bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Respiratory syncytial virus induces airway insensitivity to β-agonists in BALB/c mice
Authors: Traylor Zachary P. , Yu Erin N. Z. , Davis Ian C.
Published: December 2009

β-Adrenergic agonists (β-agonists) are commonly used to treat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis but are generally ineffective for unknown reasons. We have previously shown that RSV strain A2 inhibits bronchoalveolar epithelial responses to β-agonists in a BALB/c mouse model by inducing heterologous keratinocyte cytokine (KC)/CXCR2-mediated desensitization of epithelial β2-adrenergic receptors. The aim of the current study was to determine whether RSV also induces airway insensitivity to β-agonists. Total lung resistance ( R) was measured in anesthetized female BALB/c mice undergoing mechanical ventilation on a flexiVent computer-controlled piston ventilator. Data were analyzed using the single-compartment model. Infection with RSV A2 did not induce airway hyperresponsiveness to increasing doses of the nebulized cholinergic agonist methacholine (MCh) at any time point after RSV infection. Prenebulization with the β-agonist terbutaline (100 μM) significantly attenuated bronchoconstrictive responses to 20 and 50 mg/ml MCh in uninfected mice and in mice infected with RSV 4–8 days postinfection (d.p.i.). However, in mice infected with replication-competent, but not UV-inactivated, RSV for 2 days, significant terbutaline insensitivity was found. Terbutaline insensitivity at 2 d.p.i. could be reversed by systemic preinfection treatment with neutralizing anti-CXCR2 antibodies, which reduced bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) neutrophil counts but did not alter viral replication, BAL KC levels, or lung edema. Terbutaline insensitivity was also reversed by postinfection nebulization with neutralizing anti-KC or anti-CXCR2 antibodies and could be replicated in normal, uninfected mice by nebulization with recombinant KC. These data suggest that KC/CXCR2-mediated airway insensitivity to β-agonists may underlie the modest utility of these drugs as bronchodilators in therapy for acute RSV bronchiolitis.
Intelectin is required for IL-13-induced monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and -3 expression in lung epithelial cells and promotes allergic airway inflammation
Authors: Gu Naibing , Kang Guannan , Jin Chang'E , Xu Yongjian , Zhang Zhenxiang , Erle David J. , Zhen Guohua
Published: December 2009

Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, mucus overproduction, airway hyperreactivity, and peribronchial fibrosis. Intelectin has been shown to be increased in airway epithelium of asthmatics. However, the role of intelectin in the pathogenesis of asthma is unknown. Airway epithelial cells can secrete chemokines such as monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 and -3 that play crucial roles in asthmatic airway inflammation. We hypothesized that intelectin plays a role in allergic airway inflammation by regulating chemokine expression. In a mouse allergic asthma model, we found that mRNA expression of intelectin-2 as well as MCP-1 and -3 in mouse lung was increased very early (within 2 h) after allergen challenge. Expression of intelectin protein was localized to mucous cells in airway epithelium. Treatment of MLE12 mouse lung epithelial cells with interleukin IL-13, a critical mediator of allergic airway disease, induced expression of intelectin-1 and -2 as well as MCP-1 and -3. When IL-13-induced intelectin-1 and -2 expression was inhibited by RNA interference, IL-13-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation and MCP-1 and -3 production by MLE12 cells was inhibited. Furthermore, inhibition of intelectin expression by airway transfection with shRNA targeting intelectin-1 and -2 attenuated allergen-induced airway inflammation. We conclude that intelectin, a molecule expressed by airway epithelial cells and upregulated in asthma, is required for IL-13-induced MCP-1 and -3 production in mouse lung epithelial cells and contributes to allergic airway inflammation.
Characterization of Cardiac Brain Natriuretic Peptide Release in Patients With Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Left Atrial Ablation
Authors: Gould Paul A. , Gula L.J. , Bhayana V. , Subbiah R.N. , Bentley C. , Yee Raymond , Klein George J. , Krahn Andrew D. , Skanes Allan C.
Published: December 2009

Background—

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) is associated with elevated levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). The exact cardiac source and implications of this are currently unknown, as are the effects of left atrial ablation on cardiac BNP release. We sought to investigate BNP levels at different cardiac sites in PAF patients before and after left atrial ablation and compare these with a non–atrial fibrillation control cohort.

Methods and Results—

Twenty PAF patients (52�10 years, 70% men; left ventricular ejection fraction, 55�3%) undergoing ablation were studied, BNP levels were measured at different cardiac sites before and after ablation and compared with a control cohort undergoing ablation for left lateral accessory pathways (10 patients, 41�11 years; left ventricular ejection fraction, 55�4%). In both cohorts, the coronary sinus BNP levels were the greatest. The PAF cohort had significantly greater BNP levels than the control cohort at all sites before and after ablation. Ablation of the left atrium was associated with a significant decrease in coronary sinus BNP levels (
P
=0.05) and transcardiac BNP gradient (
P
=0.03). This was not observed in the control cohort.

