London Metropolitan University Research Articles

The State of the Political: Conceptions of Politics and the State in the Thought of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann by Duncan Kelly (review)

[MWS 7.2 (2008) 243-278] ISSN 1470-8078 Book Reviews Duncan Kelly, The Stak of the Political: Conceptions of Politics and the Stak in the Thought of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann (Oxford: The British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. ix + 368. ISBN 0-19-726287-2. £45.00 (hbk). The State of the Political by Duncan Kelly, published in 2003, is to be commended for its review of the theory of the state in Germany, a research tradition particu larly vibrant around the turn of the twentieth century until the end of the Weimar Republic. This field of reflection, which is far from consensus-driven, constitutes a real source of both controversy and conflict. To give an overview, Duncan Kelly chose three legal experts—Max Weber (1864-1920), Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) and Franz Neumann (1900-1954)—who were not neglected by critics during the twen tieth century and often contrasted with each other in an almost caricature-like manner. The other main reason why these authors sparked people's interest is that they were all 'public moralists' whose influence went far beyond legal or intellec tual circles. After the Second World War, German historians endeavoured to differ entiate between 'friends and enemies' within the progression of ideas, particularly by attributing simple labels to these authors, like 'conservative' (Schmitt), 'liberal' (Weber) and 'social-democrat' (Neumann). These easy and perhaps hasty distinc tions may have neglected some subtle, yet important nuances. Without diminishing their differences, it is true that a closer look at the works of these doctrines allows the reader to isolate common ground and differences between these authors. One of the common battles all authors waged was against legal positivism, Hans Kelsen being the best twentieth-century example. This rejection of positivism is especially visible in the writings of Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann, however, it is also present in other authors of the between-war period, whose names are mentioned in The State of the Political, for instance, Hermann Heller and Rudolf Smend. Duncan Kelly takes a sensible approach by outlining common issues in the works of Max Weber, Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann, thus establishing similar ities across authors. All three repeatedly return to the subject of the figure of the political leader. In line with Wolfgang Mommsen's suggestion, Duncan Kelly under lines Max Weber's legacy in Carl Schmitt's definition of the role and attributes of the president of the Reich. Weber's thoughts on the president's function, clearly out lined in his article 'Der Reichspräsident' published in 1919, underlines the need for an Archimedean point, an institutional leverage point in Weimar, incarnated by the President of the Reich. Schmitt's concessions towards national-socialism, as well as towards antisemitism may shed doubt on this parallel, given that some critics prefer to distinguish clearly between these two great authors, one, the defender of liberal ism and the other, its opponent. Another merit of Duncan Kelly's work is his objec tive analysis of the corpus of these authors' doctrines, whose work left its mark on© Max Weber Studies 2008, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 244 Max Weber Studies the twentieth century. In this way, Kelly successfully resists the temptation to allow the subject to be hijacked by the tragedy of the Weimar Republic. Despite their opposing stances, in particular over the relationship between the State and society, these three authors do share the same vision of the State as the supreme and ultimate embodiment of politics and sovereignty. Duncan Kelly's choice of authors is very representative of early-century legal writers in Germany. Following the end of the Empire, the concept of the State, albeit weakened by the reality at the time, remained the nerve centre of politics. This may well be the expla nation for such a strong tradition of research into the theory of the state in Germany. One of the main figures in this line of research was Georg Jellinek who became a ref erence for many other authors in that field. Max Weber was one of these authors and Hans Kelsen was...

Teaching AJAX in web-centric courses

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) is a web development technique for building responsive web applications behaving in a similar fashion to traditional desktop applications. This poster illustrates ideas for teaching the AJAX technique in web-centric courses based on the experience of implementing these ideas at London Metropolitan University and provides links to resources appropriate for use in laboratorial work.

Research in the School of Information Management, London Metropolitan University

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the practical applications of Information and Knowledge Management to society from the academic team at London Metropolitan University through an introduction to the papers in this special issue.Design/methodology/approachA narrative which provides a social context to Information and Knowledge Management.FindingsThere is a concrete link between the theory and practice of Information and Knowledge Management in delivering an equitable society.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is limited to a descriptive editorial.Practical implicationsInformation and Knowledge providers and services are primarily for individuals and organisations in society.Originality/valueThis paper represents an introductory look at the Information Society.

