Between Athens and Jerusalem: Western otherness in the thought of Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt

In understanding the meaning of the West, twentieth‐century political philosophers Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss called for a return to “Athens” (classical political philosophy) in order to address the “crisis of the West,” a loss of a sense of legitimate and stable political authority which, in their view, constitutes a nihilistic threat to Western democracy. The only way for the West to escape this nihilistic crisis is to return to Plato and Aristotle. Implicit in this critique is the belief that the other tradition of the West, “Jerusalem” (the Bible) has contributed to this nihilism, by undermining the authority of the Greeks. Is Jerusalem, then, the fatal “Other” for the West? Which tradition—Athens or Jerusalem—is best prepared to alleviate the crisis of the West, especially the survival of democracy? As I address these questions, I shall contend that it is Jerusalem, not Athens, which is the true source of Western democracy.     

Local Councils as ‘Place-shapers’: The Implications of the Lyons Report for Australian Local Government

The recent past has seen an intense focus on ‘financial sustainability’ in Australian local government to the exclusion of other important dimensions of local governance. This restrictive emphasis on finance has been unfortunate as it has ignored important developments in the international literature, which is best exemplified in the landmark 2007 Lyons Report in the United Kingdom. In this official inquiry, Sir Michael Lyons reiterates the critical significance of local voice and local choice in contemporary local government and develops the concept of ‘place-shaping’ as epitomising the modern role of local councils. However, British local government enjoys far broader service provision responsibilities than its Australian counterpart. Accordingly, this paper thus seeks to outline the nature of ‘place-shaping’, as conceived in the Lyons Report, and consider its applicability in the much narrower Australian local government milieu.     

Gustaf Retzius and Camillo Golgi

Gustaf Retzius (1842-1919), the Swedish anatomist and anthropologist, and Camillo Golgi were contemporaries. They met on several occasions and came in closer contact when Golgi, together with Ramon y Cajal, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in Stockholm in 1906. Retzius came from an illustrious family. His father was professor of anatomy at Karolinska Institutet and Gustaf himself made a fast career. At 35, he was appointed to a professorship in histology, especially created for him at Karolinska Institutet, and later he became professor of anatomy in the same institution. Retzius was exceedingly productive, and published more than 300 scientific papers, most of which dealt with the nervous system and sensory organs. The majority of these were included in his magnificent volumes Biologische Untersuchungen, Neue Folge (Biological Investigation, New Series), which appeared from 1890 to 1921, and in Das Gehororgan der Wirbelthiere ("The Acoustic Organ of Vertebrates", 1881 and 1884), which may be his internationally better know contribution. Much of his work, especially on invertebrates, was based on Ehrlich's methylene blue method, but he also used the Golgi method early on. Particularly his studies of the innervation of the sensory organs became of great importance for the support of the neuron doctrine. His standing internationally was reflected in his membership in many of the most prominent academies abroad, as well as in invitations to him to give a "Croonian Lecture" in 1908 and "The Huxley Lecture" in 1909.     

Measuring children's independent mobility: comparing interactive mapping with destination access and licence to roam

Children's independent mobility (IM) lacks a standardised definition and measurement protocol. Interactive mapping applications can capture geographically defined mobility data. In this study of 219 children, independent parental licences (IM Licence) and allowances to travel to certain locations unsupervised (IM Index) were collected through a questionnaire, and compared to IM-roaming areas derived from the Visualisation and Evaluation of Route Itineraries, Travel Destinations, and Activity Spaces (VERITAS-IM) mapping application. Significant relationships were found between the VERITAS-IM-derived measures and traditional measures of IM (IM Licence and IM Index). Results suggest the perceived degree of children's IM is heavily dependent on the assessment method and a combination of methods should be considered.     

