Courts Leet,Constables and the Township Structure in the West Riding, 1540–1842*

The significance of the township, and of the township constable, in local administration in the West Riding from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries is described. The appointment until 1842 of constables in manor and wapentake courts leet ensured the continuing centrality of these courts in local administration. The involvement of the principal inhabitants in the appointment and oversight of constables and other officers is discussed. Changes in the structure of local administration depended on evolving change in manorial structures and courts, even as late as the nineteenth century. Such changes were affected by the existence of overlapping areas of quarter sessions jurisdiction, and also by the expanding volume of small-claims litigation in both manor and wapentake courts baron before the establishment of county courts.     

Pocock,Machiavelli and Political Contingency in Foreign Affairs: Republican Existentialism Outside (and Within) the City

SUMMARY

In this essay, inspired by J.G.A. Pocock's appropriation of Machiavelli's theory of political contingency, and building upon my previous engagements with Pocock's ‘republican existentialism’, I focus on the role played by ‘accidents’ in Machiavelli's analysis of war and foreign affairs within The Prince and the Discourses. In so doing, I consider the following issues: the ways through which a potential imperial hegemon might consolidate control over nearby lesser powers—and, conversely, how such less powerful polities might resist imperial encroachments on their autonomy; the contrasting military modes and orders characteristic of ancient and modern republics; and the extent to which Machiavelli actually thought that accidents in foreign affairs were ever truly ‘accidental’ in light of his determinations concerning well- versus badly ordered domestic institutions.     

China and the Pol Pot regime

This article attempts to shed additional light on one of the most sensitive aspects of China's Cold War legacy – its support for Pol Pot's Democratic Kampuchea (DK) between April 1975 and January 1979. Drawing on field interviews with former Khmer Rouge cadres and official DK records, it examines how the terms of the Sino-DK entente were understood by the parties and affected Chinese influence on the ground. The evidence shows that despite providing important technical guidance, China developed little influence over high-level Khmer Rouge policies, even when such policies put China's own interests at risk. The Sino-DK relationship illustrates the capacity of weak states to exercise considerable autonomy in asymmetric alliances and some of the dangers of relatively unconditional great power assistance.