America After Utopia

The French social critic and lapsed sociologist Jean Baudrillard, who died in 2007, is author of the highly acclaimed America and Cool Memories . One of the more poignant observers of America since his compatriot Alexis de Tocqueville roamed these lands, Baudrillard's insights, in the manner of the parochial universalism of Parisian post-Marxist intellectuals, dazzle some-where between the brilliant and impenetrable. Back in 1990, I sat down with him in the haute tacky Royal Palace motel in Los Angeles, which Baudrillard claimed was his favorite city. For him, LA was the closest thing to a center in this heterogeneous, ex-centric world.     

America in Shock

America is in shock. It is not because of the unusual sight of the first black President taking up residence in the White House. Barack Obama's profile, after all, is more familiar to the diverse population of today's ethnically and racially hybrid America than the fast disappearing WASP identity of George Bush. Sooner or later, but always, politics codifies cultural change, not the other way around. America is in shock because our economic and financial landscape is suddenly unrecognizable.     

Populism in latin America

Studies in Comparative International Development -     

美国儿童福利制度简介

美国儿童福利的演进以1909年为界,经历了前制度化阶段和制度化阶段.福利项目的内容主要涉及收入保障、食品与营养、医疗卫生以及教育等方面.项目形式包括现金、所得税抵免、实物、服务和代金券等等.到20世纪90年代中期,由于费用不断膨胀和公众舆论的影响,美国儿童福利制度进行了调整.新制度强调了节省开支、工作伦理和道德要求等方面的内容.     

Surviving Chernobyl in America

Abstract

This paper fills an informational gap for multidisciplinary providers of services to the former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants in the United States, highlighting the long-term medical and mental health consequences of this group's pre-migration exposure to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The international literature is selectively presented together with recent findings of Chernobyl mental health sequelae in a cohort residing in the United States. Guidelines for service providers, as well as Russian language health service resources in US cities populated by significant FSU communities, are also furnished.     

Demilitarisation in Latin America

Since the mid 1970s relations between the USA and Libya have been antagonistic. The radical policies the regime of Muammar Qadaaffi has pursued have made Libya one of the USA's bêtes noires . The reasons for US antagonism derive from Libya's repression at home, its alleged support for terrorism and for radical movements opposed to US interests, its staunch opposition to Israel, and its anti-Western rhetoric. Libya's hostility towards the USA rests on a perception of the USA as a global power intent on maintaining its hegemony and control over the Arab and Islamic world. Libyans have been resentful of US support of Israel to the detriment of Arabs and Muslims. Libya's resolute opposition to the USA especially in the 1980s, resulted in a series of military confrontations. The USA has maintained sanctions despite the suspension of UN sanctions on Libya in 1999. The USA has retained Libya on its short list of 'rogue states' despite recognition that Libya has stopped sponsoring terrorism. The contention here is that Libya, like the other 'rogue states', provides justification for US domestic policies (eg National Missile Defense). Given the events of 11 September 2001 in the US, it is quite conceivable that Libya could become a target of the US antiterrorism campaign. The USA could at last find valid justification for the removal of the Qadaffi regime.     

'New regionalism' in Central America

Central American regionalism is in a state of disarray after having been surrounded by great enthusiasm in the early 1990s. This article explores whether a 'new regionalism' framework can improve our understanding of this turn of events. It is argued that Central American integration lacks a series of features assumed to characterise 'new regionalism'. It has not been accompanied by spontaneous societal integration, its main stimulus has come from external actors, and the goal of the process has narrowed from originally being human welfare and security in a wide sense, to primarily being integration in the global economy. This is reflected in the integrationist rhetoric, where globalisation has entered the centre stage and is presented as a threat to which regional action should respond. This change has also rendered regional agreements largely superfluous as the member states pursue policies aimed at global integration regardless of the integration process.