Essays And Reports Colombia Through India

Prolonged war has drained Colombia of its most essential resources and has created an aggressively vengeful environment of resentment and resistance. Though the second oldest democracy in the hemisphere, an effective modern nation-state has never existed. Its 200+ years of so-called democracy have been a farce given Colombia's feudalist innards and fascist exoskeleton. Further, the continuing armed conflict is exacerbated by the country's historical lack of hegemony, corruption, institutionalized violence, socio-political exclusion, lack of social mobility opportunities, and foreign intervention. We must curb the traditional might-makes-right conflict resolution method and the state must gain true legitimacy if Colombians are ever to manifest their potential. Julián Esteban Torres López machetes through the tall weeds of Colombia's power vacuum and fragmented sovereignty, peels the layers of the country's flirtation with modernity and class consciousness, dissects the insecurity of Colombia's security policies, and looks to understand who and what stand in the way of Colombia becoming the El Dorado it could become.

In 1983, when he was 80 years old, Leo Gross compiled 45 of his essays which had been published in scholarly journals and other collections from 1945 to 1984. The collection was published in two volumes by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and Transnational Publishers in 1984, with a Preface by Judge Stephen M. Schwebel of the International Court of Justice. The collection has been out of print for some time. In response to many requests, the Publishers have now decided to issue a shorter, one-volume collection, the selection from the 1984 books having been carried out by Professor Alfred P. Rubin, who occupied the office adjoining that of Leo Gross in the Fletcher School for no less than seventeen years. In his impressive and illuminating Introduction to this one-volume collection, Alfred Rubin pays tribute to his former colleague and points to a number of the most impressive features of the Gross essays. In discussing the criteria of his choice, he concludes: `Tough choices had to be made to present the reader with the widest and deepest selection of the works of a wide and deep mind. The bottom line was always the utility of the selection to the next generation of students of public international law and organization. '

The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures of the United States Since 1945 is the first major volume of its kind to focus on Native literatures in a postcolonial context. Written by a team of noted Native and non-Native scholars, these essays consider the complex social and political influences that have shaped American Indian literatures in the second half of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on core themes of identity, sovereignty, and land. In his essay comprising part I of the volume, Eric Cheyfitz argues persuasively for the necessary conjunction of Indian literatures and federal Indian law from Apess to Alexie. Part II is a comprehensive survey of five genres of literature: fiction (Arnold Krupat and Michael Elliott), poetry (Kimberly Blaeser), drama (Shari Huhndorf), nonfiction (David Murray), and autobiography (Kendall Johnson), and discusses the work of Vine Deloria Jr., N. Scott Momaday, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gerald Vizenor, Jimmy Santiago Baca, and Sherman Alexie, among many others. Drawing on historical and theoretical frameworks, the contributors examine how American Indian writers and critics have responded to major developments in American Indian life and how recent trends in Native writing build upon and integrate traditional modes of storytelling. Sure to be considered a groundbreaking contribution to the field, The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures of the United States Since 1945 offers both a rich critique of history and a wealth of new information and insight.

India is the second most populous country in the world and also one of the poorest. From the late 1940s to 1980, India's per capita income grew at an average annual rate of only two percent. Expansionist economic reforms during the 1980s boosted economic growth but also unfortunately resulted in high inflation and a balance of payments crisis. As a consequence, in 1991 the government announced sweeping new changes in economic policies. Economic Policy Reforms and the Indian Economy evaluates the effects of those changes and identifies areas of the Indian economy still in urgent need of reform. After an overview of Indian economic policies and development since independence, papers focus on the country's fiscal situation, the environment for private economic activity, education, the reservation of certain activities for small-scale industry, and determinants of differentials in rates of growth across the different Indian states. Contributors include respected academic specialists on India and policy reform, high-level Indian administrators, and present and past policymakers.