Can History Teach Us Peace?

The idea that we can learn from history is a recurring one and this essay examines dialectically the arguments for and against the proposition that history can teach us peace. Eight objections to the proposition that we can teach peace through history are discussed: 1) the problem that history implies a social inevitability, 2) the difficulty in ascribing moral or ethical responsibility in historical explanation, 3) the reliance on counterfactual history in attempting to teach peace through history, 4) the war-centred nature of history, 5) the violence-centred nature of history, 6) the depersonalized construction of war in history, 7) the past-centred nature of history, 8) the problem of despair. The conclusion to this essay is that the teaching of peace is possible, although one does need to be mindful of the limitations to such a project and to have a deliberately open view of the future

Measuring the Expansion of the Universe Through Changes in the CMB Photosphere

The expansion of the universe may be observed in ``realtime'' by measuring changes in the patterns of the anisotropy in the CMB. As the universe ages, the surface of decoupling--or the CMB photosphere--moves away from us and samples a different gravitational landscape. The response of the CMB to this new landscape results in a different pattern than we observe today. The largest change occurs at l~900. We show that with an array of detectors that we may envision having in a couple of decades, one can in principle measure the change in the anisotropy with two high precision measurements separated by a century.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap

Education and Acculturation on Malaita: An Ethnography of Intraethnic and Interethnic Affinities

One of the central issues in educational anthropology is the changing nature of intraethnic and interethnic conflict and relationships. Conventional modernization theory suggests that the acculturation process will tend to diminish traditional allegiances and affinities. There are, however, indications that the opposite may occur. This essay reports on research into this issue undertaken on Malaita, in the Solomon Islands. The research method was sociometric and involved examination of the ethnic identity and affinities of individuals within the Malaitan language-groups, namely, the AreAre, Baegu, Baelelea, Dorio, Fataleka, Kwai Island, Kwaio, Kwara’ae, Langalanga, Lau, Sa’a and To’abaita language-groups. From this, I draw some conclusions on the acculturation process on Malaita, as well as what individuals in mass societies might learn from such language-group societies

Biologically Significant Illinois Streams: An Evaluation of the Streams of Illinois based on Aquatic Biodiversity: Part 1

Part 1: Text. See Reference ID-1365 for Part 2: AtlasReport issued on: December 31, 1991INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Dept. of Conservation, Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resource

The Australian National Commission for Unesco: Some Proposals for Reform

Unesco (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) was established in 1946 and the Australian government organisation responsible for advising on the implementation and coordination of Unesco policies and programs in Australia is the Australian National Commission for Unesco. Working from a Rawlsian notion of a public institution, a range of reforms are suggested for the commission: 1) development of a charter, 2) publication of an Annual Report, 3) widening the membership of the Commission, 4) funding reforms, 5) training of the membership of the Commission, 6) establishing a right of appeal against Commission decisions, and 7) developing programs for public participation. It is suggested that the above reforms may assist in establishing and strengthening the Australian Commission for Unesco as a significant and independent public institution in Australia, and thus assist in the implementation of Unesco programs and projects in the future

Is Africa's economy at a turning point?

In this paper, Arbache, Go, and Page examine the recent acceleration of growth in Africa. Unlike the past, the performance is now registered broadly across several types of countries-particularly the oil-exporting and resource-intensive countries and, in more recent years, the large- and middle-income economies, as well as coastal and low-income countries. The analysis confirms a trend break in the mid-1990s, identifying a growth acceleration that is due not only to favorable terms of trade and greater aid, but also to better policy. Indeed, the growth diagnostics show that more and more African countries have been able to avoid mistakes with better macropolicy, better governance, and fewer conflicts; as a result, the likelihood of growth decelerations has declined significantly. Nonetheless, the sustainability of that growth is fragile, because economic fundamentals, such as savings, investment, productivity, and export diversification, remain stagnant. The good news in the story is that African economies appear to have learned how to avoid the mistakes that led to the frequent growth collapses between 1975 and 1995. The bad news is that much less is known about the recipes for long-term success in development, such as developing the right institutions and the policies to raise savings and diversify exports, than about how to avoid economic bad times.Economic Conditions and Volatility,Governance Indicators,Achieving Shared Growth,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets