‘Red on White’: Kim Il Sung,Park Chung Hee,and the Failure of Korea’s Reunification, 1971–1973

The articles argues that in 1971–1973 North Korea’s leader Kim Il Sung used the Sino-American rapprochement and the Soviet-American détente to pursue Korean reunification on his terms; his aim was to ‘democratize’ and then ‘revolutionize’ South Korea and so achieve through dialogue what he failed to achieve through militancy. Kim’s game was based on a misreading of the political dynamics in South Korea and on misplaced confidence in North Korea’s attractiveness. He also misjudged his ability to obtain China’s and the USSR’s backing for his schemes.     

Geographical Variation of Subsistence Strategies in Early Mediaeval Populations of Southwestern Germany

The investigation is based on bone element data of early Mediaeval human skeletal samples from eight differing environmental conditions in lowland and mountain range localities of southern Germany. Reconstruction of plausible subsistence strategies revealed close correlations with the respective ecological potentials of the localities as indicated by proxy data on geomorphology, climate, and soil quality. In general, lowland situations showed mixed dietary patterns with a prevalence of agricultural farming, whereas in mountainous areas the emphasis was on dairy farming production and horticulture. This points to subsistence activities during the early Middle Ages that are closely adjusted to differing environmental conditions. An obvious deviation from this pattern in one locality (Kirchheim unter Teck) is explained in terms of successful socio-cultural buffering of limited but effective exploitation of the natural setting.     

Dietary reconstruction in Migration Period Central Germany: a carbon and nitrogen isotope study

This study presents bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the Migration Period cemeteries (fifth/sixth century AD) of Obermöllern and Rathewitz in Central Germany. The human average δ ¹³C ratios of ?19.8?±?0.3 ‰ and δ ¹⁵N ratios of 9.6?±?0.9 ‰ (n?=?43) reflect a mixed diet in a temperate C3-based ecosystem without significant difference between the two sites. The average offset between human and faunal δ ¹³C and δ ¹⁵N values indicates a significant contribution of plant food to the human diet that has different isotope ratios from the forage of the animals. It furthermore suggests the influence of land management on the δ ¹⁵N values. One adult male from Obermöllern stands out due to his elevated nitrogen isotope ratio, body height, grave goods, and burial position. The collagen isotope data of this study are comparable with data from other central European sites and confirm rather stable communities with moderate variation in the environmental conditions of arable land.     

GERMANY IN TIMES OF CRISIS: PASSIVE REVOLUTION,STRUGGLE OVER HEGEMONY AND NEW NATIONALISM

Germany appears as the case in point of a country that is getting through the current crisis rather well. Central to this “success” is the passive revolution that the country has undergone in the 2000s during which a state‐led restructuring of the regime of accumulation has resulted in the creation of a new stratum of working poor and an overall lowering of wages. Following a discussion of this passive revolution and the resulting mass impoverishment, this article explores the struggle over cultural hegemony, which has surfaced in various controversies since the beginning of the current economic crisis in 2007. I argue that there is a passive consensus concerning “poverty” – which is unpopular, but regarded as inevitable – that is outweighed by an active consent concerning “Germany” – an immensely popular notion. In Germany, a new nationalism that blends classism and racism in the service of the economic competitiveness of the nation is argued to be at the core of cultural hegemony in these times of crisis.