The Response Of Macroeconomic Variables To Government Spending Shocks In The Sudanese Economy 1989-2019: Comparing The Structural Shocks (Dsge Approach) And Impulse Response (Svar Model), Hassan Tawakol A. Fadol

The Journal of Social Encounters

The importance that different (approaches and models) to modeling the macroeconomy place on theoretical coherence compared to their capacity to match the data and the quality of the econometric model description varies. Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models are more theoretical, whereas vector autoregression (SVAR) models provide a better match to the data. For developed economies, there are well-established publications on measuring the response of economic indicators to government spending shocks and aggregate macroeconomic activity. In addition, such empirical studies in emerging nations are scarce. This research seeks to fill this void by utilizing the DSGE model and the SVAR …

The Revolution Is Not Over: Sudanese Female Asylum Seekers And Refugees In Belfast, Dianne Kirby

The Journal of Social Encounters

Female Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Belfast were instrumental in establishing a women’s collective, Anaka. The original goal was provision of a safe space where the founders could help women confronting the harshness of the asylum system alone and afraid, as they had been. The endeavour to mitigate the hard realities of a challenging system in a hostile environment led to the collective becoming an advocacy and campaigning group. The ethos was one of participation and empowerment, deploying skills, creative capacities and political insights forged in the fight for Sudanese democracy. The key issues confronting female refugees -- housing, …

Darfur’S Armed Movements: Evolution Of Roles And Relations With Actors In Light Of The April 15 War, Marwan M. Hamza

The Journal of Social Encounters

This research comes in eight main sections, comprising a historical background of the conflicts in Sudan in general and Darfur in particular; an intro to armed movements active in Darfur the research team have monitored; and an extensive analysis of interviews the team conducted with members of the armed movements, independent actors and the native administrations.

Focusing on the Darfuri armed movements’ evolution of roles during the April 15 War, an analysis of respondents’ responses highlights varying takes on the impact of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA). While some deems it futile as to resolve conflicts, others admittedly view it …

Sudan’S Current Conflict: Implications For The Bordering Regions And Influence Of The Key Regional/International Actors, Raimundo Gregoire

The Journal of Social Encounters

Since the beginning of the latest violent crisis, which began in April 2023, Sudan has been suffering the consequences of an armed conflict, that is worsening the humanitarian crisis and sociopolitical instability. In this context, it is worth analysing how this conflict affects the neighbouring region and the influence of the nearby countries and regional and world powers. The aim of this paper is to present the consequences of this conflict for Sudan’s neighbours and the degree of interference of the external powers in Sudan. In relation to this latter issue, it will be established if the foreign presence is …

The Roles Of External Parties In The April 15 War And Their Interests In Sudan, Aseel Abdalla

The Journal of Social Encounters

The April 15 War is frequently portrayed as a power struggle between two generals, a simplistic narrative that overlooks not only internal factors but also external dynamics and the agendas of foreign nations in Sudan. Numerous countries have vested interests in this resource-rich nation, a pivotal gateway to Africa with a strategic position overlooking the Red Sea facilitating over 12% of global trade. However, what exacerbates the situation is the leadership weakness and intense political polarization since 2019, following the downfall of the Inqaz regime.

Following the December Revolution, Sudan's leadership lacked a cohesive foreign relations strategy. The pillars of …

Exploiting Tribal Identity: Evidence From The Darfur Conflict (2001-) And The Chad-Sudan Proxy War (2005-2010), Eline Rosenhart

The Journal of Social Encounters

Using the case of the Darfur conflict (2001-) and the Chad-Sudan proxy war (2005-2010), this study will demonstrate that conflict in Chad and Sudan cannot be fully understood without taking into account how heads of state and rebel leaders in both countries manipulated tribal identities to retain and enhance power. It shows how Idriss Déby, a Zaghawa leader, held onto his tenuous position as President of Chad by leveraging tribal customs and symbols, while the Darfur conflict and the Chad-Sudan proxy war destabilized his rule. It also sheds light on the ways in which Darfuri and Chadian rebel leaders maneuvered …

When Peace Interventions Become Elusive: The Convoluted Darfur Conflict, Elias Opongo

The Journal of Social Encounters

The conflict in Darfur, rooted in longstanding tensions among ethnic and political groups in western Sudan, is marked by widespread violence, displacement, and human rights abuses. Whereas there have been concerted efforts by successive governments and different local, regional, and national stakeholders to resolve these conflicts through various transitional justice and traditional mechanisms, these interventions have largely been ineffective, often resulting in accusations of bias and unequal treatment by the Khartoum government. This article seeks to evaluate conflict intervention efforts by different actors such as the Sudan government, the African Union (AU), Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), regional governments, and …

The Dynamics Of The Resistance Committees (Rcs) Movement Amid The Current Challenges Of Democratic Transition In Sudan, Salih Mustafa, Marafi Albahi

