Economic Policy and Decision Making at the Intersection of Domestic and International Politics: The Advocacy Coalition Framework and the National Economic Council

This article advances a theoretical model of the National Economic Council (NEC) based on a policy network approach and group decision-making theory to explain why the U.S. president's NEC represents a significant development in the rise of the intermestic policymaking and decision-making processes. It develops theoretical conceptions of interests and manipulation based on a Policy Network Approach and the Advocacy Coalition Framework in policy studies research to illustrate the complexity of NEC group dynamics. Hopefully, such a contribution can further existing theoretical frameworks in the field of policy studies and analysis and can add to assessments of the NEC in policymaking and decision-making. Unlike much of the prevailing research, this article perceives the NEC as a political instrument used by policymakers and decision makers to protect their policy interests and engage in forms of political manipulation to increase their power over economic policy.     

Household appointments and dismissals at the court of Louis XIII

This article looks at the impact on court office-holding ofone of the most celebrated royal favourites of the seventeenthcentury, Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, who was in favourfrom 1617 until 1622. During these five years, he was responsiblefor appointing forty-two noble men and women to high officein the households of Louis XIII, his queen Anne of Austria andhis brother Gaston d'Orléans. They were his dependentsappointed for their personal loyalty and political usefulnessto him, including influencing opinions, providing information,acting as messengers and go-betweens and helping him to getrid of rivals and enemies. Half of them left office within fiveyears of his death in December 1621, and three-quarters withinten years, a much higher departure rate than in the generalhousehold population. More than half of them were dismissedby Richelieu after he came to power in 1624 because he loathedLuynes and regarded his household appointees as untrustworthy.There is clearly a need for more studies of the political tiesand activities of royal household members during this period.     

Serpent Mound: Still Built by the Adena,and Still Rebuilt During the Fort Ancient Period

Radiocarbon dates from the base of Serpent Mound in Ohio demonstrate that it was built 2,100–2,300 years ago during the Adena period but was subsequently rebuilt or repaired about 900 years ago during the Fort Ancient period. We describe the basis for supporting the chronology of this building sequence, why it is the best and most complete explanation from the data at hand, and discuss the errors and misconceptions that critics of it have put forth. Our interest is in establishing a chronology of mound construction in order to address questions about cultural continuity/discontinuity, appropriation, and reuse of cultural monuments and religious/political symbols. We also plead that researchers jointly collect new data from Serpent Mound to end the back-and-forth questioning of chronological context and research competence.     

GUGE CIVILIZATION:Still Mysterious and Unknown

EDITOR'S NOTE:Although Swedish explorer Sven Hedin ventured into Ngarifrom Xinjiang in 1902, the region remains mysterious and unknown to the outside world.This prompted the State Cultural Relics Bureau and the Cultural Relics to senda team into Ngari along the Lhasa-Ngari-Yecheng(Xinjiang)route. The purpose was toexplore the Zhangzhung Civilization that existed prior to the Guge Kingdom.According to legend, Zada in the Xianquanhe River Valley is the central part ofthe Zhangzhung Kingdom, which was so formidable that the kingdom was divided intoInternal, Central and External Zhangzhung and Internal Zangzhung alone coveredpresent-day Ngari and Ladakh. This writer was one of the team members.     

Review Article: Louis XVI and Vergennes

JOHN HARDMAN and MUNRO PRICE, eds. Louis XVI and the comte de Vergennes: Correspondence, 1774–1787. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1999. Pp. xvii, 403. £65.00. Reviewed by H. M. Scott     

Archaeology and Politics in the Holy Land: The Life and Career of P. L. O. Guy

Abstract

Philip Langstaffe Ord Guy's (1885–1952) career in archaeology began as Woolley's assistant at Carchemish and as Chief Inspector for the Department of Antiquities of Palestine during the 1920s. He is best known as director of the Megiddo Expedition (1927–1934), where he employed innovative techniques in balloon photography, and provided a highly influential identification of the pillared buildings found there as stables. He dated these buildings to the Solomonic era, sowing the seeds of a long-running debate over the role of the Bible in archaeological interpretation. Guy was later appointed director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1935–1939), initiating the short-lived Archaeological Survey of Palestine. After World War II and Israel's War of Independence, Guy became a senior figure within the fledgling Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums as Director of Excavations and Surveys. Active involvement in Zionist politics through his marriage into the Ben-Yehuda family was a controversial factor that impacted on his career within 1920s and 1930s Palestine. Recent archival research allows an assessment of Guy's double life as archaeologist and political activist and the degree to which these areas intersected. His name can be added to the diverse spectrum of archaeologists working in the Holy Land during this formative but turbulent colonial and post-colonial era.