The signory and its supporters: the Este of Ferrara

The signory of the Este, like that of other contemporary signori, was officially inaugurated with a public election. The ‘people’ (popolo) of Ferrara thereby instated an hereditary ruler who had absolute powers over the city. This election, together with the fact that there were no successful rebellions against the Este, has led some historians to argue that these signori achieved an implicit understanding with the ‘people’ of Ferrara.The evidence of contemporary chronicles, though often ambigous, does not support this view. Likewise, the legislation of the first Este signore demonstrates a desire to suppress the ‘people’ rather than to co-operate with them. The group whose support was essential to the Este was the nobility; chronicle and archival evidence indicates that the Este considered this group to be the very basis of their signory. The interests of the nobility, as well as the need to maintain good relations with Venice, made far more impact on Estense policy than did the wishes of the ‘people’.     

A decline of ‘friends and neighbours voting’ in Ireland? Local candidate effects in the 2011 Irish ‘earthquake election'

‘Friends and neighbours voting’, that is, the propensity of voters to support local candidates, is a characteristic of a number of contemporary democracies. The Republic of Ireland is one of the settings where this phenomenon has been explained and documented very comprehensively. In this paper, we study local candidate effects in the most recent Irish general election, held in 2011. We show that during this unusually volatile election, fought in the shadow of an EU/IMF ‘bailout’, ‘friends and neighbours voting’ persisted but was attenuated in comparison to what has been observed in the past. This was most pronounced in the case of the historically dominant party – Fianna Fáil – and (in a weaker form) for its all-time rival – Fine Gael. We describe the changing electoral strength of these two and other Irish parties in terms of fluctuating local candidate effects.     

‘A Model of its Kind’: Representation and Performance in the Sudan Self-government Election of 1953

In December 1953 Sukumar Sen, an Indian civil servant, bid farewell to Sudan, having just overseen Sudan's ‘self-government’ election. ‘Your election’, he told the people of Sudan in a radio broadcast, ‘can legitimately claim to have been a model of its kind.’ The election had seen determined attempts at manipulation—by Sudanese and by Sudan's rival colonial masters, Egypt and Britain. Much of this manipulation revolved around the mechanics of the election, and there were bitter arguments within the Electoral Commission which oversaw the event. Yet all involved were driven by a concern over representation—over how the election would look, to outsiders and to those involved. This paper will examine the debates over how the election should be conducted, and will suggest that, for those who organised it, the election was concerned not so much with representation of the will of the people, but rather with the representation of process.     

The Language of Imperialism in British Electoral Politics, 1880–1910

This article asks us to reconsider the impact of the issue of imperialism in electoral politics in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Using a corpus of around five million words of digitised campaign speeches from the years 1880–1910, it examines the language of the nine General Elections held in this period through computerised text-mining. This ‘big data’ analysis produces three conclusions, which in some cases nuance existing interpretations and in others directly challenge them. The first questions the prevailing consensus that elections in the high age of empire featured imperialism as a consistently central issue. The article argues that this interpretation relies too heavily on evidence from a minority of elections—especially the famous ‘khaki’ struggle of 1900—and that in the majority of campaigns in this period, imperialism was relatively unimportant as an election issue, including in the Unionist landslide of 1895. The second argument questions historians’ preoccupation with the ‘contested’ nature of discourses of imperialism and patriotism at elections, and contends that—insofar as the empire was an important campaign issue at all—the Conservatives were considerably more likely to champion it and connect it to politically charged and emotive appeals than were their Liberal opponents. Finally, the article maintains that the languages of imperialism and patriotism have often been unhelpfully conflated by historians, and argues that they could become politically synonymous only in the very specific circumstance of a ‘khaki’ election. In other contests, they could diverge, as is demonstrated by a case study of the campaign of 1906 when patriotism was reclaimed by the Liberals from a domestic, rather than imperial platform.     

Landscape Construction and Long-Term Economic Practices: an Example from the Spanish Mediterranean Uplands Through Rock Art Archaeology

We argue in this paper that Levantine rock art in the Spanish Mediterranean basin allows us to ‘map’ the economic landscape of its makers. Rock art would be the ‘monumental’ side of a dual process of landscape construction: on the one hand, rock art is the first ‘cultural’ action on the landscape beginning in the Early Neolithic; on the other hand, the first evidence of active modification of the Mediterranean vegetation comes from this period. But this evidence as well as other kinds of archaeological remains are still relatively scarce in the uplands; rock art is therefore the most complete type of evidence we can use to support an early use of the Mediterranean upland environment. We use statistical and geographical analysis, together with archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic sources and pollen data, in order to support the idea of early use and exploitation of the Mediterranean uplands since the Neolithic, and into contemporary times.     

