Performance of different luminescence approaches for the dating of known-age glaciofluvial deposits from northern Switzerland

Luminescence properties of two samples taken from sand lenses in proglacial outwash de-posits of a piedmont glacier that reached the Swiss midlands during the Last Glacial Maximum are investigated in detail. Deconvolution of CW-OSL decay curves shows that the fast component dominates the OSL signal of quartz. The chemistry of single feldspar grains, in particular the K content in different grains, is determined using wavelength dispersive spectrometry (electron microprobe), revealing an average 12.9 wt.% K of the grains contributing to the IRSL signal. D _e distributions are investigated in order to gain insights into partial bleaching, and agreement is found for quartz OSL and feldspar IR₅₀ and pIRIR₂₂₅ ages for small aliquots and single grains when applying the Minimum Age Model. These ages are also consistent with independent age control. For one sample, ages determined using the Central Age Model result in highly overestimated ages for both feldspar and quartz.     

The general will beyond Rousseau: Sieyès’ theological arguments for the sovereignty of the Revolutionary National Assembly

Cultural history's recent treatments of Sieyès’ political theory have understood his political writings in their convergences with and divergences from Rousseau's political theory. By sketching a thoroughgoing analogy between the ecclesiological arguments in Malebranche's Entretiens sur la Métaphysique et sur la Religion (1688) and the arguments that Sieyès offers on the floor of the National Assembly concerning the nature of representation, I suggest that we should recontextualize Sieyès’ speeches vis-à-vis the broader discourse of the ‘general will,’ which was theological at its root. That is, the arguments Sieyès offers for the sovereignty of the National Assembly, separately and in combination, appear to have been shaped by a malebranchiste ecclesiology that grew out of the particular context of the Jansenist challenge to the Church. This argument has ramifications not just for our understanding of Sieyès and revolutionary political theory but also for what have been called the “religious origins of the French Revolution.”     

Female domestic servants as desirable refugees: gender, labour needs and immigration policy in Belgium, The Netherlands and Great Britain

The immigration policies adopted by Western European states during the interwar period were marked by increasing restriction, especially after 1933. One notable exception to this was the relatively generous treatment afforded to women who were prepared to take up employment as domestic servants. This article looks at the reasons behind this anomaly and compares the responses of three states that were in the front line of the refugee efflux from Germany and Eastern Europe in the years leading up to the Second World War.     

Herbert Vere Evatt and British Justice: The Communist Party Referendum of 1951

Abstract

Through his role in the early United Nations, Herbert Vere Evatt is often credited with having advanced the cause of international human rights. But in 1951, Evatt articulated an alternative understanding of the roots of liberty, one centred on the role of British justice in checking ‘tyranny’ and ‘totalitarianism’. This neo-Roman conception of freedom had long competed in Evatt's thought with a belief in the need for an unfettered executive to achieve desirable social and economic goals. Although inconsistent in defence of liberty across his career, Evatt succeeded in this campaign because his case harmonised with contemporary understandings of freedom and its enemies in a post-war British-Australian community.     

Erosion Hazards and Efficient Preservation Measures in Prehistoric Cultural Layers in the Littoral of Lake Constance (Germany,Switzerland)

Many Neolithic and Bronze Age cultural layers and pile fields embedded in sediments at the shorelines of pre-alpine lakes in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy (in part UNESCO World Heritage Sites), are threatened by littoral erosion which is partly caused by human agency. Based on measurements of the wave field at four prehistoric sites on Lake Constance (Germany, Switzerland) we discuss the role of passenger ship navigation. We also review the stability and ecological compatibility of archaeological preservation control fills on the littoral platform of Lake Constance, and we make some recommendations for future preservation measures.