Speaking through the body: detention and bodily resistance in Italy

This work reflects on the character of the modalities that non-status migrants are deploying in the context of current politics of the camp, with special attention to the Italian context. It will suggest that once the possibilities of dissent through the voice (the political tool par excellence in a liberal democracy, and one associated primarily with rationality and the capacity for reason) are foreclosed, migrants tend to resort to another powerful tool: their own body. Detainees have made their bodies speak by resorting to practices of self-mutilation, hunger strike, suicide attempts, and lips and eyes sewing. Detainees' violent acts of dissent are not dissimilar from the violent modalities used, a few centuries earlier, by some enslaved people who chose liberty through death. The aim is not so much to make comparison between the two figures, but to emphasise the way in which, under conditions of extreme control, subjugation or unfreedom, acts of dissent and resistance – and thus acts of politics, as articulated in Rancière's concept of dissensus – are not necessarily enacted through democratic practices but, on the contrary, through whatever modalities are available to them, including violent (self-harm) modalities.     

A guide for the analysis of policy arguments

Based on what appears to be required for fully supporting a proposal for policy action, a series of interrelated propositional types is suggested as a tool for the design and critique of policy arguments. The kinds of criticisms to which different prepositional types are susceptible and the impacts of these on a policy argument are explored as are the uses persons in different roles might make of these criticisms. Finally, as an example, the typology is applied to a portion of the President's 1973 State of the Union Address.A draft of this paper was prepared while the author was Research Fellow in the Educational Policy Research Center at Syracuse. Suggestions on earlier drafts by Paul P. Van Riper, Warren A. Dixon, and Gerald C. Swanson at Texas A&M University are acknowledged with appreciation.     

Professional insecurities: A guide to understanding and career management

Professional insecurities include the expectation that ones job or career, and all that depends upon it, are at risk through denial of tenure, dismissal from an official position, or other sanctions for non-compliance with established practices. The expanding subdivision of work in modern society exacerbates professional insecurities by precipitating conflicts of conscience and by proliferating practices that are often ambiguous and incompatible, but nevertheless must be taken seriously because they are expected to be enforced with severe sanctions. This article suggests how the problem of professional insecurities might be understood and managed by aspiring policy scientists especially, and by others as well. There are no universal or final solutions to the problem, but there are better working solutions for particular persons and situations if we are intelligent enough to find them through applications of central theory.     

Migrants’ inhabiting through commoning and state enclosures. A postface

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I deploy the framework of commons as social systems which I have developed in my last book Omnia Sunt Communia to interpret the debate developed in this issue, enquire on the relationship between commons and citizenship, and ground the question of migrants’ inhabiting on the theory of commoning.     

When government programs create inequities: A guide to compensation policies

When the government institutes a program thought to be useful for society as a whole, such as building a highway or controlling air pollution, those that benefit from such programs are usually quite different from those that bear its costs. Sometimes the government responds by postponing or modifying the program, sometimes by compensating those that are bearing an inequitable share of the costs. By using familiar economic concepts, the analyst can more effectively choose between the two approaches. Applying those concepts to the case of highway construction in California, we conclude that in this instance cash compensation is clearly superior to postponement as the policy of choice.     

On the uses of econometric models: A guide for policy makers

This paper reviews the evidence on ex ante and ex post forecasting with econometric models, considering in particular the role of human judgment in improving forecast accuracy. The importance of human judgment in econometric forecasting and the general superiority of ex ante over ex post forecasts provide evidence of model misspecification, which casts doubt on the validity of econometric policy simulations. An inadequate basis for selection among alternative models with differing policy implications undermines further the utility of these models in policy analysis and in testing hypotheses. Despite this record of performance macroeconometric models thrive and are widely used in policy analysis. Some reasons for their survival and importance in policy are suggested, and guidelines for the use of econometric models in the policy process are given.     

异性恋和同性恋——《九重天》的解构阅读

拟从解构主义的视角梳理美国剧作家卡里尔·邱吉尔《九重天》一剧中异性恋和同性恋之间的关系。异性恋和同性恋本是有着严格等级关系的二元对立,但是随着剧情的展开,这两者之间的等级秩序却发生了倒置。但是这新建立的等级秩序在剧尾却未能保持稳定。异性恋和同性恋之间关系的不稳定性,在笔者看来,正是事物本然的状态。     

网络多媒体在大学英语阅读教学中的应用研究

网络多媒体为大学英语阅读教学提供了重要的方法和手段。笔者通过对哈尔滨医科大学98名非英语专业本科学生进行的实证分析证实:网络多媒体教学比传统教学更能激发学生的英语阅读兴趣并能够有效地提高学生的英语阅读能力。建议要通过合理地选择阅读材料、发挥网络互动优势、建立科学的评估体系,从而激发学生的英语阅读兴趣,促进大学英语教学整体水平的提高。