bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Species differences in the localization of cGMP‐producing and NO‐responsive elements in the mouse and rat hippocampus using cGMP immunocytochemistry
Authors: Van Staveren Wilma C. G. , Steinbusch Harry W. M. , Markerink‐van Ittersum Marjanne , Behrends Sönke , De Vente Jan
Published: April 2004

The aim of the study was to compare the localization of the nitric oxide (NO)–cGMP pathway in hippocampus of mice and rats using cGMP‐ and soluble guanylyl cyclase (GC) immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization of the cGMP‐hydrolysing phosphodiesterase types 2, 5 and 9. In vitro incubation of hippocampus slices in the absence of a guanylyl cyclase stimulator or a phosphodiesterase inhibitor resulted in cGMP‐positive astrocytes mainly in the CA1 area in mouse slices. In contrast, no cGMP immunoreactivity was observed under these conditions in the rat hippocampus. Treatment with an NO synthase inhibitor or inhibitors of soluble or particulate GC did not abolish cGMP immunoreactivity in astrocytes. Incubation with the NO donors sodium nitroprusside or diethylamino NONOate, or with the NO‐independent activators of soluble GC, YC‐1 and BAY 41‐2272, in combination with phosphodiesterase inhibitors, resulted in an increase in cGMP immunoreactivity in numerous astrocytes throughout the mouse hippocampus. In contrast, under these conditions cGMP immunoreactivity was primarily observed in varicose fibers in rat hippocampus. Comparison of the cellular localization of the β1 subunit of soluble GC and the mRNAs of PDE2, PDE5 and PDE9 revealed that in both species the β1 subunit was observed in pyramidal and granule cells, which also expressed the mRNAs of the three phosphodiesterase families. Although the β1 subunit was observed in astrocytes, none of the phosphodiesterases were detected in these cells. We conclude that, although the expression profiles of the soluble GC β1 subunit and cGMP‐hydrolysing phosphodiesterase mRNAs were identical, the cellular patterns of cGMP immunoreactivity differ between rat and mouse hippocampus.
Transgenic approach reveals expression of the VPAC2 receptor in phenotypically defined neurons in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus and in its efferent target sites
Authors: Kalló Imre , Kalamatianos Theodosis , Wiltshire Nzinga , Shen Sanbing , Sheward W. John , Harmar Anthony J. , Coen Clive W.
Published: April 2004

Circadian rhythms in mammals depend on the properties of cells in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The retino‐recipient core of the mouse SCN is characterized by vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) neurons. Expression within the SCN of VPAC2, a VIP receptor, is required for circadian rhythmicity. Using transgenic mice with β‐galactosidase as a marker for VPAC2, we have phenotyped VPAC2‐expressing cells within the SCN and investigated expression of the VPAC2 marker at sites previously shown to receive VIP‐containing SCN efferents. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry demonstrated identical distributions for VPAC2 mRNA and β‐galactosidase and coexpression of the two signals in the SCN. Double‐label confocal immunofluorescence identified β‐galactosidase in 32% of the VIP and 31% of the calretinin neurons in the SCN core. Of the arginine‐vasopressin neurons that characterize the SCN shell, 45% expressed β‐galactosidase. In contrast, this marker was not apparent in astrocytes within the SCN core or shell. Cell bodies containing β‐galactosidase were detected at sites reportedly receiving VIP‐containing SCN efferents, including the subparaventricular zone and lateral septum and the anteroventral periventricular, preoptic suprachiasmatic, medial preoptic and paraventricular hypothalamic nuclei. The detection of a marker for VPAC2 expression in the SCN in almost one‐third of the VIP and calretinin core neurons and nearly half of the arginine‐vasopressin shell neurons and also in cell bodies at sites receiving VIP‐immunoreactive projections from the SCN indicates that VPAC2 may contribute to autoregulation and/or coupling within the SCN core and to the control of the SCN shell and sites distal to this nucleus.
Anatomical Remodelling of the Supraoptic Nucleus: Changes in Synaptic and Extrasynaptic Transmission
Authors: Oliet S. H. R. , Piet R.
Published: April 2004

The adult hypothalamic‐neurohypophysial system undergoes activity‐dependent morphological plasticity that modifies the astrocytic enwrapping of its magnocellular neurones. For a long time, the functional consequences of such changes have remained hypothetical. Modifications in the glial environment of neurones are expected to have important physiological repercussions in view of the various functions played by astrocytes in the central nervous system. In particular, glial cells are essential for uptake of neurotransmitters, including glutamate, and for physically and functionally restricting diffusion of neuroactive substances within the extracellular space. Recent studies performed in the supraoptic nucleus of lactating and chronically dehydrated animals, in conditions where astrocytic coverage of neurones is reduced, have revealed a significant impairment of glutamate clearance. The resulting accumulation of the excitatory amino acid in the extracellular space around glutamatergic inputs causes an enhanced activation of presynaptic metabotropic glutamate receptors that inhibit transmitter release. In the supraoptic nucleus of lactating rats, neuroglial remodelling is accompanied by modification of the geometry, size and diffusion properties of the extracellular space. The latter observations suggest that, in the activated supraoptic nucleus, the range of action and the concentration of released neuroactive substances may be significantly enhanced. Overall, our observations indicate that the glial environment of supraoptic neurones influences synaptic glutamatergic transmission, as well as extrasynaptic forms of communication.
The Discovery of Novel Vasopressin V1b Receptor Ligands for Pharmacological, Functional and Structural Investigations
Authors: Guillon G. , Derick S. , Pena A. , Cheng L. L. , Stoev S. , Seyer R. , Morgat J. L. , Barberis C. , Gal C. Serradeil‐Le , Wagnon J. , Manning M.
Published: April 2004