The Journal of Social Encounters

After the wave of protests that led to the fall of the former regime in April 2019 and the establishment of the Transitional Justice in August 2019, Sudan is undergoing transitional phases marked by significant political and social changes since 2018. The Sudanese Resistance Committees (RCs) have played important and crucial roles throughout the whole period since the breakthrough of the Revolution in Sudan in December 2018. Those roles are showcased starting from organizing and mobilizing the protests that took place prior to the fall of the regime. The dynamics of the movement have developed since then due to the …

Gold Mining In Darfur: Its Role In The General Economy, Political Conflicts And The Current War, Raphaëlle Chevrillon-Guibert, Enrico Ille, Mohamed Salah Abdelrahman

The Journal of Social Encounters

Darfur has been shattered by a long chain of violent escalations, and numerous interpretations of reasons and recommendations for solutions have been put forward. Since the early 2010s, gold mining appeared as an additional element in ongoing conflicts and became a dominant aspect, not just as one of the financial pillars of the upcoming Rapid Support Forces under Dagalo family leadership, but also as a source of environmental pollution. Nevertheless, gold mining made its way only slowly into political analyses, and although its substantial role in Sudan's recent history, including the current war, has now more often been recognized, it …

Reshaping Identity Politics: Capitalising On Shari‘A Debate In The Sudan, Musa Adam Abdul-Jalil

The Journal of Social Encounters

The relationship between religious identity, ethnic identity, and politics has always been a problematic one, especially in plural societies like Sudan. This article is an attempt to understand the reasons behind the insistence of the popular parties of the Muslim majority in Northern Sudan on establishing shar’ia law as the law of the land. By using secondary data on party programmes, public opinion, and an analysis of political events, I reconstruct the evolution of the debate in order to identify its prime movers. My conclusion is that this debate emerged as a result of the quest for a national identity …

Darfur And Sudan: The People, Politics, Conflict, And Recovery: An Introduction, Mawa Mohamed, Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

An Extremely Important Document: Khea's Struggle For A Contract, 1974-1978, John L.S. Daley Dr

KNEA 50th Anniversary

In 1973, the Kansas State College, Pittsburg administration fired thirteen faculty members without cause. In order to improve administration-faculty relations, remaining faculty organized, petitioned for recognition, and drafted PSU/KNEA's first contract with PSU/KBOR, which went into effect five years later. The narrative covering this period draws on Axe Library's KNEA Collection and interviews of former faculty.

Book Review: The Americans: The Democratic Experience And The Creators, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

Two classics by American historian Daniel Boorstin should be central in the analysis of civilization.

Book Review: Why War?, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Pay any attention to current events and it seems that war and conflict are everywhere: from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to the eruption of conflict in the Middle East in October 2023, to on-going geopolitical tensions in the Pacific over the status of Taiwan. It was only a decade or so ago that many were confidently predicting not only the decline but the outright end of war, as Steven Pinker boldly argued in his The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.

Book Review: Liberalism, Realism, Or … Integralism? Perusing John J. Mearsheimer’S Book The Great Delusion, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov

Comparative Civilizations Review

The paper presents an analysis of the scholarly views of prominent American political scholar John J. Mearsheimer as set forth in his book The Great Delusion (Yale University Press, 2019). It also offers analysis of other existing approaches, as well as elaborates on a new Integralistic Paradigm which has a potential to integrate the field of International Relations (IR) Theory.

End Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew Editor-In-Chief

Comparative Civilizations Review

Although the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations was formally launched in 1961 via a scholarly conference convened in Salzburg, Austria, which brought together many of the world’s leading experts on the subject under the sponsorship of the Austrian government and UNESCO, regular annual meetings for those interested in comparative civilizations have been held subsequently by the society variously in North America, South America, Asia or Europe almost every year since that time.

Former Iscsc President Wayne Bledsoe: An Appreciation, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

About three weeks before Wayne Bledsoe died on the 2nd of June 2024, at 83, my wife Elaine and I commented to each other that we simply had to get in touch with him and Deb again, for too much time had passed since we had seen each other. We did not know that he was ill, and so the news of his death surprised and distressed us.

Civilizations From Toynbee To Coker: The Quest Of Christopher Coker (1953 – 2023) To Reinstate Comparative Civilizational Thinking In Western Scholarship, Greg Lewicki Vice President

Comparative Civilizations Review

In the gentlemen’s heaven, Christopher Coker must surely have his separate suite, one with golden busts of travelers, old-fashioned English furniture, and cold-toned walls resembling those of Athenaeum, a Pall Mall club in London, one of a few clubs where he liked to dine.

