A first fossil record for Scolytus scolytus (F.) (elm bark beetle): its occurrence in elm decline deposits from London and the implications for neolithic elm disease

A problem which has arisen in discussions of an elm-disease explanation for the Neolithic elm decline has been the lack of fossil records of Scolytus scolytus (F.) (elm bark beetle), which is the main carrier of the fungus which causes the present epidemic of Dutch Elm Disease. Now, the discovery of wing cases of two individuals from elm decline deposits at Hampstead Heath, London, proves that the beetle was present in Britain during this episode. The deposits in which it occurs are described, and the various implications for elm disease causing, aiding or at least occurring during this stage of the early Neolithic are discussed.     

Institutionally Induced Pendulum? An Assessment of State-level Influences on Post-war Australian Federal Voting

The extent of State-level influences on federal voting behaviour in Australia has been debated for many years. In this paper, I extend and improve on previous research by using the most advanced techniques (multilevel modelling) available for analysing survey data in this context, and present results based on an extensive investigation of post-war Australian elections. The results show conclusively that the overall extent of measurable State-level effects on federal voting over the period is relatively very small, despite the institutional significance of the States. In an attempt to reconcile these two facts, I therefore propose an institutional explanation of the small extent of State-level effects. I argue that the representation entitlements of the States in the House of Representatives would tend to result in the overall extent of State-level effects being relatively small because they introduce a self-correcting 'pendulum' element into party competition. I investigate some hypotheses that follow from this argument, demonstrate that the evidence from the multilevel modelling is consistent with these hypotheses, and conclude that this institutional element is a significant part of the explanation of the apparent unimportance of State-level influences.     

An Application of Taylor's Power Law to Measure Overdispersion of the Unemployed in English Labor Markets

Taylor's power law (TPL) is the power relation between mean densities and variance of natural populations, and described as one of ecology's few ubiquitous laws. Although the power model has been increasingly applied in social systems modeling, including economics, this article, using English and Welsh economic data as an applied example, suggests that TPL ought to be imported more carefully. The article seeks to convince readers that ecological population methodologies can have an important role in analysis of human spatial behavior, and that this function should not be diminished in pursuit of quick interdisciplinary results. Through the production of “scale‐adjusted dispersion indicators,” the article proposes an application of TPL that is quite different from its use in ecological modeling.     

Characterisation of Chinese Tang sancai from Gongxian and Yaozhou kilns using ICP-MS trace element and TIMS Sr–Nd isotopic analysis

Tang sancai is one of the most important types of Chinese ceramics. To determine the provenance of Tang sancai is important to study ancient trade and other issues. In this paper we compare ICP-MS trace elements and TIMS Sr–Nd isotopes of visibly similar Tang sancai from two major production centres Gongxian and Yaozhou. The variation in contents/ratios of many of >40 trace elements is small for samples from Gongxian, yet is considerably bigger for that from Yaozhou. However, the variation in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd isotopic ratios is very small for samples from both places. Gongxian and Yaozhou samples have distinctive Sr–Nd isotopic and trace element features despite their similarity in major elements, and these analysis data can be interpreted with geochemistry, indicating that Sr and Nd isotopes have great potential in ceramic provenance studies. The distinct characterisation of these samples provides valuable criteria for identifying provenance of Tang sancai of uncertain origin. Two modern fakes are also analysed, and they can as well be distinguished from antique Tang sancai using above criteria.     

Post-war changes in the influence of social structure on Australian voting: The ‘decline of social cleavages’ revisited

Franklin, Mackie and Valen's 1992 Franklin, M., Mackie, T. and Valen, H. 1992. Electoral Change: Responses to Evolving Social and Attitudinal Structures in Western Countries, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  [Google Scholar] book on Electoral Change drew on evidence taken from a small number of surveys in each included country (including Australia) during the mid-1960s to 1990 to derive some general conclusions about the historical decline of cleavage politics. In this article, I make some methodological improvements and also considerably chronologically extend the analyses for Australia, to cover the whole of the post-war period. The results show that some of the previous conclusions are incorrect and that although there has been a decline in the strength of association between social structural variables and voting for the ALP over the post-war period, the decline has not been a smooth one and predominantly occurred in the earlier part of the period. I also discuss the results in the context of broader international debates about the impact of social changes on voting.     

