War and city size: The asymmetric effects of the Spanish Civil War

Populations are affected by shocks of different kinds, and wars, a priori, may be among the most prominent. This article studies the effect of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) shock on the distribution of population, especially on cities. One of the main contributions of this study is that it underlines the importance of distinguishing between winning and losing sides, an aspect which until now has been largely overlooked. While previous research on war shocks has also tended to be concerned with inter-state wars, this paper concentrates on a civil war. We take advantage of a new, long-term, annual data set. Our results show that, overall, the Spanish Civil War did not have a significant effect on city growth. However, we also find a significant and negative effect in the growth of cities that aligned themselves with the losing side. These results are robust to heterogeneity in the effect of the war shock, measured as war severity and duration. Although short lived, the temporary effect on growth results in a permanent effect on the size of cities on the losing side.     

St Stephen's in War and Peace: Civil Defence and the Location of Parliament, 1938–51

This essay takes a new look at the destruction and the rebuilding of the house of commons during the 1940s. It argues that behind the home front bravado of the Palace of Westminster steadfastly enduring the blitz lay secret plans for rehousing MPs away from aerial bombardment, contingency scenarios that were then updated after 1945 in the event of attack on London by atomic weapons. The essay also suggests that threats to the security of parliament, together with the necessity to rebuild the Commons, were turned by the coalition government into an opportunity to refashion parliamentary politics in such a way that the two‐party system was restored, along the traditional lines of government and opposition that had become blurred since 1931.     

Servicing Customers in Revolutionary Times: The Experience of the Collectivized Barcelona Water Company during the Spanish Civil War

Debates on the total or partial privatization of water usually follow the rationale that efficient and rational management is best left to the private sphere. In this paper and using a historical example, we attempt to assess critically this assumption arguing that efficiency and rationality in resource management are and have been an asset of collective management as well. We present the case of the Barcelona Water Company, run by its workers during the Spanish Civil War, to illustrate how in certain cases, gains in economic efficiency and rational management that had been impossible to accomplish under standard private management, were achieved by collective action. Workers management during this period not only improved efficiency and rationality but to a large extent did so also procuring equity and fairness in the provision of water to the citizens of Barcelona despite the harsh conditions brought about by the war.     

现代性及其限度：民国文官考试制度平议

民国文官考试制度是一个传统与现代的混合体.其现代性主要体现为法制化程度的提高,平等性和开放性的增强,考试权的独立和考试内容的现代化.但是对经义考试的保留,对传统科举制考试程序的模仿,考试与任用的脱节,党治和军治色彩的存在,个人因素的干扰,派系势力的抗拒等,又使民国文官考试制度的现代性受到极大限制,难以发挥其应有的功效.     

关于抗美援朝战争史研究的几个焦点问题

抗美援朝战争是新中国成立初期美国侵略当局强加给中国人民的一场战争,也是新中国历史上第一场战争。这场战争为新中国的巩固、建设和发展奠定了基础,是新中国的立国之战。自20世纪90年代以来,随着中国、俄罗斯陆续公布和解密了一批有关抗美援朝战争(朝鲜战争)的历史档案,翻译出版美国、韩国、日本等学者研究著作的增多,研究中出现了许多不同认识。中国人民为进行这场战争付出了重大代价和牺牲,应对这场战争的必要性、正义性和积极意义应给予正确评价。     

东吴长江防线兵要地理初探

东吴长江防线的形成,是三国政治形势、长江地理条件、东吴国力水平的综合产物。整个防线共划分为江陵防区、武昌防区和建业防区三部分。其中江陵防区约有部队5万人,建业防区约为13万。东吴经营防线的策略是守江而争淮汉。长江防线的存在,使东吴割据政权得以长期维持;东吴对长江防线的经营,促进了沿江城市的发展;长江防线的巩固,促成了东吴君臣的偏安心理。防线最后的崩溃,与其西端没有牢固的依托点密切关联。     

A Two‐Tiered Method for Identifying Trends in Media Framing of Policy Issues: The Case of the War on Terror

Research on media framing of policy issues has flourished. Yet the varied approaches to conceptualizing and operationalizing issue frames that make this literature rich also hinder its advancement. Here, we document the benefits of a two‐tiered method: the first level accounts for issue‐specific frames, while the second level tracks frames that generalize across issues. For this study, we draw on generalizable frames from prospect theory (loss vs. gain frames) and social identity theory (self‐referential vs. other‐referential frames). We discuss the theoretical merits of a two‐tiered approach, arguing that it should yield compound insights greater than the sum of its parts. Applying this method to newspaper coverage of the war on terror, we find a strong trend at the generalizable level: media framing of the war shifted over time from a predominant use of “fear” (self‐referential loss) frames to an increasing use of “charity” (other‐referential gain) frames. Our approach further reveals that the fear frames used in the lead‐up to the Iraq War were not driven by issue‐specific frames related to terrorism or weapons of mass destruction as we might have thought, but rather by frames related to the anticipated threats to U.S. troops. This study sharpens our understanding of how framing of the war evolved, but more broadly it suggests that a two‐tiered approach could be applied both within and across policy issues to advance our understanding of the framing process.     

一战华工的归国境遇及其影响——基于对山东华工后裔（或知情者）口述资料的分析

山东淄博周村是当年英法招募华工的重要站点。论文根据对＂周村华工＂后裔或知情者采访整理出来的65份口述资料,从华工归国所带物品、节余工薪的使用状况、归国后从事的行业、思想观念与自身素质的转变等方面进行了考察研究。比照当时知识界和政界对于归国华工影响力的乐观预期,得出结论：华工归国后的总体境遇不够理想,归国华工对中国社会所能发挥的积极影响极为有限,甚至其中不乏悲剧性的一面。