Until recently, pharmacological studies dealing with vasopressin receptor isoforms were severely hampered by the lack of selective agonists or antagonists that recognize the pituitary V1b vasopressin receptor. By contrast, many selective vasopressin‐related compounds are available for characterization of the vasopressor (V1a) or antidiuretic (V2) vasopressin receptor subtypes. Recently, SSR149415, a selective nonpeptide molecule, was discovered with nanomolar affinity for mammalian V1b receptors and good selectivity for the other vasopressin and oxytocin receptor isoforms. This molecule exhibits potent antagonist properties both in vitro and in vivo. We also designed synthetic peptides derived from [deaminocysteine1,arginine8]vasopressin (dAVP), modified in position 4 by various amino acid residues. Some of these, d[cyclohexylalanine4]AVP or d[lysine4]AVP, have a high affinity and an excellent selectivity for the human V1b receptor subtype. However, they exhibit a mixed V1b/V2 pharmacological profile for the rat vasopressin receptor isoforms. Whatever the species considered, these peptides behave as agonists both in bioassays performed in vitro and in vivo. The d[cyclohexylalanine4]AVP was tritiated and represents the first selective radiolabelled ligand available for studying the human V1b receptors. The discovery of these new selective V1b agonists and V1b antagonist allows an accurate pharmacological characterization of all the vasopressin receptor isoforms. As emphasized in this review, attention to the vasopressin and oxytocin receptor species differences is of critical importance in studies with all vasopressin and oxytocin ligands.
Assessment of Spike Activity in the Supraoptic Nucleus
Authors: Bhumbra G. S. , Inyushkin A. N. , Dyball R. E. J.
Published: April 2004

Novel approaches to the characterization of coding carried by spike trains are discussed. Measuring firing frequency alone may only partially reflect spike patterning, and can only quantify changes of the most obvious kind. We have devised a method that combines probabilistic and information approaches to quantify the variability of the interspike intervals in a way that is independent of spike frequency. To illustrate the technique, the firing of an oxytocin cell and a vasopressin cell were compared before and after osmotic stimulation. A bimodal lognormal function was fitted to the interspike interval histograms. The entropy of the log interval histogram was used to measure the variability of intervals and to reflect the coding capacity of the cell per spike. A perfect metronome shows no variability in interval and thus has no greater coding capacity than is conveyed by its frequency, whereas the variability of intervals of magnocellular neurones means that their irregular activity has greater potential for coding. While the mean spike frequency increased in both the oxytocin and vasopressin cells in response to osmotic stimulation, the changes in their irregularity showed differences. Osmotic stimulation reduced the entropy of the oxytocin cell, reflecting an increase in the regularity of its spike activity. Conversely, osmotic stimulation had little effect on the entropy of the vasopressin cell. Such differences are not evident from a simple inspection of ratemeter activity. The comparison highlights the limitations of mean spike frequency as a measure of spike coding. Parameters based on the interspike intervals constitute informative measures of spike activity that allow objective comparisons to be made between the activity under different physiological conditions.
Subcellular Vasopressin mRNA Trafficking and Local Translation in Dendrites
Authors: Mohr E. , Richter D.
Published: April 2004

Vasopressin mRNA is delivered to axons and dendrites of rat hypothalamic magnocellular neurones. Subcellular localization of mRNAs requires sequences (cis‐acting elements) within the RNA and proteins (trans‐acting factors), which together mediate nucleic acid transport along the cytoskeleton to specific cytoplasmic destinations. In cultured neurones, vasopressin mRNA transcribed from a microinjected eukaryotic expression vector is sorted to dendrites. Detailed analyses revealed the presence of a complex cis‐acting element, called dendritic localizer sequence (DLS), within part of the coding‐ and the 3′‐untranslated region of vasopressin mRNA. Biochemical investigations have shown a specific interaction of poly(A)‐binding protein (PABP) with the DLS. PABP is implicated in translation, translational control, RNA stability and RNA transport. Hence, PABP could be a component of a probably multifactor complex regulating transport and local translation of vasopressin mRNA. Dendrites are capable of translation. Local synthesis of the vasopressin precursor in dendrites of in vitro cultured neurones was demonstrated by microinjecting a vector encoding a mutant vasopressin polyprotein that is unable to leave the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Expression of this construct revealed that the nondiffusable protein is only detectable in dendrites harbouring vasopressin mRNA whereas dendrites devoid of this transcript lack the mutant vasopressin precursor.
Pathological Role of Aquaporin‐2 in Impaired Water Excretion and Hyponatremia
Authors: Ishikawa S. , Saito T. , Kasono K.
Published: April 2004

