Money and Cold War Security

Hubert Zimmermann , Money and Security: Troops, Monetary Policy, and West Germany's Relations with the United States and Britain, 1950–1971 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2002 . xvi + 265 pp.     

HEROIC TIME: MONUMENTS AND THE PAST IN MESSENIA, SOUTHWEST GREECE

The archaeological structure of a landscape in terms of the history of settlement and burial in a particular locale through time, together with the construction, development and importance of the monuments placed within it, has become a feature of recent landscape archaeology in the study of Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. The present paper introduces some of these themes into the study of the Messenia, southwest Greece, approaching two main problems. First, how the location chosen for the Late Bronze Age Palace of Nestor related to earlier patterns of habitation of the Middle Helladic period (an issue hitherto ignored by previous 'period-specific'studies) and, secondly, the later relevance of the Bronze Age landscape in the Iron Age when issues such as the 'Past'and 'History'came to be of great significance in Messenia.     

The invasion of Iraq: what are the morals of the story?

It is uncontroversial that the invasion and occupation of Iraq involved the following errors: the misinterpretation of intelligence; the underestimation of the number of troops requisite for law and order; the disbanding of the Iraqi army; and indiscriminate debaathification of the civil service. The first error was one of imagination rather than virtue; the others were caused by ‘callousness”, impatience, and consequent imprudence. These vices were partly responsible for massive civilian casualties, which many wrongly assume to teach the fundamentally erroneous character of the invasion. Nonetheless, we should beware such moral flaws in tomorrow's policy‐makers and renounce the managerial mentality that fosters them. Another lesson is that, in so far as nation‐rebuilding requires substantial and long‐term commitments, it must command the support of the nation‐builder's domestic electorate; and to do that, it must be able to justify itself in terms of the national interest. From this we should not infer the further lesson that morality's reach into foreign policy is limited, since, according to Thomist ethics, the pursuit of the national interest can itself be moral. Finally, one lesson that we should not learn from Iraq is never again to violate the letter of international law and intervene militarily in a sovereign state without Security Council authorization. The law's authority can be undermined as much by the UN's failure to enforce it, as by states taking it into their own hands. It is seriously problematic that the current international legal system denies the right of individual states to use military force unilaterally except in self‐defence, while reserving the enforcement of international law to a body, whose capacity to act is hamstrung by the right of veto. Given this situation, military intervention without Security Council authorization could be morally justified on certain conditions.     

PERFORMANCE-BASED SEISMIC RESPONSE OF FRAME STRUCTURES INCLUDING RESIDUAL DEFORMATIONS. PART II: MULTI-DEGREE OF FREEDOM SYSTEMS

The role of residual deformations when evaluating the performance of multi-storey frame structures subjected to ground motion is investigated in this paper. The limitations of damage indices available in the literature, either based on ductility, energy dissipation or a combination of both, in capturing such a significant aspect of the seismic response of frame structures are discussed. The concept of residual deformations as a critical complementary indicator to cumulative damage, introduced in a companion paper (Part I) for single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems, is herein extended to multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) frame systems. The seismic performance of multi-storey frame structures, either representative of new designed or existing structures, is investigated, focusing on the response in terms of residual deformations. Residual deformations are shown to be sensitive to the hysteretic rule adopted, to the system inelastic mechanism as well as to the seismic intensity. The influence of higher modes and P-Δ effects on the final residual deformations is addressed. A combination of maximum drift and residual drift in the format of a performance matrix is used to define the system's global performance levels and is then extended to a framework for an alternative performance-based seismic design and assessment approach.     

Oman and the Emirates in Ptolemy's map

Ptolemy's mapping of south-east Arabia is examined in the light of the stories of the Azd migrations to Oman and of related archaeological discoveries over the last few years. Some new interpretations of the map are proposed. The possible significance of al-Šisar is discussed in relation to the recent claim, which is disputed, that it was Ptolemy's'Omanum Emporium'.     

The Lost Leader: Sir Stafford Northcote and the Leadership of the Conservative Party, 1876–85*

Sir Stafford Northcote has gone down in history as a man who fell short of the ultimate achievement of being prime minister largely because of personal weakness, and lack of political virility and drive. The picture painted by Northcote's political enemies – most notably the Fourth Party – has been accepted uncritically. Yet, political motives lay behind the actions of these supporters, and their harsh black and white portrait is not illustrative of the complexity of the situation in which Northcote found himself. Although individual characteristics undoubtedly played a part in his final political failure, underlying dynamics and structural transformations in politics and political life were more significant. It was more than simply the misfortune in succeeding the exceptionally charismatic Disraeli as leader. Northcote was faced with unparalleled disruption in parliament from Irish Nationalist MPs; the starkly polarised debate on the eastern question left him detached as a moderate. His temperament was better suited to constructive government rather than to opposition. However, following general election defeat in 1880, Northcote was denied this opportunity. Equally, his position in the lower House denied him the capacity to define a clear political critique of the Liberal government. Northcote's leadership of the party reflected the changing nature of British politics as radicals, tories, Irish Nationalists and Unionists increasingly contested the consensual style more appropriate to the political world of Palmerston and the 14th earl of Derby.     

The intimate dance of diplomacy: in praise of practice

Those who study international relations pay little attention to those who practise them. But the terms of scholarly explanation—the great abstractions of state, interest, power and so on—are always embodied in human representatives, and their interactions mediated through human relationships. The daily experience, lived and felt, of diplomats thus offers a valuable perspective on how international relations work. Two recent studies by Iver Neumann capture this world through an anthropology of the diplomatic tribe. They illuminate the highly distinctive conventions, rituals and symbols of this world, showing how diplomats are recruited and socialized, where and how they perform their roles and how they communicate —and how these practices evolve in the face of social and technological change. Diplomats emerge as indispensable specialists in creating, asserting and agreeing meaning, and diplomatic conduct as a critical variable in explaining international outcomes. Taking the perspective of practice seriously can build a better political science of international relations, balancing first‐person understanding with third‐person explanation, impersonal forces with human stories, and contextual facts with their rhetorical construction. It can also help bridge the gap between theory and practice. This points to an exciting agenda for future research.     

‘Would I were in an alehouse in London!’: a finds assemblage sealed by the Great Fire from Rood Lane,City of London

During the development project at 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London, archaeological excavations were undertaken adjacent to Rood Lane. This uncovered part of a 16th- to mid 17th-century brick built cellar which had collapsed sealing in situ pottery, glass, clay tobacco pipes and a stove tile, an event interpreted as the result of the Great Fire of London in 1666. The composition of this artefact assemblage suggests it was derived from a property used to providing large-scale entertainment, with a high proportion of the material associated with drinking. This article situates this group within the context of other similarly dated victualling establishments from the City of London.