Labour's Strategic Defence Review

Labour’s Strategic Defence Review claims to be ‘radical’, leading ‘to a fundamental reshaping of British forces’ while being ‘firmly ground in foreign policy’. Five questions are discussed: 1) Is labour’s defence policy different from that of its Conservative predecessors? 2) Has foreign policy ‘led’ defence policy? 3) How open was the review process and to what extent has Labour succeeded in creating a new consensus on defence policy? 4) Has the SDR successfully addressed the problem of overstretch? 5) Does it provide the ‘modern, effective and affordable armed forces which meet today’s challenges but are also flexible enough to adapt to change’, as it claims? This article argues that on the first two questions the answer is a qualified ‘yes’; that on the third, the process was more open than ever before but that it is difficult to identify specific decisions influence by more open debate; that on the fourth, Labour has attempted a balancing act which may be vulnerable, not least to changes in the economy; and that on the last question, Labour has succeeded in shifting the focus of the armed services towards power projection capabilities as required by their foreign policy baseline.     

Reviews

The Modern Traveller to the Early Irish Church Kathleen Hughes & Ann Hamlin, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 134, ISBN 1.85182.194.5, £9.95 (pb)

In Search of Columba Lesley Whiteside, 1997 Blackrock, Dublin, Columba Press pp. 136, ISBN 1.8560.7180.4, £5.99 (pb)

A History of the Irish Working Class Peter Beresford Ellis, 1996 London, Pluto Press pp.378, ISBN 0.7453.1103.2, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.0009.X, £15.99 (pb)

The Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland John McGurk, 1997 Manchester, Manchester University Press pp. xiii + 290, ISBN 0.7190.4959.8, £45.00 (hb)

Edmund Spenser: A View of the State of Ireland Andrew Hadfield & Willy Maley (eds), 1997 Oxford, Blackwell pp. xxvi +197, ISBN 0.63120.534.9, £35.00 (hb); ISBN 0.63120.535.7, £10.99 (pb)

Inventing and Resisting Britain: Cultural Identities in Britain and Ireland, 1685–1789 Murray Pittock, 1997 London, Macmillan pp.200, ISBN 0.333.65060.3, £42.50 (hb); ISBN 0.333.65061.1, £13.99 (pb)

Linen, Family and Community in Tullylish, County Down, 1690–1914 Marilyn Cohen, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 284, ISBN 1.85182.312.3, £45.00 (hb)

Remembrance and Imagination: Patterns in the Historical and Literary Representation of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century Joep Leerssen, 1996 Cork, Cork University Press in association with Field Day pp. 320, ISBN 1.85918.111.2, £15.95 (pb)

The Historical Dimensions of Irish Catholicism Emmet Larkin, reprint 1997 Washington, The Catholic University of America Press; Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 138, ISBN 1.85182305.0, £9.95 (pb)

The Kingdom of the Ryans: The Irish in Southwest New South Wales 1816–1890 Malcolm Campbell, 1997 Sydney, University of New South Wales Press pp.210, ISBN 0.86840.191.9, A$34.95 (pb)

’This Dreadful Visitation’: The Famine in Lurgan/Portadown Gerard Mac Atasney, with a foreword by Christine Kinealy, 1997 Belfast, Beyond the Pale Publications pp. 126, ISBN 1.900960.02.8, £6.95 (pb)

A Death‐dealing Famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland Christine Kinealy, 1997 London, Pluto Press pp.200, ISBN 0.7453.1075.3, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.1074.5, £12.99 (pb)

Culture, Conflict and Migration: The Irish in Cumbria Donald M. MacRaild, 1998 Liverpool, Liverpool University Press pp.237, ISBN O.85323.652.6, £30.00 (hb); ISBN 0.85323.662.3, £12.95 (pb)

Guns and Chiffon: Women Revolutionaries and Kilmainham Gaol Sinead McCoole, 1996 Dublin, Kilmainham Gaol Museum pp. 70, ISBN 0.7076.3870.4, £5.00 (pb)

Hanna Sheehy Skeffington: A Life Margaret Ward, 1997 Cork, Cork University Press pp.368, ISBN 1.85594.179.1, £45.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85594.187.2, £14.95 (pb)

’They Shall Grow Not Old’: Irish Soldiers and the Great War Myles Dungan, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 218, ISBN 1.85182.347.6, £17.95 (hb)

Rural Ireland, Real Ireland? Jacqueline Genet (ed.), 1996 Gerrard's Cross, Colin Smythe pp.245, ISBN 0.86140.385.1, £28.00 (hb)

Irish Playwrights, 1880–1995: A Resource and Production Sourcebook Beknice Schrank & William W. Demastes (eds), 1997 London, Greenwood Press pp.454, ISBN 0.313.28805.4, £75.95 (hb)

Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy and the First World War Philip Hoare, 1977 London, Gerald Duckworth pp.256, ISBN 0.71562.737.6, £16.95 (hb); ISBN 0.71562.828.3, £11.95 (pb)

Yeats's Nations: Gender, Class and Irishness Marjorie Howes, 1996 Cambridge, Cambridge University Press pp. 250, ISBN 0.521.56362.3, £35.00 (hb)

