Diplomatic and the Cid revisited: the seals and mandates of Alfonso VII

The royal chancery of the kingdom of León- Castile appears to have adopted the use of the seal towards the middle of the twelfth century. Examination of the surviving impressions from the reign of Alfonso VII (1126-57) suggests that he had at his disposal not one seal but two. They were sometimes used for the authentication of the solemn diplomas by which lands or privileges were granted; it is suggested that they were used also for sealing the short administrative orders called mandates. Documents of this latter sort, which have not hitherto been studied, appear to derive from the mandates used by Aragonese rulers of the early twelfth century, and they in their turn from the Capetian mandement and the Anglo-Norman writ. The use of sealed mandates in Alfonso VII's chancery is a further example of the play of foreign influences upon the kingdom of León-Castile at this period and may be of more than fugitive interest to historians of literature who are concerned to date the composition of Spain's most famous medieval epic, the Poema de Mio Cid.     

Book reviews

Australian politics

L.F. Crisp, Federation Fathers (ed. John Hart: Studies in Australian Federation) (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990) pp.xv + 484. $48.00 ISBN 0 522 84399 3.

I.M. Cumpston, Lord Bruce of Melbourne (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1989) pp.xviii + 291. $n.p. ISBN 0582 71274 2.

John Forster and John Wanna (eds.), Budgetary Management and Control (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1990) pp.vii + 206. $29.95 ISBN 0 7329 0332 7.

Hal L. Kendig and John McCallum (eds.), Grey Policy: Australian Policies for an Ageing Society (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990) pp.xiii + 226. $19.95 ISBN 0 04 442129 X.

Chandran Kukathas, David W. Lovell and William Maley, The Theory of Politics: an Australian Perspective (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1990) pp.210 + vii. $15.99 ISBN 0 582 86806 8.

Scott Prasser, Rae Wear and John Nethercote (eds.), Corruption and Reform: The Fitzgerald Vision (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1990) pp.xvi + 267. $26.95 ISBN 0 7022 2234 8.

Kosmas Tsokhas, Markets, Money and Empire: The Political Economy of the Australian Wool Industry (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990) pp.viii + 235. $29.95 ISBN 0 522 84417 0.

Comparative and international politics

Abdullahi Ahmed An‐Na'im and Francis M. Deng (eds.), Human Rights in Africa: Cross‐Cultural Perspectives (Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1990) pp.xv + 399. $36.95 ISBN 0 8157 1796 2.

Thomas A. Baylis, Governing by Committee. Collegial Leadership in Advanced Societies (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989) pp.236. $n.p. ISBN0 88706 944 4.

George C. Edwards III with Alec M. Gallup Presidential Approval: A Sourcebook (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1990) pp.viii + 214. $US40.50 ISBN 0 8018 4085 6.

Kristian Gerner and Stefan Hedlund, Ideology and Rationality in the Soviet Model: A legacy for Gorbachev (London: Routledge, 1989) pp.xii + 455. $n.p. ISBN 0 415 02142 1.

John A. Hall (ed.), States in History (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990) pp.vi + 317. $39.95 ISBN 0 631 17136 3.

M.D. Hancock, West Germany: The Politics of Democratic Corporatism (N.J.: Chatham House, 1989) pp.v + 186. $US12.95 ISBN 0 934540 54 3.

Christine Jennett and Randal G. Stewart (eds.), Politics of the Future: the role of social movements (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1989) pp.xi + 471. $34.95 ISBN 0 333 50222 1.

Peter Jennings, The Armed Forces of New Zealand and the Anzus Split: Costs and Consequences (Aukland: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1988) pp.xi + 108. $NZ12.00 ISBN 0 908772 04 1.

Ihor Kamenetsky (ed.) The Tragedy of Vinnytsia; materials on Stalin's policy of extermination in Ukraine during the great purge, 1936–1938 (Toronto: Ukrainian Historical Association, 1989) pp.xviii + 265. $n.p.

Martin Laffin, Managing Under Pressure (Hampshire and London: Macmillan, 1989) pp.xvi + 207. $24.95 ISBN 0 333 44660 7.

