Peering in from the window ledge of the Union: the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the attempt to bring British Conservatism to Northern Ireland

In this article I examine one particular way in which the Anglo-Irish Agreement redefined unionist politics in the late 1980s. While the operation of “direct rule” had drawn the unionist middle classes ever closer to Britain in economic and cultural terms, it had also left them in a precarious position politically. The nature and scale of this political subservience was brought home dramatically in 1985 when the British government signed an international agreement giving the Dublin government the right to be consulted on Northern Irish affairs. In the period of political flux summoned by the Hillsborough Accord, elements of the unionist middle classes were drawn to the previously marginal ideas of a small leftist organisation that argued for the British political parties to organise in the region. Given the material interests and social conservatism of those attracted to it, the call for “equal citizenship” would inevitably take the form primarily of a movement seeking to bring British Conservatism to Northern Ireland.     

The Ambivalent Moderation of Hindu Nationalism in India

Despite regular participation in national and regional elections and occupation of office both at the centre and in the regional governments, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not acquired the aura of moderation. It has not achieved acceptance into the party system of India in a manner that would make it comparable to Christian Democratic parties in Europe. This appears puzzling in the light of Downs’ moderation thesis, which suggests that regular participation in free, fair and competitive elections transforms extremist parties to moderates as they converge towards the median voter. The article approaches this puzzling counterfactual in intra-system comparison by drawing on the case of Sikh nationalism. With a focus on BJP, the article presents an analysis of party competition, party programs, policies and public opinion data on issue positions and the social base of the party. In conclusion, three general enabling conditions are identified that help explain the deviant case of the ambivalent moderation of the BJP.

印度人民党虽然参加全国和地方选举,虽然在中央和地方政府中任职,但并没有因此就有稳健克制的样子。它没有能够像欧洲的基督教民主党那样被纳入印度的政党体系。这就成为汤恩的克制理论解释不了的谜团,按汤氏的理论,正常参加自由、公正而竞争性的选举,会使极端主义政党变得稳健克制,向一般投票者趋近。本文通过系统内比较,以民族主义的锡克教为例,破解了这个谜团。作者聚焦印度人民党,分析了政党竞争,政党计划、政策以及关于某些话题立场的舆论资料、还有政党的社会基础。作者发现三种情形能够一般性地解释印度人民党的偏激不稳健。     

Gender Equality and Decent Work in Australia

In 1998 the International Labour Organization (ILO) advanced the notion of ‘decent work’ as a way to enhance opportunities for women and men to obtain productive work in conditions of freedom, equality, security and human dignity. This concept is now both salient and contested in national and international policy debates. In a 2008–09 campaign, the ILO asserted that ‘gender equality [is] at the heart of decent work’. This article examines appeals to decent work in Australian parliamentary discourse and proposes how best to make use of the concept. It argues that gender equality is fundamental to decent work.

1998年世界劳工组织提出了“体面工作”的概念以促进男女在自由、平等、安全和尊严的条件下从事有益的工作。这个概念在国家和国际的政策辩论中都占有显要的位置。国际劳工组织在2008、2009年的活动中,强调性别平等位居体面工作的核心。本文考察了澳大利亚议会的相关言论,并对使用好这个概念有所建议。作者认为性别平等是体面工作的基础。     

Defending the Individual: the Personal Rights Association and the Ligue des droits de l'homme, 1871–1916

This article investigates the conceptual and organisational connections between late nineteenth-century civil-liberties activism and the emerging human-rights paradigm of the twentieth century. The comparison of the two largest and most influential civil-liberties organisations to emerge in Britain and France before the First World War (the British Personal Rights Association and the French Ligue des droits de l'homme) has three objectives: to place the two groups in a wider context of civil-liberty organisations of the pre-First World War era and to identify personal connections and inspirations. Secondly, by analysing functional definitions of ‘rights’ and who these rights should apply to, the article argues that although one group conceptualised their activism on the basis of ‘civil liberties’ and the other on ‘human rights’ there were significant similarities between the approaches of the two groups. Moreover, differences stemmed from internal politics within each group rather than the dissimilar conceptual framework. Finally the article seeks to understand why the Ligue des droits de l'homme was much more successful than the British Personal Rights Association both in its ability to mobilise supporters, and in inspiring sister organisations in other European countries.     

