A Historical Perspective on Crime Fiction in Mexico During the Middle Decades of the Twentieth Century

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Piccato
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
The State ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Life World ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
The World ◽  
Better Than

Detective and murder stories emerged and had their moment of greatest popularity in Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s. Although this genre has been neglected in scholarship, this essay argues that it catered to a growing number of readers and authors eager to make sense of a Mexican reality seen as closely connected with the rest of the world. This article surveys this production during the middle decades of the twentieth century and argues that, despite great differences in their styles and themes, these narratives illustrate the critical engagement of Mexican readers with the state, particularly in relation to its inability to provide justice through police and judicial investigations. Better than any other cultural text or field of knowledge, this literature, along with the police news in newspapers, laid out the coordinates that readers in Mexico’s rapidly expanding urban centers had to follow in order to navigate that complex life-world.

Verschweizerung, or: Some Brief Remarks on Sovereignty, Transnationality, and “Sense-Security” in the Middle of Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
English Translation ◽  
State Power ◽  
European History ◽  
Central European ◽  
The World ◽  
Looking Back ◽  
Better Than

Even for readers of Central European History, it is easy to forget that there is more than one country in the middle of Europe and that there is more than one solution to the geopolitical problem associated with the perception of being in the “middle.” That problem is so overwhelmingly claimed by Germany and its interpreters, and it is so weighed down by reflections on the (ab)uses of state power, articulated in the long-running debate on the “primacy of foreign policy,” that it is somewhat jarring to encounter a book with the title In the Middle of Europe—André Holenstein's Mitten in Europa: Verflechtung und Abgrenzung in der Schweizer Geschichte—that is not at all concerned with Germany. It has Switzerland as its subject and Verschweizerung as its substance and subtext. I leave the term untranslated because it means nothing to most of the world and an English translation would surely not capture the partly facetious, partly scandalized, partly admiring undertones that the German conveys: “Die Welt wird entweder untergehen oder verschweizern,” in the words of Friedrich Dürenmatt. Even if not taken in jest, it still sounds better than: “Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen.” But if horror in the latter case makes sense when looking back at the twentieth century, why is there so much mockery in response to the former?

James Scott, Seeing Like a State

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loren King
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Coercive Power ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Rational Planning ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The World

States see the world in a particular way, simplifying their domains to better rule them. By the early twentieth century, these ordering imperatives coincided with progressive ideals grounded in hopes that scientific and technological progress could shape the world for good. That conceit—that we should use the formidable power of the state to forge grand rational schemes for human improvement—blinded planners to the critical importance of local, cumulative, practical knowledge. This is Scott’s core thesis in Seeing Like a State, which he supports with a rich (if selective) body of evidence. If we defend Scott’s book as political theory, then we might worry that he has simply rediscovered skeptical themes (specifically, worries about coercive power and rational planning) long-evident in counter-enlightenment, anarchist, libertarian, and postcolonial thought. These worries, while reasonable, should not obscure the great value of Scott’s book as grounded political theory: there are lessons here, both methodological and substantive, for political theory.

scholarly journals George Keith Batchelor's Interaction with Chinese Fluid Dynamicists and Inspirational Influence: a historical perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Z. Shi
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Fluid Mechanics ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Applied Mathematics ◽  
Research Interest ◽  
General Context ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

George Keith Batchelor (1920–2000, FRS 1957) was a towering figure in the twentieth century international fluid mechanics community. Much has been written about him since his death. This article presents an account of Batchelor's early interactions and relationships with Chinese fluid dynamicists and his continuing inspirational influence on them, which have not yet been documented in English. The theory of homogeneous turbulence, to which Batchelor contributed greatly, has had both indirect and direct inspirational influence on generations of Chinese fluid dynamicists, as they have sought to make their own contributions. Batchelor made visits to China in 1980 and 1983. His first ice-breaking trip to China in April 1980 is of special importance to Sino-British fluid mechanics and to China, even though Batchelor did not speak about turbulence but instead about his more recent research interest, microhydrodynamics. Batchelor's philosophical view of applied mathematics (fluid mechanics)—that ‘You have got to inject some physical thinking as well as mathematical thinking’—has had great inspirational influence on generations of fluid dynamicists in the UK, in China, and around the world. Batchelor's generosity of spirit and frugality of habit is warmly remembered by his students and Chinese friends. The author presents details of Batchelor's interaction with Chinese fluid dynamicists in the 1980s within the general context of the scientific relationship between China and the UK.

THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-63
Author(s):  
Maria Polozhikhina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
Crisis Conditions ◽  
Better Than

The Russian economy passed 2020 better than a number of developed countries in the world, although not without losses. The situation in 2021 remains tense: despite the vaccination of the population the coronavirus pandemic continues. In crisis conditions, much depends on the state socio-economic policy. The government’s task is not just to support economic activity and citizens, but to enter the trajectory of new qualitative growth. In this paper, the results of the actions taken in Russia are considered - in order to possibly adjust the decisions taking into account the observed trends and existing risks.

