The Causes and Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts

Scholars of International Security have been trying to develop a theoretical approach to explain the causes of ethnic conflict for a long time. These studies have led to contentious debates but have also probed so deeply that their findings help shed new light on these issues, providing better understanding and possible solutions. Ethnic groups are defined as a community of people who share cultural and linguistic characteristics including religion, language, history, tradition, myth, and origin. This paper will explore the realist explanations of ethnic conflicts and then see how critical theory explanations offer new insight and answers to puzzles that could not be previously be explained. It will then explore several of the possible solutions used to end incidents of ethnic violence. Finally, it will focus on the debate surrounding partition as a possible solution to ethnic conflict, concluding that it is in fact a viable option for peace when implemented judiciously. According to realist explanations, ethnic conflicts are deeply rooted in cognitive and situational needs. In his article, â€Å"The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict,† realist scholar Barry Posen claims that anarchy creates competition and hostility between ethnic, religious and cultural groups. Ethnic fractions act to preserve their identity and physical security through the accumulation of resources and military power. Interestingly, Posen notes that social cohesion is viewed as a larger threat than material assets in military competition. Social cohesion, he claims, derives from historical accounts of identity building which often are inaccurate and biased; thus perpetuating cultural differences and hatred of the other. [1] Accordingly, ethnic tensions are inevitable but can quickly magnify to warfare when one group coerces or dominates the other militarily or ideologically. Realists, such as Posen do not ignore the fact that â€Å"ideas† are essential elements of ethnic conflict, but rather use them support the needs of power and mutual deterrence. In his article, â€Å"Symbolic Politics or Rational Choice? ,† Stewart Kaufman attempts to deconstruct realist explanations of ethnic conflicts by introducing his own theory called â€Å"symbolic politics. † According to this theory, episodes of extreme ethnic violence are caused by, â€Å"[ G]roup myths that justify hostility, fears of group extinction and a symbolic politics of chauvinist mobilization. † [2] Kaufman believes that these myths produce â€Å"emotion-laden symbols that make mass hostility easy for chauvinist elites to provoke and make extremist policies popular. [3] Both Posen and Kaufman use the situation in former Yugoslavia to validate their respective theories. According to Posen’s realist explanation, the origin of the conflict was a primordial contentious relationship between the Croats and Serbs. Due to the past violence and aggression inflicted upon them by the Croats, the Serbs were justifiably fearful for their security. Their ability to mobilize and slight military advantage prompted mutual fear and competition from the Croats, which in turn resulted in the Serbs launching what they perceived to be a preventative war. 4] Kaufman’s symbolic politics theory suggests that the conflict was not one based on group interests or material factors, but rather, â€Å"the struggle for relative group worth†[5] and that charismatic leaders such as Milosevic and Tudjman exploited pre-existing myths and symbols which appealed to the emotions of the public, in order promote their own, expansionist agendas. [6] Upon in depth analysis of both scholars’ explanations, I found each to be very similar and plausible. In my opinion, Kaufman’s â€Å"symbolic politics† theory does not undermine Posen’s realist explanation of the conflict, but rather supports and expands on it. Kaufman’s explanation appears to be more of a critical analysis which combines elements of realist explanations (power), liberal explanations (elite manipulation of ethnic differences by leaders) and constructivist explanations (ethnic identities are constructed by historical â€Å"myths. †) In the same article, Kaufman examines the ethnic conflicts of Sudan and Rwanda as case studies to further support his symbolic politics theory. The most dominant explanation for ethnic conflict in these areas had been the realist account, which claimed that European colonialism created strife by reconstructing African identities and exploiting their resources; forcing them the compete with each other for survival. While I do believe that these realist explanations are legitimate factors, I do not think they are the only ones. After reading Stuart Kaufman’s in depth explanations, I am now convinced that value systems—or lack thereof, lie at the root of ethnic conflict. In Northern Sudan, Islamic values encouraged hostile expansionism of Sharia law, which threatened the survival (identity) of the Southern Sudanese who were unwilling to submit to it. Similarly, the creation of hostile myths against the Tutsi minority and large scale acceptance of the use of violence against them in Rwanda shows how easily populations lacking strong value systems can be manipulated by political elites into justifying the most heinous acts of violence against other human beings. Just as there are many plausible theories that explain the causes of ethnic conflicts worldwide, there too are many possible solutions. Although he is a realist scholar, Barry Posen admits that peacekeeping can sometimes be achieved through diplomatic measures, mainly by encouraging groups involved in the conflict to reexamine their past history from a more objective standpoint. Other third party options include: the creation of international institutions aimed at rebuilding domestic institutions, international treaties such as the non-proliferation policy, the use of economic sanctions, and the use of peacekeeping forces. All of these solutions have had success in some areas and failures elsewhere. When international diplomatic peacekeeping efforts fail and the ethnic conflict persists, outside powers are sometimes forced to implement material methods of assistance including military support and weaponry. Because warfare is always a last resort, the use of partitions has become a highly effective but equally controversial method used to suppress ethnic violence. According to some realist scholars, the separation of ethnic identities serves a necessary purpose; it provides people with meaningful associations and security. Chaim Kaufmann, though a prominent proponent of the use of partitions in pervasive interethnic conflict, still acknowledges that they should be used as a last resort and that the risks of partition and population transfers are only worth undertaking if they are saving the lives that would have been sacrificed if they had not occurred. [7] Critics of the use of partitions such as Radha Kumar argue that they do little to mitigate violence, but instead escalate tensions and cause mass movements of forced migration. 8] In his article, â€Å"When All Else Fails: Ethnic Population Transfers and Partitions in the Twentieth Century,† Chaim Kaufmann does a good job at deconstructing this myth. He claims that persistent violence creates refugee movements because people are afraid to stay where they are, or are at times forced to leave by opposing militant forces. Therefore, intermixed populations will inevitably become separated and the use of partitions only serves as an organizational vehicle which would enable them to resettle in a structured and protected manner. 9] Kumar’s arguments are further refuted by Kaufmann’s use of empirical data which prove that incidents of violence actually diminished when partitions were constructed in Ireland, India and Cyprus and that marginal increases of violence in those regions were not a result of the partition, but rather the lack of complete separation between rival groups within those regions. Kaufmann concedes that the case with Israel and Palestine is a special circumstance due to the fact that Palestinian threats are so pervasive that Israel’s existence is dependent on the partition. In contrast, Kumar’s strongest argument is that partition has rarely been anything more than a temporary solution to conflict, but its psychological effects are permanent. [10] After considering both sides of the argument, I believe the benefits of using partitions far out way the costs. While the psychological barriers that partitions create are an unfortunate reality, the numbers of lives they save are more important. In closing it is important to understand that each case of ethnic conflict studied has individual characteristics which make it unique and thus the causes and solutions to each situation are unique as well. Despite their variance, there is still something that can be learned and applied by studying each case. The realist explanation asserts that power and security factors are the motivating cause for conflict, but new critical theory explanations help us to see that physical and psychological security alone are not enough to deter episodes of ethnic violence. While it has been proven that material factors such as military and nuclear capability and partitions are effective deterrents, they should only be used as last result methods. International institutions, treaties and post conflict reconstruction initiatives are all instrumental in the peacekeeping effort. But in my opinion, the most effective method used for reducing incidences of ethnic violence is that of nation building. I’ve arrived at this conclusion, not only through scholarly analysis but also through personal experience. As a fourth generation Jewish American who grew up in the â€Å"melting pot† of New York City, I have been fortunate to witness the success of democratic values first hand. While I understand that constructing civic identities based on universal values of â€Å"liberty and justice for all† may seem like an overly idealistic notion, I need only to look at the success of my country and my city to know that it can be done.

Attitudes and Behaviors Essay

So let’s start by saying that attitudes have two main components those happen to be beliefs and values. Beliefs are statements while values are judgments. When it comes to persuasion a person might have their own attitude and have it rub off so to speak onto another person or several other people. We tend to use this on a daily basis for things that we want whether that be for ourselves or from other people. When it comes to conformity many individuals will change their behaviors to fit in with other people that they involve themselves with. This could potentially mean that you could lose your own identity and become someone completely different from whom you truly are. When it comes to bias we are all wired to have judgments and prejudice many times people will use this judgment and have a set attitude on people, places and things. Only people can change their behaviors. Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to view things in certain ways. This can include people. Places, issues and events that occur in a person’s life. Attitudes form from the experiences that you go through, they could direct from personal experiences or from the observation of other individuals. Attitudes can be learned in several different ways. Classical conditioning can impact your attitude to different products. Operant conditioning can also help in how attitudes are developed. When someone you like has a different attitude your attitude more than likely will change to be the same as the other individual. Researchers have come to the belief and conclusion that people behave according to their attitudes under a lot of circumstances. Cognitive dissonance is when an individual experiences, psychological stress caused by conflicts from thoughts and beliefs in a person’s everyday life whether that be from work, relationships, money problems. In order to gain back control people often change their attitudes based on actual behaviors. Attitudes can change just like people can. You can turn your thought process around just  like you can with many other things. Classical conditioning can create positive emotional reactions. Operant conditioning can be used to strengthen attitudes and behaviors that you are lacking or that are weak. People can also see how negative people act and decide that they don’t want to be that way and that can drastically change a person’s mind on how they think. Life events such as death, sickness, relationship loses and other important things can make a person realize what they have and what they need to be grateful for but also can help them understand their thought patterns were incorrect and that they need to change that in order to have a better life for not only themselves but the people that they associate themselves with. The theory of persuasion says that people can alter their personal attitudes in two ways. They can be motivated to listen and to think about what is being said to them which can make them open up to different ideas and thoughts or they could simply be influenced by good positive people that they are around on a daily basis. In order to change a individual s behavior you must change your thought process completely. http://www.examiner.com/article/bias-attitude-and-prejudice http://www.cios.org/encyclopedia/persuasion/Aintroduction_4nature.htm http://psychology.about.com/od/socialinfluence/f/conformity.htm

