From war service to domestic service: ex-servicewomen and the Free Passage Scheme 1919-22

At the end of the First World War, the British government put into operation a Free Passage Scheme for ex-servicemen, ex-servicewomen and their dependants to emigrate to the colonies and dominions of the Empire. This scheme was driven by a complex network of interlinked beliefs and policies concerning both the relationship between the metropole and the Empire, and the perceived necessity for social stability in Britain and in the dominions and colonies. This article examines the Free Passage Scheme, paying particular attention to the ways in which it was envisaged as a means of restoring a gendered balance of the population in Britain, where young women outnumbered young men at the end of the war, and in the dominions, where men outnumbered women, and was also seen as a way of emigrating women whose wartime work experiences were understood to be in conflict with gendered identities in the post-war period. The article argues that the Free Passage Scheme needs to be understood as gendered, as it envisaged the transformation of female members of the auxiliary wartime services into domestic servants for the Dominions. The scheme's failure, it is argued, prefigures the failure of the far larger Empire Settlement Act of 1922 to emigrate large numbers of British women as domestic servants.     

"Confinement of the higher orders": the social role of private lunatic asylums in Ireland, C. 1820-60

The period 1820-60 marked an era of transition and diversity in Ireland that rapidly transformed the face of Irish society. Inextricably linked with these processes was the expansion of Ireland's private asylum system. This system diverged from its British counterpart both in the socioeconomic cohort it served and in the role it played within the mental health-care system as a whole. The implementation of the 1842 Private Asylums (Ireland) Act, the first legislative measure geared exclusively toward the system, highlighted the growing importance of private care in Ireland as well as providing for the licensing and regulation of these institutions for the first time. To date, historians of Irish medicine have focused almost exclusively on the pauper insane. This article aims to shift this emphasis toward other categories of the Irish insane through exploration of the Irish private asylum system, its growth throughout the period, and the social profile of private patients. I shall also interrogate the trade in lunacy model through exploration of financial considerations, discharge and recovery rates, and conditions of care and argue that while Irish private institutions were a lucrative business venture, the quality of care upheld was apparently high. Finally, I shall argue that Irish private asylums catered primarily for the upper classes and briefly explore alternative provisional measures for other non-pauper sectors of society.     

From the interpersonal to the internet: social service digitisation and the implications for vulnerable individuals and communities

In Australia, e-government is continuously re-defining service boundaries. While this may be good in the case of transactional interactions, for example the online submission of tax returns, it is less clear that interpersonal services, such as working closely with the long-term unemployed, are best delivered digitally. We consider the impact of social services digitisation on vulnerable communities drawing on an analysis of remote Aboriginal communities. Digital uptake affords great opportunities, but it also carries risks. Some communities have no digital infrastructure and in certain cases traditional face-to-face services have been curtailed, leaving those not online with reduced assistance. We find that concerns about the ‘digital divide’ are well founded. Problems generated by e-government flow across boundaries and appear left to the third sector to resolve with the state playing an even more diminished role in the lives of disadvantaged citizens.     

从“中间派”到“民主党派”：中国民主同盟在香港（1946—1949）

1946—1949年间,受国民党排斥的民主派被逼暂移香港。中国民主同盟这个曾据有国、共以外的全国第三大党地位的中间力量联盟在成立之始即利用香港,并借助中共,来建立其舆论机关。1947年国民党宣布中国民主同盟为非法团体后,该盟的核心分子在香港已放弃中间派的立场．向左派靠拢。1948年,他们在香港召开三中全会,并积极参与对中间路线的批判。香港特殊的政治生态环境,为这批国民党的异见分子提供了一个重整力量的空间,更有利于中共对他们的统战,并有助于中间派的彻底改变和转向。中国民主同盟及其他旅港小党派的代表终在1949年前后全数北上回国,迎接中共对全国的解放,成为中共领导下的民主党派。如果说,中国民主同盟所经历的是一个“中间派→中间偏左派→左派→中共领导下的民主党派”的发展历程,那么它就是在香港进入了这一发展历程的最后阶段。这个历程可说是中国民主党派主流的发展轨迹。     

从“容共”到“容国”1924—1927年国共党际关系再考察

1924—1927年间国共关系演变的复杂情形,实际远非过去人们认知中的“容共”或“联共”等语词所能简单概括。其时国共对相互关系的认知和表述既不尽一致,而且随着两党力量对比的变化,这种认知和表述亦发生相应的变化。无论“容共”还是“联共”,都难以单独完整表述该时期国共关系的动态变化过程。1925年后,加入国民党的中共党员只是其中一部分而非全部;与此同时,大批国民党青年转入共产党。国共关系的初始形式在发生改变,亦即由初期中共党员加入国民党的单向流动,发展为两党党员之间的双向互动。到后期,中共党员加入国民党渐少,而国民党青年转入中共日多。另一方面,中共意识形态的强势宣导,中共对国民党地方组织和民众运动的日趋“包办”,以及中共组织严密与国民党组织散漫的强烈反差,使国民党人感到共产党大有“反客为主”的态势,担心国民党“容共”,将转化为共产党“容国”。国民党人对共产党“容国”的危机意识,加速了第一次国共合作的破裂。     

从班洪事件到中缅"1941年线"的划定

班洪事件及“1941年线”的划定,是近代中国边疆史上较为重要的历史事件,直接影响了今天中国的西南边界。学术界对于班洪事件的发生多认为是英帝国主义的越界入侵,至于“1941年线”的产生则很少有人探讨。本文主要借助中、英双方的有关档案对班洪事件的前因后果进行了探讨,认为英政府利用中国方面“刘陈线”绘制的错误,单方面进入滇缅未定界内进行矿藏勘测,从而激起了中国人民的强烈反对,中国国民政府在边界问题上也进行了一定的抗争,但面对抗战的危局与英国的要挟,最终还是做出让步,划定了中缅边界的“1941年线”。     

From Randstad to Deltametropolis: changing attitudes towards the scattered metropolis1

Although the Randstad planning concept is primarily known as a concept aiming to control urbanization, this article shows that world city ambitions have been inherent in the concept right from the beginning and that spatial planning for the Randstad over the past 50 years can also be seen as a prolonged attempt to give shape to these ambitions. Throughout much of this period it has proved politically impossible to turn these ambitions into concrete policies, although the recent turn to ‘Deltametropolis’ adds a rather interesting new chapter to this history. For the first time since its introduction, local and regional actors have themselves taken the initiative to frame and reframe the Randstad concept—by Dutch standards quite a remarkable sign of capacity building at the Randstad level. By spotlighting this particular dimension of the planning history of the Randstad this article touches upon some of the more notorious dilemmas planners may come across while pursuing world city ambitions for polynuclear urban regions.