THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ANCIENT WORLD HISTORY

1.Date:August 25-29,1997(Monday-Friday),fora duration of 5 days including a one-dayvisit to the Xianghai Bird Reserve2 Venue:Northeast Normal UniversityChangchun,Northeast of P.R.China3. Sponsorship:Northeast Normal University andThe Society of Ancient World History in China(SAWHC).4. Topics:The main topics are as follows:(1) The Origins and Rise of AncientCivilizations(2) The Nature and Characteristics ofAncient Civilizations(3) The Features and Aspects of VariousAncient Civilizations:a. Economy b. Social Conditionsc. Politics d. Religions e. Historiographyf. Science and Philosophy g. Literatureh. Archaeology and Art i. Family andWomen＇s Status(4) The Development and Connections ofAncient

Understanding Globalization. The Inter-Parliamentary Union From the Late Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century

The Inter-Parliamentary Union was formed in 1889, gathering, initially, 38 British and French parliamentarians. The IPU （guided, from 1901 up to 1908, by Fredreric Passy and William Randall Cremer）, was to support and reinforce the objective of extending arbitration as a ＇peaceful tool＇ for resolving the dispute between states. The aftermath of the First World War marked a decisive step forward in the development of a strong liberal internationalist milieux which promoted a peaceful order based on the international rule of law. This paper summarizes some issues of ongoing research and it focuses on two key topics： the rise of parliamentary control of foreign policy and the making of ＇parliamentary diplomacy＇. Besides, it tried to elucidate, from another point of view, the political building of ＇transnational and peaceful politics＇ aimed at the growth of peaceful and ＇progressive＇ social relations among States and how the ＇peaceful politics＇ are subjects that engage the complexity and the deep-rooted issues of State facing to the ＇first globalization＇ and the ＇end of century crisis＇.

Analysis on China Cotton Market

China is the world＇s largest cotton producer and consumer and its domestic cotton demand and supply have a great influence on the world market. This paper firstly gives a discussion on Chinese cotton market, especially from a viewpoint of history to study domestic market price fluctuation. The cotton market history from E R. China＇s setting up to present has been divided into four stages and characterized as different agricultural policies applications and economic periodicities. Concluding from the history, artificial influences may be the most important reason of market inequilibrium, up to now, market and artificial interruption, are also the key problem. Then it takes domestic cotton demand as a study object, trying to find what will be a statistic significant cotton demand in national level and it＇s underneath demand frame. Through a seres of analysis on the demand frame, problems have been clearly displayed, an open microeconomic circulation supports our study and six variables had been described by statistics. Therefore, we can analyze the cases of real cotton demand that includes supply and demand reactions in China with experience and estimations. Otherwise, international cotton market is greatly interacted with Chinese domestic market more and more today. Some necessary analysis, such as international cotton supply and demand, Chinese cotton stock policy and world price long run tendency, are very important factors for Chinese cotton development. Those may concern Chinese access to WTO, cotton trade quota and tariff, welfare comparison, etc., all have been discussed in the paper.

Sentry Box in the Backyard: Analysis of French Military Bases in Africa

Foreign military bases are the important means for power projection.In Africa,military bases represent the symbol of France’s sphere of influence,which have strengthened France’s protection of her economic,political,cultural,overseas national and security interests.The bases are of great significance to enhance French intervention capabilities,making France the most influential external power in the African continent.After the upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011,France will likely want to return to North Africa militarily and seek to restore a military presence in the region within a multilateral framework,with the objective of linking her domestic Toulon naval base with her military presence in North Africa,Gabon,the Ivory Coast,Djibouti,and Abu Dhabi,thus making France a dominant player in the“Arc of Instability”which extends from West Africa to the Persian Gulf.