Landscapes of the Second Nature: Emptiness as a Non‐Site Space

AbstractFor Florian Beigel and Philip Christou of the Architecture Research Unit (ARU), based at London Metropolitan University, an experimental project in Leipzig proved formative in the gestation of ideas for a much larger‐scale project in South Korea. The Paju Book City near Seoul is nothing less than a city of publishers, encompassing production houses, printers, warehouses and editorial offices on a wetland site surrounded by mountains. Michael Spens describes this remarkable project here and finds its only conceivable precedent in the narrative‐based poetics of place evoked by Italo Calvino in the fable of Invisible Cities.1 Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

New knowledge in the creative disciplines — proceedings of the first Experiential Knowledge Conference 2007

This article presents the guest editorial for the special issue of JVAP on “New Knowledge in The Creative Disciplines”, which contextualises the proceedings of the first Experiential Knowledge Conference 2007, held by the University of Hertfordshire in collaboration with London Metropolitan University in June 2007. The conference was concerned with the nature and role of experiential knowledge in creative and practice-led disciplines, and its significance for the emergence of new knowledge and understanding in both research and practice. The issue presents a selection of the conference papers which fall into three areas: Experience and Knowledge in Research and Practice, Knowledge Management in Art, Design & Media, and Education & Knowledge Communication.

‘Who takes the eye takes all’: visual culture in the Women’s Library collections

The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University is home to the most extensive collection of women’s history in the UK. It houses a wide variety of material from badges to banners, which reveal the many ways in which the struggle to change womens’ lives has been expressed visually. A move to purpose-built premises has created opportunities to open up the collections to a widening new audience.

Max Weber. Die Leidenschaft des Denkens by Joachim Radkau (review)

[MWS 7.1 (2007) 119-132] ISSN 1470-8078 Book Reviews Joachim Radkau, Max Weber. Die Leidenschaft des Denkens (Munich: Hanser, 2005), pp. 1000. ISBN 3446206752.45€. When Max Weber died in 1920, Karl Jaspers felt as if the German world had lost its heart. This was an emotion particularly felt amongst the younger members in Max Weber's sphere, although he was actually in fact a master without pupils. After being released from teaching duties, he spent most of his remaining lifetime as a private scholar. His worldwide fame started decades after his death. Nonethe less, he became an authority of modern social science, and the international Weber industry continues to grow. Twenty years earlier, Lawrence Scaff predicted that whoever was successful with his own Weber interpretation would determine the further progress of the social sciences. If this is right, one can certainly say that 'Weber is power7. This is also the conclusion of historian Joachim Radkau, who examines the life and work of Max Weber in this voluminous biography. To anticipate the following remarks: this book is the first biography of Weber since 1926 that really may be called a biography. All the other previous attempts were merely extracts of Marianne Weber7s Lebensbild of Max Weber, a hagiographie widow's portrait, first published in 1926. Radkau's book offers new insights even for those who are familiar with Weber7s life and work. He quotes sources from private archive material that have not been accessible up to now, especially Marianne's diaries as well as unpublished letters, including correspondence between Max and Marianne, his mother, and his two lovers. All these sources provide a deeper and more accurate understanding of Weber's life, particularly his affective life. But at the same time, these sources lead the biographer to a voyeuristic attitude that is occasionally embarrassing and detrimental to his performance. Previously, Joachim Radkau had distinguished himself especially in fields such as the history of medicine and the history of technology. He has been an unknown quantity in Weber research up to now. But this should not be a disadvantage, because many things are seen more clearly with distance. Due to this, Radkau is - pleasantly - far from palming his own Weber interpretation off on the reader, and, moreover, he is relatively fair in describing rival interpretations. It was surely a good decision of his, to consult the advice of experts such as Christoph Braun, Stefan Breuer, Wilhelm Hennis, M. Rainer Lepsius, and Günther Roth, although he did not consider much of their advice. Anyway, the 'passion' which appears as the subtitle of Radkau's book, is also to be observed in his consideration of Max Weber. Meticulously, he has got used to Weber's monumental work, following its aspects into their finest ramifications, and putting them into biographical contexts. What he wants to offer to the reader is 'the whole Weber' - from the dissertation and the studies on the stock© Max Weber Studies 2007, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 120 Max Weber Studies market, the sociology of domination and the sociology of music, up to and including the love letters. Radkau's biography gives an intimate insight into Weber's life. It starts with the portrait of the scientist as a young man, growing up in a German upper-class family and feeling part of the elite. He then changes into the gruff, corpulent, hard drinking and duelling Heidelberg student, changes then again to become the newly appointed professor of economics demanding powerful imperial German politics in his Freiburg inaugural lecture, changing once more into the desperate workaholic trying to escape from depression, who was treated in mental hospitals year after year without any success. He concentrated later on his famous articles The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, and changed finally into the reconvalescent whose speed of life gained rapidly in the realms of love, science and politics, before he died, unexpectedly, in 1920. In the whole book it is transparent that Radkau's interest in Weber depends on his own field of research, the nerves. The author of a study on The Age of Nervousness has...

