THIS ARTICLE4 ASSESSES THE EXTENT OF PRESIDENT NIXON'S SUCESS IN GAINING SOME DEGREE OF MANAGEMENT CONTROL OVER THE BUREAUCRACY THROUGH THE MANIPULATION OF THE CIVIL SERVICE PERSONNEL SYSTEM. CONCLUDING THAT INDEPENDENT CAREER EXECUTIVES PROVIDE A PRESIDENT WITH CONSIDERABLE RESERVOIR OF BUREAUCRATIC SUPPORT, OTHER FINDINGS ARE DISCUSSED.
AbstractIn this article, I take up the case of runic writing to reflect upon James Scott's view of the nexus between writing and various forms of domination in early states, especially the use of literacy for taxation in cereal-growing societies. Scott's theses provide interesting matter "to think with," even when his grasp of historical detail has been found wanting. It is not controversial to grant Scott that cuneiform writing was a remarkable tool for statecraft, and exploitation, in the first states of Mesopotamia, around 3500 BC. The same is true of writing in other early states. But in the first states of Scandinavia, particularly Denmark ca. AD 500–800, writing had a more troubled relationship with the state. No evidence survives that runic writing was used to administer taxation or much else, as it was in other agrarian civilisations. It is true that the runic script was used to commemorate kings, most famously by Haraldr Blátǫnn (r. ca. 958–ca. 986.). But, statistically speaking, it was more often used to aggrandize the sort of local big men who usually resisted centralized power. In this article, I survey the relationship between runic writing and administration. I consider what the Danish situation suggests about the relationship between states and writing and offer a tentative hypothesis of a short-lived attempt at runic bureaucracy around 800, which created—and quickly lost control of—a shortened variety of the runic script (the Younger Futhark).
In this article I discuss the political themes attached to the eusocial creatures, specifically ants and bees, in Old Norse sources. I consider the situation of Old Norse as a transnational literature, encompassing one country that lacked ants and bees (Iceland) and one that did not (Norway). Although the behavioural ecology of eusociality, or indeed the classification of ants and bees as taxonomically related, is a relatively recent development in human knowledge, I argue that the fundamental qualities of swarming and mutual aid were clearly recognisable long before modern science. The differing environments and differing political systems between Iceland and Norway are examined as factors shaping the depiction of eusocial insects. However, the Old Norse sources are also integrated into their European context in order to explore the abstract - even universal - ideological questions that are prompted when humans compare their own societies to those of ants and bees.
In this article I discuss the political themes attached to the eusocial creatures, specifically ants and bees, in Old Norse sources. I consider the situation of Old Norse as a transnational literature, encompassing one country that lacked ants and bees (Iceland) and one that did not (Norway). Although the behavioural ecology of eusociality, or indeed the classification of ants and bees as taxonomically related, is a relatively recent development in human knowledge, I argue that the fundamental qualities of swarming and mutual aid were clearly recognisable long before modern science. The differing environments and differing political systems between Iceland and Norway are examined as factors shaping the depiction of eusocial insects. However, the Old Norse sources are also integrated into their European context in order to explore the abstract – even universal – ideological questions that are prompted when humans compare their own societies to those of ants and bees.
Is it possible for characters in fiction to be motivated by unique ideologies in the way that political movements are in real life? This essay considers the example of the Æsir (the dominant tribe of gods) in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. Analogies with later ideologies are offered as a way to highlight the idiosyncratic ideological brew which seems to govern the Æsir's actions. The Æsir have the acquisitiveness, violence, and sexual neurosis of a colonial regime. They have the reactionary's aptitude for cynical manipulation of history. They have the frailties of the modern capitalist. These comparisons are used to sketch out an ideology which is more than the sum of its comparanda: Æsirism. ; Is it possible for characters in fiction to be motivated by unique ideologies in the way that political movements are in real life? This essay considers the example of the Æsir (the dominant tribe of gods) in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. Analogies with later ideologies are offered as a way to highlight the idiosyncratic ideological brew which seems to govern the Æsir's actions. The Æsir have the acquisitiveness, violence, and sexual neurosis of a colonial regime. They have the reactionary's aptitude for cynical manipulation of history. They have the frailties of the modern capitalist. These comparisons are used to sketch out an ideology which is more than the sum of its comparanda: Æsirism
Richard Cole discusses working as a smokejumper at the Cave Junction, Oregon base from 1948 to 1950. He describes the training, focusing on the physical aspects and the first training jump. Cole recalls project work including building the facilities for the smokejumper base at Cave Junction. He reminisces about the camaraderie among the smokejumpers at a small base, as well as the differences between the college students and the military veterans, in particular the foreman Cliff Marshall, who ran the base like a military outfit. ; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/smokejumpers/1042/thumbnail.jpg
