Political Alignments,Political Economy and Political Change in Australia 1890-1940

This paper explores the applicability of class-coalitional explanations to broad patterns of public policy in Australia at the turn of the century and during the Great Depression. It argues that this approach, with its strong comparative emphasis, does shed light on the 'historic compromise' between capital and labour established after Federation and provides some useful hypotheses about Australia's failure to 'break with orthodoxy' in the 1930s. In particular, it provides an important comparative framework for understanding the nature and role of the labour movement in Australian history, and a corrective to prevailing interpretations. The paper also argues, though, that evidence from the Australian case calls into question simple factor-endowment models of political change.     

Democratization, Legitimacy and Political Change in Central Asia

This article examines the concepts of democracy and legitimacy in the context of post-Soviet Central Asia. Its first argument is that democratization projects have lived through hard times in five Central Asian countries despite the failure of the institutional expression of democracy to incorporate the values and structures of these societies. The Soviet legacy of cynicism combined with local conservative political culture obstructs the emergence of democratic values and processes crucial for successful institutional development. If democracy does not provide a basis for political legitimacy, should the conclusion be that the ruling regimes are illegitimate? The article’s second argument is that the current sources of legitimacy stem from the fact that the regimes managed to cope with the initial challenges of post-communist transition with relative success and laid the foundation of the new states. Moreover, the populations do not see viable alternatives to the present order. However, there are new problems, such as mounting social tensions, regionalization and criminalization of politics. These challenges are largely a by-product of developments in the post-independence era. The continuing legitimacy of the regimes will depend on their ability to cope with these new, highly problematic issues.     

Patterns of Political Support: Examining Congress and the Presidency

This paper examines political support toward Congress and the presidency. With data made available by Hibbing and Theiss-Morse (1995), I extend the work of Easton and Dennis (1969), demonstrating that there are distinct patterns of political support that correspond to diffuse support and to specific support for particular branches of the national government. The findings also support the arguments of Alwin et al. (1991) and others regarding generational assessments of political institutions. In particular, older citizens base their support toward Congress on perceptions of governmental performance.     

Northern Ireland Representation at Westminster: Constitutional Conundrums and Political Manœuvres

This article focuses on the issue of Northern Ireland's representation at Westminster. It investigates the political context of the decision to increase Northern Ireland's representation in the house of commons at Westminster from 12 members to 17 in 1978–9. Exploring this episode in more detail, it is argued, provides a more informed overall understanding of the history of devolution in the UK and of the way issues concerning Northern Ireland often overlapped with questions of constitutional change in Scotland and Wales. The article also throws light on the matter of Northern Ireland MPs and their voting rights at Westminster during Northern Ireland's experience of devolution prior to 1972.     

1928年京津易帜与国民党人的北京论述

早在清末,以孙中山为代表的一批早期国民党人初步形成了一套有关国都北京的论述,并在之后的一段时期内支配了国民党方面对北京的基本认知。1928年6月,京津易帜,北京纳入南京国民政府的行政版图,“国都”地位不再,南京成为新都。国民党人继续沿用了先前的话语策略,大力抨击北京作为帝制余孽、官僚巢穴、腐败温床的身份与标签,并建立起“国都”与“国运”的逻辑关联,北京被定义为“中华民族衰落的中心场”,南京则是“近代中华民族复兴的纪念地”。国民党人形成的这套北京论述既是一种主观认知,也是一种主动建构,背后具有鲜明的政治意旨。     

Patterns of Change in the Congressional Budget Process, 1865-1974

This paper examines five periods of congressional budget reform, from 1865 to 1974, and asks two sets of related questions: (1) What are the external and internal factors that seem to precipitate reform? and (2) Are there systematic differences in the ways Congress responds to internal and external pressures for change? If so, in the process of formulating successful (i.e. adopted) reforms, how are the responses to external stresses balanced against those designed to deal with internal questions? The research indicates that economic difficulties engendered by war and major changes in presidential-congressional relations with respect to fiscal policymaking are the crucial external variables. Internally, major shifts in the power relations of those involved in congressional spending decisions appear to facilitate budget reform. In responding to external pressures on its budget process, Congress tends to centralize its budget procedures. In response to internal pressures, Congress tends to decentralize those procedures.     

Sacred Topography and Social Memory: Religious Change and the Landscape in Early Modern Britain and Ireland1

This article analyses the relationship between the tumultuous religious changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the landscape of the British Isles. It examines the immediate impact and long‐term cultural repercussions of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations on perceptions of and practices associated with the natural world and physical environment, as well as the influence exerted by intellectual and cultural trends associated with developments in science, medicine, and antiquarianism. Reformed theology fundamentally undermined traditional assumptions about the presence of the sacred in the material universe, but the religious ruptures of the era were tempered and complicated by elements of continuity and movements of counter‐reaction. Springs, trees, stones, and other notable topographical landmarks retained powerful religious resonances after the Reformation. Potent reminders of the pre‐Reformation past, they also provided a stimulus to the making of new myths and legends and acted as catalysts of the transformation of social memory.     

战争期间日本妇女运动家市川房枝的政治转向

市川房枝是日本近代著名的妇女解放思想家,妇女运动的领导者,在战前和战后致力于日本妇女解放运动,但是曾因战争期间参加法西斯军国主义的战时体制,战后一度被解除公职,本文探讨的是1937年日本发动全面侵华战争时市川房枝的政治转向,即由争取妇女参政权运动转到为战时体制服务,在翼赞体制下号召和组织妇女支持侵略战争,并试图通过市川房枝为代表的妇女运动的转向,探求其转向的深层根源。     

Understanding Policy Change Using a Critical Junctures Theory in Comparative Context: The Cases of Ireland and Sweden

Utilizing a new theory for examining critical junctures, we seek to better understand the nature of industrial policy change in Ireland during the 1950s and macroeconomic policy change in Sweden in the 1980s. Did these policy changes constitute critical junctures, or something less, and if so why? The theory consists of three elements—economic crisis, ideational change, and the nature of the policy change—that must be identified for us to be able to declare with some certainty if a policy change constitutes a critical juncture. Herein, we will be examining the roles of a variety of change agents including the media, central banks, and politicians. Our findings will help explain why Irish industrial policy was transformed in the late 1950s, while Swedish macroeconomic policy underwent only minor change in the early 1980s.     

Social Change in 19th-Century Rural Ireland and the Archaeology of the Narrow-Gauge Railway: The Case of Munster

Abstract

Railways are unusual archaeological entities. They lasted, in many cases, only for a short length of time, and in their locomotive-hauled form are of quite recent origin. There is a signifi cant amount of documentary information available, making it well-nigh impossible, as well as inadvisable, to rely solely on the extant material remains. The fact that later incarnations of some of these lines remain in existence today and are to a degree part of our lives means that we possess preconceived notions about rail travel. Railways have featured heavily in literature and art, as well as having infl uenced the development of communication networks, politics and social issues. All of these combined, aside from drawing our awareness to the magnitude of the importance of railways, make it difficult to look at them from an archaeological perspective, or to see what an archaeological perspective can bring to the study of railways. This paper examines what an archaeological study of the narrow-gauge railways of Munster (the south-west of Ireland) can contribute to an understanding of broader patterns of social change in 19th-century rural Ireland.