From the familiar to the extraordinary: local residents' perceptions of risk when living with nuclear power in the UK

Nearly two decades since the last nuclear power station was built and began operating in the UK, nuclear energy is firmly back on the political agenda domestically and elsewhere in the world. Yet since the 1980s, little research has investigated perceptions of nuclear power in the UK, particularly those of communities living in very close proximity to such facilities. Using biographical narrative interviews (n = 61), we explore how local residents living close to two nuclear power stations in the UK (Bradwell, Essex and Oldbury, South Gloucestershire) have come to view their local facility. We reveal how the power station is constructed through processes of familiarisation and/or the normalisation/normification of risk as part of everyday life; how this ordinariness is juxtaposed with moments of extraordinariness in which, due to direct and mediated events, the power station is reframed as a risk issue; and how risk awareness is associated with moments of anxiety which ebb and flow through our interviewees' lives. We conclude that biographical experiences dynamically unfolding through space and time can be interrupted by risk events (mediated and direct, real and symbolic, nuclear and non-nuclear) to disrupt the usually taken-for-granted ordinariness of a power station's presence in a particular locality. Our findings suggest that those involved in debate about new nuclear build must be sensitive to the heterogeneity of the extraordinary in nuclear affairs and the importance of socio-cultural histories of place.     

MODERN MACROECONOMICS AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC MODELING*

ABSTRACT Despite a history of regional economic models being patterned after their national counterparts, modern macroeconomic methodology has yet to be fully embraced by regional scientists. In this paper, I argue that modern macroeconomic methodology has much to offer the field of regional economic modeling. For one, the empirical strategies used in implementing dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models provide insights into how regional computable general equilibrium models could be better parameterized and empirically verified. In addition, the structural macroeconomic approach more generally could be used to construct structural regional policy analysis models for use as alternatives to traditional regional models.     

Prosperity,power, and change: Modeling maize at Postclassic Xaltocan,Mexico

Documenting the relationship between agriculture and political economy occupies the center of much research and debate in anthropological archaeology. This study examines this issue by focusing on maize at Xaltocan, a Postclassic community located in the northern Basin of Mexico. We consider how different mechanisms of distribution, circulation, and production can influence maize variation. We analyze maize variability through time at Xaltocan and the community’s chinampa system and interpret patterns of variation in relation to its historical trajectory. This methodological and interpretive approach offers an innovative means to understand how agricultural practices transformed in relation to changing conditions of prosperity and power, especially the links between tribute, market exchange, conflict, and regional demography. Our study also speaks to broader, dichotomous perspectives that model the organization of agricultural systems, revealing that the strategies of both agriculturalists and the state often converge at local levels.     

‘Bringing international politics back in’: reconceptualising state failure for the twenty-first century

This article argues that the failed-state phenomenon is not unique to the post-cold war era, nor is it uniquely threatening in comparison with other historical periods. The article contends that state failure is not primarily a failure of formal institutions of governance but a subjective condition defined by the great powers. ‘Bringing international politics back in’ is essential to a clear understanding of the issue for an emerging multipolar international system of the twenty-first century. The article draws on classical realist and critical constructivist perspectives to define state failure before developing a theoretical framework to reconceptualise the issue in a historical and international systemic context. Interpretations of state failure are based on the interplay of contingent transnational threats with the distribution of capabilities in the international system, the pattern of order in the international society, and the sensitivity of the domestic polities of leading actors to risk. The article draws some implications of this for the coming decades of the twenty-first century.     

村落间仪式性馈赠及交往的变迁——以京西黑龙关庙会为例

基于多次对北京房山区河套沟地区的的黑龙关庙会及其村落的田野调查所得,文章着重关注社会变迁对多村落间交往模式的影响。作为地区中心型庙会,黑龙关庙会由多村落联合举办,其在"河套沟"文化空间及景观的仪式建构中具有根本性的意义。文章从横向/纵向情境、竞争性/非竞争性、表达性/工具性三个维度对"走会"与"献会"进行区隔,希冀借此对"河套沟"内部间及外部村落的交往模式和结构进行透析。在此基础上,对"仪式性馈赠"的概念进行界定与分析,探讨作为一种"仪式性馈赠"机制,它们对传统村落生活中社会关系网的凝结以及区域社会中地方认同感的缔结起到了怎样的作用;伴随着社会变迁及现代化的进程,在这样一种结构化的交往模式及交换体系中,是什么使得它在其发生的场域中依然呈现出结构化的功能特征。     

GOD'S PEOPLE AND BUDDHISTS OF NAXI IN TIBET

Today is Sunday.Anyi,a Tibetan woman,gets up early and gets dressed. She combs her hair and tries to make herself to look smart.She takes her daughter Nyina,together with some fellow villagers,to walk toward the church situated at the entrance to the village.To most of these villagers in Tsakhalho Village,this is a normal Sunday activity.     

OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION“TREASURE IN THE SNOW-LAND”IN THE MUSEUM OF TIBETAN CULTURE,CHINA TIBETOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER

<正>On March 28th,2010,the 51st anniversary of the emancipation of the million serfs in Tibet,an exhibition on the theme"Treasures in the Snow-land, witnessing Tibetan History and Promoting Tibetan Culture"taking place in the newly built Museum of Tibetan Culture in the China Tibetology Research Center,Beijing.Over 100 leaders,experts and academics from related state departments,the Tibet Autonomous Region,relevant research institutes,     

OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION ＂TREASURE IN THE SNOW-LAND＂

On March 28th, 2010, the 51st anniversary of the emancipation of the million serfs in Tibet, an exhibition on the theme ＇Treasures in the Snow.land, witnessing Tibetan History and Promoting Tibetan Culture＂ taking place in the newly built Museum of Tibetan Culture in the China Tibetology Research Center, Beijing. Over 100 leaders, experts and academics from related state departments, the Tibet Autonomous Region, relevant research institutes,