This volume will be of interest to scholars examining the relationship between culture and identity, concepts of individual and group agency in multicultural settings, and the effect that our globalising world has on regional cultural systems and local communities. From Conflict to Recognition: Moving Multiculturalism Forward grew out of research presented at the 3rd Global Conference of Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging held by Inter-Disciplinary.net at Mansfield College, Oxford University in September 2009. The conference provided a platform for researchers from diverse regions of the world and a variety of fields to present their work and engage each other on the major cultural transformations and epistemological shifts occurring in the current global paradigm. A unique aspect of the volume is its dialogic structure: each author refers to the work of other authors in the book; thus forming threads through-out the work, which link what are often perceived as unrelated issues. The volume is comprised of thirteen chapters divided into four thematic sections: Rights, Culture and Recognition; Complex Stories of Identity Formation; The Interweaving of Self and Other – Being and Belonging; and Crossing Boundaries and the Language of the Aesthetic.

The divisive and malleable nature of history is at its most palpable in situations of intractable conflict between nations or peoples. This book explores the significance of history in informing the relationship between warring parties through the concept of thick recognition and by exploring its relevance specifically in relation to Israel.

Prior to the progressive development of the law of armed conflict heralded by the 1949 Geneva Conventions--most particularly in relation to the concepts of international and non-international armed conflict--the customary doctrine on recognition of belligerency functioned for almost 200 years as the definitive legal scheme for differentiating internal conflict from "civil wars," in which the law of war as applicable between states applied de jure. Employing a legal historical approach, this book describes the thematic and practical fundamentals of the doctrine, and analyzes some of the more significant challenges to its application. In doing so, it assesses whether, how, and why the doctrine on recognition of belligerency was considered "fit for purpose," and seeks to inform debate as to its continuity and utility within the modern scheme of the law of armed conflict.

Recognition is a fundamental aspect of all social interactions; between individuals, groups, local communities and sovereign states. Recognition refers to those sociological processes whereby two or more entities (such as states), groups (such as ethnic or cultural communities) or individuals interact with one another and come to understand themselves, and the other, as mutually free individuals: as social agents whose identities, interests and outlooks are equally bound together. Without the foundational act of recognition, relations can become unequal and antagonistic, leading to social pathologies, denigration and even open conflict. This volume brings together leading international scholars of recognition theory in world politics to discuss the potential for recognition to pacify relations between states, groups and individuals and to develop recognition processes in the global community. It examines the implications of recognition theory in helping to understand the problem of conflict and the possibilities for forging a form of global ethical community. This book was published as a special issue of Global Discourse.

Contemporary Political Theory: A Reader provides an accessible introduction to the key works of major contemporary political theorists. Key theorists and writers include John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Michael Walzer, Michael Sandel, Susan Okin, Will Kymlicka, Iris Marion Young, Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser and John Dryzek.

The aim of the CEEMAS conference series is to provide a biennial forum for the presentation of multi-agent research and development results. With its p- ticular geographicalorientation towards Central and Eastern Europe, CEEMAS has become an internationally recognised event with participants from all over the world. After the successful CEEMAS conferences in St. Petersburg (1999), Cracow (2001) and Prague (2003), the 2005 CEEMAS conference takes place in Budapest. The programme committee of the conference series consists of est- lished researchers from the region and renowned international colleagues, sh- ing the prominent rank of CEEMAS among the leading events in multi-agent systems. In the very competitive ?eld of agent oriented conferences and workshops nowadays(suchasAAMAS,WI/IAT,EUMAS,CIA,MATES)thespecialpro?le of CEEMAS is that it is trying to bridge the gap between applied research achievements and theoretical research activities. Our ambition is to provide a forum for presenting theoretical research with an evident application potential, implemented application prototypes and their properties, as well as industrial case studies of successful (but also unsuccessful) agent technology deployments. This is why the CEEMAS proceedings volume provides a collection of research and application papers. The technical research paper section of the proceedings (see pages 11–499) contains pure research papers as well as research results in application settings while the application papers section (see pages 500–530) contains papers focused on application aspects. The goal is to demonstrate the real life value and commercial reality of multi-agent systems as well as to foster communication between academia and industry in this ?eld.