ARISTOCRATIC WEALTH AND INEQUALITY IN A CHANGING SOCIETY: SWEDEN, 1750–1900

The role of the European nobility and their ability to retain their political and economic power are part of the debate on the modernization of Europe’s economy. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the wealth of the Swedish nobility as the country evolved from an agrarian to an industrial economy. We use a sample of 200+ probate inventories of nobles for each of the benchmark years 1750, 1800, 1850 and 1900. We show that the nobility, less than 0.5 per cent of the population, was markedly dominant in 1750: the average noble was 60 times richer than the average person, and the nobles held 29 per cent of all private wealth. 90 per cent of the nobles were richer than the average person. By 1900 the advantage of the nobles’ wealth had declined; the group held only 5 per cent of total private wealth. At the same time, stratification within the nobility had increased dramatically. One group of super-rich Swedish nobles, often large land owners from the high nobility, possessed the biggest fortunes, but a large minority of nobles were no richer than the average Swede.     

The Engraver,The Chandler and the Trades Unionist: Reflections on the Grassroots Reading of Scripture*

Abstract

Politics and religion often use the same kind of language to achieve their ‘missionary’ ends, hut such language is stripped of its meaning unless it is related to ultimate, rather than short-term, purpose. This is demonstrated by notions of election, the place of the prophet and the effects of the ‘powers’ in global society. The energy and creativity of responding to an ultimate vision is undermined in both political and relgious affairs by institutionalization. The fact that this takes place asks us to reconsider what it really means, in both religion and politics, to ‘reach out to people’ and what purpose such outreach serves.     

‘The right to immobility’ and the uneven distribution of spatial capital: negotiating youth transitions in northern Sweden

‘Successful adulthoods’ are associated with mobile professionals, higher education and cosmopolitan lifestyles. This paper takes an interest in how this discourse is adopted or altered by young people living far away from big cities. Based on interviews in a traditional woodland community in northern Sweden, the study examines how young people in the second and final years of upper secondary school negotiate their transition from education to work. It draws on the two-dimensional concept of ‘spatial capital’. It sheds light firstly on a range of local possibilities underpinned by ‘position capital’, such as proximity to mining districts as well as to educational institutions. These possibilities compete with ‘situation capital’ in the form of young people’s dispositions towards mobility where they consider alternatives in other cities in Sweden and sometimes – although rarely – abroad. I argue that spatial capital is an indication of young people’s habitus, where the geographical marginality of the study location influences perceptions of the future in divergent and sometimes contradictory ways. The paper also problematizes contemporary society’s privileging of mobility, which should be viewed in relation to youth’s perceived ‘right to immobility’.     

Towards ‘Embedded Non-creative Work’? Administration,digitisation and the recorded music industry

Abstract

For contemporary cultural policy, ‘non-creative’ work continues to form a conceptual blindspot: a foil to define and value creativity against. This paper develops existing categories to augment the task-focused notion of ‘embedded creativity’ with a more situated view of work’s cultural and institutional embedding. It first interrogates this ‘embeddedness’, taking a ‘cultural economy’ approach to intermediation and administrative support. Drawing on observations from an in-depth qualitative study of employees in major record labels, the second part articulates the heightened importance of ‘admin’ to recorded music industries, after ‘digital disruption’. Routine bureaucratic labour presents an atypical example, revealing much about the hidden relational and identity work that goes into constructing ‘creative industries’ as such. The intention is not to show that ‘embedded non-creative workers’ are in fact ‘creative’ but, on the contrary, to articulate the distinct contributions and value of support work in this context, questioning a persistent reliance on creative/non-creative dualisms. Policy research would benefit from enriched understanding of culture's assembly in marketable objects, reorienting understandings of ‘cultural’ labour markets and careers, and reimagining the role of traditional cultural ‘administration’ in the contemporary ‘creative economy’.     

The Greening of the Queensland electorate?

The Greens at the 2004 Queensland State election almost trebled their primary vote from 2001, an increase suggesting the party has already filled the vacuum left by the declining Australian Democrats as the State's principal Left-of-Centre minor party. This article argues, first, that much of this growth in support can be attributed to the substantial interstate migration to the State's southeast, a pattern that has contributed to a partial transformation of Queensland's traditional political culture to one more disposed to Green support. Second, given that this growth is set to continue, it is argued that the Queensland Greens are yet to maximise their vote. This article analyses the 2004 Queensland State election results to determine the impact of Green preferences under the State's Optional Preferential Voting (OPV) system, and to locate where geographically, and among whom demographically, Green support was strongest. A rudimentary profile of the ‘typical’ Queensland Greens voter is also offered.     