The Vocation Lectures: 'Science as a Vocation'/'Politics as a Vocation' by Max Weber , David S. Owen , Tracy B. Strong (review)

Book Reviews 125 tion; 'streets' in a natural state, usually doused with petroleum twice each summer to prevent dust, and smelling accordingly; wooden churches of at least 4-5 denominations... Add to this the usual tangle of telegraph wires, and electric trainlines under construction, for the 'town' extends into the unbounded distance. Weber met up with the Democratic politician Robert L. Owen, Cherokee in descent, and who became Senator for Oklahoma in 1907 till 1925. The federal government was operating a programme of allowing the sale of the Indian Territories and those lots were quickly passing out of Indian hands into those of adventurer capitalists. Weber observed that Leatherstocking romanticism was being crushed by the new capitalistic culture. Owen opposed the manner of the land-sales, which were open to huge abuse, in the name of Emersonian self-reliance. Owen himself was a devout Presbyterian, and so an advocate of an ethical style of life. William Swatos and Peter Kivisto chart the progress of Weber's ascent in Ameri can sociology. Parsons' translation of PESC was barely noted in 1930 but by 1964 Weber had become part of the canon, not least through Parsons' own The Structure of Social Action, the bigger picture provided by Gerth and Mills' selection, and the advocacy of the New School of Social Research under the leadership of Emil Lederer. What is not explained is the thirst for Weber in American sociology. Gorski, as well as Stephen Kalberg, raises the issue of how much we want to retain of the specific arguments of the PESC. Gorski, in plunging into the debates of economic history post-Weber—Postan, Braudel, Wallenstein, Douglas North and so on—creates a reading of Weber not narrowly focused on the 1904-1905 texts. Weber, in his 'Author7s Introduction' of 1920, talked about a wider and more general history of occidental rationalism in all areas of society. Kalberg examines the ethical basis of civic associations in American agrarian life, a type of communalism informed by Puritan values. The embeddedness of values in agrarian life has not survived the continuing move into the cities, where today a set of recreational and entertainment values congruent with a debt-laden consumerism predominate and undercut self reliant individualism. That subsequent development belongs to another narrative: of contemporary capitalism's close and exploitative relationship to the exploration of modern selfhood. So, today we have a new capitalism, a reconstitution of social groups, and a new set of dispositions—not Puritan, but still operable with Weberian methods. This book greatly furthers the research agenda and will be invaluable to advanced sociology courses. Sam Whimster* London Metropolitan University Sam Whimster* Max Weber, The Vocation Lectures: 'Science as a Vocation'/'Politics as a Vocation' (trans. Rodney Livingstone; Introduction [and ed.] David S. Owen and Tracy B. Strong; Indianapolis, IN; Hackett, 2004), pp. lxxv + 94. ISBN 0-87220-666-1 (hbk), 0-87220 665-3 (pbk). £27.95/£9.95. The editors and the translator have for the first time produced a book in English containing these two lectures alone. It is, therefore, to be welcomed. The work is a * A condensed version of this review has appeared in Contemporary Sociology.© Max Weber Studies 2007. 126 Max Weber Studies translation of Max Weber's Wissenschaft als Beruf (1917/1919) and Politik als Beruf (1919), edited by Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Wolfgang Schluchter with the collabo ration of Birgitt Morgenbrod (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1994), which itself forms part of the Max Weber Gesamtausgabe. The essays were first translated into English by Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills in their edited collection From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford Uni versity Press, 1946). Subsequently, Politik als Beruf appeared in translation by Ronald Speirs in the collection that he edited with Peter Lassman in the Cambridge blue books series as Weber: Political Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), while Wissenschaft als Beruf was translated by Irving Velody in the collection he edited, again with Peter Lassman, entitled Max Weber's 'Science as a Vocation' (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989). The question then to be asked is how does the new translation compare to the original one? The results...

