GOVERNMENT QUALITY AND THE ECONOMIC RETURNS OF TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT IN EUROPEAN REGIONS

Transport infrastructure investment is a cornerstone of growth‐promoting strategies. However, the link between infrastructure investment and economic performance remains unclear. This may be a consequence of overlooking the role of government institutions. This paper assesses the connection between regional quality of government and the returns of different types of road infrastructure in the regions of the European Union. The results unveil the influence of regional quality of government on the economic returns of transport infrastructure. In weak institutional contexts, investment in motorways—the preferred option by governments—yields significantly lower returns than the more humble secondary road. Government institutions also affect the returns of transport maintenance investment.     

Subjectification in Times of Indebtedness and Neoliberal/Austerity Urbanism

How can we analyse the (re)emergence of squatting in relation to the current housing crisis in Italy? Centred on the case of Rome, the paper theorizes this return as resulting from processes of subjectification in the housing sector linked to the raising of indebtedness as a main dispositif of capitalism under neoliberal/austerity urbanism agendas. The political economy‐oriented literature on neoliberal/austerity urbanism is bridged with the post‐Marxist approach of Maurizio Lazzarato. Debt is seen as the archetype of social relations, shaping and controlling subjectivities, making the “work on yourself” essential to the reproduction of (indebted) society. However, given the circular nature of power, indebtedness can be generative of new processes of subjectification aimed at subverting the same power relation. In this sense, the paper operationalizes the conceptualization of Foucauldian subjectification recently proposed by Judith Revel, emphasizing how subjectification always results from (1) an action/gesture and (2) a consequent deconstruction of the identity.     

Archaeometric Study of Volcanic Lithic Objects from The Longola (Poggiomarino) Protohistoric Site,Southern Italy: Regional Versus Extra‐Regional Provenance

The Longola protohistoric village (spanning from the late Middle Bronze Age to the sixth century bc ) is a perifluvial settlement located in the Sarno River floodplain to the north‐east of Pompeii (southern Italy) and east of the Somma‐Vesuvius volcano. A great abundance of artefacts have been found at Longola and in the neighbouring areas, including a variety of volcanic stone objects, mainly related to building and to the manufacture of ordinary tools and instruments. The aim of our work is to characterize lithic objects (lava pebbles and millstones) and to understand their geological provenance by petrographic and geochemical studies. Compositions of millstone samples (porphyritic phonolitic tephrites) and of a set of pebbles (mainly phonolitic tephrites, leucite–shoshonites and trachytes) are compatible with the Somma‐Vesuvius magmas erupted before 8 ka bp . For the trachyte lithics, an additional source from the Accademia lava dome (Phlegrean Fields) cannot be ruled out. Among the pebble samples, a rhyolite and a poorly evolved trachyte clearly lie outside the compositional variation of the Somma‐Vesuvius and other volcanoes of the Naples area (e.g., Ischia and the Phlegrean Fields) and emphasize an extra‐regional provenance. Ponza Island is the best candidate for the provenance of the above two outlier samples.     

Microstoria,Pacific History,and the Question of Scale: Two or Three Things That We Should Know About Them

This article is prompted by the recent debate on the so-called crisis in the humanities, and the related call for historians to change direction by returning to history of the longue durée. While pointing out that the ‘crisis’ is more influenced by the changing political economy of the tertiary education sector than by specific historiographical practices, I suggest that small-scale analysis remains compatible with global history approaches. Articulating a parallel examination of Pacific historiography and the Italian variant of microhistory, the article argues that the latter provides fertile stimuli for Pacific history. In particular, I maintain that integrating social analysis can serve to counterbalance the over-emphasis on cultural aspects found in much Pacific historiography.     

