The 1996 ‘Muslim holiday’ affair. Religious competition and state mediation in contemporary Mozambique

Political commentators often cast religious con? ict as the result of the numerical growth and political rise of a single faith. When Islam is involved, arguments about religious fundamentalism are quick to surface and often stand as an explanation in their own right. Yet, as useful as this type of explanation may be, it usually fails to address properly, if at all, two sets of important issues. It avoids, Ž rst, the question of the rise of other religions and their contribution to tensions and con? icts. Second, it reduces the role of the State to a reactive one. The State becomes an object of contest or conquest, or it is simply ignored. Adopting a different approach, this article investigates a controversy that took place in Mozambique in 1996 around the ‘ofŽ cialisation’ of two Islamic holidays. It looks at the role played by religious competition and state mediation. The article shows that the State’s abandonment of religious regulation – the establishment of a free ‘religious market’ – fostered religious competition that created tensions between faiths. It suggests that strife ensued because deregulation was almost absolute: the State did not take a clear stand in religious matters and faith organisations started to believe that the State was becoming, or could become, confessional. The conclusion discusses theoretical implications for the understanding of religious strife as well as Church and State relations. It also draws some implications for the case of Mozambique more speciŽ cally, implications which should have relevance for countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe where problems of a similar nature have arisen.

The EU’s Biopolitical Governance of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products

This paper focuses on the specific example of the newly operational Regulation on Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products to explore the potential for biopolitics, an arena in which biocitizens can demand and contest the exercise of EU power over life. The paper shows how the discourses producing, organizing and orchestrating citizen participation in the EU’s governance of advanced therapies from above figure a ‘deficit model’ of citizens in need of education inter alia through their membership of patients’ associations who have membership of the Committee on Advanced Therapies established by the Regulation. Biocitizens are shown to be incorporated to service the EU’s legitimacy needs. The paper then warns against assuming biocitizens’ (self-) reflexivity ensures they do not reiterate and reinforce their construction within the ‘deficit model’ by unwittingly deploying the terms of their subjection. After which the paper highlights some elements that provide a rhetorical and operational opening for participation, and which therefore can be used by biocitizens to reconstruct their engagement with EU governance from below, the wider governance of advanced therapies, as well as in their self-governance.

Imperfect assessment and limited information preclude optimal strategies in male-male fights in the orb-weaving spider Metellina mengei

Agonistic behaviour between male orb-web spiders Metellina mengei competing for access to female webs was examined in field experiments to test the major predictions of game theory. Winners of fights were significantly larger than losers, particularly with respect to the length of the first pair of legs, which are sexually dimorphic in this species and used extensively in agonistic encounters. The size of the winning male had no influence on contest intensity or duration, and neither did relative size. However, fight intensity and duration were both positively correlated with the size of the losing male. Resident males won significantly more contests than intruders. Winning intruders were significantly larger than winning residents and it was these winning intruders that tended to produce the longer fights. Female weight and hence reproductive value had a marked influence on fight intensity and duration of fights won by the intruder but not those won by the resident. This indicates that only the resident obtains information about the female. These data are discussed with reference to the discrepancy with theory and a failure of some contestants to obtain information on resource value and relative contestant size necessary to optimize fight strategy.

Large body size for winning and large swords for winning quickly in swordtail males, Xiphophorus helleri

Contestants can either assess their own resource-holding potential relative to their opponent (mutual assessment) or rely solely on the assessment of their own fighting ability (self-assessment). To discriminate between these possibilities, we staged dyadic territorial contests between 'size-matched' male swordtails. These contests consist of a combination of ritualized displays and direct fighting. Although size differences were small, winners were larger than losers and smaller fish tended to be winners only when the size difference was negligible. Body size, however, did not influence contest duration and there was no increase in contest duration with mean body size; thus, there is no support for self-assessment in these animals. We also examined the effects of the sword, which comprises a sexually selected extension used in female choice that reduces swimming efficiency but increases acceleration. The length of the sword (adjusted for body size) did not differ between winners and losers; however, losers conceded earlier if the opponent had a large sword for its body size but this decision was independent of the loser's own sword length. Losers thus assessed the swords of winners, which precludes self-assessment; however, because winners appeared not to assess the swords of losers, this does not fully support the idea of mutual assessment. (c) 2008 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cumulative or sequential assessment during hermit crab shell fights: effects of oxygen on decision rules

