The Lega Nord goes south: The electoral advance in Emilia-Romagna: A new territorial model?

The article focuses on the feature of the Lega Nord's (LN) electoral advance into new Italian regions, by stressing the similarities and differences with its historical bases of support. In order to verify whether the expansion has followed a common pattern in historical and well-defined territories of the leghista settlement, results of flow-of-votes analysis in eight different sub-areas of two Northern regions (Emilia-Romagna and Veneto), are reported. Data makes empirically credible the hitherto suggestion of a LN breakthrough among new sectors of the electorate. Estimations of vote shifts show both signals of electoral continuity, and change. While in Veneto no radical change in LN's voters profile occurred, indications from flow-of-votes in Emilia-Romagna has detected a statistically significant (even if minor) flow from the center-left parties.     

Rational,reverential or experimental? The politics of electoral reform in Oceania

Oceania, with the exception of New Zealand, has received little comparative attention in studies of electoral reform. This article uses evidence from Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Nauru, as well as New Zealand and Australia, in order to: understand the process of electoral reform at national and regional levels; examine variation in the process and consider whether theories of electoral reform from elsewhere apply to Oceania. It finds that electoral reform is a highly complex process that is influenced by the self-interest of parties, democratic values and diffusion.

除了新西兰,不大有人从比较选举改革的角度关注大洋洲。本文使用斐济、汤加、巴布亚新几内亚、瑙鲁以及新西兰和澳大利亚的资料,目的是在国家和地区的层面上理解选举改革的过程;探讨过程中的变异,并思考其他地方的选举改革理论是否适用于大洋洲。     

A new extraterritoriality? Aquaculture certification,sovereignty, and empire

Can we describe third party eco-certification by transnational organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council, Marine Stewardship Council, and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council as a new form of extraterritoriality in relation to the territorial sovereignty of states? In this paper we outline how transnational eco-certification can reinforce longstanding global relations of domination through the creation of eco-certification empires that have much in common with colonial-era extraterritorial empires. Specifically, we show how the territorial practices in the ASC standards for shrimp aquaculture replicate aspects of the legal extraterritoriality of the colonial period, and how these new forms of extraterritoriality create disaggregated and variegated sovereigntyscapes. Key shared features include the identification of subjects that need protection, a narrative that depicts local states as inadequate for providing these protections, and the creation of territories where these protections are provided—by imperial states during the colonial period, and certification agents for transnational eco-certification. This helps us understand why transnational eco-certification is often perceived as an encroachment on national sovereignty in Thailand and elsewhere.     

Distribution,assemblage, capacity: new keywords for masculinity?

Performance and performativity have been the watchwords of gender studies for many years now. What new vocabularies might invigorate the study of Renaissance masculinities? This essay suggests that notions of distribution, assemblage and capacity might help break recent logjams in gender studies and allow greater attention to the social complexities of masculinity as it is constituted in association with a wide range of bodies, life forms and objects.     

Do electoral district size and diversity affect legislative behaviour?

This paper analyses how the size and socio-economic diversity of their electorate affect parliamentarians’ legislative behaviour. We study the Australian senate, which wields considerable legislative influence and is marked by large differences in the size and socio-economic makeup of the districts that senators represent. We demonstrate that as the size of their district increases, senators ask more questions and introduce more bills and amendments. By contrast, senators become less active as the diversity of their electoral district increases. The paper thus establishes that size and diversity of electorates have significant effects on legislative behaviour.     

In what sense ‘spaces of neoliberalism’? The new localism,the new politics of scale,and town twinning

This paper draws on a study of town twinning in Britain since 1945 to engage with narratives of ‘the new localism’ and ‘the new politics of scale’. It argues that town twinning is often used in technical assistance programmes such as the UK Government's Know How Fund and various schemes of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. ‘Fast policy’ is a concept that can be usefully applied to these programmes and the broader field of interurban networking, urban policy mobility, and policy transfer. Town twinning plays an active yet overlooked role in fast policy. The paper also argues that town twinning is part of a longer history of bottom-up localism that includes the political arguments of John Stuart Mill, at least two moments of twentieth-century municipal internationalism, the municipal foreign policy movement of the 1980s, and the community development movement of the last three decades. This longer history suggests sources of localism other than statecraft, and problematises the conceptualisation of power and periodisation of history found in regulation theories of devolution.     

Cultural franchising,imperialism and globalisation: What's new?

Abstract

The late 1997 opening of Frank Gehry's spectacular new Guggenheim in Bilbao has been widely promoted as the international museum event of the decade. In the context of other developments, it has also been seen as evidence of Guggenheim director Thomas Krens's ‘tireless efforts to build the world's first global museum brand’. In post‐colonial countries such as Australia we know that museums have often been inextricably involved in imperial and international as well as national cultural power struggles. In this paper the ‘global brand’ view of the Guggenheim is further examined in an attempt to clarify whether this is just more of the same, (old wine in a new bottle) or whether museums are entering a new era of globalisation—and if so what may be some of the consequences for professional museum practice.     

