This study analyzes patterns of cross-cultural variability and convergence in two categories of human rights: bodily integrity (protection from torture, extrajudicial killing, and other forms of ...physical repression) and civil liberties (the freedoms of expression, assembly, movement, and religion). Countries are delineated into twelve cultural zones based primarily on predominant religious tradition and secondarily on geographical region. The core hypothesis predicts that respect for bodily integrity rights, which seeks to protect biological beings from physical harm, will vary less across cultures than respect for civil liberties, which empowers social and cultural entities to be self-determining agents. Individuals' capacity for pain and suffering is thought to be universal, but conceptions of the bounded and autonomous actor are culturally constructed and hence variable across cultures. Statistical analyses support this hypothesis: compared with civil liberties scores, cross-cultural variation in bodily integrity scores is much lower and also less durable in the presence of control variables. Moreover, whereas civil liberties scores are substantially higher in Western countries than in the rest of the world, cross-cultural variability in bodily integrity scores is gradational rather than polarized.
Historical studies on the relationship between science and diplomacy tend to focus on events since World War II and on initiatives for the maintenance of peace or to achieve cooperation over ...contentious matters. This article presents the case of José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (1823–1907), a Portuguese zoologist who had formal diplomatic responsibilities in a context of competition for the colonization of Africa in the nineteenth century. He used his knowledge in African geography to implement colonial and diplomatic strategies that aimed at outcompeting rival powers. The development of a network of actors with scientific, colonial, and diplomatic expertise was crucial for the negotiations that involved the partition of the Congo basin, which resulted in victories for Portugal that surpassed the country's marginal political relevance at the international level and had long‐lasting consequences.
Reclaiming Society Publishing Steinberg, Philip
Publications (Basel),
09/2015, Letnik:
3, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Learned societies have become aligned with commercial publishers, who have increasingly taken over the latter’s function as independent providers of scholarly information. Using the example of ...geographical societies, the advantages and disadvantages of this trend are examined. It is argued that in an era of digital publication, learned societies can offer leadership with a new model of open access that can guarantee high quality scholarly material whose publication costs are supported by society membership dues.
How to Travel and Observe: Manuals for Scientific Travelers beyond in the 19th Century. The article deals with manuals for travelers who went to Africa and Asia for the sake of geographic ...exploration. These are widely neglected sources for the history of European exploration and the emergence of geography as an academic discipline. The article argues that these manuals are essential for an understanding of the travelers’ socialization as members of the scientific project of geography and their contributions to geographical knowledge production.
Ice Follies Nelson, Frederick E.
Geographical review,
10/1/2012, 2012-10, 20121001, October 2012, 2012-10-01, Letnik:
102, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Because the ags devoted much of its early efforts to exploration of the Arctic, it's appropriate to focus a review entirely on that region. ...it's appropriate to say a few words about chapter 7, ..."Postscript: Reclaiming Charles P. Daly, Prospects and Problems," part of which appeared recently in the Professional Geographer under the title "Unpopular Archives" (Morin 2008b).
Linking American Empire With the Ags Domosh, Mona
Geographical review,
10/1/2012, 2012-10, 20121001, October 2012, 2012-10-01, Letnik:
102, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
...linking Daly's interests in constructing railroads in the west with canal building in Nicaragua and drawing out the connections between his reform efforts in New York City and his commercial ..."mission" in the Congo make explicit what was leftimplicit in Civic Discipline: an understanding of the co-constitutive nature of America's imperial projects-the nineteenth-century extension of space to the Pacific and its twentieth- century project of global dominance.
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