Fighting the Risorgimento: foreign volunteers in southern Italy (1860–63)

Abstract

Between 1860 and 1863 hundreds of men from all over Europe volunteered for service in the wars of southern ‘brigands’ on behalf of the exiled King Francis II of Naples. In an attempt to correct the often biased interpretation of this involvement (that was attributed simply to a thirst for adventure, romanticism or even psychological disorder) that coloured the accounts by Italian patriots, this essay suggests the need for fresh consideration. It develops three lines of inquiry that focus respectively on the strong impact of Italian Unification on conservative and Catholic opinion and the ways in which these sources portrayed the struggles of the southern insurgents, the clumsy efforts made by the Neapolitan government-in-exile to recruit volunteers and organize armed expeditions against the former kingdom, and the so-called ‘white international’ in which the warriors of the counter-revolution were depicted as combatants in conflicts that were both civil wars and at the same time episodes in a much longer international ideological struggle. In this context, the significance of foreign involvement in defence of the Neapolitan Bourbons takes on a significance that goes far beyond its poor military outcome.     

Defending ‘the Principle of Representation’: Andrew Bisset,The English Civil War,and The History of the Struggle for Parliamentary Government in England

Abstract

Victorian attitudes to the past were varied and in some cases irreconcilable. Newer standards of expertise and objectivity coexisted with older approaches, and the idea that history should be used for present purposes remained intact. Throughout the Victorian age there were circumstances in which history was a polemical tool, designed to give one set of interpretations or values or policies an advantage over its rivals. This article explores the work of a relatively neglected figure in Victorian historiography – the reform-minded historian and lawyer Andrew Bisset (1803–1891) – whose primary goal was to illustrate and advance what he called ‘the principle of representation’. He discussed people and events of the past to this end, offending reviewers along the way because of his obvious political agenda, but also developing a rigorous source-based style, usefully evaluating for his readers the work of Macaulay, Carlyle, and others, and helping to shape Victorian opinion about, in particular, the political and religious crises of seventeenth-century Britain. Like others, Bisset believed that the disputes of that period had relevance to the public controversies of his own day. This article is designed to contribute to ongoing debates about the Victorians’ relationship with the past.     

Legislation and politics in late Carolingian Italy: the Ravenna constitutions

This article considers some overlooked evidence for royal legislation in the dying days of the Carolingian empire, a series of charters known as the Ravenna constitutions. These documents, which deal with the status of Italian freemen, are often analysed as sources for social history but rarely as texts in their own right. Reconstructing the context in which the charters were issued enables us to cast light on political events and royal self‐representation in early 880s Italy; and by drawing attention to the peculiarities of their form, we can use them to reflect more broadly on the nature of Carolingian capitulary legislation and the meaning of its disappearance at the end of the ninth century.     

The Marcoses and authoritarian rule in the Philippines

Filemon C. Rodriguez, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation, New York, Vantage Press, 1985, pp.285 (reprinted by Moed Press, Quezon City, 1986. Pesos 130.00, paper).

Charles C. McDougald, The Marcos File: Was he a Philippine Hero or a Corrupt Tyrant? San Francisco, San Francisco Publishers, 1987, pp.345. $14.95 (paper).

Raymond Bonner, Waltzing with a Dictator: the Marcoses and the Making of American Policy, London, Macmillan, 1987, pp.533. $39.95 (cloth).

Belinda A. Aquino, Politics of Plunder: the Philippines under Marcos, Quezon City, Great Books Trading and University of the Philippines College of Public Administration, 1987, pp.208. Pesos 100.00 (paper).

Lewis E. Gleeck, President Marcos and the Philippine Political Culture, Manila, Loyal Printing, 1987, pp. 280. US$20.00 (paper).     

Australian politics

David Black (ed.), The House on the Hill: A History of the Parliament of Western Australia 1832–1990 (Perth: Parliament of Western Australia, 1991) pp.558. $n.p. ISBN 0 7309 3983 9.

D.H. Borchardt, Commissions of Inquiry in Australia: A Brief Surrey (Melbourne: La Trobe University Press, 1991) pp.107. $24.95 ISBN 1 86324 011X.