Tzvetan Todorov,the ‘Responsible Intellectual’, and the new world disorder

This article assesses Tzvetan Todorov's intellectual evolution from structuralist literary critic to ‘responsible intellectual’. It contrasts his notion of the responsibility of the intellectual with traditional definitions of commitment, and analyses why for Todorov figures such as Camus, Aron, and Tillion are exemplary, whereas Communist intellectuals are not. The article examines Todorov's positions vis‐à‐vis current crises and controversies, including the bombing of Kosovo, the validity of the ICT, and America's war in Iraq. Finally, it discusses Todorov's ideas for a stronger and more independent Europe as articulated in his most recent book, Le Nouveau Désordre mondial.     

A new arthropod from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte,Early Cambrian,southern China

A new genus and species of lightly sclerotized arthropod with an Aglaspis-like tagmosis, Kwanyinaspis maotianshanensis, is described from the well-known Chengjiang Lagerstätte, Early Cambrian, Yunnan, South China, on the basis of a single exquisitely preserved specimen. The dorsal exoskeleton, showing a poorly defined axial region but lacking axial furrows, is composed of a cephalic shield, 12 trunk tergites with well-developed pleural spines and a tail spine. A pair of ventral eyes is present beneath the first quarter of the cephalic shield. Appendages are preserved in remarkable detail; the basis is a large, flat plate, and bears gnathobases ventrally; the endopod is articulated with the abaxial edge of the basis and comprises seven articles; the exopod is flap-like and articulated along the entire length of the dorsal margin of the basis. Kwanyinaspis is provisionally assigned to Aglaspidida due to its overall resemblance to Aglaspis.     

The new mimics? Cross-cultural learning in Salvador da Bahia,Brazil

The city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil attracts considerable numbers of visitors who spend time there in order to participate in local cultural practices, particularly percussion music, capoeira and African–Brazilian dance. This paper investigates the extent of their engagement with those practices and with the wider cultural context. It was found that such participatory cross-cultural learning, adoption and travel can be split into categories and differs markedly from conventional tourism. Theorisations of cultural interaction have frequently concentrated on colonialism or migration, where acculturation is a by-product of political, economic and even military shifts. The concept of “mimicry” as used in postcolonial theory is evoked here and considered in relation to the processes studied. One of the main differences is that the subjects voluntarily expose themselves to a measure of culture shock. Furthermore, the adoption takes place against the predominant global flow of cultural influence from the “West” to the rest. Apart from certain factors which make Bahian culture accessible and attractive, motivating factors for this voluntary movement and orientation are the perception of particular aspects of that culture as “authentic other”, as well as a weakened attachment to place, specifically to Western community and cultural origins.     

Sino–American relations: new changes and new challenges

Sino–American relations encompass a highly complex array of cooperative and competitive dimensions. Recently, they have evolved around the question of ‘China's rise’ or (as Chinese analysts would state it) ‘peaceful evolution’. This article surveys both the cooperative and competitive structural elements of this important bilateral relationship. It tracks recent transitions in that relationship, arguing that China's new-found status as a ‘responsible stakeholder’ in American eyes will present a new set of American expectations and new forms of strategic collaboration that will seriously test both sides’ policy creativity and ability to adapt to a rapidly changing global environment.     

Italy: A new language for a new politics?

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the language used by the major actors in contemporary Italian politics. After a brief introduction, which lists the general questions posed by such an analysis, we examine the language of the pre‐1992 regime, which has been rather too hastily condemned as obscure and solipsistic. We then pass to the self‐consciously simple language of Bossi, who constructs a discourse of protest, and of Berlusconi, who offers a discourse of government. These lead to the very different, albeit sometimes complementary, languages of Prodi and D'Alema, which go beyond populism and open new political perspectives. Through these and other examples we examine the role of political language in a changing Italy.     

The ‘hip pocket nerve’ and electoral volatility in Australia and Great Britain

Over the course of the post‐war period, Australian voting behaviour has manifested a marked degree of aggregate stability, whereas British voting patterns have become increasingly volatile. Since class voting has declined at a similar rate in both countries, it cannot explain this divergence. This article suggests that the explanation is to be found in the differential electoral impact of the two countries' macroeconomic performance in this period. Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, the state of the economy, as measured by the rates of inflation and unemployment, is shown to have been a less influential force in Australian general elections than in British ones. The greater aggregate volatility in Britain, in other words, would seem to reflect‐the electorate's greater sensitivity to its ‘hip pocket nerve’, especially when it is touched by inflation. Why this same relationship does not characterize Australian commonwealth elections can be speculated upon, but is a puzzle that remains to be solved.     