In the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (SIADH), inappropriately elevated secretion of vasopressin can result in a reduction of antidiuretic efficacy: a phenomenon known as ‘vasopressin escape’. We compared experimental SIADH with 1‐deamino‐8‐d‐arginine vasopressin (dDAVP)‐excess rats, where both groups received continuous subcutaneous administration of dDAVP by osmotic minipump but the SIADH rats also received a liquid diet that induced hyponatraemia. The SIADH rats, but not the dDAVP excess rats, showed a marked attenuation of urinary concentrating ability. Vasopressin V2 receptor binding capacity and mRNA expression were similar between the two groups, but the SIADH rats showed a diminished up‐regulation of aquaporin‐2 (AQP‐2) mRNA and protein expression. These findings indicate the presence of tonicity‐response regions in the AQP‐2 promoter gene, and that either hypervolemia or hypotonicity may attenuate the postreceptor signalling of vasopressin in renal collecting duct cells in SIADH rats.
Novel G‐Protein Coupled Receptor Ligands and Neurohypophysial Hormones
Authors: Ueta Y. , Ozaki Y. , Saito J.
Published: April 2004

Recently, novel peptides have been identified as unknown ligands of orphan G‐protein coupled receptors. In the paraventicular (PVN) and supraoptic nuclei (SON), the expression of the G‐protein genes are abundant. In this review, we focus on the physiological role of neuromedin U and galanin‐like peptide, which were recently identified as ligands of G‐protein coupled receptors, in the regulation of neurohypophysial hormones. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v) administration of neuromedin U induced the expression of c‐fos mRNA in both the magnocellular and parvocellular division of the PVN and throughout the SON. Administration of i.c.v. neuromedin U caused a significant increase in plasma concentrations of vasopressin and oxytocin as well as adrenocorticotropic hormone. The expression of galanin‐like peptide mRNA was observed in the pituicytes of rat posterior pituitary gland. The expression of galanin‐like peptide mRNA in the posterior pituitary gland was markedly increased after dehydration, salt loading and intraperitoneal administration of lipopolysaccaride, challenges that stimulate the secretion of vasopressin and oxytocin, and which activate the hypothalamic‐pituitary adrenal axis. These results suggest that neuromedin U and galanin‐like peptide may have an important role in the regulation of both the hypothalamic‐neurohypophysial system and the hypothalamic‐adrenohypophysial system.
Homo‐ and Hetero‐Dimeric Complex Formations of the Human Oxytocin Receptor
Authors: Devost D. , Zingg H. H.
Published: April 2004

Using two different coimmunoprecipitation strategies as well as bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) techniques, we determined that the human oxytocin receptor forms dimeric and oligomeric complexes in vivo in intact living cells, and that these complexes exist at the cell surface level. Using a BRET‐based assay, we found that oligomers can form between oxytocin receptors themselves (homo‐oligomers) as well as, with a reduced affinity, between the oxytocin receptor and related members of the vasopressin receptor family (V1a and V2 receptors), but not with the more remotely related bradykinin receptor. The existence of oxytocin receptor oligomers at the level of the cell surface was demonstrated by a coimmunoprecipitation approach involving direct antibody exposure of intact living cells. Furthermore, this approach demonstrated that cell surface oxytocin receptor oligomerization is ligand independent. However, agonist addition led to an apparent rapid decrease in receptor oligomerization, as assessed by the coimmunoprecipitation approach, indicating that agonist exposure may modulate the oligomerization status. It remains to be determined to what extent oxytocin receptor oligomerization impacts on signal transduction.
Ethnocentricity of the Nationalist Discourse
Authors: Parekh Bhikhu
Published: April 2004

Abstract.Nationalism is a theory about the nature, purposes, boundaries and the basis of the legitimacy and the unity of the state. It maintains that the state should ideally be constituted as a nation. This means that a nation has a right to form a state of its own, as also that every state should endeavour to become a nation. The nationalist discourse rests on several assumptions, such as that nationalism is a universal phenomenon, that nationalist movements have identical structures, that all nations aim to become independent states, that non‐Western nationalism is derivative in nature and that nationalism is an unmitigated evil. The author elucidates the distinctive nature of nationalism and criticises these and related assumptions.
The Making of '89: Nationalism and the Dissolution of Communist Eastern Europe
Authors: Pearson Raymond
Published: April 2004

