Compositional and Microstructural Study of KoryŎ Celadon and Whiteware Excavated from SŎRi Kiln in Kyŏnggi Province

An extensive study of the composition and microstructure of celadon and whiteware sherds excavated at Sori, one of the most important sites that were active during the founding stage of the stoneware and porcelain industry in Korea, was carried out. The analysed sherds were organized according to four different levels of the excavation and four different styles of haemurigup foot rim. Principal component analysis of the chemical compositions of the sherds revealed slight differences in their body and glaze compositions between the levels of excavation. Porcelain stone with high silica and low aluminium contents was generally used as the body material and wood ash as the chief flux in the glaze. Over the period of operation, the aluminium content in the bodies of the ceramics decreased and the P₂O₅ content in the glazes increased. Glazed bodies were fired in a single step, in contrast to the two‐step method used in later ceramic production. Firing conditions were adjusted to produce vitrification of the glazes, which meant that vitrification of the ceramic bodies occurred to varying extents, mostly determined by the relative contents of flux in the body and the glaze.     

PROVENANCE STUDIES OF KOREAN CELADONS OF THE KORYǑ PERIOD BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS*

Neutron activation analyses of the body fabric of celadons from the main production sites of the Koryǒ period have shown differences in composition between kilns. Comparison of over 50 celadon objects in the collections of the British Museum with this data base from the production sites has permitted the assignment of over 40 of the pieces to their kiln of origin The majority show the trace element pattern of the Sadangri kilns, a smaller proportion are assigned to Yuchǒnri, while others are assigned to the kilns at Chinsanri (underglaze iron) and Kyǒngsǒ-dong (unglazed). A representative group of Chinese Yue wares arc clearly different from Koryǒ celadons in trace element composition.     

A SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF TRADITIONAL KOREAN CELADONS AND THEIR MODERN DEVELOPMENTS

Eighty sherds from nine different kiln sites representing a wide geographic distribution and a long time span of Korean celadon culture are analysed for macroscopic and compositional characteristics. Additionally chemical and mineral compositions of six unglazed sherds are compared with those of some modern raw materials. Unusually high values of alumina in the earliest Kangjin pieces of the middle ninth and early tenth century (I¹) could represent a significant technological innovation at the end of this period at this most important celadon production centre. Similarity in chemical and mineral compositions between unglazed sherds and some raw materials such as Kangjin clay and pottery stone show the possibility that many of the celadons were made from these types of raw materials as found in nature without additives and only after mechanical refining.     

DETERMINING POTTERY PROVENANCE: APPLICATION OF A NEW HIGH-PRECISION X-RAY FLUORESCENCE METHOD AND COMPARISON WITH INSTRUMENTAL NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS*

A recently developed high-precision X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method, applied for the first time to the study of archaeological pottery, determines the abundances of 13 trace and four major elements from one X-ray spectrum acquired over a 1000 second counting interval. For replicate archaeological samples, the short-term and long-term measurement precisions were close to 1% for the ten elements measured with highest precision. These are comparable to the best results achieved on replicates of clay and pottery standards, and obsidian, using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). High-precision XRF analysis, however, does not require a nuclear facility, and is markedly preferable to INAA in terms of the ease of both sample preparation and analytical procedure. Consequently, element abundance data can usually be provided by a single analyst within a few hours after the start of sample preparation. The accuracy of the method, determined by comparison with data of other workers on eight standard reference materials, averaged 2.4% for the ten best-agreeing elements. The effectiveness of the method for determining pottery provenance is demonstrated for a difficult problem, in which high-precision XRF analysis successfully distinguished the products of two nearby pottery manufacturers in Roman Galilee (Shikhin and Nahif) that had not been clearly differentiated by INAA. The greater effectiveness of high-precision XRF than INAA in this provenance study is a result of the different array of elements measured, and the higher precision obtained for certain elements, by XRF. These results suggest that high precision XRF has potential broad applicability for pottery provenance studies.     

HISPANO-MORESQUE POTTERY PRODUCTION OF THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY WORKSHOP OF TESTAR DEL MOLÍ (PATERNA,SPAIN)

Excavation of Testar del Molí, the only workshop found in the Manises-Paterna area, revealed the existence of a fourteenth-century ceramic workshop covering the remains of the thirteenth-century workshop. This study is concerned with the fourteenth-century production, and forthcoming papers will connect both epochs following the findings of current excavations. The chemical and mineralogical characterization of the ceramic production of this workshop shows the presence of three groups of ceramic pastes which could also be distinguished by, and, thus, related to, their daily use. The raw materials found in the excavation have also been mineralogically and chemically characterized, and a model of possible mixtures of raw materials has also been developed in order to determine their possible use in the manufacture of the pottery previously characterized.     

Iran's Shortsighted Policies in Iraq: Between Inflaming and Containing of Radical Sunni Islam: 2003–2015

The main goal of the 2003 war with Iraq of the coalition forces led by the United States was to topple Saddam Hussein's regime and establish a new political system that would adopt democratic practices. Iran, a country that deemed Saddam's regime to be a threat, considered this war to be very helpful in many ways — first because it put an end to Clinton's “dual containment” approach and would thus help Iran to become a regional superpower at Iraq's expense. Second, a war with Iraq could put an end to the decades of oppression of the Shi'a community in Iraq. This article argues that Iran's involvement in Iraq's internal affairs created chaos in Iraq and contributed to the sectarian conflict against Sunni terror groups, notably the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known by the Arabic name Daesh, a terror group with the most extreme form of Sunni Radical Islam ever known. The sectarian conflict that resulted from the above is now taking place between the Sunnis and the Shi'a of both Persian and Arab backgrounds and this clash could not have become as radical as it is without Iran's aggressive foreign policy. It should, however, be noted that Iran is not the sole player in the country and therefore its part in inflaming sectarian conflicts should be viewed through a realistic prism that allows other forces — domestic and foreign — to be seen as having influenced the events for their benefit.     