A new Early Permian bivalve fauna from the Río Genoa Formation,Patagonia, Chubut Province,Argentina

Fourteen Bivalvia species are described from the Lower Permian Río Genoa Formation, exposed in the southern Tepuel-Genoa Basin (Chubut Province, Argentina), of which one, Fletcheripecten genoensis, is new. The studied specimens are well preserved, retaining fine details of the ornament and shell morphology. Palaeotaxodonta is represented by two species of Nuculopsis and four species of Phestia; Pteriomorphia by five species in five genera; and Heteroconchia by three informal species. Most of the species recorded also occur in the northern part of Tepuel-Genoa Basin and allow demarcation of new and distinct marine intervals in the Río Genoa Formation, which was classically interpreted to represent continental deposits. The bivalve fauna confirms a Cisuralian (Early Permian) age for the Río Genoa Formation and offers potential for improved regional and global correlations.     

The urban in fragile,uncertain, neoliberal times: towards new geographies of social justice?

Canadian cities are at a crossroads. The neoliberalization of governance at multiple scales, inadequate re-investment in urban infrastructure, increasing reliance on continental and international trade, and the restructuring of the space economy have combined to weaken Canada's cities just as the global economic system is undergoing transformation. Canadian urban geographic scholarship has much to offer under current conditions, and is already making significant contributions in key areas. In particular, research on what might be called the contours and impacts of urban restructuring and the neoliberal city, immigration and cities of difference, and urban environmental justice show much promise and are likely to define the core of Canadian urban geography into the future.     

The electoral geographies of two segregationist (“Jim Crow”) referenda in Alabama

At the conclusion of the American Civil War, the states of the former Confederacy rapidly added sections to their state constitutions and legal statutes to codify racial segregation and limit the social, economic and political options for their African American citizens. These laws became the foundation for the Jim Crow system of racial segregation. Although such laws have been found unconstitutional, some have survived in state constitutions and statutes as legal relicts. Using the traditionalist–modernizer model and Thomas Frank’s concept of the Great Backlash, we examine the electoral geographies of two referenda in Alabama to delete Jim Crow era provisions from the state’s constitution. Although 59% of Alabama voters supported deleting the state’s constitutional ban on interracial marriage in 2000, a slight majority supported maintaining the unenforceable constitutional sections requiring poll taxes and segregated schools in 2004. We find the geographic pattern of voting on both referenda was substantially associated with the traditionalist–modernizer model and Great Backlash as they pertain to race, religious conservatism, and views towards public education and taxes.     

Electoral bias in Australia 1980–1993: The impact of the 1983 electoral amendments

This paper examines the amount and sources of electoral bias at federal elections in Australia from 1980 to 1993. The main conclusion reached is that the changes to electoral legislation introduced between the 1983 and 1984 elections did not, as has previously been widely accepted, merely act to neutralise the then‐existing bias towards the Liberal and National coalition parties but actually resulted in a bias towards the Australian Labor Party. Most of the bias arose from the differential geographic concentration of voters, to which a contributing influence was a ‘size effect’ caused by increasing the number of members of parliament However, the introduction of a boundary redistribution criterion which requires equality in electorate enrolments over time (rather than immediately) has also introduced an inbuilt bias arising from differential enrolment levels into the post‐1983 electoral system. This bias has favoured the ALP at every one of the four elections held under the new system.     

A new species of Kalligramma Walther, 1904 (Insecta,Neuroptera, Kalligrammatidae) from the Middle–Upper Jurassic of Daohugou,Inner Mongolia,China

Liu, Q., Khramov, A.V. & Zhang, H.C., 21.4.2015. A new species of Kalligramma Walther, 1904 Walther, J., 1904. Die Fauna der Solnhofener Plattenkalke bionomisch betrachtet. Denkschriften der Medizinisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Jena 11, 133–214. [Google Scholar] (Insecta, Neuroptera, Kalligrammatidae) from the Middle–Upper Jurassic of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. Alcheringa 39, XXX–XXX. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new species of Kalligramma Walther, 1904 Walther, J., 1904. Die Fauna der Solnhofener Plattenkalke bionomisch betrachtet. Denkschriften der Medizinisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Jena 11, 133–214. [Google Scholar] (Insecta, Neuroptera, Kalligrammatidae) is described as Kalligramma delicatum based on a nearly complete forewing from the Middle–Upper Jurassic of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. The new species is characterized by the narrow costal space with sinuous costal veinlets, Rs with eight primary branches, MP with five pectinate branches and 1A forked beyond its mid-length. The forewing of Kalligramma can be distinguished from the hind wing by its ovate rather than subtriangular shape, significantly wider costal space and more numerous crossveins between costal veinlets. The new species is interpreted to represent a forewing based mainly on its shape.

Qing Liu [qingliu1029@yeah.net] and Haichun Zhang [hczhang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, PR China; Aleksandr V. Khramov [a-hramov@yandex.ru], Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117997, Russia. Received 10.12.2014; revised 11.2.2015; accepted 17.2.2015.