OAR@UM Collection:/library/oar/handle/123456789/384312026-06-21T08:46:25Z2026-06-21T08:46:25ZDependence and independence : Malta and the end of empireSmith, Simon C./library/oar/handle/123456789/179292017-05-30T14:41:10Z2008-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Dependence and independence : Malta and the end of empire
Authors: Smith, Simon C.
Abstract: The end of empire was rarely a neat or seamless process. Elements of empire often persisted
despite the severance of formal constitutional ties. This was particularly so in the case of
Malta which maintained strong financial and military links with Britain long after formal
independence in 1964. Attempts to effect the decolonisation of Malta through integration with
Britain in the 1950s gave way to more conventional constitution-making by the early 1960s.
British attempts to retain imperial interests beyond the end of formal empire were answered
by Maltese determination to secure financial and other benefits as a quid pro quo for
tolerating close ties with the former imperial power. By the early 1970s, however, Britain
wearied of the demands placed upon it by the importunate Maltese, preferring instead to try
and pass responsibility for supporting Malta onto its NATO allies.2008-01-01T00:00:00ZDeconstructing colonial health differentials : Malta and Gibraltar prior to World War IISawchuk, Larry A./library/oar/handle/123456789/179282017-05-30T14:41:15Z2008-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Deconstructing colonial health differentials : Malta and Gibraltar prior to World War II
Authors: Sawchuk, Larry A.
Abstract: This paper illustrates that based on key demographic measures of well-being, Malta lagged
significantly behind that of Gibraltar prior to WW II. The majority of the observed differences
can be attributed to substantially higher mortality rates in both infancy and children aged 1 to 5
years of age. Clear differences existed within Malta by residence location. The observed
heterogeneity in childhood mortality showed two divergent trends with an improvement among
urban dwellers and decline in survivorship among rural inhabitants. Factors responsible for the
differences in well being at both the inter- and intra-population level are explored.2008-01-01T00:00:00ZLa Scuola Lombrosiana and the beginning of criminology in MaltaKnepper, Paul/library/oar/handle/123456789/179192017-05-30T14:41:34Z2008-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: La Scuola Lombrosiana and the beginning of criminology in Malta
Authors: Knepper, Paul
Abstract: Joseph Semini, a police inspector, became Malta’s first criminologist when he published the first
criminological text, Some Points on Criminology, in 1926. Although this text incorporates
conceptual language borrowed from Lombroso, it would be wrong to dismiss it as an extension of
the scuola positiva. Some Points on Criminology can really only be appreciated when framed
within political affairs in Malta during the 1920s and 1930s. This article discusses Semini’s
criminology in the context in which he wrote it; his perception of the problems that motivated his
writing and the source of ideas that influenced his approach to them. Although the book appears
to have had little influence at the time, it is significant because he pursues an alternative to
colonial criminology. Colonial criminology relied on analogies with Great Britain to understand
Maltese crime problems and sought to develop Maltese institutions of criminal justice from
British models. In bringing what Semini took to be an international science of criminology to the
Maltese context, he was able to conceive of a more authentic Maltese response2008-01-01T00:00:00ZThe fall from grace of an administrative elite : the administrative class of the Malta Civil Service and the transfer of power : April 1958 to September 1964Warrington, Edward/library/oar/handle/123456789/179092018-02-14T06:55:54Z2008-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: The fall from grace of an administrative elite : the administrative class of the Malta Civil Service and the transfer of power : April 1958 to September 1964
Authors: Warrington, Edward
Abstract: The creation of the State of Malta in 1962 constituted a turning point in the uneasy,
occasionally turbulent relationship between administrative and political elites throughout the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This study outlines the concerns that exercised Malta’s
administrative elite as plans were laid for the transfer of power from British to Maltese
ministers under the Interim Constitution (1959) and the Blood Constitution (1961). It
examines the role played by the Head of the Civil Service in the attempt to forge an ethic of
political neutrality for the civil service of a polity deeply divided by partisan loyalties, as well
as the claims and campaigns of the Society of Administrative and Executive Civil Servants in
response to challenges to the status hierarchy arising from other professions in government.
The displacement of the administrative class from a position of constitutional primacy, and
the erosion of its status among the professions employed by government are indubitably
linked. The fate of the administrative elite that ‘fell from grace’ as Malta attained statehood
signalled the passing of the Island’s traditional order.2008-01-01T00:00:00Z