National Homeland Research Articles

The Turkish-Armenian Historical Controversy: How to Name the Events of 1915?

:This article examines the debate involving Turkish and Armenian historiography about the fate of diverse Armenian communities in eastern Anatolia. It argues that the contemporary description of the events in 1915, especially the legal description, is much more important than the facts and the role of human agency in which these facts were produced. Armenian historiography scholars have moved to label the set of complicated events and processes as ‘genocide,’ and they seek to delegitimize any argument or factual case pointing outside the term of genocide as denialism. Scholars representing Turkish historiography, on the other hand, emphasize a different context of ethnic cleansing and massacres of the Muslims in the Balkans and their unintended consequences in Anatolia, while insisting on the role of major powers and Armenian revolutionary groups to carve out eastern Anatolia as an Armenian national homeland. The article explores how the Armenian side has urged judicial forums and countries to rewrite and reinterpret history in order to canonize its description of the events as genocide by ignoring the political context, intentions and policies of Armenian revolutionary organizations during that critical period. It proposes a path in which diametrically opposing sides can come together by humanizing the mutual suffering of each group and developing a shared language that encompasses the mutual impact of the events of 1915.

The possibility of held the state of southern Kurdistan In international equations between constituents and constraints

The possibility of an independent entity for the Kurds in southern Kurdistan as the rest of the world’s peoples, and from the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination, is not impossible, especially since the Kurds want a national homeland that collects their diaspora and reunites them. Language, traditions, history, etc. make the Kurds prefer to establish their own state, despite It's so difficult. According to an international perspective, there are a set of encouraging factors that represent a strong impetus for the establishment of the Southern Kurdistan state, and in return there are also many preventive factors that stand in the way of achieving this lofty goal.

The “Slovakization” of 19th-Century Migrants from Upper Hungary to the United States: A Case Study in the Politics of Language Use

AbstractUse of the Slovak literary language was central to the Slovak nationalist political movement in the Kingdom of Hungary before 1918. Yet beyond a Slovak nationalist intelligentsia of just 1,000 or so individuals, this idea had little purchase among the claimed nation of two million Slovak-speakers living in “Upper Hungary”—who Slovak nationalists typically understood as lacking sufficient “national consciousness” to support their political aims. As mass, transatlantic migration led to nearly half a million Slovak-speakers leaving Upper Hungary for the United States between 1870 and 1914, these linked issues of language use and “national consciousness” were carried over to the migrant colony. Rather than being a widely held sentiment among migrants from Upper Hungary, this article shows how Slovak national consciousness was generated within the Slovak American community in the final decades of the 19th century. This case study shows how a small group of nationalist leaders consciously promoted literary Slovak as the “print language” of the migrant colony to instill the idea of a common, Slovak nationhood among migrants living on the other side of the Atlantic—a project that helped in turn to create a Slovak national homeland in central Europe after the First World War.

How Homelands Change

Under what conditions do nations give up parts of their national homeland? This article answers this question using novel data that traces systematically the inclusion of lost homeland territory in discursive definitions of the homeland for all ethnic nationalist homelands truncated between 1945 and 1996. A survival analysis of the continued homeland status of lost lands shows that longer-lasting democracies are significantly less likely to continue to include lost lands within the homeland’s scope, even after controlling for other factors thought to shape the inclusion of territory in the homeland. Since the desire for the control of territory is at the heart of much international conflict, understanding the conditions under which the scope of that territory is redefined contributes to addressing an especially refractory aspect of international politics.

“To Build a New World”: Black American Internationalism and Palestine Solidarity

This essay traces the arc of Black American solidarity with Palestine, placing the phenomenon in the context of twentieth-century African American internationalism. It sketches the evolution of the political imaginary that enabled Black activists to depict African Americans and Palestinians as compatriots within global communities of dissent. For more than half a century, Black internationalists identified with Zionism, believing that the Jewish bid for a national homeland paralleled the African American freedom struggle. During the 1950s and 1960s, however, colonial aggression in the Middle East led many African American progressives to rethink the analogy. In the late 1960s and the 1970s, African American dissidents operating within the nexus of Black nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and Third Worldism constructed powerful theories of Afro-Palestinian kinship. In so doing, they reimagined or transcended bonds of color, positing anti-imperialist struggle, rather than racial affinity, as the precondition of camaraderie.

