Police and Political Violence in the 1960s and 1970s: Germany and Italy in a Comparative Perspective

Notwithstanding the significant differences between the German and Italian police models (federal and civil vs. centralised and militarised), in both countries the confrontation with the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s had a profound impact on police conceptions and public order strategies. Police forces in some German federal states (West Berlin) followed a hard line until the late 1960s, while in others (Munich, Hamburg) reforms to the Weimar-centred police intervention tactics took place beginning in the early to mid-1960s. In Italy, traditional police conceptions and strategies remained largely unchanged and re-emerged in 1968. Here, a movement from within the police led to the demilitarisation and unionisation of the state police in 1981. In both countries, fighting left-wing terrorism in the 1970s stimulated technical modernisation and enhanced the centralisation of the police. In critical response to police tactics, in the late 1970s Germany police matters were increasingly perceived as a concern not only of the state but of civil society—even if policing remained a highly contested terrain. In Italy, such matters largely remained state concerns in which only politicians and internal security specialists were entitled to intervene.     

Reviews

Troels Fink, Estruptidens politiske historic 1875–1894, I‐II (The Political History of the Estrup Era 1875–1894, vol. 1: The Struggle Between the Two Chambers 1875–85; vol. 2: The Period of Decree Legislation 1885–94) (Odense, 1986), 621 pp., ISBN 87 7492 581 4.

Poul Thestrup, Nærbutik og Næringslov‐omgåelse. En unders?gelse of brugsforeningerne og deres placering i innovationsprocessen i Danmark mellem 1850 og 1919 (The Consumer Co‐operatives in the Innovation Process in Denmark 1850–1919), Odense University Studies in History and Social Sciences, vol. 95 (Odense Universitetsforlag), 549 pp., ISBN 87 7492 595 4, DKK 240+moms.

Tuomo Polvinen, Valtakunta ja raijamaa. N. I. Bobrikov Suomen kenraalikuvemöörind 1898–1904 (The Empire and a Borderland. N. I. Bobrikov as Governor General of Finland 1898–1904) (Helsinki, 1984), 432 pp., ISBN 951 0 12660 8.

Danske Handelskompagnier 1616–1843. Oktrojer og interne Ledelsesregler (Charters and By‐Laws of Danish Trading Companies, 1616–1843), edited by Ole Feldbæk, Selskabet for Udgivelse af Kilder til Dansk Historie (Copenhagen, 1986), 779 pp., ISBN 87 7500 159 4, DanKr 300.

Kalle Bäck, Harald Gustafsson, Jon Herstad, Jens Holmgaard, Markku Kuisma, Maud Molander, Illka Mäntylä, Øjstein Rian and Gustav Grunde Sætra. Skog och Brännvin. Studier i näringspolitiskt beslutsfattande i Norden på 1700‐talet (Wood and Spirits. Studies in Economic Policy‐Making in the Nordic Countries in the Eighteenth Century), Nordic Research Project on Central Power and Local Communities ‐ Decision‐making in the 1700s (Det nordiska forskningsprojektet Centralmakt och lokal‐samhalle ‐ beslutsprocess på 1700‐talet), publication 3 (Oslo University Press, 1984), ISBN 82 00 07053 0 (English summary).

Karl‐Gustaf Anderson, Inger Diibeck, Birgitta Ericsson, Gfsli Agust Gunnlaugsson, Per‐Arne Karlsson, Markku Kuisma, Anne‐Hilde Nagel, Oscar Nilula and Gustav Grunde Sa;tra, Industri og Bjergvarksdrift. Privilegering i Norden i det 18. arhundrede (Industry and Mining. Studies in the Granting of “Privilegia” to Industrial Enterprises in the Nordic Countries in the Eighteenth Century). Nordic Research Project on Central Power and Local Communities ‐ Decision‐making in the 1700s, publication 5 (Oslo University Press, 1985), ISBN 82 00 07694 6 (English summary).

Christian Wichmann Matthiesen, Danske Byers Vaekst (Urban Growth in Denmark). Det Kgl. Geografiske Selskab, Atlas over Denmark, Serie II, vol. 3 (C. A. Reitzels Forlag, K?benhavn, 1985), 142 pp., 245 Dkr. (English summary).

I?rn Pi?, Nye veje til Folkevisen (New Approaches to the Ballad) (Copenhagen, 1985), 344 pp., ISBN 87 00 93582 4 (English summary).     

An attempt to push back frontiers – digital near-ultraviolet aerial archaeology

Even though the sun has its peak emission of electromagnetic (EM) radiation in the visible waveband, it still produces a substantial amount of ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (10–400 nm). However, the largest portion of this emitted energy is blocked by the ozone layer of the atmosphere, only allowing the near-ultraviolet or NUV (comprising the spectral band between 315 nm and 400 nm) to reach the earth's surface. Additionally, sensors acquiring this part of the UV wavelengths must be operated from low altitudes to minimize the effects of strong Rayleigh scattering to which the NUV radiation is subjected. Consequently, this waveband of the EM spectrum is rarely employed in aerial photography and its reflected portion only acquired in very specific applications.     

Tuberculosis on the north coast of Peru: skeletal and molecular paleopathology of late pre-Hispanic and postcontact mycobacterial disease

This paper examines skeletal and ancient DNA evidence in the study of suspected tuberculosis infection in the late pre-Hispanic and Colonial-era Lambayeque Valley Complex, north coast Peru (A.D. 900–1750). We integrate information on macroscopic lesion characteristics and distribution, radiographic and CT scan imagery, and analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex rpoB and IS6110 ancient DNA (aDNA) sequences. Destructive lesions were observed in the vertebral bodies of three precontact indigenous adult males, one colonial adolescent female, and in the cranium of a Colonial-period subadult. Assessment of lesion morphology and distribution led us to consider multiple diseases, but tuberculosis represents the most likely diagnostic option in all individuals. DNA was poorly preserved in all samples, but an IS6110 sequence was amplified in one precontact individual consistent with macroscopic diagnosis. These findings expand the geographic and temporal extent of tuberculosis to the late pre-Hispanic and Colonial north coast of Peru to highlight potential synergisms between diet, settlement patterns, and the evolution of Andean tuberculosis before and after European conquest. Moreover, this study helps focus several key questions in Andean tuberculosis research, including possible reassessment of the presence of the IS6110 sequence in the pre-Columbian Americas. Methodological considerations include differential diagnosis – especially with incomplete skeletons – and limitations of aDNA studies underscoring an approach integrating macroscopic, radiographic, and molecular lines of evidence in the paleopathological investigation of one of humankind’s most devastating and destabilizing diseases.     

Flag planting and finger pointing: The Law of the Sea,the Arctic and the political geographies of the outer continental shelf

The planting of a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean in the summer of 2007 precipitated a series of policy and media-level reactions including expressions of outrage and discontent. This paper develops an analysis of the work of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CCLS) and the different strategies used by coastal states to press ‘claims’ to outer continental shelf (OCS). The agency of Arctic ‘coastal states’ such as Canada, Norway and Russia is noteworthy but others including the European Union and indigenous peoples have also raised concerns about the behaviour of these geographically proximate actors. Finally, I consider other ways of looking at the Arctic as a circumpolar space and the challenges that are held to be facing the region in the present and future.