Nordic Investments in the Former Soviet Baltic Frontier: A Survey of Firms and Selected Case Studies

Nordic companies have been leaders in the rapid expansion of Western business into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the St Petersburg area of Russia. While joint ventures were being developed prior to the demise of the USSR, investment rose sharply in early 1992. Our survey of companies from Nordic countries revealed a pattern of location and of adaptation to the conditions of former Soviet infrastructure, culture, politics and economy. Initial Nordic investment has renewed economic ties across the Baltic Sea, with inter‐country links stronger between specific countries. Frustrations with changing government rules, communications, work ethic, quality expectations and other conditions were expressed in interviews with managers of Nordic companies in the Baltic area. Optimism was tempered by continued uncertainty about Russian governmental policies and market potential.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Johan, Allen; Doreen, Massey and Allen, Cochrane with Julie, Charlesworth; Gill, Court; Nick, Henry and Phil, Sarre, Rethinking the Region White, George, W., Nationalism and Territory. Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe Richard, Black and Khalid, Koser, (eds) The End of the Refugee Cycle? Refugee Repatriation and Reconstruction     

东汉赗赙制度研究

赗赙制度作为古代丧葬礼俗中重要的内容之一,在不同时期表现出不同的特点。东汉时期的赗赙制度是在继承西汉时期的基础上完善形成的。除等级性和阶级性的特点更明显外,朝廷还明文规定了各级贵族、官吏卒后所“赙”之规格;进一步完善和健全了赐谥、赠官印制度,此外还对注重名节和精通儒学之“士”也施之以“赙礼”,扩大了官赙的范围,这当与东汉时期尊崇儒学、奖励名节的社会风俗相关。这对后世产生了很大的影响。     

The Space of Local Control in the Devolution of us Public Housing Policy

Sweeping changes in national policy aim to radically transform public housing in the United States. The goal is to reduce social isolation and increase opportunities for low income tenants by demolishing ‘worst case’ housing, most of which is modern, high‐rise buildings with high vacancy and crime rates, and replacing it with ‘mixed‐income’ developments and tenant based assistance to disperse current public housing families. Transformation relies on the national government devolving more decision‐making power to local government and public housing authorities. The assumption here is that decentralizing the responsibility for public housing will yield more effective results and be more efficient. This paper explores the problematic nature of decentralization as it has been conceptualized in policy discourse, focusing on the underlying assumptions about the benefits of increasing local control in the implementation of national policy. As this paper describes, this conceived space of local control does not take into account the spatial features that have historically shaped where and how low income families live in the US, including racism and classism and a general aversion by the market to produce affordable rental units and mixed‐income developments. As a result, this conceived space of local control places the burden on low income residents to make transformation a success. To make this case, Wittgenstein's (1958) post‐structural view of language is combined with Lefebvre's view of space to provide a framework in which to examine US housing policy discourse as a ‘space producing’ activity. The Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation is used to illustrate how local efforts to transform public housing reproduce a functional space for local control that is incapable of generating many of the proposed benefits of decentralization for public housing tenants.     

A long-distance copper alloy trade to the North Eastern Baltic during the late pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age (250 BCE–450 CE) explored with lead isotope MC-ICP-MS

The North Eastern Baltic has no copper resources of its own, meaning that Cu alloy was imported either as raw material or as finished objects. The north-eastern coastline of Estonia during the late pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age was connected to the south by sea to the long-distance ‘amber’ trade route and to the east by Russian river systems. This study quantitatively assesses the direction of the Cu alloy supply in the region before and after brass enters circulation at the beginning of the Roman Iron Age. After an initial portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) survey, 18 objects were chosen for Pb isotope analysis. This isotope analysis resolved a group of nine brass artefacts from the Roman Iron Age amongst a ‘melting pot’ of other Cu alloys. The similarity between the isotope ratios found in the Roman world suggests the presence of the same ‘melting pot’ in the North Eastern Baltic, possibly created by a large amount of Roman Cu alloy being traded north. No evidence for Cu alloy from Scandinavia or the Ural Mountains could be found. The hypothesis from this small study is that the Cu alloy entering Estonia was dominated by metal from Southern Europe from the late pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman period.     

清代生员的进学年龄

生员进学年龄的大小与科举制度运作、朝廷文教政策、传统教育风习及当地社会文化区域概貌等密切关联。目前学界对清代生员的进学年龄虽有估算,认为平均年龄在24岁,但存在取样偏少,局限特定时段、单一地域等问题。以近年出版的"北京图书馆藏珍本年谱丛刊"所收清人年谱为依据,统计分析其中277位有确切记载的来自全国各地的士子考取生员时的年龄,得到平均为19.72(虚)岁的结果。生员进学年龄比之前估算的要低得多,提示清代科举人口的数量应重新计算,也为今人对旧时中国教育普及程度的重新认识提供了重要旁证。