Effects of E-Business on Management in the Global Markets Essay

Effects of E-Business on Management in the Global Markets - Essay Example It uses tools that include online banking solutions, supply chain management software, electronic mail, websites, and web-based customer relationship management. In addition to the outlined e-business foundation, this paper will give a spectrum of the potential performance of electronic business, rang of applications of e-business, as well as innovations and implementations. Evolution of E-business on Management Evolution of globalization and competition brought about new opportunities coupled with challenges. Firms strived to discover valuable and effectual models and applications of electronic business to contribute to their growth, sustainability, innovation, and implementation. Agreeably, this is an imperative moment for successful inclusion of electronic business into global management society. The explosive growth of internet and its functions has led to creation of a network that connects people and businesses globally. It is not possible to ignore the growing importance of el ectronic business in this light of the prevailing dynamism of technological surroundings. Introduction of electronic commerce revolutionized markets as people can purchase goods and services online (Shaw, 2003). Corporate companies that engage in millions of transactions per annum can now interchange data. Today, electronic business has expanded to include other processes of business transactions that require electronic enhancements. Introduction of these entire internet related activities are posing serious challenges on global management. However, before looking at the opportunities electronic business poses on management globally, it is worth putting down its relevance into writing. Managers categorize electronic business as a major trend in stipulations of investment and awareness. Generally, this does not stand for a mega trend or gig trend. Overly, evaluation of relevance of electronic business depends on indicators like performance potential. In this phase, the relevance of e -business determines the benefits of its efficiency whereby this involves shifting from the existing business or traditional channels to internet. The success of electronic business initiative of a company relies heavily on the readiness of suppliers and buyers to engage in electronic interactions. This means that, every component of electronic business must align with enabling technology and strategic initiatives. Importance of E-business in the Global Markets and Its Effects on Management The key managerial system of a business trading globally is participation. Nowadays being an industry manager means being the determinant of tomorrow’s success. Therefore, in order to keep a competitive advantage and achieve the determined industrial success, managers of established companies must take on the challenges that come along with applications of electronic business. Electronic business acts as a leveraging importance of using information technology to its limits and changes the employees and administration’s way of thinking and working to a completely different level. Electronic business tools influence the initiatives taken by managers on a global scenario. Certainly, e-business application tools like intranet, internet, and extranet affect each initiative in the global market (Shaw, 2003). Management integrates these application tools into their overall global initiative to achieve rapid technological strategies that

Key facts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Key facts - Assignment Example The second step is to determine the key elements of the cause of action that is raised by the facts of case. The third step is to outline all the facts of the case that are important to the elements of action raised in the second step. The fourth and final step is to outline which of the facts listed satisfy the key elements of the cause of action to be discussed in a court of law. There are three steps used in indentifying the facts in a court opinion. The first step involves reading the entire case having in mind what was decided in regards to what facts of the case were. The second step is to read and analyze the holding of the case. This helps to understand how the court answered the legal questions raised on the facts of the case. The last step is analyzing the key facts used to make the holding of the case (Albright & Putman, 2013). Police in Burbank initiated surveillance on Leon after receiving confidential information that they were selling cocaine and investigation earlier showed that he stored a stash of methaqualone in his house. After a search Leon was indicted by a grand jury in California and charged with drug trafficking. The court granted a motion to suppress evidence arguing it was defective due to the warrant and lack of probable cause. On Appeal, the government argued that the police acted on good faith when using the defective warrant. The court of appeal affirmed trial court decision and declined the government argument of good faith. Reasoning: The exclusionary rule was a judicial act not a constitutional right that safeguards the Fourth Amendment. It deters police from misconduct and abuse. However, a police who acts with a defective warrant in good faith cannot be held for misconduct. There lacks basis when evidence is suppressed when they relied in good faith using a defective search

21st Century Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

21st Century Education - Essay Example This study outlines that in the last few centuries, education has become more and more available to people and largely thanks to the invention of the printing press and other means of spreading written material, which has been the most outstanding vessel for knowledge literacy. Thus, it has increased, and when 100 years ago we may have said that a person is well educated simply because they knew how to read and write, today those are mere basics in education, and very many people with literacy skills, yet they do not qualify as educated. Even knowledge by itself does not suffice for one to be educated, â€Å"Familiarity with a list of words, names, books, and ideas is a uniquely poor way to judge who is well-educated†. Being educated today means that one needs to have not only knowledge, but also the professional, social, and ethical skills that come with it, as well as experience in dealing with people.From this paper it is clear that  many art colleges teach skills, which are not particularly specific to any job. For example, a student from the faculty of Education can use the same degree to apply and probably get a job, as a customer relations manager in a firm yet there are people who go to school to study the latter. The skills learnt in Arts College are versatile and can be applied in a variety of fields.  However, some of the existing professions cannot be practiced by anyone who is not qualified and certified for them.

Personal statement for applying master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal statement for applying master - Essay Example As such, I enrolled myself in Bachelors of Financial Math, Leicster University. The key objective of financial math is to understand the construction of the best financial strategies which would minimize risk taking by preventing arbitrariness via means of right pricing of assets. The first two years of the course which focused on pure math, helped teach us the essential analytical skills and cultivated logical thinking. Along with this the course also dealt with micro as well as macro economics, all of which I passed in A-level. It is always good to gain on site experience of the job. As such I have interned under the Bank of China with their international trading department. Bank of Chinaï ¼Å'or Bank of China Limited is one of China’s four state-owned commercial banks.  In terms of tier one capital, it was ranked 18th among the world’s top 1,000 banks by The Banker magazine in 2005. Their business covers commercial banking, investment banking and insurance. Members of the group include BOC Hong Kong, BOC International, BOCG Insurance and other financial institutions. It has received wide recognition from its peers, customers and authoritative media for the credit and performance it achieved in past years. It has been awarded â€Å"Best Bank in China† and â€Å"Best Domestic Bank in China† by Euro money for eight times. As a preliminary test of my abilities, I was exposed to the stock market. One of the new aspects which I learnt about was the letter of credit and how the cred it crunch in the US, UK and other developed nations was affecting the economic institutions of China. The stock market taught me to use mathematics as a key to analysis of a company- of their profits as well as their potential. Undoubtedly, I made a lot of profit along with a few loses due to the credit crisis. Both these things were teachers of the real world. Other than this, when I learnt that some of the

Response book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response book - Essay Example yzed by a car accident at an age of 19 years, but regardless of the physical limitation, he has led a very successful and remarkable life as a world-travelling journalist traversing through the hills or Iran and Afghanistan as well as navigating through the Middle Eastern terrain stretches of sand in his wheelchair. Despite his disability, he has achieved what many able-bodied journalists have only imagined. The depiction of the disabled in this book goes contrary to the contemporary social expectations and attitudes. This is because the disabled people are not given the same opportunities as other people and therefore, they are not expected to amount to something as big as John Hockenberry. Reading this book helped me appreciate the role of wisdom and perseverance in overcoming even the greatest of obstacles. I derive a sense of peace in knowing that even if the humanity is greatly flawed with many disappointments, we can always fulfil our dreams and purpose in life and enjoy it. This book has changed my perception about people with disability. The author portrays a picture of a person who does not give excuses for his disability in order to evade tasks and therefore, the aspects of disability does not form part of his identity. Instead, he is in the front line when covering the refugee stories in war torn Kurdish, Iran and Afghanistan. The most inspiring part is the story he covered in the Gulf war is a steep mountain while clinging to the back of a donkey. His story is that of an extraordinary journalist exceeding the bounds of expectations by venturing into scary situations. Even in the midst of humor, his stories draw the readers’ sympathy. By being a member of the minority group in the society based on his disability, he deeply connects with the dying people in Afghanistan and the dying children in Somalia which looks like his motivation. Despite the major achievement of people with disability, the book presents a society that still holds reservations

The Systems Development Life Cycle Methodology Essay

The Systems Development Life Cycle Methodology - Essay Example Moreover, the other steps of system development lifecycle includes a comprehensive system design and actual implementation and testing (DocStoc, 2009; Shelly & Rosenblatt, 2009; Pressman, 2001). However, a lot of researches have shown that the use of traditional software development life cycle causes various issues and concerns regarding effective software development. This paper is aimed at presenting a number of issues which significantly control the process of the software development and can be changed to offer more flexible and unstructured approach for software development (DocStoc, 2009; Shelly & Rosenblatt, 2009; Pressman, 2001). Actually, the traditional software development lifecycle is composed of a rigid set of development stages that are aligned to each other in a less flexible way. As a result, entire software development process faces several serious issues and concerns regarding software development. For example, what if the design stage of a software development proc ess uncovers requirements that are strictly impracticable or very expensive to establish or develop? What if issues and errors found in the software requirements and design stages are encountered in implementation phase? In addition, the time duration between preliminary investigation and testing typically spread over several months. What if basic needs, requirements or priorities of a client are changed or system users understand they ignored critical needs all through the software development analysis phase? In fact, there are numerous issues and concerns which make the traditional software development lifecycle a more rigid and inflexible process. In addition, there can be numerous other issues which can create serious problems for entire software development process and can result in projects failure or do not able to convene the user’s expectations when deployed (DocStoc, 2009; Shelly & Rosenblatt, 2009; Pressman, 2001). In order to analyze issues and problems in traditi onal rigid and inflexible software development approach, I will present some facts and figures from international software development reports. In this scenario, Standish Group's well-known CHAOS Report of 2000 shows that more than 25 percent software development projects still fail. In many cases projects suffer from issues and problems as a result it becomes a failure, or without practical software deployment. Unluckily, this report demonstrates a huge increase over CHAOS reports from previous years. Moreover, at the present there is additional proof of the same kind (VersionOne, Inc., 2012; Bender RBT Inc., 2003; Erdil, Finn, Keating, Meattle, Park, & Yoon, 2003). In addition, failure issues and numbers strengthen what a vast majority of us experienced personally. Additionally, the waterfall software development approach is a risky and expensive methodology to develop software systems. That is why, majority of software development firms is adopting agile and new software developm ent methodologies for the reason that they are more flexible and innovative alternatives (VersionOne, Inc., 2012; Bender RBT Inc., 2003; Erdil, Finn, Keating, Meattle, Park, & Yoon, 2003). Moreover, when we look for a better approach for software development we see Agile as one of best approaches. In fact, agile software development techniques came out of the real-life development experiences of experienced and skilled software professionals who had practiced the main issues and