Conclusions—

BNP levels are elevated in PAF, with the highest levels in the coronary sinus. Ablation of the left atrium was associated with an immediate decrease of BNP levels, implicating this as the source.
Analysis of the Anatomical Tachycardia Circuit in Verapamil-Sensitive Atrial Tachycardia Originating From the Vicinity of the Atrioventricular Node
Authors: Yamabe Hiroshige , Tanaka Yasuaki , Morihisa Kenji , Uemura Takashi , Enomoto Koji , Kawano Hiroaki , Ogawa Hisao
Published: December 2009

Background—

Calcium channel–dependent tissue has been suggested to be involved in the circuit of verapamil-sensitive atrial tachycardia originating from the atrioventricular (AV) node vicinity (V-AT), but little information exists.

Methods and Results—

To examine the tachycardia circuit of V-AT, a single extrastimulus was delivered during tachycardia to 10 sites of the intraatrial septum: the earliest atrial activation site; His bundle (HB) site; 3 arbitrarily divided sites on the AV junction extending from the HB site to the coronary sinus ostium (CSOS) (sites S, M, and I); the internal-CSOS, inferior-CSOS, superior-CSOS, posterior-CSOS, and posteroinferior-CSOS in 10 patients with V-AT. The longest coupling interval that reset V-AT and subsequent return cycle were measured. The longest coupling interval at earliest atrial activation site was significantly longer than the longest coupling interval at the HB site, site S, M, and I, internal-CSOS, inferior-CSOS, superior-CSOS, posterior-CSOS, and posteroinferior-CSOS, respectively (
P
<0.001 for HB site and
P
<0.0001 for the remaining 8 sites). The return cycle at earliest atrial activation site did not differ from the tachycardia cycle length, whereas those at the remaining 9 sites were significantly longer than tachycardia cycle length (
P
<0.001). Furthermore, a single extrastimulus delivered from sites inferior to the HB site advanced His potential without resetting V-AT in 7 patients in whom AV block was not observed during tachycardia.

Conclusions—

Atrial tissue within the Koch’s triangle extending from the HB site to posteroinferior-CSOS is not involved in the tachycardia circuit. Verapamil-sensitive atrial tissue close to the AV node but not the AV nodal conducting system forms the tachycardia circuit of V-AT.
The Historiography of Globalization and the Globalization of Regionalism
Authors: Hopkins A. G.
Published: December 2009

This article offers one view of the evolving historiography that shapes, or might shape, specialist research on regions and periods covered by the conference. It argues that recent trends have given fresh impetus to an old subject, empires, and presented possibilities for studying a new one, globalization. It explores the reasons for the “material turn” and the “totalizing return” in historical studies, and illustrates the stages through which these developments have passed by citing examples from the author’s own varied fortunes in exploring both subjects. The article concludes by suggesting how some of the main themes discussed at the conference might be connected to the new historiography.Cette contribution propose une vue d’ensemble sur l’historiographie qui s’est développée ces dernières années. Il se peut qu’elle influence la recherche spécialisée relative aux régions et aux périodes qui ont passées la revue pendant la conférence. L’étude en suggère que des tendances récentes ont données un nouvel élan à un vieux sujet de recherche—celui des empires—en soulevant des interrogations sur un nouveau sujet, la globalisation. Cette contribution explore la ‘tournure matérielle’ et le retour ‘au panorama’ qu’ont pris la recherche historique, fondés sur des exemples tirés des publications de l‘auteur. Ces exemples exemplifient les étapes qu’a subies l’historiographie et en signalent les fortunes variées. Pour conclure l’auteur suggère comment les thèmes proéminents de la conférence peuvent être liés à l’historiographie moderne.
Black Sea Emporia and the Mongol Empire: A Reassessment of the Pax Mongolica
Authors: Di Cosmo Nicola
Published: December 2009

The term Pax Mongolica indicates a period of time (c. 1280-1360) during which Mongol domination seemingly guaranteed security on the Eurasian commercial routes. At this time the Italian maritime powers of Genoa and Venice established their commercial “emporia” on the Black Sea. This essay examines the links between Mongol-controlled continental Asia and Italian-controlled maritime trade by separating the sphere of interests of the Venetian and Genoese governments from the sphere of activities of private merchants, whose presence in China and Central Asia depended heavily upon Mongol support. The end of the Pax Mongolica had a different impact on both of these two spheres.Le terme Pax Mongolica indique une période (environ 1280-1360) pendant laquelle la domination mongole assurait apparemment la sécurité des itinéraires commerciaux eurasiatiques. A cette époque les puissances maritimes de Gênes et de Venise établissaient leurs ‘emporia’ commerciaux sur la Mer Noire. Cette contribution étudie les liens entre l’Asie continentale contrôlée par les Mongols et le commerce maritime, contrôlé par les Italiens en séparant la sphère d’intérêt des gouvernements vénitiens et génois de la sphère d’action des commerçants privés, dont la présence en Chine et Asie centrale dépendait du soutien mongol. La fin de la Pax Mongolica devrait affecter ces deux sphères de façon différente.
Ports-of-Trade, Maritime Diasporas, and Networks of Trade and Cultural Integration in the Bay of Bengal Region of the Indian Ocean: c. 1300-1500
Authors: Hall Kenneth R.
Published: December 2009

