Sport facility development: municipal capital and shutting out the private sector

Regime theory provides a framework for exploring changes in development patterns and internal dynamics of growth coalitions. Academic debates on sport and urban development have focused on large American and European markets, where such venues are increasingly led by urban regimes that aim to leverage public goals through private investment. Based on a detailed qualitative analysis of four projects in three major Israeli cities, this work examines a different typology of sport venue development – ‘public regime’, which operates in a small market context. The Israeli public regime neither allows the private sector to assume central roles in the design, development and operation of venues nor does it stimulate real estate development anchored by the venue. The assumption that professional sports is not a viable business in small markets is used to justify the public monopoly that regards the venues as public amenities, legitimizing the lack of strategic and business plans, producing benefits for the local political elite but doing little to stabilize professional sport and secure economic returns for the public. The more affluent city of Tel Aviv demonstrates a breakout from a pure public regime, where public control is retained but more business-oriented considerations are incorporated.     

Moshe Dayan: “Israel’s No. 1 Hero” (in America)

This study explores how and why Moshe Dayan became the symbol of the modern Israeli hero in American culture. Through an examination of variegated evidence it is possible to discern patterns that illustrate the ways Dayan’s image crystallized, first, in the American Jewish arena, and then more broadly, in wider American public consciousness. With his trademark eye patch and irreverent personal style, Dayan, who more than any Israeli military-political figure captured the imagination of American Jewry, became not only the most recognizable sabra on the American scene but also a chief exemplar of the “new Jew.” Beginning with the War of Independence (1947–49) until roughly the Six-Day War (1967), Dayan symbolized Israel’s youthful, virile, and savvy hero struggling to build a home against all odds. From the Yom Kippur War (1973) to the Camp David Accords (1978) and his death, he came to exemplify a generation of Israelis who wrestled with the Jewish state’s existential geopolitical challenges. Investigating Dayan’s public persona enhances our understanding of his impact on the American arena – the man and the myth – and the ideational linkages so critical to the developing bond between the United States and Israel in the second half of the twentieth century.     

Imperial Citizenship or Else: Liberal Ideals and the India Unmaking of Empire, 1890–1919

ABSTRACT

This article examines three connected campaigns for Indian imperial citizenship which spanned the period 1890 to 1919, and their impact on the emergence of radical South Asian anticolonialism. It shifts our focus from individuals and ideologues who sought the status of British imperial citizens, to address the agitations which commenced to attain such a status within a reconstructed British Empire. Specific attention is paid to the conditions which encouraged South Asian patriots to imagine that the ideal of equal imperial citizenship within an imperial federation was a feasible political objective, to the illiberal official retreat from such an ideal, and to the political ramifications of this retreat. In conclusion, this article argues that the quest for Indian imperial citizenship, which spanned the Empire from South Africa to Canada, has been a much-neglected chapter in the evolution of anti-colonial nationalism in South Asia which deserves to be reinserted in the grand meta-narrative of the region’s twentieth century history.     

An empirical evaluation of copper procurement and distribution: elemental analysis of Scioto Valley Hopewell copper

In prehistoric North America, artifacts of copper occupy a position of prominence in the Hopewell societies of Ohio’s Scioto Valley. These artifacts also represent the social contacts and long-distance interactions that brought copper to the Scioto Valley. Yet, our understanding of Hopewell copper acquisition, and the movement of copper artifacts within the social networks of the Scioto Valley and beyond, has been limited due to the limited availability of geochemical data concerning provenance and variability. We begin to develop the foundation for understanding these important social issues by analyzing the elemental variability of Hopewell copper through the use of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We analyze 24 samples from four known copper source regions and 52 samples from 6 prominent sites in the Scioto Valley. Results suggest that a majority of the artifacts are consistent with sources in the Great Lakes, with a plurality classified as Isle Royale. However, 21% of Scioto Hopewell copper artifacts were most consistent with southern Appalachian sources. High elemental variability argues against simple models of copper acquisition and suggests that different social groups had access to a variety of copper sources through varying social networks. Native copper regardless of source seems to have been channeled along similar social and symbolic pathways. Our results suggest that instead of being derived from the struggle to access a specific source, value is derived from the social relationships represented by the copper and the connotation of exotic connection embodied in both style and material.     

The Common Good,Pluralism and the Small Church

Abstract

This paper discusses the understanding of “Common Good” that has been used by the Church of England, especially over the last five years. It suggests that its implicit universalism and identification of Christian morality with the ethical norms for the nation is premised on an understanding of the role of the Church which is no longer realistic. After a brief discussion of the latest statistics for church attendance and a comparison with other national churches in Northern Europe, I suggest that the Church of England is a “small church” and even that Christians constitute a religious minority. This means that the pursuit of the “Common Good” as defined by the church may simply be a piece of nostalgic longing for the time of the “big church.” The recent exclusions for the churches on same-sex marriage legislation indicate that the gap between most of the churches and the wider society. Rather than defining the common good, I suggest that in a pluralist society the churches which recognize their limited role will need to build alliances and common causes with other groups, both religious and secular.