Search

Begin New Search Content Type Journal Article

11201. L'Envers et L'Endroit de L'Interprétation Islamiste du Concept de Jihad en Droit Islamique

Author:
Bruce Mabley
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal of Legal Studies
Institution:
The Africa Law Institute
Abstract:
The concept of jihad plays a key role in Islamic Law at the same level as several other juridical notions. Although jihad has not been considered to form one of the official legal sources of Islamic Law (usul al-fiqh), it has taken on a modern conceptual interest. The history and evolution of jihad will be irrevocably altered by the existence of an epistemological break occurring in the early 9th century. The closing of the gate of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) has a two fold impact on the changing juridical context as well as the geopolitical distribution of Islamist thinking in Africa and elsewhere. For Islamist scholars and political activists, jihad becomes a means, a testimony to Islam's pertinence and a desirable end. For example, the rising interest in the Islamic legal code (shari'a) and its political state aspirations is seen to be facilitated by calls for jihad. Lastly, three examples of modern jihad are considered and evaluated in light of Islamic legal precepts and of the controversy surrounding the closing of the gate of ijtihad.

11202. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Demystification of Second and Third Generation Rights under the African Charter

Author:
Justice C. Nwobike
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal of Legal Studies
Institution:
The Africa Law Institute
Abstract:
This article argues that the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in the Ogoni case represents a giant stride towards the protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights of Africans. This is predicated on the African Commission's finding that the Nigerian Government's failure to protect the Ogoni people from the activities of oil companies operating in the Niger Delta is contrary to international human rights law and is in fact a step backwards since Nigeria had earlier adopted legislation to fulfill its obligation towards the progressive realization of these rights. The findings of the African Commission demonstrate that economic, social and cultural rights are not vague or incapable of judicial enforcement. They also illustrate how the Charter can be interpreted generously to ensure the effective enjoyment of rights. Novel and commendable as the decision is, it is not without its shortcomings. These shortcomings lie in the failure of the Commission to pronounce on the right to development, its silence on the desirability of holding transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations, and the institutional weakness of the Commission in enforcing its decisions.
Political Geography:
Africa

11203. The Roh Moo Hyun Government's Policy toward North Korea

Author:
Choong Nam Kim
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Despite the emergence of a second North Korea nuclear crisis, President Roh Moo Hyun has expanded the sunshine policy that he inherited. As a result, the Roh government has experienced difficulties in managing both its North Korea policy and the U.S.-ROK alliance. The engagement policy is based on the assumption that inter-Korean cooperation will reduce tension on the Korean peninsula and induce change in the North. The policy appears to be reasonable for the long term, but not for the short term, especially for the resolution of immediate and complex issues such as the North Korea nuclear problem.
Political Geography:
United States and North Korea

11204. The Gaeseong Industrial Park and the Future of Inter-Korean Relations

Author:
Youn-Suk Kim
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Battered by a nearly bankrupted economy and continuous food shortages, North Korea has been cautiously opening its doors to strike economic deals with South Korea in recent years. The closed nature of the North's economy has resulted in low industrial productivity and efficiency, technological backwardness, and, in the end, economic stagnation. The North is also concerned that with the disparity in economic levels, unification with the South might result in the virtual absorption of the North into the South. Thus, the South's policy in this regard has been to reassure the North that unity through absorption is neither feasible nor desirable under the current state of military confrontation.
Political Geography:
South Korea and North Korea

11205. The North Korean Economy at a Crossroads: Problems and Prospects

Author:
Dick K. Nanto
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
North Korea stands at a crossroads now that is every bit as momentous as its decision to invade South Korea in 1950. What Kim Jong-il does over the short- and medium-term will put his country either on a path leading to reconciliation with the world and economic and military security or a path leading to a nuclear standoff or military hostilities. As this drama plays out on the world stage, the economy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea plays a critical role. Economic forces play a twopronged role. Starvation and dismal economic conditions exert pressures on Pyongyang from inside the country, while the prospect of economic assistance and normalized trade and investment relations with other nations provide a powerful incentive for the North Korean leaders to undertake actions that otherwise would be difficult. North Korean is in transition. It can turn back state socialism, state control, and starvation, or it can take the road of China and the states of the Former Soviet Union and join the rest of the world.
Political Geography:
South Korea, North Korea, and Korea

11206. The ROK-US Alliance During the Bush and Roh Administrations: Differing Perspectives and Their Implications for a Changing Strategic Environment

Author:
Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. Ph.D.
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The ROK-US Alliance has been in a state of flux almost since the beginning of the Roh Moo-hyun administration in early 2003. As of the writing of this article, many issues remain up in the air, including the future role of USFK on the Korean Peninsula, the cost of maintaining troops and equipment on the Peninsula (and who will pay for them), the transformation of USFK as a military force, and the move south of both US Army units close to the DMZ and Headquarters USFK in Seoul.
Political Geography:
United States, Korea, and Seoul

11207. China and the Six-Party Talks: The New Turn to Mediation Diplomacy

Author:
Samuel S. Kim
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
During more than a half century of its checkered international life, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has not been known for self-initiated mediation diplomacy in the world's trouble spots. Thus, China's uncharacteristically proactive mediation efforts in the second US-DPRK nuclear standoff, both reflects and affects significant changes in its foreign-policy thinking and behavior. Beijing's seemingly abrupt policy shift provides a timely case study for examining its changing role in the shaping of a new international order in East Asia in general and on the Korean peninsula in particular.
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

11208. Russia's Interests and Objectives on the Korean Peninsula

Author:
Peggy Falkenheim Meyer
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The North Korean nuclear crisis that began in October 2002 has presented a challenge for Russia. The crisis began when a North Korean official allegedly acknowledged that his country had been pursuing a secret uranium enrichment program. Since then, Pyongyang has withdrawn from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, and restarted plutonium reactors whose operations were frozen under a 1994 agreement with the United States. North Korea has claimed that it has processed spent nuclear fuel rods and that it possesses nuclear weapons.
Political Geography:
Russia, North Korea, and Korea

11209. U.S.-North Korean Relations: From the Agreed Framework to the Six-party Talks

Author:
Larry Niksch
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
U.S.-North Korean relations since the end of the Cold War have been dominated by the issue of North Korea's nuclear program, specifically by evidence and a U.S. assessment that North Korea has used its nuclear program to attempt to produce nuclear weapons. From the time of a major policy speech in Seoul by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in early 1991 to the present, successive U.S. administrations have had a priority policy objective of eliminating the nuclear program. The objective expanded after 1998 to include North Korean missiles and chemical and biological weapons. The United States has attempted three different diplomatic initiatives with this aim: the negotiations that led to the signing of the U.S.-North Korean Agreed Framework in October 1994; the Perry initiative of 1999-2000; and the six-party talks of 2003-2004. The United States, with South Korea, also initiated four-party talks with North Korea, including China, over a Korean peace treaty in the 1997-1999 period.
Political Geography:
United States, South Korea, North Korea, and Seoul

11210. Dealing with Pyongyang In Search of a More Effective Strategy

Author:
C. Kenneth Quinones
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Double failure does not yield success. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and US President George Bush claim they want a “peaceful diplomatic solution” to the Korean Peninsula's nuclear woes, but their strategies have failed to achieve their avowed goals. More effective strategies are urgently needed. But first we need to figure out what is really impeding progress on both sides.
Political Geography:
United States, North Korea, and Korea