Of ‘Misguided Notions’ and Misguiding Nations: The Growth Report,Poverty and Climate Change

The Growth Report neither addresses the issue of growth and poverty, nor considers the implications of binding constraints on global carbon emissions, which invalidate the argument for global growth as a positive‐sum game. The polarisation of the debate on growth and poverty reflects different perspectives and priorities between economists, environmentalists and development professionals, and the absence of constructive dialogue between them. “Growth or no growth?” is the wrong question. Reconciling poverty eradication and tackling climate change requires us rather to ask what our ultimate objectives are, and how economic policy can best achieve them.     

The military and bureaucracy in Greece – 1967–1974

This article attempts to examine and analyse the Greek military regime's (1967-1974) relations with the country's administrative apparatus. After briefly tracing the historical and ecological dimensions of these two institutions the article analyses their relations during the 7-year period on the basis of Eckstein and Gurr's superordinate-subordinate theoretical framework. The relevant data, which include interviews with senior civil servants as well as military officers, indicate that due to the nature of their profession, which emphasizes discipline and strict subordination, the military as political governors create an atmosphere to which the less regimented and more give-and-take-oriented bureaucracies have difficulty becoming accustomed. Military regimes and administrators do not enjoy the best of relations.     

Intergenerational Justice and Climate Change

Global climate change has important implications for the way in which benefits and burdens will be distributed amongst present and future generations. As a result it raises important questions of intergenerational justice. It is shown that there is at least one serious problem for those who wish to approach these questions by utilizing familiar principles of justice. This is that such theories often pre-suppose harm-based accounts of injustice which are incompatible with the fact that the very social policies which climatologists and scientists claim will reduce the risks of climate change will also predictably, if indirectly, determine which individuals will live in the future. One proposed solution to this problem is outlined grounded in terms of the notion of collective interests.     

Real Reform or Change for Chumps: Earmark Policy Developments, 2006–2010

In response to widespread perceptions of problems associated with congressional earmarks, reform efforts began in late 2006 and continued through 2010. This essay summarizes those problems, explains the distribution of earmarks within Congress, and documents their rise and relative fall between 1991 and 2010 using government and public interest group databases. The author explains and critiques earmark reform policies, including congressional rules, initiatives taken by the congressional appropriations committees, and reforms pursued by the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. Congressional rules and committee‐initiated reforms have been most effective, resulting in significant improvements in earmark transparency and accountability. The number and dollar value of earmarks first dropped noticeably in fiscal year 2007 after an earmark moratorium, and then stabilized as reforms were implemented. It is premature to conclude that these levels will continue or that reforms will alter the policy content of earmarks or their distribution among members of Congress.     

国际气候问题及我国应对之策

2010年底在墨西哥坎昆召开的联合国气候大会,标志着冷战结束以来以国际气候变化为代表的全球环境问题,已经成为影响当前国际安全和国际关系的重大问题。该问题对包括我国在内的广大发展中国家的国家利益和国家安全都有很深的影响。国际气候变化问题的实质是西方利用其话语霸权之优势,阻遏非西方世界过快赶超而精心设计的战略陷阱和圈套,是国际政治斗争与国家利益较量的新型表现形式,其核心是所谓的"气候政治学"。对此,我国应有充分的认识,并积极应对。     

Assessing Climate Change: International Co-operation and Predictions of Environmental Change

Past scientific assessments of global climate change impacts have tended to give us information on global impacts. But scientists have been refining their predictions down to regional, national and local levels. Improved understanding of climate change impacts, and particularly more specific information on which countries are most vulnerable, will affect international co-operation. Presumably, countries that are most vulnerable to climate change will be more likely to join international efforts to address climate change. At least that is what one could logically hypothesise. Questions addressed include: Does 'vulnerability' to climate change matter for international co-operation? What might be the political impact of improved understanding of the effects of climate change on international environmental co-operation?