Abstract. Designed and delivered as a ‘think‐paper’ at the first conference of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism in 1991, this contribution has been revised in the light of subsequent developments but retains the essential flavour and format of the original. The primary objective of the article is to identify the most typical and authoritative stimuli promoting and sustaining the rising tide of nationalism over the five years preceding the collapse of communist Eastern Europe in 1989/91, concentrating on environmental threat, demographic flux, the media revolution and the bankruptcy of supra‐national authority. The secondary objective is to reflect on how differing evaluations of these stimuli have influenced rival interpretations of the phenomenon of modern nationalism. Experiencing both a ‘resurgence’ and a ‘regeneration’ (but not a ‘revolution') over the last ten years, nationalism is expected to remain a dominant force across greater Eastern Europe for the foreseeable future.
Nation, Nationality, Nationalism and Civil Society
Authors: Shils Edward
Published: April 2004

Abstract. This article vindicates the phenomenon of the nation and argues that civil society could not exist without it. The nation, although related to nationalism, is by no means identical with it. Extreme forms of nationalism are generally speaking iniquitous and in many cases severely damaging to the societies in which they occur. The same stricture does not apply to the nation.
Managing National Diversity through Political Structures and Ideologies: The Soviet Experience in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Singh Anita Inder
Published: April 2004

Abstract. The nationalisms faced by Gorbachev after 1985 were an outcome of Soviet policies, and most of them were not secessionist. Why, then, couldn't the Soviet state accommodate them? This article puts Soviet attempts to manage ethnic diversity into a comparative perspective, and looks at some of the ways in which the ideology and political structures of the USSR contributed to its failure to overcome its ethnic problems. Like other authoritarian states, the Soviet state was not based on consensus, and some of its policies exacerbated rather than diminished differences between ethnic groups. Moreover, the absence of intellectual and political pluralism, and the inflexibility of Soviet political structures made it difficult for the Soviet leadership to reconcile differences between the centre and the union republics and between ethnic groups, and this rigidity contributed to the disintegration of the USSR.
Holy Nigerian Nationalisms and Apocalyptic Visions of the Nation
Authors: Igwara Obi
Published: April 2004

Abstract. This article examines the rise of religious political radicalism and its critique and appropriation of secular Nigerian nationalism. It argues that the revitalisation and radicalisation of religion in Nigeria is both an expression of the deep legitimacy crisis confronting secular nationalism and a means of resolving such a crisis. Religion is seen as fundamental to nationalism because it provides the sacred normative essence that ultimately enables individuals and communities to accept as permanent and meaningful the suffering which is integral to a national identity. In ‘holy nationalism’, the collective emotional force of nationalism merges with religion so that the two are one and the same. God chose a particular people and promised them a particular land.
Islam and the Politics of Virtue
Authors: Ruthven Malise
Published: April 2004

Olivier Roy, The Failure of Political Islam.

Sami Zubaida, Islam, The People and The State: Essays on Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East.

Akbar S. Ahmed and Hastings (eds.), Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity.
When is a Nation not a Nation? The Crisis of American Nationality in the Mid‐Nineteenth Century
Authors: Grant Susan‐Mary
Published: April 2004

Abstract.The United States of America is conspicuous by its absence from most studies of nations and nationalism. The reasons for this omission are essentially twofold: America is a ‘nation of immigrants’, and therefore clearly lacks the ethnic homogeneity that sustains many modern European nations; more importantly, the focus, the core of the American nation has, since the late‐nineteenth century, become obscured as American society has continued to diversify and expand. In those studies which do examine the American case, an over‐concentration on the colonial and revolutionary periods has led both scholars of nationalism and historians of the United States to miss the most crucial period in the development of the American nation, the early to mid‐nineteenth century. Evidence is offered here that this period witnessed an identifiable process of ‘nation building’. In order to demonstrate this, the period 1854 through 1856 has been isolated for particular attention, since those years witnessed the emergence of a new political party, the Republicans, whose ideology and rhetoric were aggressively national, yet whose appeal was essentially sectional.
Hebrew Literature and Jewish Nationalism in the Tsarist Empire 1881–1917
Authors: Aberbach David
Published: April 2004

Abstract. After 1881, Hebrew literature in the tsarist empire became an integral part of the rise of Jewish nationalism, and it created literary norms which were transplanted to mandatory Palestine. This literature, in contrast to most pre‐1881 Hebrew literature, is aesthetically on a very high level. Led by Mendele Mocher Sefarim in prose fiction and by Chaim Nachman Bialik in poetry, it asserted Jewish national feeling even when not overtly nationalistic. In doing so, it subverted tsarist authority and indirectly declared the Jews to be independent of the empire. Yet, in many of its main concerns this literature shows the influence of Russian literature, especially of the Reform Era, but also afterwards (Chekhov, in particular), and itmight even be regarded as an ethnic branch of Russian literature. Both literatures depicted the failings of their society with the aim of achieving social change. However, while Russian literature pointed to revolution, Hebrew literature after 1881 pointed to Palestine where most of the Hebrew writers of that period eventually emigrated.
Sport, National Identity and Public Policy
Authors: Houlihan Barrie
Published: April 2004

