American Behavioral Scientist current issue

A General Introduction to the Special Issue: Mediterranean Political Processes in Comparative Historical Perspective

Tilly, C. H. — 2008-05-01

For millennia, the Mediterranean Sea has connected Eurasia's western fifth—Europe—with Asia and Africa. These articles on Mediterranean political processes from 1400 to 2006 unfold against the background of regional distinctness. The Mediterranean gains special properties from its service as an intercontinental bridge, the diversity of its populations, the age-old but never successful competition for control of its perimeter, and the intensity of trading connections within its limits. All of these features have long shaped Mediterranean political processes and continue to do so today. The articles in these two special issues stand out not only for the light they shed on the region but also for their adoption of a relational perspective on Mediterranean political processes.

Introduction to Part I: Historical Perspectives

Franzosi, R. P. — 2008-05-01

Big Structures, Social Boundaries, and Identity in Cyprus, 1400-1700

Demetriou, C. — 2008-05-01

This article examines the transformation of public identity among the Greek-speaking inhabitants of Cyprus during the late medieval period, when the island was ruled first under Western-style feudalism and then under Ottoman feudalism. This change of style of rule contributed to the transformation of the Greek speakers' public identity, from fragmented to collective. The explanation of this transformation in identity is based on an analysis of shifting social boundaries, themselves linked to changing sociopolitical structures. By comparing the Western and Ottoman periods, and by conceptualizing public identity in relation to boundaries, this study puts known accounts of Cypriot history under new light. The result is revealing when considering debates on Greek nationalism in Cyprus. Although many factors contributed to the genesis of that phenomenon of nationalism, the presence of a collective form of identity by the Greek speakers was a prerequisite. This prerequisite was absent during the Latin period.

Rethinking Nationalism: State Projects and Community Networks in 19th-Century Ottoman Empire

Koksal, Y. — 2008-05-01

This article challenges the idea that a centralized administrative infrastructure, a common citizenship, and the resulting national belonging run in the same direction in state transformations. Comparing two Ottoman provinces of Edirne and Ankara, the author argues that community networks influence local responses to administrative centralization and national identity formation. In the province of Edirne, dense communal networks that bridged religious and ethnic boundaries maintained local cooperation with state centralization, whereas dense relations within religious and ethnic communities contributed to the failure of the formation of Ottoman national identity. In the province of Ankara, the lack of dense relations connecting different communities prevented reform success in both administrative and ideological dimensions.

The Greek--Ottoman Boundary as Institution, Locality, and Process, 1832-1882

Gavrilis, G. — 2008-05-01

Borders are often described as lines of conflict between states. The Greek—Ottoman boundary of the 19th century is no exception; history condemned it as a dangerous front of Greek state expansionism at the expense of a declining Ottoman Empire. This article uses Ottoman and Greek archival documents and British consular records to show that the Greek—Ottoman boundary was, in many ways, a well-managed institution. The central states that governed it and the two sides' border guards often cooperated and colluded to provide security and forestall conflict. Although the border eventually collapsed and moved northward at the expense of the Ottomans, this article demonstrates that the early decades of the boundary contain tremendous insight for historians and social scientists interested in contentious politics and institutions.

Remembering and Forgetting a Contentious Past: Voices From the Italo-Yugoslav Frontier

Smith, T. A. — 2008-05-01

By exploring the role of cultural associations, different forms of political participation, and mass media on opposite sides of the old Italo-Yugoslav boundary, this article links opposing interpretations of the past to differences in state institutions and reconfigured social groups. Striking differences in how narrators remember episodes of past violence over time point to contentious processes of state formation after wars and to the impact of institutionalized commemorative practices on individual memory.