The politicisation of Australian nurses: Victoria 1984–1986

This paper examines the nursing disputes in Victoria between 1984 and 1986 against the background of moves by nurses to acquire professional status. It investigates the reasons for the disputes and argues that the politicisation of nurses in Victoria is in part a result of their historical relationship to the dominant profession in the health systems and of their previous reluctance to use industrial action in support of improved working conditions. Our research is discussed in relation to findings in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The conclusion is drawn that political action by nurses is indicative of a particular trend in white‐collar unionism and that it is inextricably linked to the process of professionalisation.     

Reviews of books

Historical Archaeology -     

Reform of the structural funds after 1999

In efforts to promote cohesion in the EU, the structural funds are an important instrument. The current mandate for the funds comes to an end in 1999, and it mill have to be renegotiated shortly against a backdrop of the start of EMU and probable enlargement of the EU. This paper reviews the principles governing the structural funds and looks at the problems they face in practice. It then considers possible reforms to meet the obligations on, and expectations of, the EU in the years to come, and what these would imply for different regions as well as the potential new member states.     

Representative democracy and the ‘spirit of resistance’ from Constant to Tocqueville

ABSTRACT

The role of resistance in the politics of modern representative democracies is historically contested, and remains far from clear. This article seeks to explore historical thinking on this subject through a discussion of what Benjamin Constant and Alexis de Tocqueville had to say about resistance and its relationship to ‘representative government’ and democracy. Neither thinker is usually seen as a significant contributor to ‘resistance theory’ as this category is conventionally understood. But, in addition to their more familiar preoccupations with securing limitations on the exercise of political authority and averting majority tyranny, both thinkers wrote extensively on the nature and meanings of resistance in ‘representative governments’ or democratic societies. Both thinkers are examined in the context of revolutionary and Napoleonic discussions about the legitimacy of resistance or ‘right to resist’ oppression, and against eighteenth-century discussions of the ‘spirit of resistance’ since Montesquieu. The article notes conceptual distinctions between resistance, revolution and insurrection in the period, and addresses the broader question of the extent to which early nineteenth-century French liberals sought to ‘institutionalise’ principles of resistance within modern constitutional frameworks.     

Stitching modernity: the textile work of Fortunato Depero

Fortunato Depero (1892–1960) was a Futurist artist who worked in a variety of artistic mediums, from painting and graphic design to furniture and textiles. His work in textiles, created and produced in close collaboration with his wife, Rosetta Amadori, can be considered the most important development in his artistic career, as it comprised a large portion of his creative production. Yet this work has been largely overlooked. Many reasons explain this oversight, including categorizing inconsistencies – for example, his textiles have been described as embroidery, needlework, tapestry, patchwork, and cloth mosaic – and the persistent relegation of textiles to the realm of crafts and domestic arts rather than art, which has meant that his work in textiles has not been a priority for scholars and conservators of Futurism. This paper places Depero's textiles within the context of early-twentieth-century modernist artistic activities, and demonstrates the centrality of his textile work to his artistic oeuvre.