What Can the State Do for You?

It has been suggested that Swedish policy during the early post-war period was strongly directed towards mobility-increasing expenditures – most notably relocation allowances – aimed at moving labour from north to south. While this view has dominated the academic discussion on labour market policy, there is little direct evidence. We make three claims. First, the relocation allowances have to be evaluated against the regional policy. Second, by doing so we show that the mobility-oriented policy was predominant only for a short period of time: in the early 1970s, there was a decisive shift towards a policy directed at stimulating employment in the north. Third, drawing on this, we revaluate the previous view on policy making in Sweden. Our analysis suggests that the Social Democratic government acted in a voter-maximizing way. The relocation allowances were introduced at the behest of the Trade Union Confederation (LO). The regional subsidies were expanded when voter sentiment turned against the perceived depletion of rural regions. However, this strategy interacted with the political and institutional environment. The new election law in 1970 and political competition from the Centre Party pushed the Social Democrats to shift their policies on regional subsidies.     

Thirty Years of Monitoring in England — What Have We Learnt?

Abstract

Over the last thirty years, over sixty separate episodes of monitoring waterlogged archaeological sites have been carried out in England. This paper lists these projects, summarizes basic information about them, and reviews what we have learnt over these last thirty years. Recommendations are given to help improve future monitoring projects. In particular, it is suggested that more work is needed on assessing the state of preservation of a site before monitoring is considered; that a proper project design needs to be developed at the outset of the work; and that more thought should go into deciding why monitoring is needed for a given site, including identifying mitigation options that can be initiated if monitoring data suggest optimum conditions for survival are no longer being maintained.     

“Have You Considered My Servant Job?” A Reflection on the Book of Job

Abstract

The Book of Job is often viewed as a story of unnecessary and undeserved suffering. A man who is “blameless” in the eyes of God is put through senseless anguish and misery simply because God and the Adversary have a wager. It is a story of a whimsical God who does not understand or care about human beings and their sufferings, and of an insignificant and yet defiant being who epitomizes human dignity and fortitude. This and other similar accounts make God villainous and human sufferings mysterious and incomprehensible. This article seeks to cast these issues in a different light by exploring some of the key terms in the Prologue and the speeches of God in the Theophany. The exploration ends with some reflections on Job in the Epilogue of the Book.     

Do Not Say That You Have Forgotten King and Father: Yunqi Zhuhong’s Chan Realism

This essay examines the late Ming-dynasty Chan master Yunqi Zhuhong’s commentary on the Brahma Net Sutra (Fanwangjing), which it takes up in order to explore his discourse concerning both Chan realism and his ensuing rejection of mainstream Chan gongan rhetoric. The Brahma Net Sutra contains a list of major and minor precepts governing proper morality for monastic and lay Buddhists. Zhuhong’s interpretation of the Twenty-First Minor Precept, which prohibits revenge, offers insight into his sense of political realism regarding the relationship between gradual teachings, provisional truths, and ultimate truth. His interpretation of the Tenth Minor Precept, which prohibits storing weapons, demonstrates his moral realism in contrast to Chan’s traditional use of pedagogical violence. Zhuhong’s realist discourse, influenced by the teachings of the Buddhist Vinaya as well as by engagement with Confucian ethics, presents an overlooked counter-narrative shift that contrasts with the emphasis on sudden enlightenment and antinomianism in Chan gongan discourse typical of the Tang and Song dynasties.     

Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall: What Kind of Constitution Shall We Have?

Although they were third cousins once removed—both descended from William Randolph of Turkey Island, one of the first settlers in Virginia—John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson had little familial affection for one another. During the disputed contest of 1800, the future Chief Justice felt "almost insuperable objection" to the man who eventually become the third President, declaring him "totally unfit for the chief magistracy of a nation which cannot indulge these prejudices without sustaining deep personal injury." ¹ For his part, Jefferson reciprocated, and his cousin became the embodiment of all he despised in the judiciary. He wrote of Marshall as a man of "lax lounging manners … and a profound hypocrisy." ²     

What You See Is (Not) What You Get? The Taiwan Question,Geo‐economic Realities,and the “China Threat” Imaginary

Abstract: Despite emergent trends of geo‐economic integration between nation‐states, the role of realist‐driven geopolitical calculation appears highly enduring. This paper explores the potential contradictions between state‐centric geopolitical concerns and transnational geo‐economic formation through an exploration of China–US tensions over Taiwan, a territory of indeterminate geo‐legal status and which China regards as its own province. I consider how the Taiwan Relations Act, a domestic public law of the US that frames US–Taiwan relations and has a major influence on East Asian geopolitics, could contradict emergent “China region”, and possibly even China–US, geo‐economic integration. This is because the US‐sustained arms sales to Taiwan rest on imagining and containing China as a “threat”, while geo‐economic integration entails enrolling China as a strategic partner, if not an ally. Consequently, the Taiwan issue could stifle the enhancement of Sino‐American relations at a historical juncture when the Chinese and American economies are more intertwined than ever.     

比约克 Can You Dance?

