SYMPOSIUM: RESURGENT ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The following is an edited version of the proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Middle East Policy Council on May 26, 1994, in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Former Senator George McGovern, President of the Council, introduced the panel; Thomas R. Mattair, the Councis Director of Research and Policy Analysis, was the organizer and moderator; Michael Collins Dunn, Senior Analyst of The International Estimate, Inc., and editor of its biweekly newsletter, The Estimate, was the discussant.     

Popular science,social science,metaphor and deception

He written widely on a variety of topics and is author or co-author of many books and articles. Among his books are Address Unknown: Homelessness in America; Homelessness and Health; After the Clean-Up: Long Range Effects of Natural Disasters; Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Firearms; Under the Gun: Weapons Crime and Violence in America;and The State of the Masses.His current research focusses on adolescent violence and on treament programs for homeless alcohol and drug abusers.     

'To Secure the Blessings of Liberty': Liberty and American Federal Democracy

The founding and subsequent development of the United Stateshave been characterized by a tension between two kinds of liberty,which can be called natural liberty and federal liberty. Naturalliberty refers to the freedom of individuals to do as they pleasewithout being shackled by civil society. Federal liberty refersto the liberty to be a partner in establishing the covenantfounding civil society, and then the liberty to live accordingto the terms of the covenant. Federal liberty has taken twoforms in America: one concerning the relationship between individualsand civil society, and one concerning the relationship betweenthe states and the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.Out of the tension between natural and federal liberty, thereemerged two constitutional traditions: the U.S. constitutionaltradition, which has emphasized individualism and the marketplace,and the state constitutional tradition, which has emphasizedcommunity and commonwealth. Since the end of World War II, however,there has been a shift away from historic syntheses of marketplaceand commonwealth. Increasingly, the states have been deniedtheir constitutional powers to support any particular moralorder other than that of the marketplace, and the federal governmenthas undertaken to establish a new morality of equality for thenation as a whole.     

The stress of secondary school for vulnerable students

An assessment of the stress of junior high/middle school (JH/MS) can be made by comparing overall behavior and academic student patterns in JH/MS with those in elementary school (ES), and by evaluating the differential educational consequences experienced by JH/MS students who had varying degrees of maladjustment in ES. Specific numeric data indicate that the environment is far more open, combative, frightening, impersonal, and academically taxing in JH/MS than in the ES. Partly as a result, suspensions, unexcused absenteeism, and grade failure occur at a much greater overall rate in JH/MS. Also, the immediate aftermath of these school adversities is significantly more deleterious in JH/MS than in ES. An analysis of the differential outcome data reveals that JH/MS students who had prominent ES maladjustments have a 5–13-fold greater rate of grade failure, suspension, and undue absenteeism than do students without such ES difficulties, and that generally students without major ES malajustment patterns continue to perform well after their entry to secondary school. In effect, then, JH/MS is primarily a stressful environment for students who are vulnerable on entry.Reveived M. D. from University of Wisconsin. Research interests include school mental health, hyperactivity, and psychopharmacology.