Design and Implementation Issues in the First Russian Master of Public Administration Program

This paper examines the design and implementation of the first working master of public administration program in Russia. This program has been in existence at the Urals Academy of Public Administration (UAPA) in Yekaterinburg since 2001 and graduated its first class in 2003. The development of the program from 2001 through 2004 was aided by a U.S. State Department Newly Independent States Colleges and Universities Partnership Program (NISCUPP) grant. The article examines why public administration education is important to Russia and how UAPA is implementing innovative public administration education through its MPA program while also meeting the national standards for such education issued by the Russian Ministry of Education. At the current time, the Urals Academy is partnering with London Metropolitan University under a British government Russian-UK Partnerships in Higher Education (BRIDGE) grant to increase the number of students in the MPA program, to build faculty expertise further, and to prepare to meet the challenges of European integration as negotiated in the Bologna Process.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual workers: equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace

PurposeAims to present a report of a conference held at London Metropolitan University in June 2006 that presented and discussed the findings of a two‐year research project, funded by the Higher Education European Social Fund. The project investigated the experiences of LGB workers following the introduction of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulation 2003 in the United Kingdom.Design/methodology/approachThe research was a qualitative study carried out in 16 case study organisations, seen as representing “good practice” in the area of employment of LGB workers. The case studies involved: the analysis of company documentation and reports; interviews with 60 management, trade union and LGBT network group representatives, a short survey and in‐depth interviews with 154 LGB employees. The case studies were supplemented by a series of 25 national key informant interviews with individuals in UK organisations representing government, employers, employees, and LGB people charged with disseminating advice and promoting good practice.FindingsJust over half (57.8 per cent) of the LGB respondents were out to everyone at work. A third (33.8 per cent) were out to some people, while 8.4 per cent said that they were out to very few people or nobody at work. The research indicated that equal opportunities and diversity policies which include sexual orientation; the establishment and promotion of same sex benefits; positive employer and trade union signals; the existence of LGBT groups, the presence of LGB colleagues and LGB senior managers can help LGB people come out. However, LGB people may be prevented from coming out by fears about career progression; lack of visible senior LGB staff; temporary employment status; previous negative experiences of discrimination and harassment; desiring privacy; “macho” or religious attitudes/behaviours of co‐workers.Originality/valueLittle research exists in the UK on the experiences of LGB workers, and this is one of the first studies to focus on the experiences of LGB workers following the introduction of legislation to protect workers against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in 2003.

