The Paradox of the Political: Carl Schmitt's Autonomous Account of Politics

Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Political advances an understanding of the political in which the political is assessed in terms of the autonomy of the friend-and-enemy distinction. This article questions the autonomous foundations of Schmitt's concept of the political. Ultimately, Schmitt's desire to establish the autonomous nature of the political, allowing the specifically political antithesis to achieve mastery over all other forms of discourse, is replete with paradox. Whilst Schmitt endeavours to establish the autonomy of the political—where the political is free from interference from other domains—it is argued that his account of the political is highly dependent on the state. More critically, Schmitt's depiction of the political as autonomous is a strategic manoeuvre to establish the autonomy of the domain of the political vis-à-vis other conceptual domains.     

An overview of bitumen trade in the Near East from the Neolithic (c.8000 BC) to the early Islamic period

The aim of the paper is to summarise the present state of knowledge concerning bitumen trade in the Near East from the Palaeolithic (70,000 BP) to the Early Islamic period. During the Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic period, bitumen utilisation was mostly concentrated in settlements close to oil seeps. From the Ubaid 3 period, bitumen from the Mosul area became more important and was traded as far as the southern Persian Gulf. The Uruk period is a turning point for Mesopotamian history as settlements evolved into city‐states. These cities had a great need for raw materials, and this marks the beginning of large‐scale exploitation of Hit bitumen. This bitumen was traded at settlements along the Euphrates, where a large trade network was established. Hit bitumen entered the Persian Gulf at the turn of the second millennium (Dilmun period). Bitumen from Iraq (Mosul and Hit) became predominantly used in most settlements along the southern coast of the Gulf. During this period Iranian bitumen was also exported and this supply tended to increase, especially during the Partho‐Sasanian period. Dead Sea bitumen had its own exchange network, which was concentrated across present‐day Israel and Egypt where it was extensively used for mummification.     

Aggregation and aggression: The state of war in anthropological thought

Foster, Mary Lecron, and Robert A. Rubinstein, eds. Peace and War: Cross‐Cultural Perspectives. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1986. vii + 369 pp. including chapter references and index. $29.95 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Mann, Michael. The Sources of Social Power: Volume I: A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. v + 549 pp. including chapter bibliographies and index. $59.50 cloth, $18.95 paper.

Shamgar‐Handelman, Lea. Israeli War Widows: Beyond the Glory of Heroism. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey, 1986. vii + 219 pp. including index, appendices, chapter notes, and references. $29.95 cloth.     

Campanile (Mollusca: Gastropoda): a new record from the early Miocene of Victoria,Australia

Campanile rupicolum sp. nov. is described from the early Miocene Upper Maude Limestone Member of Maude, Victoria. The genus has not hitherto been recorded from Victoria, a part of the Southeast Australian biogeographic Province, and was thought to be characteristic of the Austral-Indopacific Province. This is the oldest occurrence of the genus so far recorded from Australia.     

Further Ektopodontidae (Phalangeroidea,Mammalia) from southwestern Victoria

The youngest members of the Ektopodontidae, an enigmatic family of Phalangeroidea, are reported from southwestern Victoria. Four isolated teeth are described as Ektopodon paucicristata sp. nov. (from the ?mid-?late Pliocene, and early Pliocene) and two isolated Pleistocene teeth are assigned to Darcius duggani Rich, 1986. Previously, the youngest known ektopodontid was early Pliocene.     

Early modern ideas about artistic geography related to the Baltic Region

The paper analyses the gradual changes in assistance offered to widows and widowers between 1900 and 1964. It highlights the conflicts between the principle of the family as provider of welfare and the principle of self-help embodied in poor relief, in varying municipal pensions during the inter-war period and in the right to economic assistance legitimised through the Mothers' and Widows' Pension Act in 1964. The development is seen as part of the construction of a welfare society, built on the perception of men as wage-earners and providers, women as wives and mothers. These perceptions of masculinity and femininity resulted in gender-differentiated needs in the case of widowhood, and in gender-differentiated means of covering such needs. Civil status had no importance for men's role as wage-earners, while it was decisive for the economic situation of women. Focusing on the problem of economic support, the paper discusses solutions at the individual private level, at the municipal level and at the national level. The different weighting of widows as mothers or as providers is taken into consideration, and so are consequences of demographic changes in the widowed population.     

Earthquake Faulting Effects on Buried Pipelines – Case History and Centrifuge Study

Permanent ground deformation (PGD) is one of the most damaging hazards for continuous buried lifelines. This hazard is especially severe when the PGD results in net compression in the pipe. In that case, buckling of pipe material can occur. If buckling is moderate, deformation of the pipe cross-section can lead to flow restriction and high friction losses, and eventually require line replacement. If buckling is severe, high localized strains can lead to pipe rupture, loss of contents, and possible pollution of surrounding soil. In this article, centrifuge tests of buried pipelines subject to abrupt ground failure in the form of surface faulting are presented. The fault movement results in mostly compression in the pipe. The test results are compared with a case history of pipe failure in the 1999 Izmit, Turkey earthquake and also with the results from the centrifuge tests which result in net tension in the pipe. The experimental setup, procedures, and instrumentation are described in detail. Suggestions for design practice are offered based on the analysis of results from both the 1999 Izmit case history and the centrifuge modeling.