Abstract. The paper examines the use made of sport by governments to help manage identity. It begins with an exploration of the relationship between sport and ethnic culture and continues with an analysis of the ways in which sports can be used to aid the state and achieve its objectives of legitimacy, territorial integrity, and citizen commitment. This introduction is followed by an examination of the particular problems of identity faced by Canada, Ireland and Britain and the sports policies adopted by the governments of the countries is evaluated. It is concluded that while sport possesses a powerful symbolism that can be exploited on occasion to great effect, the malleability of sports symbolism often undermines its capacity to exert a lasting effect on national identity.
Language Policy and Nationalism in Wales: A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Thomas Alys
Published: April 2004

Abstract. This article is based on research conducted between 1987 and 1994. It argues that the Conservative government has increasingly used the Welsh language as an instrument of political accommodation within Wales which has served to highlight the complexity of the relationship between the aims of the language movement and the aspirations of nationalists. The comparative perspective explores the situation in Canada and the Republic of Ireland and considers the proposition that the ‘depoliticisation’ of language in the context of the politics of nationalism is beneficial to a minority language.
Negotiating the Nation: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Nation‐Building in Independent Namibia
Authors: Fosse Leif John
Published: April 2004

Abstract. Employing recent anthropological perspectives on ethnicity and nationalism which have not yet been applied to any extent in research on cultural differentiation in Namibia, the article investigates problems and challenges in the process of nation‐building in the recently independent state. Ethnicity and nationalism are here seen as socially constructed and ideologically practised phenomena, and the relationship between these ideologies is studied as one of ideological conflict. More particularly, the article investigates the formation, relevance and uses of ethnic identities; the relationship between ethnicity, class and the politics of ethnic nationalism; as well as some techniques, rhetorics and symbols employed in the social construction of nationalism in Namibia. In conclusion, the article argues the importance of making the nation‐building project relevant to people not only through the creation of ever more effective and inclusive national symbols, but also through real economic and political reforms.
Cantonisation: Historical Paths to Territorial Autonomy for Regional Cultural Communities
Authors: Henders Susan J.
Published: April 2004

Abstract. Since the First World War, grants of territorial autonomy have been a widespread means by which regimes of diverse ideologies and political cultures have attempted to address the demands of regional cultural communities within their borders. Cantonisation, or asymmetrical decentralisation along territorial‐cultural lines, has been a common form of territorial autonomy employed by these states. Yet, despite its importance, little is known about whether and why such cantonisation measures have helped or hindered the search for peace and stability in culturally heterogeneous states. Part of the answer lies in analysing the historical‐political contexts, or historical paths, by which cantonisation arrangements have emerged. Comparative analysis identifies five such paths: international settlements; state‐building; democratisation or transitions from authoritarian rule; democratic maintenance; and decolonisation. Each of these paths poses distinctive problems for the evolution of the cantonisation arrangement.
Who Owns the State? Understanding Ethnic Conflict in Post‐Colonial Societies
Authors: Wimmer Andreas
Published: April 2004

Abstract.This article aims to integrate different explanatory approaches to ethnic conflicts: studies on ethnic clientelism and discrimination, on political mobilisation by minority elites, on unequal relations between ethnoregions, and on the effects that different political systems have on the dynamics of ethnic conflicts. For each of these approaches, the relevant research is reviewed and illustrated by selected examples from post‐imperial societies. Propositions that seem empirically plausible are integrated into a comparative model which is in turn based on a specific theory of political modernity. The premise holds that the politicisation of ethnicity is to be interpreted as a central aspect of modem state‐building. For only when ‘people’ and state are mutually related within the ideal of a legitimate order does the question arise for which ethnic group the state has to act, who is regarded as its legitimate owner, and who is entitled to have access to its services. Ethnic conflicts can thus be interpreted as struggles for the collective goods of the nation‐state. Within this paradigmatical frame, a step‐by‐step analysis at a medium level of abstraction tries to show under which conditions state‐building leads to an ethnicisation of political conflicts and in some cases to an escalation into rebellions and wars.
Imagining Ukraine: Regional Differences and the Emergence of an Integrated State Identity, 1926–1994
Authors: Liber George O.
Published: April 2004

Abstract. When Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, it did not possess an integrated Ukrainian state identity. Serious differences between those regions which entered the Russian empire and the Soviet Union before 1939 and those annexed since 1939 hampered the creation of a post‐Soviet state identity.

