Democracy and Human Rights in the European-Asian Dialogue: A Clash of Cooperation Cultures?

Whereas the European Union (EU) favors a formal, binding, output-oriented, and to some extent supranational approach to cooperation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is based on informal, non-binding, process-oriented intergovernmental forms of cooperation. This article addresses the question of whether these differences between European and Asian cooperation norms or cultures can account for interregional cooperation problems in the areas of democracy and human rights within the institutional context of EU-ASEAN and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). The author argues that a clash of cooperation cultures basically occurs in both forms of interregional collaboration between Asia and Europe, with slight differences due to the institutional context: while disagreements over the question of democracy and human rights between the EU and ASEAN have led to a temporary and then a complete standstill in cooperation, the flexible institutional mechanisms of ASEM seem, at first glance, to mitigate the disruptive effects of such dialogues. Yet informality does not remove the issues from the agenda, as the recurrent disputes over Myanmar’s participation and the nonintervention norm favored by the Asian side of ASEM clearly indicate. Antagonistic cooperation cultures thus play a significant role in explaining the obstructive nature of the interregional human rights and democracy dialogue between Asia and Europe.cooperation culture, human rights, democracy, Myanmar, EU-ASEAN, ASEM

Towards a Dynamic Model of the Interplay Between International Institutions

International institutions increasingly affect each other’s development, maintenance and effectiveness. Research so far has merely focused on the issue of effectiveness and broader consequences. The paper argues firstly that theoretical progress could be promoted by integrating variables explaining the formation and maintenance of international institutions into a dynamic model of institutional interplay. Secondly, research ought to be extended to institutions governing issue areas like trade, finance, and security as well as their respective interactions. Thirdly, East Asia is a highly interesting region regarding regime interaction, since regional cooperation is slowly but steadily evolving in different issue areas as a reaction to institutional operations on the global level of governance.Institutional Interplay, institutional interaction, global governance, international institutions, Regime Theory, international political economy, East Asia

Effective interaction between star polymers

The distance-resolved effective interaction between two star polymers in a good solvent is calculated by Molecular Dynamics computer simulations. The results are compared with a pair potential proposed recently by Likos et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 1998, 80, 4450] which is exponentially decaying for large distances and crosses over, at the corona diameter of the star, to an ultrasoft logarithmic repulsion for small distances. Excellent agreement is found in a broad range of star arm numbers.Comment: final version as published, 9 pages + 5 ps-figure

Le paysage boisé et les modes d’occupation de l’île de Montréal, du Sylvicole supérieur récent au XIXe siècle

Cet article examine l’ancien paysage boisé de l’île de Montréal afin de restituer les modes d’occupation territoriale de la préhistoire au xixe siècle. À la fin de la préhistoire, on distingue trois modes d’occupation sur l’île. Dans le Sud-Est, le paysage boisé résulte des pratiques de jardinage intensif et de circulation à travers des chênaies clairsemées évoluant vers une savane. Ce mode d’occupation diminue d’intensité mais ne disparaît pas entre Cartier et Champlain. La forêt du tiers ouest de l’île est modelée par des pratiques de jardinage traditionnel dispersé et ce, jusqu’au début du xviiie siècle. Enfin, une immense cédraie couvre le versant nord de l’île; elle semble être en place depuis des siècles, sans perturbation anthropique significative. Les derniers signes d’occupation autochtone traditionnelle disparaissent entre 1700 et 1725 alors que prend place un mode colonial d’exploitation. Les seigneurs sulpiciens se réservent la forêt montréalaise jusqu’à 1698 quand ils cèdent la cédraie du versant nord à des pionniers qui l’utilisent pour la construction d’un habitat rural. Les espèces plus convoitées, le pin blanc, le chêne et le frêne, demeurent l’apanage des seigneurs. Vers 1830 les premiers arrivages du bois de l’Outaouais apparaissent dans le registre archéologique, signalant l’épuisement de la forêt insulaire.The article examines the ancient forest landscape of Montréal Island in order to reconstruct territorial occupation modes from late prehistory to the 19th century. During late prehistory, three occupation modes can be discerned on Montréal Island. In the south-east, the wooded landscape reflects intensive gardening practices and circulation under sparse oak groves tending toward a savannah. This occupation mode diminishes in intensity but does not disappear between Cartier and Champlain. In the island’s western third, the forest was modelled by dispersed traditional gardening until the early 18th century. Finally, an immense cedar grove covered the island’s northern slope. It was likely several centuries old and showed little indication of human disturbance. Signs of traditional Native occupation modes disappear between 1700 and 1725, giving way to colonial exploitation practices. The Sulpician seigneurs controlled the island’s forest resources until 1698 when they conceded the northern cedar grove to pioneers who used it to build their farmsteads. More coveted species such as white pine, oak and ash remained under seigneurial control. The first imported timber from the Ottawa Valley appears in the archaeological record about 1830, signaling the exhaustion of local woodlands

Recent Advances in Ship History and Archaeology, 1450-1650: Hull Design, Regional Typologies and Wood Studies

Combining the study of texts and shipwrecks, new research is changing our knowledge of Renaissance shipbuilding on three subjects: hull design, shipwreck typologies and wood as an archaeological material. On hull design, diverging syntheses have been published using Atlantic and Mediterranean sources. On shipwreck typologies, archaeologists now recognize regional forms for which historical explanations are advanced. On wood as an archaeological material, methods of tree-ring dating now also reveal the geographic origin of timbers. Other research indicates that frame timbers were "trained" as samplings to attain a specific shape, thus limiting new hull designs to regional styles. Résumé Des recherches récentes s'appuyant sur des écrits et des épaves modifient nos connaissances sur trois questions relatives à la construction navale de la Renaissance : la conception des carènes, les typologies d'épaves et le bois en tant que matériau archéologique. À propos de la conception des carènes, deux synthèses divergentes, puisant à des sources atlantiques et méditerranéennes, ont été publiées. En matière de typologies, les archéologues distinguent désormais des signatures régionales pour lesquelles ils avancent des explications historiques. Quant au bois comme matériau archéologique, la dendrochronologie en révèle aussi aujourd'hui la provenance géographique. D'autres recherches indiquent que de jeunes arbres destinés à la production de membrures ont été forcés en cours de croissance d'adopter une morphologie spécifique, ce qui réduit les nouveaux modèles de carènes à des styles régionaux