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The East Asian Journal of British History, vol. 2
Get PDFThe East Asian Journal of British History is produced by the East Asian Society of British History, and supported by the Institute for Historical Research.
The Institute of Historical Research is pleased and proud to be supporting this recent addition to British history scholarship. Developing out of the IHR’s long-standing collaborative partnership with Japanese universities, and now in its fourth year, the East Asian Journal of British History features some of the best emergent scholarship from Anglophone historians working in China, Japan, and South Korea.
Divided between an articles section and one devoted to reviews, the journal’s remit wide-ranging covering all fields and periods of British history. It complements the triennial Anglo-Japanese Conference organised by the IHR and Japanese historians based at the universities of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and the conference of the East Asian Society of British history, in which we are joined by our colleagues from South Korea. In future, we hope that more contributions will be featured in the journal from the Chinese mainland and from Taiwan
Vehicle remote keyless entry systems and engine immobilisers: do not believe the insurer that this technology is perfect
No full textIn the 1990s, governments put pressure on motor vehicle manufacturers to provide better security for vehicles. Thieves could steal cars and lorries with relative ease. The manufacturers responded by introducing electronic systems to make it more difficult for vehicles to be stolen without the key. However, as with most forms of technology, the software can be bypassed. In recent years, thieves have manipulated weaknesses in the technology, so that vehicles can be stolen without the key
Human rights, capital punishment and the Commonwealth: still behind the curve
No full textIn this Opinion, Professor Schabas argues that the Commonwealth is behind the curve of the international trend
towards the abolition of the death penalty. He analyses the status and use of capital punishment in Commonwealth
countries, as compared to all UN member states more broadly. He argues that there is a great irony that a justice
system, said by Winston Churchill to be imbued with ‘the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which
are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world’ is also characterised by brutal forms of criminal sanction that
are increasingly being abandoned across the globe. Notwithstanding this, he notes that if the international trend continues, the world could be globally abolitionist in a decade or so. Professor Schabas calls on the Commonwealth
to show leadership among its members and also externally, and to use the collective embarrassment of a lingering
remnant of colonial barbarism to make it so
Forging Commonwealth consensus: the buck stops with the Secretary-General
No full textThe Commonwealth is in danger of letting its commitments to both the agenda of democracy and rights, and
the agenda of development, become sterile and vacuous. The argument that has been raging over creating a
Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights reflects a dysfunctional organisation, stuck in an outdated North-South stand-off, crying out for creative leadership. Here, Richard Bourne argues that the Commonwealth Secretariat must build consensus, and galvanise governments to take practical ownership of the values that, in the new Commonwealth Charter, they will be claiming to promote. When few leaders spend time thinking how to use their Commonwealth networks, it is the job of the Secretary General to show them
Is there a distinctively feminist philosophy of religion?
No full textFeminist philosophers of religion such as Grace Jantzen and Pamela Sue Anderson have endeavoured, firstly, to identify masculine bias in the concepts of God found in the scriptures of the world’s religions and in the philosophical writings in which religious beliefs are assessed and proposed and, secondly, to transform the philosophy of religion, and thereby the lives of women, by recommending new or expanded epistemologies and using these to revision a concept of the divine which will inspire both women and men to work for the flourishing of the whole of humankind.
It is argued, firstly, that the philosophies of Jantzen and Anderson are by no means as different from each other as they might, at first, appear. Secondly, it is suggested that their epistemologies are not distinctively feminist, and that the classical divine attributes of the Abrahamic faiths do not necessarily privilege the masculine. Perhaps the only way in which a philosophy of religion might be distinctively feminist is by emphasising the inclusion of women. This might mean being more open to concepts of the divine which are not, even in a metaphorical sense, masculine, and enhancing awareness of the ways in which abstract arguments about the divine could be relevant to the practical aspects of human life which have traditionally been the preserve of women. Insofar as these are increasingly also the responsibility of men, however, a feminist philosophy of religion might now be more appropriately characterised as an inclusivist philosophy of religion
Pinocchio Puppets and Modernity. The Mechanical Body
Get PDFThis Introduction to the edited collection 'Pinocchio Puppets and Modernity. The Mechanical Body' assesses the significance of Pinocchio in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in addition to his status as the creature of a nineteenth century traversed by a cultural enthusiasm for dummies, puppets and marionettes. This collection identifies Pinocchio as a figure characterised by a 'fluid identity', informed with transition, difference, joie de vivre, otherness and metamorphosis, making him a truly modern, indeed postmodern and posthuman, cultural icon
May Day: why the right to protest should be sacred
No full textTo mark May Day – or International Workers’ Day – CA/B interviews the leading Nigerian lawyer and pro-democracy
campaigner, Femi Aborisade. May 1st is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in
many more. It has long been a focus for protests and anti-war struggles, and was this year adopted by the ‘Occupy
movement’ which held a ‘global disruption’ day to protest against extreme social inequality across the US and globally. As civil society around the world reports a rise in mass demonstrations and other types of more spontaneous action, CA/B speaks to Aborisade about his recent experiences of protesting in Nigeria. He denounces the use of violent control and the lack of coverage by state-owned media. He explains how the ‘Arab Spring’ and the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movements have fired the determination of Nigeria protestors, and calls on the Commonwealth to help civil society improve coverage of protests and to monitor the policing of protests, thereby helping to curb the excessive use of force by national governments
A five-point plan to make the Commonwealth Foundation’s re-launch transformational
No full textNext month, a little-known London-based intergovernmental organisation with a core budget of £3m, will relaunch.
In this Opinion, Daisy Cooper argues that the Commonwealth Foundation needs more than a re-launch, it needs a complete overhaul. She outlines how the Commonwealth People’s Forum is completely out of touch with the global development agenda and the Commonwealth’s own priorities, how the Foundation’s Civil Society Advisory Committee has no legitimacy, and how over the years the organisation has let its mandate drift to such an extent that it cannot demonstrate either a clear focus or any impact from its work. She explains how some of the recent proposals to reform the organisation were ill-conceived, and sets out a five-point plan which could help the Foundation transform itself into a significant actor on the international stage
Fuel economy policies could spare Commonwealth governments from an impending transport fuels disaster
No full textThe number of road vehicles, and road fuel use, in Commonwealth countries could double by 2030 and increase
by a factor of four by 2050. Given that about half the Commonwealth’s (and world’s) oil is used in transport and
oil accounts for about 95% of transport fuel use, this could spell economic disaster for the oil importing countries
which make up the vast majority of the Commonwealth. Yet, one simple solution – improving vehicle fuel economy –
could cut the cumulative oil bill of Commonwealth countries by GBP 200 billion by 2030, rising to GBP 2 trillion by
2050. In this Opinion, energy expert Lew Fulton sets out some alarming statistics on oil use and cost, and analyses
the case of Kenya – a country that has already recognised the scale of the challenge it faces and the steps it needs
to take to improve fuel economy. He argues that through inaction, Commonwealth countries are missing out on the
opportunity to save billions of unnecessary expenditure on oil – a cost which could slow economic development in
some countries. By setting out the core elements of a national policy on fuel economy, he encourages all countries
to work with the Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) and other experts. By adopting this high-impact low-cost
policy solution, Commonwealth countries will, he argues, save their citizens billions of pounds and reduce their CO2
emissions