Brij V. Lal, Power and Prejudice: The Making of the Fiji Crisis (Auckland: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1988)

Garry Rodan, The Political Economy of Singapore's Industrialisation: National State and International Capital (London: Macmillan, 1989) pp.266. £35.00 ISBN 0 333 47079 6.

Richard Scase (ed.), Industrial Societies: Crisis and Division in Western Capitalism and State Socialism (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989) pp.xi + 260. $29.95 ISBN 0–04–301303–1.

G.A. Wood, Governing New Zealand (Auckland: Longman Paul, 1988) pp.ix + 164. $NZ16.95 ISBN 0 582 71822 8.

Political theory and methodology

J.M. Barbalet, Citizenship: Rights, Struggle and Class Inequality (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1988) pp.119. £5.95 ISBN 0 335 15570 7.

Peter Calvert, Revolution and Counter‐Revolution (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1990) pp.vi + 90. $24.95 ISBNO 335 15397 6.

Cynthia Farrar, The Origins of Democratic Thinking: The invention of politics in classical Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp.x + 301. $42.50 ISBN 0 521 37584 3.

Norman Geras, Discourses of Extremity: Radical Ethics and Post‐Marxist Extravagances (London: Verso, 1990) pp.xiii + 171. $29.95 ISBN 0 86091 980 3.

Barry Hindess (ed.), Reactions to the Right (London: Routledge, 1990) pp.viii + 193. $32.95 ISBN 0 415 03385 3.

Margot Light, The Soviet Theory of International Relations (Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1988) pp.vi + 376. $n.p. ISBN 0 7450 0556 X.

Joseph McCarney, Social Theory and the Crisis of Marxism (London: Verso, 1990) pp.x+217. $29.95 ISBN 0–86091–948‐X.

John Morrow, Coleridge's Political Thought: Property, Morality and the Limits of Traditional Discourse (London: Macmillan, 1990) pp. xi + 215. £29.50 ISBN 0 333 51192 1.

Peter P. Nicholson, The Political Philosophy of the British Idealists: Selected Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) pp.x + 359. $135.00 ISBN 0 521 37102 3.

Stuart Schram, The Thought of Mao Tse‐tung (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) pp.242. $30.50 ISBN 0 521 32549 8.

Arthur Seldon, Capitalism (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990) pp.xiii + 419. $45.00 ISBN 0 631 12558 2.     

Book reviews

Australian Politics

Peter Beilharz, Transforming Labor: Labour Tradition and the Labor Decade in Australia (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1994) pp.245 $29.95 ISBN 0 521 43821 7.

Christine Fletcher (ed.), Aboriginal Self‐Determination in Australia (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Report Series, 1994) pp.204 $16.95 ISBN 085575.

William Sanders (ed.), Mabo and Native Title: Origins and Institutional Implications (Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, Research Monograph No.7, 1994) pp.83 $15.00 ISBNO 7315 20084.

Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh, Peter Graham and Jeni Warburton (eds), Service Delivery and Public Sector Marketing (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1991) pp.191 $24.95 ISBN 0 7329 0386 6.

J. Taylor, Regional Change in the Economic Status of Indigenous Australians, 1986–91. Research Monograph No.6 (Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, 1993) pp.77 $15.00 ISBN 0 7315 1870 5.

J. Taylor, The Relative Economic Status of Indigenous Australians, 1986–91. Research Monograph No.5 (Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, 1993) pp.85 $15.00 ISBN 0 7315 1841.

Andrew C. Theophanous, Understanding Social Justice (Melbourne: Elkia Books, 1993) pp.373 $n.p. ISBN 1875335 021.

Rodney Tiffen, News and Power (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1989) pp.255 $19.95 ISBN 0 04 372043 9.

K.J. Walker, The Political Economy of Environmental Policy: An Australian Introduction (Kensington, NSW: UNSW Press, 1994) pp.349 $24.95 ISBN 0 86840 070 X.

Comparative and International Politics

A. Doak Barnett, China's Far West: Four Decades of Change (Boulder: Colorado: Westview Press, 1993) pp.688 $US39.95 ISBN 0 8133 1774 6.