Nuclear Legitimacy: Why Insurgents Seek and Destroy Nuclear Technology

Scholars observe that we know little about what motivates non-state actors’ strategic interest in nuclear technology. This article argues that insurgents with ideological ambitions to form new states adopt acquisitive or destructive interests because nuclear power is a symbol of state legitimacy. State-seeking insurgents—separatists and revolutionaries—require domestic constituencies to recognize them as legitimate sovereigns. However, they differ in their need for international legitimation. Separatists’ demand for international acceptance deters them from pursuing nuclear weapons, which poses an international security threat. They will nonetheless attack the state’s nuclear facilities in areas they consider their national homeland to assert the legitimacy of their claims over these regions. Since revolutionaries do not expect international acceptance, they can pursue nuclear technology to enhance their legitimacy among key domestic audiences. Statistical analysis and qualitative examination support these hypotheses.

Migration Wars in the Traditional Igbo Society and the Challenges of National Security: The Abakaliki Experience, 1800-1920

Traditionally, state formation was characterized with wars of different magnitude. The nature, types and causes of the war differed from one state to another. The Igbo nation was one of those areas that witnessed migratory wars arising from state formation, land dispute, slave raiding and boundary crises. Considering the fact that the Igbo history of origin underpins diverse integrations and accounts, one can say that some Igbo sub-groups at different times, fought different wars with one another in search of national homeland. The outcome of these wars underscores the migration and settlement that predated the Igbo nation before the 18^th century wars, particularly the Ezza that are scattered all over Nigeria. The continuous movement of these people and many other Igbo sub-groups has led to the intermittent wars that characterized Nigerian state. This manifested in boundary disputes between several Igbo groups with her neighbours such as Ikwo-Nsobo and Osopo of Cross River State, Izzi –Osopo and Yala of Cross River State and Mgbo-Igala of Benue State. Evidences of these wars translated into indigene/settlers’ question that tend to decimate Nigeria’s nation. Against this background therefore, this paper seeks to interrogate how war of migrations in the traditional Igbo societies have continued to challenge Nigeria’s national security. The position of this paper is that, war is a natural phenomenon that can still occur despite migration, but the inability of the National Boundary Adjustment Commission to embark on complete interstate boundary adjustment increases the volume of wars, thus, challenging the Nigeria’s national security. Hence, the paper concluded by arguing that wars that challenge Nigeria’s national security are man-made and could be avoided if the Nigerian state rises to take up her responsibilities.

The Conceptual Representations of the Jewish Personality in the International Cinema (Munich film as a model)

This study deals with the intellectual representations whose intellectual systems are incarnated in the Jewish personality, which is considered one of the complex intellectual systems that has caused controversy throughout the ages because of the ambiguity due to the religious and psychological factors that were reflected directly and strongly on the intellectual structure of the Jewish community in general and the Jewish - Zionist personality in particular, in an attempt (to create new dimensions embodied by intellectual representations of a human nature embodied by what that - peaceful - religiously oppressed - psychologically and socially isolated character presents, because of the curse of the peoples of the world that was a cause for its isolation. The researcher, in this study, dealt with three sections:The first section: Dramatic characterThe second section: the intellectual dimension of the dramatic characterThe third section: Jewish character in dramaThe study was based on the analysis of the Munich film, which focuses on the idea of the national homeland of the Jews and the portrayal of the Jewish character with human dimensions that seek to achieve peaceful coexistence and rejection of the terrorist ideology practiced against them by the world in general and the Arabs in particular.

The political leader as online brother

Abstract ‘Lacking for most of Jewish history a national homeland’, wrote Rabbi Jill Jacobs, ‘Jews have instead focused on creating holy space within their own personal dwellings’. Indeed, the home is the place where much of Jewish life takes place, which explains the electoral success in recent years of Israel’s ‘Jewish Home’ party, presenting itself as guardian of the home and the homeland, both of which are endowed with holiness. In this article, I follow the process in which the party leader, media-savvy Naftali Bennett, has used his Facebook posts to turn his followers into a brotherhood and himself into the beloved brother. I argue that the transformation of the leader into an online brother, made possible by new digital media, poses a danger to Israeli politics. The deliberative democratic process in which people are related but also separated enough to maintain their individual persona turns into an illusionary brotherly bond that may lead to tyranny of the kind associated by Hannah Arendt with the pre-political household.

