Die Ausbildung bäuerlicher Landschaften im Raum der Eidgenossenschaft

Summary

The Development of Peasant Communities in the Helvetic Confederation

Traditional Swiss historiography saw the history of the cantons as a fight by burghers and peasants for freedom against feudal rule. More recently this black and white picture has been modified by showing that the urban cantons, notably Bern, Zurich and Lucerne, pursued a traditional city‐state policy of territorial expansion and subjection of the peasantry. This picture, in its turn, is now being shown as too extreme since it does not account for the development of the Swiss Confederation and for its evident attraction to communities beyond its borders. A study of the Oberland of Bern shows that, especially in the fifteenth and the early sixteenth century, village and peasant communities were able to get rid of serfdom and acquire from their local feudal lords extensive rights of self‐government and judicial authority, with a displacement of feudal law by common law (Landgesetz). The city of Bern supported these developments. While more detailed studies are required for other parts of Switzerland, it looks as if this development may well have been common.     

Militancy and parliamentary representation in Chile, 1849–79. Notes for a prosopographical study of the chamber of deputies

SUMMARY

This article provides a political and social characterization of Chilean deputies in the second half of the nineteenth century. It covers 11 parliamentary elections ranging from 1849, the first election under a relatively recognizable party system to 1879, the last election before the consequences of the War of the Pacific (1879–84) altered the local political landscape. The study of parliamentarians is based on a prosopography derived from the analysis of 405 deputies, and in this case is limited to three criteria: place of birth, profession or occupation, and age of entry into parliament. The latter criterion is a key one, because the authors focus only on members who joined congress for the first time over a period of 30 years. One of the main hypotheses of this article suggests that from the 1861 election congress experienced changes in its composition, allowing the entrance of actors who had hitherto not been part of congress.     

Les députés de Lyon en cour et l’art des communications de la ville et du pouvoir royal au XVIe siècle*

In the ancien régime, major municipalities in France constantly sent delegates, or deputies and solicitors to the court to make petitions and refer disputes to arbitration seeking favour for the city. Their mission was to defend the interests of the city. The deputies of Lyon were most often urban elites, who were expected to play an active part in negotiations with the royal government. J.P. Gutton ranked the deputies and clarified the activities during the seventeenth century: ‘The agent responsible for the affairs of the city’ resides permanently in Paris, ‘the ordinary deputy’ resides normally in Lyon and travels with instructions made by the consulate, and the ‘extraordinary envoys’ accompany ordinary deputies. However, in the sixteenth century, the deputies were not yet specialized and the consulate decided which deputy to send to court if necessary. This article aims to clarify the appointment of deputies, their relations with the royal officers in the government, as well as the contents of their business. To this end, the correspondence exchanged between the deputies and the consulate in series AA of the archives municipales de Lyon will be analysed, especially the consular deliberations in series BB, on the selection of deputies and the purpose of dispatch. Finally, this article will focus on understanding the negotiations that were held between the important city, Lyon, and the monarchy through the intermediary of the deputies. An analysis of the deputies of the city would also suggest where they went to get decisions in the royal administration and how consensus was formed in sixteenth-century France.     

Crown and Cortes in Castile, 1590–1665

Summary

Preparations for the Estates General of 1789 constituted one of the last acts of the anclen régime in France. The accompanying elections have received relatively little attention, yet they bequeathed much more to the electoral practices and political mentalités of the Revolution than most historians have realised. Though separate orders were preserved at the final meeting of the Estates General, with disastrous consequences for the monarchy, custom was breached by the uniform fashion and broad franchise with which deputies were elected. When the National Assembly was created the orders were dissolved, but much of this semi‐traditional electoral system survived. Assemblies of voters, an indirect, two‐tier process of election and exhaustive balloting were all retained from the past. A pronounced aversion to declared candidatures and electoral canvassing remained equally entrenched. Moreover, radicals drew upon the old‐régime heritage, rather than upon Rousseau, in their use of mandates, oral voting and the pursuit of unanimity at the polls. The revolutionary experiment with elections ultimately faltered in face of apathy and cynicism among voters. This article concludes by suggesting how the electoral legacy of the anden regime inhibited the emergence of a ‘modern political culture’, which is currently hailed as the major achievement of the French Revolution.     

