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This book explains how and why, Australian governments shifted from their historical relationship with Britain to the beginning of a primary reliance on the United States between 1942 and 1957. It shows that, while the Curtin and Chifley ALP governments sought to maintain and strengthen Australia’s links with Britain, the Menzies administration took decisive steps towards this realignment.

There is broad acceptance that the end of British Australia only occurred in the 1960s and that the initiative for change came from Britain rather than Australia. This book rejects this consensus, which fundamentally rests on the idea of Australia remaining part of a British World until the UK attempts to join the European Community in the 1960s. Instead, it demonstrates that critical steps ending British Australia occurred in the 1950s and were initiated by Australia. These Australian actions were especially pronounced in the economic sphere, which has been largely overlooked in the current consensus. Australia’s understanding of its national self-interest outweighed its sense of Britishness. 

This book examines the socio-professional background of the clergy in Transylvania, between 1848 and 1918, with a view to offering a comprehensive perspective on the clerical profession across various religious denominations. During the modern period, Transylvania was integrated in the Habsburg Empire and, as of 1867, in Dualist Hungary. As such, it represented a meeting ground for different ethnic groups and denominations. The prerogatives of the clergy could surpass their primary calling as spiritual leaders. They gradually assumed the role of intercessors between communities, higher ecclesiastical institutions, the government, and local authorities. Sometimes, they also took on the role of de facto leaders of the national and political emancipation movements.

Political scientists have long determined that a president’s relationships with his advisors is crucial in determining an administration’s policies. Over the last several decades, scholars of the presidency have paid particular attention to the advisory structures and processes involved in foreign policy decision-making. Their work has contributed to the development and refinement of three presidential management models to help frame the analysis of foreign policy-making: (1) formalistic model, (2) collegial model, and (3) competitive model. This book analyzes the management models employed by presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump throughout their presidencies by employing a structured-focus comparison method that is framed on a set of general and standardized questions used to analyze a series of case studies involving their Middle East policies. The book offers the first systematic comparative analysis of presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump’s management of foreign policy crises.

The book focuses on the heroism of Jews throughout Europe who risked their lives to save their coreligionists under Nazi rule. The contributors discuss and analyze the actions of Jews who rescued other Jews from the hands of the Nazis. These actions took place, to different degrees, in Germany, in Axis states and all across Nazi-occupied Europe, from the early stages of persecution until the war’s end, in the framework of collaborative efforts and individual initiatives. The Jews who rescued other Jews during the Holocaust came like their non-Jewish counterparts from different backgrounds: men and women, old and young, religious and secular, wealthy and poor, educated and uneducated. The rescue missions took place in ghettos, areas without ghettos, jails, camps, hospitals, children’s homes, schools, monasteries, in hiding. This book focuses on these rescue missions and the people behind them, reminding us of their courage and willingness to act, even when it put their own lives in danger.

In May 1719, the rescue and escape of Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska from her detention in Innsbruck was celebrated throughout Catholic Europe. It was a feat of painstaking planning, daring execution, and steel-nerved improvisation. Masterminded by Kildareman Charles Wogan, he and his Irish and French companions influenced the course of international relations, shocking King George I’s government in London, and providing a much-needed boon to the followers of the exiled Stuart claimant, James Stuart III.

This unique collection of essays does not merely recount the factual story of Maria Clementina’s rescue and subsequent marriage, it provides for the first time in any publication an authoritative analysis of its political and cultural significance and the full historical context in which the event took place. A full image of Europe at the time of the rescue is sketched out, including such topics as the question of the Irish in Europe in the eighteenth century; the illustrious Sobieski family and their origins; a short account of the rescue itself; the fate of Charles Wogan and

his followers after the rescue; the Habsburg-Hanoverian alliance and its context; the marriage of James Stuart III and Maria Clementina Sobieska; details of the collection of Stuart artefacts housed at Trinity College Dublin; and contemporary musical compositions which were written and dedicated to Maria Clementina.

This book is a follow-on publication from a public seminar titled The Irish the Rescue: The Tercentenary of the Polish Princess Clementina’s Escape. The seminar was held at Europe House in Dublin on 30th April 2019.

The seminar and the publication of its proceedings have been generously sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ireland and the Embassy of France in Ireland.