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of the Urban Building Environment in Nablus,Palestine

ABSTRACT

This article describes a specifically developed framework to produce a seismic physical vulnerability model of residential buildings in Nablus (Palestine) within the European project SASPARM2.0. Based on the structural taxonomy of the territory, two different forms were defined to collect geometrical and structural data of buildings by different stakeholders (citizens and practitioners). This data was then employed to produce fragility curves using the mechanics-based procedure SP-BELA. To estimate seismic risk, the developed fragility model was combined with a hazard curve for the corresponding location. The described procedure is implemented in a WebGIS platform that allows to georeference and assess the surveyed buildings and define retrofitting strategies. Finally, the article carries out a comparison between the fragility curves of buildings in Nablus and the ones calculated for similar building typologies within a UNDP Jordan project aiming at the integrated risk assessment in Wadi Musa and surroundings.     

Combining residue analysis of floors and ceramics for the study of activity areas at the Garum Shop at Pompeii

In this paper, we propose the application—for the first time in the Mediterranean area—of the combination of the study of chemical residues in floors and ceramics, with the aim of providing information about the activities carried out in archeological buildings. We chose the Garum Shop at Pompeii to test the method. In fact, due to the peculiarity of this archeological context, it provided an ideal case in which the activities performed are in part known, and the ceramic vessels recovered are still in situ. Floor samples were studied by means of spot tests developed in Mexico aimed at identifying the presence of phosphates, fatty acids, and protein residues, while the organic residues preserved in the ceramic matrix of amphorae, dolia, and other ceramic vessels were studied by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Moreover, we integrated the data obtained with specific studies directed at better identifying the solid residues found inside two of the amphorae studied: botanical studies of fruit stones recovered in a Dressel 20 amphora and the characterization of the lime preserved in an African amphora. The research allowed for the identification of the traces of some of the activities performed, such as cooking and producing garum in the floors of the building, and the use and re-use of amphorae and dolia before the Vesuvian eruption.     

Experimental Investigation of Exterior Unreinforced Beam-Column Joints with Plain and Deformed Bars

Experimental tests on four full-scale exterior unreinforced reinforced concrete (RC) beam-column joints, representative of the existing non-conforming RC frame buildings, are carried out. The specimens have different longitudinal reinforcements (plain or deformed) and they are designed in order to be representative of two typical design practices (for gravity loads only or according to an obsolete seismic code). Different failure modes are observed, namely joint failure with or without beam yielding. The local response of the joint panel is analyzed. The different joint deformation mechanisms and their contribution to the deformability and to the energy dissipation capacity of the sub-assemblages are evaluated.     

Book reviews

Paul Cammack, David Pool and William Tordoff, Third World Politics. A Comparative Introduction. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education, 1988. xi+308pp. $22.95

Naomi Chazan, Robert Mortimer, John Ravenhill and Donald Rothchild. Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education, 1988. xi+459pp. $29.95.

Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba (eds). The Civic Culture Revisited. Newbury Park: Sage, 1989. 422pp. £39.95 (cloth), £15.75 (paper).

John R. Gibbins (ed). Contemporary Political Culture. Politics in a Postmodern Age. Newbury Park: Sage, 1989. 266pp. £27.50 (cloth), £10.95 (paper).

Kusuma Snitwongse and Sukhumbhand Paribatra (eds). Durable Stability in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1987. xiii+237pp. $S44 (cloth), $S32 (paper).

Lawrence C. Mayer. Redefining Comparative Politics. Promise Versus Performance. Newbury Park: Sage, 1989. 303pp. £29.50 (cloth), £13.95 (paper).

Amin Saikal (ed.). Refugees in the Modern World. Canberra: Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 1989‐ 125 pp. No price given.

W. Michael Reisman and Andrew R. Willard (eds). International Incidents: The Law That Counts in World Politics. Princeton: Princeton Unversity Press, 1988.xii+278 pp. $US35.00 (cloth), $US12.95 (paper).

Samuel B. Payne, The Conduct of War: An Introduction to Modem Warfare. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988. xiv+309 pp. $49.95.