Types Of Supporting Materials Essay Example for Free

Types Of Supporting Materials Essay In this time and age, there is a rampant increase of price of oil which we all knew one our primary needs in our daily lives. This sudden augment of cost was set to give a bulk of changes in the lives of our fellowmen. This most controversial issue indeed affects a lot of people worldwide. Several crisis of price hike follows due to the chain of expenses brought about by this major instance of oil increase. To explore more about this issue of increase of charges, it is imperative to hear something from the experts to know what’s behind this phenomenon as well as how we can cope with these tremendous changes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Interviewing the head of the energy board, it is essential to know what is behind the circumstance of increasing the cost of gasoline and us to what extent we can prevent it. Do those in authorities can do something about this tremendous occurrence? Does the at hand clamor of election can cause a huge impact to the said ordeal? These were some of the queries that need to shed beam on to enlighten the minds of every people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As we negate with the expert, it is imperative to have a grip with the supporting materials to be able to have a successful interview session as well as to have in depth analysis towards the matter. Considering the common knowledge which is the â€Å"commonly shared beliefs or values of an audience and sometimes called social knowledge† we can start by asking the expert what is something in this oil phenomenon which make people in the realm endure? Having a grasp on observable facts, we could ask the spokesman also on how such dilemma affects the lives of the people. In support to the knowledgeable facts that was being shared by the expert, it is important also to keep the conversation documented by means of statistics or even graphical representation of studying the crisis which brought a colossal impact in the society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Indeed, the testimony that the person in charge who shared his knowledge deeply make clear to us with what we are experiencing at a moment, and truly this will serve as our guide to act in response to this increase of prices which caused hardships to some of us.

Farewell Speech Essay Example for Free

Farewell Speech Essay â€Å" Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. † – Seneca. Middle school ended and now High school has begun. We all go into high school not knowing what to expect. Like if you’ll have the same classes as your best friend, if you’ll have nice teachers, or if you’ll get dumped in a trash can on â€Å"Freshman Friday. † The toughest thing is not knowing which of your friends for middle school will be at your school and which ones won’t be, if your best friend is going to a different school then you. But it’s O. K. high school is a new beginning we get to reconnect with old friends from elementary school and see our friends from last year to. As time goes by and with each of our classes you build new friendships that strengthen as the year goes on. The more you get involved in school the more you get to become friends with more people. I did Cheerleading for school this year and I have no regrets, I made so many new friends because of it they’re like my sisters now. I was also a wrestling manager and that was great I can’t wait to do it again next year, I didn’t only become close with the other managers I also became close with the wrestlers, they’re like brothers now. But no matter how many friends you made in high school you never lose touch with the ones you had in middle school. Every Freshman had those â€Å"Freshman Fears. † Some not as bad others, but everyone has them. Like the fear of â€Å"Freshman Friday† it’s funny because we never actually had that. It’s something they say to scare us†¦. And it works every time. We worry about if we have good teachers or not. Most of them are, but that’s your own opinion. Will we have a lot of our friends in our class? Are they going to have the same lunch as us? We get scared that we’ll get lost in the hall ways, or seniors will run us over. We have so many worries because of what we hear about high school, and that sense we’re the youngest in the school we have the worst teachers. It’s not like that at all in fact this year of high school was great, I wouldn’t change it at all. Yeah, this year wasn’t perfect, there was still drama and fights, but once everyone got past all that this year was really fun. Football games were always fun, everyone went to them and had a great time. Pep rallies are interesting, especially when the seniors and juniors try to win the spirit stick. A lot of people try to make high school sound scary and horrible, but it hasn’t been bad at all. I’ve had a great year and can’t wait to see how the rest of high school will be.