This exploratory study addresses the trading networks in the Bay of Bengal region of the Indian Ocean during the 1300-1500 era. In this case it is less about the exchange of products than the membership of trading communities, the relationships among the regionally networked ports-of-trade and their merchant communities, and the regional cultural and economic consequences. The focal issue here is the transitional nature of maritime trade and cultural identities in this sub-region of the international East-West maritime route immediately prior to the Portuguese seizure of Melaka in 1511 (see map 1). This article addresses the alternative understandings of this era’s Bay of Bengal regional trade relative to maritime diasporas and other networked relationships; in doing so it incorporates the latest discussions of early urbanization in this region by focusing on networking between secondary and primary centers.1Cette contribution s’adresse au Golfe de Bengale dans la période 1300-1500, notamment à l’ensemble de ses littoraux, et le considère comme une unité. Pour cette raison elle aborde à peine les ports individuels. Cet espace vit des Chinois, des Perses, et des Yéménites s’associants au visiteurs du Moyen-Orient, et les activités des diasporas issus de l’Inde du Sud et du Sri Lanka. Le maillage de ses réseaux régionaux étant fluides et perméables se modifiaient suivant les événements et s’adaptaient au fluctuations entre les diasporas euxmêmes. Ses communautés actives dans le Golfe de Bengale seront perçues au niveau conceptuels comme des espaces peuplés par des individus, des familles, et la multiplicité des leurs circuits politiques et socio-économiques dérivées, eux, de leurs pays d’origine ainsi que de leurs destinations.
Purchase on Power:Imperial Space and Commercial Space in Song-Dynasty Kaifeng, 960-1127
Authors: de Pee Christian
Published: December 2009

In Song-dynasty Kaifeng, empire and emporia existed in a relationship of mutual dependence and mutual competition. The imperial government depended on merchants for the shipment of grain and goods to supply its massive armies and to pay the salaries of its officials; the merchants derived their income directly or indirectly from these government expenditures. The concentration of wealth and goods in the capital generated in turn a culture of sumptuary competition. The contests over space in the streets of the capital, and the competition for the goods that circulated through them, reveal configurations of power that rarely find direct expression in writing.À Kaifeng, capitale des Song du Nord, l’empire et les emporia se trouvaient dans une relation de dépendance mais aussi de compétition. En effet, le gouvernement impérial dépendait des marchands pour le transport des grains et des marchandises avec lesquels il approvisionnait ses armées et payait les traitements de ses fonctionnaires. Réciproquement les marchands tiraient la plupart de leurs revenus des dépenses gouvernementales. La concentration des richesses et des biens dans la capitale entraîna en retour une compétition somptuaire. La concurrence pour l’espace dans les rues métropolitaines et les rivalités pour l’appropriation des biens qui y circulaient révèlent des configurations de pouvoir rarement exprimées de manière explicite dans les textes.
Between Market and Court: The Careers of two Courtier-Merchants in the Twelfth-Century Deccan
Authors: Ali Daud
Published: December 2009

Relations between royal courts and merchant groups have been a frequently discussed but narrowly circumscribed topic in early Indian history—with analyses confined to mutual gains acquired through interactions. Using the careers of two merchant families active at the Hoysala court in south India at the end of the twelfth century as a starting point, this essay explores the existence of “shared” worlds between court and market, and focuses particularly on the development of distinctively “courtly” codes and sensibilities among merchant groups. It postulates the existence of a commensurable, and to a certain extent, composite culture between the realms of court and market which allowed ambitious men to move between both worlds.Les relations entre les régimes dynastiques et les groupes de marchands a fait l’objet bien défini de discussions nombreuses dans l’historiographie de l’Inde ancienne tandis que les approches se limitaient aux profits réalisés des deux côtés par ces interactions. Fondé sur l’étude des carrières de deux familles de commerçants qui furent actives à la cour des souverains Hoysala dans le Sud de l’Inde à la fin du douzième siècle, cet essai explore l’existence de ces mondes “partagés” entre la cour et le marché, et se focalise en particulier sur le développement de codes spécifiquement “courtois” et les sensibilités entre les groupes de marchands. Cela demande l’existence d’une culture analogue et dans un certain sens composite entre le domaine de la cour et celui du marché qui permettait aux ambitieux de les fréquenter tous les deux.
Empires and Emporia: Palace, Mosque, Market, and Tomb in Istanbul, Isfahan, Agra, and Delhi
Authors: Dale Stephen F.
Published: December 2009