In der Geografie, als einer Leitwissenschaft in Sachen «Landschaft», definiert man aktuell Städtelandschaften als maßstäblich und räumlich ganz unterschiedliche Ebenen. Diese lassen sich auf einzelne Städte, auf bestimmte Stadtregionen und selbst auf Metropolregionen oder die seit 1918 eingeführte Megalopolis projizieren. Historiker verstehen unter einer «Städtelandschaft» meist ein Gebiet mittlerer Größenordnung mit unterschiedlich starker Urbanisierung, wobei in der «Stadtlandschaft» Städte und Märkte, Bürger und Händler im umschriebenen Raum zwangsläufig eine dominierende Rolle spielen. Der interterritoriale Vergleich führt uns einerseits hinaus in die Welt der europäischen Urbanität, andererseits liegt ein deutlicher Fokus auf den großen wie kleinen Städten Süddeutschlands. In Farbe und Ausführlichkeit analysieren die Autoren dort die Stadtkultur vom Mittelalter bis zur Moderne. Politische, soziale und ökonomische Netzwerke werden ebenso behandelt wie spannende interstädtische Bezüge durch Reisende, Gelehrsamkeit, Schulen, Literatur oder Musik. Teildisziplinen wie die Historische Ortsnamenforschung runden das Bild ab.

Schwede, Amerikaner oder Schwedisch-Amerikaner? Diese Frage stellten sich viele schwedische Einwanderer in Bezug auf ihre kulturelle Identität in Seattle/Washington State ab 1890. Die Autorin befasst sich zum einen mit den Konflikten und Problemen schwedischer Einwanderer im Zuge ihres Akkulturationsprozesses. Zum anderen richtet sie ihren Blick auf die Versuche der Einwanderer, ihre schwedische kulturelle Identität im Schmelztiegel der amerikanischen Gesellschaft zu bewahren (cultural maintenance). Außerdem zeigt sie anhand von Fallbeispielen auf, wie die schwedische Gemeinde sich und ihr kulturelles Erbe ihren amerikanischen Mitmenschen präsentierte.

The Government and Politics of Lebanon, Second Edition describes the special attributes of Lebanese politics and the functions of its confessional state. It aims to contribute to the reader’s understanding of contemporary Lebanese politics, consensus building, and government. It stimulates discussion concerning the nature of consociationalism as a power sharing arrangement for a divided society. The book captures the complexity of Lebanese politics by revealing the challenges embedded in the management of plurality, including institutional paralysis and system stagnations. The second edition features new and expanded chapters that pay particular attention to state’s adaptations to post-Arab Spring politics. It expands the analysis on the performance of the Lebanese consociational state in light of turbulent regional environment and the various repercussions associated with regional conflict. It is divided into several parts. The first introduces the particular form and foundations of Lebanese consociationalism and provides an elaborate description of its special features. The second part explains the different rules of the game as institutionalized in the country’s international and domestic power sharing arrangements. It describes the international politics of Lebanon and the influence exerted by regional powers in shaping its domestic affairs. It explains the manifestation of domestic parties and electoral systems in the power distribution among the country’s different sectarian and ethnic groups. It analyzes the political economy of communitarian politics. The third part focuses on the contemporary powers and functions of the different branches of government as well as their institutional expression of sectarian interests. The fourth part of the book places Lebanese consociationalism in light of contemporary regional turmoil and describes state’s responsiveness in mitigating and managing conflicts, particularly those associated with the spillover from the Syrian conflict.

Cet ouvrage étudie la programmation et la mise en œuvre de la politique de cohésion communautaire en Région Sicile en analysant particulièrement son volet culturel. Une approche au plus près du terrain, nourrie de nombreux entretiens réalisés de Bruxelles à Palerme, a mis à jour un cadre d’intervention inopérant. Caractérisée par son extrême complexité, la politique de cohésion s’articule difficilement avec la politique de développement des régions et pays concernés et sa mise en œuvre révèle de lourds dysfonctionnements. La culture est reconnue dans ce cadre pour sa contribution au développement du tourisme autour du patrimoine, pourtant cette vision centrée sur son impact économique est réductrice et trompeuse. Le principe du partenariat promu par cette politique suppose l’implication des parties prenantes du territoire, or la Région Sicile mobilise la majorité des financements disponibles, au détriment d’un secteur culturel qui reste globalement exclu. Enfin, la politique de cohésion apparaît comme un révélateur des crises politiques sicilienne et européenne : certains acteurs institutionnels insulaires privilégient l’inertie, tandis que la faible réaction des institutions communautaires pourrait traduire l’absence de volonté d’œuvrer pour une réelle cohésion européenne.