The northernmost South American fossil record of Boa constrictor (Boidae,Boinae) from the Plio–Pleistocene of El Breal de Orocual (Venezuela)

Onary-Alves, S.Y., Hsiou, A.S. & Rincón, A.D., July 2016. The northernmost South American fossil record of Boa constrictor (Boidae, Boinae) from the Plio–Pleistocene of El Breal de Orocual (Venezuela). Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Boa constrictor is an extant boid widely distributed through the neotropical region, from the north of Central America to central Argentina. The fossil record of the species includes examples from several localities across the Americas that extend beyond the current distribution of the species. Here we report the first Plio–Pleistocene fossils of Boa from Monagas state, Venezuela. The material comes from El Breal de Orocual (Maturín municipality), which is an inactive tar seep deposit emplaced within the Mesa Formation. The specimens consist of two isolated anterior trunk vertebrae, an articulated sequence of six mid-trunk vertebrae and two posterior trunk vertebrae. The vertebrae are attributed to B. constrictor based on the following features: robust and high vertebrae; thick zygosphene with a notched or concave anterior edge; presence of a paracotylar, subcentral and lateral foramina; marked parasagittal ridges; epizygapophyseal process evident on the dorsal surface of the postzygapophyseal articular facets and high blade-like neural spine. The presence of B. constrictor in northern of Venezuela indicates a palaeoenvironment probably like savanna crossed by rivers with riparian forests, and suggests the predominance of a mesothermal climate with a moderate rainfall.

Silvio Y. Onary-Alves [silvioyuji@gmail.com], Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Comparada, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Av. Bandeirantes 3900, CEP 14040901, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil; Annie S. Hsiou [anniehsiou@ffclrp.usp.br], Laboratório de Paleontologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Av. Bandeirantes 3900, CEP 14040901, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil; Ascanio D. Rincón [paleosur1974@gmail.com], Laboratorio de Paleontología, Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Carretera Panamericana Km 11, 1020-A Caracas, Venezuela.     

Policy Coalitions in the U.S. Congress: A Spatial Duration Modeling Approach

This paper applies spatial duration models to the analysis of cosponsorship coalitions in the U.S. House of Representatives. This approach provides a unique and simultaneous statistical analysis of ideological space (specifically, coalition formation) and geographical space. Typically, duration models are associated with temporal longitudinal data, but recently have been adapted to the spatial domain (Pellegrini and Reader 1996). In this paper, spatial duration models are further adapted to examine ideological space including a consideration of unobserved sources of spatial variation (or omitted variable bias). We examine two features of cosponsorship coalitions, breadth and clustering. Breadth is defined as the ideological distance between the two most extreme members of the coalition which is an important “signal” to the rest of Congress regarding the scope and broad appeal of the proposed legislation. In contrast, clustering refers to the distance between individual members of a coalition and reveals the tendency, or not, of ideologically similar members of Congress to support various bills. To examine breadth and clustering, we employ spatial duration models of cosponsorship that permit a multivariate analysis incorporating both the characteristics of members of Congress and the geographical regions they represent. Results indicate that cosponsorship coalition patterns are primarily determined by the content of the legislation, not the actions of the coalition leadership. While the leadership characteristics of sponsors have a limited effect on cosponsorship breadth, the size of the coalition is the primary determinent. Leadership characteristics also have little effect on cosponsorship clustering. Rather, clustering is due to members' policy preferences, as measured by distance to the coalition leader. In addition, the duration analysis results suggest that geographical proximity between members of Congress “overcomes” ideological distance. Finally, the spatial duration approach is noted as a fruitful methodology for examining explicitly spatial patterns in both ideological or geographical space.     

Social Capital and Community Strategies: Neighbourhood Development in Guatemala City

This article uses a social capital framework to analyse the strategies employed by two low–income communities in Guatemala City to improve their physical and social environment. The case studies provide examples of poor communities, without access to any form of insurance or welfare benefits, struggling to achieve neighbourhood development. They also demonstrate the way in which strategies can be defined by the issue of land tenure. Key strategies for development were found to be mobilization through community organization, informal links (including clientelistic relations) with powerful groups, and protest. The author concludes that social capital (within communities and between stakeholders) and some degree of security (land tenure) are critical ingredients for communities to develop effective strategies for neighbourhood development with other stakeholders.