Public administration in the Australian Journal of Political Science: A review

This article reviews publications on public administration in the Australian Journal of Political Science (AJPS). A distinction needs to be drawn between public administration as a discipline and as a field of inquiry that engages specialists from several areas. The latter has been more significant in Australia in contrast to Europe and the United States. The questions discussed in the AJPS cover changes in the field and practice of public administration; the state and government; the structures of local government, public organisation and federalism; interfaces between public administration and other sectors and institutions; and issues with public sector reform and accountability. Despite the emphasis on governance in discourse and practice, the role of government continues to be central, and what emerges from experiments in new governance is that the authority of government and the significance of hierarchy (compared to markets and networks) very often remains pivotal.     

‘Musicking’ children from the Bohemian lands: nurtured and hidden musical practices on both sides of the Iron Curtain

Based on an analysis of musical childhood memories from over 80 Germans from the Bohemian lands and historical evidence, this article investigates processes of social and political integration and assimilation of German children and young adults who, in the aftermath of the Second World War, were either expelled to Germany or remained in their Bohemian homelands. Memories of Germans expelled to West Germany disclose the various ways in which musical repertoire and musical practices are able to mitigate both the loss of the homeland and the distressing overall effects of expulsion, as well as reveal how music facilitates the building of a new sense of belonging in the face of geographic displacement and material dispossession. The study further highlights how the reframing and even silencing of musical practices on the other side of the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia affected processes of social-identity reconstruction until and after the 1989 fall of Communism. Results of this study foreground that individual musical experiences reveal new historical narratives of how German expellees used and still use musical practices to negotiate intercultural power relationships and rebuild a sense of belonging in their respective post-war environment in West Germany or Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic.     

Masculinity and political geographies in England,Ireland and North America

Historians have recently turned their attention to the place of masculinity in the politics of early-modern England. This essay widens that exploration to include the imperial settings of Ireland and North America. Drawing upon a range of English- and Irish-language sources – including political treatises, maps, state papers and court poetry – it contends that manhood, as a relational value between men, helped structure the form and character of politics in the metropole, the kingdom of Ireland and the American colonies. In all of those settings, the definition of acceptable male behaviour was different, the effect being that political action and theory in each place took on unique features. Consequently, the essay cautions against studying England and its colonies as distinct units of historical analysis and calls for further exploration of the particularities of colonial settings and their influence on the imperial centre. Moreover, the essay aims to demonstrate that masculinity, particularly contest over its proper expression, is an agent in historical change, in this case helping to shape political theory and practice as England developed into a multiple monarchy and budding imperial power in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.     

The geography of transnational adoption: kin and place in globalization

International adoption involves crossing borders; it invokes space and geography as adoptive parents imagine distant countries, as children are moved from one nation to another, and as adoptees and their families return to their countries of origin. The spatiality of belonging and identity – but also of trauma and violence – are central concerns for the people involved and to the operations of their cultural, political, and legal practice. Yet surprisingly, cultural geographers have not yet developed a conceptualization of transnational adoption that theorizes it as a constitutive aspect of geographies of migration, domestic geographies, and geography of childhood. In this issue we seek to set out an agenda for the cultural and political geographies of transnational adoption. We do so by discussing three interrelated themes: the adoption-migration nexus, geographies of relatedness, and the biopolitics of mobility.     

Shear Vulnerability of Historical Reinforced-Concrete Structures

Modern buildings have been characterized by the rapid spread of reinforced concrete as a novel and versatile building material. Within the assessment of existing buildings, the most sensitive structures are those designed in the first half of the 20th century, when the theory of reinforced concrete and the detailing rules were not yet well established. This study considers the issues related to the gradual understanding of the vulnerability at a territorial scale of structural typologies designed only for vertical loads. In particular, the shear behavior of the buildings in the period between 1920 and 1960 is investigated. The shear strength control of the structural elements of an open-air stadium in Southern Italy is carried on according to Eurocode 2, the American Concrete Institute Code, ACI 318R–2008, and a method based on Arslan’s equation. The results are compared with those included in the original calculus report according to the 1930 Royal Decree-Law (RDL 18/7/1930).     

古建油饰彩画的制作技术分析研究

为了对中国特有的古建油饰彩画制作技术加深了解,促进古建油饰彩画传统工艺科学化,采用X射线衍射仪、X射线荧光光谱仪、扫描电镜、体视显微镜等仪器对采自蒙古博格达汗宫博物馆、北京颐和园、甘肃嘉峪关、山西太符观等古代建筑的油饰彩画样品的制作技术进行了分析研究。结果表明,测试的样品分别采用了一麻五灰、一布四灰、单披灰等多种工艺制作地仗;麻纤维广泛应用于样品纤维层中,仅样品YHY-22使用了棉布;颐和园和博格达汉宫博物馆的样品以砖灰作为地仗无机填料,嘉峪关样品使用了白土粉,而山西古建样品则可能使用当地的土壤。可以得出结论:几个地区古建油饰彩画的制作材料和技术是有所不同的。     

李先念与“不折腾”原则考

"不折腾"原则是陈云与李先念在改革开放之初率先提出来的。李先念还就"不折腾"的类别、意义、重点时段与保障措施等方面作了较为系统的阐述。"不折腾"原则的提出,直接推动了"调整、改革、整顿、提高"八字方针的出台,促使国民经济进行重大调整进而走上良性发展的道路,保障了我国改革开放的顺利进行。     

华侨华人与《反分裂国家法》的酝酿、立法和颁行

在《反分裂国家法》酝酿、立法、颁行的过程中,华侨华人做出了突出的贡献,如华侨华人早就有以立法遏制"台独"的倡议,并向温家宝总理提议,成为酝酿《反分裂国家法》的重要来源;《反分裂国家法》立法程序启动后,华侨华人统一认识,积极献言献策,力正视听,并见证了此法通过的历史时刻;《反分裂国家法》颁行后,华侨华人广泛拥护,对"台独"等各种分裂分子的行径进行了抨击,对华社①的不同意见进行交流,促进了国际社会和华社对此法的认同。     

近代中美畜牧兽医科技交流与合作探析

近代以来,农科留美学生引进了美国先进的畜牧兽医科技,促进了我国的畜牧兽医科技近代化进程。中美两国畜牧科技的交流与合作,表现在引进了优良畜禽品种并对国内的畜禽品种进行改良;引进并发展了近代家畜繁殖技术和畜禽饲养管理技术;从发展畜牧业的角度对草原和草地进行调查研究,对牧草进行栽培、选育、贮藏试验,从而揭开了中国近代牧草科技发展的序幕。中美两国兽医科技的交流与合作,则主要侧重于西兽医技术的引进与发展,其主要内容包括动物检疫事业的创建及发展、畜禽传染病的防治与研究等。     

同光年间州县官选任制度的嬗变

同治光绪年间,由于捐纳、保举的扩张,州县候选人员激增,流品混杂。与此同时,各省督抚选用州县官常常不拘文法,突破成例。在上述背景下,清廷力图从多方面进行整顿,但多不能行。这一时期州县官选任制度的变化虽然只是在旧制基础上的渐变,然而这些问题却成为清末新政时期铨选制度改革的内在动因。