Jane F. Marceau. A Family Business? The Making of an International Business Elite. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. x+247 pp. $65.00

Kenneth Hoover and Raymond Plant. Conservative Capitalism in Britain and the United States: A Critical Appraisal. London: Routledge, 1989. xvii+341 pp. $98.95.

David Carlton, Britain and the Suez Crisis. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989‐ 174 pp. $27.95.

Michael Dockrill. British Defence Since 1945. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988. 171 pp. $24.95.

Yves Boyer, Pierre Lellouche and John Roper (eds). Franco‐British Defence Co‐operation: A New Entent'e Cordiale?. London: Routledge, 1989‐ 194 pp. $89.95.

Kristian Gerner and Stefan Hedlund. Ideology and Rationality in the Soviet Model. A Legacy for Gorbachev. London and New York: Routledge, 1989. xii+455 pp. $105.00.

Boris Kagarlitsky. The Thinking Reed. Intellectuals and the Soviet State from 1917 to the Present. London: Verso, 1988. x+370 pp. $29.50.

Alan B. Sherr. The Other Side of Arms Control: Soviet Objectives in the Gorbachev Era. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1988. xviii+325 pp. $US42.00.

David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis and Marilyn Rueschemeyer (eds). East Germany in Comparative Perspective. London & New York: Routledge, 1989. xvi+238 pp. $105.00

Tony Judt (ed.). Resistance and Revolution in Mediterranean Europe, 1939 ‐ 1948. London and New York: Routledge, 1989. iv+229 pp. $105.00.

Yoshihara Kunio. The Rise of Ersatz Capitalism in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1988. xiii+297 pp. $24.95.

Chin Kin Wah (ed.), Defense Spending in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. 1987. ix+326pp. $US 20.00.

P.J. Soedjati Djiwandono & Young Mun Choeng (eds). Soldiers and Stability in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. 1988. ix+354 pp. $US22.00.

Greg Lockhart. Nation in Arms: The Origins of the People's Army of Vietnam. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, in association with the Asian Studies Association of Australia, 1989‐ xiv+314pp. $29.95 (cloth), $24.95 (paper).

John Overton. Land and Differentiation in Rural Fiji. Canberra: National Centre for Development Studies, 1989. vii+152 pp. $20.00.

Walter Manshard and William B. Morgan (eds). Agricultural Expansion and Pioneer Settlements in the Humid Tropics. Tokyo: United Nations University, 1988, 305 pp. $US20.00.

Robert H. Bruce (ed). The Modern Indian Navy and the Indian Ocean: Developments and Implications. Perth: Centre for Indian Ocean Regional Studies, Curtin University of Technology/Australian Institute of International Affairs, x+168 pp. $22.50.

Rasul B. Rais. The Indian Ocean and the Superpowers, London: Croom Helm, 1988.215 pp. No price given.

Roy Mottahedeh. The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, Harmonsworth: Penguin Books, 1987. 418 pp. $22.95.

Max G. Manwaring and Court Prisk (eds). El Salvador at War: An Oral History. Washington D.C.: National Defence College, 1988. liv + 500 pp. No price given.     

论邓小平的侨务思想和党的统一战线

邓小平的侨务思想是马列主义基本原理与当代中国实践与时代特征相结合的产物。他根据新时期的特点和国际形势的新变化 ,用新的思维和观点 ,继承、丰富和发展了毛泽东、周恩来所创建的中共统一战线理论。邓小平恢复和肯定“海外关系”的正确地位 ,作出海外侨胞是爱国的基本评价 ,强调要认真落实各项侨务政策 ,保护华侨华人的正当合法权益。为解决我国现代化建设中缺乏资金、人才和技术等问题 ,邓小平提出引进华侨华人和港澳台同胞的资金 ,引进华侨华人的人才与智力 ,吸引海外侨胞参与中国发展方略设计三大战略方针 ,并把统一祖国、振兴中华作为侨务工作的长期战略任务