The author argues that sustainability of a global environment depends on implementation of current knowledge & capacities to manage the transition to a sustainable future. A historical account of a paradigm shift away from Baconian attitudes about nature is evidenced by international environmental conferences, but evidence shows that human's increased capacity to manage the environment has not been matched by the will to do so. The author argues that governance is our greatest challenge to manage issues such as water & food security, & that all expert sources need to adopt systemic, integrated & multi-disciplinary approaches for the transition to sustainability. Suggestions are offered for a system of governance advocating greater involvement of civil society, & the role of the UN in global commons issues. References. J. Harwell
The author argues for the importance of humor both as a part of the human condition & as particularly important to the modern condition. Humor is often seen as a low form of intellect, & the author does not deny that this may be true. But he argues that this "lowness" is not the same thing as unimportance. Indeed, he believes that it is the task of late modernity, of post-historical humanity, to focus on humor. Other eras have contributed great ideas & lofty ideals to society & to the history of humanity. They have left our age to fill in the lower intellectual strata, including those layers dedicated to humor. It would be a violation of our place in history to fail to do so. D. Knaff
David Held's flawed, gloomy diagnosis of the global security, trade & policy architecture leads him to faulty conclusions. Martin Wolf, author of Why Globalization Works, prefers confident realism about the world's future. Adapted from the source document.
Provides a forward to the book The Founders on God and Government in which the author argues that political historians have overlooked the ties between religion & politics in the founding of the United States. Adapted from the source document
"Thomas Berkers Beitrag über den Alltag transnationaler Wissensarbeit rückt das Phänomen transnationaler Mobilität in den Kontext der alltäglichen Nutzung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IuK-Technologien). Transnational agierende Wissenschaftler, nicht anders als ihre daheim gebliebenen Kollegen, verfügen in der Regel über privilegierten Zugang zu einer breiten Palette von Kommunikations- und Informationswerkzeugen und arbeiten unter außerordentlich flexiblen raum-zeitlichen Bedingungen. Hinzu kommt, dass sie als Migranten in räumlich weit ausgreifende soziale Netzwerke eingebunden sind. Sie sind damit ideale Untersuchungsobjekte für den oft vorausgesetzten und selten analysierten Zusammenhang zwischen neuen IuK-Technologien und dem Alltag extremer raum-zeitlicher Entgrenzung. Das hier analysierte Material besteht im Kern aus Interviews mit 22 transnationalen Wissensarbeitern in Norwegen (Trondheim) und Deutschland (Darmstadt), in denen sie nach ihren alltäglichen Arbeits-, Kommunikations- und Informationsroutinen befragt wurden. Das Ergebnis sind detaillierte Inventare alltäglicher Mediennutzung und dichte Beschreibungen transnationalen Alltags. In der Analyse zeigt sich, dass die Schraube der fortschreitenden Entkopplung von Raum und Zeit, die Giddens zu den zentralen Tendenzen der Moderne zählt, bei den hier Befragten tatsächlich ein Stückchen weiter gedreht ist. Das Ergebnis ist ein eigenständiger Alltagstypus mit neuen Freiheiten und Zwängen. Er ist charakterisiert durch die ständige Verhandlung zwischen Ent- und Reterritorialisierung, in der traditionale Grenzen (z. B. zwischen on- und offline, zwischen Arbeit und Leben usw.) verwischt und neu gezogen werden. IuK-Technologien sind dabei gleichzeitig 'verkörperter' und unbefragter Teil alltäglicher Routinen, sie sind Elemente der Destabilisierung und sind Werkzeuge des instrumentellen Managements neuer Ordnungen." (Autorenreferat)
"The author provides a comparative analysis of Central Asian leadership with a special focus on power, nation-building and the legacy of authoritarian rulers. The article deals with their roles, images, status and personal characteristics, their accession to and retaining of power, how they rule their respective countries and the expected effects of their soon-to-be ending presidencies. The author poses questions such as: 'What are the power resources of presidents and their political regimes? What types of leadership exist? Who are those leaders who share a common background that dates back to the Soviet period? Do they shape the common future of Central Asia?' One of his main arguments is that all five leaders are authoritarian rulers, whose apparatus often plays the role of real, albeit informal, state power and keeps control of the other power branches." (author's abstract)
"Dan Smith gives an overview of the current findings on the causes of armed conflict at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21th century. Emphasis is placed upon where to look for signs of potential escalation when analysing conflicts, as well as where to seek opportunities for preventing violent escalation. The author then discusses the state of theoretical knowledge in this area, before proceeding to outline methodology, moving away from a theoretical and towards an applied approach for the study and analysis of armed conflict. Emphasis is placed upon the interplay between background and foreground causes. Injustice and mobilisation turn out to be key concepts for interpreting the causes of armed conflicts. To illustrate this the author gives an example: the significance of perceived injustice and identity as objects for political mobilisation towards conflict during the decay of the former Yugoslavia." (author's abstract)
In this chapter of Life after Reform: When Bipartisan Campaign Reform Meets Politics, the author traces the odyssey Congress traveled to produce the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) as an overview of the diverse policy views, & the difficulties of resolving the many substantive concerns of campaign finance reform. Diverse policy preferences & the debates are contextualized in the contentious political environment that limited coalition building due to tensions between differing perspectives on problem definition, partisan interests, constitutional imperatives & parliamentary procedure. The evolution of the partisan debate on soft monies & labor union spending issues surrounding the McCain Feingold bill are traced through the 106th & 107th Congresses & eventual signing by President Bush. The author concludes that debates about campaign finance reform remain because the debate originates in the various determinates of the behavior of political donors that lead to diverse policy preferences. 1 Table. J. Harwell
