprehensive examination of the causes of the
Japanese economic bubble in the late 1980s and the socio-political
consequences of the recent financial collapse. Represents the only
book to examine in depth the turmoil of Japan since Emperor
Hirohito died in 1989, the Cold War ended, and the economy
collapsed Provides an assessment of Japan's dramatic political
revolution of 2009 Analyzes how risk has increased in Japan,
undermining the sense of security and causing greater disparities
in society Assesses Japan's record on the environment, the
consequences of neo-liberal reforms, immigration policies, the
aging society, the US alliance, the Imperial family, and the
'yakuza' criminal gangs Selected as a 2011 Outstanding Academic
Title by CHOICE
After the Armenian genocide of 1915, in which over a million
Armenians died, thousands of Armenians lived and worked in the
Turkish state alongside those who had persecuted their communities.
Living in the context of pervasive denial, how did Armenians
remaining in Turkey record their own history? Here, Talin Suciyan
explores the life experienced by these Armenian communities as
Turkey's modernisation project of the twentieth century gathered
pace. Suciyan achieves this through analysis of remarkable new
primary material: Turkish state archives, minutes of the Armenian
National Assembly, a kaleidoscopic series of personal diaries,
memoirs and oral histories, various Armenian periodicals such as
newspapers, yearbooks and magazines, as well as statutes and laws
which led to the continuing persecution of Armenians. The first
history of its kind, The Armenians in Modern Turkey is a fresh
contribution to the history of modern Turkey and the Armenian
experience there.
This edited volume contains 24 different research papers by members
of the History and Heritage Working Group of the Southeast Asian
Astronomy Network. The chapters were prepared by astronomers from
Australia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Scotland, Sweden, Thailand and Vietnam. They represent
the latest understanding of cultural and scientific interchange in
the region over time, from ethnoastronomy to archaeoastronomy and
more. Gathering together researchers from various locales, this
volume enabled new connections to be made in service of building a
more holistic vision of astronomical history in Southeast Asia,
which boasts a proud and deep tradition.
The chapters in this volume examine a few facets in the drama of
how the beleaguered Jewish people, as a phoenix ascending of
ancient legend, achieved national self-determination in the reborn
State of Israel within three years of the end of World War II and
of the Holocaust. They include the pivotal 1946 World Zionist
Congress, the contributions of Jacob Robinson and Clark M.
Eichelberger to Israel's sovereign renewal, American Jewry's
crusade to save a Jewish state, the effort to create a truce and
trusteeship for Palestine, and Judah Magnes's final attempt to
create a federated state there. Joining extensive archival research
and a lucid prose, Professor Monty Noam Penkower again displays a
definitive mastery of his craft.
A Change in Worlds explores the environmental, economic, and
political history of the Sino-Tibetan Songpan region of northern
Sichuan from the late imperial Qing Dynasty to the early 21st
century. A historically Tibetan region on the eastern edge of the
Tibetan Plateau, with significant Han and Muslim Chinese
populations, Songpan played important roles in the development of
western and modern China s ethnic relations policies, forestry
sector, grasslands and environmental conservation, and recent
developments in eco- and ethnic tourism as part of various Chinese
states. However, in spite of close associations with various
Tibetan and Chinese regimes, the region also has a rich history of
local independence and resilient nomadic, semi-nomadic and
agricultural populations and identities. The Sino-Tibetan diversity
in Songpan, partly formed by unique ecological conditions,
conditioned all attempts to incorporate the region into larger and
more centralized state homogenizing structures. This historical
study analyzes the social force of markets and nature in the
Songpan region in concert with the political and social conflicts
and compromise at the heart of changing political regimes and the
area s ethnic groups. It presents new perspectives on the social
transformation and economies of Tibetans and Han Chinese from the
late Qing Dynasty to Mao era and contemporary western China. It not
only allows for a new understanding of how the natural environment
and landscapes fit into the imagination of the Sino-Tibetan
borderlands, it also figures in the challenges of negotiating
ethnic and market relations among societies. The mix of complicated
relations over natural environment, resources, politics and markets
was at the heart of the region s social and political
infrastructures, with far-reaching implications for both historical
and contemporary China."
Adnan Menderes' election to power in 1950 signalled a new epoch in
the history of modern Turkey. For the first time a democratic
government ruled the country, taking over Kemal Ataturk's political
heirs, the People's Republican Party (CHP), and challenging the
Kemalist elite's monopoly on the control of state institutions and
society itself. However, this period was short-lived. In 1960,
Turkey's army staged a coup d'etat and Menderes was hanged the
following year. Here, Mogens Pelt beings by examining the era of
the rule of the Democratic Party, and what led to its downfall.
Among the chief accusations raised against Menderes by the army was
that he had undermined the principles of the founder of modern
Turkey, Ataturk, and that he had exploited religion for political
purposes. Military Intervention and a Crisis Democracy in Turkey
furthermore, and crucially, examines the legacy of the military
intervention that brought this era of democratic rule to an end.
