Complexity and Redundancy in Binary Maps

The complexity of binary maps that is provided by the areal arrangement of colors is considered, and measured using information theory. In addition, information theory provides other measures that have an interpretation in a map context. One of these, redundancy, is examined and found to bear a striking empirical relationship to a spatial autocorrelation statistic. It is argued that spatial autocorrelation is, conceptually as well as empirically, the two-dimensional equivalent of redundancy. It too measures the extent to which the occurrence of an event (color) in an areal unit constrains, or makes more probable, the occurrence of an event in a neighboring areal unit.     

The ‘hip pocket nerve’ and electoral volatility in Australia and Great Britain

Over the course of the post‐war period, Australian voting behaviour has manifested a marked degree of aggregate stability, whereas British voting patterns have become increasingly volatile. Since class voting has declined at a similar rate in both countries, it cannot explain this divergence. This article suggests that the explanation is to be found in the differential electoral impact of the two countries' macroeconomic performance in this period. Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, the state of the economy, as measured by the rates of inflation and unemployment, is shown to have been a less influential force in Australian general elections than in British ones. The greater aggregate volatility in Britain, in other words, would seem to reflect‐the electorate's greater sensitivity to its ‘hip pocket nerve’, especially when it is touched by inflation. Why this same relationship does not characterize Australian commonwealth elections can be speculated upon, but is a puzzle that remains to be solved.     

Application of Hurst Resecaling to Geophysical Serial Data

The empirical investigation of several geophysical time series indicates that they are composed of segments representing different natural regimes, or periods when events are strongly autocorrelated. Using a data transformation method developed by Hurst, these regimes are differentiated by rescaling the time series and examining the resulting transformed trace for inflections. As regime signals are not completely mixed and have rather long run lengths, Hurst rescaling produces a clustering of extremes of the same sign and elevates the Hurst exponent to values greater than 0.5. These regimes have a characteristic distribution, as defined by the mean and standard deviation, which differ from the statistical characteristics of the complete record. Analysis of sunspot numbers, monthly precipitation records from the midwestern United States, and annual watershed discharge yield regimes that correlate to well-documented periods of extreme activity. Rescaling appears to be useful in screening time series of unknown characteristics to differentiate periods dominated by regime-specific physical processes.     

The dawn of the secular state? Heritage and identity in Swedish church and state debates 1920–1939

This article provides a study of political positions concerning the role of religion in modern society in Sweden between 1920 and 1939. It aims to increase understanding of the Swedish secularization path, with special emphasis on issues related to heritage and national identity, by comparing the dominant perspectives on these issues in the Church of Sweden and in the Social Democratic Party during that period. It addresses how these positions have influenced policies during the period, as well as some of their implications for later path dependence. It explores relations between religious issues and the concept of national heritage, as well as how the fact that both were at that time commonly seen as legitimate tasks of the state came to influence the development of Swedish church-and-state relations and heritage policies. Special attention is given to the positions of the Young Church Movement, a movement within the Church emphasizing its role as a national church with a central position in national identity, as well as to the views of Arthur Engberg, the anti-clerical Social Democratic government minister responsible for church, education, and culture in the 1930s.