SAYS TUKA

This article discusses and provides examples of the revolutionary poetry of Tukaram (“Tuka”), the seventeenth-century writer who represented the culmination of three centuries of a radical bhakti (devotional) movement that aimed to bring together women and men of low caste to proclaim their equality and reject Brahmanic ritualism and caste hierarchy. The backdrop to this discussion of Tuka's songs is the recent reassessment of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries in India–an era of Muslim rule and linkages to the modern world through Islam– as an “early modern” period of time.     

Japan’s Contested Labour Market Reform

ABSTRACT

Over the past few decades, Japan’s labour market has faced substantial changes, represented by flexibility, an increase in the proportion of the non-regular workforce and rising inequality. Under the intense pressure of fluctuating business environments and protracted recession, Japan’s policy-makers have sought to resuscitate the troubled economy by further liberalising the relationship between capital and labour while also seeking to reduce widening inequality by providing social safety nets and protection for workers. This article examines the government’s labour market reforms since the late 2000s in response to these challenges. It argues that patterns of policy-making – centralised versus decentralised – have determined the political dynamics of labour market reform. More specifically, three aspects of decision-making – the role of the centralised policy-making agency, party-cabinet relations and legislative control in Diet – have explained the scope of the reform, although the reform target along the lines of employment status has affected the political process and outcome to some extent.     

Members of Parliament representing Barcelona during the rise of the Spanish parliamentary system (1834–54)

SUMMARY

The province of Barcelona became one of the major industrial regions at the outset of the first industrial revolution in Spain. The province of Barcelona had a distinctive place in the Spanish monarchy and it was an area where agriculture was the most important economic activity. This situation coincided with the beginning of liberal parliamentarism in Spain and it determined the profile of the Catalan MPs. For this reason, this article explores the profiles of the 85 deputies elected by the province of Barcelona during the period of liberal parliamentarianism (1834–54). The date and place of birth, profession, parliamentary experience and political militancy are examined, as is the development of cursus honorum, the ladder of political career advancement, based on the ‘course of honours/offices’ that operated in ancient Rome for men of senatorial rank and comprised a mixture of administrative and political posts. A quantitative analysis indicates a characteristic profile that is also aligned to a general European pattern. For instance, liberal professionals and public officials were significant in the professional status of the MPs. Besides, this study also considers the issues and questions which attracted the attention of the Catalan MPs and which were also willingly used by the MPs to mobilize public opinion. Furthermore, the MPs chosen by the province of Barcelona during the rise of the parliamentary system acted in an autonomous manner. Important examples of this autonomous political behaviour include the defence of a unitary position concerning industrial issues, military intervention in the province of Barcelona, and with tax policies.     

Attitudes Toward Reform Among Provincial Russian Politicians

An American political scientist presents the results of a survey of 1, 280 oblast' and city deputies in five provinces of central Russia. The survey conducted in 1992, assessed support for reforms aimed at development of a market economy and a more democratic political system. Five scales, two economic (including one to determine views on accumulation of wealth) and three political, were developed to measure deputies' attitudes. In addition, the respondents' age, education, occupation, gender and incumbency were used to determine whether attitudinal variation could be explained by demographic factors. The findings are related to the current struggle over control of local resources. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H70, P20, R59.     

The 2014 Thai Coup and Some Roots of Authoritarianism

ABSTRACT

Thailand is the only country currently ruled by a coup-installed military government. The 2014 coup aimed not only to abolish the influence of Thaksin Shinawatra but also to shift Thailand’s politics in an authoritarian direction. While the army authored the coup, the professional and official elite played a prominent role in engineering the coup and shaping political reforms. This article examines some historical antecedents of this authoritarian turn, first in the broad trends of Thailand’s modern political history, and second in the emergence and political evolution of the Bangkok middle class.     