Religious-Zionism and Gender: 70 Years of Redefining the Identity of Women in the Military, Religious, and Public Spheres

Religious-Zionism and Gender:70 Years of Redefining the Identity of Women in the Military, Religious, and Public Spheres Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman (bio) On 13 May 1948, the day before the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel and at the height of the War of Independence, 39 young Religious-Zionist women from the Gush Etzion kibbutzim, mostly single, but also some married women and mothers, serving as medics, coordinators, and guards were captured by the Jordanians.1 Despite the tragedy, this event may be perceived as epitomizing the new identity the Religious-Zionist women gained during the British Mandate; an identity which was expressed in their participation in the security, political, and organizational aspects of the traditionally "male" public space. Originally stemming from a desire to share in the national struggle with the men, this involvement became the platform for the development of new gender relations within the Religious-Zionist sector.2 "We, the religious pioneer movement, have revolutionized the status of the woman within traditional religious society, taking pride in the fact that we have not impinged upon classical Jewish ethics in the process," asserted Moshe Una, a Hapoel Hamizrahi MK, in a Knesset debate in the wake of which female conscription became mandatory in 1949.3 The creation of the State, however, redirected Religious-Zionist history yet again. While many aspects of gender relations reverted to their previous status, in the 1980s the place and position of the religious woman and revolutionary and feminist initiatives became the subject of increasing discussion. This debate still revolves around three major issues: military service, Torah-study and women's participation in religious activities, and [End Page 152] self-organization by religious women on behalf of women and women's rights. The article addresses these three areas and the developments that have occurred within them over the 70 years since the establishment of the State. ON THE EVE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE: REVOLUTIONARY GENDER INITIATIVES ON A NATIONAL PLATFORM The distinctive female identity that developed within the Religious-Zionist sector in Mandate Palestine was formed against the backdrop of the heterogeneous social nature of the Yishuv. While constituting an integral part of the new society, Religious-Zionists sought to preserve a traditional lifestyle. The constant tension they experienced between the new and the old directly affected the image of women that developed within it, many looking for ways to maintain the traditional patriarchalism predicated on gender division while also espousing a new set of gender relations for the nascent Jewish sovereign State. Calling for the mobilization of all available resources, the national struggle for the establishment of the State created a window of opportunity for projects that, retrospectively, may be termed feminist. Religious women formed female organizations as a way of contributing to the Religious-Zionist enterprise and the advancement of women alike. Institutions were created to assist the integration of immigrants and educate young religious girls, many women also entering professional training courses. Running on independent religious lists, religious female representatives were appointed to elected assemblies, participated in the settlement enterprise, and established kibbutzim, their daughters studying Talmud from a young age together with their brothers in a clean break from tradition. Religious-Zionist women joined various branches of the defense forces, acting in diverse capacities therein, 20 falling in the War of Independence. While many acted out of a sense of nationalist identification rather than a desire for gender equality, they heavily impacted the self-image of religious women and recognition of their abilities. In general, Religious-Zionist women in Mandate Palestine conceived their personal, religious, and national purpose as motherhood. Some, however, also sought to change the image of society and the place of women therein, calling for gender equality while retaining the spirit of Judaism. Promoting equal education for both sexes, they believed that [End Page 153] women could move beyond the confines of the home and help establish the national homeland. This being in part a response to the fledgling national revival, it may be perceived as a "conditional feminism" fueled by specific circumstances.4 It was also marked by a contradictory desire to establish and assume new feminine...

Media and Political Propaganda: Radio Cairo in the Era of Sadat Analytical Study

The purpose of this study to examine the role of Radio Cairo as propaganda and political persuasion tools for Egypt’s foreign policy in the era of President Sadat.The study used content analysis as a research tool to examine how the Egyptian media used propaganda techniques in communicating messages to the Arab audiences in the Middle East in issue regarding Egypt’s leadership in the peace process; the right of the Palestinian people for a national homeland; and Israel’s right to exist. The Arabic materials and the scripts of Radio Cairo programming during three- weeks used for analysis.Egyptian media concentrated mainly on six major techniques in communicating their messages to the Arab people regarding the Camp David agreements and the separate peace treaty with Israel, which included the following: Focusing Attention or Spotlighting; Testimonial, Division and Name calling; Self-Interest or Ad Hominem; Omission of Material; and Bandwagon.The study concluded that, Radio Cairo had notable success in affecting the audiences and public opinion therein. The majority of Egyptian people greeted Sadat’s decision to visit Israel and the Camp David Agreements with relief and approval. They hailed Sadat as the “Peace Hero” and the “Savior of the Masses”. Radio Cairo also played a highly important role in bringing the people of the Middle East, including the Israel’s, closer to peace by stimulating positive thinking. Finally, Radio Cairo helped to make Israel for the first time, acceptable to the Arabs, particularly the moderate Arab states and to the Egyptian people themselves.

