Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 1994. The length of the article is 4471 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Danilo Kis believes that technique is a major component of his writing and dreads the prospect of repeating himself technically. One reason for the gap between his works is his need to find and master a new technique after each one. Kis has come to think that politics and literature cannot mix well despite his strong feelings about Yugoslavian political issues. His 'Chagrins precoces;' 'Garden, Ashes;' and 'Hourglass' form an ensemble that explore Kis' familial and personal history as a Hungarian Jew. Kis acknowledges James Joyce's influence and is very interested in the debate pitting ethics against aesthetics.

Citation Details
Title: An interview with Danilo Kis. (Paul Auster/Danilo Kis)
Author: Brendan Lemon
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1994
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: v14Issue: n1Page: p107(10)

Article Type: Interview

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Product Description
John M. Nomikos is the Director of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS), based in Athens, Greece. He specialises in the reform of the Greek Intelligence Service, transatlantic intelligence studies, Greek-Israeli relations and the national security architectures. He has undertaken research and studied in various research institutions in USA, UK, Norway, Germany and Finland. He recently pursues his post-doctoral research on Greek-Israeli-Turkish Relations at the Bar Illan University in Israel. |His most recent publications are: "The Internal Modernisation of the Greek Intelligence Service (NIS-EYP- at the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence; and "European Union Intelligence Agency (EUIA): A Necessary Institution for Common Intelligence Policy", at the Contemporary Issues and Debates in EU Policy: The EU and Internal Relations, (ed) by Vassiliki Koustrakou, Manchester University Press, UK. ... Read more

Product Description
This rare, beautiful oversize, 225 page hardcover book is chock-full of Croatian photographer Damir Fabijanic's color shots of the sea. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1999, the United Nations embarked on a massive intervention in Kosovo.This book compares the fate of two adjacent municipalities two years into that intervention.Though similar in all key respects, by 2001 the municipalities were headed down markedly different paths—one making progress toward institution-building, democratization, and reconstruction, the other stagnating.

Drawing on extensive field research, the author shows that the successful municipality was able to bring together international organizations and local populations as part of a "network" organization.The lack of progress in the second municipality was due to the same organizations staying behind bureaucratic walls, and keeping local populations at a distance.In both municipalities, information and communication technologies contributed in surprising ways to the success or failure of the international efforts.

This book has relevance for interventions around the world, most obviously for the challenging situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the author develops policy recommendations in the concluding section.No other book on nation-building or democratization examines the daily behavior in an international intervention to answer the big question: How do you get from the chaos of a post-conflict society to one with functioning institutions? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Read!
Great read. Very accessabile to all interested in what the international community is doing in post-conflict societies.
How does a post-conflict society rebuilds itself in cooperation with international organizations and peace-keeping forces? Holohan answers this important question in the post 9/11 world in the context of two municipalities in Kosovo in 1999. Her research opens up a window into people's daily interactions in these two sites that lead to different results. Whereas one municipality cooperates with UN and other organizations, the other municipality carries on a culture of conflict. The key to understanding the difference lies in the level of trust, flexibility, cooperative problem solving tactics that emerges among the organizations and the people in these two sites.

Holohan's writing is lucid, multi-dimensional and intriguing. She shows the reader how countable democratic institutions emerge and are sustained in unstable societies. Her extensive and interesting field research answers macro as well as micro questions, a truly unique characteristic of good writing. The book is fascinating for policy-makers and sociologists as well as for general readers for its analysis of socio-emotional contents such as trust, friendship, bonds, and skillful problem solving strategies; issues we all face in our everyday encounters with institutions.

I particularly like Holohan's theoretical discussion (Chapter 2),transactive memory (chapter 6) and conclusion (chapter 8). Holohan explains complex theoretical issues in the most simple yet sophisticated manner.
Chapter 6 is about transactive memory, the glue that makes Information technology work in critical times. This chapter is interesting for all especially in this age when Information and computer technologies dominate our lives. Holohan brings back people's power back into this field. The conclusion ties in the micro analysis with the macro one intelligently.

Excellent case study in administration
Anne Holohan's book is a must-read for all managers, administrators, peacekeepers and development and aid workers. She takes two municipalities in Kosovo after the intervention in 1999 and compares how their paths towards development and reconstruction diverged. The book is fast-paced and eminently readable, particularly chapters 3 and 4 that are peppered with personal, and at the same time, relevant anecdotes. The second chapter that deals with sociological theory while of interest to academics can probably be skipped by the layperson.

As someone who had once, however briefly, entertained the idea of joining the Indian Administrative Service, this book makes me regret not pursuing that idea. It makes you want to get down to the ground and solve problems with results that are far more tangible than most people's jobs produce. Proper administration is key to development in Kosovo as in the rest of the world and this book uncovers the hidden factors and personalities behind a successful administration.

If there are any criticisms of the book they are that the book is sometimes too harsh on the administrators at Thezren and does not fully explore the drawbacks of Petersen's approach. However, these are minor nits and do not take away from the books readability and its understanding of administrative processes. ... Read more