Germany–Agriculture and Forestry

[MWS 6.2 (2006) 207-218] ISSN 1470-8078 Germany—Agriculture and Forestry Max Weber At the last German Census of trades and callings (1895) the number of persons engaged chiefly in agriculture and forestry was 8,300,000, or about 37V2 per cent of the total productive population. This is about the same percentage shown by the U.S. census of 1900, which was 35.9 per cent; but this latter figure would be increased by the large number of land labourers counted simply as laborers. At the same census of 1895 the number of individual agricultural under takings was 5,500,000, with an area of 43,200,000 hectares (1 hectare = IVi acres). Of this total 'agricultural' area 7,600,000 hectares are woods, to which must be added 6,100,000 hectares of timber-land devoted purely to forestry. The greater part of the forests, about 7,000,000 hectares, is in the possession of the German states, espe cially Prussia and Bavaria, and of the local parishes and munici palities; though many forests are owned by large landed proprietors and by private foundations and associations. In strong contrast to the primitive forestry conditions that prevail in the United States, German forests, usually even those owned privately, are nurtured with all the care that the highly developed technic of forestry has made possible, the period of cultivation not seldom being 100 years. In this way 11,000,000 hectares were devoted to the cultivation of high timber, i.e., 2,600,000 hectares to leaf-bearing trees, 8,400,000 hectares to pines and firs. The yield of lumber in 1900 was 20,000,000, of firewood, 18,000,000, of stumps and brushwood, 10,500,000 cubic meters, besides the byproducts, especially tan-bark. Yet this yield does not supply the demand for wood in Germany. In 1904 lumber and building timber were imported to the extent of $20,000,000. Division of land and kinds of production Of the total agricultural area in 1904, 26 per cent was woodland, 49 per cent arable land, including gardens and vineyards, 11 per cent© Max Weber Studies 2006, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 208 Max Weber Studies meadows, and five per cent pasture-land. Of the arable land, 61 per cent was planted with grain and leguminous crops, 17Vi per cent with chopped crops, especially with potatoes and sugar-beets, 10 per cent with forage, 2.6 per cent with fruit and garden vegetables, and 8.7 per cent remained fallow. As regards grain, the dependence of Germany on foreign imports has not increased essentially in recent years. At times it has even decreased. On an average the yearly imports of grain exceed the exports by 2,000,000,000 kilograms, worth $125,000,000; i.e., as to value, about 1-6 or 1-7 of the German yield, or, as to quan tity, about 1-5. In live stock, Germany imports horses, oxen, and cows for $45,000,000; also hogs, but to a limited extent, owing to the restrictive hygienic (in reality protective) measures; further, hides and guts. On account of the ever-increasing intensity in the cultiva tion of the soil, the number of sheep in Germany has decreased from 28,000,000 in 1860 to 9,700,000 at present (U.S. 62,000,000). On the other hand, from 1873 to 1900 the number of horses increased from 3,300,000 to 4,200,000 (U.S. 16,000,000), the number of cattle from 15,700,000 to 19,000,000 (U.S. 61,400,000), and the number of hogs from 7,000,000 to 17,000,000 (U.S. 48,600,000). In 1900 for every 100 inhabitants there were 7.5 horses (U.S. 22), 33.6 head of cattle (U.S. 81), and 30 hogs (U.S. 82). From the high and increasing prices of land alone one could infer that in Germany there has been a consid erably greater increase in weight and quantity, than in quality. In 1900 the sale-value of horses was...

Germany–Industries

[MWS 6.2 (2006) 219-230] ISSN 1470-8078 Germany—Industries Max Weber No general statistics regarding industrial products are published in Germany. True, such material is carefully collected, but it is placed exclusively at the disposal of the government, to be used in consider ing the commercial policy of the nation toward foreign countries. It is impossible to give exact statistics, except for the products of mines and foundries; further, for beer, alcohol, and sugar. For the greater part, the coal and iron deposits of Germany are already in permanent ownership and are being worked. In 1903, a year of depression, the production of coal was 162,500,000 tons, worth $275,000000; i.e., 18 per cent of the world's output, or just half as much as the production in the United States, and about two thirds as much as the production in Great Britain. The production of iron ore was 21,200,000 tons (United States, 35,500,000); of pig-iron, 10,000,000 tons, or 21V2 per cent of the world's output (United States, 18,300,000; Great Britain, 8,900,000 tons); of steel, 8,800,000 tons (United States 14,700,000; Great Britain, 8,900,000). The exports of coal and other mineral combustibles exceeded the imports by only 5,000,000 tons (export principally to Belgium and Austria, import chiefly from Great Britain), so that the home-consumption was about 157,000,000 tons. In this respect Germany is in contrast to Great Britain, which exports a large part of her coal production. The exports of iron ore exceeded the imports by about 2,000,000 tons, so that about 23,200,000 tons were reduced in German furnaces. According to conservative estimates, the coal beds of Germany contain 120,000,000,000 tons of minable coal. It is further estimated that the coal beds of Upper Silesia, and especially those of Westphalia and the Rhine country, will outlast those of England by five centuries, taking into account the technical mining capacity of the coal and supposing the same rate of prog ress in both cases. No other country in Europe has similarly lasting coal deposits, except Belgium. In all other European countries the coal-fields are considerably less extensive, as, for instance, in France,© Max Weber Studies 2006, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 220 Max Weber Studies Russia, and Austria; and they will be more rapidly exhausted than those of Germany. The consumption of coal per head is consider ably less than in England, and also less than in Belgium or in the United States, but it is greater than in the other European states. The home-consumption of pig-iron was only 98.1 kilograms per head, as against 235 in the United States and 137 in England. These low figures for Germany are accounted for by the fact that in Germany the railway system is essentially already built; though the produc tion of pig-iron per head in Germany has increased more rapidly in recent years than in the United States. In the depression-year of 1903 the production per head was 173.9 kilograms; so that four-ninths of this amount had to find a foreign market. In 1904 imports of iron ore increased; but exports of pig-iron decreased, showing an increase in home-consumption. The ratio of the production of steel to pig-iron in Germany was greatest in 1903, the proportion being 87.3 to 100 (United States, 80.7 to 100; Great Britain, 57.1 to 100). In recent years this proportion has increased more rapidly than in the United States, or in Great Britain. Thus, as regards coal and the raw materials of the iron industry, Germany does not have to rely upon imports from foreign countries. For the most part, further, Germany consumes such raw materials, instead of exporting them. Only on the coasts and borders is there any exchange with foreign nations. As to the geographical relation of the coal mines and the iron mines to each other, it cannot be said that this is as favorable in...