Although the armed forces officially returned power to the
civilians in 1961, this intervention - indeed, this crisis of
democracy - allowed the military to become a major player in
Turkey's political process, weakening the role of elected
politicians. The officer corps claimed that the army was the legal
guardian of Kemalism, and that it had the right and duty to
intervene again, if the circumstances proscribed it and when it
deemed that the values of Ataturk were threatened. Indeed, these
were precisely that ground on which the armed forces justified its
coup d'etats of 1971 and 1980. This unique exploration of the
Menderes period sheds new light on the shaping of post-war Turkey
and will be vital for those researching the Turkish Republic, and
the influence of the military in its destiny.
Colonial agents worked for fifty years to make a Japanese Taiwan,
using technology, culture, statistics, trade, and modern ideologies
to remake their new territory according to evolving ideas of
Japanese empire. Since the end of the Pacific War, this project has
been remembered, imagined, nostalgized, erased, commodified,
manipulated, idealized and condemned by different sectors of
Taiwan's population. ""The volume covers a range of topics,
""including colonial-era photography, exploration, postwar
deportation, sport, film, media, economic planning, contemporary
Japanese influences on Taiwanese popular culture, and recent
nostalgia for and misunderstandings about the colonial era.
"Japanese Taiwan" provides an inter-disciplinary perspective on
these related processes of colonization and decolonization,
explaining how the memories, scars and traumas of the colonial era
have been utilized during the postwar period. It provides a unique
critique of the 'Japaneseness' of the erstwhile Chinese Taiwan,
thus bringing new scholarship to bear on problems in contemporary
East Asian politics.
First published in 1906, this classic nine-volume history of the
nation of India places it among the storied lands of antiquity,
alongside Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia. Edited by American
academic ABRAHAM VALENTINE WILLIAMS JACKSON (1862 1937), professor
of Indo-Iranian languages at Columbia University, it offers a
highly readable narrative of the Indian people and culture through
to the time of its publication, when the nation was still part of
the British Empire. Volume V, The Mohammedan Period as Described by
Its Own Historians consisting of selections from the eight-volume
History of India as Described by Its Own Historians by British
historian SIR HENRY MIERS ELLIOT (1803-1853) features entertaining
and enlightening treatments of: the Arab conquest of Sind the holy
wars of Islam waged against Hindustan rise of the house of Ghor
Raziya, the Mohammedan empress of India Ala-Ad-Din s conquests on
the Deccan Timur s account of his invasion of India the memoirs of
the emperor Babar and much more. This beautiful replica of the 1906
first edition includes all the original illustrations.
Insightful and well-researched, this book is the first-ever
comprehensive account of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's activities in
Europe. On 19 January 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose escaped in disguise
from British surveillance in Calcutta to Kabul. There, he
established contact with the German and Italian foreign ministries,
thereby beginning a long period of collaboration with the Axis
Powers to counter British rule in India. This led to the setting up
of the Free India Centre, the radio station Azad Hind, and the
Indian Legion - in which 4,500 Indian volunteers were trained by
German experts to fight for the freedom of their nation. While his
compatriots resisted colonial rule on native soil, Bose spearheaded
the cause of freedom in Europe. Using Machiavellian tactics, he
discreetly played the Axis leaders off against each other and
courted considerable public favour through his transmissions on
Radio Azad Hind. Netaji in Europe pieces together information from
official records, diaries and military archives in Germany, Italy,
Britain and India to give a comprehensive account of the daily
negotiations between Bose, and foreign offices, diplomats and
double agents, during the Second World War. These efforts resulted
in a declaration of India's independence long before 1947, and the
formation of the first Indian army. The first work to narrate the
story of Netaji in Europe, this insightful book closes an important
gap in research on Bose's biography.
This study into both reformism and mysticism demonstrates both that
mystical rhetoric appeared regularly in supposedly anti-mystical
modernist writing and that nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sufis
actually addressed questions of intellectual and political reform
in their writing, despite the common assertion that they were
irrationally traditional and politically quietist.
Published in association with International Centre for Bengal
Studies Over the last twenty-five years significant epistemological
shifts and methodological innovations have enriched the
historiography of colonial Bengal. The essays in Bengal: Rethinking
History critically examine some of those trends and indicate
possibilities of future research. In the first section of this
book, Lakshmi Subramanian discusses the debates concerning the
early fortunes of the English East India Company, Sanjukta Das
Gupta deals with the complex literature on peasant and tribal
movements, Arjan de Haan looks at the debates with regard to the
industrial working classes and Brian Hatcher traces the changing
trends in the interpretation of Bengal Renaissance. The essay by
Bob Pokrant, Peter Reeves and John McGuire on the historical
significance of fish, fisheries and the social life of Bengal
fishermen is an example of the new areas of research that are being
opened up in recent years. In the second section on social
identities and politics, Asim Roy provides a comprehensive study of
the enormous volume of literature on the Bengal Muslims quest for
identity, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay discusses the literature on caste
system and construction of identities among lower caste Hindus and
Samita Sen takes a critical glance at recent researches on the
history of women. Nationalism has been one of the most explored
areas of Bengal history. In this volume Sugata Bose critically
examines the existing views on Bengal nationalism, while Joya
Chatterji investigates the problems of interpreting the troubled
politics of the 1940s. This book does not propagate any particular
view of history, as the essays represent a melange of opinions,
sometimes at variance with each other. It looks critically at the
existing historical discourses with a view to stoke new debates.