民初省议会贿选与民众澄省远的斗争--以安徽省第三届省议会为例

1921年安徽省第三届省议会选举受金钱势力与地方军阀操纵,各选区违法舞弊层出不穷,40余县发生诉讼,当选议员多系贿买而来。皖人否认选举结果并积极澄清省选,与当选议员进行了一系列斗争,最终本届省选被判决无效并被责令改选。选政的腐败及议会、议员的不良是皖人反对此届省议会的重要原因,也与防止倪系势力复活有关。总的来看,皖人反贿选斗争取得胜利具有一定的历史意义。     

The Italian party system’s three functional arenas after the 2018 election: the tsunami after the earthquake

The aim of this article is to assess to what extent the ‘change’ after the 2018 Italian election can be observed in the electoral, parliamentary and governmental arenas. We use the indicators of party ‘volatility’ and ‘innovation’ to measure the change in each arena. The time span is the period 1948–2018, with a specific focus on the time after the watershed election of 1994. In this respect, we have identified a crucial difference between the 1994 change and that of 2013–18: if 1994 was the single moment of passage from one party system to another, in the 2010s the change did not happen in a single moment. Only after the next election, if volatility and innovation in the three arenas is reduced substantially, could we claim that a new party system has developed, that could be considered the ‘third party system’ of the Italian Republic.     

The tyranny of transnational discourse: ‘authenticity’ and Irish diasporic identity in Ireland and England

Through the prism of current state discourses in Ireland on engagement with the Irish diaspora, this article examines the empirical merit of the related concepts of ‘diaspora’ and ‘transnationalism’. Drawing on recent research on how Irish identity is articulated and negotiated by Irish people in England, this study suggests a worked distinction between the concepts of ‘diaspora’ and ‘transnationalism’. Two separate discourses of authenticity are compared and contrasted: they rest on a conceptualisation of Irish identity as transnational and diasporic, respectively. I argue that knowledge of contemporary Ireland is constructed as sufficiently important that claims on diasporic Irishness are constrained by the discourse of authentic Irishness as transnational. I discuss how this affects the identity claims of second‐generation Irish people, the relationship between conceptualisations of Irishness as diasporic within Ireland and ‘lived’ diasporic Irish identities, and implications for state discourses of diaspora engagement.     

The Precarity of Young People’s Housing Experiences in a Rural Context

Young people’s housing, economic and labour market circumstances have become increasingly insecure due to the combined effects of the 2007/2008 economic crisis, neoliberal welfare reforms, rising costs of higher education and the shortage of affordable housing. Discussions of young peoples’ experiences in these domains have largely neglected their spatial variability but evidence suggests that young people living in rural parts of the UK have distinctive experiences of housing, which are closely connected to labour markets and educational opportunities. By drawing on qualitative data from young people and housing professionals, this article explores some of these rural distinctions and frames them within theoretical debates about the ‘precariat’. It argues for a more theoretically informed and geographically nuanced understanding of contemporary housing issues as rural youth potentially face greater precarity than their urban peers.     

Triangular Contests and Caucus Rhetoric at the 1885 General Election*

This article explores the role played by late‐Victorian political associations during parliamentary election campaigns. The central hypothesis is that party organisation, known popularly as the ‘caucus’, is best understood as a rhetorical device used by politicians and the press to gain legitimacy in the new context created by an expanded and quasi‐democratic electorate. The hypothesis is tested by examining the 1885 general election campaigns in Nottingham West and Sheffield Central. Both constituencies witnessed a triangular contest whereby an ‘additional’ candidate, standing on a radical platform, entered the campaign and pursued a distinctly ‘anti‐caucus’ agenda that was aimed primarily at the local Liberal Party Association. The manner in which the ‘caucus’ issue was articulated by all sides involved throws new light on the role played by party organisation during this period. While all sides described their association in a way that both defended and asserted its legitimacy, they equally used ‘anti‐caucus’ rhetoric to diminish the credibility of their opponent's organisation, even though they were emulating the deeds they were denouncing. Indeed, it was those within official Liberalism that indulged in the most virulent ‘anti‐caucus’ rhetoric. Thus, it is suggested that, with regard to the attitude of radicals towards official Liberalism, this ‘anti‐caucus’ rhetoric reflected not a real popular resistance against party organisation or ‘party’, but simply intense competition and imitation between rival ‘caucuses’.     