Robert E. Bedeski, The Transformation of South Korea. Reform and Reconstruction in the Sixth Republic under Roh Tae Woo 1987–1992 (London and New York: Routledge, 1994) pp.197 $35.95 ISBN 0 415 10604 4.

Samuel H. Beer, To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993) pp. 392 US$29.95 ISBN 0 674 89317 4.

David Campbell, Politics Without Principle: Sovereignty, Ethics and the Narratives of the Gulf War (London: Lynne Rlenner, 1993) pp.118 $20.50 ISBN 1 55587 381 2.

Jack Donnelly, International Human Rights (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993) pp.198 $US39.95 ISBN 0 8133 8181 9.

Scott Davidson, Human Rights (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1993) pp.178 $49.95 ISBN 0 335 15768 8.

Frank Fischer and John Forester (eds), The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning (London: UCL Press, 1993) pp.318 $39.95 ISBN 1 85728 183 7.

Frank Frost, Vietnam's Foreign Relations: Dynamics of Change. Pacific Strategic Papers No.6 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 1993) pp.90 $14.99 ISBN 981 3016 65 5.

Jim George, Discourses of Global Politics: A Critical (Re)Introduction to International Relations (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 1994) pp.266 $US18.95 ISBN 1 55587 446 0.

Misha Glenny, The Fall of Yugoslavia New Edition. (Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin, 1994) pp.258 $14.95 ISBN 0 14 023415 2.

Brian Hocking, Localizing Foreign Policy: Non‐Central Governments and Multilayered Diplomacy (London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's, 1993) pp.249 £40.00 ISBN 0 312 09720 4.

Peter Jackson and Jan Penrose, (eds), Constructions of Race, Place and Nation (London: UCL Press, 1993) pp.216 $37.95 ISBN 1 85728 077 6.

Ann Kent, Between Freedom and Subsistence: China and Human Rights (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.293 $25.95 ISBN 0 19 585521 3.

Robert Pinkney, Democracy in the Third World (Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1993) pp.182 $39.95 ISBN 0 335 15704 1.

Larry Diamond (ed.), Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries (Boulder and London: Lynne Rlenner, 1993) pp.485 $US49.95 ISBN 1 55587 303 0.

Geoffrey Ponton and Peter Gill, Introduction to Politics. Third edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.327 ISBN 0 631 18784 7.

George Schopflin, Polities in Eastern Europe (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.327 $39.95 ISBN 0 631 14724 1.

Andrew Sharp (ed.), Leap Into the Dark: The Changing Role of the State in New Zealand Since 1984 (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1994) pp.255 $NZ34.95 ISBN 1 86940 096 8.

John Stevenson, Third Party Politics Since 1945 (London: Institute of Contemporary British History/Allen and Unwin, 1993) pp.157 $32.95 ISBN 0 631 17127 4.

Phil Cocker, Contemporary British Politics and Government (London: Tudor Business Publishing/Hodder and Stoughton, 1993) pp.404 $38.95 ISBN 1 872807 35 6.

Danny Unger and Paul Blackburn (eds), Japan's Emerging Global Role (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 1993) pp.213 $US16.95 ISBN 1 55587 387 1.

Anthony van Fossen, The International Political Economy of Pacific Islands Flags of Convenience (Brisbane: Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Monograph No. 66: Griffith University, 1992) pp.86 $10.00 ISBN 0 86857 474 0.

John Wesley Young, Orwell's Newspeak and Totalitarian Language: Its Nazi and Communist Antecedents (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1991) pp.335 $US36.50 ISBN 0 8139 1324 1.

Political Theory and Methodology

Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power. John B. Thompson (ed.), Gino Raymond and Matthew Adamson (trans.) (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992) pp.302 $39.95 ISBN 0 7456 1034 X.

Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit (eds), A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) pp.679 $165.00 ISBN 0 631 17993 3.

David Held (ed.), Prospects for Democracy: North, South, East, West (Oxford: Polity Press, 1993) pp.412 $45.00 ISBN 0 7456 0989 9.

Anthony H. Birch, The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy (London: Routledge, 1993) pp.260 $38.95 ISBN 0 415 09108 X.

