Heritage Noire: truth,history, and colonial anxiety in The Blair Witch Project

When watching the film The Blair Witch Project we seem to be witnessing through its clumsy, apparently uncrafted footage the unmediated documentation of 'reality' as it occurs. This article argues that the carefully crafted deceit of The Blair Witch Project may be understood as part of a subversive 'public history' project that uses modern history's own scientific motifs and methodologies against itself and challenges its basic tenets. If positive myths of the past are structured into what we tend to call heritage, i.e. shared narratives affirming a positive sense of self and region or nation, then this paper argues that The Blair Witch Project takes the same notion and subverts it, giving its chosen audience a dark and unsettling sense of its own history.     

Public opinion and policy responsiveness: the case of same-sex marriage in Australia

This article examines congruence between public opinion and politicians’ positions on same-sex marriage in the Australian House of Representatives from 2012 to 2016. In contrast median voter theorem and other office-motivated frameworks, Australian federal politicians have largely ignored majority opinion, which has been supportive of same-sex marriage for a decade. Using a unique dataset (n?=?601,550) of voter preferences collected during the 2013 federal election, and collated Hansard and media data, we compare public opinion on same-sex marriage with politicians’ public positions. We find a status quo bias, suggesting the influence of special interest groups in this policy area. Yet, we also find parliamentarians are responsive to public opinion once it reaches a critical level, and that very low opposition to same-sex marriage in an electorate predicts policy support from its MP, which varies by party and over time.     

The governmentalities of infrastructure and services amid urban conflict: East Jerusalem in the post Oslo era

Urban conflict in Jerusalem has mainly been studied through the lens of spatial and functional segregation and discriminative fragmentation between Israeli and Palestinian localities. This article adopts a governmentality approach to the study of the politics of urban infrastructure and services in urban conflict, and argues that a governmentalization process of East Jerusalem by Israel has evolved in the last two decades that has been enacted mainly through the control and management of Palestinian urban infrastructure and services. Since, as manifestations of resistance to Israeli occupation, many of the Palestinian urban functionalities historically operated separately from Israeli state apparatuses, this new development and its consequences indicate an increasing dependency and forced adaptation of Palestinians in Jerusalem to Israeli rule. Based on analysis of Palestinian public transport and education systems, the article demonstrates how the “soft” power of governmentality – mediated through the control and management of urban infrastructure and services – diffuses among the Palestinian population and in space, restructuring them as objects and subjects of Israeli administration and governmental order. In this light, urban infrastructure and services appear in the course of urban conflict as an arena of governmentality and counter-governmentality. On the one hand they serve as a site where identities are practiced and defended; on the other, they may mediate and facilitate the restructuring of political subjectivities and normalization of political structures and hierarchies.     

公共场所监控图像采集利用的法律规制

随着社会信息化的推进,在公共场所安放视频监控器材成为一种普遍做法,由此也产生了与公民隐私权之间的冲突。文章认为,应采取相应的措施,以恰当地保护公民的隐私权,尤其是在公开场所对于图像的采集和利用,应当遵循一定的法律原则,建立和完善一定的法律规制和严密的技术规范。     

Do more,with less: The realities of local government in rural Ontario

Over the past 30 years, the responsibilities, mandates, and activities of local governments in Ontario have undergone substantial transformations. Influenced by New Public Management, policy changes are characterized by marketization and managerialism resulting in downloading of responsibilities to local governments. This research examines the ebbs and flows of policy changes among different provincial governments since 1990 and the impacts of these policies on rural local governments in Ontario. Interviews were conducted with elected officials and senior staff in eight local governments to understand their realities. The findings demonstrate the continual policy changes led to the “do more, with less” approach currently faced by rural local governments—increased regulatory requirements, limited human and financial capacities, and small tax bases to support their activities. This experience, combined with limited fiscal levers, hinders the ability of rural local governments to address both new demands for infrastructure and existing infrastructure deficits, housing stock and affordability, and economic and workforce development strategies. The reality has necessitated local governments to seek alternative strategies to deliver programs and services through partnerships and collaboration.     