Agonistic interactions between animals are often settled by the use of repeated signals which advertise the resource-holding potential of the sender. According to the sequential assessment game this repetition increases the accuracy with which receivers may assess the signal, but under the cumulative assessment model the repeated performances accumulate to give a signal of stamina. These models may be distinguished by the temporal pattern of signalling they predict and by the decision rules used by the contestants. Hermit crabs engage in shell fights over possession of the gastropod shells that they inhabit. During these interactions the two roles of signaller and receiver may be examined separately because they are fixed for the duration of the encounter. Attackers rap their shell against that of the defender in a series of bouts whereas defenders remain tightly withdrawn into their shells for the duration of the contest. At the end of a fight the attacker may evict the defender from its shell or decide to give up without first effecting an eviction; the decision for defenders is either to maintain a grip on its shell or to release the shell and allow itself to be evicted. We manipulated fatigue levels separately for attackers and defenders, by varying the oxygen concentration of the water that they are held in prior to fighting, and examined the effects that this has on the likelihood of each decision and on the temporal pattern of rapping. We show that the vigour of rapping and the likelihood of eviction are reduced when the attacker is subjected to low oxygen but that this treatment has no effect on rates of eviction when applied to defenders. We conclude that defenders compare the vigour of rapping with an absolute threshold rather than with a relative threshold when making their decision. The data are compatible with the cumulative assessment model and with the idea that shell rapping signals the stamina of attackers, but do not fit the predictions of the sequential assessment game.

Phototextual Journeys: Nicolas Bouvier in Asia

Travel literature's inherent intergenericity extends into the realm of the interaesthetic in Nicolas Bouvier's textual and photographic representations of Asia. Although produced as distinct narratives, successive editorial decisions and the layering of these two media in the mind of the reader have transformed Bouvier's already palimpsestic texts into fluid, phototextual constructs. This article will offer ‘contrapuntal’ readings of a selection of Bouvier's texts in relation to the photographs charting his intercultural encounters in China and Japan. Countering the relegation of these photographs to the conventional status of aide-mémoire, the article will consider the shifting relationships of complementarity, tension, or disjuncture between image and text. These relationships are characterised by slippage, subversion and paradox. Text does not ‘load’ image, and images do not illustrate text. Indeed, Bouvier's photographs frequently contest, modify, or debunk the textual narratives. Ultimately, the article will argue that Bouvier's representations of Asia, both textual and visual, offer a challenge to cultural essentialism, to self-other binaries, and to monolithic discourses of otherness.

Web-based social movements contesting marketing strategy: Mobilization of multiple actors and rhetorical strategies

Previous studies suggest that marketing strategy is developed and used to mobilise and configure the actions of firm actors, creating a set of stabilising activities focused on the firm–customer dyad. Destabilising forces precipitated by the Internet and associated digital technologies involving contention and disruption by multiple actors are much less prevalent in the marketing literature. The central point we advance is that rather than marketing strategy being a controlled and stabilising force for firms in their relationships with customers, it can often lead to socially produced spaces where consumers and, importantly, other multiple actors form a social movement to actively attempt to destabilise it and contest its legitimacy. Using an innovative research approach, the findings of this study show how social movements proactively enrol and mobilise a wide range of relevant actors into a network of influence. Critical to this are rhetorical strategies, acting as important levers in attempts to destabilise and delegitimise a dominant firm's marketing strategy.

On Not Reading Fifty Shades:Feminism and the Fantasy of Romantic Immunity

This paper explores the politics of feminist criticism of the Fifty Shades novels as seen in both traditional media commentary and popular online news and cultural websites and blogs. I argue that much media commentary, in broadsheet and other ‘respectable’ outlets particularly, has featured avowedly feminist writers dismissing the books as ‘bad’, not only containing bad writing and bad sex but, ultimately, as being bad for their women readers. Situating these responses within a history of feminist discomfort with popular erotic and romantic fiction marketed to women I read these responses as a form of ‘anti-romantic’ fantasy in which the reader/critic is able to assert both her immunity from the romantic fantasy offered in the text and her cultural distance from those women who are subject to it. Further, this act of disavowal is often linked to a professed concern for the women who read the novel who the critic argues will, inevitably, replicate the abusive and harmful relationship dynamics that the novel represent. Such a move then positions the feminist critic as not only more culturally intelligent than women readers of the novel but enacts a fantasy of respectable, middle-class feminist cultural custodianship. Such a fantasy, I argue, is connected to the post-feminist era in which we live, which has produced a class of self-appointed ‘feminist’ cultural critics who seek to contest their own cultural marginalisation through enacting a governmental authority to worry about other women. This paper, therefore, is a critical investigation of the pleasures and politics of very publicly not reading Fifty Shades and its significance for analysing the contemporary politics of popular culture and feminism.

Do mirrors reflect reality in agonistic encounters? A test of mutual cooperation in displays

Animals frequently engage in mutual displays that may allow or at least help decisions about the outcome of agonistic encounters with mutual benefit to the opponents. In fish these often involve lateral displays, with previous studies finding evidence of population-level lateralization with a marked preference for showing the right side and using the right eye. Because both opponents tend to show this preference a head to tail configuration is formed and is used extensively during the display phase. Here we tested the significance of these lateral displays by comparing displays to a mirror with those to a real opponent behind a transparent barrier. The frequency of displays was lower to a mirror but the individual displays were of greater duration indicating a slower pace of the interaction with a mirror. This suggests that fish respond to initiatives of real opponents but as mirror images do not initiate moves the focal fish only moves when it is ready to change position. However, lateralization was still found with mirrors, indicating that the right-side bias is a feature of the individual and not of the interaction between opponents. We discuss implications for ideas about the evolution of mutual cooperation and information exchange in contests, as well as the utility of the use of mirrors in the study of aggression in fish.