Kathleen Jones, Compassionate Authority: Democracy and the Representation of Women (New York: Routledge, 1993) pp.272 £12.99 ISBN 0 415 90644 X.

Robert Leach, Political Ideologies: An Australian Introduction. Second Edition (Melbourne: MacMillan, 1993) pp.245 $32.95 ISBN 0 7329 2001 9.

Lynn McDonald, The Early Origins of the Social Sciences (Montréal: McGill‐Queen's University Press, 1993) pp.397 ISBN 0 7735 1124 5.

Toby Miller, The Well‐Tempered Self: Citizenship, Culture, and the Postmodern Subject (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1993) pp.290 $n.p. ISBN 0 8018 4604 8.

Yael Tamir, Liberal Nationalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) pp.194 $US24.95 ISBN 0 69107893 9.     

Fluvial sediments, correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction: The development of robust radiocarbon chronologies

Multiple sequences of radiocarbon dates extracted from organic materials are increasingly being used to provide robust chronologies for landscape development, particularly the timing and correlation of significant climatic and ‘process’ events. Whilst the validity of using such frameworks in sedimentary environments such as lake basins and raised bogs has been the focus of much attention, such debates have not extended to fluvial systems. Using examples from three lowland, vertically accreting river valleys in East Anglia, UK, this paper assesses the robustness of their associated radiocarbon chronologies by assessing the contrasting age estimates that are obtained by dating different parts of the same organic sample (humic, humin and plant macrofossils) at a variety of stratigraphic levels. Overall, the humin and humic acid fraction results were statistically consistent, whilst the plant macrofossil remains were found to be of a slightly younger age. In these examples, it is argued that the younger ages appear to be the result of Phragmites (common reed) roots pushing plant macrossils through the sedimentary sequence or opening up voids for material to fall through, although studies in lacustrine and mire environments suggest alternative explanations may also be possible. Whichever explanation is preferred, this study demonstrates clearly that the complexity of valley floor stratigraphy and processes is such, that using single radiocarbon dates, whether AMS or bulk samples to reconstruct chronologies of ‘geomorphic system response’ may need to be refined and subjected to the same level of assessment that has been applied in other sedimentary systems.     

Measuring Inuit Health from Ungava to Nunavik via Nouveau Québec: Episodes in the History of Researcher–Subject Relations

ABSTRACT

Inuit have been the subject of research attention since the earliest encounters with Europeans. Using the Foucauldian concept of biopolitics this article explores the history of researcher–research subject relations produced through health knowledge in the region now known as Nunavik. This history is organized in three time periods: The first is the “Ungava” era and is explored in the observations of members of the Hudson Bay Expedition and subsequent mapping efforts. The second “Nouveau Québec” era begins in 1912 when the current borders of Québec were established and lasts until 1975. After a period of indifference, research interest grows rapidly in the post-war period with a focus of social adaptation and culture change. The third era begins in 1975 with the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. This marks the beginning of Inuit political development within an Inuit-controlled regional governance structure. The conceptualization of three different health surveys during this period shows an emerging complexity in how Inuit health is imagined. An upcoming fourth survey which marks the first time the study of Inuit physical, social, and community health will be initiated by an Inuit-led health authority.     

The China of Tomorrow: Japan and the Limits of Victorian Expansion

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the literature on the mechanisms, rhetoric, and limits of mid-Victorian expansion by asking how far late Tokugawa Japan was subject to forms of British imperialism. In September 1862 a British merchant was murdered on the high road between Edo and Kyoto; a year later, a British fleet bombarded Kagoshima in retaliation. By engaging with John Darwin’s concept of the ‘bridgehead’, this article examines the circumstances in which a lonely death on the frontiers of British commerce could be transformed into a Victorian ‘outrage’. It considers what we stand to gain by bringing an imperial history perspective to bear on what remains, for most imperial historians, a largely forgotten conflict. In positing Yokohama as a bridgehead that could gain only fitful purchase in London, it asks new questions about the conduct of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ and the fault lines of mid-Victorian expansion; the place of Japan in British political imaginaries; the nature of informal empire; and the discourses buffeting British expansion in the turbulent 1860s.