Historical Books: Joshua–2 Kings

Historical BooksJoshua–2 Kings Thomas Hieke, Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, Jaime A. Banister, William J. Urbrock, Francis M. Macatangay, Richard A. Taylor, and Paul R. Redditt 1683. [Dtr] Jean-Pierre Sonnet, "The Siege of Jerusalem between Rhetorical Maximalism (Deuteronomy 28) and Narrative Minimalism (2 Kings 25)," Fall of Jerusalem, 73-86 [see #2004]. S. treats the literary relationship between the description of Jerusalem's siege and fall in 2 Kings 25 and Deuteronomy 28. According to S., already the narrative in 2 Kings 22 directs the reader to the Book of Deuteronomy, especially chap. 28. As Josiah deciphered the fate of Jerusalem by relating this to the curses of the Torah book, the reader is called to make sense of the ending of 2 Kings in terms of Deuteronomy—in particular the curses in Deuteronomy 28 and the prospect of return in Deuteronomy 29–30. Josiah's reading of the mysterious book is a mise en abyme of these interpretative operations in the coordination of 2 Kings and Deuteronomy. An analogy to this process occurs with the figure of Joshua (see Josh 1:8). At key junctures, the Deuteronomy–Kings sequence evokes elements of cross-reference and parallel reading. Finally, S. comments on the ending of the references to the [End Page 553] Annals of the Kings of Judah: "At the demise of royal historiography, the Deuteronomic Torah book is what provides the fall of Jerusalem with its authorized written legend. In that sense, the fall of Jerusalem indeed means the rise of the Torah" (p. 85).—T.H. 1684. [Joshua] L. Daniel Hawk, "The Myth of the Emptied Land: Biblical Conquest and American Nationalism," W&W 37 (2017) 252-62. Many people see similarities between the story of the Conquest in the Book of Joshua and America's expansion across North America. To be sure, however, neither land was empty when the occupiers "found" it. What drove Americans to erase the indigenous presence from conquered lands and from the nation's vision? The erasure of the indigenous presence was a means to transform a conquered land into a national homeland, in a way that camouflaged un-biblical practices. Part of that camouflage involved erecting monuments, shrines, and memorials, and reverencing them as sites where national identity was "won" for future generations of white people. Some politicians want to "Make America Great Again," but how far back would they need to go to find truly moral policies toward the human beings who were here before us? New policies of erasure try to persuade us that we have every right to build walls, deport the undocumented, block immigrants, and dismiss the concerns of minority groups. However, if we fail to examine and critique nationalist myths and symbols, the United States will likely try to "solve" new domestic and global challenges by rehearsing the same old destructive scripts. Against this background, H. seeks to show how the Book of Joshua can be problematized and read against the grain, so that the above challenges come into sharper focus, and he contends for a reading of the canonical Book of Joshua in which wrestling over the identity of the people of God is finally separated from the idols of land, race, and civil religion.—F.W.G. 1685. [Joshua] Paul Hinlicky, "The Theology of the Divine Warrior in the Book of Joshua," W&W 37 (2017) 271-80. Genocide in the name of the Lord? Obsession with matters of identity and boundaries at the expense of the Other? Conflicts over proper worship and religious pluralism? We could add to that list of questions raised by the Book of Joshua the bizarre exchange at the conclusion of the book. After recounting how the people obeyed Joshua in their sweeping victory over the Canaanites, the book culminates with a reproach. Joshua asserts that the people, who have just sworn their everlasting fidelity to God, cannot and will not keep the covenant (Josh 24:19-20). The Book of Joshua it seems, cannot make up its mind about what story it is trying to tell! In NT terms, we could say that Joshua, the book's protagonist...