The association between empires and commercial institutions is a well-known feature of pre-industrial Muslim empires, such as the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires. Rulers constructed religious monuments and civic institutions that simultaneously functioned as commercial centers. The key to this symbiotic relationship is the institution of waqf, the so-called “charitable endowments” that supplied funds to support mosques, schools, baths and other religious institutions. The endowments largely drew their funds from shops, bazars or caravanserais usually built nearby. Therefore a great mosque or madrasa often became a commercial center. This situation was the conscious result of imperial commitment to stimulating the commercial exchange, which would supply and enrich these states.Que les empires islamiques de l’ère pré-industrielles se sont associés aux institutions commerçiales est bien connu. Les empires ottoman, safavide et moghol en témoignent amplement. Les monuments religieux et les institutions civiles que leurs princes ont fait construire furet en même temps des centres de commerce. Cette relation symbiotique s’explique par l’institution de waqf, autrement dit ‘un leg pieux’. Les fonds de ces legs servaient à doter les mosques, les écoles, les bains et bien d’autres institutions religieuses. Les donations pieuses, elles, furent en grande partie léguées par des boutiques, des bazars, et des caravansérails aux alentours. Ainsi la grande mosquée, ou la médresse, se trouvait être doublée d’un centre de commerce. Voilà l’effet intentionel de l’engagement impérial qui visait à encourager les échanges commerçiaux. À leur tour ces échanges fournissaient des produits à ces états et les rendaient plus prospères.
Was Safavid Iran an Empire?
Authors: Matthee* Matthee Rudi
Published: December 2009

This paper examines the organizing ideological and infrastructural principles of the Safavid state structure and questions whether the Safavid state had the capacity and universality to qualify as an empire. Until now, the Safavid state has only been given equal status to the Ottoman and Mughal state as a “gunpowder empire”. But with this approach some other aspects tip the balance towards the cohesion and coherence that enabled the Safavid Empire to function as an empire in spite of exiguous economic resources and the limitations of ideological underpinnings. When some of these aspects lost their force, this contributed to the dissolution of the glue that kept Iranian society together and to the demise of the Safavid state in the early eighteenth century.Le cadre de cette contribution est l’État safavide et elle en explore les principes de la structure étatique au niveau de l’organisation, de l’idéologie, et de l’infrastructure pour établir si cet état a été un véritable empire au niveau de ses capacités et de son caractère universel. Jusqu’à maintenant l’État safavide s’est vu attribuer le statut ‘d’empire de poudre à canon’, pareil aux États ottoman et moghul. Mais en abordant ce thème du côté structure on aperçoit quelques aspects qui font pencher la balance vers une cohérence interne. C’est qu’en dépit de ses faibles ressources économiques et tenant compte des limites du support idéologique en général, l’Empire safavide savait remplir son rôle d’empire. À mesure que la force cohésive s’affaiblissait, la société iranienne se dissolvait de façon à sonner le glas de l’État safavide au début du dix -huitième siècle.
Merchants, Markets, and Commerce in Early Modern South India
Authors: Washbrook David
Published: December 2009

Classically, economic theory and anthropology have been concerned with the dichotomy between “non-market” and “market” systems of exchange, and with the transition from the former to the latter. From this perspective, the two are necessarily conceived as juxtapositional and antithetical. However, for long periods of history, non-market and market systems of exchange subsisted side-by-side, creating a “hybrid” institutional environment. In the context of South India between sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, this paper seeks to explore a range of issues arising from such “hybridity” and, especially, how market and non-market factors could work together to sustain particular economic structures and to direct “development” in very particular ways. It especially focuses on the implications of institutional “hybridity” for merchant and banking capital.Depuis pas mal de temps les historiens économiques et les anthropologues sont préoccupés par la dichotomie qui existe entre le système d’échange qui a des formes non marchandes de circulation du produit social et celui ayant des formes marchandes de circulation des biens. Et dans le prolongement de cette division, par le passage du premier système au second. C’est dans cette perspective que ces deux mondes économiques sont perçus comme juxtaposés et antithétiques. Durant de longues périodes historiques les deux systèmes d’échange se sont maintenus cependant côte à côte, et par cela ont créé un cadre institutionnel ‘hybride’. Cette contribution se propose d’examiner l’éventail de sujets soulevé par cette division binaire dans le contexte de l’Inde du Sud aux seizième—dix-huitième siècles. Elle s’intéresse particulièrement à l’association des déterminants des deux catégories qui, eux, ont soutenu des structures économiques spécifiques et qui ont contribué au ‘développement’ de façon tout à fait spéciale. L’article traite en particulier des conséquences de ‘l’hybridité’ institutionnelle dans le domaine des fonds de commerce et des fonds bancaires.
The Political Economy of Aleppo in an Age of Ottoman Reform
Authors: Masters Masters* Bruce
Published: December 2009

