Navigating Uncertain Waters : Geographies of Water and Conflict, Shifting Terms and Debates

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila M. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
The Past ◽  
Water Wars ◽  
The Common ◽  
International Water ◽  
Critical Resources

The debate over whether or not future water scarcities will contribute to heightened conflict and violent war is far from over. In the past decade, there has been a proliferation of books with titles such as Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East, Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East, and Rivers of Fire: The Conflict over Water in the Middle East, with many more undoubtedly planned or in press. This chapter serves as a critical assessment of some of the major themes of this literature and also contributes several concepts and case study examples in order to shift and reframe some of the common bases and assumptions of ongoing discussions. In particular, the concept of scale is used to argue for a broadened notion of “sociopolitical conflict” associated with water resources to overcome weaknesses inherent to dichotomous state-centered understandings of “war” and “peace.” Given the changing nature of contemporary conflicts, “peace” cannot justifiably be understood as the absence of war. Many people, livelihoods, places, and economies are marked by diffuse and persistent conflict. Whether disruptions take the form of gang warfare in cities, the frequency of preventable deaths caused by lack of access to basic needs, or conflict over access to and sharing of critical resources, times of “peace” are notably marked by political instability, death, vulnerability, and other features commonly associated with warfare. Further, given interconnections between environments, people, and places, conflicts at specific sites cannot be abstracted from situations and conditions at other locations and scales. Even if a state is not at “war,” situations of resource use or access may still be marked in important ways by sociopolitical conflict, either past conflicts or ongoing conflicts across other sites and scales. In short, narrow attention to stateto- state warfare detracts from the complexity of relationships between the changing geographies of water resources and sociopolitical conflicts. A multiscalar perspective that highlights manifold and interrelated geographies of “water and conflict” across historical and geographical scales and among multiple sites and actors brings this into relief.

FUNDAMENTALISM, BUREAUCRATIZATION, AND THE STATE'S CO-OPTATION OF RELIGION: A JORDANIAN CASE STUDY

2006 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Antoun
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Equal Duration ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Past Half

In the Middle East over the past half-century, three religious processes have grown together. One, the growth of fundamentalism, has received worldwide attention both by academics and journalists. The others, the bureaucratization of religion and the state co-optation of religion, of equal duration but no less importance, have received much less attention. The bureaucratization of religion focuses on the hierarchicalization of religious specialists and state co-optation of religion focuses on their neutralization as political opponents. Few commentators link the three processes. In Jordan, fundamentalism, the bureaucratization of religion (BOR), and state co-optation of religion (SCR) have become entwined sometimes in mutually supportive and sometimes in antagonistic relations. The following case study will describe and analyze the implications of this mutual entanglement for the relations of state and civil society and for the human beings simultaneously bureaucratized and “fundamentalized.”

Weaponizing Water in the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 151-170
Author(s):  
Tobias von Lossow
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Modern Warfare

Chapter 7 presents a closed case study on warfare in Syria and Iraq to contextualize the practice of weaponization of water by the so-called Islamic State (IS) discovering that with very few exceptions, the warring parties have used it as a weapon—in various ways, for multiple reasons, and with different impact in scale and scope resulting in severe humanitarian, environmental, and economic consequences. Nonetheless, the assessment of historical and regional records herein contributes to an understanding of IS’s role as a kind of front runner – frequently, systematically and openly weaponizing water to achieve its political and military goals. Ultimately, the chapter frames broader implications for water resources and water infrastructures as applied to future conflicts in the Middle East leading to a better understanding of the risks, threats, and mechanisms that may potentially allow the prevention of such acts –that are indeed orchestrated on a more frequent basis in the Middle East—from encouraging norm construction in the conduct of modern warfare.

scholarly journals Características Enunciativas Presentes em Textos Históricos de Divulgação Científica e Possíveis Contribuições ao Ensino

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 103-123
Author(s):  
Filipe Silva de Oliveira ◽  
Edson José Wartha
Keyword(s):  
Science Teaching ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
The Past ◽  
Teaching History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Brazilian Science