Confidence Building Measures India And Pakistan

Confidence Building Measures India And Pakistan Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) are those steps or agreements on which states agree with mutual benefits in mind, and have faith that all concerned shall obey such agreements. These steps or agreements ultimately develop trust between the signatory states and help in achieving peace and stability in the region.  [1]  Limiting or reducing the level of fear among parties in conflict is essential for building confidence. CBMs aim to lessen anxiety and suspicion by making the parties behaviour more predictable. While a single CBM is unlikely to prevent conflict or contribute to peace building, a series of such agreements can allow for an increased sense of security. In time, such measures may even lead to changed understanding of a countrys security needs.  [2]   Confidence-building has been in vogue and practice for several decades. Its origin can be traced back to the years prior to World War I, to the European practice of inviting observers from different states to witness military exercises and manoeuvres. This practice continued and later emerged as part of the Versailles Treaty for Demilitarisation of the Rhineland.  [3]   CBMs are a worldwide phenomena and their development is more advanced in some regions as compared to others. CBMs are extremely important in the context of the countries, which are suspicious of each other. The United Nations Comprehensive Study on CBMs states that the final objective of CBMs is to strengthen international peace and security and to contribute to the development of confidence, better understanding and more stable relations between nations, thereby creating and improving the conditions for fruitful international cooperation.  [4]   Confidence-building is not a new phenomenon between India and Pakistan. Since the hurried departure of the British from South Asia and the partition, both India and Pakistan have signed many agreements aiming to generate confidence and reduce tensions. Perhaps the most notable among them are, Liaquat-Nehru Pact (1951), Indus Water Treaty (1960), Tashkent Agreement (1966), Rann of Kutch Agreement (1969), Shimla Accord (1972), Salal Dam Agreement (1978), and the establishment of the Joint Commission. With the exception of the Joint Commission, all the others were the products of either a crisis or a war that necessitated a logical end to the preceding developments.  [5]   AIM The aim of this paper is to analyse the performance of CBMs between India and Pakistan and suggest some workable and plausible CBMs that could be experimented by the two countries. CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES: CONCEPT AND GENESIS Traditional Concept. The traditional concept of CBMs is reflected in the oft-cited definition by Holst and Melander, which states, confidence-building involves the communication of credible evidence of the absence of feared threats by reducing uncertainties and by constraining opportunities for exerting pressure through military activities.  [6]  In a subsequent refinement, Holst described CBMs as arrangements designed to enhance such assurance of mind and belief in the trust worthiness of states and the fact they create.  [7]  Whilst the first definition emphasised only on the need for clarifications of intentions and avoidance of misperceptions, the latter ventures into the realm of the larger appreciation of the constituent of CBMs and envisages them not merely as damage containment measures, but also as principles of healthy relations between states. Genesis. CBMs are essentially a western construct, which entered the realm of international relations in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), at Helsinki. The Helsinki Final Act, 1975 ascribed three basics objectives to the CBMs  [8]  :- To eliminate the causes of tensions. To promote confidence and contribute to stability and security. To reduce the danger of armed conflict arising from misunderstanding or miscalculation. Dictionary of CBMs. Browsing through literature on the development of the concept of CBM, one comes across numerous other related concepts. It is important to understand the meaning of several terms that have come to be used in the diplomatic lexicon, all loosely referred to as CBMs. Their definition and comparative analysis are beyond the scope of this paper. Some of these  [9]  are enumerated below:- Confidence-Building Measures. Conflict-Avoidance Measures. Trust-Building Measures. Conflict-Resolution Measures Confidence and Security Building Measures and Confidence-Building and Security Measures. (f) Tension-Reduction Measures. Steps to Confidence-Building. Despite the upsurge in interest in these terms, there is a considerable confusion about the confidence-building regime, as also, the steps required to achieve it. Each region has its unique peculiarities and, therefore, distinct CBMs. The borrowed experience of other regions is of only a limited value. The steps to military confidence-building are based on two parameters; level of confidence and probability of conflict.  [10]  Diagrammatic representation of the same is placed at Appendix P. CBM Tools. These are modes and means, which help in better communication arrangements and transparency to the action of others or provide ways of giving satisfaction about the action of other states. Communication, constraint, transparency, and verification measures are the primary CBM tools. Few effective CBM tools  [11]  , used the world over, are listed in Appendix A. INDO-PAK CBMs Paradoxes in Pursuing the CBM Modality. Certain unresolved paradoxes, concerning the applicability and viability of CBMs, identified in South Asian region  [12]  are listed below:- CBMs provide the atmospherics for improving inter-state relations. They can establish trust between adversarial states; but the paradox remains that trust is required before CBMs can be negotiated. The need for some limited confidence between adversarial states is, therefore, essential before CBMs can be negotiated. CBMs are difficult to establish, but easy to disrupt and abandon. Continued adherence to them requires adversarial states to perceive the balance of advantage to lie in not abrogating them, particularly during periods of deep crises. CBMs can only be relevant in crises if trust is evident on both sides. They are known to work satisfactorily in times of peace. Hence, the paradox that states may abide by CBMs in normal times, but ignore them in emergency situations. Public declarations can serve as useful CBMs to alleviate tensions and promote stability. The historical record shows that national leaders in India and Pakistan routinely make conciliatory statements, but they are meant either for domestic consumption or to impress international audiences or to lower the others guard. The paradox then emerges, rather than promote security and confidence-building, such declarations have often exacerbated existing regional tensions. Origin of CBMs in Indo-Pak Relations. Meaningful military CBMs in Indo-Pak relations came three decades ago with the establishment of a hotline between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both the countries. Subsequently, there have been many military CBMs between both the countries. However, the strategic community and the military were quite often skeptical of both the substance and the process of CBMs and did not support these initially. It was only when Operation Brasstacks in 1986-87 led to serious misunderstandings, and a likely possibility of possible conflict again in 1990, that matters changed somewhat.  [13]   Despite events precipitating increased tensions between the two countries, the effort on the part of both governments has been to ensure that the CBMs continue to remain in place. However, the impressive range of CBMs, both of a military and non-military nature, have been overtaken by events such as the Kargil conflict, the mobilisation of troops in 2002 and the repeated terrorist attacks in India, especially the 26/11 attacks. Major Achievements The CBMs enumerated in the succeeding paragraphs, may be considered as major achievements in the Indo-Pak relations over the last two decades.  [14]   Military CBMs. Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, signed in 1998, and eventually ratified in 1992. This particular exchange has continued for 18 consecutive years. Agreement on Advance Notification on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troop Movements, brought into effect in 1991 and has had an important role to play in the reduction of tensions on both sides of the Line of Control. Agreement on Prevention of Airspace Violations and for Permitting Overflights and Landings by Military Aircrafts, signed in 1991, has significantly reduced costs for both nations, and also brought into being, a structure of redress in case of violations and mutual trust in matters of requirement. Formal ceasefire along the International Border as also the Actual Ground Position Line, brought into effect at midnight of 25 Nov 03, has remained in effect since. Biannual meetings between Indian Border Security Forces and Pakistani Rangers, has been in effect since 2004. Agreement on Advance Notification of Ballistic Missile Tests, in effect since 2005. Establishment of a communication link between Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and Indian Coast Guard in 2005, primarily to facilitate early exchange of information regarding fishermen apprehended for straying into each others waters. The agreement also brought into discussion the possibility of holding joint search and rescue operations and collaborating in marine pollution control. A hotline between DGMOs of both countries had been in effect since 1965, and was most recently used in an unscheduled exchange to discuss troop movements and allay tensions, in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Non-Military CBMs. The predominant CBMs in the non-military domain have been travel measures to increase people-to-people interaction. A few of the important ones, which have more or less withstood the test of times, are enumerated below:- Delhi-Lahore bus service, started in 1999, but ceased in light of the Kargil conflict, was resumed in 2003. Passenger and freight rail services between Attari and Lahore and air linkages were resumed in 2004. The Samjhauta Express was resumed in 2005, and despite the 2007 blasts, has continued to run. Bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarbad was started in 2005. Bus services from Lahore to Amritsar, Amritsar to Nankana Sahib and train links between Munnabao and Khokhrapar were started in 2006. Night bus service between Ferozepur and Fazikla to Ludhiana-Chandigarh was also resumed the same year. The first overland truck route between the two countries was opened at the Wagah border crossing in 2007. In 2008, triple-entry permit for cross-LoC travel was introduced and the frequency of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was increased from fortnightly to weekly. Humanitarian aid was extended by India, in the aftermath of the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, and again during the floods in Aug 10. A Joint Anti-Terrorism Institutional Mechanism to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives and investigations in both countries was brought into effect in 2006. An agreement facilitating regular contact between state-run think tanks, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (New Delhi), and Institute of Strategic Studies (Islamabad) was brought into being in 2008, primarily to contribute towards building channels of communication at the level of scholars. The first meeting of a Joint Judicial Committee of judges belonging to both countries, meant to look into the welfare and release of prisoners, was conducted in 2008. More than 500 prisoners have been released by both sides since then. Joint Economic Commissions and Joint Business Councils were reactivated in 2004. Foreign Ministers of both countries agreed to a series of Kashmir-specific CBMs to facilitate crossing the LoC in 2008. Both countries agreed to host festivals displaying each others movies in 2006. The Pakistani Government allowed for the legal release of Indian films in Pakistan in 2008. Major Failures The CBM process has seen its fair share of failures as well. A few notable one are enumerated below  [15]  :- Although there are hotlines connecting both military and political leaders in both countries, they have been scarcely used when required most. The absence of communication has led to suspicions, followed by accusations of the spread of misinformation. While over 70 Kashmir related CBMs have been agreed to in principle, only an inconsiderable percentage of them have actually seen implementation. There is a disproportionate emphasis on military CBMs and an inadequate recognition of several momentous non-military CBMs. Many CBMs, which were originally crafted to address the stabilisation of relations, post the nuclear tests of 1998, have been agreed to in principle, yet have never seen implementation because of the belief that dominant issues need to be resolved before the CBM process can move ahead. In the current scenario, when political will in both states is waxing and waning intermittently, CBMs, which are difficult to establish, but easy to disrupt, have not been fully effective. There is a lack of verifiability in many CBMs, which leads both countries to fall victim to mistrust, suspicion and misinformation, on a variety of issues. Governments on both sides often use CBMs as political tools to win over specific constituencies, which can be very damaging in the long run. Public conciliatory statements, which are meant to be CBMs, can have the opposite effect, if they turn out to be insincere, and worse, if they have been inexpertly drafted, as one saw in the aftermath of the statement issued after the Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting. CBMs have been particularly ineffective, if not absent, during times of conflict, because despite declarations to the effect, neither country has moved beyond the point of conflict-avoidance, towards actual CBMs, and finally, towards strengthening peace. While many hundreds of thousands visit India and Pakistan from across the border, the visa formalities and reporting procedures for them are far from conducive to confidence-building. Prioritising the CBMs General. The existing record of CBMs, world over, is ambiguous. CBMs in some contexts have proved feasible and beneficial, whereas in South Asia, there is a certain disaffection with the very notion of CBMs. The expectation of quick results should be avoided (in Europe, it took over twenty years for the CBM process to become effective). A clear general rule is that once in place, CBMs must be abided by. CBMs, if disregarded and abused, can be worse than none at all. The building of trust requires reliability.  [16]  Certain concerns that need to be addressed by the Indian and Pakistani Governments, in order to maximise the effects of CBMs  [17]  , are listed below:- While CBMs, which focus on improved communication links and people-to-people interaction could create the necessary environment for deeper issues to be tackled, the impact of the CBMs still hinges on political will for their implementation. The hostilities distinguishing Indo-Pak relations are systemic, and further hampered by newer security threats, socio-politico-economic strife and Indias preponderance in the larger South Asian region. Therefore, there is no viable alternative to a gradual and incremental peace process through military and non-military CBMs. There is no need to prefer military over non-military CBMs. Both have their place in the peace process and are needed. Policymakers on both sides need to bear in mind that war, whether of a conventional or proxy nature, will not advance their national interests. Both sides stand to gain both, economically and politically from a stable peace. Future measures catering to conflict-prevention and confidence-building, must provide for more explicit means of arbitrating implementation problems. To this intent, it is imperative that all CBMs be made verifiable and the possible roles that could be played by non-state actors such as the private sector, professional and business organisations etc be examined. It is commonly understood that the term stakeholders would include Indians and Pakistanis in general, and the people of Jammu Kashmir in particular. However, there is a need for more emphasis on the importance of Kashmiris in the CBM process. It is their participation, which would make the process more meaningful. Suggested Workable and Plausible CBMs The escalating situation in Kashmir, the bone of contention between India and Pakistan since 1947, may yet provide a flash point and may induce both countries to come to a negotiating table and opt for quick implementation of enforceable and verifiable CBMs. Few possible, workable and enforceable CBMs, which the two governments could consider, are enumerated in the succeeding paragraphs. Short Term Measures. The composite dialogue process should be restarted and the CBM process must continue unabated. Both the sides should formally recognise that there is no military solution to the Kashmir dispute. Additional CBMs, in consultation with Kashmiri stakeholders, need to be identified to ensure their active participation. The Kashmir specific CBMs could include the following:- Encouraging and initiating intra-Kashmir dialogue on both sides of the LoC on the final status of Kashmir. The resolution of the Kashmir conflict and restoration and development of mutual trust should be treated as interdependent processes. The process of de-escalation of hostilities needs to be initiated and efforts should be made to de-link Kashmir from point-scoring domestic agendas. The hostile domestic propaganda around Kashmir in both electronic and print media needs to be stopped. Relocation of heavy weapons, which are considered a major cause of tension escalation across the LoC. Continuous scheduled and unscheduled visits to forward areas by journalists, representatives of various national and international human rights organisations, diplomats, defence and UN military observers. Visa formalities/registration should provide a more conducive environment in cross-border travel. Rules of engagement along the LOC should be clarified, made public, and adhered to. Measures in the border areas to facilitate the unification of families and access for NGOs. Medium Term Measures. The agreement proscribing attacks on each others nuclear facilities could be extended to identified populations and economic targets. The agreement requiring notification on military exercises et al could be extended to associating military observers with major field exercises. Pakistan should end support of any kind for militancy in the region and address Indias concerns regarding infiltration. Civil society and track II initiatives should be encouraged. This will assist the official level talks between the two countries and move towards a comprehensive resolution of the crisis in the region. Utilising the economic and technological CBMs such as:- Sharing of electrical power. Increasing the trade flows. Promoting railway freight traffic across the border. Improving telecommunication links. Making newspapers from both sides available across the border. Long Term Measures. The redeployment of troops from the Kashmir region has been debated by both governments and should be examined in full practicality. India should begin to engage Pakistani citizens towards sensitising them to the conflict situation and build domestic pressure on Pakistan to strengthen its relations with India. The dichotomy between the maintenance of Jammu Kashmirs independence via Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the requirement to include the state in the mainstream of Indian politics and society needs to be addressed comprehensively. Utilise South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for building confidence across the region on the lines of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). CONCLUSION CBMs are the most used and abused term in the 21st century international relations. They are an expression of respect, goodwill and a measure of transparency signifying at the least, no ill will and no immediate threat. It may lead to a pleasant parlay or, it may merely be an empty gesture meaning nothing at all of substance. They need to be nurtured and incremented from small steps to covering issues of various divergences. The effect of the CBMs between India and Pakistan has been inconsistent and spotty. They are useful instruments in preventing wars and facilitating conflict resolutions. They are a means to an end and that end cannot be achieved if the leaders do not wish to do so. The first step to a conflict resolution is removal of mistrust and suspicion. Only then, can the process of dialogue be unleashed. It is a hard task to popularise the concept of CBMs between the two countries and remove misunderstanding among people about its objectives and application. In order to institutionalise the process of CBMs, it is necessary to create basic awareness among people about the effectiveness and relevance of this concept. The role of institutions in promoting the concept of CBMs is very significant. In a situation when the state, has to a large extent played a role in conflict formations and is responsible for promoting confrontation, non-governmental institutions can play an important role and be of immense use in creating basic trust and confidence between the people of two countries and encourage track II and track III efforts in normalising the relations. We need to follow a proactive approach towards implementation of CBMs. A strong civil society with vibrant political and social institutions can help develop a proactive approach. SAARC can draw some inspiration from ASEANs constructively low-key approach to contentious issues. Balance between military and non-military CBMs is essential for creating conditions of peace. Non-military CBMs such as water, environment, trade, culture, media and technology can certainly make things easier for sustaining the dialogue process between the antagonistic parties. It would be foolish to expect miracles from CBMs overnight. It took a considerable amount of time for the CBMs to be effective in Europe. However, the need for India and Pakistan to negotiate CBMs is both immediate and vital. Structural factors are important and have undoubtedly retarded the establishment of CBMs in South Asia. Nevertheless, CBMs can become the harbingers of peace and stability in the region. History reveals they have usually been negotiated following serious bilateral crises and/or mounting of external pressures. However, not until the communal stronghold is attacked and reduced, and the two countries, therefore, start behaving as two established and responsible entities, would CBMs have much of a chance to succeed. Wellington (Hitesh Goel) Sep 10 Cdr Total number of words: 3723 Appendix A (Refers to Para 10) CONFIDENCE-BUILDING TOOLS Hotlines. Hotlines, such as those that exist between the United States and Russia, and between Indian and Pakistani sector commanders along the line-of-control in Kashmir, can provide reliable direct channels of communication at moments of crisis. Regional Communication Centres. These centres can assist area states in conflict and crisis management. The European model of a communications and security centre, established by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), is being adapted to suit the Middle Eastern security environment. Consultations. Regularly scheduled consultations, like the annual meetings established between US and Soviet/Russian navies by the 1972 Incidents at Sea Agreement (INCSEA), or those between Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, can provide rare opportunity for direct military-to-military contact. Such forums allow parties to voice concerns and air any grievances they may have. Constraint Measures. These measures are designed to keep certain types and levels of states military forces at a distance from one another, especially along borders. Thin-Out Zones. Thin-out zones, or limited force deployment zones, restrict the type and number of military equipment or troops permitted in or near a certain territory or boundary. Detailed provisions of the 1975 Disengagement Agreement between Syria and Israel established a demilitarised zone (DMZ) as well as an area extending 20 kilometres on each side of the DMZ in which forces and weapons were limited. Pre-Notification. Pre-notification requirements included in the Stockholm Accord of 1986 placed constraints on military exercises by imposing longer lead times, 42 days for major military exercises and 1-2 years in the case of larger scale exercises, before activities subject to prior notification could occur. Pre-notification requirements of a certain time-period for planned military exercises or troop movements of an agreed upon level also help make a states military intent more transparent. Notification mechanisms can also be applied to missile tests. Near contentious borders, this type of transparency measure can help eliminate fears that an exercise may be part of preparations for war. Transparency Measures. They are measures that states engage in to foster greater openness of their military capabilities and activities. Transparency measures merit a special focus as important first steps in the confidence-building process. Exchange of Data. Data exchanges detailing existing military holdings, planned purchases, military personnel and budgets can clarify a states current and projected military capabilities and provide advance notice of destabilising arms build-ups. Data exchanges can take place bilaterally or multilaterally. Military Observers. Voluntary observations of another states military exercises provide first-hand access to that partys equipment and operating procedures. Verification. Verification measures are designed to collect data or provide first hand access in order to confirm or verify a states compliance with a particular treaty or agreement. Aerial Inspections. These enable parties to an agreement to monitor compliance with force deployment limitations in restricted zones, to confirm data exchanges on the disposition of military forces, and to provide early warning of potentially destabilising activities. Electronic Sensors. Ground-based electronic sensor systems, manned or unmanned, can also verify states compliance to agreed restrictions on equipment deployment or troop movements. On-site Inspections. On-site inspections, challenge and routine, can help verify that states are complying with agreements. Inspections may be carried out by third parties, opposing parties, or jointly. Appendix P (Refers to Para 9) STEPS TO CONFIDENCE BUILDING HIGH LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE CONFIDENCE SECURITY BUILDING MEASURES CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES LOW LOW HIGH PROBABILITY OF CONFLICT TRUST BUILDING MEASURES CONFLICT AVOIDANCE MEASURES CONFLICT RESOLUTION MEASURES

