A transitory phenomenon: German commanders and chiefs of staff, 1866–1918

This article examines the relationship between commanders and chiefs of staff during the period of the Wars of German Unification and the entirety of the Kaiserreich. The practice of pairing up a commander and a chief of staff was one that was specific to Germany. Traditional scholarship holds that in many cases, it was really the chief of staff who did all the thinking, while the commander was nothing more than a front man. The primary example of this was the relationship between Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. The problem is that unthinking historians have projected relationship of this particular duo on the rest of the imperial German army. One of the reasons for this was the presence of members of German royal families in high command positions. This article suggests that first, commanders, including royal family members, were far more influential than their chiefs of staff. In addition, the power wielded by chiefs of staff also reflected the nagging problem of battlefield communications, especially given the limitations of telephone and early wireless radio. Once these difficulties were eliminated by the collapse of the imperial regime, and the development of radio, the power of chiefs of staff was severely curbed by 1939. Thus, the relationship between commanders and chiefs of staff was at best a transitory phenomenon.

Features and Functions of Sŏnwŏnjŏn of the Late Chosŏn Period Reflected in Ritual Foods and Vessels, Interior Setting, and the Enshrined Portraits

Sŏnwŏnjŏn (璿源殿, Hall of Jade Source) stands out from other royal portrait halls within the late Chosŏn period on account of its unofficiality. This comes through in its rites, ritual foods and vessels, interior setting, and the enshrined portraits. Sŏnwŏnjŏn was an informal sacred hall where royal family members could personally present offerings and worship before portraits of late Chosŏn kings in the inner court. Birthday tea rituals (誕辰茶禮), which drew on non-Confucian traditions, were established as the representative rite of this hall. Unlike many other ritual halls at the time, these tea rituals often featured the active participation of royal women including queen dowagers and royal consorts. From the preparation of rituals to acts of veneration, they played an active role. This stands in stark contrast to the rites of Yŏnghŭijŏn (永禧殿, Hall of Eternal Happiness), the representative official portrait hall of late Chosŏn, which were always performed by male officials. Yŏnghŭijŏn primarily used oil-and-honey pastries (油蜜菓) and brass vessels for the offering tables. Conversely, Sŏnwŏnjŏn presented vessels made from the most luxurious materials of the time, such as silver, gold, and even jade. The vessels included delicacies comprised of various kinds of meat and fish dishes for the tea rituals. Objects originally produced for the king’s use in life were also incorporated into Sŏnwŏnjŏn rites. In sum, the ritual foods and vessels for tea rituals echoed the table setting for a king in the inner banquet (內進饌) to commemorate his birthday. The rites as well as the ritual foods and vessels of Sŏnwŏnjŏn seem to have followed the tea rituals of a spirit hall, in which a deceased king’s spirit tablet was enshrined for about two years and royal family members could serve as if the late king was alive. The physical environment of a chamber at Sŏnwŏnjŏn mimicked the interior setting of a spirit hall, and consisted of a baldachin, a three-sided Five Peak screen, a royal bed, and a set of four-panel peony paintings. This interior differs from one of official portrait halls, wherein there was a one-sided Five Peak screen and a royal bed without the use of Peony screens. Indeed, Sŏnwŏnjŏn functioned as a substitute for a spirit hall. In the 19th century, the hall was distinguished from a sprit hall by the more lavish decoration of its inner space with paintings rich in symbolism, additionally including Plum screens and Sea-and-Peaches of Immortality screens. The subject matter of the paintings expressed the royal family’s hope for the eternal life of their ancestors. Portraits selected for worship in Sŏnwŏnjŏn matched the intimate and informal character of this late Chosŏn portrait hall. Unlike Yŏnghŭijŏn in which full-length portraits of late Chosŏn kings in official attire were displayed, a majority of the displayed or enshrined portraits at Sŏnwŏnjŏn presented kings in ordinary attire. Moreover, half-length portraits were enshrined therein. Kings and also the queen dowagers were primarily responsible for deciding what went into it. While ritual requirements were important to these decisions, human feelings for the portrait subjects also influenced the selection.

The Study on the Style and Value of Stone Buddha Statue of Hoeamsa Temple in Yangju

This study focus on the characteristics and of the Fragment of Stone Buddha of Hoeamsa Temple(檜巖寺). As is well known, this temple had been developed rebuilding by supporting of the royal family from the late of Korea Dynasty to the early of Joseon Dynasty(朝鮮). The Hoeamsa Temple Site in Yangju(陽州) is believed to have been destroyed in a fire in the late 16th century, and various artifacts have been excavated after several excavations since 1999. This Temple has been excavated a variety of Fragment of Stone Buddha statues. The Buddha statue of Hoeamsa Temple in Yangju has a hole on top of high usnisa(肉髻), and special folds in the left arm and a thick clothing style. It was reflects the sculptural Joseon style modified by the Tibet-Chinese style. This style is very similar to that of Buddha statues produced in the 15th century, supported by the royal family of Joseon. In particular, these statues were believed to have been produced around the first half of the 15th century when the temple was heavily fortified with the support of Prince Hyo-ryeong(孝寧大君). It is also interesting to note that these statues show the sculptural features of the early Joseon Dynasty, reflecting the Tibetan-Chinese sculptures style, compared to those of the Buddhist sculptures in the first half of the 15th century during the year of Yeongrak (1403~1424) and Seondeok (1426~1435), the kings of the Ming Dynasty. This reflects the development of Buddhist sculptures in the early Joseon Dynasty in line with the trend of Buddhist art in East Asia.

