Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: After some 15 years of legal and judicial reform of various degrees in newly created and independent post-soviet States and an intensive practical involvement of the author, the paper wants to explore
-the motivation of different actors and institutions on all sides: host countries, their governments, enterprises, judiciary etc, donor countries, development agencies;
-the initiation, procedure and substance of the reform process;
-the possibilities, potential and constraints of legal reform by legal transplants ;
-the necessities of co-operation between external and internal experts as well as external and internal institutions;
-the prerequisites of a transformation of “law in the books” to “law in practice”.

On all accounts serious questions are raised and the appreciation varies: Has this second big “movement” of “law and development” learned the lessons of the first one? Is it fair to say that again the “movement” is doomed to fail? Are there structural reasons which militate against international legal co-operation and transfer of law?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines economic dimensions of the Southwest Asian regional system from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Specifically, I explore the resilience of the trade and commercial ties linking regional powers such as the Ottomans and Persians with the broader trading system in Asia vis a vis the incursions of European powers during this period. The significance is to underscore the extent to which these collaborative patterns of behavior are well-established among indigenous states and in the regional international relations of Southwest Asia, even today. The strength of these linkages are evidenced by the durability of the overland trade in raw silk and derivative products that was largely controlled by Ottoman-Persian trade and which the British and Dutch, in particular, sought to gain access to--largely unsuccessfully. In this sense to better understand post-Cold War regional international relations in Southwest Asia today, examining how those relations were shaped prior to European dominance in the 19th century is a crucial analytical step.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the summer of 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the European press that his country straddled an ?arc of instability extending from the Philippines to Kosovo,? and was alone in its fight against Islamic fundamentalism. It took a spectacular terrorist attack carried out a year later by al Qaeda to lend weight to Putin?s arguments. Putin subsequently pounced on the opportunity to reaffirm his previously suspect contention that Chechnya was the epicenter of Islamist terrorism. While not all of Europe?s elites were dazzled by this political sleight-of-hand, Washington accepted the Kremlin?s new marketing of the Chechen conflict. Within days of the September 11th attacks, Putin began a systematic effort to re-brand the Second Chechen War as the most important front in the struggle between ?civilization? and international terror. Moscow quickly began framing both Chechen terror attacks and its own counter-terror measures within a discourse shaped by the post-9/11 world. This shift in strategy effectively remade perceptions on Chechnya on both the domestic and international levels. This paper explores the use of 9/11, Washington?s ?War on Terror,? and Al Qaedism to provide legitimacy to Putin?s war in the Caucasus and his larger neo-authoritarian policy agenda. I explore the Russian response to the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, as well as the framing of both the Dubrovka Theatre siege (2002) and Beslan (2004) as ?Russia?s 9/11.? I argue that Putin?s deft manipulation of September 11th endowed him with a powerful mandate?one which currently extends well beyond the realm of counter-terrorism. Putin has used his political capital to roll back Russia?s freedom of the press, remake military doctrine, and eliminate many of his country?s post-Soviet democratic reforms.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This talk summarizes a course activity that the presenter has developed and used for several years in classes in Finite Mathematics and Statistics. The activity takes the form of a pair of written, self-paced lessons that guide students to discover important combinatorial relationships through a mixture of exposition and exercises. The work is based on a triangle of binomial coefficients that was developed by Ahmad al-Ab’dari ibn Mun‘im (d. 1228 CE), a physician and mathematician born in Andalusia and who lived much of his life in Marrakech. The starting point is ibn Mun‘im’s explanation of his triangle in terms of counting the number of ways to combine silk threads of various colors into tassels. Going through the tassel problem allows students to understand two different patterns among the entries in the triangle, involving row and column sums, respectively. They go on to exploit these patterns to solve a variety of practical problems. Each of the two lessons requires approximately one hour, whether completed individually or in groups.