Just as the Ukrainian and Russian languages dominate in different regions in Ukraine, attitudes towards economic reform also vary by region. Russian‐speaking areas are more conservative in regard to economic reforms than Ukrainian‐speaking ones. But despite these regional differences, Ukraine is not on the verge of civil war. Two public opinion polls taken in 1991 and 1994 in Lviv (in Western Ukraine) and in Donetsk (in Eastern Ukraine) document that the citizens of Ukraine possess a common desire for peace and stability. This desire overshadows Ukraine's regional differences and will help create the new post‐Soviet Ukrainian state identity.
Can Evolutionary Theory Explain Nationalist Violence? Czecho Slovak and Bosnian Illustrations
Authors: Hislope Robert
Published: April 2004

Abstract. This study tests whether evolutionary theory can explain the outbreak of ethnic conflict. Microlevel hypotheses of cultural evolutionary theory are developed and applied to the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia and the violent collapse of Bosnia‐Hercegovina. The more traditional social science approaches of Donald Horowitz and David Laitin are presented as a comparative base to assess the relative explanatory power of evolutionary theory. It is found that in conjunction with Horowitz's and Laitin's work, evolutionary theory can make sense of some patterns of ethnic conflict. However, its central weakness is linking proximate triggering mechanisms of nationalist violence to biological foundations. Without a convincing connection between microlevel propositions and survival and reproductive imperatives, evolutionary theory fails to offer a unique and credible explanation of nationalist violence.
Republics, Nations and Transitions to Modernity
Authors: Meadwell Hudson
Published: April 2004

Abstract.There is virtually no treatment of republican political cleavages or political culture in the literature on European political development. This article fills part of this gap by examining the consequences of republican political culture for the history of nations and nationalism. I argue that the republican question was a central political cleavage in Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but that it has been largely overlooked, or reduced to the politics of class or to the politics of nation. The article critically assesses some of the central elements of standard political histories of nationalism, in light of the importance of republican politics. This exercise includes a sketch of the republican challenge to dynastic states, and a more detailed discussion of two individuals who figure prominently in every history of nationalism: Renan and Mazzini. It also includes a discussion of the relationship of nationalism and marxism, in light of the analysis of republican patriotism in the first part of the article.
National Identity and Consciousness in Everyday Life: Towards a Sociology of Knowledge of Greek‐Cypriot Nationalism
Authors: Mavratsas Caesar V.
Published: April 2004

Abstract. The concomitants of nationalism and ethnic separation upon Greek‐Cypriot consciousness are examined from the perspective of the sociology of knowledge and phenomenological analysis. The focus is upon the perception of Self and the social construction of Greek‐Cypriot identity. The issue is examined in light of the ideological contest between Greek nationalism and Cypriotism. Whereas Greek nationalism sets the parameters of ideological orthodoxy and is the dominant force on the level of political consciousness, Cypriotism predominates on the level of everyday consciousness. One key consequence of the ideological class between Greek‐Cypriot nationalism and Cypriotism is a structural ambivalence that characterises Greek‐Cypriot perceptions of Self and Other. This ambivalence has been one of the main obstacles to the legitimation of an independent Cypriot polity and continues to impede the functional coexistence of the Greek‐Cypriot and Turkish‐Cypriot people on the island.
Beyond Dichotomy: Concepts of the Nation and the Distribution of Membership
Authors: Nieguth Tim
Published: April 2004

Abstract. Globalisation, fragmentation and the emergence of identity politics challenge the myth of the homogeneous nation‐state. They also lend increasing importance to processes of national boundary construction. This article argues that the dichotomy of ethnic and civic nations which traditionally informs much of social science discourse on nations and nationalism is inadequate to analyse how nations distribute membership. The same is true of the Meineckean distinction between cultural and political nations. Both typologies fail to account for some actually existing types of national boundary construction and they suggest that, in any instance, the process of boundary construction is homogeneous, universal and generic. As a consequence of these shortcomings, the ethnickivic dichotomy needs to be revised, by disentangling different organising principles at work in defining the boundaries of ethnic and civic nations: ancestry, race, culture and territory.
Democracy and National Cohesion in Multiethnic African States: South Africa and Nigeria Compared
Authors: Osaghae Eghosa E.
Published: April 2004

Abstract. This article advances the argument that national cohesion cannot meaningfully be pursued in multiethnic African states in the absence of democracy. But in order for democracy to facilitate cohesion, it must have the capacity to address issues of unequal power relations among the competing groups and regulate the conflicts which ensue therefrom. The article discusses four dimensions of pluralist democracy which address this capacity: democratisation of the state, strengthening of regulatory and oversight institutions, civil society and promotion of cross‐sectional affiliations in party politics. The contrasting experiences of South Africa and Nigeria are then used to illustrate the formidable obstacles to democratic national cohesion in multiethnic African states, and the efforts that have been made to overcome them.
Special Peoples
Authors: Hastings Adrian
Published: April 2004

Abstract. ‘Special Peoples’ explores the causes and consequences of believing in a chosen people by considering, first, the Serbian case, as seen especially in Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. The mythology, history and genuine Byzantine traditions which have created this East European form of belief in ‘special chosenness’ is then compared with West European developments. While both make use of the Bible, the West (and also Ethiopia), it is suggested, depends more directly on the Old Testament, Israelite model, while the Eastern approach rests rather on the experience of the Christian empire of Constantine. The English, Spanish and French are considered briefly as examples of chosen peoples. The discussion ends with the words of Carl Goerdeler, meditating on the Nazism that was about to kill him, and challenging the whole nationalist notion of an ‘exclusively chosen’ people from Israel on, as inherently prone to genocide.
The Ideology of a Chosen People: Afrikaner Nationalism and the Ossewa Trek, 1938
Authors: Templin J. Alton
Published: April 2004