The article discusses the Columbian health care reforms of 1993. The author seeks to discover how reform was affected by health care models & reforms in neighboring countries, & then explores the impetus for reform. An analysis of current outcomes & directions for future development concludes the article. B. Boyce
"The author surveys international reactions to the turmoil in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005 and the Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan in May 2005. While she discusses the behaviour of the neighbouring Central Asian states in the first part of the article, in the second part she analyses the responses of China, Russia and the United States, which are competing for influence in Central Asia, especially in the energy sector. In the third part the author examines the development of a post-Soviet multilateralism into a multi-vector one and the co-operation and integration of it into the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Co-Operation Organization (SCO) and the OSCE. She also reflects on the mostly Western international organizations such as the European Union (EU) and international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Finally she discusses the reactions of international human rights organizations." (author's abstract)
The author considers the impacts of the "Millionaires Amendment" of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) in this chapter of Life after Reform: When Bipartisan Campaign Reform Meets Politics. Self financing as an issue of political equality is discussed in relation to the First Amendment & Buckley vs Valeo as an attempt to raise the opponents opportunity without restricting the wealthy self-financer. But, the direct impact of BCRA on self-lending is a reduction of competition due to increased risk nonrepayment of self-loans, increased individual contribution limits due to the opposition's receipts, & an incumbent protector. The extended effect of the Millionaire's Amendment on the contour of the candidate field is the possibility of less deterrence of new candidates facing self financers, although few elections will be impacted by the constraints of the amendment. The author concludes that the impacts on strategic decisions of potential candidates cannot be clearly predicted. 1 Table. J. Harwell
The author argues that the near invisibility of women of color in political science research is a result of the following: the definition of politics, the increasing reliance on survey data as the evidence of choice, limited attempts to expand political science curriculum, & the demographics of American politics educators. More research is needed on the historical political activity of women of color as well as research addressing their current policy preferences, political views, & level of political participation. In order to gain a better understanding about women of color's political participation & their contributions to American politics, the author suggests that we need to disaggregate the category "women of color" & broaden our definition of political activity to include the actions these women take on a local level. She calls on scholars to be "politically conscious," & conduct research that can help to empower & improve the lives of women of color. J. Harwell
The author analyzes the various Middle Eastern responses to the war in Iraq, noting that the Bush Doctrine's focus on democratization is generally criticized as neo-imperialistic while the war itself has provided leaders with an opportunity to side with the US in order to address Islamic-inspired violence in their regions. D. Miller
"Hugh Miall identifies the key theorists and modes of practice of conflict transformation, and attempts to distinguish these from the theories and practices of conflict resolution and conflict management, while at the same time arguing that conflict transformation draws heavily on these earlier traditions. The author comes to the conclusion that further developments in theory and practice are underway as the nature of contemporary conflict continues to change. Local armed conflicts may have increasingly global causes and consequences and there is globalisation both of conflict and of interventions in conflict. The author argues that the subject of analysis has to shift from conflict to conflict-in-context, from the society in conflict to the global and regional environment. This creates cultural challenges for those theories and practices that are still dominated by western perspectives, but also ethical questions for practitioners who seek to uphold non-violent methods in contexts where coercion and the use of force are widely accepted" (author's abstract)
"Thania Paffenholz outlines concepts and experiences for designing and assessing intervention strategies. The article discusses the problems which result from the question of which actor can intervene with which strategies and instruments, and at what time in any particular situation of conflict. Drawing upon her field experience, the author formulates ten issues that need to be addressed in intervention design: 1. the need for vision, goals and commitment; 2. methods of analysing conflicts and actors; 3. strategies and roles of intervening actors; 4. the ongoing search for adequate partners and entry points; 5. timing and exit options of interventions; 6. thinking in processes and building structures; 7. criteria for the recruitment of field staff; 8. co-ordination and co-operation; 9. the inclusion of the goals of sustainability and 10. building learning into the process of interventions. These aspects are examined from the perspective of NGOs' reality in conflict and finally the author raises the difficulties of creating knowledge management mechanisms within organisations and programmes." (author's abstract)
