Romanian Journal of History and International Studies (RJHIS)
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Cura aquarum and curator aquarum – the Head of Rome’s Water Supply Administration
Get PDFIt is obvious the importance of water supply to any human community. At the end of the 1st century A.D. Rome developed an impressive water infrastructure consisting of nine aqueducts. This huge network of pipes that distributed water on almost the whole surface of the ancient city could not function without rigorous maintenance. This work fell under the responsibility of the aquarii, a team that formed the familia aquaria, a component part of cura aquarum, an office led by the curator aquarum. The description of the structure of the cura aquarum and of the tasks of the team that represented it, as well as the activity of curator aquarum, are the subjects of this paper
Politics of Language and Linguistic Reorganisation before and after Independence in India
Get PDFThis article examines Politics of Language and Linguistic Reorganisation before and after the Indian Independence. Before 1947, the Indian Nationalist started to gather momentum for liberation from the British . The nationalist struggle against colonial rule precluded any narrow sentiments for linguistic agitation prior to independence. Moreover, the partition of Pakistan from the Indian Union, and subsequent independence of India, the desire for linguistic reorganization of Indian States grew across the country. The eight schedule of 1951 constitution recognised on 14 national language, the Constituent Assembly were silent on linguistic re-organisation of States. Hence, immediately after independence such sentiments began to gather momentum among sections of the electorates that compelled a review of the 1951 constitution to accommodate the linguistic reorganisation. The paper concluded that with the creation of Andhra, immediately after the First general Elections of 1951-52, the basis for the linguistic re-organisation of Indian States was eventually laid
Neofunctionalism: A Success Story?
Get PDFIntegration is one of the political catchphrases of the late 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. This paper will focus on the theoretical and practical role of neofunctionalism as an integrative theory in the process of European integration. Neofunctionalism will be critically analyzed regarding the margin and possibilities of its practical implementation in the integration process; furthermore, it shall be established how recent economic developments have been affecting the debate on integration at European level. It should be stressed that, due to its practical implementation at EU level, neofunctionalism is not merely a theoretical approach, but a phenomenon whose short term outcomes in real politics can be analyzed evaluating the actual situation of integrative processes. The main objective of this short analysis will be to determine the reciprocate influences of neofunctionalist theory and affiliated institutions within the integration process towards each other
The Ibibio Peace Praxis: A Discourse in African Indigenous Peace Ethos
Get PDFThis study is a discourse on the indigenous system of peace building, peacemaking, peace enforcement and peacekeeping among the Ibibio people of Southern Nigeria, before the permeation of western peace praxes into the study area. Data obtained for the study were collated from both primary and secondary sources; including interviews, focused group discussions, and analysis of extant literatures on the Ibibio peace practices. The findings from the study reveal that the Ibibio had instituted several sources, symbolisms, instruments, agents and institutions of sustainable peacebuilding and conflict resolution prior to western permeation of traditional Ibibio society. In addition, they had also understood and appreciated, though in different vernacular, the various peace conceptions that we recognize today-negative and positive peace, structural peace, active peace, inner peace, etc. For the most part, this indigenous pax Ibibio helped in the sustenance of peace and order in the society, and steady but effective resolution whenever conflict arose. The paper therefore derived from the Ibibio case study that indigenous peace practices in Africa have historically proven effective and they still posses the efficacy of balancing the deficit of mainstream western approaches in Africa today. Hence, the paper advocates a paradigm shift from the western-technique centered approaches of peacebuilding in Africa, to more indigenous approaches. This does not necessitate a total neglect of the western methods, but a kind of hybrid formula where indigenous approach to peacebuilding in Africa are balanced with the western approaches and tailored according to changing circumstances for effective peacebuilding in the continent
Kosovo's Independence and the Serbian Coalitions against the Kosovar Self-determination
Get PDFThe study addresses the influence that the Kosovo-Serbia binomial has on the regional security architecture in the Western Balkans, comparatively analyzing the two stages of the relations between Belgrade and Pristina, namely the autonomy and the independence. The first section deals with the post-conflict reconstruction of the ex-Yugoslav space, focusing on Kosovo`s status, but above all on the redefinition of the power relations between the central authority and the regional administration.
The paper also covers the previous before Kosovo's Declaration of Independence was adopted, presenting Montenegrin separatism as a precedent for the irredentism from southern Serbia and for the formation of the Republic of Kosovo. On this occasion, the international debate on the self-determination of the province, focusing on the nuances between the Euro-Atlantic community and the traditional allies of Serbia, is being pursued, the legality of the argument being deduced from the strategies of the interests of the that exerciceses influence in the Southeastern European space. As such, the friction points during the confrontation transposed into the post-conflict phase, the act of independence being the catalyst for an East-West rupture in terms of the perspective on the principle of self-determination.