Abstract. Perhaps the most important happening in South African history was the Great Trek, the massive movement of people, goods, wagons, north from the eastern Cape Colony into what became the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. These Voortrekkers migrated between 1834 and the end of the decade. On the way they developed distinctive beliefs concerning their destiny, their relation to God and their relation to the African groups with whom they had serious conflicts. A major battle between better‐armed Afrikaner forces and Zulu warriors ended in triumph for the Afrikaners on 16 December 1838. This formed the basis of a national holiday for the Afrikaners, and for the nation of South Africa.
The Artist as Nation‐Builder: William Butler Yeats and Chaim Nachman Bialik
Authors: Hutchinson John , Aberbach David
Published: April 2004

Abstract. The poets William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) and Chaim Nachman Bialik (1873–1934) were among the builders of their respective Irish and Jewish national cultures. Their lives and careers were in limited ways remarkably alike and throw light on the dynamics of cultural nationalism. Each emerged in an historical watershed, leading to the establishment of an Irish state in 1921 and a Jewish state in 1948. Though their circumstances, styles, receptions and fates differed, each represented a profound moral vision in an age of declining faith, expressed his people's sense of victimisation and exposed their weaknesses as he saw them. Each saw his culture as being humanist and universal, not narrowly nationalistic. Each identified with his nation for reasons that were in part intensely and disturbingly personal. Each found a poetic voice in a rich heritage of ethnic myth, legend and symbol but was conscious of tension between the need for self‐expression and national demands. It is argued that the creative powers of both Yeats and Bialik were set free by the national movements of which they were a part, and that the national struggle for self‐determination was, in effect, mirrored on the private scale by the poet striving for artistic freedom and originality.
Explaining Third‐Party Intervention in Ethnic Conflict: Theory and Evidence
Authors: Garment David , James Patrick
Published: April 2004

Abstract.One of the most challenging developments for students of international relations is the resurgence of ethnic strife, including secessionism and irredentism. Basic questions are only beginning to be addressed in the post‐Cold War era. Why are some states more likely than others to intervene in ethnic conflicts? How can international norms about third‐party intervention in ethnic conflicts be evaded or ignored by some states but respected by others? Why are some states inclined to use force rather than mediation to resolve ethnic strife? In short, what accounts for the emergence of adventurous and belligerent foreign policies with respect to internal ethnic conflicts? These questions are of increasing importance to students of international politics, yet the dynamics and internationalisation of ethnic conflict are far from fully understood.

This study focuses on the dynamics of third‐party intervention in ethnic strife and implications for peaceful resolution. The first section presents a model that identifies the general conditions under which ethnic strife is most likely to lead to intervention by third‐party states. The second uses four cases to illustrate, within the context of the model, different processes with respect to internationalisation of ethnic conflict. The third and final stage identifies implications for policy and theory, along with directions for future research.
Contested Nations: Iraq and the Assyrians
Authors: Zubaida Sami
Published: April 2004

Abstract. The formation of nation‐states from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East after World War I, under colonial auspices, proceeded with negotiations in some instances and hostilities in others from previously autonomous communities, some of them formally designated as millets. Iraq comprised a diversity of religious and ethnic communities. The Assyrians, Christian mountain tribes, mostly refugees from Turkish Kurdistan under British protection, were one community which actively resisted integration into the new nation‐state and, as a result, were subject to violent attacks by the nascent Iraqi army in 1933. This episode and the way it was perceived and interpreted by the different parties is an interesting illustration of the political psychology of communitarianism in interaction with nationalism, complicated by religious identifications, all in a colonial context. Subsequent histories and commentaries on the episode are also interesting in illuminating ideological readings.
Female and National Self‐Determination: A Gender Re‐reading of ‘The Apogee of Nationalism’
Authors: Sluga Glenda
Published: April 2004

Abstract. This article offers a gender re‐reading of the international history of the post‐First World War peace process, a period when nationalism is said to have reached its ‘apogee’, when national self‐determination and mutual cooperation between nations in the form of a League of Nations defined liberal aspirations for a democratic new world order. It was also a period when international women's organisations emphasised female self‐determination as both a national and international issue. Juxtaposed, these two aspects of the history of the peace of 1919 shed light on the importance of sex difference to the idea of national self‐determination and to the overlapping constitution of the national and the international as spheres of political agency and influence in the early twentieth century.
Masculinity and Secessionism in Italy: An Assessment
Authors: Huysseune Michel
Published: April 2004