Weathering the Storm: Social Policy and the Great Recession

This review discusses recent challenges to the welfare state arising from the Great Recession (GR). The GR was a significant event for social policy analysts, as it tested the responsiveness of welfare systems in the midst of a recent trend toward austerity politics in advanced economies. Social policy changes were part of the toolkit advanced democracies used to respond to the GR, and the welfare state mitigated the consequences of the GR. However, a stark limitation of the social safety net in the United States was the failure to assist immigrant households. The nexus of immigration and social policy is likely to be a significant controversy as we consider the meaning of social citizenship.     

Social Policy Perspectives on Economic Inequality in Wealthy Countries

This essay reviews the policy‐oriented literature on economic inequality in wealthy countries published from 2008 to 2018. We focus on this decade because it is a period bookended by both the beginnings of the Great Recession of 2008–2009 as well as the recovery. During this timeframe, attention to inequality by social policy scholars grew substantially, which we argue reflects an interest in both inequality trends as well as redistributive social policy. We observe in the literature sustained efforts to understand both the relationship between social policy and economic inequality, as well as determinants of changes to redistributive social policy. We also note substantial variation in research traditions, as well as opportunities to address substantive, methodological, and theoretical gaps. Our review summarizes the approaches and findings from the literature and discusses the implications of the findings for the study of economic inequality within the academic field of public policy.     

Double‐Thinking and Contradictory Arrangements in Iranian Law and Society

Although thinking double thoughts and living dual lives are not specifically Iranian traits, Iranians have, nevertheless, become more susceptible to them for historical reasons, which may be traced back to when Persians became Muslims. The gradual normalization of double‐thinking over the centuries has given rise to social and political patterns of behavior and institutional arrangements which oscillate between opposing regimes of truths and different sets of ethical concerns, often without merging them into a new process. Once double‐thinking is normalized at the level of society, it helps people to cope with the cognitive dissonance they experience in circumstances where it is difficult to change attitude and behavior. It also affects the organization of society by making contradictory arrangements appear normal. It promotes reflexive thinking and subversive action as much as it facilitates misrecognition of sociopolitical suppression and legitimization of symbolic violence. This state of affairs generates a form of modernity which appears, at least on the surface, to be comfortable with contradictory social arrangements, while deep down it remains ill at ease with its inner contradictions.     

Sustainability Policy Research: A Review and Synthesis

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical approaches drawn from influential journal articles and books on sustainability policy published over the last 10 years (2007 through 2017). Due to the widespread application of sustainability as a concept and space limitations, the paper more narrowly focuses on sustainability research in three critical policy areas: climate change, urban development, and agroecology and food systems. Drawing from information provided primarily by citation indexes, the study identifies and analyzes the research literature related to sustainability in these three fields. Future theoretical and empirical research approaches that can better integrate and connect the current diffuse and incongruent literature on sustainability are discussed in the paper. The findings of the literature review generate a number of possible future research directions that are discussed in the study.     

Personal Security and Electoral Demobilization: A Comparative Analysis

This research examines the link between the encroachment upon personal security and political participation among women in Lebanon and Morocco. Analyses are performed on the Status of Women in the Middle East and North Africa Survey conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) from August 2009 to June 2010. Results indicate a strong link between perceptions of personal security in both public and private spheres, and the propensity to vote. The results show that not feeling free to leave the home and experiencing regular sexual harassment in the public sphere curtail women's likelihood to vote. These findings have profound implications for shaping policies as they apply to women in the transitioning Middle East.     

Reconceptualizing the Policy Subsystem: Integration with Complexity Theory and Social Network Analysis

The concept of the policy subsystem is an essential building block for several of the basic frameworks of policy process studies. Over time issues have become more complex, crossing subsystem boundaries, and so subsystems have escalated in their complexity as well. It is increasingly insufficient to study just one policy subsystem and so scholars have turned to studying boundary‐spanning regimes or policy networks. In this essay, we review the major contributions to developing the concept of a policy subsystem and trace its evolution into broader conceptualizations like issue and policy networks. We argue that the future for theories of the policy process is in more explicit integration of complexity theory and more effective modeling of subsystems with the utilization of social network analysis. In closing, we discuss the enduring nature of the concept of policy subsystems and highlight studies that continue using it in innovative ways.     

Ulama in Islamic Law‐Making and Adjudication in Contemporary Egypt

The article examines the legislative and judicial tasks of Islamic jurists and how they carried it out in constitutional or general legal structure. While the Pakistani experiment was inspired by the Iranian model of jurists' involvement in legislatures, Egypt took a different path by not recognizing any official role for Islamic jurists with ambiguous recognition of Islamic jurisprudence. The legislative role could take the form of incorporating Islamic jurists into the legislature, establishing a committee partially made up of Islamic jurists, or handing over some legislative task to an Islamic jurisprudential institution. Despite the fact that Islamization was intended to respond to the people's requests, it employed autocratic and authoritarian mechanisms. The project attempted to replace the typical class of socially recognized jurists with appointed committees entrusted with Islamic codification. The experiment was challenged for its operation and its Islamicity but never introduced Shari'a courts or Islamic clerical legislation.