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Kramer, Michalowski, and Chambliss (2010) have recently made a case "for" a public criminology of state crime. A public criminology would bring criminology into "a conversation with publics, understood as people who are themselves involved in a conversation" (Burawoy, 2007: 28). This article will analyze certain challenges that such a public criminology can mount to the bombing of civilians; it may contribute to the public discourse about how to resist this form of state crime. A public criminology of state crime can: (1) challenge the denial and normalization of the aerial bombardment of civilians, (2) challenge the political impunity and legal immunity of the state officials who commit these war crimes, and (3) challenge empire, one of the primary structural contexts within which state criminality occurs. Before these challenges can be analyzed, however, it will be helpful to sketch a theoretical narrative of how the area bombing of civilian populations evolved during World War II and became normalized, that is, accepted and approved within American political culture. Adapted from the source document.

This paper addresses how Keynesian narratives are being used to reconstitute an orthodox policy paradigm in the face of the current economic crisis. Such ideological revisionism also occurred alongside the 1982 debt crisis and was crucial for the neoliberal ideological triumph that ensued. Similar revisionism can be observed now through narratives that locate the sources of the US financial bubble in Chinese external surpluses. This narrative has captured the imagination of many on both the political left and right, hence the potential for ideological reconstitution that cuts across traditional political positions in the North. These processes of paradigm maintenance need to be urgently addressed if the current crisis is to be leveraged for a return to a more progressive, inclusive and developmental policy paradigm in both North and South. Failing this, current orthodoxies risk being reconstituted or even reinforced, with the risk of finding ourselves soon entering a new round of development debacles similar to those of early 1980s.

В настоящее время этнополитический сепаратизм представляет собой наименее изученный феномен в современной политической науке. Сложность трактовки этого явления вызвана не только многофакторностью самого сепаратизма, но и отсутствием установленных теоретико-методологических подходов к изучению сепаратистских тенденций политической жизни. При этом сами формы минимизации насилия в ходе реализации идеологии этнополитического сепаратизма исследуются в рамках такого междисциплинарного направления, как «парадигма конфликта». В статье представлены ключевые аспекты применения конфликтологической методологии для исследования этнополитического сепаратизма. The article is aimed at presenting the key aspects of conflict paradigm as a methodological basis for analyzing ethnopolitical separatism. This latter currently represents the least scientifically scrutinized phenomenon in modern political science. The difficulty of interpreting this observable fact depends not only on the complicated nature of separatism itself, but also on the absence of approved methodological approaches to the study of separatist tendencies in political life. At the same time, the forms of violence minimization in the course of separatist ideology implementation are studied in the framework of the so-called "conflict paradigm", a stated multidisciplinary approach.

On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared independence. As of March 6, 2009, fifty-six states have recognized Kosovo's independence, while a number of states maintain that Kosovo's declaration of independence is illegal. There is no specific resolution calling for nonrecognition, yet whether an obligation of nonrecognition stems from UN Security Council Resolution 1244 is a highly disputed issue. Resolution 1244 established an international territorial administration, affirmed Serbia's territorial integrity, and called for a political process leading to settlement of Kosovo's future status. Unlike in East Timor, the political process in Kosovo did not result in a prenegotiated path to independence, confirmed by a subsequent Security Council resolution. This Article analyzes legal positions regarding Kosovo's declaration of independence and examines the significance of international involvement in the process of state creation. Despite the reference to the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the declaration of independence, Kosovo is an example of unilateral secession from Serbia. This Article concludes that international involvement implies constitutive elements of state creation and that Kosovo has some deficiencies in meeting the statehood criteria.

Obwohl es sich um eine relativ unerforschte Gruppe handelt, erfreut sich die neue Mittelschicht großer Aufmerksamkeit in der Öffentlichkeit. Im ersten Abschnitt wird der Frage nachgegangen, warum sie ein Lieblingsthema in den Medien und in der breiteren politischen Öffentlichkeit geworden ist. Im zweiten Abschnitt wird diskutiert, was die die neue Mittelschicht überhaupt ist und wie sie empirisch untersucht werden kann. Im dritten Abschnitt wird das Thema in die übergreifende Debatte um McDonaldisierung, Moderne und kulturelle Hybridisierung eingeordnet. Der Schwerpunkt des vierten Abschnitts liegt auf der Entstehung von zivilgesellschaftlichem Umweltbewusstsein, welches zwischen individueller Betroffenheit, sozialer Protestbewegung und politischer Entscheidungsfindung angesiedelt ist. Forschungsmethode: deskriptive Studie. (IAB).;;;"Although still a relatively unexplored group, the new middle classes are enjoying a great deal of public attention. The first section discusses the question of why, then, the new middle classes have become a favored topic in the media and the broader political public. Section 1.2 Iooks at who the new middle classes are and how they can be examined empirically. Section 1.3 links the issue to the overarching debate on cultural globalization between McDonaldization, modernities and cultural hybrids. The focus of Section 1.4 is on the emergence of 'civic environmentalism' between individual concern, social protest and political decision making." Forschungsmethode: deskriptive Studie. (author's abstract, IAB-Doku).

The prevention of corruption is a common theme of the election manifestos of most political parties in the run-up to the general elections of 2009. This development is without doubt due to the many allegations of wrongdoing among officials within the ruling party and its senior appointments to the public service. The loss of public trust in the South African government and the public service has been the main consequence of these allegations. Internationally, governments have put corruption prevention on their agenda. Many remedies for unethical conduct have been proposed, including a free press, independent courts of law, scrupulous behaviour by political leaders, and government reform. It is then up to individual countries to decide what 'mixture' of remedies should be applied. This article argues that our efforts to enhance ethics and integrity would benefit more by promoting, for example, an ethical organisational culture in the criminal justice system than overly focusing our attempts on prosecuting allegedly corrupt politicalleaders.