John Connell and Richard Howitt (eds), Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Australasia (Sydney: Sydney University Press in association with Oxford University Press, 1991) pp.204. $22.95 ISBN 0 424 00177 2.

Mark Considine, The Polities of Reform: Workers’ Compensation from Woodhouse to WorkCare (Geelong: Centre for Applied Social Research, Deakin University, 1991) pp.118. $17.50 ISBN 0 7300 1472 X.

D.C. Corbett, C. Selby Smith and R.F.I. Smith (eds), Public Sector Personnel Policies for the 1990's (Melbourne: Public Sector Management Institute, Monash University, 1989) pp.329. $20.00 ISBN 0 7326 0146 0.

Brian Costar and Scott Prasser (eds), Amalgamate or Perish?: The Future of Non‐Labor Parties in Australia (Toowoomba: University College of Southern Queensland) pp.121. $9.95 ISBN 0 909756 04 X.

David Neal, The Rule of Law in a Penal Colony: Law and Power in Early New South Wales (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.266. $39.95 ISBN 0 521 37274 X.

Michael Pusey, Economic Rationalism in Canberra: A Nation‐Building State Changes Its Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.310. $n.p. ISBN 0 521 33661 9.

Randal G. Stewart and Ian Ward, Politics One (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1992) pp.243. $24.95 ISBN 0 7329 0247 9.

John Uhr (ed.), Decision‐Making in Australian Government: Program Evaluation (Canberra: Federalism Research Centre ANU, 1991) pp.170. $np. ISBN 0 7315 1129 8.

Comparative and international politics

Robert Aldrich and John Connell, France's Overseas Frontier: Départements et territoires d'outre‐mer (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1992) pp.357. $49.95 ISBN 0 521 39061 3.

Article 19, International Centre on Censorship, Information Freedom and Censorship, World Report 1991 (London: Library Association Publishing Ltd, 1991) pp.471. £22.50 ISBN 1 85604 021 6.

Carl Bridge (ed.), Munich to Vietnam: Australia's Relations with Britain and the United States since the 1930s (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1991) pp.237 $24.95 ISBN 0 522 84436 7.

Charles Carstairs and Richard Ware (eds), Parliament and International Relations (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1991) pp.195. $35.00 ISBN 0 335 09698 0.

Tun‐jen Cheng and Stephen Haggard (eds), Political Change in Taiwan (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1992 ) pp.269. $US35.00 ISBN 1 55587 275 1.

Robert O. Freedman, Moscow and the Middle East: Soviet Policy Since the Invasion of Afghanistan (Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.426. $49.95. ISBN 0 521 35976 7.

David S.G. Goodman and Gerald Segal (eds), China in the Nineties: Crisis Management and Beyond (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) pp. 226. $24.95 ISBN 0 19 827363 0.

Larry B. Hill (ed.), The State of Public Bureaucracy (Armonk, New York, and London: M.E. Sharpe, 1992) pp.234 $US42.50 ISBN 1 56324007 6.

Christopher Hood and Michael Jackson, Administrative Argument (Aldersbot: Dartmouth, 1991) pp.221. £30.00 ISBN 1 85521 023 1.

Mary Kaldor (ed.), Europe From Below: An East‐West Dialogue (New York: Verso, 1991) $29.95 ISBN 0 86091 522 0.

Colin Mackerras and Amanda Yorke (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.266. $25.00 ISBN 0 521 38755 8420.

Geraint Parry, George Moyser and Neil Day, Political Participation and Democracy in Britain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) pp.509. $57.50 ISBN 0 521 33602 3.

Marcus G. Raskin, Essays of a Citizen: From National Security State to Democracy (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1991) pp321. $US27.50 ISBN 0 87332 764 0.

Emir Sader and Ken Silverstein, Without Fear of Being Happy: Lula, The Workers Party, and Brazil (London: Verso, 1991) pp.177. $34.95 ISBN 0 86091 523 9.

