scholarly journals EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. vii-xii ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Spolsky

From the beginning, public tests and examinations were instruments of policy. The Imperial Chinese examination was created to permit the emperor to replace the patronage system by which powerful lords were choosing their own candidates to be mandarins. The Jesuit schools in 17th-century France introduced a weekly testing system to allow central control of classroom teaching. In 19th-century England, Thomas Macaulay argued for employing the Chinese principle in selecting cadets for the Indian Civil Service; a similar system was later used for the British Civil Service. A primary school examination system was set up in England at the end of the 19th century to serve the same purpose of achieving quality control and accountability in public schools as was proposed for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that is being bitterly disputed in 21st-century United States. Chauncey's primary goal after World War II in developing the Scholastic Achievement Test for admission to elite U.S. universities was to replace the children of the wealthy establishment with highly qualified students who would see their role as contributing to public service.

Author(s):  
Amin Tarzi

Since its inception as a separate political entity in 1747, Afghanistan has been embroiled in almost perpetual warfare, but it has never been ruled directly by the military. From initial expansionist military campaigns to involvement in defensive, civil, and internal consolidation campaigns, the Afghan military until the mid-19th century remained mainly a combination of tribal forces and smaller organized units. The central government, however, could only gain tenuous monopoly over the use of violence throughout the country by the end of the 19th century. The military as well as Afghan society remained largely illiterate and generally isolated from the prevailing global political and ideological trends until the middle of the 20th century. Politicization of Afghanistan’s military began in very small numbers after World War II with Soviet-inspired communism gaining the largest foothold. Officers associated with the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan were instrumental in two successful coup d’états in the country. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, ending the country’s sovereignty and ushering a period of conflict that continues to the second decade of the 21st century in varying degrees. In 2001, the United States led an international invasion of the country, catalyzing efforts at reorganization of the smaller professional Afghan national defense forces that have remained largely apolitical and also the country’s most effective and trusted governmental institution.


Author(s):  
Elena P. Kudryavtseva ◽  

The study is devoted to the activities of the Asian Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that served as a curator of the Russia-Balkans relations in the first half of the 19th century. The Asian Department (set up in 1819) was in charge of the diplomatic, economic, cultural and church relations of Russia with the countries of the «East», and, above all, with the Ottoman Empire. Relations with the Orthodox Balkan nations - Serbs, Bulgarians and Montenegrins – remained traditionally close. This department supervised the policies related to the Balkan region, developed instructions for Russian envoys in Constantinople and Athens, stored consular reports from all over the Balkan region, and, as a result, elaborated approach of the Russian government in relations with Turkey.


Author(s):  
James A. Garza

The history of foreign travel to Mexico has been dependent on the country’s political, economic, and social conditions. Travel restrictions, banditry, the condition of transportation routes and ports, political stability, revolution, and the development of a tourist industry have all played a role in how travelers have written about Mexico. Despite periodic challenges, Mexico has proven to be an alluring destination for foreign travelers since the colonial era. Men and women have journeyed to Mexico for different reasons, some on official business and others for pleasure or to escape their lives back home, and in turn have produced numerous accounts that have served to attract more visitors and have functioned as a valuable source of information on the everyday life of Mexico’s peoples. Still others have traveled to Mexico for conquest, and while their motivations were violent, their journals have served as a guide for those interested in retracing the same routes. Travelers have depicted landscapes, communities, peoples, and practices; offered insight into important historic periods; and depicted Mexico as exotic, bountiful, primitive, or dangerous. This historical topic is divided into three distinct eras: the colonial period, the 19th century, and the 20th century. The Spanish Crown restricted foreign travel to Mexico during the colonial era (1521–1821), resulting in the relative scarcity of accounts from the period. Foreign travelers during this period were conquistadors, clerics, officials, or explorers, all with varying degrees of literacy. During the 19th century, foreign travelers came in three overlapping waves: the early republic era (1821–1840), when most were either investors or diplomats; the middle period (1830–1870), an era dominated by soldiers, travelers, and archeologists; and the Porfiriato (1876–1911), when investors and wealthy tourists flooded Mexico. The 1910 Mexican Revolution marks the beginning of Mexico’s 20th century and two distinct periods of foreign travel, both influenced by state power and violence. The revolutionary and state-building era (1910–1946) saw foreign travelers as primarily war journalists and writers exploring the effects of the revolution’s social and cultural measures. After World War II, foreign travelers encountered the tourism era (1946–1968), a period under the influence of a burgeoning state tourism industry. Despite this challenge, travelers, many of them writers, carved out their own niches.


1998 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa Morris-Suzuki

With the Meiji Restoration the first steps were taken in the third quarter of the 19th century to set up a national system of education in Japan. European educational theories were influential. Samuel Smiles became a reference for moral principles and Western heroes from Socrates to Florence Nightingale were exemplars. The articles explores the complex relationship of Western ideas with indigenous Japanese culture.


