Anarchism, Internationalism and Nationalism in Europe, 1860–1939

This article is part of a broader project on the social history or histories of anarchism. The standard accounts of anarchism (Nettlau, Joll, Woodcock, Marshall etc.) have been combinations of the histories of ideas and political/social movements. A larger project I am engaged in uses another methodology and is reliant upon the vast outpouring of published and unpublished academic writing on social history that has been produced since the 1960s. I will cover only several interconnected themes here: anarchism, internationalism and nationalism in Europe. This article will give a synoptic overview of the internationalism of the European anarchist and syndicalist movements during the “classical” period of anarchism (1860–1939). It focuses on the First and Second Internationals and the birth of the Third. It examines the ideology and culture of Internationalism, which was the nursery of the modern anarchist movement. The linkage between federalist and regionalist republicanism is stressed and the legacy of the Paris Commune of 1871 is highlighted. The desire to secure a global level playing field in labour markets promoted labour internationalism during the First International and a revival of this strategy by anarchists and syndicalists during the era of the Second International. The mismatch of industrial development and union density between industrialised Britain or Germany and artisanal and industrialising France and southern Europe limited internationalism in the 1860s and the 1900s. Equally the patriotic legacy of the Commune of Paris undermined the internationalism of anarchists and syndicalists when war broke out in 1914. In 1917–1918 anarchist and syndicalist internationalism seemed to be revived as Europe entered a period of revolutionary discontent. But very quickly the Bolsheviks and the Soviet Union channelled this wave into the Third International and ultimately the interests of the newly born Soviet State. Anarchist and syndicalist internationalism had little effect on the fortunes of the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War in a world of nation‐states and state‐centric political parties and movements.     

Sustainable Development as a Policy Telos: A New Approach to Political Problem-Solving

The world seems to be characterized by political pluralization (the emergence of 'polities' other than the nation state) in addition to an already existing state of moral pluralism. This severely complicates political attempts at problem-solving on, for example, a global scale. One of the most stressing potential problems is the coexistence of mutually effacing or contradictory systems of political norms. To tackle such problems, we argue that policy teloi – shared conceptions giving direction to cooperative political ventures (particularly sustainable development ) – can be helpful. The conditions of success for policy teloi in the case of environmental sustainability are investigated.     

The fragile politics of addiction

Suppose the optimizing consumer only has local information, then what? Obviously, there will be a random element of consumption. The link between the frequency distribution of consumption by person and preference surface is worked out. Under convex preferences there will be a unimodal distribution and conversely. A local optimizing theory of addictive behavior is developed from nonconvex preferences. The resulting bimodal distribution of consumption implies a nonrobust outcome for median voter politics. Such a local optimizing model of addiction is compared with globally optimizing models of addiction.     

Risk compensation and the effectiveness of safety belt use laws: a case study of New Jersey

This paper investigates the effectiveness of New Jersey's mandatory belt use law (MUL) by testing specifically for: (1) a safety effect, and (2) a risk-compensation effect that could offset (in part) any safety impact. The main findings are that injury severity declined significantly in the 22 months following implementation of the MUL; but that accident frequency increased significantly. The increase in accidents may be explained only partially by increased driving mileage. These findings suggest that the real safety effect of the law may have been diluted by risk-compensating behavior.This paper is based on a study conducted for the New Jersey Office of Highway Traffic Safety by the Rutgers University Bureau of Economic Research. We are grateful to William Ascher and two referees for useful comments.     

Masterstatus, Familie und Geschlecht

Intention des Beitrages ist es, Geschlecht und Familie auf der Basis eines institutionenorientierten Lebenslaufansatzes neu zu durchdenken. Die Zentrierung auf gesellschaftliche Institutionen als Orte der Vermittlung von individuellem Handeln und sozialstrukturellen Bedingungen ermöglicht es, mikro-, meso- und makrosoziale Interdependenzen in den Mittelpunkt zu rücken und bisher zum großen Teil verdeckten, da indirekten Strukturierungen von Geschlechterverhältnissen auf die Spur zu kommen. Aus dieser Perspektive relativiert sich die in der Lebenslaufforschung dominierende Individualisierungs-These zugunsten der Erkenntnis, dass Individuen sich durch institutionelle Eigenlogiken untereinander vernetzt sehen, die sie in neue Zwickmühlen bringen. Der Beitrag von Lebenslauf-Institutionen zur Rekonstruktion einer Geschlechterordnung gerät zwar zunehmend in Widerspruch zu Anforderungen an das individuelle Management der eigenen Biographie, doch der relationale Bezug zwischen Institutionen scheint Familie und Geschlecht weder aus ihren subjektiven Verpflichtungsmustern zu entlassen, noch aus ihrer sozialstrukturellen Vermittlerrolle zwischen biographischen Optionen und inkompatiblen institutionellen Verfügbarkeits-Ansprüchen.     

A simulation model of tobacco youth access policies

Empirical studies have found that policies aimed at reducing youth access to tobacco have been successful at increasing retail compliance, but their effects on actual tobacco use are mixed. This article presents a model of youth access policies that helps explain the apparently conflicting results in the extant literature, provides a framework for future empirical studies, and suggests implications for public policy. Our model highlights the interaction of components in a well-designed policy, including sufficient compliance checks, penalties, and community involvement. It also illustrates why it will be difficult to eliminate all of youth supply. Nonretail sources, such as borrowing or stealing from parents and siblings and purchasing from older peers through black markets, are an important component of youth supply and become more important as retail access is reduced. The analysis is limited to policies that affect the retail supply of cigarettes but suggests the need for other policies that affect the demand for cigarettes, such as taxes and cessation policies, in order to further reduce youth smoking rates.