Abstract. The masculinist rhetoric of the northern Italian separatist party, the Lega Nord, is an example of nationalist status affirmation. The stereotyped contrast between effeminate southerners and masculine northerners developed at the end of last century is used to affirm the superiority of the masculine North. The Lega's rhetoric parallels mainstream concerns on Italy's international status, and proposals for reforms to make Italy more ‘masculine’ and European. The use of a gendered language for the affirmation of national status reveals a belief in a normative hierarchy of nations, but also introduces a tension between a ‘masculinist’ status affirmation and a model of modernity which includes the emancipation of women as one of its principles.
Review Article: Nationalisms, National Identities and Nation States: Gendered Perspectives
Authors: Al‐Ali Nadje
Published: April 2004

Books reviewed in this article:

Nira Yuval‐Davis, Gender & Nation

Lois West (ed.), Feminist Nationalism

Rick Wilford and Robert L. Miller (eds.), Women, Ethnicity and Nationalism: The Politics of Transition

Cynthia Cockburn, The Space Between Us: Negotiating Gender and National Identities in Conflict
Clearing the cervical spine in unconscious polytrauma victims, balancing risks and effective screening
Authors: Morris C. G. T. , McCoy É.
Published: April 2004

Cervical spine injury occurs in 5–10% of cases of blunt polytrauma. A missed or delayed diagnosis of cervical spine injury may be associated with permanent neurological sequelae. However, there is no consensus about the ideal evaluation and management of the potentially injured cervical spine and, despite the publication of numerous clinical guidelines, this issue remains controversial. In addition, many studies are limited in their application to the obtunded or unconscious trauma victim. This review will provide the clinician managing unconscious trauma victims with an assessment of the actual performance of clinical examination and imaging modalities in detecting cervical spine and isolated ligamentous injury, a review of existing guidelines in light of the available evidence, relative risk estimates and a proposed management scheme.
Hydraulic requirements of stream communities: a case study on invertebrates
Authors: Mérigoux S. , Dolédec S.
Published: April 2004

1. We relate invertebrate assemblages to direct measurements of near‐bed hydraulic conditions that integrate the complex three‐dimensional structure of flow close to the bottom.

2. We sampled invertebrate taxa from a Mediterranean River along a spatial gradient of increasing shear stress in two seasons (spring and autumn) with different hydrological conditions. We used a recently described ordination technique, Outlying Mean Index (OMI) analysis, to study the response of stream invertebrates to near‐bed hydraulic parameters.

3. The distribution of nearly 70% of the taxa collected was significantly related to the hydraulic parameters assessed. In both seasons, shear stress and Froude number were the most important hydraulic parameters whereas substratum particle size and bed roughness had less influence. Most of the 31 taxa collected in both seasons had a higher OMI (an index showing the deviation between the mean environmental conditions used by a taxon and the mean environmental conditions used by a theoretical taxon uniformly distributed across the studied gradient) in autumn (when flow was greater) and were found in samples with high shear stress and high Froude number. This suggests that benthic invertebrates changed their preferences according to flow conditions.

4. Taxon richness declined with increased shear stress during lower flow in spring. Finally, and agreeing with previous results, the proportion of filter feeders and collector‐gatherers was inversely related to shear stress.

5. Our results are a first step towards better habitat suitability models that could inform management decisions.
Autoreactive responses to an environmental factor. 2. Phthalate‐induced anti‐DNA specificity is downregulated by autoreactive cytotoxic T cells
Authors: Lim So‐Yon , Ghosh Swapan K.
Published: April 2004

An environmental factor (phthalate) was shown, in our previous study, to induce serum anti‐DNA responses in BALB/c, NZB and lupus‐prone NZB/W F1 mice. Out of such anti‐phthalate responses, cross‐reactive populations were identified that strongly bind phthalate, DNA, or both. A phthalate‐specific BALB/c monoclonal antibody, 2C3‐Ig (γ1,κ), showed considerable affinity for DNA and had extensive sequence homology with the heavy and light chain variable regions of a known anti‐DNA immunoglobulin, BV04‐01, from lupus‐prone NZB/W F1 mice. This study was initiated to address how BALB/c mice, but not NZB/W F1 mice, are protected from these adverse autoreactive B cells. Using 2C3 hybridoma cells as the prototype autoreactive BALB/c B cell, we determined whether its DNA‐binding monoclonal antibody would induce any regulatory cell‐mediated immune responses. Synthetic idiopeptides corresponding to the heavy and light chain variable regions of 2C3‐Ig were found to be effective at inducing specific effector cells in BALB/c mice, but not in lupus‐prone F1 mice. The splenocytes from BALB/c mice incubated in vitro with the idiopeptides, particularly the complementarity‐determining region 1 (VL1) of the 2C3‐Ig light chain, showed significant proliferative and cytolytic responses. A CD8+ cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte (CTL) response was elicited that recognized the VL1 peptide presented by the Kd allele, and affected the growth of 2C3 cells. In vivo depletion of CD8+ T cells in BALB/c mice significantly decreased this CTL activity but increased the anti‐DNA humoral response. These results suggest that autoreactive CTLs are induced in non‐autoimmune prone mice as a mechanism to downregulate self‐reactive B cells.