At the macro-structural level, the study exposes the post-Cold War transformations of the former the Yugoslav space suffered. Conceptually, the Kosovo war as the first conflictto be fought in the logic of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention, which as a fact is not legally codified. Alongside this, the violation of the sovereignty of a UN state by an intervention unauthorized under a resolution issued by the Security Council would provide support for the hypothesis that Kosovo status is illegal as a result of a violation of the Serbian sovereignty and international law
Propaganda and Media Manipulation in AKP’s Turkey: The Case of the “Gezi Resistance” and the Castigation of Free Speech
Get PDFEver since the beginning of its first term in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been influencing the media in order to curtail and circumvent independent journalism in Turkey. This repression on media freedom in the last fifteen years indicates democratic regression in Turkey. A free press is vital to any democracy, allowing for constructive public debate while also holding government accountable. Nonetheless, rather than establishing a secure and independent space for the press, the government has formed an environment that is contentious and even threatening for journalists to report opposing views. In addition, the unruly government proceedings toward news media have primarily been led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now the President of Turkey, establishing an intimidating, powerful media autocracy. This article explores Turkey’s current state of declining freedoms of the press as the government has employed different strategies to suppress the media’s role in Turkey, including approaches of controlling media monopolies, alongside the incarceration, intimidation and dismissing of journalists. It also provides an illustration of the government’s media surveillance through different backgrounds and occasions, confirming not only its obstinacy of government criticism, but also its apprehension of the media’s power to induce anti-AKP sentiments
Eugeniu Carada: The Dynamic of Perceptions Across Time
Get PDFVery often we see that our perceptions about a specific time or a specific person may be altered by bias, ideology or simply by misunderstanding facts. Based on the information preserved in the press and in memoirs, we will try to follow how the representations of various generations concerning a character – Eugeniu Carada, in this case – transited from passionate criticism to adulation and praises. This article argues in favour of accepting that our ways of understanding the past and the sense of the past are often tributary to either a rhetoric that is propagandistic (intentionally or not), or to legitimization exercises, or even to the temptation of leaving behind a certain image for posterity
The Romanian Intellectual, Christian Orthodoxy, and Identity in connection to Iron Guardism
Get PDFAs the second part of a two part series, this article explores the confluence of Romanian intellectual culture and the rise of fascism in the interwar period, with a distinct concentration on the particularity of Romanian identity and its transformation amid the changing rhetoric of pluri nationality. Ultimately the process by which a concrete Romanian identity was formed within the rhetoric of intellectuals was the result of elements of differing views of nationality, the Romanian peasantry, and Christian Orthodoxy all of which were salient elements of Romanian society during the rise of extremists groups such as the Iron Guard. In this second part I explore the way that the Jewish population, and Jewish identity in Romania was used by intellectuals to define Romanian identity by positing that in fact it was the complete opposite of ‘Romanianism’ as it was defined by the rhetoric of the intelligentsia, which manifested itself in the rise of Iron Guard. The ideals of ‘race,’ and ‘ethnicity’ were therefore paradoxes for many Romanian thinkers and writers
The ECOWAS 2020 Transformational Vision: Content, Context, Issues and Prospects
Get PDFThis article examines the content, contexts and issues in the ECOWAS 2020 Transformational Vision with the goal of outlining the prospects for its actualization. Following an extensive review of extant literature on regional integration as well as relevant studies on regional integration in West Africa, the article argues that that as long as the structures that, in the last four decades, have worked to frustrate the ECOWAS’ goal of an integrated community are still alive and active, the 2020 Transformational Vision, though an ambitious agenda, going by the philosophical ideas undergirding it, like similar ideas and visions of the distant and recent past, is likely to be unrealizable. It concludes that the 2020 Vision should be viewed as another ‘development tokenism’ by the sub-region’s statesmen and policymakers to appease radical voices in the sub-region and not really as an attempt to democratize regional development
Buss, Chiara (coord.), Seta. Dizzionario delle mezzetinte 1628-1939. Da Avinato a Zizzolino, Milano, Silvana Editoriale, 2013
Get PDFIn this mature work, Chiara Buss - along with a large group of researchers in the field of cultural transfers and materials in the Early Modern age - emphasises the need to examine previously undervalued sources in order to further advance our knowledge of the Milanese economy during the second half of the seventeenth century