ResumoHistória da Ciência e Ensino de Ciências são áreas do conhecimento com possibilidades de interface anunciadas e investigadas na atualidade, desse modo, produzindo conhecimento a comunidade de pesquisa interessada em encontrar caminhos didáticos para a sala de aula. Por meio de Narrativas Históricas (NHs), Estudo de Caso e sistematicamente Sequências Didáticas, essa interface tem sido desenvolvida. O estudo de textos históricos de divulgação científica auxilia a compreender a divulgação do conhecimento científico para o público comum no passado, acredita-se ser possível o uso desses textos na construção de materiais didáticos como Narrativas Históricas (NHs) e Estudo de Caso. Neste artigo discutimos características enunciadas em textos de divulgação científica escritos por um divulgador da ciência brasileiro, relacionando essas características na construção de Narrativas Históricas que venham a utilizar os textos desse divulgador. As características são conteúdo temático, composição do enunciado e estilo verbal. Essas características auxiliam na compreensão dos textos desse divulgador no processo de construção das Narrativas Históricas.Palavras-chave: Ensino de Ciências. História da Ciência. Divulgação Científica. Narrativa Histórica. AbstractHistory of Science and Science Teaching are areas of knowledge with possibilities of interface announced and investigated today, thus, producing knowledge to the research community interested in finding didactic paths for the classroom.  Through Historical Narratives (NHs) Case Study and systematically Instructional Sequences, this interface been developed. The study of historical texts of scientific popularization assist to understand the popularization scientific knowledge to the common public in the past, it is believed that the use of these is possible in the construction of instruction materials such as Historical Narratives (NHs) and Case Study. In this paper we discuss characteristics stated in scientific popularization texts written by a Brazilian science disseminator, relating these characteristics in the construction of Historical Narratives that come to use the texts of disseminator. Features are thematic content, statement composition and verbal style. These characteristics assist in the understand of the texts of this disseminator in the process of construction the Historical Narratives.Keywords: Science Teaching. History of Science. Scientific Popularization. Historical Narrative.

scholarly journals Post Modern Cross Comparative Analysis on the Mosque Ornamentation in Malaysia: (A Case Study of Charles Jencks)

2015 ◽  
Vol 747 ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
Nangkula Utaberta ◽  
Aisyah Nur Handryant ◽  
Md Azree Othuman Mydin
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Islamic Architecture ◽  
Common People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Charles Jencks

Ornamentation is one of the elements in mosque which is almost considered as a compulsory element by the common people. Most of these ornaments are using the precedent from Middle East, such as geometry, floral and arabesque (Utaberta, 2014). Many architects are using revivalism approach of past architectural building such as the Putra Mosque, glorious son of Malaysia. The Putra mosque adopts distinct Islamic architecture that calls on a foreign eclectic revivalism (historicism design approach) of the Persian (Iranian) vocabulary found during the glorification of Safavid period (Utaberta 2012). Ornamentation in Islamic building has recorded in many books. describe that one of the first ornamentation in Islamic Building found in Persia which is using revivalism approach in designing ornament in its column. Ornamentation is the key element that is used in most mosques all over the world. The aim of this writing is to provide the Charles Jencks’s approaches to evaluating ornamentation system in mosque especially in Malaysia.

SHAPING A EUROPEAN PRODUCTION PLATFORM – CASE STUDY

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
Štefan Kassay
Keyword(s):  
Production Process ◽  
International Business ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Production Platform ◽  
Production Practice ◽  
The Common ◽  
European Production

The purpose of the article is to present the concept and practice of implementing the idea regarding the construction and functioning of the European platform for the production process, which is an example of international business. The main efforts associated with the process of creating such a platform focus on spreading the good name of the country abroad. This is possible in connection with increasing the efficiency of enterprises and bringing the idea of innovation closer to creating a symbiosis of science with production practice. This leads to an increase in the economic strength of the countries involved. The idea of a “common European production platform” was created in the specific conditions of production processes in I.D.C. Holding, S.A. in Slovakia, which has a branch in Poland (I.D.C. Polonia, Krakow). The socio-economic results achieved by the holding over the past quarter-century have influenced the formulation of the question – how and with what assumptions is it possible to create a European production platform. Such a question becomes the main problem that needs to be solved and the question posed in this article requires an answer related to the development of the following issues: − company profile; − business achievements I.D.C; − basic conditions and ideas of the common platform. An indication of the possibilities to implement the above is provided in the article.

scholarly journals The Common Buzzard Buteo buteo Population in a Changing Environment, Central Poland as a Case Study

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Gryz ◽  
Dagny Krauze-Gryz
Keyword(s):  
Diet Composition ◽  
Stand Structure ◽  
Small Rodent ◽  
Breeding Parameters ◽  
Bird Of Prey ◽  
Common Buzzard ◽  
The Past ◽  
Central Poland ◽  
The Common

Common buzzard is the most abundant bird of prey in Europe, and its population has undergone serious changes. In this study, we focused on a population in Central Poland (study area 105 km2, forests around 24 km2, seven forest complexes) to analyze how certain environmental factors influenced population abundance, breeding parameters, and diet composition. The study was undertaken from 2011 to 2018, and the results were compared with data from two study periods (1982–1992; 2001–2003). Current population density was 3.5 pairs/10 km2 of total area and 14.3 pairs/10 km2 of forested area, it was negatively correlated to the abundance of northern goshawk, and it grew in the last few decades. Mammals were dominant prey (72.6% prey items, 38.6% of biomass), but their share in diet changed following rodent availability. A decrease in the share of voles was recorded, reflecting drop in their abundance and dampening of abundance cycles. Breeding parameters were similar to those in the past, and the number of offspring depended on small rodent availability. Buzzards adapted to changes in the stand structure, i.e., when share of Scots pine decreased, they chose it as their nesting tree less frequently. All this showed that buzzard is a very adaptable species.

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