A Swiss anomaly? A relational account of national boundary‐making

ABSTRACT. This article reviews how major theorists of nationalism – from Ernest Renan to Benedict Anderson – have tried to come to grips with the puzzle that Swiss nationalism and the Swiss state present in view of the monoethnic states that surround it. I will argue that this puzzle disappears when assuming a political sociology perspective that highlights the networks of political alliances underlying nationalist movements and the power structure of recently formed nation‐states. Studying an ‘outlier’ case such as Switzerland helps us to gain insight into the general processes and mechanisms at work in the rise of nationalism and the nation‐state.     

Back to the future or forward to the past? Strengthening markets and rules for effective global energy governance

Current public policy debates on energy security are characterized by a singular focus on questions regarding access to resources. This lopsided attention to the geopolitical dimension of energy security is based on the myopic and erroneous presumption that global energy politics is necessarily a zero-sum game in which one country's energy security is another's lack thereof. In fact, debates deflect attention from the real issues that policy-makers should consider in their attempts to foster effective global energy governance—the central role increasingly international energy markets play in balancing demand and supply—and, even more importantly, the significance of the 'rules of the game' that structure these markets. This article makes a first attempt to apply a broader analytical lens by pointing out and analyzing the important role rules play in determining outcomes in international oil and gas markets; by examining how current trends are affecting the existing 'rules of the game'; and by highlighting consequences for public policy.     

Externalizing the burden of war: the Obama Doctrine and US foreign policy in the Middle East

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring the Middle East has plunged into a state of instability. The United States has responded to these rising insecurities in a region of strategic importance with hesitation or half‐hearted commitments. The Obama administration, plagued by the increasingly difficult decision of defining America's role in an apolar world while managing the political and economic legacy of the Bush administration, has relied on a policy of delegation. Obama neither refrained from military options nor showed any willingness to commit American ground troops to one of the strategically and operationally most complex environments of the world. Instead, Obama's preferred way of war is one relying on surrogates—both human and technological—that allow the United States to externalize, partially or wholly, the strategic, operational and tactical burden of warfare. Unlike any other previous US administration surrogate warfare has become the principal means of protecting US interests in the Middle East that are perceived to be all but vital. The need for deniability and legitimacy, cost–benefit considerations as well as the lack of capability have made warfare by surrogate a preferred option in the Middle East. The consequences for US policy in the region are profound, as the lack of control and oversight have empowered surrogates whose long‐term interests are not compatible with those of the United States. More severely, the US might have jeopardized its standing as the traditional guarantor of security in the Middle East— something that partners and adversaries alike have exploited.     

DATA ON 61 CHEMICAL ELEMENTS FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THREE MAJOR GLASS COMPOSITIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES

Sets of 20 soda ash, 16 soda lime and 23 wood ash glasses mainly from excavations in Europe were analysed by microprobe and LA–ICP‐MS for 61 elements and are presented as average concentrations with standard deviations. Concentrations of sodium, potassium and magnesium allow the major glass type to be identified. Specific compositions of the raw materials of glass production indicate certain sources, technical processes and ages. Heavy minerals etc. of quartz sands contain rare earth elements (REE) from crustal fractionations that are different for the three major glass types. Accumulations of P, B, Ba, Mn and K in wood from soils by organic processes can characterize glass from certain regions.     

Possible Evidence for Homicide in an Egyptian Mummy Head

In the present paper we describe the macroscopic, radiological and histological findings for the head of an adult male Egyptian mummy, who presented with a round to oval defect of the left occipitotemporal bone covered by an almost intact layer of soft tissue and skin. The osseous defect showed infundibular widening into the cranial cavity, such as is seen in cases of depressed fracture due to a massive external force applied by a rather blunt weapon. In addition, the slightly increased thickness of the skull bone indicates that even higher mechanical force was necessary to punch out the defect than in other skulls. Because we assume that the defect occurred intravitally, the unusual constellation of this defect provides some evidence that it had occurred during a violent attack, possibly presenting the palaeopathological remnants of a case of homicide.     

PURPLE-DYE PRODUCTION IN LYCIA – RESULTS OF AN ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL FIELD SURVEY IN ANDRIAKE (SOUTH-WEST TURKEY)

Summary.   In 2003 a substantial deposit of heavily fragmented shells of purple snails was by chance located at the site of Andriake, the ancient port of the Lycian city of Myra near Demre, in southern Turkey. The archaeozoological and archaeological record of a survey project in 2004 proved the identification of a large installation for the production of purple dye. Adjacent to a well preserved Hadrianic granary and partly superimposing the remains of a U-shaped building, the deposit is wrapped around three sides of a subterranean cistern. Apparently dating to the sixth century AD, the deposit contains approximately 300 m³ of shell debris. The unique chance of examining an undisturbed and well preserved manufacturing place for purple dye provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the processual particularities as well as the ecological impact of purple-dye production in antiquity.