THOMAS HOBBES AND THE CONSTITUENT POWER OF THE PEOPLE

Abstract. The paper examines Hobbes's doctrine of representation and argues that implicit in this doctrine is the modern notion of the people as the constituent power of the state. Attention is focused on the progressive evolution of Hobbes's ideas about the multitude, the people, and the constitution of political unity, and on the connection between his doctrine of political representation and his concept of personality. The paper ends by assessing the compatibility of Hobbes's concept of the people as constituent power and his concept of the commonwealth by acquisition.     

The Secret of Akom.I

This pioneer African study of the Gold Coast fetish-art is bya Methodist minister, at Manso-Atwere. He explains, in a preface,that his main informant was Opanin Kwaku Addae, who was convertedto Christianity after a life-time spent as a priest of Tannq,an orthodox obosom in Ashanti.     

Party over Policy? Scottish Nationalism and the Politics of Independence

The Scottish National Party (SNP) won control of Scotland's devolved government in the 2007 election yet opinion polls show no majority for its objective of independence in Europe. While the party is adept at exploiting short‐term political opportunity structures in the wider British context, as well as appealing to the ‘opinion electorate’, it appears less successful at persuading a majority of Scottish voters to agree with its core ideology. Helpful parallels can be drawn between 2007 and the last time the party polled over 30 per cent of the popular vote in Scotland at the 1974 (October) British General Election—then, as now, the Scottish voter appears to be willing to distinguish between party and policy.     

ESCALATION AND DESISTANCE OF WIFE ASSAULT IN MARRIAGE*

This article examines two widely held beliefs concerning the nature of “careers” of wife assault. Most researchers and members of the public believe that assaultive behavior in marriage, once begun, tends to continue for the life of the marriage. It is also commonly believed that minor violence (e.g., slapping, shoving, throwing things at a spouse) is unrelated to severe assaults (e.g., punching, kicking, using a weapon). These beliefs are based on the most severe cases of wife battering, as described by the media and by women in shelters. Despite these beliefs, we suggest that wife assault is similar to other forms of deviance and crime, in that desistance is common and engaging in minor forms of deviance is a risk factor for engaging in major forms of deviance and crime. The article reports a study using data on a sample of 380 married respondents who reported some violence in their marriage in 1985 and were reinterviewed in 1986. The findings indicate that most marital violence is transient, but even minor violence by a wife poses a risk of escalation to more dangerous assaults by a husband. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Partition by Degrees: Routine Exceptions in Border and Immigration Practice between the UK and Ireland, 1921–1972

Using archival materials, we reflect on the legal process of creating (and mitigating) a border in Ireland after partition in 1922 and interactions between those laws and the people whom they affected. After 1922, superficially durable exceptions developed to the territorial state's distinctions between citizens and foreign nationals under the aegis of the Common Travel Area. They survived the 1930s UK–Ireland ‘Economic War’, were sustained (if in a restricted form) during the Second World War and were rebuilt in its aftermath. These arrangements proved beneficial for both countries, providing an outlet for surplus labour for Ireland and a resource for the UK economy. We nonetheless explore how far practice reflected this overarching cooperative framework, particularly given the complications introduced by the policies of Northern Ireland's institutions.     

SOUTH AFRICAN LAND REFORM: CASE-STUDIES IN 'DEMAND' AND 'PARTICIPATION' IN THE FREE STATE

This article offers an ethnographic cross-section in one provinceof South Africa's new land reform programme. ‘Demand’and ‘participation’ are the rhetorical keywordsof the programme. Demand for land redistribution, however, cannotbe understood in abstraction from the political and economicconditions of its supply. Similarly, ‘participation’is a managed process involving many institutional intermediaries.A series of illustrative case-studies is presented, relatingto the allocation of state-owned land; state-facilitated ‘market’access to privately-owned land; the reconstruction and partialprivatization of a para-statal development agency, which havebrought into question the viability of a ‘community conservation’project and also exposed the agency to political cross-fire;and, finally, some intricacies of the possibility of land restitutionto people dispossessed under apartheid, which raises the questionof whether the concept of indirect racial discrimination maybe applied in the South African context. Several contradictionsof the process of land redistribution are analysed: for example,the massive financial costs, direct and indirect, of bringingprojects to fruition in the short term, without resolution ofthe need for long-term support; the divergence between nominaland actual beneficiaries; political and institutional conflicts,both inside and outside the state; and routine incompatibilitybetween the diverse aspirations of beneficiaries and the ‘businessplans’ required by bureaucrats and suppliers of credit.     

Maltreatment-Related Fatalities: Issues of Policy and Prevention*

Maltreatment-related child fatalities, despite their relatively infrequent occurrence, constitute a serious social problem. Based on a review of national and unpublished state and local child fatality review team reports, we ascertained some risk factors that set parameters for prevention programs. Children under age four, and in particular those under age two, are at highest risk for maltreatment-related fatalities. Neglect-related deaths occur almost as often as abuse-related ones. Unrelieved crying and toilet training problems are “triggers” for assaults on young children. Males are frequently involved in abuse-related fatalities. People in their mid-twenties, rather than teenage parents are the most frequent perpetrators. About a third of maltreatment-related fatalities were known to child protective services. Implications of these findings, as well as the problem of predicting infrequently occurring events, are discussed in relation to programs of prevention.