Suchergebnisse

In the July 2006 parliamentary elections, a majority of ethnic Macedonians voted for the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE, right-wing) in the hope that Macedonia would end a difficult chapter of its history - the post-conflict period. Since an Albanian armed insurgency erupted in February 2001, the political agenda had indeed been virtually dominated by interethnic issues. In 2001, early international involvement had prevented the armed confrontation from turning into a full scale civil war. But the Ohrid Framework agreement (FA) that successfully put an end to violence on August 13, 2001, entailed major constitutional and institutional changes designed to redress what was perceived as imbalances between the ethnic Macedonian majority and the Albanian community (.).

Social scientists study two kinds of inequality: inequality between persons (as in income inequality) and inequality between subgroups (as in racial inequality). This paper analyzes the mathematical connections between the two kinds of inequality. The paper proceeds by exploring a set of two-parameter continuous probability distributions widely used in economic and sociological applications. We define a general inequality parameter, which governs all measures of personal inequality (such as the Gini coefficient), and we link this parameter to the gap (difference or ratio) between the means of subdistributions. In this way we establish that, at least in the two-parameter distributions analyzed here, and for the case of two nonoverlapping subgroups, as personal inequality increases, so does inequality between subgroups. This general inequality parameter also governs Lorenz dominance. Further, we explore the connection between subgroup inequality (in particular, the ratio of the bottom subgroup mean to the top subgroup mean) and decomposition of personal inequality into between-subgroup and within-subgroup components, focusing on an important decomposable measure, Theil's MLD, and its operation in the Pareto case. This allows us to establish that all the quantities in the decomposition are monotonic functions of the general inequality parameter. Thus, the general inequality parameter captures the deep structureʺ of inequality. We also introduce a whole-distribution graphical tool for assessing personal and subgroup inequality. Substantively, this work suggests that in at least some societies, characterized by special income distributions, whenever inequality disrupts social harmony and social cohesion, it attacks on two fronts, via subgroup inequality as well as personal inequality.

Responds to Melvyn P. Leffler's article, "9/11 and American Foreign Policy" (Diplomatic History, June 2005). Leffler is praised for acknowledging the complex history of US foreign policy when analyzing the policies of the George W. Bush administration; however various weaknesses in his argument are identified. The structure of Leffler's analysis is considered unconvincing, particularly regarding the relationship between threat perception & ideals & values. Also, Leffler is criticized for his non-specific evaluation of Bush's policies. L. Collins Leigh