"听她的音乐,就像看着只穿内裤的毕加索到处乱跑……"她就这样来了。3月2日晚8点,比约克光着脚,在一条黑色踏脚裤外面罩了件芦花鸡似的三色彩袍舞着上了台。整场演出,她没换过服饰,哪怕2000年亮相戛纳的那身"下蛋装"。     

Doilungdeqen Farmers Have New Life

Ｄｏｉｌｕｎｇｄｅｑｅｎ　Ｆａｒｍｅｒｓ　Ｈａｖｅ　Ｎｅｗ　ＬｉｆｅＤｏｉｌｕｎｇｄｅｑｅｎＦａｒｍｅｒｓＨａｖｅＮｅｗＬｉｆｅＴｈｅｗｅａｌｔｈｏｆｔｈｅｃｏｕｎｔｙ＇ｓｆａｒｍｅｒｓ，ｗｈｏｈａｖｅｒｅａｐｅｄｔｈｅｂｅｎｅｆｉｔｓｏｆｔｈｅｔｉ...     

‘A Shop Window Where You Can Choose the Goods You Like’

This article examines the Finnish industrial and trade fairs held in the Soviet Union in the context of Finnish–Soviet trade and scientific–technical cooperation in the 1950s and 1960s. While primarily focused on fairs, it also discusses different activities that accompanied them, such as lectures, visits, and negotiations between Finnish traders and Soviet officials and specialists. This study illustrates how such first-hand contact played an important role in Finnish–Soviet communications. First, they helped Finnish producers showcase their goods and technologies directly to Soviet buyers in various ministries and organizations. Second, these contacts included diverse activities such as face-to-face contacts, lectures, and seminars, being a means of technology transfer from Finland to the USSR . Finally, although they were commercial interactions without explicit ideological purposes – like many international exhibitions of the last century – Finnish fairs demonstrated a technological gap between Finland and the USSR.     

“And You Welcomed Me”

Abstract

In this article, I assess rival liberal and communitarian ethical perspectives underlying contemporary debates regarding migration policy in the US. I then propose a critical via media in a rights-based ethics of solidarity with migrants. I conclude by addressing the distinctive role played by citizens of faith in a religiously pluralist polity like our own, noting, in particular, the place (locus) of Christian belief in immigration policy.     

Which Side Are You On?

Book reviewed in this article:
Mary Ann Heiss, Empire and Nationhood: The United States, Great Britain, and Iranian Oil, 1950-1954     

Have we failed our neighbour?

In April 2006, rioting broke out in Honiara, Solomon Islands, following the parliamentary election of Snyder Rini. Occurring almost three years after the commencement of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), the riots sparked intense deliberations about the nature of Australia's engagement with Solomon Islands and the success, or otherwise, of RAMSI. Within the context of discussions about state-building in Melanesia, this article seeks to outline challenges to the success of RAMSI. Ultimately, we argue that successful state-building in Melanesia is highly dependent upon awareness of local conditions, rather than simply the application of international best practice. Moreover, we suggest that unless the current approach is modified to accommodate local circumstances—including social and political structures and locally defined needs and desires—the existing growth of anti-RAMSI sentiment will continue to escalate. In conclusion, we offer policy-relevant suggestions aimed at assisting mission stakeholders to improve RAMSI's viability and impact.     

Where Have All the Realists Gone?

Book reviewed in this article:
Michael J. Hogan (ed.), The Ambiguous Legacy: U.S. Foreign Relations in the "American Century."     

Did Herbert Spencer Have Reading Epilepsy?

Herbert Spencer, the nineteenth-century philosopher, has frequently been dismissed as a “fantastical hypochondriac” (as his most recent biographer, Mark Francis, terms him). Yet he left a record in his Autobiography of symptoms that suggest a very different diagnosis. Abruptly at age 35, he found that the activity of reading, previously indulged in without difficulty, triggered paroxysmal episodes of disturbing “head-sensations” including “giddiness” (so Spencer described them); these severely curtailed his ability to carry out his philosophical studies. Of all possible explanations for such episodes, none seems as likely as reading epilepsy. Enduring preconceptions about Spencer's presumed neurosesmay have kept modern historians from appreciating that Spencer suffered from a legitimate, if esoteric, neurological malady.     

Have Tibetan Culture And Religion Become Extinct?

ＨａｖｅＴｉｂｅｔａｎＣｕｌｔｕｒｅＡｎｄＲｅｌｉｇｉｏｎＢｅｃｏｍｅＥｘｔｉｎｃｔ？ＴｈｅＣｈｉｎｅｓｅＦｏｒｅｉｇｎＭｉｎｉｓｔｒｙａｒａｎｇｅｄｆｏｒ１０ＢｅｉｊｉｎｇｃｏｒｅｓｐｏｎｄｅｎｔｓｏｆｆｏｒｅｉｇｎａｎｄＨｏｎｇＫｏｎｇｍａｓｓ...     

What France?

Cordellier, S. [et al.], L'Etat de la France 1992 (La Découverte, 1992), 635pp., 149F., ISBN 2 7071 2100 2

Kimmel, A., Vous avez dit France? Pour comprendre la société française actuelle (Hachette/CIEP, 1992), 191pp., 106F., ISBN 2 01 018890 X