‘The Most Developed of the Underdeveloped Nations’. US Foreign Policy and Student Unrest in 1960s Spain

Throughout the 1960s, Spanish students staged a strong opposition against the dictatorship of General Franco. Also during this decade, the U.S. Foreign Service in Spain began to pay great attention to these students for two key reasons. On the one hand, student protests posed a threat to US defensive interests in a country with a high strategic value during the Cold War in southern Europe. However, on the other hand, campus agitation could lead to positive effects for the United States if students’ expectations of social change were channeled toward national development in a context of order and political stability. So, how could student activism and idealism be directed toward a controlled modernization of Spain? This article attempts to answer this question by studying American programs aimed at disseminating the principles of modernization theory in Spanish universities as an instrument to (1) influence students’ political and intellectual socialization and to immunize them against radical ideologies and (2) channel students’ aspirations towards constructive and responsible reform of their country's socioeconomic structures.     

Residential property disparities in city districts in Prague,Czech Republic

City districts are often classified as ‘rich’ or ‘poor,’ a phenomenon that occurs within cities all over the world. While income inequality, wealth inequality, and other kinds of social inequality are frequently tracked, there is a surprising lack of research concentrating on how social inequality manifests as differences between parts of cities, especially outside of the U.S. That is mostly due to insufficient available data. In this paper, we propose a methodology for measuring the relative inequality between city districts by using the average prices of residential properties in various parts of the city, and assessing their relative difference. This approach has several advantages, as property listings are often readily available even in cities where income data is not. This methodology has potential for measuring developments in inequality in a much wider range of cities. As a proof of concept, we apply this methodology to property prices in Prague during the period 2003–2012 to identify a trend of either growing or decreasing inequality among individual parts of the city. We have found that during this period the disparity has grown only 5.97%, which means the overall growth of disparity between the city districts was negligible.     

Kaleidoscopes of violence against indigenous women (VAIW) in Colombia: the experiences of Pan-Amazonian women

This article presents the life stories of six indigenous women from the Amazonian region, who coordinate local women processes through indigenous organizations and networks. Since the political and legal visibility of violence against indigenous women in Colombia is weak and limited, we aim to analyze their experiences from an intersectional perspective. For this purpose, we employed multiple methodologies, including body mapping and social cartography. Thus, by reconstructing their experiences and attempts to make visible violence against them, we could perceive some of its multiple modalities, which are quickly captured by the great category.     

The Mythical Shapeshifting of Capital and Petrification of Labour: Deepening Conflict on the Agrofuel Frontier

In the great civilisations of the past, shapeshifting promised a restoration of order in turbulent times in return for the deference of loyal subjects. It was a strategy of the powerful to maintain advantage and could also be used to bind opponents to an undesired form. This study finds its resonance in the contemporary shapeshifting that is the supposed transition from the fossil fuel economy. With reference to the fusion of oil, grain and sugar companies in Brazil's ethanol sector, it explores how amidst economic, environmental and political insecurity these “old villains” of the carbon economy have fused and emerged as the “new heroes” of the green economy. Accounts of dissenting rural subjects, however, unveil the mythical nature of avowed social gains from this shapeshifting. Amidst rural conflict and a successive weakening of regulation, it becomes evident how their petrification, in a metaphorical and increasingly literal sense is required.     

Regional income inequality in France 1860–1954: Methods and findings

This paper explores regional (département or NUTS3) income inequality in France between 1860 and 1954. To this end we first document the existing evidence, evaluate the estimation methods and findings, assess the suitability of each approach and address potential concerns. We then present our own subnational estimates of per-capita income, derived following Geary and Stark. Overall, we find that indirect estimation (or top-down) methods provide somewhat differing results, thereby calling into question the validity of some of these approaches. Our estimates, meanwhile, appear to fit reasonably well with direct estimations (or bottom-up) of value-added and income and provide evidence in support of a decline in regional inequality over the period of study.     

Epipaleolithic/early Neolithic settlements at Qinghai Lake,western China

Transitions from terminal Pleistocene Upper Paleolithic foraging to Holocene Neolithic farming and pastoralist economic orientations in the northern Tibetan Plateau are examined from the perspective of Epipaleolithic sites located near Qinghai Lake, Qinghai Province, western China. Jiangxigou 2 is an artifact-rich, multicomponent midden site with the main period of occupation dating ca. 9000–5000 cal yr BP, containing abundant flaked stone artifacts including a substantial proportion of microlithic tools, abundant faunal remains including gazelle, deer, and sheep, and a small number of ceramics, including the oldest known on the Tibetan Plateau. Heimahe 3, on the other hand, is a brief hunter's camp dating ca. 8450 cal yr BP, with evident affinities to late Upper Paleolithic camps in the same region that date several thousand years older. The two distinctively different sites are probably nodes within a single Epipaleolithic foraging system that developed on the margins of the high Tibetan Plateau during the early Holocene, and that served as a basis for colonization of the high-altitude Plateau at that time. Jiangxigou 2 appears to be connected to early Neolithic agricultural settlements along the upper Yellow River (Huang He) drainage during the middle Holocene, and may provide insights into forager–agriculturalist interactions that lead to the development of pastoralist systems in the region.     

清宫扎什琍玛造像的来源及像式类型分析

扎什琍玛佛像因特征明确、像式丰富、工艺精细,在故宫珍藏的佛教造像中独树一帜。清宫的扎什琍玛像多附有皇家特有的黄条题记。本文从这些黄条所记内容入手,结合档案资料,对此类造像进行来源、类型及题材风格的细化探究,并进一步说明扎什琍玛对清宫佛教造像风格的深刻影响及其在促进西藏与内地政治、经济、文化联系方面曾经发挥的历史作用。     

清宫大白伞盖佛母信仰探析

清代宫廷对白伞盖佛母的崇拜出现了显著的发展,特别在乾隆时期,除在宫中大量制作白伞盖佛母像外,还在北京及其周边地区的各大寺庙制作供奉精美的绘画和雕塑,甚至专门兴建寺院来供奉白伞盖佛母像。其信奉目的和崇拜方式等方面的特点,目前尚很少有专门的论述见诸文献。本文借助清宫档案及现存清代原状佛堂内白伞盖佛母的陈设情况,试图说明清代宫廷是将白伞盖佛母作为重要的福寿保护神来供奉的,并不是简单地继承元代的信仰传统而是另有传承和发展。     

Evolution of Expenditure in the Budget of the European Union (1957–2002)

This article analyses the evolution of Community expenditure, on the basis of the data given in the budget and in the EDF, from the origin of the process in 1957 until the year 2002, the last definitive figures. The technique of principal component factor analysis has been applied to these variables. The basic objective of this study is to detect the interrelationships among the policies of the Union and to effect a classification of them, in order to detect the priorities of the European project and to estimate the dimension of the impact of its policies during the period.