Challenging New State Spatialities: The Open Marxism of Henri Lefebvre

Abstract: It is possible to identify a subterranean tradition within Marxism—one in which dialectical thought is harnessed not only to expose the necessarily exploitative and inherently crisis‐prone character of capitalism as an actual system of social organisation, but also to critique the very categories that constitute capitalism as a conceptual system. This paper argues that Henri Lefebvre's work can be included within this tradition of “open Marxism”. In demonstrating how Lefebvre's work on everyday life, the production of space and the state derives from his open approach, the paper flags a potential problem of antinomy in an emergent new state spatialities literature that draws upon Lefebvre to supplement its structuralist–regulationist (“closed”) Marxist foundations. A Lefebvre‐inspired challenge is therefore established: that is, to develop a critique of space which does not substitute an open theory of the space of political economy with a closed theory of the political economy of the regulation of space.     

Book reviews

P.G. Edwards, Prime Ministers and Diplomats: The Making of Australian Foreign Policy 1901–1949, Oxford University Press in association with The Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1983, pp. vii + 230. $24.99.

Ghanshyam Pardesi (ed.), Contemporary Peace Research. Harvester Press, Brighton, 1983, pp. xi + 374, £30.00

Cosmas Desmond, Persecution East and West. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1983, pp. 172. $5.95.

B.G. Ramcharan (ed.), International Law and Fact‐Finding in the Field of Human Rights. Martinus Nijhoff. The Hague, 1982, pp. x + 260. $US48.00.

M. Akehurst, A Modern Introduction to International Law. Fourth edn. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1982, pp. 304. $49.50 (cloth) $17.95 (paper).

T. Nardin, Law, Morality, and the Relations of States. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1983, pp. xii + 350. $45.00 (cloth) $19.00 (paper).

Allan McKnight and Keith Suter, The Forgotten Treaties. Law Council of Australia, Melbourne, 1983, pp. xi + 136. $5.95.

D.E. Rosenthal and W.M. Knighton, National Laws and International Commerce. Chatlam House Papers 17. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Royal Institute of Internationa! Affairs, 1982, pp. xi + 96. $9.95.

R. Kay (ed.), The Surrender and Occupation of Japan (Documents on New Zealand External Relations, Vol II), Department of Internal Affairs, Historical Publications Branch, Wellington, 1982, pp. 1782. $75.

Mike Muller, The Health of Nations: A North‐South Investigation. Faber and Faber, London, 1982, pp.255. $10.95.

Phiphat Tangsubkul, ASEAN and the Law of the Sea. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1982, pp. xv + 148. $S24.00.

D.P. O'Connell (edited by I.A. Shearer), The International Law of the Sea, Vol. I. Oxford University Press, New York, 1982, pp. xxxiii + 634. $100.00.

R.A. Herr, R. Hall, and B.W. Davis (eds.), Issues in Australia's Marine and Antarctic Policies. Public Policy Monograph, Department of Political Science, University of Tasmania, 1982, pp. xii + 201. $7.95.

Jürgen Tampke. The People's Republics of Eastern Europe. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. 178. $27.50.

Alexandre Bennigsen and Marie Broxup, The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. vii + 170. $22.50.

Aryeh Y. Yodfat, The Soviet Union and the Arabian Peninsula. Soviet Policy Towards the Persian Gulf and Arabia. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. xiii + 191. $23.50.

Saburo Okita. Japan's Challenging Years: Reflections on my Lifetime. Australia‐Japan Research Centre. Australian National University, Canberra, 1983,pp.xii,+ 147.$p10.00(Australia) $12.00 (overseas).

Martin Stuart‐Fox (ed.), Contemporary Laos. University of Queensland Press. St. Lucia. 1982. pp. xxii + 345. $19.95.

Jim Dunn, Timor: A People Betrayed, Jacaranda Press, Milton, 1983, pp. xiii + 402. $15.95.

J. Southwood and P. Flanagan, Indonesia: Law, Propaganda and Terror, Zed Press, London, pp. 272. £12.95 (cloth) £5.95 (paper).

Stephen Feuchtwang and Athar Hussain (eds.), The Chinese Economic Reforms. Croom Helm, London, 1983, pp. 373. £15.95.

Yearbook of International Organisations 1983–84, 20th Edition, Volume 1 K.G. Saur, Munich, for the Union of International Associations, Brussels, 1983, pp. 910. DM 428.     

Internal migration and elector turnover in Australia

This paper argues that internal migration should be given more attention in Australia as a factor to be taken into account in studying voting patterns. After briefly outlining some facts about the recent extent and nature of Australian internal migration, the paper describes and analyses some new information about the amount of elector turnover in the 14 Western Australian Commonwealth electoral divisions between the 1990 and 1993 elections. Even in divisions which had little change in overall enrolment levels, the analyses show such a high degree of turnover that, in almost all of the divisions, between a quarter and a third of the 1993 electors had not been enrolled in the same division at the 1990 election. The uses and limitations of this type of data are also discussed.