Transnational Seasonal Land Grabbing in Pakistan: Power Positions and Resistance

Each year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Pakistan issues a special 10-day hunting permit to royal family members of Gulf countries for seasonal hunting of Asian Houbara bustard ( Chlamydotis macqueen). This paper attempts to systematically present the understandings on seasonal land grabbing and its political economy in Pakistan. The role of local elites and government institutions and the response of local people, as well as their resistance, is discussed in detail.

The Effect of Internal Corporate Governance of the Firm’s Performance and Firm Value in Five GCC Countries

A critical glance at the literature review of GCC countries, firm performance and firm value shows that the literature does not adequately consider the uniqueness of an institutional setting such as the presence of royal family members and government officials’ members on the board. Additionally, noticeable features are not accounted for in the previous literature, such as a large involvement of relatives and the presence of a female on the board of directors. It is important to understand whether these variables matter or not in this region as this then influences the firm’s performance and firm value. Thus, this study focuses on the effect of internal CG of the firm’s performance and firm value in five GCC countries. The final sample consists of 220 firms (1,096 firm-year observations) for the fiscal year 2009 to 2013. The main finding is that there is a positive significant relationship is seen between expertise factors and firm performance. The expertise factor encompasses royal family members on the board as well as hiring one of the Big 4-auditing firms. This result is in line with a theoretical claim (agency theory), the research question expectation and empirical evidence.

Sangga Buwana as Food Acculturation: Yogyakarta Royal Traditional Food

Indonesia has various traditional foods, some of which are the result of acculturation with other countries’ foods. Sangga buwana is the Javanese-Dutch influenced cuisine, which became one of the favorite dishes of the sultans of Yogyakarta. Till date, the publication about sangga buwana is still limited. This paper aimed to introduce and spread the knowledge about sangga buwana as the result of food acculturation, focusing on its history, philosophy, how it is prepared, and its nutritional value. The study was carried out through interviews with the experts and literature review. Sangga buwana consists of several components, including choux pastry, ragout, lettuce, boiled egg, Javanese mustard, and pickled vegetables. Sangga buwana itself and every component to prepare it have the meaningful philosophy about God’s creations. It delivers important wishes and meanings to the newlywed couple in royal wedding ceremony. It was only served to the sultan, royal family of Yogyakarta, and their important guests. But nowadays, sangga buwana can be more easily found at restaurants, traditional markets or food festivals in Yogyakarta. The cultural preservation of sangga buwana has been conducted through cultural festivals, cooking workshops, and research development using local ingredients to prepare it which may support food diversification

Plague – ”The Turkish disease”: a traditional Romanian perception (historical, theological, ethnological and epidemiological aspects)

The article addresses the issue of the traditional Romanian perception of the plague as ”Turkish disease” and presents relevant historical, theological, ethnological and epidemiological information. This perception is based on the memory of the frequent wars waged by the Ottomans on Romanian territory; wars during which contagious diseases were recurrent, and implicitly the plague. In historiography, the invocation of the plague epidemics in the context of Ottoman history was nuanced in the works of Mihail Critobul from Imbros, Dimitrie Cantemir, Montesquieu, Constantin Bazili. The reluctance of the natives towards the Turks is explained by the cultural, religious and linguistic differences, by the behavior of the Ottomans and by the non-acceptance of the other’s values. The inhabitants of the principalities believed that the plague also entered through the Ottoman ships coming from Constantinople and moored in the ports of Galați and Brăila. The epidemiological phobias of the natives were amplified by the fact that the Turks, especially those from the royal family, neglected any sanitary restrictions during the plague epidemics. The Ottoman plague’s fatalism is explained by their religious beliefs. The divine factor is also invoked in Romanian folklore, the plague being perceived as God’s punishment sent to the Turks for the misfortunes brought to the Romanians.

Royally represented or royally shafted? Effect of positive and negative captions and ideological beliefs on readers’ evaluations of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle

We conducted a randomized controlled experiment to investigate the role of descriptive captions (positively and negatively worded) and ideological beliefs (Right Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation) on viewers’ evaluations of two popular British Royal family members namely Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. Participants included 300 undergraduate students from Dunedin, New Zealand who were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: (1) Pro-Kate, (2) Anti-Kate, (3) Pro-Meghan or (4) AntiMeghan captions accompanying the parallel images of these Royal members. We also included several distractor variables about other Royal family members and traditions. Outcomes were recorded as evaluations of six royal members (Charles, Diana, William, Harry, Kate, and Meghan). We found no significant effect of caption manipulation on outcome evaluations of Meghan and Kate. However, social dominance negatively correlated with Meghan and Harry whereas authoritarianism positively correlated with ratings of Charles. Our results indicate that a one-off exposure to biased media regarding celebrities may not significantly alter audience’s evaluations of them, but ideological beliefs may influence this process, nonetheless.