The persistence of the rural idyll: peasant imagery,social change and nationalism in Spain 1939–1978

In this article the authors propose a historical analysis of the role of romantic rural imagery in the Spanish (state and peripheral) re-nationalization processes during the Franco dictatorship through the scope of the political and identity meanings assigned to it. Their goal is to better comprehend twentieth-century Spain by examining the use (and abuse) of the rural imaginary by Spanish, Basque and Galician nationalisms, particularly during the time of the totalitarian regime of General Franco, giving special attention to the cultural loans between the ideological (and national) blocs traditionally interpreted as monolithic and irreconcilable: Francoism (1936–1975) and its political opposition.     

Chile 1997-1998: The Revenge of Incomplete Democratization

The author seeks to analyse the repercussions and consequences of the Pinochet affair for Chilean domestic politics. He explains how the legacy of seventeen years of authoritarian rule has shaped the deep divisions within Chilean society regarding the prosecution of the Chilean former dictator in the London courts. Chile is an incomplete democracy and Pinochetism is very much alive in Chile today.
The author is very critical of the role played by the current Chilean government and political class, for their behaviour during the affair. In granting a special mission to the General which gave him immunity and later supported his legal case after initial hesitation, the government has shown confusion that has not advanced the case for full democratization and justice in Chile. The ambiguous behaviour of the political class during the episode has discredited its prestige in the eyes of public opinion. Chilean society, according to the author, has missed an opportunity to advance justice and the dignity of the country.     

Commercial reform against the tide: Reapproaching the eighteenth-century decline of the republics of Venice and the United Provinces

The emergence of ‘civilized monarchies’, reformed European territorial states that had turned commercial, created major challenges to the old trade republics of Venice and the United Provinces. Would they perish and cease to exist, which seemed a logical corollary to the recent history of their decline, or might they be reconstituted and integrated into a new interstate system? Rather than to approach this question from the perspective of the history of political thought, which offers a range of rival outlooks on this issue, the present article treats the issue more from the inside and thus connects theories about decline to their concrete manifestations and experiences; from the spheres of diplomatic tensions over unpaid debts, publishing networks and the oscillation of consular and maritime law reform between Venice and the Dutch Republic.     

An Index of Social and Economic Development in the Community's Objective-1 Regions of Countries in Southern Europe

In this article we calculate an indicator of social and economic development using the DP₂ distance method to measure the disparities in Objective-1 regions of southern European countries for 2006. In addition to per capita income, socio-economic components such as health, education, employment, scientific and technological development and infrastructure provision have been incorporated into the index. We examine the issue of whether the Europe Union regions included in the Convergence Objective achieved a lower level of development than the regions no longer covered in this objective for the 2007–2013 programming period by establishing a territorial classification based on the value yielded by the variables of the DP₂. Our indicator constitutes a novel contribution insofar as it was constructed using a large number of variables. In essence, we show that not all the regions of the Convergence Objective presented a lower level of economic and social development than those that lost this consideration between 2007 and 2013 and the opposite.     

Cash Transfers and the Well‐being of Older People in Brazil

This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the effects of social protection interventions on material and subjective elements of well‐being. Drawing on a longitudinal survey located in two relatively deprived parts of Brazil, it assesses the effects of pensions and other cash transfers on the well‐being of older people and their households. This analysis is located within a dynamic economic and public policy context. The article finds that pension benefits significantly increase per capita income and that this is strongly associated with overall levels of satisfaction with household well‐being. Levels of reported subjective well‐being do not fall as respondents age, and the survey finds high levels of optimism about future well‐being. The positive effects of pension benefits were supported by upgraded health services and by more specific policies such as access to credit on favourable terms. Overall, the authors conclude that a combination of economic growth and effective public policies significantly boosted the well‐being of most households in their survey, and that Brazil can be taken as a model of good practice for other middle‐income countries.     

State policy,institutional framework and technical monopoly in early modern Spain: invention patents in the Crown of Aragon during the seventeenth century

This paper examines invention patents in the Crown of Aragon during the seventeenth century. Patents were granted by the Council of Aragon, the Royal Council responsible for political and legal issues arising in the Spanish territories belonging to the Crown of Aragon. The Council's functions in the area of patents arose out of the monarchy's interest in extending the validity of royal patents from Castile to Aragon in order to enhance its control over technical discoveries and developments, and to raise fresh revenues for the treasury. Both foreign and Castilian inventors applied for patents, which were immediately applicable, but the privileges they entailed were accepted only with difficulty by the Aragonese institutions. This reluctance severely curtailed the number of applications. Meanwhile, the Council's desire to cooperate with the monarchy led it eventually to define criteria for the grant of patents. However, the legal and institutional structure of the Crown of Aragon made it difficult for inventors to enforce and defend their rights. The lack of new patent applications to the Council in the later seventeenth century illustrates how the existence of a separate jurisdiction obstructed the consolidation of a patents system in the Crown of Aragon, hindering the spread of technical progress in Spain.     

The foreign policy of First Republic Italy: new approaches

This introductory article deals with the most recent contributions by Italian historians on the Italian Republic's international role. It aims mainly to demonstrate that a new generation of younger Italian historians is successfully offering new views and interpretations on First Republic Italy's role in the international system, and is also focusing on aspects such as the culture of Italy's political parties, the economic dimension, the role of public opinion, and the influence of external actors on domestic Italian politics – in short, that there has been a turn away from traditional diplomatic history based upon the archives of the Foreign Ministry.     

A Comprised Archaeological History of Taiwan through the Long-Term Record of Heping Dao,Keelung

We present the results of six years of archaeological work carried out in Heping Dao, Keelung, northern Taiwan. The site has revealed a rich archaeological record spanning a sequence that comprehends most of the history of Taiwan, including the most salient historical landmarks in it. The study of this long-term sequence of habitation in Heping Dao throughout prehistory to current times, allows us to attempt a historical archaeology of the longue duree of the place that in turn enables the establishment of comparisons between periods and raising of specific questions, among them: the general understanding of cultural transformation along the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and in turn the transition Iron Age/Aboriginal historic times in Taiwan, which in our view has to be observed as a history of continuity rather than of interruptions; the recognition of the Chinese presence in Taiwan in the pre-European period; the implantation of the European colony and its effects on the local populations; the differing material remains and impacts caused by the presence of pre-European Chinese and the Qing occupation; and the potential for a comparison between the European and the Japanese colonial projects as seen in the material record.