The Iranian cleric Ayatollah Montazeri (1922-2009) played an
integral role in the founding of the Islamic Republic in the wake
of the Iranian Revolution of 1978/9. Yet at the time of his death,
Montazeri was considered one of the Islamic Republic's fiercest
critics. What made this man, who was once considered the leading
advocate of the state doctrine of the 'Guardianship of the Jurist'
(velayat-e faqih) and the designated successor to the supreme
leader Ayatollah Khomeini, change his views? How did his political
theory incorporate issues such as civil rights, pluralism and
popular participation? And what influence did his ideas have on
others? Ulrich von Schwerin's book answers these questions by
examining the evolution of Montazeri's political thought over the
course of five decades, and studies his role in the discourse on
religion and politics in Iran. In doing so, he sheds a new light on
some of the most crucial events and vital protagonists of recent
Iranian history.
The presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004-14) was a
watershed in Indonesia's modern democratic history. Yudhoyono was
not only the first Indonesian president to be directly elected, but
also the first to be democratically re-elected. Coming to office
after years of turbulent transition, he presided over a decade of
remarkable political stability and steady economic growth. But
other aspects of his rule have been the subject of controversy.
While supporters view his presidency as a period of democratic
consolidation and success, critics view it as a decade of
stagnation and missed opportunities. This book is the first
comprehensive attempt to evaluate both the achievements and the
shortcomings of the Yudhoyono presidency. With contributions from
leading experts on Indonesia's politics, economy and society, it
assesses the Yudhoyono record in fields ranging from economic
development and human rights, to foreign policy, the environment
and the security sector.
The main objective of the book is to allocate the grass roots
initiatives of remembering the Holocaust victims in a particular
region of Russia which has a very diverse ethnic structure and
little presence of Jews at the same time. It aims to find out how
such individual initiatives correspond to the official Russian
hero-orientated concept of remembering the Second World war with
almost no attention to the memory of war victims, including
Holocaust victims. North Caucasus became the last address of
thousands of Soviet Jews, both evacuees and locals. While there was
almost no attention paid to the Holocaust victims in the official
Soviet propaganda in the postwar period, local activists and
historians together with the members of Jewish communities
preserved Holocaust memory by installing small obelisks at the
killing sites, writing novels and making documentaries, teaching
about the Holocaust at schools and making small thematic
exhibitions in the local and school museums. Individual types of
grass roots activities in the region on remembering Holocaust
victims are analyzed in each chapter of the book.
First published in 1906, this classic nine-volume history of the
nation of India places it among the storied lands of antiquity,
alongside Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia. Edited by American
academic ABRAHAM VALENTINE WILLIAMS JACKSON (18621937), professor
of Indo-Iranian languages at Columbia University, it offers a
highly readable narrative of the Indian people and culture through
to the time of its publication, when the nation was still part of
the British Empire. Volume IV, Part 2 of Medi]val India from the
Mohammedan Conquest to the Reign of Akbar the Great, by British
scholar STANLEY LANE-POOLE (1854-1931), features entertaining and
enlightening treatments of: [ the united empire of Akbar the Great
[ Akbars reforms: the divine faith [ the great Moghul and European
travellers [ Shah Jahan the Magnificent [ Aurangzib, the puritan
emperor [ the fall of the Moghul empire [ and much more. This
beautiful replica of the 1906 first edition includes all the
original illustrations.
Modern China and the New World focuses upon a few of the main
topics associated with China's recent rise to global prominence.
Dr. Randall Doyle discusses the impact that China will have on the
geopolitical balance throughout the Asia-Pacific region, as well as
the effect of China's new power on U.S.-China relations in the 21st
century. Dr. Zhang Boshu addresses China's continuing struggles
with Tibet and the Dalai Lama. He also discusses the existing
political system within China today and the future possibility of
democratic reforms occurring and transforming Chinese society
itself. Modern China and the New World presents these important
topics by incorporating not just traditional reading and research,
but also integrating the personal experiences of the authors.
This is a monograph about the medieval Jewish community of the
Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Through deep analyses of
contemporary historical sources, mostly documents from the Cairo
Geniza, life stories, conducts and practices of private people are
revealed. When put together these private biographies convey a
social portrait of an elite group which ruled over the local
community, but was part of a supra communal network.
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