Australia's Nuclear Horizon: Moving Beyond the Drumbeat of Risk Inflation

The 2006 Switkowski review report commissioned by the Howard government highlighted some of the economic and foreign policy benefits that could flow from a major expansion of Australia's uranium export program. It also identified the long-term advantages for Australia's energy security flowing from the development of a national nuclear industry. The report has been condemned by anti-nuclear groups, who argue that proposals for Australia's continuing and, possibly, deeper involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle are unacceptable. The primary risk identified is that Australian uranium exports will contribute to global nuclear proliferation pressures, but claims concerning nuclear-related terrorism are also an increasingly common theme in anti-nuclear commentary. These arguments, in turn, are framed within a broader set of assumptions about the ‘immoral’ nature of any engagement in the nuclear fuel cycle. This article examines the most prominent claims put forward by anti-nuclear proponents and argues that many of them are based on an unnecessary inflation of risk.     

Moving Beyond the Oval Office: Problems in Studying the Presidency

No student of the presidency can avoid coming to grips with the impact which the president, himself, has on political affairs in general and, more particularly, the conduct of the office in which he serves. As Fred Greenstein (1979: p. 63) has observed,     

Beyond Boundaries: Nature,Culture and a Holistic Approach to Domestication in the Levant

The main objective of this paper is to suggest an alternative approach for the investigation of domestication in the Levant. First, basic data regarding domestication in the Levant are presented. Then the various traditional approaches towards domestication in the prehistoric Levant, labeled (1) environmental, (2) social and anthropological, and (3) cognitive, are briefly reviewed. This discussion forms the basis for a proposal of a “holistic approach,” in which domestication is regarded as a long-term, multidimensional and multirelational phenomenon, including many elements—such as plants, animals, humans, material culture and ancestors—with increasing human manipulation of these various constituents. After a presentation of the theoretical framework, a growth metaphor is used to reconstruct the process of domestication (ca. 20,000–6500 B.P.) as a number of phases: (1) germination in the Kebaran; (2) development in the Early Natufian; (3) retreat/dormancy in the Late/Final Natufian; (4) growth in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A; (5) florescence in the Early- and Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B: (6) further development in the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B; (7) dispersal in the Final Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and the Pottery Neolithic. In each of these phases, relations between the various elements are dealt with, special attention being paid to symbolical relations, as evidenced by “art” and ritual.     

Archaeology without Boundaries

Authors in this issue give examples of archaeologists learning to see the socio-political and economic frames of their research and show how we can begin to expand the limits of our comprehension of heritage.

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Resumen En esta edición los autores proporcionan ejemplos de arqueólogos que aprenden a ver los marcos sociopolíticos y económicos de su investigación y muestran como podemos empezar a ampliar los límites de nuestra comprensión del patrimonio.

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Résumé Les auteurs de ce numéro donnent des exemples d’archéologues qui apprennent à percevoir les cadres sociopolitique et économique de leur recherche et montrent comment on peut élargir les limites de notre compréhension du patrimoine.

     

山东东部沿海地区少数民族人口流迁问题研究

本文通过对山东东部沿海地区(主要是青岛、烟台和威海三市)少数民族人口流迁的现状、特征、影响和解决途径四个方面的研究,探索新时期少数民族流迁问题的规律,寻找解决矛盾的根本途径,揭示做好少数民族流迁工作对于加强民族团结、维护社会安定和构建社会主义和谐社会具有的重要作用。     

抗战爆发后国民政府档案转移经过史料一组

抗战爆发后,上海战事一触即发,南京危急。国民政府文官处紧急遣员将历年所存档案由南京经浙江运至江西暂存,后辗转运至重庆,使之幸免于战火。为了确保档案转运的顺利与安全,国民政府文官处与地方省政府及军事、铁道部门文电往来密切。在档案转运的过程中,国民政府负责押运的档案员记有工作El记,从南京出发记至江西。     

The Boundaries of Oxford's Empire

ANDREW PORTER, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire. III: The Nineteenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xxii, 774. $72.00 (CDN); JUDITH M. BROWN and WM. ROGER LOUIS, eds. The Oxford History of the British Empire: IV: The Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xxvi, 773. $72.00 (CDN); ROBIN W. WINKS, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: V: Historiography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xxiv, 731. $79.95 (CDN).     

Straddling the Boundaries Between Sciences

The author reverts to the theme that, in addition to the particular disciplines in physical geography and in economic geography, there is a genuine need for a general geographic approach to study of the geographical environment and of the man-nature relationship. As a result of the growing social impact on the environment, the operation of natural laws and social laws becomes so closely intertwined that no single discipline operating with one particular set of laws is capable of understanding the complex processes and phenomena in the interplay between nature and society. The growing specialized differentiation of geography as a science does not eliminate it as a distinct field of human knowledge with a common object of study. However there is a danger that the process of differentiation may be going too far, with an increasing number of scholars from adjacent disciplines coming into geography. The trend is said to be evident in the advanced training of geographers in universities, where geography facilities are turning into collections of departments turning out, say, meteorologists with little general geographic background. And yet there is a growing need for broadly trained geographers, particularly in the entire field of long-range planning and pre-planning research, in which the author is engaged.     

On the Imprecision of Boundaries

Imprecision of regional boundaries is subjected to a formal analysis within a fuzzy set theoretic framework. Regions are characterized by linguistic propositions which have precise mathematical translations. It is demonstrated that boundaries are generally fuzzy and exist as gradients rather than lines. Similarly, regions overlap to a certain extent. Though regional characterizations are imprecise, the extent of a fuzzy boundary can be exactly demarcated. Concepts of regional cores and edges are also examined. A simple climatic classification problem is employed to illustrate the theoretical arguments. The framework appears to be more natural, informative, and flexible. It comprises the conventional regional concepts as special cases.     

Subdividing National Territories: The Drive to Live in a Political Community Whose Boundaries Are Congruent with the Cultural Community

Two ideals have dominated world politics for two hundred years. In one, conveniently called liberal, there are no real differences among peoples, and that they speak different languages and have different religions should not be allowed to affect their collaboration in a national state; the United States with its multiethnic, multinational composition has been the concrete expression of this. The opposite ideal, here called nationalist or reactionary, was that language and religion do matter and that people ought to be able to live in a political community whose boundaries reflect that; Iran is an extreme case of this. If the liberal ideal goes back to the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, nationalism was given its impetus in nineteenth-century Romanticism. Nationalism has dissolved successively the British, Dutch, and French empires, and then gone on toward breaking down the constituents into which these separated. Despite attempted suppression of breakaway movements by better armed forces of existing states, the number of states in the world has more than doubled since the end of World War II. Only recognized governments can become members of official international bodies. Despite a lack of legitimacy, no right to speak in the councils of the United Nations, and no legal access to arms, the forces of separation seem on the rise, those of union of multicultural nations, on the decline. It is too early to predict ultimate victory for one ideal or the other.     

Beyond NIMBY

Using survey data, this study tests competing hypotheses about the nature of opposition to a hazardous waste incinerator. Using a multivariate model, we challenge some of the basic assumptions of the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) label typically used to characterize opposition. We find little evidence for components of the NIMBY label such as concern about property values and aesthetics, but find instead that opposition is related primarily to trust in government, fear of health consequences, and other ideological or demographic factors. We conclude with a discussion urging facility proponents to gain a better understanding of the nature of opposition and of the complexities of public opinion.     

Beyond binaries

David Hicks. Tetum Ghosts and Kin: Fieldwork in an Indonesian Community. Palo Alto, California: Mayfield, 1976. ix + 143 pp. $3.95, paper.