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"At the end of the High Middle Ages in Europe, with buying power and economic sophistication at a high, an itinerary detailing the toll stations along a commercial artery carrying eastern goods (from China, India and Iran) towards Europe was compiled, and later incorporated in the well-known trading manual of the Florentine bank official Pegolotti; Pegolotti was twice stationed in the city of Famagusta in Cyprus, which lay opposite the city of Ayas where the land route ended. The Il-Khanid capital, Tabriz in Iran, attracting expensive merchandise such as spices and silk from a variety of origins, was the road's starting-point. To demonstrate the importance of the route in its own time, parallel and contemporary routes in the Black Sea and the Levant are traced and the effect of trade on their cities noted. To compare the Ayas itinerary (1250s to 1330s) with previous periods the networks of commercial avenues in the previous period (1100-1250) and the subsequent one (1340s to 1500) are reconstructed. In each period the connection of east-west trade with the main movements of the European economy are fully drawn out, and the effects on the building history of the three main Italian cities concerned (Venice, Genoa and Florence) are sketched. Attention then turns to the Pegolotti itinerary itself. The individual toll stations are identified employing a variety of means, such as names taken from the Roman itineraries (Peutinger Table and Antonine Itinerary) and archaeological data; this allows the course of the track to be followed through diverse topography to the city of Sivas, then across plains and through passes to Erzurum and finally to Tabriz. A picture is drawn of the urban history of each major city, including Sivas, Erzurum and Tabriz itself, and of the other towns along the route."

Abstract
Theron Pummer's impressive new book The Rules of Rescue seeks to defend effective altruism without taking on the controversial moral theoretical commitments. Through an exploration of the framework of requiring reasons and permitting reasons that is the backbone of his argument, this article raises some doubts about how successful Pummer's strategy of avoidance can be.

AbstractThe argument from background justice is that conformity to Lockean principles of justice in agreements and transactions does not preclude the development of inequalities that undermine the freedom and fairness of those very transactions, and that, therefore, special principles are needed to regulate society's "basic structure." Rawls offers this argument as his "first kind of reason" for taking the basic structure to be the primary subject of justice. Here I explore the background justice argument and its implications for questions about the scope of distributive justice. As it turns out, the background justice argument can offer no independent support for conclusions about the scope of distributive justice. For the special principles that it justifies inherit their scope from conclusions that must be established or assumed in advance. These prior conclusions are precisely what is at issue in debates about global justice.

In setting an agenda for policy sciences, Harold Lasswell argued that the field would be shaped by its contextuality, problem orientation, & methodological diversity. The review of developments in the field in this article shows that scholars have divided into positivist & post-positivist orientations that employ multiple frameworks & models. I argue that theoretical diversity should be expected & welcomed given the complexity of policy processes & phenomena. The article encourages positivists & post-positivists alike to allow the problem being studied to drive analysis & to seek ways to integrate different theoretical & methodological approaches. References. Adapted from the source document.

Community building, with its emphasis on developing capacities of organizations in low-income communities, is sparking wide interest among public administration practitioners and scholars. However, the community-building literature oversimplifies the complex relationships between individuals, community institutions, and government. Using a structuration approach theorized by Giddens, these interactions are explored using the arrival of new residents—or strangers—as the impetus for community redefinition. The article concludes that all types of communities, not just those typically targeted for community building may benefit from governmental interventions when undergoing transitions.

Reviews the key arguments promoted by advocates for reforming the US Congress & examines the substantive & procedural dilemmas confronting members of Congress as they attempt to respond to calls for reform. Illustrations are provided via a number of recent ethical cases in Congress. It is concluded that the standards that Congress employs & the procedures its members use to enforce them are strongly influenced by the unique constitutional & political context of the institution. As legislators proceed in their efforts to institute new ethical standards, they will continually attempt to strike a balance between legitimate yet contradictory ethical, political, legislative, & procedural demands. Adapted from the source document.