The government of Israel and the health care of the Negev Bedouin under military government, 1948-1966

Bedouin Arabs in Israel are a Muslim society undergoing dramatic social change. The Bedouin have lived in the Negev desert since the sixth century, having migrated there from the Arabian Peninsula. In the course of the last five decades this traditionally nomadic/semi-nomadic population has undergone rapid modernization and urbanization, and today approximately 120,000 Bedouin Arabs live in the Negev. Traditionally herders and farmers, only about 5 per cent of the Negev Bedouin are still semi-nomadic tent dwellers. Most families are sedentary, living in sub-tribal groups in shacks and houses. The Negev Bedouin population has the lowest socio-economic rating of all localities and social groups in Israeli society.

[A modern Kaspar Hauser]

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS

The case of a mentally disturbed young man is described, whose identity could not be revealed over more than four months. It is compared to Kaspar Hauser, similarities and differences are highlighted.

RESULTS

The "Kaspar Hauser of Stuttgart" is retrospectively revealed as a young man with experiences of severe deprivation. The missing case history and independent history were an obstacle in the treatment, albeit not fundamental, advantages being reached with a relation-oriented approach.

CONCLUSIONS

Informations obtained after clarification of the identity of the young man suggest a multiplication of unfavourable circumstances, leading to sub-optimal treatment and finally the "Kaspar-Hauser-Situation". Contributing were his belonging to the less integrated group of migrants in Germany, as well as severe deprivation in the family and a generally sub-optimal treatment of mentally disturbed young patients.

[Apothecaries and pharmacists between mobility and settled way of life]

From XIIIth to XVIIth centuries, apothecaries were not as sedentary as people think. Apprenticeship and companion's time were travel opportunities. Installation was an other occasion. Violence, war and intolerance were reasons to run away from inhospitable countries. Trade practices explained displacements. Medieval Christian Occident can be considered as a model of tomorrow's Europe.

[Understanding migratory phenomena: mobility within a village in Hérault from 1836 to 1962]

Using a previous reconstitution of families living in the village of Puéchabon (Hérault) and twenty-three lists of its inhabitants from 1836 to 1962 as a base, the author has analyzed the migrations of the villagers according to sex, marital status and age group while distinguishing two types of migration: actual departures and entries (permanent or long-term departures, and entries by newcomers or those returning after prolonged absences), and short-term absences and subsequent returns. Using this typology, he brings out three periods of migration for the village residents: before the War of 1870, there were traditional movements; between 1870 and World War II, a pronounced rural exodus occurred; and since then, there has been a less striking but more regular decline in population.

[Geographic distribution of surnames and genetic structure: the county of Ardeche at the beginning of the twentieth century]

The analysis of the geographical distribution of surnames (whose transmission in the European societies is similar to that of the Y chromosome) allows to study in an exhaustive way the spatial and temporal human population structure and the influence of environmental variations on this structure. The genetic structure of the Ardèche county was analysed through a study of the surname characteristics (diversity, frequency, geographical dispersion, etc.) of individuals born between 1891 and 1915. The estimation of the intra-community average consanguinity and the inter-district genetic relationships reveals a clear differentiation between populations of the mountainous part (geographically isolated, highly inbred) and those of the Rhône valley (less isolated, weakly inbred). As predicted by the isolation by distance model, inter-population coefficients of kinship decreases as distance increases, confirming the presence of a spatial structure, characterized by neighborhood exchange and resulting from former migratory flow.

Eugenic ideas, political interests, and policy variance: immigration and sterilization policy in Britain and the U.S

A burgeoning literature in comparative politics has sought to incorporate ideas into political analysis. In this article the authors categorize the main ways in which this incorporation has occurred—ideas as culture, ideas as expert knowledge, ideas as solutions to collective action problems, and ideas as programmatic beliefs—and explicate the different assumptions about causality and the permanence of ideas implied by these different frameworks. This theoretical exercise is then applied to an empirical examination of eugenic ideas about sterilization and immigration and their influence on public policy in Britain and the United States between the world wars. Given that ideational ideas were (broadly) equally powerful in both countries, the cases provide a basis for shedding light on when and how extant ideational frameworks influence public policy. Employing primary sources the authors conclude that ideas remain powerful expressions of societal interests but depend upon key carriers to realize such expressions.