Cognosis And The Evolution Of Civilization, Ken Baskin

Comparative Civilizations Review

From the time when the complex states such as Egypt or Sumer emerged roughly 5,000 years ago, the civilizations they represent have generally become more populous, more socially varied, wealthier, and more technologically advanced. As a result, the innovations they produced would begin to change the conditions in which they existed, and their cultures have had to evolve to adapt to this ongoing change. For instance, the cultures of Bronze Age Egypt and the Iron Age Han Dynasty had to be quite different, even though both were agricultural societies. And, of course, the Electronic Age cultures of the United States …

The Sociology Of Crisis: Pitirim Sorokin’S Scholarly Legacy And Current Problems, Resilience, And Community, Emiliana Mangone

Comparative Civilizations Review

In his writings on crises, Sorokin highlighted their complexity and their multiple consequences on a personal, cultural, and social level. In this paper, crises in the 21st century are analyzed from Sorokin’s incisive perspective. The significant points include:

1. the study of crises cannot be enclosed within the confines of individual disciplines but rather must incorporate interdisciplinary approaches.
2. the category “crisis” does not encompass only those conditions that are the consequences of specific disastrous events such as natural disasters, wars, and terrorism but also all those phenomena that produce the conjunction of harm to human beings and social disturbances.
3. successive crises …

Is Donald Trump A Modern-Day Catiline?, Jamie González-Ocaña

Comparative Civilizations Review

Could the story of a failed Roman politician who organized a plot to seize the Roman republic in 63 BCE be a metaphor for Donald Trump’s political persona — his initial presidential run against the establishment, his rhetorical effort to overthrow the status quo and the natural order of things in national politics, the love affair Trump has always had with the struggling working-class voters (with the “forgotten” Americans), his constant testing the Constitutional limits of our republican system of government? Could both figures be symptoms of times when a republic is in crisis and reminders of the perils that …

Niccolò Longobardo And The Early Modern Encounter Of Europe With China, Yu Liu

Comparative Civilizations Review

Writing in 1962 about the founding fathers of the early modern Jesuit China mission, Jesuit historian George H. Dunne famously called them the generation of giants “who, breaking with the dominant spirit of their times and recalling a distant past, restored the concept of cultural adaptation to a central position in the world mission of Christianity.”

Divergence Between The Teachings And Practice Of Islam: A Civilizational Analysis Of Muslims In Indonesia, Hisanori Kato

Comparative Civilizations Review

Indonesia is a country of cultural as well as religious diversity. Even before the advent of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism were widespread in the region. Some think that Islam in Indonesia spread to the archipelago through interaction with local civilizations. Although Islam has become a majority religion in Indonesia today, long-standing local cultural traditions, ones that have existed throughout its recorded history, are often still maintained and practiced widely in Indonesia. These pre-Islamic traditions have a profound association with nature, and the people tend to appreciate animistic entities.

Seventeen Crises In Western Civilization That Have Arisen Since The Dark Ages: A Cognition Science-Oriented Approach, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The purpose of this article is to synthesize those crises in the unfolding of Western civilization that are controlled by human knowledge and wisdom. The methodology is transdisciplinary, utilizing a cognitive science-oriented, big-picture view of civilization and main conflicts. The crises are investigated across three time periods; the Dark Ages (from the fifth to the fourteenth century), Modern Times (from the fifteenth to the twentieth century), and the present century. The findings reveal that today Western civilization faces seventeen significant crises. Knowledge is not sufficient to solve these crises; we need to employ knowledge-based wisdom. This approach presents a new …

What Lessons Can Be Learned From The United Nations Preventive Deployment Mission In North Macedonia, On The Border Of Two Civilizations: Nothing Fails Like Success?, Mary Frances Lebamoff

Comparative Civilizations Review

Preventive deployment as a conflict prevention tool has not recurred in the past several decades, despite the broadly acclaimed success of the United Nations Preventive Deployment in Macedonia, UNPREDEP 1995-1999, and of its predecessor missions, UNPROFOR/Macedonia, and UNPROFOR/M 1992-1995.

The United Nations in particular has continued with mainly first- and second-generation peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding actions even on civilizational borders. What may best explain why there has been no other engagement in preventive deployment missions? There has been much emphasis placed formally and informally on early warning, detection, mitigation, and prevention of conflict. There have also been increasing numbers of …

The Dravidian And Āryan Migrations In Europe And India, Alexander Jacob

Comparative Civilizations Review

Much has been written about the relationship between the Indo-Āryans and the Dravidians. Debates have proliferated on the question of whether the Āryans invaded Dravidian India or whether they were indigenous to Dravida. If we consider the literary evidence of the ancient Indians we can inform a different view of the origins of Indian Brāhmanical religion and the historical relationship between the two major population groupings of India.

The Geographic Clash Of Civilizations?, Mojtaba Sadeghi

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Geographic Clash of Civilizations represents a significant geographic-civilizational reality and process, a phenomenon that has occurred and is expected to unfold increasingly in the third millennium. Understanding, analyzing, and forecasting this phenomenon relies solely on the geographic conceptualization of civilization. Through that perspective, the world is undergoing another instance of the geographic clash of civilizations, a clash more profound than the Clash of Civilizations, impacting the survival or collapse of human civilizations. The geographic clash of civilizations epitomizes an inescapable conflict between the soul (das-man) and the body (no-da-sein) of a civilization, stemming from …