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Social equality of religion or belief protects individuals against discrimination related to their religious identity. It also requires the state to treat all religions and non-religious belief systems in a similar fashion, and to be even-handed in its treatment of religious identity, compared with other identities of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, disability or social caste. It is clear, fair, firm and flexible in its approach, and its principles can be applied to economic, legal, political or cultural issues. It offers to promote the integration of different religious communities within a liberal framework of equality and human rights. This book brings together a distinguished group of academics and practitioners to discuss the pros and cons of this approach and its influence to date on a wide range of issues concerning religion relation to the state both in Europe and in North and South America, including the next Coronation in the UK, the US and Canadian constitutions, the Catholic Concordat in Brazil, religious fundamentalism, same-sex marriage and the impossibility of religious freedom The new perspective on religion and society is contrasted with existing doctrines such as constitutional separation, religious establishment, multiculturalism and secularism. This interdisciplinary volume will appeal to followers of religious studies, jurisprudence, philosophy, politics and social science alike.

A model of bargaining processes based on the work of A. Coddington (Theories of the Bargaining Process, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1968) & J. G. Cross (The Economics of Bargaining, New York: Basic Books, 1969) is outlined. A transformation of the demand space equivalent to the introduction of fixed bargaining costs is specified. The differential equations for the basic bargaining process are solved for high discount (stable) & high response (unstable) cases. The choice of initial demands, which can be naturally formulated as a non-zero-sum game, is crucial for the eventual outcome. When the bargainers are similar, the elimination of inadmissible strategies in this game severely restricts the possible outcomes. The qualitative features of these results extend to dissimilar bargainers. 11 Figures. Modified HA.

A review essay on a book by Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years (London: Vintage, 1998). Diamond makes an important contribution to the study of historical materialism. His primary thesis is that differences in human cultures arose not because of differences among peoples but because of differences in the environment. In illustrating this thesis, Diamond focuses on the development of food production but unintentionally succeeds in supporting historical materialism. He also demonstrates the important role that Marxist traditions have played throughout history. This is quite a feat for an author who cannot claim to be a historian, a social scientist, or a historical-materialist theorist. In short, the book is remarkable for its investigation of the relationship between social competition & biological reproduction & for its ability to demonstrate how these two factors acted in concert with one another to shape history. 35 References. K. A. Larsen

Examines the difficulty analytical Marxism has faced in overcoming the free-rider problem described by its right-wing critics. Analytical Marxism has been involved in the effort of finding microfoundations in the thoughts, beliefs, & actions of individuals for the macrophenomena that Marxism identifies. While this research program has been successful, it has been unable to explain why rational proletarian individuals might engage in a revolutionary struggle to overthrow capitalism & replace it with socialism. This problem has been described as a free-rider dilemma, in that, although the good would benefit everyone, the costs of overthrowing capitalism are high. Thus, rational individuals will seek to make others bear the costs of overthrowing capitalism while reaping the benefits of this activity. This problem is overcome by assuming that individuals respond to immediate problems & situations, rather than act rationally, weighing costs & benefits of actions. In responding to immediate concerns, proletarian individuals might find themselves working toward revolution without consciously doing so, & thus unintentionally overcoming the free-rider problem. 4 Figures, 30 References. D. Ryfe

Right-wing critics have long used the theory of rational choice to pour scorn on the Marxist theory of revolution, because, they say, free-rider considerations will deter any rational self-interested worker from engaging in revolutionary action. This contention poses an especial problem for Analytical Marxists, who also utilise rational choice models to understand the micro-foundations of collective action. It turns out, however, that if the worker's decision to join a collective action is conceived more realistically, not as a once-for-all commitment, but as a recurrent process affected continuously by the actions of others, then a much richer repertoire of outcomes begins to appear within the theory – matching those found in history itself. This paper develops simple models of collective action that display this broader range of possibilities. These include convergence to a stable level of collective engagement, oscillation over time between different levels of engagement, and truly chaotic behaviour, in which levels of engagement are never repeated.