Government Publishing in the German Pacific 1885–1914

Germany’s colonial experience in the Pacific was both relatively short (1884–1914) and also quite dispersed. In addition to administrative staff and office, a well-functioning colonial administration also required the means to propagate and document its administrative regulations and decisions. This article examines how the administrative offices in German Samoa and German New Guinea went about their official printing needs. In the Samoa case, the Germans ‘inherited’ a well-established printing environment, facilitated by newspapers. Here the official publications of the colonial government were merely additional print-jobs. In German New Guinea, however, no such infrastructure pre-existed and the German administration had to start its own press. Over time, the government gazette added no official sections and, had World War I not intervened, was on track to became a local newspaper.     

Anti-Politics: modern politics and its critics in Denmark, 1830–1848

The rapid politicization of the public sphere in Denmark between the two European revolutionary waves of 1830 and 1848 created not only enthusiasm, but also sharp criticism of institutionalized and segmented politics as inherently alienating and inauthentic. Such anti-political criticism was expressed from a range of different positions: philosophical, poetical, religious and social. This article maps and analyses the conflicting subject positions from which anti-political criticism was articulated as well as the different spatio-temporal delimitations and modalities of politics within each position.     

The politics of the Shanghai courts: the state,local elites,and social networks in Nationalist China, 1927–1937

This article explores the ways in which the Nationalist Party established dominance over the Shanghai courts in the foreign concession area to use them as weapons against political dissidents, and it analyzes the intricate relations among the Nationalist Party, local elites, and the Shanghai courts during the Nanjing decade (1927–1937). Building on recent studies that pay attention to the limited success of the Nationalist Party’s policy of putting the judiciary under Party control, this study demonstrates that the process of establishing the Nationalist Party’s dominance over the Shanghai courts was highly contested. The interplay between the Nationalist Party’s effort to gain control over the Shanghai courts by building formal and informal institutions and the local elites’ appropriation of their own social networks rendered the Shanghai courts vulnerable not only to the Party’s intervention, but also to the influence of social forces. I argue that due to the weak authority of the Shanghai courts, the Nationalist Party’s use of law against political foes could be a double-edged sword.     

Towards Free Trade in the Pacific? The Genesis of the ‘Kava‐Biscuit War’ between Fiji and Vanuatu

Contemporary movements towards trade liberalisation have influenced economic development in Pacific island states, where opportunities for growth have always been restricted. The new free trade, centred on comparative advantage, is especially challenging for countries producing sugar, where diversification is difficult, and for the smallest states where trade options have always been limited. New regional trade agreements have been introduced in the Pacific as a step towards global free trade, but have emphasised trade rivalry and conflict, characterised by the ‘kava‐biscuit war’ between Fiji and Vanuatu, rather than complementary trade and cooperation. Movement towards free trade poses acute problems for island states, yet international agreements have not recognised their particular disadvantages, and continue to stress benefits that are nowhere apparent in the Pacific.     

Mobilising the Movement: The role of mobility in the suffrage politics of Florence Luscomb and Margaret Foley, 1911–1915

This article, placed in the context of the ‘mobility’ turn in cultural and social theory, focuses on mobilities of the suffragists, Florence Luscomb and Margaret Foley between 1911 and 1915. Using letters, diaries and newspaper accounts the article illustrates how a transatlantic voyage and car rides in Massachusetts contributed to the transformations in the political strategy of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. I argue that the mobilities of Luscomb and Foley engendered new kinds of action in the public sphere undertaken by the two suffragists and their colleagues. The second argument in the article is that these mobilities are not simply the mobilities of people but the mobilities of ideas and things as well. The two women were enacting newly available forms of mobile prosthetic subjectivity.

En este artículo, situado en el contexto de la inclinación ‘movilidad’ en la teoría social y cultural, enfoca en las movilidades de las sufragistas Florence Luscomb y Margaret Foley entre los años de 1911 y 1915. Usándose relatos de cartas, diarios, y periódicos, este artículo ilustra como un viaje transatlántico y paseos en autos en Massachussets contribuyeron a las transformaciones en la estrategia política del movimiento sufragio de mujeres en EE.UU. Argumento que las movilidades de Luscomb y Foley engendraron nuevos modos de acción que emprenderán ellas y sus colegas en las esferas públicas. El secundo argumento en el artículo es que estas movilidades no son simples movilidades de la gente sino que también son movilidades de ideas y cosas. Estas dos mujeres hacían el papel de nuevas formas accesibles de subjetividad móvil protésica.