The return of Ottoman rule to Aleppo in 1840 corresponded with the inauguration of the reform era (1839-76). Although the central Ottoman state could not have foreseen the outcome, these political reforms undermined its economic sovereignty in two key areas. The Ottoman land reform law of 1858 and schemes to settle the Bedouin in northern Syria enabled Aleppo’s political elite to scramble for the steppe lands of the Euphrates valley and ultimately paved the way for European capitalists to exploit the agricultural resources of the region. Additionally, attempts to control the abuses of the capitulatory system provoked a marked decline in the relative fortunes of the city’s traditional commercial elite, with much of the internal regional trade shifting into the hands of European merchants.Le retour des Ottomans à Alep en 1840 correspond au début de la période de réformes (1839-1876). Bien que l’état central ottoman n’eût pas pu prévoir leurs conséquences, ces réformes politiques ont miné sa souveraineté économique dans deux régions clé. Le code foncier ottomane de 1858 et les projets visant à la sédentarisation des Bédouins dans la Syrie du Nord ont permis à l’élite politique d’Alep une ruée vers les steppes de la vallée de l’Euphrate et ont fini par préparer le chemin aux capitalistes européens qui sont venus exploiter les ressources agricoles de la région. En outre, les tentatives d’obtenir le contrôle des abus du système capitulaire ont provoqué le déclin marqué des fortunes concernées de l’élite commerciale traditionnelle car une grande partie du commerce intérieure régio-nale tombait dans les mains des négociants européens.
Treacherous Translators and Improvident Paupers: Perception and Practice in Dutch Makassar, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Authors: Sutherland Heather
Published: December 2009

Translator/interpreters in (pre)colonial settings were gatekeepers, capable of shaping both perceptions and policy. Their ability to bridge cultural divides was crucial, but consequently their identities could appear ambiguous and their loyalties uncertain. This case-study analyses the changing character of official translators in the East Indonesian port of Makassar in the 18th and 19th centuries. It considers the fluctuating fortunes of the mestizo families who dominated the role under the VOC and until the mid 1800s. Subsequently the Dutch East Indian state was increasingly able to subordinate personal networks to professional administrative criteria, marginalizing the mestizo and consolidating the colonial bureaucracy.Les traducteurs-interprètes qui ont été employés dans un cadre précolonial et colonial peuvent être considérés comme des véritables gardiens à cause de leur habilité à traduire des perceptions et à formuler des stratégies. Leur capacité d’établir un rapprochement entre des mondes culturels divergents était crucial. Cependant, cette même aptitude leur valait des fois une réputation d’identité ambiguë et de loyauté douteuse. Cette contribution traite des traducteurs officiels du port de Makassar (l’Indonésie orientale) aux XVIIIe-XIXe siècles, et en détaille la transformation de leur statut social durant cette époque à travers l’analyse des fortunes instables des familles métisses qui exerçaient un rôle dominant sous la VOC jusqu’à la mi-XVIIIe siècle. Par la suite l’État colonial des Indes néerlandaise s’est montré de plus en plus capable de soumettre les réseaux personnel en les remplaçant par des critères relatifs à une administration professionnelle. Il s’ensuivit que les traducteurs métis furent marginalisés tandisque la bureaucratie coloniale fut renforcée.
Between Empires and Emporia: The Economics of Christianization in Early Modern Southeast Asia
Authors: Andaya Barbara Watson
Published: December 2009

Studies of church connections to commercial interests in pre-nineteenth-century Southeast Asia have focused on the Catholic venture in the Spanish Philippines. This article uses a broader and more ecumenical framework to incorporate eastern Indonesia into this discussion by comparing the economic involvement of Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch missionaries and church personnel. It contextualizes differences in church resources, secular oversight, and motivation, but also argues that clerical involvement with European economic ambitions helped to mark out a path toward the domestication of local Christianity. The perception of foreign priests and ministers as conduits for exploitation encouraged many Southeast Asian Christians to differentiate between the teachings of the religion they had adopted and the ways these teachings had been distorted in support of European control.La recherche de l’Asie du Sud-Est pré-moderne touchant au rapprochement des relations de l’Église d’avec les intérêts commerciaux porte habituellement sur l’entreprise catholiques des Philippines espagnoles. Cette contribution par contre, a un cadre spatial plus vaste et au point de vue religion plus oecuménique. L’étude y inclut l’Indonésie orientale et elle compare la participation économique des missionaires et du clergé, tant espagnols, tant portuguais, tant hollandais. D‘un part les différences des ressources ecclésiales, la supervision des laïques et la motivation cléricale sont étudiées d’après leur contexte, d’autre part la participation du clergé imbu d’ambitions économiques européennes est aussi explorée parce qu‘elle a favorisé les modes locales du christianisme. C’est que l’image des prêtres et des pasteurs rapaces auprès les populations de l’Asie du Sud-Est stimulaient ces peuples à distinguer entre la religion adoptés par eux et la déformation de l’ínstruction religieuse du clergé qui visait à faciliter le contrôle européen.
Witnesses and Agents of Empire:Eighteenth-Century Historiography and the World of the Mughal Munshī
Authors: Alam Muzaffar , Subrahmanyam Sanjay
Published: December 2009