2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 382-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nell Gabiam

The term humanitarianism finds its roots in 19th-century Europe and is generally defined as the “impartial, neutral, and independent provision of relief to victims of conflict and natural disasters.” Behind this definition lies a dynamic history. According to political scientists Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss, this history can be divided into three phases. From the 19th century to World War II, humanitarianism was a reaction to the perceived breakdown of society and the emergence of moral ills caused by rapid industrialization within Europe. The era between World War II and the 1990s saw the emergence of many of today's nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations. These organizations sought to address the suffering caused by World War I and World War II, but also turned their gaze toward the non-Western world, which was in the process of decolonization. The third phase began in the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, and witnessed an expansion of humanitarianism. One characteristic of this expansion is the increasing prominence of states, regional organizations, and the United Nations in the field of humanitarian action. Their increased prominence has been paralleled by a growing linkage between humanitarian concerns and the issue of state, regional, and global security. Is it possible that, in the 21st century, humanitarianism is entering a new (fourth) phase? And, if so, what role have events in the Middle East played in ushering it in? I seek to answer these questions by focusing on regional consultations that took place between June 2014 and July 2015 in preparation for the first ever World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), scheduled to take place in Istanbul in May 2016.


Author(s):  
Silvija Ozola

In Liepaja, until 1703 economic developed on the Trade Port channel’s southern embankment. The main traffic flow changed his direction: from the port to the New Market leads Great (Latvian: Lielā) Street, at which end a wooden bridge was built over the channel. In the 19th century, the Administrative Center formed at the New Market Square’s vicinity. Streets connected squares and green structures in a united system. The Rose Square was set up instead the New Market. During World War II, the building at embankments and Great Street was destroyed. Using the Master Plan, approved in 1950, architect Vladimir Kruglov created the Detailed Plan for developed of Liepaja Center and Great Street. A reinforced-concrete bridge was built across the channel. Until the 100th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of Latvia, the bridge was expanded, but Great Street was reconstructed. The object of the research – the city center of Liepaja and Great Street. Research problem – architectural changes of the city center of Liepaja and Great Street has studied not sufficiently. Research novelty – architectural analysis of the city center of Liepaja and Great Street. The goal of the research – to determine the typical changes in planning of the city center and Great Street in the context of Liepaja urban development. Main methods applied – analysis of archive documents, projects and cartographic materials of urban planning, as well as study of published literature and inspection of buildings in nature.


1998 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 125-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Ferguson Smith

Oinoanda's most famous and, many would say, most precious possession is the massive Greek inscription, which, probably in the first half of the second century AD, was set up by a citizen named Diogenes, who must have been both wealthy and influential. ‘Having reached the sunset of life’, he used the wall of a stoa to advertise the moral benefits of Epicurean philosophy not only to his fellow-citizens, but also to foreign visitors, and not only to his contemporaries, but also to future generations. In fulfilment of his philanthropic mission he expounded Epicurus' teachings on physics, epistemology, and ethics in writings which may have occupied 260m2 of wall-space and contained 25,000 words. The work, as well as being remarkable as an epigraphic colossus, is a valuable source of information about one of the most important philosophies in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.Eighty-eight fragments of Diogenes' inscription were found by French and Austrian epigraphists between 1884 and 1895. I took up the search in 1968–73, discovering 38 new fragments and rediscovering most of the 19th-century finds. My work led on to the topographical and epigraphical survey, sponsored by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara (BIAA) and directed by the late Alan S Hall in 1974–75–76–77–81–83 — a survey which not only revealed more of Diogenes' work, but also yielded other epigraphical finds and, thanks above all to the work of James J. Coulton, significantly increased our knowledge of Oinoanda's history and buildings.


Muzikologija ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 27-50
Author(s):  
Kristina Parezanovic

This research focuses on the development of art music, music pedagogy and teaching solf?ge in Serbia in the long period stretching from the second half of the 19th century until the present day. In this article I present a chronology of the institutionalisation of the music education system in Serbia; then, I discuss the origins of the influence of Western European artistic-pedagogical practices on Serbian teaching, through the testimonies by Stevan Hristic, Berthold Hartmann, Miloje Milojevic, Stanislav Vinaver, Milan Grol and others. I finish with the presentation of the most important Serbian music pedagogues and their achievements in the period before World War II (Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac, Isidor Bajic, Miloje Milojevic, Miodrag Vasiljevic) in parallel with the results and practices of the Western European and global music pedagogy. My goal is to observe Serbian approaches to music pedagogy in relation to the question of the possibilities, realistic or hypothetical, to use the educational principles which were in expansion in Europe at the end of the 19 th and beginning of the 20th centuries in Serbian music pedagogy. After examining the methods of teaching solf?ge in the period from the end of World War II until today, I conclude that Serbia has developed its own pedagogic style (even though it is based on the complementarity of several autochthonous and foreign methodical solutions), built upon and supperted by the experience and knowledge of Serbian and foreign attainments in music pedagogy.


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