boom and bust :: essays research papers

Boom or Bust: Prohibition Coursework Was it bound to fail? A-: Study source A and B. How far do these two accounts agree and prohibition? Source a is dealing with two different sources but both about the subject which is Prohibition. Many of historians have their own opinion about it, but the main question is of these two-account show much do they agree on about Prohibition. Source A is a section of writing that was published in 1973 and was taken from a history book. They clearly state that historians disagree about what was mainly to blame for the introduction of prohibition. By 1917 twenty-three states had already had the ban instated that is stated in the source. Main possible explanations that are stated in the source are the bad influences saloons, wartime concern for preserving grain for food, feeling against the German Americans who were important in brewing and distilling and the influence of the Anti-saloon league t a time when large numbers of men were absent in the armed forces. Even though many people were against prohibition on the other hand there were many people who were for it. This is shown in the source when they state the twenty-three states had already become ‘dry’. The source also states that is was mainly men this is shown when they say that the armed forces numbers were very low. The reason that there were bad feelin g between the Americans and the German Americans were because World War 1 had not taken place to long ago. The source also states that it had created the biggest criminal boom in American history and perhaps in all modern history. â€Å"No earlier law had gone against the daily customs of so many Americans.† This last sentence of the source is very important because it sums everything into one line and I know that the source agreed with the key question because of that sentence. Source B is taken from a history book as well but was published in 1979. This source explains more what happened after prohibition had come into law. The source tells us about the organisations that were supporting the ban on alcohol such as the Women’s Christian Temperance union and the Anti saloon league. Both of these organisations wanted to put an end to alcholism.they did this by putting pressure on congress to ban the use of grain for either brewing or distilling.

