Suchergebnisse

Tocqueville saw democracy as a form of government and society that was basically valid yet liable to produce unpleasant, even disastrous, surprises. Today we may look on one of the major manifestations of democracy, the welfare state, in like fashion. Although it marks an enhancement of economic justice, it has had some disturbing consequences. These include the rise of an immense federal bureaucracy and (if we understand the welfare state as comprising the phenomenon of "consumer capitalism") a trivialization of liberty and public life. What, then, must we do? I suggest in this article that Christianity provides a clue — the value of which is not confined to Christians. Christianity indicates a radically new way of looking at political and social matters; spirit is prior to order, and suffering is prior to action. These principles suggest a way of countering the evil consequences of the welfare state and thus, not merely saving the welfare state, but giving it a new spiritual and prophetic value.

If it takes a village to raise a child, Anne Wescott Dodd and Jean L. Konzal feel that it takes a community to make a school. Not content with the idea of a school being contained within four walls and existing only for a few hours every day, Dodd and Konzal know that a school which looks after the complete child exists far beyond its four walls and for the whole 24 hours in each day. They present a radical democratic vision of the public school where everyone not just students, teachers and parents plays a part in shaping our children and, consequently, our future

'Public Attitudes Toward Church and State' by Ted G. Jelen and Clyde Wilcox is reviewed.

There is evidence that the risk of stranded assets in the oil and gas sector is underpriced in financial markets. Publicly traded Western oil and gas companies are starting to write down assets, opening up the possibility that more rationalisation of value is likely to come. To the extent that large oil companies diversify portfolios to include cleaner energy and carbon sequestration technologies, it could reduce the risk of a sudden cascading change in the stock valuation of these firms and related bond and credit markets. Instead, the vast majority of oil and gas assets that will be stranded are in the control of sovereign states whose national budgets are highly dependent on oil and gas revenues. Thus, the problem of stranded asset risk for the oil and gas sector may be most relevant in markets for sovereign credit as well as risks that go beyond financial losses.