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The fundamental premise of this study is that the Buddhist sangha and Buddhist teachings play a key symbolic role in legitimating the exercise of secular power in Thailand. The author argues that a clear appreciation of the political legitimatory function of Buddhism provides the key to understanding the major theoretical and administrative changes that have taken place within Thai Buddhism in this century

The Thai capital Bangkok is the unrivalled centre of the country's gay, lesbian, and transgender communities. These communities are among the largest in Southeast Asia, and indeed in the world, and have a diversity, social presence, and historical depth that set them apart from the queer cultures of many neighbouring societies. The first years of the twenty-firsy century have marked a significant transition moment for all of Thailand's LGBT cultures, with a multidimensional expansion in the geographical extent, media presence, economic importance, political impact, social standing, and cultural relevance of Thai queer communities. This book analyzes the roles of the market and media-especially cinema and the Internet-in these transformations, and considers the ambiguous consequences that the growing commodification and mediatization of queer lives have had for LGBT rights in Thailand. A key finding is that in the early twenty-first century, processes of global queering are leading to a growing Asianization of Bangkok's queer cultures. The book traces Bangkok's emergence as a central focus of an expanding regional network linking gay, lesbian, and transgender communities in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other rapidly developing East and Southeast Asian societies.

La politique de la France à la Conférence de Paix de Paris a longtemps été critiquée comme ayant été une tentative infructueuse d'anéantir la puissance allemande et de garantir une position dominante pour la France dans l'ordre politique européen après 1918. Le Premier Ministre Clemenceau est cependant présenté de manière générale comme un partisan convaincu de la politique traditionnelle d'équilibre des puissances. Cette interprétation, qui a structuré l'historiographie dès le lendemain de la guerre, a occulté un aspect idéologique important de la politique de la France à la conférence de paix. Au cœur du programme gouvernemental de Clemenceau se trouvait une vision transatlantique du futur ordre international qui reposait sur un engagement partagé pour la démocratie et de l'auto-détermination entre la France, la Grande-Bretagne et les États-Unis. Son but était d'intégrer l'Allemagne à un nouvel ordre de sécurité qui serait étayé par la supériorité économique et les ressources militaires des pouvoirs de l'Alliance victorieuse. Cette politique anticipa les évolutions géopolitiques durant et après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale.

AbstractThis paper compares the process of Islamization in the three westernmost Mongol states: the Chaghadaid Khanate in Central Asia; the Ilkhanate in Iran and Iraq; and the Jochid ulus (the Golden Horde) in the Pontic-Caspian steppes and the Volga region. It explores in greater depth the hallmarks of conversion, the agents of, and the motives for, Islamization and the limitations of its effects on royal policy. In particular, it highlights the tension between Islamic notions and the concept of religious pluralism that was central to the corpus of Mongol law (Yasa) established by Chinggis Khan.

During the First World War, France and Britain forged the most intimate and comprehensive political, economic, and military alliance in history. The contributions of Britain and its Empire had been vital to France's survival as a Great Power. A continuation of the wartime Entente was therefore pivotal to a wider strategy of embedding French security in a trans-Atlantic community of democratic Powers including the United States. But neither Britain nor the United States were ready to commit to using force to uphold the European order established at Paris. British political and policy elites reverted to pre-war cultural reflexes that prioritised Imperial considerations and assumed that France posed the chief threat to British interests.