AbstractWomen in Iran have gained unprecedented experiences in the course of their fight for democracy and human rights. In the Pahlavi era, the modernisation model was based on Western patterns. With the Islamic Revolution, a new generation of Iranian women emerged in social arenas. Ayatollah Khomeini always emphasised women's prominent and important role in social life. His views shed light on potentials for women's rights, but the obstacle of old cultural and historical attitudes have made these ideas difficult to actualise. The weakness of civil organisations, including women's political and non-political organisations, has seriously affected the outcomes. Although a reformist government and the reinforcement of governmental institutions concerned with women's affairs can play a part in improving the situation of women, women's civil society organisations can assume responsibilities at social levels in order to complement the role of the representatives. The author discusses the process of women's entrance in the public sphere and efforts by the 6th parliament to protect their rights.

This study examines the burgeoning of a new 'independent' press that has emerged in the last decade in Morocco, heralding the decline of the traditional partisan press. An analysis of two partisan newspapers reveals that the partisan press has failed to promote press freedom and frequently engages in self-censorship when confronting 'red line' issues in Moroccan politics. In contrast, the enterprising independent press has sought to broaden the margin of freedom through insisting on broaching those sensitive issues. As such, it has had great ramifications and implications at the level of readership and for the political reform debate raging in the country. Paradoxically, however, while attacking the old school of journalism for its partisanship, the new independent press has carved out a new form of 'partisanship', functioning as a conduit for an oppositional political discourse. The article reviews the debate surrounding those 'red lines' and discusses the prospects of reforming the press codes as one way of ensuring the survival of this independent streak of journalism.

In this paper, I seek to prove that although liberation theology has significantly declined in the last two decades, it remains an active movement that has left a lasting mark on Latin America and is ultimately only one part of a social justice initiative within Christianity that will inevitably continue in the future. First, I give a basic overview of liberation theology's ideology, history, and relationship to the Vatican during liberation theology's "golden age," which lasted from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. Second, I explain the decline of liberation theology in the 1990s and 2000s, focusing particularly on repression from the Vatican, changes in the political climate of Latin America, and the rise of Evangelical Protestantism. Third, I discuss the present-day state of liberation theology and its impact on Latin America, looking at social, political, and religious developments that in one way or another are related to liberation theology. Fourth and last, I analyze liberation theology's roots within Christianity and its significance as a part of the Christian initiative for social justice.

La actividad política y el ejercicio del poder tienen una importante dimensión teatral que se plasma en forma de ceremonias. La dinastía Trastámara en Castilla es un buen ejemplo de la importancia de las ceremonias políticas. Este trabajo propone una clasificación tipológica de las principales ceremonias de la monarquía castellana durante la época de la dinastía Trastámara. Además, se propone también una especial valoración de los espacios en los que se realizaron las principales celebraciones de la monarquía castellana ; The political activity and the exercise of power have an important dramatic dimension that it is shaped in form of ceremonies. The Trastamara dynasty in Castile is a good example of the importance of the political ceremonies. This work proposes a typological classification of the main ceremonies of the Castilian monarchy during the years of the Trastamara dinasty. In addition, this work proposes a special valuation of the spaces in which are made the main celebrations of the Castilian monarchy

A side effect of the economic downturn since 2008 is that Ireland may meet its Kyoto Protocol commitment for 2008-2012 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but that its longer term targets for 2020 and beyond are still stringent. This paper addresses both the political challenge and the economic implications of moving to a low-carbon state. The cost of reducing carbon emissions varies widely and heavy costs could be incurred. A soundly based policy framework that keeps costs down is thus essential, while being mindful of effects on the economy and the vulnerable; the pause in economic growth provides an opportunity for long-term planning. The criteria for policy are primarily threefold: regulatory certainty, including protection from short-term political interference; clearly defined incentives that ensure a credible, long-term price of carbon; and a transparent, dynamic and fair process with which the public can engage. The roles of various policy instruments are discussed, including regulatory and market-based instruments, subsidies and taxation.

The book gathers a series of texts where the situation of the indigenous peoples of Mexico is analyzed after the three first years of a government from the National Action Party. The long-expected "Political Transition of the Mexican Government" was a relevant event in the recent history of the country because of different factors: the change of the party in power, National Action Party (Partido Acción Nacional, PAN) managed to electorally defeat Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), which had governed the nation for more than seventy years; the advancement, in terms of the democratic consolidation of political processes, as the 2000 election showed important progress as for the strengthening of democratic institutions, which in previous elections lacked the faculties to grant the minimal democratic legitimacy; the setting into motion of a new way to exercise power by means of public and governmental policies, which at first were offered as plural and open to civil participation.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in National Identities on 06/08/2009 available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14608940903081085 ; In an age of increasing globalisation and political fragmentation, does the nation have the relevance it once had? Is the re-scaling of political and economic processes associated with a similar re-scaling of national identities? The aim of the present paper is to offer an answer to these two questions on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative data recently collected for Western Europe. Cross-country trends for both national pride and national attachment are analyzed through Eurobarometer Standard surveys. Furthermore, the notion of national attachment is discussed in relation to qualitative data collected in four regional case-studies in Western Europe. On the basis of this analysis I argue that, when viewed 'from below', i.e. from the eyes of ordinary citizens, national identity continues to shape the predominant ways in which people make sense of themselves and others.