Miltons Passage :: Milton History Essays

Milton's Passage Works Cited Missing In this passage Milton surveys the battlefield after the inconclusive first day of fighting between the rebellious third of the angels and the equally-sized contingent God has sent to face them. The purpose is to portray the disarray and destruction caused by the battle, especially on the side of the fallen, and to contrast that chaos and baseness with the dignity and honor of the champions who defeat them. Little has been accomplished by the fighting, except to demonstrate the difference between the warriors on the two sides. Neither side is defeated, but the side of good has displayed its superiority in valor and glory, and the evil have shown themselves to be the lesser precisely because of their moral inferiority. Though they have fought to a draw, only the angels do so honorably, holding their ground as we watch the Satanic Host fly in a state of fear and panic. Milton seems to evoke a parallel with two of the most famous battles in history, as presented by the father of his tory, Herodotus: the Spartan duels with the vast Persian force of the Great King Xerxes. In the first battle, at Thermopylae, the Spartans stood their ground faithfully, and through obedience and discipline shamed their (in Herodotus' portrayal) morally inferior foe by forcing them to pay an outrageous price for victory. In the second, at Plataea, the Spartans this time defeat their more numerous foe, again due to their inherent superiority, which is ascribed, ultimately, to their virtue. If Milton's scene is imagined cinematically, the view begins low, looking down to see "all the ground" where the detritus lay "strown," "in "heap[s]," and "overturn'd" (388-90), and generally tipped over and fallen down in a catalogue of ways. The rebel angels' fallen condition is made literal by the work of the loyal warriors, whom we see in exactly the opposite condition, in spite of having fought just as hard and taken the same beating. We look up from the jumbled mass to see the angels in their state of "high advantages" (401), seeming to fly in formation unbroken by the onslaught, unperturbed by their wounds. Milton presents a dual image of battle lines shifting and being wrenched out of shape in parallel with the picture of bodies being crushed and mangled. Following his announcement that the devils' "Mightiest quell'd", we are shown that the "battle swerv'd" and we see "inroad[s] gor'd" into the broken battle formations and the broken bodies of the fighters (386-87). Milton's Passage :: Milton History Essays Milton's Passage Works Cited Missing In this passage Milton surveys the battlefield after the inconclusive first day of fighting between the rebellious third of the angels and the equally-sized contingent God has sent to face them. The purpose is to portray the disarray and destruction caused by the battle, especially on the side of the fallen, and to contrast that chaos and baseness with the dignity and honor of the champions who defeat them. Little has been accomplished by the fighting, except to demonstrate the difference between the warriors on the two sides. Neither side is defeated, but the side of good has displayed its superiority in valor and glory, and the evil have shown themselves to be the lesser precisely because of their moral inferiority. Though they have fought to a draw, only the angels do so honorably, holding their ground as we watch the Satanic Host fly in a state of fear and panic. Milton seems to evoke a parallel with two of the most famous battles in history, as presented by the father of his tory, Herodotus: the Spartan duels with the vast Persian force of the Great King Xerxes. In the first battle, at Thermopylae, the Spartans stood their ground faithfully, and through obedience and discipline shamed their (in Herodotus' portrayal) morally inferior foe by forcing them to pay an outrageous price for victory. In the second, at Plataea, the Spartans this time defeat their more numerous foe, again due to their inherent superiority, which is ascribed, ultimately, to their virtue. If Milton's scene is imagined cinematically, the view begins low, looking down to see "all the ground" where the detritus lay "strown," "in "heap[s]," and "overturn'd" (388-90), and generally tipped over and fallen down in a catalogue of ways. The rebel angels' fallen condition is made literal by the work of the loyal warriors, whom we see in exactly the opposite condition, in spite of having fought just as hard and taken the same beating. We look up from the jumbled mass to see the angels in their state of "high advantages" (401), seeming to fly in formation unbroken by the onslaught, unperturbed by their wounds. Milton presents a dual image of battle lines shifting and being wrenched out of shape in parallel with the picture of bodies being crushed and mangled. Following his announcement that the devils' "Mightiest quell'd", we are shown that the "battle swerv'd" and we see "inroad[s] gor'd" into the broken battle formations and the broken bodies of the fighters (386-87).