The Euro-Arab Dialogue 1973–1978: Britain Reinsurance Policy In The Middle East Conflict

The Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD) was launched in the aftermath the Arab Israeli Yom Kippur War of 1973 by Nine European countries and the Arabs. The main objective was to create a stable, long-term relationship between the two regions. Despite its political intent, the framework of the Dialogue was restricted to multilateral economic co-operation in selected areas for reciprocal benefits. Due to inevitable obstacles, after almost five years of engagements, the Dialogue seemed to be progressing slowly with the development of only a few practical projects. Nevertheless, the British remained committed to the initiative, which they viewed as supplementary to their successful existing bilateral relationships, as well as an inexpensive but effective way to maintain their political and economic interests in the Arab world. Through historical analysis, this paper examines the British attitude and perspective towards the Dialogue from 1973 to 1978, mainly using archival documents available at the National Archive in England.     

‘Working of the Train Gang’: Alienation,Liminality and Communitas in the UK Preserved Railway Sector

The article initially draws upon the notion of non‐alienated labour to explain the motivations of volunteers who offer their time and expertise freely to the running of steam and diesel locomotives within UK preserved railways. It suggests that in this instance the concept is flawed in that volunteers operate outside the cash nexus. In drawing upon the anthropological concepts of liminality and communitas it aims to develop the notion of non‐alienated labour by adding a subjective dimension. It argues that volunteers working on preserved railways are modern‐day pilgrims through their moving in and out of different identities as they seek solace in the certainty of operating and working in complex and highly satisfying workplaces.     

The family,sexual morality and gender identity in the communist tradition in Italy (1921–1956)

This essay will compare the model of the communist family during the era of Palmiro Togliatti's ‘partito nuovo’, beginning with the famous ‘svolta di Salerno’ in 1944, with the model outlined when the Italian Communist Party (PCdI) was first founded in 1921. The sources used vary, spanning memoirs, literature, the press and autobiographies of political activists. The aim of this essay is to expand the research on the ‘communist tradition’; to examine the characteristics of both its theoretical thinking and pedagogic structure; to explore the nature of its propaganda; and to study the individual experiences of activists.     

Recent work on Italian cinema

The end of the Cold War, the globalization of markets, and the end of Fordist models of production have all radically changed the context within which the European parties of the Left operate. This article, through an analysis of a broad range of recently published literature on New Labour in Britain and the Democratici di sinistra in Italy (and its predecessor, the PDS), examines the way these transformations have affected the two parties in recent years. Both have for some time been involved in processes of gradual adaptation of their economic and social policies. The texts analysed reveal that within the Left itself there are diverging perceptions of the value of this adaptation. In one view it represents a 'third way' between subordination to neo-liberalism and a social-democratic model now regarded as obsolete. A more critical view sees the changes as giving way to the technocratic Right.     

The prefects and party‐state relations in Fascist Italy

Abstract

This is a study of the prefects, the arm of central government in the provinces, under the Fascist regime. Using the author's own survey of those appointed prefects after the decision to establish the ‘totalitarian’ state, it considers the phenomenon of the ‘Fascist prefects’ in relation to the progress of career officials, methods of recruitment and the prevailing bureaucratic culture, in order to assess the extent of the ‘Fascistization’ of the Interior Ministry. It then looks at how both career and ‘Fascist prefects’ actually operated on the ground and their relations with the Fascist Party in the provinces. The article concludes, on the evidence of continuing party‐state conflict throughout the 1930s, that there was a ‘totalitarian’ regime in the making.     

No Italian Stalingrads. The C.G.I.L. and the working class in the northern industrial heartlands, 1945-1955

ABSTRACT

This article challenges conventional wisdom on the northern Italian industrial heartlands during the first decade after the Second World War. For there still exists a certain mythology about the post-war proletarian north as a region that was both intensely political and united in purpose. What this article demonstrates is that the ‘industrial triangle’ of Genoa, Milan and Turin was far more divided than historians have assumed. By revisiting the manifold (wildcat) strikes, trade union demonstrations, and factory occupations of the early post-war years, it shows the industrial north to be divided along both social and geographical lines. In doing so, it sheds fresh light on the series of defeats that the main Italian trade union confederation (C.G.I.L.) suffered in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It argues that these defeats were due as much to the explicit politicization of labour struggles and their exclusive focus on the interests of skilled workers as to the hostile socio-political climate in which the C.G.I.L. had to operate.