Introduction: Human Rights in Politics and Practice

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Goodhart
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Conceptual Background

This edition offers an introduction to the theory and practice of human rights from the perspective of politics and cognate disciplines. It showcases the ‘state of the art’ of the study of human rights in various fields and disciplines and explores a variety of important topics in contemporary human rights politics and practice. This introduction provides the historical and conceptual background necessary for informed critical engagement with the ideas and arguments presented in the text. It first explains why human rights have emerged as a powerful and important moral and political discourse since the middle of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on their modernity, their invention, and their revolutionary character. It then examines the politics of human rights, the practice of human rights, and human rights as an object of enquiry. It concludes with a brief overview of the aims, structure, and objectives of the text.

scholarly journals Mobilidade territorial e política no discurso de lideranças indígenas do/no estado do Acre (Amazônia, Brasil)

Terr Plural ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Alessandra Severino da Silva Manchinery ◽  
Suzanna Dourado Silva ◽  
Adnilson de Almeida Silva
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
The State ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

It is proposed to discuss territorial mobility, the policies of indigenous leaders in the state of Acre, especially the Manchineri, their survival strategies in the world of non-indigenous people so that we can reflect on two changes that we testify in recent decades: mobility for the urban centers that include the indigenous people who were born in the city and those who arrived in the city, as well as its growing support in the country’s indigenous and non-indigenous political discussions in Brazil. The methodological path had as its own perspective of the leaders, for this will be reported their way of life and their involvement in the policies of different spheres of decision. The paper consists of three discussion sections that go from mobility to the political role played by leaders.

scholarly journals The Postcolonial Crescent

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-150
Author(s):  
Deonna Kelli
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
The Many ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

Identity politics has become the catch phrase of the postmodern age. Withconcepts such as "exile," "migrancy," and "hybridity" acquiring unprecedentedcultural significance in the late twentieth century, the postcolonial age givesway to new identities, fractured modes of living, and new conditions of humanity.Literature is a powerful tool to explore such issues in an era where a greatdeal of the world is displaced, and the idea of a homeland becomes a disrupted,remote possibility. The Postcolonial Crescent: Islam's Impact onContemporary Literature, is an attempt to discuss how Muslims negotiateidentity at a time of rapid and spiritually challenging transculturation. The bookuses fiction written by Muslims to critique the effects of colonialism, counteractmodernity, and question the status of Islamic identity in the contemporaryworld. It also can be considered as the primary introduction of contemporaryIslamic literature into the postcolonial genre. Muslim writers have yet to submit a unique and powerful commentary on postcolonial and cultural studies;this work at least softens that absence.The Postcolonial Crescent was conceived as a response to The SatanicVerses controversy. Therefore, it is “intimately involved in the interchangebetween religion and the state, and demonstrates that the roles Islam is playingin postcolonial nation-building is especially contested in the absence of broadlyacceptable models” (p. 4). Conflicting issues of identity are approached byinterrogating the authority to define a “correct” Islamic identity, the role ofindividual rights, and the “variegation of Islamic expression within specificcultural settings, suggesting through the national self-definitions the many concernsthat the Islamic world shares with global postcoloniality” (p. 7) ...

Interview with Richard Overy

2015 ◽  
Vol 97 (900) ◽  
pp. 969-983
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
World War ◽  
Traditional Use ◽  
Total War ◽  
The World ◽  
The University

Richard Overy is Professor of History at the University of Exeter and the author of more than twenty-five books on the age of the World Wars and European dictatorship, including The Bombing War: Europe 1939–1945. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.Airpower has been used in armed conflicts since World War I. Aircraft have been deployed in support of the army on the ground and the navy on the surface. However, the twentieth century, with two World Wars, has also seen aerial bombardment of cities that fell outside the traditional use of airpower. During World War II, as part of the ideology of “total war”, cities were deliberately selected as targets of such attacks with the purpose of undermining the morale of the enemy's population and “winning the war”. Nowadays, although the deliberate bombing of entire cities is prohibited, it is still believed that aerial bombardment can produce certain political dividends for belligerents. In this interview, Richard Overy provides a historical perspective on the evolution of aerial bombardment since the World Wars, and puts in context the use of airpower in contemporary armed conflicts.

Dearest Lenny

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Yoshihara
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
World Culture ◽  
Leonard Bernstein ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World

Buried in the massive archives of Leonard Bernstein are many letters to the maestro from two unknown Japanese individuals: Kazuko Amano, who became a loyal fan of Bernstein in 1947, and Kunihiko Hashimoto, who fell deeply in love with Bernstein in 1979 and later came to be professionally involved in the maestro’s work. Using their passionate letters to trace their special relationship with Bernstein, Dearest Lenny explores how Bernstein, a quintessential American in so many ways, became the world maestro who reached and communicated so powerfully across borders. It follows Bernstein’s transformation from an American icon to the world maestro against the backdrop of the changing geopolitics and economy during the second half of the twentieth century. During this period, Japan’s place in the world and its relationship to the United States changed dramatically, which also shaped Bernstein’s relationship to the world and to the two individuals in important ways. In tracing Bernstein’s worldwide reach through the decades, Dearest Lenny looks at many forms of relationships—not only between Bernstein and the two individuals but also between art and life, the United States and the world, culture and commerce, artists and the state, the private and the public, conventions and transgressions, dreams and realities. Amano’s and Hashimoto’s stories provide a unique window into these relationships, as well as the deep, intimate bond each of them built with their beloved maestro.

India's Unfinished Journey Transforming Growth into Development

2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEEPAK NAYYAR
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Past ◽  
Better Than

This paper situates the economic performance of independent India in historical perspective to evaluate the past and reflect on the future. It shows that the turning point in economic growth was circa 1951 in the long twentieth century and circa 1980 in India since independence. Thus, it is not possible to attribute the turnaround in India's performance to economic liberalization beginning 1991. During the period 1950–1980, economic growth in India was respectable, for it was a radical departure from the past and no worse than the performance of most countries. During the period 1980–2005, economic growth in India was impressive, indeed much better than in most countries. The real failure in both these periods was India's inability to transform this growth into well-being for all its people. And India's unfinished journey in development cannot be complete as long as poverty, deprivation and exclusion persist. Even so, with correctives, it should be possible to reach the destination.

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