Haim Shemesh, Soviet‐Iraqi Relations, 1968–1988: In the Shadow of the Iraq‐Iran Conflict (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1992) pp.28. $US42.00 ISBN 1 5587 293 X.

Wayne S. Smith (ed.), Toward Resolution? The Falklands/Malvinas Dispute (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1991) pp.159. $US25.00 ISBN 1 55587 265 4.

Ramesh Thakur and Carlyle A. Thayer, Soviet Relations with India and Vietnam (Houndmills Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992) pp.315. £35.00 ISBN 0 333 43751 9.

Joseph S. Tulchin (ed.), Economic Development & Environmental Protection in Latin America (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1991) pp.143. $US9.95 ISBN 1 55587 288 3.

Yaacov Y.I. Vertzberger, The World in Their Minds: Information Processing, Cognition, and Perception in Foreign Policy Decision‐making (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990) pp.447. $US42.50 ISBN 0 8047 1688 9.

Robert M. Worcester, British Public Opinion: Guide to the History and Methodology of Political Opinion Polling (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991) pp.231. $29.95 ISBN 0 631 17059 6.

Leslie Zines, Constitutional Change in the Commonwealth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.118. $35.00 ISBN 0 521 40039 2.

Political theory and methodology

Michèle Barrett, The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991) pp.288. $32.95 ISBN 0 7456 0503 6.

Peter Beilharz (ed.), Social Theory: A Guide to Central Thinkers (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1991) pp.242. $22.95 ISBN 1 86373 163 6.

Robin Blackburn (ed.), After the Fall: The Failure of Communism and the Future of Socialism (London: Verso, 1991) pp.327. $29.95 ISBN 0 86091 540 9.

Tom Bottomore (ed.), A Dictionary of Marxist Thought, second edn (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991) pp.647, $45.00 ISBN 0 631 16481 2.

Noberto Bobbio, Which Socialism?: Marxism, Socialism and Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990) pp.242. $27.95 ISBN 0 7456 0128 6.

Noberto Bobbio, Which Socialism?: Marxism, Socialism and Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990) pp.242. $27.95 ISBN 0 7456 0128 6.

Stewart R. Clegg, Frameworks of Power (London: Sage Publications, 1989) pp.297. $n.p. ISBN 0 8039 8161 9.

Wendy Donner, The Liberal Self: John Stuart Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991) pp.229. $US12.95 ISBN 0 8014 9987 9.

Ian Forbes, Marx and the New Individual (London: Unwin Hyman, 1990) pp.247. $n.p. ISBN 0 04 445432 5.

Alan Hamlin and Philip Pettit (eds), The Good Polity: Normative Analysis of the State (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991) pp.207. $39.95 ISBN 0 63118088 5.

Oskar Kurer, John Stuart Mill: The Politics of Progress (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1991) pp.224. $US52.00 ISBN 0 8153 0135 9

Howard Williams, International Relations in Political Theory (Milton Keynes and Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1992) pp.143. $34.95 ISBN 0 335 15627 4.     

And a Historical Folklore Survey? A Reply to John Widdowson’s ‘New Beginnings’

This note is written in support of John Widdowson’s recent reflections on the direction of folklore studies in Britain. A general discussion is in everyone’s interest and with his words Widdowson has given a gentle whack to the beehive. This article offers more of the same, although from the perspective of historical folklore.     

The making of mining expectations: mining romanticism and historical memory in a neoliberal political landscape

This paper investigates a greenfield mining project in a peripheral region in northern Sweden through the analysis of how different actor groups formed their own ‘horizons of expectations’ that temporally became fused, only to crumble together with the mining company in a short period of time. By focusing on the co-evolvement of expectations, we show how expectations are differentiated along geographical and temporal scales, reflect upon how these differences relate to interests and historical memory, and finally what these differences mean for the development of large-scale, long-term, raw materials-based projects devoted to industrial production in depopulating areas in an economy otherwise orientated towards neoliberal governance and post-industrial development. By doing so, we make a theoretical contribution to the literature on expectations through the introduction of the concept ‘horizon of expectations’, and a contribution to the literature on neoliberalism and its cultural-geographical implications.