Wilayat al-Faqih in Hizballah's Web of Concepts: A Perspective on Ideology

This study explores the use of a web of concepts as an analytical tool for investigating a movement's ideology. It locates wilayat al-faqih [guardianship of the jurisprudent] in Hizballah's web of concepts and identifies how wilayat al-faqih has been defined and used throughout the organization's history. Hizballah's web has always included a mix of Islamic, quasi-Islamic, and non-Islamic concepts. Wilayat al-faqih has been a source of legitimacy and authority for Hizballah and a unifying concept within the movement. Claiming allegiance to it has resulted in material and ideological support from Iran. However, the radical change in the national context required Hizballah to re-articulate the concept upon the end of the Lebanese Civil War. The death of Khomeini and intellectual contributions by Shia scholars enabled Hizballah leaders to separate political from religious authority and to decentralize the political power of wilayat al-faqih. By modifying the concept, Hizballah leaders were able to continue their revolutionary mission in a new way and in a new context.     

The role of international regimes in the formation and maintenance of Baltic environmental cooperation

Abstract

Since 1991, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have created a successful cooperative regime in the field of environmental protection. It is built up on international regime-like arrangements, based on bi- or trilateral agreements as well as on commonly accepted behavioural norms and rules. The article argues that such regular cooperation between the three Baltic countries has not sprung from merely their own interests, i.e. from the need to solve the existing problems with transboundary externalities and shared natural resources or to achieve major political goals more efficiently in collaboration than individually. The formation and maintenance of the trilateral cooperation can, to a large extent, be attributed to the influence of normative institutions called international regimes as well as individual members of the international community.     

How to avoid a coup d'état: The Federalist on the American constitution

SUMMARY

In this article Jack Pole considers whether the Constitution of the United States, as drafted in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 could be regarded as the result of a coup d'état, since the original remit of the Convention had been to modify the existing Confederation of independent states, while the outcome was a constitution for a new sovereign, federal state. The article is based on the use of the collection of essays that were later published collectively as The Federalist to illustrate the thinking of the Convention leaders. It is important that The Federalist was not a work of political theory, but a collection of the ideas of Hamilton, Madison and Jay, which were written in response to developments with the aim of persuading the public to vote for ratification. The central problem for the authors was to balance their wish for a strong central government against the widespread contemporary belief, rooted in Whig thinking, that a strong central government was the most dangerous of all threats to individual liberties. The authors, collectively ‘Publicus’, begin with an orthodox view of sovereignty as ‘indivisible’: but this view was modified in face of strong Anti-Federalist attacks on ‘consolidation’. Key issues were open to later judicial interpretations. The article suggests that, quite apart from the complete absence of armed coercion on the Convention of 1787, the results of its deliberation cannot be seen as the result of any kind of coup.     

Producing and Reproducing the 1992 Consensus: The Sociolinguistic Construction of the Political Economy of China-Taiwan Relations

Abstract

In the study of China-Taiwan relations, scholars view the so-called “1992 consensus” as essential to economic ties across the Taiwan Strait. However, such an argument overlooks the fact that the 1992 consensus was initially coined as a political formula concerning what “one China” meant. It was not until after 2008 that an economic logic was attached in a sociolinguistic way to the 1992 consensus by proponents of the 1992 consensus. Specifically, “1992ers” argued that China might sever cross-Strait economic ties should Taiwan reject the 1992 consensus. I thus argue that scholarly understandings about cross-Strait politics and/or economics are not unaffected by 1992ers’ interpretations. When 1992ers (re)interpret the 1992 consensus in economic terms, their discursive practices may change the intersubjective understandings about the cross-Strait political economy.     