This paper addresses the evolving profile of the class of scribes or munshīs who emerged during the phase of consolidation of Mughal rule in northern India, as Mughal power waned in the course of the eighteenth century. It argues that while the social and political base of this class was expanded by opportunities provided by the empire, these munshīs in turn sought to develop their own understanding of events both past and present. In the late seventeenth century, they began to generate their own templates of history writing together with other forms of belles-lettres. In the first half of the eighteenth century, their power seemed to be on the increase as many made the transition to becoming significant political actors themselves. However, they were unable to consolidate their position in the latter decades of the century, when they emerged instead as critics of the new forms that Mughal power was taking. The essay is based on a reading of texts produced by a number of these authors, largely in Persian.Cet essai s’adresse au problème de l’évolution de la classe des scribes ou des munshīs qui avaient émergé pendant la phase de la consolidation du règne des Moghols en Inde du Nord, avec l’affaiblissement de la puissance de l’empire au cours du dix-huitième siècle. La base sociale et politique de cette classe était augmentée par des occasions fournies par l’empire, et en revanche les munshīs ont cherché à fournir leur propre interprétation des événements du passé et du présent. Vers la fin du dix-septième siècle, ils ont commencé à produire leurs propres cadres pour l’écriture d’histoire ainsi que d’autres formes de belles-lettres. Dans la première moitié du dix-huitième siècle, leur puissance semblait être en augmentation et un certain nombre d’entre eux a fait la transition entre simples témoins et acteurs politiques significatifs. Cependant, c’était une situation qu’ils ne pouvaient pas consolider dans les dernières décennies du siècle, où ils ont émergé comme critiques des nouvelles formes que la puissance des Moghols prenait. L’essai est basé sur une lecture des textes produits par un certain nombre de ces auteurs, en grande partie en persan.
Children's Rights in Bulgaria after the End of Communism
Authors: Todorova Velina
Published: December 2009

Not surprisingly, the end of communism marked a swift collapse of the protection of children's rights in Bulgaria. The paper critically examines the complete lack of humane 'communism exit' strategies in the country. Rather, the state quietly withdrew from guaranteeing the basic rights of the child such as rights to health care, education and day care deserting families to cope with child upbringing in a hostile and deregulated environment. At the end of the 20th century the only remainings of the former communist system appeared to be the residential institutions providing care for 30,000 abandoned or delinquent children. The new system for the protection of children' rights has to be built besides the lack of a clear political will but within the supportive milieu both of the accession to the European Union negotiations and the UN CRC being part of the national legal framework. The essential safeguards of the children's rights are in place in Bulgaria of today. This raises the expectations that the children's rights will receive adequate place in the political agenda and in resource allocation.
The Politics of Child Protection in Romania
Authors: Bainham Andrew
Published: December 2009

This paper challenges criticism of Romania's new child protection and adoption legislation, passed in 2004 and implemented in January 2005. It responds to the argument that Romania's indefinite moratorium on inter-country adoption (except in cases of family adoption) embodied in the new legislation, is a breach of international obligations. It is argued that pressure on Romania to lift the moratorium is based on a misunderstanding of the problems Romania has faced and of the substantive content of the new laws. Institutionalisation of young children is prohibited and, for older children, clear priorities are created for re-integration in the natural family or, failing that, foster care or family-type accommodation before accommodation in an institution can be considered. It is further argued that there has been an unhealthy preoccupation in the West with the single issue of inter-country adoption to the neglect of these other positive reforms to the Romanian child protection system and the programme of de-institutionalisation. The view is taken that criticism of Romanian reforms relies on a distorted notion of what constitutes 'abandonment' and the status of 'orphan'. The author concludes that Romania should robustly resist political pressure to lift the moratorium, largely originating from the pro-adoption lobby in the United States and, most recently, apparently endorsed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Children's Rights in Hungary in the Aftermath of the Revolution of 1989
Authors: Dóczi Martha
Published: December 2009

The Hungarian Family Act was adopted in 1952 (Act No. VI.1952. on Marriage, Family and Guardianship) and amended on several occasions. Part one of the Family Code contains the regulations relating to marriage. The second part of the family Code summarizes the rules relating to the family (family, child, adoption, maintenance, custody etc.). The third part of the Family Act deals with guardianship. The other legislation regarding the children's rights are the Child Protection Act and the Decree on Guardianship. (Act XXXI/1997 on the protection of children and on the administration of guardianship affairs.) In 1991 and 1993, Hungary adopted provisions both from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Act LXIV of 1991) and from the European Convention on Human Rights (Act XXXI of 1993).
Children in Post-Communist Russia: Some Aspects of the Child's Right to Protection
Authors: Kravchuk Natasha
Published: December 2009

The main focus of this paper is the rights of children in post-communist Russia. With this in view I give a brief overview of child's rights under the communist regime and after the Soviet Union breakdown. Further, I will examine in more detail the current situation with children's rights and, particularly, the child's right to protection. To make it more illustrative, after giving a legal framework, I will address the most acute and pressing problems in the field.
Serbian Family Law: Rights of the Child
Authors: Stanić Gordana Kovaček
Published: December 2009