Yeats and Women Deirdre Toomey (ed.), 1997 Basingstoke, Macmillan; New York, St. Martin's Press pp.448, ISBN 0.333698.16.9, £19.50 (pb)

James Joyce, Ulysses , and the Construction of Jewish Identity: Culture, Biography, and ‘The Jew’ in Modernist Europe Neil R. Davison, 1996 Cambridge, Cambridge University Press pp.317, ISBN 0.521.55181.1, £35.00 (hb)

Sex, Nation and Dissent in Irish Writing Éibhear Walshe (ed.), 1997 Cork, Cork University Press pp.291, ISBN 1.85918.015.2, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85918.014.0, £16.95 (pb)

Women and Irish Society: A Sociological Reader Anne Byrne & Madeleine Leonard (eds), 1997 Belfast, Beyond the Pale Publications pp. 573, ISBN 1.900960.03.6, £16.95 (pb)

Discrimination and the Irish Community in Britain Mary Hickman & Bronwen Walter, 1997 London, Commission for Racial Equality pp.312, ISBN 1.85442.200.6, £10.00 (pb)

Culture and Policy in Northern Ireland: Anthropology in the Public Arena Hastings Donnan & Graham McFarlane (eds), 1997 Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies pp. 240, ISBN 0.85389.690.9, £9.95 (pb)

Was Ireland Conquered? International Law and the Irish Question Anthony Carty, 1996 London, Pluto Press pp. viii + 203, ISBN 0.7453.0325.0, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.0722.1, £12.99 (pb)

Sacrifice of Fools Ian McDonald, 1997 London, Vista pp. 286, ISBN 0.575.60059.4, £5.99 (pb)

Enchanted Journeys: Fifty Years of Irish Writing for Children Robert Dunbar (ed.), 1997 Dublin, O'Brien Press pp. 192, ISBN 0.86278.531.6, £8.99 (hb)

Grace Notes Bernard Mac Laverty, 1997 London, Jonathan Cape pp.278, ISBN 0.224.04429.X, £14.99 (hb); ISBN 0099.77801.7, £5.99 (pb)

The Bridal Suite Matthew Sweeney, 1997 London, Jonathan Cape pp. 49, ISBN 0.224.04328.5, £7.00 (pb)

Verbum et Verbum Micheál Fanning, 1997 Knockeven, Salmon Publishing pp.78, ISBN 1.8976.48898, IR£5.99 (pb)

Mutabilitie Frank McGuinness, 1997 London, Faber & Faber pp. 101, ISBN 0.571.19342.0, £6.99 (pb)

The Boxer Director, Jim Sheridan Universal Studios Inc., 1997

The Butcher Boy Director, Neil Jordan Geffen Pictures, 1997     

INTERREGIONAL KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS AND OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE IN A MODEL OF FREE TRADE AND ENDOGENOUS GROWTH*

ABSTRACT A two region model of horizontal innovation with free trade and occupational choice is used to examine the spatial patterns of innovation and manufacturing industry in interior and core‐periphery long‐run equilibria. The inclusion of skill heterogeneity among workers creates a tension between stabilizing productivity effects that coincide with reallocations of workers across industries, and destabilizing productivity effects that arise with localized stocks of knowledge capital. We find that while core‐periphery equilibria are always saddlepath stable, interior equilibria are saddlepath stable when knowledge spillovers exceed a threshold level but are unstable otherwise. In addition, incorporating skill heterogeneity into the model allows for interior equilibria with asymmetric shares for innovation and industry.     

Reflections on the Balance of Traditional Sailing Vessels

The balance of sailing vessels makes an important contribution to sailing characteristics, but its measurement is far from trivial. Traditionally, balance has been determined from the geometric centres of hulls and sails, but experimental results show that this approach is highly inaccurate. Designers overcome this difficulty by the use of a heuristic concept of 'lead', but the geometric methodology can be misleading in retrospective analysis of ancient sailing vessels. It can result in doubtful conclusions about sailing capabilities and incorrect deductions about the type of rig that was used and the reasons for specific mast positions.
© 2008 The Author     

The Adelaar: a Dutch East-Indiaman Wrecked in 1728 off Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

The Adelaar , a Dutch East-Indiaman outward bound from Middleburg to Batavia, was wrecked on Greian Head, Barra, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 1728. Although heavily salvaged at the time, and situated in an extremely dynamic location, the wreck demonstrates that exposed sites can retain meaningful levels of archaeological integrity, and historically valid conclusions can be drawn from them.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Kaul,Advaitavadini and Chattopadhyay,Sukumar, eds., Kalātattvakośa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Volume IV: Manifestation of Nature – Srsti Vistāara

Indo-Iranian Journal -     

Social Archaeologies of “Utopian” Settlements in Ireland

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century a number of “Ideal” or “Utopian” type settlements were established across Ireland. These tended to be religious groupings or “model” communities associated with industry. In the southwest a number of short-lived cooperative communities were established along Owenite principles which continue to play an integral part in the radical histories of the country. This paper examines the archaeologies of these sites and analyses the role of individual in their formation and collapse and addresses the social archaeology of their construct and layout. It is suggested that contemporary hierarchical norms were actually reproduced in these communities and this segregation is reflected in the physical morphology of the settlements.