Computer analysis of house of commons’ division lists, 1861–1936: A report on current research

SUMMARY

No parliamentary assemblies (Cortes) were held between 1665 and 1700 in the Crown of Castile. In view of this institutional pause, not yet sufficiently well explained historiographically, the questions assailing us are: who held the representation of the kingdom during this time, and how was the exaction of taxes-the millones (tax on basic products), donations, and so on-carried out in political practice, as their levying had to be agreed on in the Cortes.

The answer to the first question is that it was the cabildos (local assemblies or oligarchical municipal assemblies) of the cities with a vote in the Cortes, which legitimately represented the kingdom. It should be remembered that before 1665, during the time when the Parliament was summoned, the cabildos retained the decisive vote, whereas the members of the Cortes meeting in them could only exercise an advisory vote. The reply to the second question obliges us to study the institutional relationship of both a Diputacón de las Cortes (a Deputation of the Cortes) and the Commission of Millones with the cabildos concerning the collection of the levies of the millones and donations.

As well as defining political representation in the early modern era, the thesis of this article is to demonstrate that the cabildos of the Castilian cities with votes in the Cortes, regardless of whether the Cortes were held or not, were the real representatives of the kingdom and the administrators of the treasury in the second half of the seventeenth century. Thus, in Castile too, the government of society was implemented by both the king and the kingdom in accordance with the juridical-institutional criterion, widespread in Western Europe, of the dominium politicum et regale (as described by John Fortescue, Helmut Koenigsberger et al.).     

The municipal level of decision‐making in holland (1660–1668)

Summary

The city councils were the main source of the political power of the urban deputies of the States of Holland. Therefore, this article, which forms part one of a study of the city councils, intends to examine the membership requirements in terms of religion, wealth and legal education. Through a selection of case studies from the councils of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, it seeks to explore the impact of patronage, kinship ties and factional rivalries. Within the councils the two most important groups of officeholders were the burgomasters and the pensionaries. The present and former burgomasters were the local power‐brokers. The pensionaries served as the main links between the councils and the provincial assembly in The Hague, while at the same time enhancing the professional quality of the local and provincial government.     

The politics of consensus: al-Nahda and the stability of the Tunisian transition

Abstract

Tunisia&s transition away from authoritarianism has been shaped by a politics of consensus, which has brought together representatives of the former regime with their historic adversary, the Islamist movement al-Nahda. This article argues that consensus politics was a legacy of the authoritarian regime that was re-produced during a democratizing transition. The politics of consensus was encouraged and enabled by al-Nahda, which prioritized its inclusion within this elite settlement to provide political security for itself and the broader transition. However, this came at a cost, engineering a conservative transition, which did not pursue significant social or economic reform. The Tunisian case shows that historical legacies, such as consensus politics, can shape a transition as much as contingent, pragmatic decisions by political leaders.     

Zur Geschäftsordnungsreform des österreichischen Reichsrates vom Dezember 1909

SUMMARY

In 1907, the (Cisleithanian) Austrian House of Representatives considered an electoral reform which was initially supposed to be connected with a comprehensive reform of the rules of procedure (Geschäftsordnungsgesetz); however, difficulties in the course of the negotiations led to the decision to let the House decide its own procedure in future. Subsequently, government bills were introduced repeatedly but remained either unfinished or altogether ignored. Furthermore, motions which were mostly politically motivated and focused only on certain aspects of procedure were put forward by various deputies.

The Austrian parliamentary system suffered from an antiquated procedure, with procedural wrangling and filibustering (Obstruktionen) against government and prime minister as impediments. At the end the eighteenth sitting of the twentieth session (15.12–19.12.1909), devoted mainly to such wrangles, saw a tactical move leading to a provisional procedural reform which was modest in content. The path towards this reform was paved with superficial discussions which were to uncover differences of opinion and breaches of the law; however, even the majority of parties who refused either reform or its development were actually in favour of it because they were after all supporters of a functioning parliamentary system. Reform contained various possibilities for speeding up the formal business routine as well as an ineffective paragraph on servants of the house (Hausknechtsabsatz), which enabled the Speaker to exclude a representative from a sitting.