This paper deals with the rights of the child primarily in Serbian family law. According to Serbian Family Act 2005 the child at a certain age acquires some specific rights. For instance, at the age of fifteen if the child is able to reason he has these rights: to change a personal name, to get the information on his/her origins, to decide with which parent he/she will live, on maintaining personal contact with the parent he/she does not live with, the right to give consent to medical procedures, to decide which secondary school he/she will attend. The child has the right to freely express his or her opinion if the child is capable of forming an opinion. When reaches ten years of age the child has the right to freely and directly express his/her opinion. The Family Act of Serbia 2005 has introduced a special court proceeding in disputes for the protection of the child's rights.
Children's Rights in Post-Soviet Ukraine
Authors: Zhylinkova Irina
Published: December 2009

Since 1991 Ukraine has accepted the contemporary democratic principles in the sphere of Family Law. These major changes have become the foundation for the start up process of establishment of the new role of a child. At this point the issue of children's rights protection has become the object of scientific discussions and is now stipulated on all legislative levels.
Children's Rights within the Family – a Croatian View
Authors: Hrabar Dubravka
Published: December 2009

Since 1998 children's rights are part of the Croatian legal system, due to the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and their incorporation into family law. Changes to family law that have been made since then deal with the modernization of the legal parent-child relation that aims at mutual parental responsibility and separate children's rights. The crucial point in considering the child's legal and social position is his/her welfare as mentioned clearly in the Family Act. Considering the fact that the family is the natural and most desirable environment for a child, it may be stated that family law is the most important field that embraces the many different needs and rights of all children.
US-Philippines Military Relations After the Mt Pinatubo Eruption in 1991: A Disaster Diplomacy Perspective
Authors: Kelman Ilan , Gaillard Jean-Christophe , Orillos Ma. Florina
Published: December 2009

This paper explores the impact of the 1991 Mt Pinatubo eruption on the US-Republic of the Philippines military relations through the lens of disaster diplomacy. Disaster diplomacy focuses on how and why disaster-related activities (e.g. mitigation, prevention and response) do and do not yield diplomatic gains, looking mainly at disaster-related activities affecting diplomacy rather than the reverse. Disaster diplomacy 'pathways', identified in previous studies, help to explain how the Filipino and US governments approached the negotiations for renewing the lease of the US military facilities in the Philippines in the context of two bases being damaged by a volcanic eruption. The paper further addresses six underpinning questions of disaster diplomacy for this case study. These questions assist in answering this paper's central research question: how much did the 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo influence US-Philippines military cooperation due to the concurrent diplomatic talks between the two governments regarding the lease renewal for the US bases in the Philippines? The answer is that disaster-related activities due to the Mt Pinatubo eruption had a short-term impact on US-Philippines diplomacy. This impact was seen in the context of significant connections already existing, through the long-standing US-Philippines military links. Over the long-term, non-disaster factors had a more significant impact on US-Philippines military diplomacy than Mt Pinatubo, adding to the list of case studies for which disaster diplomacy's impact was limited.
Democratisation Through International Migration? Explorative Thoughts on a Novel Research Agenda
Authors: Kessler Christl , Rüland Jürgen , Rother Stefan
Published: December 2009

The article provides an introduction into this EJEAS issue on democratisation and international migration. Third Wave democratisation and the recent unprecedented increase in international labour migration may have the same structural origins, but so far few attempts have been made to link the two research agendas. One explanation might be that existing research on democratisation has neglected the exogenous dimension, and that migration research was preoccupied with destination countries. By drawing from the contributions to this Issue and the literature on norm diffusion, we argue that migrants have the potential to act as norm entrepreneurs and as agents of democratisation. The article maps out three avenues of norm diffusion: Migration can be the cause for changes of political attitudes at the individual level, it can be an enabling factor for collective action and it may lead to institutional change at the national and global level. To further assess how precisely these pathways might support or impede democratisation, more theory-guided empirical studies on the subject are urgently needed.
Democratic Citizenship and Labour Migration in East Asia Mapping Fields of Enquiry
Authors: Kessler Christl
Published: December 2009

The contribution explores the implications of international migration on the research of democratisation processes. It focuses on the notion of democratic citizenship as a set of rights. Democratisation processes are thus conceptualised as processes in which rights are acquired, institutionalised and expanded. Expansion has two aspects: one is the inclusion of new groups of persons into the community of those entitled to rights, the other is the inclusion of new types of rights such as liberal, political, social, economic or cultural rights. Citizenship, which links the entitlement of rights to national belonging, must be rethought in the light of international migration.The repercussions of migration on citizenship rights and citizenship concepts have been explored in the context of labour immigrant incorporation within Western liberal democracies. For East Asia, however, these issues are largely unexplored. Labour migration in East Asia differs in several aspects from the Western template: labour-receiving countries in East Asia include authoritarian regimes as well as democracies in different states of consolidation. Furthermore, labour migration is predominantly temporary. Drawing on the theoretical insights of 'Western' debates, the article identifies the legitimate democratic representation as well as the conditions, the characteristics and the effects of struggles for migrants' rights as important fields of research on the nexus between labour migration and democratisation in East Asia.
Harmony, Olympic Manners and Morals—Chinese Television and the 'New Propaganda' of Public Service Advertising
Authors: Landsberger Stefan
Published: December 2009