The Cherokee Diaspora: An Indigenous History of Migration, Resettlement, and Identity

The Cherokees are usually portrayed as settled, farming Indian peoples living in villages across the Appalachian South. But as Gregory Smithers, an associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University, shows, that lasted only until English and American colonizers arrived, and soon the Cherokees found themselves a divided, migrating people. As early as the mid-1700s, in a first diaspora, culturally conservative Cherokees streamed to the trans-Mississippi West to escape American “colonial” pressures. It was this stream of Indian migrants between the 1780s and 1830s that made Andrew Jackson see southeastern Indians as a wandering, transitory people who needed to be replaced by equally wandering and transitory American settlers. Smithers blames “settler colonialism”—violence, trade dependency, Christianization, land loss, and the eventual creation of a politically organized Cherokee Nation—for this and future diasporas and the questions of identity that came with them.By the late 1830s, because of colonialism, the Cherokees found themselves split geographically between the Cherokee Old Settlers across the Mississippi River and the Cherokee Nation in the east, but also culturally into Traditionalists who wanted to observe the old Cherokee ways and Progressives who adopted aspects of American culture. The Trail of Tears in 1839, a second diaspora, forced the large and diverse Cherokee Nation to join the Old Settler Traditionalists and the Treaty Party Progressives in their new “political homeland” in northeastern Indian Territory. In order to protect the lands and resources of their new homeland, the Cherokee Nation was now forced to deal with questions about place and identity. Where was the homeland? Could one be a Cherokee and not live in the Cherokee homeland? Who was or could become a Cherokee? Were all “Cherokees” citizens of the Cherokee Nation?The Civil War, which created a third Cherokee diaspora, only exacerbated these questions of identity. After the war, as white settler “intruders” and black freedmen “refugees” claimed to be Cherokees—some honestly, some fraudulently—they also demanded a part of the nation’s resources. Officials in the Cherokee Nation now tried to establish an official Cherokee identity and citizenry. But place and race came to play a much greater role in determining Cherokee citizenship than Traditionalist or Progressive. By the late 1800s, from its national homeland in Indian Territory, the nation declared that North Carolina Cherokees, who lived in the ancient homeland, were not citizens of the nation. The Cherokee Citizenship Commission established stricter guidelines for those applying for Cherokee citizenship, and one not only had to show time living in the political homeland but also needed other Cherokee citizens to vouch for one’s Cherokee identity and heredity. African Cherokees, many of them former slaves and others who had married Cherokees and had long lived within the nation, were expressly forbidden to become Cherokee citizens. But so were many white claimants denied as they had never lived inside the Cherokee Nation.However, Cherokee identity could not be chained by just place, race, or citizenship. Cherokees traveled the world, migrated to other countries, and settled across the United States, a fourth diaspora in itself. Though far from the homeland, they stressed their Cherokee identity. While the nation might prohibit whites or African Cherokees from obtaining Cherokee citizenship, it could not stop them from claiming Cherokee “blood” or a Cherokee identity, citizenship or not.Well researched and well written, Smithers’s book has had him crossing the world looking for Cherokees. Though the information on the actual diasporas is not necessarily new, his willingness to take on the tough topic of Cherokee identity makes this an important book. Unfortunately, the Cherokee Nation, plagued by the same racism as white America, does not always come out looking pretty.

Water Contamination Incident Response & Recovery Research at EPA’s National Homeland Security Research Center

Water Contamination Incident Response & Recovery Research at EPA’s National Homeland Security Research Center

Follow the money: international donors, external homelands and their effect on Romani media and advocacy

ABSTRACTWhile Roma are both Europe’s largest minority, there is no “homeland” state that claims to guard their interest. The lack of “an external national homeland” [Brubaker, R. 1996. Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] to watchdog and safeguard their rights has a particular effect on how Roma engage as political actors and subjects. International donors/foundations have assumed the role of “external homeland”. This article explores the effect that donors’ funding priorities have on Romani advocacy – specifically Romani journalism. Drawing upon multi-sited fieldwork in five countries, extensive document analysis, and interviews, Idemonstrate that the change in Romani media content over the past two decades reflects the shift in funders’ priorities, particularly in relation to the European project. “The Roma” become a tool for donors and European institutions to build a “European” identity while Romani-led advocacy becomes increasingly marganilized.