Superficially, reform was designed to strengthen the Speaker of the House of Representatives but in fact none of the leading parties was really interested in getting rid of procedural obstruction by this means. What was of greater importance to them was to have an opportunity to agitate against the government or the majority in the House. Thus it does not seem surprising that shortly after the reform, obstruction started anew.     

Berlin's Republic: Parliamentary government in a German land

Berlin is the only German Land that has had to manage its own reunification and originally many hoped that it would turn into a model for east–west reconciliation. Yet 15 years later there is widespread consensus that Berlin failed to live up to the challenges of the time and adequately deal with the consequences of reunification. Instead of embarking on structural reforms Berlin produced its own version of a Reformstau. The article describes and examines some basic features of the party system in Berlin and the Berlin polity. It will thus give an answer to the question as to how unification affected the institutional setting in this Land. Overall it will be shown that the Reformstau in Berlin cannot be explained by a fragmented political system or powerful veto players. Political stagnation in Berlin rather was due to the combined effects of party system change, institutional stagnation, and constitutionally inhibited political leadership.     

Shī‘itisation of the Futuwwa Tradition in the Fifteenth Century

This study examines the Shī‘itisation of the futuwwa tradition from the eleventh century to the early sixteenth century, with a special reference to fifteenth-century events. Available scholarship has a rather generalised view on the sectarian orientation of the futuwwa, locating it within the Sunni fold, though having a slightly Shī‘ite tinge. This view has a tendency to underestimate changes in the religious stand of the futuwwa through the ages. Likewise, it devalues the evident Shī‘ite content of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century futuwwat-nāmas, regarding them as a temporary divergence due to Safavid propaganda. This article challenges two premises of this established view, arguing that the religious history of futuwwa was by no means static and linear but shows a rupture, i.e. Shī‘itisation, in the fifteenth century; and, in contrast to the consensus of the available scholarship, this Shī‘itisation was not a result of Safavid propaganda, but of a greater ‘universal’ transition taking place in fifteenth-century Islamdom.     

Diccionario biográfico de los Parlamentarios de Vasconia (1876–1939)

SUMMARY

A few years after the return of the Bourbons to the Neapolitan throne, following the final defeat of Napoleon, profound dissatisfaction grew in a section of southern public opinion, above all the provincial bourgeoisie, at certain plans of the restored government. They faced the continued blocking of their own aspirations to a greater share in the management of the res publica, which was a result of the rigid political and administrative centralization of Napoleonic origin which remained in place in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Because of this deeply rooted discontent, the secret sect of the Carboneria began to spread throughout the kingdom. Its primary political aim was to build the foundations of a constitutional and representative regime. It was the Carboneria which instigated a popular uprising in 1820, forcing Ferdinand I to concede to his subjects what the leaders of the revolt had loudly demanded, the Constitution of Cadiz.

Therefore, for the first time in the history of the kingdom, all male citizens aged 21 (except those in domestic service) were entitled to elect the national Parliament endowed with legislative powers. Apart from the property-owning and professional middle classes, it was soldiers and clergy, both groups active in the ranks of the carbonari, who were conspicuously represented in the new assembly. It was therefore composed in large part of individuals whose careers displayed a prominent involvement in the most dangerous phase of the political and institutional crisis which had confronted the kingdom during the previous years. About 70 per cent of those elected had joined in support of the Napoleonic Republic in 1799, had taken part variously in the institutional order established by Napoleon's adherents in the ten years of French rule from 1806, and had in many cases then been affiliated to the Carboneria. Because of their advanced democratic ideals, these people were severely persecuted by the Bourbon authority after the end of the brief constitutional regime.