“预备立宪”起点再探讨

清王朝在覆亡前最后几年所推行的“预备立宪”是中国谋求政治革新的开端,是“宪政”在中国的最初试验,在很大程度上影响了此后政治观念、政治建设的走向。厘清“预备立宪”的起点无疑是一个至为关键的问题,直接关系到我们对清政府宪政改革动机以及当时社会发展脉络的认知。然而,学界对“预备立宪”起点的认识并不一致。通过梳理当时的朝野政治倾向可以判定,清政府于1905年7月16日颁布派遣王公大臣出洋考察的谕旨实为“预备立宪”之起点。     

民初第一次国会选举竞选活动研究

民初国会选举是中国历史上第一次非暴力方式的政权角逐.以国民党、共和党为代表的各个政党采取了各种各样的竞选方式和竞选策略,其中有暴力、行政作弊等恶性的方式,有舆论斗争、金钱作用等中性的方式,也有公开演说、政党组织、法律诉讼等良性的方式,虽然有很多缺点,但总体来说这是一次具有合法性的选举.民主制度需要深层的现代政治文化为依托,从传统"一元文化"到现代"多元文化"需要一个长期的转化过程,竞选中暴露出的政治文化缺陷预示了在中国建立民主制度的道路必定曲折艰辛.     

Changing public accountability mechanisms in the governance of Dutch urban regeneration*

Contemporary urban planning dynamics are based on negotiation and contractual relations, creating fragmented planning processes. On the one hand, they trigger technocratic forms of governance, which require the ‘legal instrumentalisation’ of planning in a piecemeal approach ensuring legal certainty. On the other hand, these processes require flexibility to enable easy, fast and efficient forms of implementation due to the increasing involvement of private sector actors in urban development. This article unravels the influence of these conflicting dynamics on the fundamentals of urban planning practices by focusing on changing public accountability mechanisms created through contractual relationships between public and private sector agencies. Dutch urban regeneration has demonstrated changing governance principles and dynamics in the last three decades. Representing instrumental and institutional measures, we connect accountability mechanisms to these changes and argue that they ‘co-exist’ in multiple forms across different contexts. This article embeds this evolution in wider theoretical discussions on the changing relationships between public and private sector actors in urban governance relative to the changing role of the state, and it addresses questions on who can be held accountable, and to what extent, when public sector actors are increasingly retreating from regulatory practices while private sector actors play increasingly prominent roles.     

Iran–US Public Health Cooperative Organization (PHCO): Education,Healthcare, and Health Services in the Southwest of Iran (Fars), 1950–60

Fars is among the largest provinces of Iran that received the most technical assistance from the American economic delegation in the 1950s. After settling in the province and during ten years of activity, the American delegation provided technical assistance in the fields of health engineering, health education, preventive medicine, nursing, medical services, and medical education. This paper explains how the technical assistance of US personnel contributed to the general health of the Fars province. The findings of this research show that after the formation of the Public Health Cooperative Organization (PHCO) in 1950, not only did most of the cities and villages of this province began to enjoy safe drinking water, but also public health improved. Additionally, the birth of children with disabilities and the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and trachoma declined by means of preventive medicine centers and health education.     

The archaeology of industry; people and places

The development of industrial archaeology over the last 50 years can be traced through articles published in PMA. The early stages of recording the standing remains of industrial activity were augmented by detailed studies of groups of structures which revealed the organization of the manufacturing process. From the late 1980s, developer-funded excavations became important following extensive remediation work on brownfield sites. Greater attention was paid to the social context of past industrial activity including workers’ housing and institutional buildings, and this has continued with studies of oral history. New challenges considered include studies of modern technologies, de-industrialization and the digital revolution.