This thesis makes a comparison between the design, functions and operations of De Nederlandsche Bank and the Bank of England between the Bank charter of 1864 until the charter of 1887. This period...Show moreThis thesis makes a comparison between the design, functions and operations of De Nederlandsche Bank and the Bank of England between the Bank charter of 1864 until the charter of 1887. This period constitutes the transitional period between both De Nederlandsche Bank’s and the Bank of England’s initial constitution of lender of last resort and a de facto monopolist issuer of banknotes, to a reserve bank under the Gold Standard. It researches the discounting function of both central banks and their money market structure and analyzes data on their lending and discount policies. It concludes that changes in the structures of the Dutch and English money markets between 1864 and 1887 pushed the central banks into a different position in the discount function of those markets. My results suggest that the institutional equilibria of private finance can exercise a much more profound influence on central banking operations than previously assumed.Show less
This thesis analyses the understanding of sex trafficking in the League of Nations as well as the ways in which the changing international environment influenced the image of sex trafficking in the...Show moreThis thesis analyses the understanding of sex trafficking in the League of Nations as well as the ways in which the changing international environment influenced the image of sex trafficking in the interwar years, with a focus on how the League collected data, how it interpreted data, but also how it misrepresented sex trafficking. I argue that a shift in the debates within the Advisory Committee on Traffic of Women and Children can be discerned. This committee started off with a focus on mobility, which shifted to abolition and regulation, and finally to prevention and punishment. These shifts were influenced by the immediate post-war environment, the increased role of the state and the economic crisis in 1929. The committee was faced with different challenges and tensions that shaped the knowledge that was produced about sex trafficking. The image of sex trafficking they created is still topical today. Rather than repeating this image, I will critically engage with it and point out how sex trafficking came to embody a variety of issues that were prevalent at that time, such as miscegenation, emancipation and nationalism. By treating this committee as an example of international cooperation, of data collection during the interwar years and of experts gaining a better understanding of a ‘global’ issue, I will add to lively historiographical debates about transnational history, the importance of the League of Nations and the historical study of gender.Show less
Sport is never just a game. In an imperial context, it connotes a host of ideals and values directly linked to foreign political authority. In treaty port Shanghai, competition between the city’s...Show moreSport is never just a game. In an imperial context, it connotes a host of ideals and values directly linked to foreign political authority. In treaty port Shanghai, competition between the city’s many national communities was similarly conceived of as a tool to strengthen foreign power. The practice of protest at international sports events by Shanghai’s Chinese population subverted these attempts and enabled protestors to undermine foreign legitimacy. This thesis applies the lens of political culture to examine how meaning was attached to protest at international sporting events and analyse how this was received by Shanghai’s foreign community. Sport has frequently been overlooked in the wider historiography of protest. However, an investigation of the practice of sports protest is highly relevant for providing valuable insights into the nature of social relations. While historians have generally assumed that Shanghai’s foreign society was insular, studying protest shows not only that there was significant contact, but that this was exploited for political aims. Sport provided a unique avenue for protest by encapsulating foreign rituals of rule, which could be spontaneously usurped to mount a symbolic challenge. Comparison with formal colonial contexts illustrates that sport as a channel for protest was shaped by Shanghai’s semi-colonial arrangement, illuminating the broader complexities and vulnerabilities of semi-colonial control.Show less