The British conservative party and Europe:The choosing of John Major

This article provides an empirical analysis of voting behaviour in the second ballot of the 1990 Conservative leadership contest that resulted in John Major becoming party leader and prime minister. Seven hypotheses of voting behaviour are generated from the extant literature relating voting to socio-economic variables (occupational and educational background), political variables (parliamentary experience, career status, age and electoral marginality) and ideological variables (drawn from survey data on MPs' positions on economic, European and moral issues). These hypotheses are tested using data on voting intentions gathered from published lists of MPs' declarations, interviews with each of the leadership campaign teams, and correspondence with MPs. Bivariate relationships are presented, followed by logistic regression analysis to isolate the unique impact that each variable had on voting. This shows that educational background, parliamentary experience and (especially) attitudes to Europe were the key factors determining voting. The importance of Europe in the contest is particularly instructive: the severe problems for Major's leadership which were caused by the issue can be attributed to, and understood in the context of, the 1990 contest in which he became leader.

Meaningful and Effective? Considering Victims’ Interests Through Participation at the International Criminal Court

This article explores the role of victims in the criminal proceedings of the International Criminal Court and the extent to which their interests have impacted upon the ICC judges’ decision making in light of human rights law and victimological theorisation. The article begins by first outlining how victims’ interests can be considered in international criminal proceedings, before contrasting this role with the purpose of international criminal justice. The second part of the article examines victim participation within the ICC and how this has affected judicial decision making to assess its effectiveness. The contest between the rights of victims and the role of Prosecutor in determining the selection of charges and perpetrators is also examined in an effort to add to the current debate on victim participation at the ICC. The author finds that at the ICC, despite innovative victim provisions, victims’ interests have little impact on outcomes of the Court. The author argues that in order to ensure the Court is more responsive to victims understanding of justice it should give greater weight to their interests, which in turn is likely to improve their satisfaction with the ICC, as well as public confidence and legitimacy of the work of the Court.

Film, History and Memory

Film, History and Memory examines the relationship between film and history, exploring the multiplicity of ways in which films depict, contest, reinforce or subvert historical understanding. This volume broadens the focus from 'history', the study of past events, to 'memory', the processes – individual, generational, collective or state-driven – by which meanings are attached to the past. This approach acknowledges how the significance of the historical film lies less in its empirical qualities than in its powerful capacity to influence public thinking and discourses about the past, whether by shaping collective memory, popular history and social memory, or by retrieving suppressed or marginalized histories. This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on history and film through the breadth of its approach, both in disciplinary and geographical terms. Contributors are drawn not only from the discipline of history but also film studies, film practice, art history, languages and literature, and cultural studies.

These Fine Lines: Locating Noncitizenship in Political Protest in Europe

Since 2012, refugee protest camps and occupations have been established throughout Europe that contest the exclusion of refugees and asylum seekers, but that also make concrete demands for better living conditions and basic rights. It is a movement that is led by migrants as noncitizens, and so reveals new ways of thinking of the political agency and status of noncitizenship not as simply reactive to an absence of citizenship, but as a powerful and transgressive subjectivity in its own right. This paper argues that we should resist collapsing analysis back into the frameworks of citizenship, and instead be attentive to the politics of presence and solidarity manifest in these protest camps as a way of understanding, and engaging, noncitizen activism.

Neural Network Based Attack on a Masked Implementation of AES

Masked implementations of cryptographic algorithms are often used in commercial embedded cryptographic devices to increase their resistance to side channel attacks. In this work we show how neural networks can be used to both identify the mask value, and to subsequently identify the secret key value with a single attack trace with high probability. We propose the use of a pre-processing step using principal component analysis (PCA) to significantly increase the success of the attack. We have developed a classifier that can correctly identify the mask for each trace, hence removing the security provided by that mask and reducing the attack to being equivalent to an attack against an unprotected implementation. The attack is performed on the freely available differential power analysis (DPA) contest data set to allow our work to be easily reproducible. We show that neural networks allow for a robust and efficient classification in the context of side-channel attacks.

Reclaiming the Radical in Universal Human Rights: Universality as Universalisation

The universality of human rights has been a fiercely contested issue throughout their history. This article contributes to scholarly engagements with the universality of human rights by proposing a re-engagement with this concept in a way that is compatible with the aims of radical politics. Instead of a static attribute or characteristic of rights this article proposes that universality can be thought of as, drawing from Judith Butler, an ongoing process of universalisation. Universality accordingly emerges as a site of powerful contest between competing ideas of what human rights should mean, do or say, and universal concepts are continually reworked through political activity. This leads to a differing conception of rights politics than traditional liberal approaches but, moreover, challenges such approaches. This understanding of universality allows human rights to come into view as potentially of use in interrupting liberal regimes and, crucially, opens possibilities to reclaim the radical in rights.