American Research Journal of History and Culture

Dr. Adelina Nexhipi* & Phd

Parliamentary elections of May 26th, 1996 in Albania were held in a deeply polarized political environment; they were associated with multiple tensions during the pre-election period, the Election Day and post-election period as well. The voting process and the results of the elections were opposed by the oppositions and criticized by the international institutions. Election processes in post-communist Albania have been associated continuously with multiple legal, procedural, administrating problems, but May 26th elections, as never seen before, were declared publicly and decisively as against election standards, Government’s responsibilities and political interventions in the process as stated by the international observers. According to them, 32 out of 79 election law’s articles were violated. The elections qualified as “a step backwards to the democratization process”, deepened the political crisis in Albania and ignored major problems already prevailing in Albania. This paper attempts to describe, analyze and evaluate the parliamentary elections held in May 26th, 1996 as seen from a legal, procedural and political point of view and their effects on political crisis in Albania. To reach this objective, the present descriptive - analytical paper was prepared through researching, synthetizing and analyzing efforts and based on documents and reports of Albanian and international institutions, studies conducted by Albanian and foreign scholars, testimonials and interviews of the protagonists, etc. 

Dennis Song

The government’s perceptions and attitudes of their ethnic minorities are in close relation with the ethnic minorities’ welfare policies, and also affect the public’s perception of ethnic minorities. Therefore a government’s definition and attitudes are crucial to maintaining national stability. For instance, Canada is a multi-nation state, comprising multiple ethnic groups in one country, with the two most influential as the French Canadians and the English-Canadians. French and English Canadians are majority ethnic groups while there are many other minority ethnic groups such as the First Nations. The People’s Republic of China is also a multi-nation state, although the biggest ethnic group, the Hans, comprise 98% of the entire population.11 Although all nations have their own cultural cognition - common descent, history, culture, and language - both Canada and China have their own unique definition for their minority nations: Canada’s minority nations are the Aboriginal People of Canada 22, and China’s minority nations are the 55 officially recognized ethnic groups other than the Han people. This essay aims to compare the official perceptions and attitudes of ethnic minorities in China and Canada, hoping to clarify the relationship between ethnic minorities and mainstream ethnic groups, and help the general public to understand them, hence promoting harmonious societal development.

Naess, Halvor MD, PhD 

Creativity means the formation or discovery of something that is new, surprising and valuable (true, meaningful, beautiful, useful). Products of creativity include innovations, economic goods, and institutions underlying economic growth. It has previously been shown that creativity in all domains is based on selectionist mechanisms dependent on discrete representation such as the alphabet. Using historical data on energy capture as a proxy for economic growth, this paper shows that positive economic growth the last 11,000 years was significantly associated with the sophistication of information technology and literacy rate, but not state or society organization (despotic, non-despotic or anarchic). 

Endris Ali Haider

Ethiopians were described by travelers and missionaries from a large number of European countries at different times. Attracted by the great natural feature of the country or influenced by the writings and sayings of their own compatriots, many European travelers and missionaries had visited the country at different times and had left a descriptive work about the people, religion, social condition and various aspects of the Abyssinia. The very good nature of their existence in Ethiopia is that they have produced accounts on the various encounters of the country. Their accounts have been used by many researchers as firsthand information. The missionaries and travelers descriptive work, however, is characterized by some kinds of prejudices and stereotypes towards Islam and the Muslims of Ethiopia. In fact such prediction is expected when assessing the value of such kind of literatures. This is because they are not professional writers and hence their judgment inevitably could be influenced by either their own personal beliefs or any other factor. This article deals with the misnomer description of European travelers and missionaries towards Islam and the Muslims of Ethiopia from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Sources for this study were used by making a meticulous analysis of various travel accounts in corroboration with other secondary materials. 