Cultural Erasure Essay

The Caribbean can be many things to many people: a geographic region somewhere in America’s backyard, an English-speaking outpost of the British Empire, an exciting holiday destination for North Americans and Europeans, a place where dirty money is easily laundered, and even an undefined, exotic area that contains the dreaded Bermuda Triangle, the mythical lost city of El Dorado, the fabled Fountain of Youth and the island home of Robinson Crusoe. Enriched by the process of creolization, the cosmopolitanism of the average Caribbean person is also well recognized: ‘No Indian from India, no European, no African can adjust with greater ease and naturalness to new situations’ (Lamming 1960, 34). As a concept or notion ‘the Caribbean’ can also be seen to have a marvellous elasticity that defies the imposition of clear geographic boundaries, has no distinct religious tradition, no agreed-upon set of political values, and no single cultural orientation. What, then, is the Caribbean? Who can justifiably claim to belong to it? Of the various peoples who have come to comprise the region, whose identity markers will be most central in defining the whole? For not all citizens of a nation or a region will be equally privileged and not all will have equal input in the definition of national or regional identity. In other words,  because power implies a process of social negotiation, and because power is unequally distributed in social groups, some parties to the process will be more represented than others. This is where the notion of erasure is tied to any appreciation of identity, and played out in the history and politics of colonization and decolonization in the Caribbean. As might be imagined, the colonially-conditioned divisions of race and gender figured (and continue to figure) prominently in the entire process and bring to mind Bob Marley’s advice to Caribbean people: ‘emancipate your minds from mental slavery’ (Redemption Song). Erasure is in large part the act of neglecting, looking past, minimizing, ignoring or rendering invisible an other. Rhoda Reddock (1996) examines the academic and political consequences of erasure at the level of ethnicity, and draws attention to four (among many other) neglected minorities in the Caribbean: the Amerindians of Guyana, the Karifuna or Caribs of Dominica, the Chinese in Jamaica, and the  Sindhis and Gujaratis in Barbados. Although some of these are indigenous and some have lived in the Caribbean for hundreds of years, they are commonly overlooked, even by those who today claim ‘authentic’ Caribbean roots and a commitment to the region as an integrated whole. In this essay I focus on three recent studies that address the ways in which identity and erasure have come dialectically to embody several erased peoples and groups of people in the Caribbean. I begin with the contributions of Sandra Pouchet Paquet, who focuses on the heyday of colonialism, slavery and women in Caribbean history, and laments the fact that ‘The female ancestor is effectively silenced if not erased’ (Paquet 2002, 11) in the writing of that history. To this end she cites Carole Boyce-Davies and Elaine Fido, who, in assessing the literature and historiography of the region, also spoke of ‘†¦ the historical absence of a specifically female position on major issues such as slavery, colonialism and decolonization, women’s rights and  more direct social and cultural issues’ (1990, 1). Next I examine the contributions of Geert Oostindie and Inge Klinkers (2003), who move from the slave period and colonialism proper and begin to discuss the uneven dismantling of colonialism in the various Caribbean countries, and its persistence in others. In the process they focus on erasure at the wider sub-regional level of groupings of countries. Thus, Oostindie and Klinkers protest the common academic and political tendency to assume that the Caribbean is principally an English-speaking group of countries; a tendency that simultaneously erases or minimizes the presence and contributions of other Caribbean peoples. These authors charge that while this erasure is undeniable in the cases of the Spanish- and French-speaking Caribbean, it is particularly evident with regard to the Dutch Caribbean. For while much has been written on the wider region generally, it is ‘seldom with serious attention to the former Dutch colonies of Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba’ (2003, 10). And as they go on to argue, most general histories ‘tend virtually to neglect the Dutch Caribbean’ (p. 234). This ‘neglect’ is synonymous with erasure and constitutes a major obstacle for anyone wishing to develop a truly comprehensive understanding of the entire region. Finally, there are Smart and Nehusi (2000), who invoke the idea of erasure and the attempt by African-ancestored people in the Caribbean, but especially in Trinidad, to resist erasure and reclaim their identity. Smart and Nehusi look at efforts of Afro-Trinidadians to forge a diasporic identity in which culture (Carnival) is the centrepiece of African, ancestral lore. Thus, in describing the trade in African slaves and the institution of New World slavery as ‘the largest crime in human history,’ Nehusi speaks of the Maafa, or the African Holocaust, as a terror that has been hushed up: ‘one part of that crime has been the attempt to forget, to pretend that it did not happen and to present a history ethnically cleansed of all traces of this genocide †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Nehusi 2000, 8). Very much in line with the thinking of Smart and Nehusi, Paquet views slavery as a crime and speaks of the ‘depravity of the slave owner’ (p. 42) as she applauds the efforts of Mary Prince to expose the horrors of the system: ‘Prince lays bare for public scrutiny the criminality of slave owners and the legal system that endorses their conduct’ (Paquet 2002, 41). In developing his argument Nehusi hints at a conspiracy or historical hoax which witnessed the abandonment of  black Trinidadians and their treatment as ‘non-persons by a continuing Eurocentric system which refuses to recognize them and their traditions as valid and refuses to recognize the history of struggle, mainly by Afrikan people.’ (Nehusi 2000a, 11). To this Ian Smart adds that ‘Africans all over the globe who have been subjected to white supremacy must be engaged unremittingly in the struggle for liberation in order to be made whole again’ (Smart 2000b, 199). This notion of being ‘made whole again’ speaks directly to the idea of erasure and the recapture of lost identity. Sandra Pouchet Paquet is principally concerned with two things: (a) finding the Caribbean identity and (b) autobiography as a literary genre. She uses the latter to pursue the former. Autobiography does not only tell a story of the biographer, but of the very society and community that shaped and nurtured her/him. So it is not simply a personal recounting of episodes that have shaped one’s life; but if properly written, autobiography can give valuable insights into the social worlds of the various storytellers. To this end Paquet exposes the ‘historical silencing of the female ancestor’ as evidenced in the ‘discovery and republication of the nineteenthcentury narratives of the Hart sisters (Elizabeth and Ann), Mary Prince, and Mary Seacole between 1987 and1993’ (2002, 13). These women bring to light what an inadvertent male scholarship had previously buried: a strong female culture of resistance both before and after emancipation. Unlike similar approaches, this work is careful not to essentialize women. Instead it is sensitive to their individual differences while weaving together common strands in their biographical experiences and narratives to produce a common story of erasure, resistance and strength. In her words they ‘throw light on the idiosyncrasies of a female culture of resistance in the Caribbean before and after emancipation’ (Paquet 2002, 13). Focusing on the signal contributions  of strong women like Elizabeth and Anne Hart, Mary Seacole and Mary Prince, who prepared the way for future leading male Caribbean writers such as C.L.R. James, George Lamming, Derek Walcott and V.S. Naipaul, Paquet does not mince words. In fact she openly acknowledges the unconscious impact of patriarchy, even on those men, and the ways in which they too contributed to the alienation, erasure and misrepresentation of women in Caribbean literary culture (p. 73). Clearly reflecting different social trajectories and individual strengths, the narratives of these four women nevertheless contain and speak to essential elements in the forging of a Caribbean identity. Dialectically, their efforts to reverse erasure through resistance culminated in a powerful story of struggle, setback and triumph of the human spirit. The Hart sisters, whose father was a free black, a plantation owner and a slaveholder, both married white men of influence. This gave them an important measure of social capital and they were able to use their religion (Methodism) and social status as the bases from which to promote ideas about racial equality and the empowerment of women. Mary Seacole was a unique woman for her time. The child of a free black Jamaican woman and a Scottish officer, she always set her sights on the wider world beyond Jamaica, and in time she became a creole ‘doctress’, a traveller and adventurer, entrepreneur, sutler and hotelier. The idea is not to romanticize her accomplishments for Seacole was human and vulnerable, and she betrayed all the contradictions of a woman placed in that age and time: resistance, accommodation and admiration for imperialism which contained ‘the civilizing values she professes to honor’ (Paquet 2002, 56). For while she railed against the injustices of race and sex discrimination she did not directly chal- lenge the idea of a British empire as much as she struggled ‘to redefine her place in it’ (p. 56). Seacole could thus be seen as a prototype of the modern-day Afro-Saxon. Then there was Mary Prince, a slave woman who did not have the privileges of the Hart sisters or of Mary Seacole, and thus has a  different take on the colonial situation. Comparing the two Marys (Seacole and Prince), Paquet writes that Prince embodied ‘an embryonic nationalism formed in resistance to slavery’ while Seacole reflected ‘an acceptance of colonialism after slavery’ (p. 52). Mary Prince was a rebel in spirit and action, and her life story is partly a struggle against erasure that illuminates another dimension of the contradictions of the time: Mary Prince was a ‘West Indian slave marooned in England by laws that made slavery illegal in England, while it was still legal in the colonies’ (p. 31). And as Paquet reports, the erasure and contradiction continue even in the twentieth-century male texts referred to above that are ‘devoid of reference to her resistant, militant spirit’ (p. 32). Though generally muted (erased) the voice of the black woman becomes audible in the narrative of Prince whose ‘individual life story establishes and validates a slave woman’s point of viewâ€⠄¢ while simultaneously serving as the foundation for ‘selfidentification and self-fulfilment in anticipation of the historical changes’ that would later follow in the wake of emancipation (p. 33-4). Thus, viewed together, the autobiographies of the Hart sisters, Mary Seacole and Mary Prince afford us an insight into the practical and intellectual worlds of very different women, and into their multifaceted struggles whether as slaves, as women, as free coloureds, as rape victims, and finally as silenced products of colonial brutality. In humanizing themselves through their autobiographies these women are able to expose the dehumanizing conditions under which so many millions were erased. Another key motif in Paquet is that of home and its relationship to errantry, travel, departure and return. These are central themes in Caribbean literature and reflect the post-colonial condition where the forced migrations associated with slavery and indentureship are the backdrops against which post-colonial peoples now seek to establish diasporic existences and to fashion a new ‘way in the world’. The initial trauma of forced removal from their ancestral lands has led to a spirit ual yearning for rootedness and symbolic return to home. Further, the yearning in question is best represented in the notion of primordialism, for it is only at home that one supposedly finds the acceptance and security from which to begin to negotiate one’s way in the world. Thus, ‘travel as exploration and transforming encounter turns on the quest for El Dorado, the lost world, the aboriginal landscape, identity,  origins, ancestry psychic reconnection, and rebirth’ (Paquet 2002, 196). Viewed in this way the Caribbean is both home and an African diasporic home away from home, and to this end Paquet invokes Wilfred Cartey, Carole BoyceDavies, Claude McKay, George Lamming and Edward Kamau Brathwaite to make the case for a ‘holistic Caribbean’ that comprises ‘a culturally diverse yet traditional’ culture block that stresses ‘the genealogical connection with Africa’ (p. 745). While departure could be non-voluntary or forced (slavery), Paquet also focuses on voluntary departure, as in the Caribbean migrant to England or some other metropolitan centre. Often for economic reasons, it is a sort of voluntary exile in Lamming’s thinking, that has given rise to scores of Caribbean diasporas in various Eu ropean metropoles. London, Berlin or Toronto is really a twice-migrant; first from Africa and second from the Caribbean. The connection to an African home is the centrepiece of much contemporary Afrocentric politics, but that connection is largely mythical and imagined, although many commentators seem willing to forget this fact. This speaks directly to the idea of home and belonging as articulated by two unapologetic Afrocentrists, Ian Smart and Kimani Nehusi (2000). For example, there is Nehusi who sees home as ‘a nurturing place, a space of spiritual, psychological, social, and physical comfort, freedom, security and satisfaction, and ultimately confidence, because we know that we will be understood there †¦ humans feel at home only when they can be themselves in culturally familiar ways. Home is therefore †¦ a space that not merely permits but encourages us to be our own selves and in which we are ‘easy’ – not merely familiar, but comfortable too (Nehusi 2000a, 1-2). This essentialist and romantic theme of ‘Africa as home’ is picked up by  Smart who treats all black people as Africans and affirms that the ‘African mind is one that deals with the big picture. The African mind is fundamentally driven by and towards holism’ (Smart 2000a, 51). And apparently unmindful of the process of creolization, Smart goes on boldly to assert that ‘[t]he core of Caribbean culture is the African heritage’ (2000a, 70). All of this is by way of setting the stage for the claim that Trinidad is an African country whose central cultural marker is the Carnival. According to Smart, Nehusi and several of the contributors to the volume in question, Carnival is an African festival that has become the national festival of Trinidad: ‘Carnival is â€Å"a black thing†, a Wosirian (Osirian) mystery play that was celebrated annually in Kemet (Ancient Egypt) from the very dawn of history’ (Smart 2000a, 29). Lamentably, however, the African origins and the signal contributions of Africans are bring erased by a class and colour conspiracy to wrest the festival from its original African founders. In essentialist language, these authors assume that Trinidad means African, that African means black, and that black means poor or working class (Smart 2000a, 63). Thus, the non-black presence in the Carnival, whether as masquerader, bandleader or owner, or costume designer, is all part of the Eurocentric (which is code for white and upper class) attempt to silence and erase the