The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece by Kurt Raaflaub , Renate Franciscono (review)

[MWS 6.2 (2006) 305-311] ISSN 1470-8078 Book Reviews Kurt Raaflaub, The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece (trans. Renate Franciscono; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, rev. edn, 2004), pp. 427. ISBN 0226701018. $55.00. When Max Weber wrote in his celebrated lecture on the decline of the ancient world that the problems of the ancients and the moderns were so different that there was nothing to be learned about our current situation from ancient history, he can surely not have been thinking about the concept of freedom or liberty. Anglophone and non-Anglophone political thinking continues to derive much sustenance for its central concern with the nature of individual and collective freedom from an engage ment with the ancient world, especially that of Greece and Rome. For the former, many find themselves attracted to Hannah Arendt's interpretation of the political nature of Greek eleutheria, culminating in her radical conclusion that, simply put, freedom is politics. In a different but related fashion, much recent work in the history of political thought and normative political theory has utilized the classical Roman law distinction between the liber and servus, the freeman and the slave, to illustrate a specifically republican conception of freedom that moves beyond the celebrated dichotomy of Isaiah Berlin's famous two concepts of liberty—the negative freedom from constraint, or the positive freedom of self-realization. Equally, studies of ideol ogy combine various debates about the practical structure of Greek democracy itself, with specific empirical questions about the construction and extent of the democratic process and the institutions that upheld it, building on the work of such writers as Mogens Hansen and Josiah Ober, to name but two scholars well known to English language readers. Kurt Raaflaub has been a central protagonist in debates about the nature of freedom in ancient Greece for at least two decades (this book was originally published in German in 1985), and has long been concerned with delineating precise moments in the evolution of the concept. In this newly revised translation, he offers a wealth of detail and rigorous argu mentation, suggesting ultimately, in what amounts to a defence of historical context, that the concept of freedom needs to be studied and accounted for in each period of its evolution separately and distinctly, using both direct sources as well as those sources which intimate or seem to suggest a concern with something like freedom even before the concept itself was actually born. Raaflaub suggests that this is his torically justified on the grounds of plausibility, though some will doubtless wonder about the utility of such an argument in the light of the predominance of particular modes of interpretation of the history of ideas in the course of the post-war period. Ultimately, he concludes, there was no 'political concept of freedom' before the fifth© Max Weber Studies 2006, Department of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT, UK. 306 Max Weber Studies century, and moreover, that 'The idea of a citizen's freedom within his community, initially seen in contrast solely to his oppression by tyranny, was given a positive content and associated with a constitution even much later' (p. 250). Thus, what is also being argued here is that the discovery of freedom is almost coterminous with the discovery of the political itself, in a recognizably modern sense, an argument which dovetails somewhat with the suggestions of Christian Meier in particular, whose work he extensively engages with. Much like the Roman arguments that have been resuscitated in recent years, though, for Raaflaub, the Greek conception of freedom becomes politically important when considered in terms of its antonym, namely servitude or the loss of political freedom. Subjection to a tyrant here, was the first formulation of what would become servitude. Its political character emerged through the challenge to tyranny from the whole of the population, not just the aristocrats, for if only the latter could fight tyranny then their interest in power could only hinder the development of a political concept of freedom. This too was tied up with something Weber was also quite concerned with, the idea of debt bondage. Solon's reforms, which abolished...

