In the shadow of Venona

John F. Neville, The Press, the Rosenbergs, and the Cold War (Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 1995). Pp.207, biblio, index. ISBN 0–275–94995–8.

John E. Haynes, Red Scare or Red Menace (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996). Pp.214, biblio, index. $24.95. ISBN 1–56663–090–8.     

In Search of the Uncovered Set

e-mail: nmiller{at}umbc.edu This paper pursues a number of theoretical explorations andconjectures pertaining to the uncovered set in spatial votinggames. It was stimulated by the article "The Uncovered Set andthe Limits of Legislative Action" by W. T. Bianco, I. Jeliazkov,and I. Sened (2004, Political Analysis 12:256–78) thatemployed a grid-search computational algorithm for estimatingthe size, shape, and location of the uncovered set, and it hasbeen greatly facilitated by access to the CyberSenate spatialvoting software being developed by Joseph Godfrey. I bring tolight theoretical considerations that account for importantfeatures of the Bianco, Jeliazkov, and Sened results (e.g.,the straight-line boundaries of uncovered sets displayed insome of their figures, the "unexpectedly large" uncovered setsdisplayed in other figures, and the apparent sensitivity ofthe location of uncovered sets to small shifts in the relativesizes of party caucuses) and present theoretical insights ofmore general relevance to spatial voting theory.     

In Pursuit of the Public Interest

What does the injunction “serve the public interest” really mean for public managers, and why is it important? By way of an answer, this analysis systematizes different perspectives on the public interest and offers a multifaceted formulation of the public manager’s duty. It is a process involving the exploration of two concerns—democracy and mutuality—in the current time frame and two others—sustainability and legacy—in the future time frame.     

商於古道的开辟述论

商於古道是中国古代长安经蓝田、商州通向南阳、邓州、荆襄以至江南和岭南的交通要道。它因拥有沿河溪成路的优越地理条件,在上古人们自然踩踏的基础上,春秋战国时期出于军事需要,秦楚两国在该条道路上修建城池、关隘,使其成为一条军事、商业要道。