African. For one contributor, Pearl Springer, the consequence is that the Carnival has been reshaped in such as way that the African presence in the national festival is erased or reduced to that of a street vendor and ‘hired hand’ that does the physical labour in making the mas (Springer 2000, 22). Nehusi is in full agreement with this take on erasure of the black person: ‘Afrikan Trinidadians have been abandoned, declared nonpersons by a continuing Eurocentric system which refuses to recognize them and their traditions as valid and refuses to recognize the history of struggle †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (2000a, 11). Another contributor, Patricia Alleyne Dettmers, invokes the universal African and has no difficulty speaking of ‘Africans †¦ born in Trinidad and Tobago’ (2000, 132). Of particular significance here is the fact that these Afrocentric commentators who rail against the erasure of Africans and the suppression of African identity, simultaneously engage in their own erasure of the East Indian, the Chinese and other ethnic groups in  Trinidad (Allahar 2004, 129-33). Thus, in the same volume, Patricia Moran, affirms that ‘the Caribbean woman is basically African’ (2000, 169). As is clear, like the wider Caribbean region as a whole, the books and authors under review here are not free of contradiction and ambivalence. For the Afrocentric case put forward by writers like Smart and Nehusi (and their five co-authors) clearly looks past the well known erasure of the East Indians’ presence and contributions they have made to such countries as Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname. For this reason David Trotman wrote sarcastically of Trinidad’s supposed multi-racial paradise on the eve of independence (1962) and the racially coloured anticipation that filled the Trinidad air at the time: ‘it was a multi-racial picture from which the Indian seemed strangely absent’ (1991, 393). Trotman speaks of the privileging of African traditions to the neglect of Indian ones, and takes issue with one calypsonian, whose calypso titled ‘Portrait of Trinidad’ only identified the Afro-associated elements of steelband, calypso and carnival as national cultural achievements. This led Trotman wryly to observe: ‘In this portrait the Indian is painted out’ (p. 394). Paquet also laments this erasure as it is articulated by George Lamming and V.S. Naipaul (2002, 176, 189-90). The authors of the studies contained in Smart and Nehusi (2000) speak ideologically to what supposedly binds the community together, for example, common blood lines, common ethno-cultural experience, common collective memory, common African origins and so on. I say supposedly for much of this idea of community cohesiveness is rather mythical or fictional. It is part of the essentialization of Africa and Africans that is common among Afrocentrist commentators, and in the process all others are erased. Further, in the move to homogenize and essentialize Africans, they conveniently ignore those social and structural features that divide the community. I am thinking here of internal, class, colour, economic, and  political inequalities within, say, the so-called African diasporic community, not to mention ideological cleavages related to religion, inter- and intra-ethnic rivalries. Given the role played by myths of ethnic descent in the invoking of national unity and cultural identity, Smart and Nehusi problematize the political dimensions of cultural nationalism as it applies to the Trinidad carnival. They give cultural nationalism a colour – black – which means there are major implications for those who are defined out of the societal culture, for example, those who claim East Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, etc., descents. To affirm that Carnival is Trinidad’s national festival implies that the so-called Indo-Trinidadians, who, for whatever reasons, do not see carnival as their national cultural marker, are somehow less than full Trinidadians. In the minds of black nationalists, then, the carnival, which was born in Africa, is the supreme African festival and belongs entirely to black people, who, regardless of where they were born, are Africans! Africa is home for all Africans. This is why Smart depicts the Trinidad carnival as ‘the quintessential African festival’ (2000a, 72), and Nehusi sees the street parade segment of the celebration as symbolic of the Africans’ reclaiming their physical, spiritual and cultural freedom: ‘Possession of the streets was a sign of Afrikan possession of self, a spiritual re-connection with ancestors through millennia of cultural practice, a liberation through expression of impulses carried in genes for uncounted generations †¦.’ (2000b, 96). Some critics have charged that the foregoing constitutes part of the larger racist agenda of those black nationalists who want to define carnival in ethno-racial terms: ‘Trinbagonians can then rightly claim their festival as â€Å"we thing† only because it is a â€Å"black thing†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Smart 2000a, 72). The loose invoking of the royal ‘we’ must not be taken as referring to all Trinbagonians, however, for it is tied to the deliberate erasure of the East Indian. Thus, the contributors to the volume in question can be seen as endorsing the myth of merry Africa and spinning tall tales of racial identity and solidarity among Africans the world over. They are unequivocal in their claim that Africa is the cradle of human civilization and the source of ancient human history. In spite of these facts, however, contemporary history is said to be written and produced by white supremacist barbarians bent on erasing the major contributions of Africans. Thus, Alleyne-Dettmers essentializes ‘barbaric Europeans’ (2000, 139), and both Smart (2000b, 199) and Moran (2000, 174) condemn what they refer to generally as ‘European barbarism’, while Olaogun Adeyinka speaks more specifically of the ‘heroic struggles of Africans’ to liberate themselves ‘from Spanish, French and British barbarism’ (2000, 111). Patricia Moran wants to rewrite history for she fears that there is a conspiracy on the part of what she calls ‘white bandits’ and those ‘Aryan marauders’ (p. 175), who, even today, would steal ‘we thing’, which is carnival and steelband! In the assertion of an absolute African identity there is the absolute erasure of the East Indian and other ethnic groups that comprise the society. As the foregoing assessment of Smart and Nehusi (2000) suggests, in the public’s mind, the term Caribbean brings immediately to mind the English-speaking countries of the region and their African-descended populations. Somewhat less immediate are the Spanish-speaking countries of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Even less immediate are the French countries (provinces) of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and the independent, French-speaking country of Haiti. Then there is the almost forgotten, erased, Caribbean: the Dutch-speaking Netherlands Antilles and Suriname. Although scholarship on the Caribbean has devoted considerable attention to the situation of East Indians in Trinidad and Guyana, and their erasure at the hands of both the colonial authorities and the various ‘black’ governments that inherited the seats of power following independence, not much is known about their counterparts in Suriname and other parts of the Dutch Caribbean. In fact, when addressing Caribbean studies generally, Suriname and the other countries of the Netherlands Antilles are usually an  afterthought; a curious appendage of the better-known English- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. This leads to an incomplete picture of the region for if one were to assess the situation of the East Indians in the Caribbean, the Surinamese case seems to parallel that of Trinidad and Guyana, but the lessons learned in the latter were lost on the former. Indeed, in the years leading up to Suriname’s independence (1975), the East Indian population had the same fears and misgivings as their counterparts in Trinidad and Guyana a decade and a half earlier. And if political independence in these two countries was black in complexion, the social and political erasure of their East Indian populations could be expected to be repeated in Suriname. Thus, Gert Oostindie and Inge Klinkers wrote that: ‘quietly the Hindustani population were only afraid that those who would receive independence (i.e. the Afro-Surinamese) would use this for the enlargement of their own political power’ (2003, 112). As a consequence the East Indians generally opposed independence and opted for continued colonial dependence on the Dutch (p. 103, 112). For Oostindie and Klinkers (2003), then, this is only one reason why any comprehensive attempt to understand the history and sociology of the Caribbean must include the contributions that the Dutch countries have made to the shaping of the region’s wider culture and politics. Yet one must not homogenize all the Dutch countries, for Suriname and Aruba, for example, are quite politically, socially and culturally distinct. And whereas the sentiments of ‘black power’ informed the political sensibilities of Curaà §ao’s population, the ‘political elites of Aruba had always tended to emphasise the Euro-Amerinidian roots of their island as opposed to the African character of Curaà §ao’ (2003, 122). Indeed, as these authors point out, after losing Indonesia the Dutch lost most of their appetite for empire and appeared to retain their Caribbean possessions only reluctantly. And after the independence of Suriname, an  unusual situation was presented whereby the mother country seemed willing to free itself from the responsibilities of Empire, but the colonies in question would not let them off the hook (p. 116, 145). This is reminiscent of what Rosemarijn Hoefte and Gert Oostindie call ‘an example of upside-down decolonization with the metropolis, not the former colonies, pressing for independence’ (1991, 93). As Oostindie and Klinkers convincingly argue, whereas in the British West Indies (BWI) the sentiment for independence was strong in the 1950s and 1960s, this was not the case in the French West Indies and the Dutch West Indies (2003, 46-7). Suriname was the exception, but it was continental and not part of the socalled Antilles or Netherlands Antilles. In the case of the United States, Puerto Rico was a mixed bag with a significant proportion desiring statehood and an equal number preferring the continuation of the status quo, while an insignificant minority has always favoured independence. The US Virgin Islands, on the other hand, has never had any pretensions at independence of any kind. What is most striking about all these non-sovereign Caribbean states today (the remaining British Overseas Territories, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Curaà §ao, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Bonaire and Aruba), is that they have a higher standar d of living than the independent states, which leads some to make the perverse claim for continued colonization. The fact of the matter, however, is that all the economies in question are almost totally subsidized by the mother countries so local or indigenous economic development is virtually nonexistent. The higher standards of living are thus quite precarious and artificial and could crash any time the colonial power decided to withdraw. This led to the obvious conclusion that because: ‘from the Dutch side, millions of guilders are pumped into the Antilles and Suriname on a yearly basis,’ it would be far more preferable that ‘today rather than tomorrow that the Netherlands would get rid of the Antilles and Suriname’ (Oostindie and Klinkers 2003, 116). But as noted by Paquet earlier, decolonization is intimately tied to identity, whether juridical or socio-cultural, and wrapped up in the complex Caribbean traditions of errantry, travel, migration and return. So following  the insights of Derek Walcott, after all the travel is over, return to home is on the agenda; but ‘home’ is a nuanced Caribbean with African sensibilities. Further, because finding self is the prerequisite to finding home (Paquet 2002, 171, 173, 186-7; Smart and Nehusi 2000), and because self- knowledge leads to self-realization (Paquet 2002, 184, 187, 191), identity and belonging are inextricably tied to (political) action. Thus, in the case of the remaining British Overseas Territories, there is the ongoing debate over citizenship, passports and legal rights that led to the clumsy creation of a category of ‘British dependent territory passport holders’. This has given rise to what Oostindie and Klinkers call a group of persons with ‘a form of paper identity’ that has turned them into ‘citizens of nowhere’ (2003, 195). The same applies to the Surinamers and other Antillean peoples, who want to retain their distinctive Caribbean cultural identities, but who, mainly for economic reasons insist on retaining Dutch passports, Dutch citizenship, and all associated rights and privileges. And just as growing economic problems (unemployment) and social problems (racial discrimination) led the British in the 1960s to restrict free movement of British subjects from the former colonies to the metropolis, the French sought to encourage economic development in Martinique and Gua deloupe in order to reduce the numbers of those emigrating to France, and The Hague has made similar attempts to limit the numbers of Surinamese and Antilleans who have claims on Dutch citizenship. Once more the parallels are compelling but the consequences of erasure prevent them from being fully grasped. Another instructive parallel that seems lost in the erasure of the Dutch Caribbean concerns the idea of regional federation or integration. When Jamaica decided to pull out of the federation of the ten British West Indian territories in 1961, Trinidad’s Eric Williams announced that 1 from 10 leaves naught, implying that the idea of federation was dead (Knight and Palmer 1989, 14-15). For their part the Dutch Antilles, which are composed  of six islands, were faced with an almost exact dilemma when Aruba was granted ‘separate status’ in 1996. With continental Suriname already independent, Aruba’s status aparte led to a virtually identical sentiment of ‘one out of six would leave nil’ (Oostindie and Klinmkers 2003, 122), and seemed to end all hope or talk of Antillean independence. Based on the forgoing it is clear to see how the Caribb ean, both historically and in contemporary times, is a political project subject to the power politics of entrenched interests, whether of a class, race or gendered nature. Further, as social groups strive to root themselves and to establish identity markers, such politics will see the erasure of some and the promotion of others. The three studies reviewed here highlight dimensions of the colonial period in the Caribbean as well as the politics of decolonization and the politics of nation building in the modern age. While recently the latter has tended to assume clear ethnic dimensions, considerations of class, race and gender are not to be minimized or ignored, for the modern Caribbean was constructed on the politics of social inequality that are directly tied their statuses as dependent capitalist satellites of imperialist centres in an increasingly globalized world. *** References Allahar, Anton L. (2003) ‘â€Å"Racing† Caribbean Political Culture: Afrocentrism, Black Nationalism and Fanonism’. In Holger Henke and Fred Reno (eds) Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, pp. 21-58. Allahar, Anton L. (2004) ‘Ethnic Entrepreneurship and Nationalism in Trinidad: Afrocentrism and Hindutva’, Social and Economic Studies (53)2: 117-154. Alleyne Dettmers, Patricia (2000) ‘Beyond Borders, Carnival as Global Phenomena’. In Smart and Nehusi (eds) pp. 131-162. 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