What does CALL have to offer computer science and what does computer science have to offer CALL?

We will argue that CALL can usefully be viewed as a subset of computer software engineering and can profit from adopting some of the recent progress in software development theory. The unified modelling language has become the industry standard modelling technique and the accompanying unified process is rapidly gaining acceptance. The manner in which these can be used as a design aid will be demonstrated using, as a concrete example, the London Metropolitan University ‘Interactive language learning’ authoring package. We will show how, by applying such formal techniques, existing functionality has been improved and new functionality has been developed. This approach can lead to a greater understanding between the developer and the user, both student and teacher, as well as helping to bridge the gap between the second language acquisition expert and the software developer to the benefit of both. This development process has led us to believe that CALL, as the most advanced of the computer aided learning disciplines can also make a valid contribution to more general computer science in areas of interface design, evaluation and requirements analysis. Modern computer science is dominated by the ‘business model’. We argue that CALL can offer an approach which is driven by both pedagogy and research and which offers what we might call a ‘public service model’ but which we will call ‘process model’ for the sake of political neutrality. A case study will explain how these ideas have been applied in practical development of our authoring package and on-line course material. In particular, we show how the use of Java Server technology has provided tracking and improved online assessment.

Globalization and Social Work: International and Local Implications

Karen Lyons (PhD, CQSW) is now self-employed, following a career in social work practice, management and education. She is an Honorary Professor of International Social Work at University of Hertfordshire (where she co-edits a monograph series focusing on international and comparative perspectives in social work) and also at London Metropolitan University (where she is editor in chief of the journal, International Social Workj. Other activities include writing, doctoral supervision and inputs to social work education programmes outside the UK.

The Personal is Professional: Professionalism and the Birth to Threes Practitioner

This article puts forward the idea that in order to sufficiently meet the needs of very young children and thereby develop quality provision, early years practitioners must develop a professional approach that combines personal awareness with theoretical knowledge. It argues that the development of such abilities is enabled in process-oriented training over an extended period of time and describes the ‘Key Times' Project (London Metropolitan University with the London Borough of Camden, 2000–2005) as illustration of a process that impacted positively on practitioners' professional self-worth through valuing self-awareness in relation to the physical and emotional dimensions of practice.

Evaluating the Notion of Student Diversity: The Case of International Postgraduate Students at London Metropolitan University

Evaluating the Notion of Student Diversity: The Case of International Postgraduate Students at London Metropolitan University

SPREADING THE NET

SPREADING THE NET

Beauty queens at the Women's Library, London Metropolitan University

PurposeTo provide an overview of recent audience development work at The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University.Design/methodology/approachThe Women's Library used visitor research to identify key areas for building new audiences. Using library and archival collections as a starting point, the library forged strategic creative partnerships and developed a public programme designed to raise the profile of the library and increase attendance amongst the target audience groups.FindingsThe study provides detailed information about the planning process and implementation of the project, including the marketing campaign, and gives examples of ways in which the library used collaborative partnerships to engage with new and diverse audiences.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study focuses on one organisation, a University Library with museum and archival collections, but contains information transferable to other library services.Practical implicationsAn insight into ways of working to increase library users and broaden audiences, using visitor research, marketing and audience development as an integral part of strategic planning.Originality/valueThis paper showcases innovative work in the library sector, and in a broader context, reflects activity in the cultural sector in the UK.

Telematics Education II: Teaching, Learning and Assessment at Foundation Level

The newly formed Telematics Research Group in the School of Computing, Comunications Technology and Mathematics (CCTM) at London Metropolitan University is involved with delivering a number of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level leading to BSc, BEng and MSc degrees in Electronics, Computer Networks & Communications. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to describe our successful Higher Introductory Technology and Engineering Conversion Course (HITECC), also known as the Foundation Year of the BSc (Sciences) Extended Degree programme and secondly, to outline our approach in teaching, learning and assessing telematics-related subjects at the HITECC level by describing a few specific modules.