Luminescent metal-organic frameworks for nitro explosives detection

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been emerging as important multifunctional hybrid materials, not only due to the diversify framework architectures, but also contribute to the rich interactions among metals, ligands and guests. Nitro explosives have important influences for environmental protection and national homeland security. In this review, a brief description of luminescent MOFs is presented, accompanied by a short comment on the four types of metal-based luminescent MOFs as sensing materials for nitro explosives detection. Then the trends and challenges of luminescent MOFs as sensing materials for nitro explosives are also prospected.

Estrangement and Selfhood in the Classical Concept of Waṭan

The modern Arabic term for national homeland, waṭan, derives its sense from the related yet semantically different usage of this term in classical Arabic, particularly in classical Arabic poetry. In modern usage, waṭan refers to a politically defined, visually memorialized territory whose expanse is cognized abstractly rather than through personal experience. The modern waṭan is the geopolitical locus of national identity. The classical notion of waṭan, however, is rarely given much geographical content, although it usually designates a relatively localized area on the scale of a neighborhood, town, or village. More important than geographical content is the subjective meaning of the waṭan, in the sense of its essential place in the psyche of an individual. The waṭan (also mawṭin, awṭān), both in poetry and other types of classical writing, is strongly associated with the childhood/youth and primary love attachments of the speaker. This sense of waṭan is thus temporally defined as much as spatially, and as such can be seen as an archetypal instance of the Bakhtinian chronotope, one intrinsically associated with nostalgia and estrangement. The waṭan, as the site of the classical self’s former plenitude, is by definition lost or transfigured and unrecoverable, becoming an attachment that must be relinquished for the sake of virtue and glory. This paper argues that the bivalency of the classical waṭan chronotope, recoverable through analysis of poetic and literary texts, allows us to understand the space and time of the self in classical Arabic literature and how this self differs from that presupposed by modern ideals of patriotism.

Estrangement and Selfhood in the Classical Concept of Waṭan

The modern Arabic term for national homeland, waṭan, derives its sense from the related yet semantically different usage of this term in classical Arabic, particularly in classical Arabic poetry. In modern usage, waṭan refers to a politically defined, visually memorialized territory whose expanse is cognized abstractly rather than through personal experience. The modern waṭan is the geopolitical locus of national identity. The classical notion of waṭan, however, is rarely given much geographical content, although it usually designates a relatively localized area on the scale of a neighborhood, town, or village. More important than geographical content is the subjective meaning of the waṭan, in the sense of its essential place in the psyche of an individual. The waṭan (also mawṭin, awṭān), both in poetry and other types of classical writing, is strongly associated with the childhood/youth and primary love attachments of the speaker. This sense of waṭan is thus temporally defined as much as spatially, and as such can be seen as an archetypal instance of the Bakhtinian chronotope, one intrinsically associated with nostalgia and estrangement. The waṭan, as the site of the classical self’s former plenitude, is by definition lost or transfigured and unrecoverable, becoming an attachment that must be relinquished for the sake of virtue and glory. This paper argues that the bivalency of the classical waṭan chronotope, recoverable through analysis of poetic and literary texts, allows us to understand the space and time of the self in classical Arabic literature and how this self differs from that presupposed by modern ideals of patriotism.

Heighten Utility Security with Infrastructure Software Tools

The US Environmental Protection Agency's National Homeland Security Research Center offers software tools to support water utility security, operations, and resilience.

Coordination polymers based on Mn(II) and BPNO with selective and recyclable sensing of nitroaromatics

Detection of nitroaromatic compounds as both potential explosives and environmental pollutants is important for national homeland security, environmental protection or military applications. Current detection methods are based on some sophisticated instruments including energy dispersive X-ray diffraction, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, nuclear quadrupole resonance, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, neutron activation analysis, electron capture detection, and cyclic voltammetry. These instruments are very expensive and not easily accessible in most conditions. As a simpler, quicker and less expensive method, the sensitive optical detection could potentially be widely employed. The coordination polymers (CPs) could be efficiently modulated by both analyte-metal and analyte-ligand interactions. Thus the CP-based fluorescent detection of nitro-explosives displays fast, sensitive and reversible compared with other methods. It is necessary to rationally design and synthesize appropriate ligands to prepare the stable and bifunctional CPs. In this work, three Mn(II) coordination polymers [Mn2(1,4-NDC)2(BPNO)2(H2O)6·(BPNO)3] n ( 1 , 1,4-H2NDC=1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, BPNO=1,2-Bis(4-pyridyl)- N , N ′-dioxide), [Mn2(BPNO)(1,4-NDC)2·