The dynastic triangle in international relations: Modena,England, and France, 1678–85

This article is a case study of how dynastic marriages in the early-modern period were wont to disappoint the participants. In this era, ruling dynasties frequently sought to marry suitable members of their family networks to well-placed clients in other states. These marriages were frequently intended to cement friendship or bind political wounds caused by previous conflicts. In 1673, the marriage between James Stuart, Duke of York, and Maria Beatrice d’Este, sister to the Duke of Modena, was sponsored by Louis XIV, King of France, thus giving rise to what one might term a ‘dynastic triangle’. This article, written from the Este perspective, demonstrates how the Duke of York and the King of France each subsequently failed, on two occasions, to support Francesco II d’Este's geopolitical objectives in northern Italy. For York, and his brother King Charles II, the failure to assist the Duke of Modena was as a result of their political inability to do so. On the other hand, Louis XIV's refusal to help Modena was because of conflicting French objectives in Italy. The negative Este reaction was both an indication of the Italian states’ fear and distrust of France, and a reminder that small states had ambitions and goals which were difficult to attain when not sponsored by a larger power. But these goals were often pursued when such sponsorship appeared likely, and were often unrealistic. The strains in dynastic relationships usually resulted from realisation that certain goals were irreconcilable.     

Book review

The article discusses some features of the political culture of late medieval Norway by focusing on the broader strata of the people and their political influence. To what extent could these groups express their own political goals and act to achieve them? The point of departure is the 1448–50 struggle for the Norwegian throne, the claimants being the Danish‐German Kristian I and the Swedish Karl Knutsson (Bonde). The Norwegian Council of the Realm was divided into two ‘parties’, both of which recognized the importance of the common people's support and acceptance of their candidate. However, the article argues that there were interesting differences in the two parties' tactics and rhetoric towards the common people. It was no coincidence that it was the supporters of Karl who mobilized the common people in the political struggle. Several central political, social and geographical arguments made by supporters of Karl were not employed in favour of Kristian. The supporters of the latter had to base their tactics on constitutional law and tradition. Nevertheless, it was concrete, contemporary political and economic interests that motivated the representatives of the common people, when they could not have a domestic king, to want Karl rather than Kristian,. This contemporary situation overshadowed a possible underlying constitutional conservatism among the common people. The popular representatives fought for what has been called ‘The Norwegian System’ in order to defend their own interests.     

Urban patricians and ‘bourgeois’ society: A study of wealthy elites in Florence, 1862–1904

This case study presents the results of research carried out on the principal wealthy families in Florence between 1862 and 1904. It shows that while Tuscany was in many ways a particular case, it offers an important opportunity for studying those distinctions between ‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’ that are implicit in debates on the social history of this period. From the 30,000 declarations of inheritance resulting from deaths registered in these years, the author examines 300 estates that were valued at over half a million lire and 146 ‘millionaires’, reconstructing the balance between fixed and liquid assets in the overall composition of the estates. The data show that estates based mainly on landed property of a type which was aristocratic in origin remained common throughout the period, and this finding is confirmed by the importance that farms in the case of rural property, and noble houses in the case of urban property, retained as forms of immovable property. A comparison of the structure of the wealth of the nobility (theoretically a more ‘traditional’ group) and that of Jewish bankers (in theory a more ‘modern’ group) indicates that all sections of the elite followed the same tendencies. The author argues that the elite was characterized by a ‘Renaissance paradigm’ in which forms of rural and urban seigneurial power were combined in a mixture of both relatively modern and relatively conservative features, and that this same combination was evident over the longer period in many other northern and central Italian urban elites. The statistical data offered by the sources are insufficient, however, to carry the analysis further without taking account of institutional structures and individual behaviour. In the final section of the article the author discusses several examples of inheritance settlements that confirm the complementary nature of family strategies aimed at perpetuating the integrity of the property through the male line and forms of management that sought to develop a variety of forms of economic enterprise and activity.     

Border protection,the 2001 Australian election and the coalition victory

While the issue of refugees and asylum-seekers has preoccupied many European countries, until the November 2001 federal election Australia had largely been immune from the problem. In the election, border protection—combining the Tampa crisis with the ‘war against terrorism’—were central electoral issues. Analysis of the 2001 Australian Election Study shows that border protection cost Labor the election. Labor suffered defections to the Democrats and Greens over its position on refugees and asylum-seekers, and defections to the Coalition on terrorism. Negative public attitudes towards asylum-seekers rested on oppo sition to immigration, but also on a particular dislike of arrivals from the Middle East. By contrast, support for the ‘war on terrorism’ was based mainly on notions of fairness and democracy. Of the two border protection issues— asylum-seekers and terrorism—terrorism was the more important of the two in shaping the election outcome. If 11 September had occurred but the Tampa crisis had not, the Coalition would in all probability still have won the election.