Dagnachew Tolessa , Negash Abebe

This article primarily focuses on Historical and Anthropological study of Natural Hot Springs: Healing ways and its role to Health Tourism, in Oromia Special Zone, Amhara Regional State. The roles of natural hot springs as an important natural resource in health, wellness and health tourism with special consideration of the health and wellness sector are also got emphasis. Besides, elements of the hot spring experience were examined including their historical and cultural background and their contribution to the health and medical tourism. This contribute to knowledge about the role of natural hot springs in tourism which will support and add value to the discussion about health and medical tourism as an area of increasing importance in national medical tourism. There have been some attempts to study the natural hot springs which found in Amhara Regional State and Oromia Special Zone. They tried to assess temperature gradient, anthropogenic impacts, physicochemical parameters and other environmental variables on macro invertebrate communities. Likewise, others focus on the study of natural radio activity level in water and soil at Kemissie Hot Spring, North-Eastern Ethiopia. Their study emphasis on evaluation of the level of radio activity in soil and water collected from Kemissie Hot Springs by using high resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. However, until now, there is no comprehensive study that deeply examines the healing ways and the role of natural hot spring in health tourism or wellness tourism. Thus, this article is intended to fill this gap left in particular emphasis on the natural hot springs found in the districts of Jille Dhumuga (Aweyitu), Dawachefa (Borkena) and Bati (Chachatu) which are found in Oromia Special Zone of Amhara Regional State .The findings of the study revealed that even though the Zone has a plenty of natural hot springs, they did not get proper protection, attention and developments which disable them to give maximum profits both for the local society and the country in general. In making this study, wecame acrosswith serious shortage of written sources or literatures in relation to the hot springs. The scarcity of written materials obliged us to use other sources like pamphlets, which we found in some government offices. Also, we tried our best in using other different literatures that are, in one way or another, related to our topic.

Endalkachew Lelisa Duressa 

This review primarily focuses on ‘Environmental Dynamics and its impact on Agricultural Sustainability in some vulnerable areas of Ethiopia since 1900’s’. The Significance of this study is to review and provide a summary of existing works of several authors and their perspectives on the environmental changing aspect over periods and the impact of the environment on human livelihood. To understand the problem of environmental change over periods, it is better to have historical knowledge through studying human impact on the environment and environmental impact on human livelihood. The data in this review consisted of both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are obtained from concerned informants who have direct relationships with agriculture and the environments. Secondary sources in this study also consisted of both published and unpublished data from several disciplines related to environmental history. Collected data would be described, expressed and articulated qualitatively. All the data would be reviewed carefully and interpreted accordingly. The findings of the study revealed that different man-made and natural factors could be attributed to changes in the physical environment. In the past, it seems that only small efforts have been made up to date with the Environmental concern in Ethiopia. As a result, environmental degradation is responsible for the socioeconomic impacts of human livelihood. Today the government has been giving significant value to environmental conservation and management. The government attempts to address the environmental challenges that the country has been facing and suggests possible solutions to overcome, and hence move towards more sustainable development. Therefore, this review could be considered as a stepping stone for environmentalists and policy planners in making any particular policies and strategies in environmental impact management in Ethiopia.

Brijish Jahan , Parvez Ahmad

Situated on the northern extremity of India, the state of Jammu and Kashmir occupied a very important and strategical position in the Political map of the British Indian Empire. Its boundaries extend from the northern outskirts of the vast plains of Punjab to the point where the borders of independent powers of Russia and China almost touch British India. The independent kingdom of Afghanistan meets it on the North West. The valley of Kashmir seems to occupy a position of the very highest importance with reference to the safety of British India, for it may be looked upon as an entrenched camp situated on the flank of any force attempting the invasion of the empire from the west, while it lies directly on the road of an enemy advancing by the routes from Badakshan, Kashgar and Yarkand.

Jeremy Cheng

 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is challenged by constant political violence, economic instability, and a variety ofhumanitarian crises. This can be attributed in part to the educational system in the country, which has been adversely affectednot only by colonial influence but by ongoing corruption and turbulent political change as well. As the parties controlling the DRC changed, so too did the nation’s educational system. Prior to being overtakenby King Leopold II in 1884–85 and then Belgium in 1908, King Afonso I provided his Kongo kingdom with a beneficial education system. The education system implemented by Leopoldsought toreinforce his own economic interests rather than educate the people under his rule. Belgian colonial rule was slow to improve the state of education in the region.In 1960, the Congo’s first native leader, Patrice Lumumba, achieved independence for the nation. Lumumba’s proposals left behind an educational legacy that flourished shortly after his death;however, the systemwas not maintained by subsequent puppet leaders such as MobutuSeseSeko and Laurent-DésiréKabila. Ultimately, the Congo’s plagued educational system is not only invariably linked to its ever-changing political and economic states, but also to the historical impressions left by its leaders throughout history.

Ali MS1,2*, James M1

The Bangladesh Liberation War was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide in East Pakistan. This resulted in the unification of Bangladesh’s People’s Republic. The war began after the West Pakistani military junta launched Operation Searchlight on the night of 25 March 1971 against the citizens of East Pakistan. This sought the systematic removal of civilians, teachers, intelligentsia, religious minorities, and armed personnel from Bengali nationalism. The junta annulled the election results in 1970 and arrested Sheik Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister-designate. The war ended on December 16, 1971, after the surrender of West Pakistan. Following nine months of war against the government of the Pakistani army, Bangladesh took its place in the world map as a sovereign country.