Over the past three decades, Chinese media have moved away from the tight controls under which they were kept since 1949. This forced those responsible for popular education to reconsider how their messages can be presented best to the public. Written propaganda, as published in newspapers, reached less and less people and was seen as boring and ineffective; the propaganda posters of the past could not compete with the many moving images and the glossy commercial messages that entered China. Television was seen as the most effective medium to present a modernized type of propaganda. As a result, the Party became a producer of 'public service advertising' (PSA, gongyi guanggao). Commercial advertising has inspired contents and forms of these PSA in major ways. Despite their important function in the wider framework of thought work, the production of PSA is hampered by three partially interrelated problems: financing, production and broadcasting. In the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the number and intensity of PSA increased.
Temporary Migration and Political Remittances: the role of organisational networks in the transnationalisation of human rights
Authors: Piper Nicola
Published: December 2009

The starting point in exploring possible linkages between migration and democratisation in this paper is the role of collective organisations in influencing and changing the direction and practice of political activism aimed at advancing the rights of migrants as foreign workers. Given the specific context of my discussion being temporary contract migration—the predominant form of (legal) economic migration in Asia today—taking a transnational perspective that links origin and destination countries is paramount, as the problem issues these contract migrants face occur at both 'ends' of the migration journey, often simultaneously. I develop a reconputalisation of the notion of 'political remittances' to analyse political activism via collective organisations that operate across borders. In doing so, I raise the question whether this activism contributes to the transnationalisation of migrant rights—a specific form of political remittances. In conclusion, I argue that the analysis and theorisation of political remittances aimed at furthering solidarity among workers and democratising of labour and human relations needs to be situated within a multi-sited landscape of collective organisations and the networks between them.
Changed in Migration? Philippine Return Migrants and (Un)Democratic Remittances
Authors: Rother Stefan
Published: December 2009

The link between development and migration has been termed the 'new development mantra'. Studies on the subject have so far mostly focused on economic remittances, and the potential consequences of return migration on democratisation have been rarely touched upon. This article attests the potential of the migration experience to affect migrants' attitudes towards democracy, thus playing an important role in the diffuse support needed for democracies in the stage of consolidation. Based on a survey among 1,000 Philippine return migrants from six destinations, the paper suggests that the migration experience may not only lead to a more critical stance towards the political system of the home country; there are also indicators of lesser support for the principles of democracy when compared to migrants about to leave the country for the first time. The political system of the destination as such seems to be a less decisive factor than the specific freedoms and restrictions experienced by migrants and a potential bias when selecting the destination. The article focuses on return migrants from Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan, which showed the most distinctive numbers in support of democracy or changes therein when compared to first-time migrants heading for that destination.
State-led Migration, Democratic Legitimacy, and Deterritorialization: The Philippines' labour export model
Authors: Solomon M. Scott
Published: December 2009

Developing countries are increasingly facilitating migration as a way of generating remittances for the home economy. The Philippines serves as a paradigmatic example, inaugurating a labour export scheme in 1973 that has grown each year and resulted in nearly 25 per cent of the labour force working abroad. The institutionalization of this labour export policy, along with changes in citizenship and voting laws, has led to the increasing deterritorialization of the Philippines state, with concomitant implications for democracy and democratization. This deterritorialization presents both opportunities and challenges for the state. Among them are the possibility of securing sustained remittances and the necessity of securing democratic legitimacy from a globalized polity. This paper traces the evolution of this labour export policy and analyzes the effects of state discursive strategies designed to secure democratic legitimacy. To further this analysis I present the results of a survey conducted among Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong (n=691). The responses indicate the discursive strategy of 'national heroes' has been effective in that majorities of OFWs view themselves as 'heroes of the nation.' However, OFWs also view themselves as making sacrifices for the nation and have concerns about government commitments to protect the rights and interests of OFWs.
Constructing Children's Views in the Enforcement of Contact Orders
Authors: Höjer Ingrid , Röbäck Karin
Published: December 2009

Using findings from a qualitative Swedish study on children in family law, in particular the enforcement of contact orders, the article focuses on how professionals recognise and account for children's views in such proceedings. Data include 46 court verdicts, whereof 18 files were selected for special study, and 12 interviews with professionals. Results indicate that constructions of what are the children's 'real' views; a discussion of protecting children from negative responsibility; and chronological age, can be used to subordinate children's participation in court. In cases where children's 'conditions' for contact are disregarded by the court, we argue that the children's views are invalidated, as are the possible risk for children's exposure to violence and/or abuse. The reason for involving children in decision-making in family law is consequently not only to uphold children's rights, but to promote children's protection as well.