The G20 as an improvised crisis committee and/or a contested ‘steering committee’ for the world

Arguably the most important catalytic effect of the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008–2009 has been the creation of the G20 at the leaders’ level. As a form of improvised diplomacy the G20 merits extensive scrutiny, revealing as it does the degree of adaptation possible in the international system. The G20 links a significant ideational component, a new dynamic between established and emerging powers, and a complex set of issues. The innovative quality of the G20, however, rests on two very distinct strands of activity and tests of accomplishments. The G20 can be viewed as a ‘recession‐buster’ with a vital but momentary purpose. Alternatively, the G20 can be taken to be an embedded ‘steering committee’ for the world. Both of these interpretations have validity. The crisis committee scenario highlights a technical regulatory‐driven agenda. The steering committee scenario by way of contrast showcases the connection between the G20 and a new type of global settlement. Passing the test as a crisis committee hinges on very specific deliverables. Passing the test as a steering committee is even more demanding as any move toward a new state‐specific ‘concert’ is highly contested. This article examines these debates, locating the G20 in a historical/comparative perspective and in terms of the wider context of shifting power structure at the beginning of the twenty‐first century.     

The So‐called Venetian Enamelled Copper Artworks of the Italian Renaissance: the Technology and Provenance of the Enamels—an Analytical Approach

The so‐called Venetian enamelled coppers are a group of objects produced in Italy during the 15th century. Up to now, about 300 objects have been recognized in private collections and in European and US museums. At the end of 19th century, a Venetian origin was suggested, but their provenance is still debated. In this study, the enamel compositions from 22 enamelled copper products from Italian and French collections have been analysed by invasive and non‐invasive techniques. A comparison of the results with Tuscan and Venetian glass databases reinforces the suggestion of a Tuscan (most probably Florentine) origin for these works of art.     

The Function of Age and the History of Women's Work: The Career of an Australian Teacher, 1907–1947

In this paper, we consider what it might mean to hold age as an analytic lens in historical research on women workers, in particular women teachers. Our study serves as a springboard for further discussion about what these new narratives might look like, and what they might reveal, or, moreover, what work they might do. In constructing an account of a woman physical educationist whose work traversed the first half of the twentieth century, we show how age could be seen to be functioning in the institutional spaces of South Australian education. While we do not suggest that specific details of this account are representative of women's work in education, let alone women's work more broadly, we do argue that it draws together and brings to the surface a range of general discourses that serve as a context for how we understand the ways women inhabited and shaped their work. Our account serves as an illustration of what happens to narratives when age is on the agenda, suggesting a more sustained interrogation of how a historical sense of women's positioning in work is deepened by a serious sensitivity to the ‘age function’. This is a necessary and, we feel, timely gesture, because of the way that the category of age in women's historical studies–where the interaction among discourses such as professionalism, education, feminism, citizenship and sexuality is considered–is little more than an absent presence, at best lying in the background, obscured from view and yet always demanding its own appearance.     

The British Brig Water Nymph or ... even an Englishman cannot take the liberty to deride a civil servant on German soil

The wreck of a 19th-century merchantman was surveyed and partly excavated in the course of archaeological fieldwork conducted prior to planned beach restoration in Ahrenshoop on the Baltic coast in north-eastern Germany. Extensive archival research led to the identification of the wreck and provided interesting details on the life and loss of a typical merchant sailing-ship of the mid-19th century.
© 2007 The Authors     

The Time to Kill a Snake: Gitlow v. New York and the Bad‐Tendency Doctrine

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‘Oh motherland I pledge to thee …’: a study into nationalism,gender and the representation of an imagined family within national anthems

In this paper, we argue that beyond understanding nations as imagined communities, the metaphor of an ‘imagined family’ or ‘filial community’ is a more useful concept towards understanding links between gender and nationhood as family relations in four ways: (1) providing a clear, hierarchical structure; (2) prescribing social roles and responsibilities; (3) being linked to positive affective connotations; and (4) reifying social phenomena as biologically determined. In order to empirically substantiate our claim, we will explore the prevalence and use of family metaphors in a key symbol of nationhood discourses. Through a qualitative analysis of national anthems as ‘mnemonics of national identity’, we demonstrate the widespread presence of family metaphors, discussing how they reproduce ideas of family and gender. Finally, we discuss how the ‘imagined family’ as present in anthems and other forms of national representation could inform future studies of nationalism and national politics.