The Gorilla in the Closet: Joint and Several Liability and the Cleanup of Toxic Waste Sites

The use of the tort law doctrine joint and several liability (JSL) to Superfund, the federal program to cleanup inactive toxic waste sites, has been controversial since, its inception. Despite this controversy, the underlying assumptions for utilizing JSL have gone largely unexamined. We look at four rationales for applying joint and several liability in this setting: (a) a fairness rationale; (b) a settlement rationale; (c) a deep pockets rationale; and (d) an incentives effects rationale. We find that it is unclear whether JSL has had the desired effect of encouraging swift site clean ups. At a minimum it seems clear that unexpected and undesired consequences accompany its use warranting further research on this important public policy question.     

Sui Jianguo： Discovering His Own Voice

The mistake about artists of my genera- tion is believing that we were only in- fluenced by the ＇cultural revolution.＇ We were aware of history before that time and there were many cultural iconsfrom which to draw influence.     

Visit Tibet with an Open Mind

I'm a graphic designer from San Francisco. I'd never been to Tibet before and had only seen a handful of pictures of it. I have a friend who's been here a couple of times, and whenever he talks about it, he gets a dreamy, faraway, happy look. Based on that, I was pretty sure I was in for a really special experience. The little I knew about the Tibetan political situation before the trip was that it seemed to be a mess: that China     

The effects of individual and contextual variables on partisanship in Canada

Abstract. Merged survey and aggregate data sets allow examination of the inter-relationship between individual characteristics and contextual variables. The addition of constituency context variables to the Canadian National Election study of 1979 enhances our ability to explain variations in partisanship. Party weakness in a constituency, female NDP candidates, and the lack of an incumbent seeking re-election all render partisanship more flexible. Concentrations of Roman Catholics and the university educated in a constituency solidify Liberal and NDP strength respectively. Problems of study design and data interpretation presently limit our ability to utilize combined micro-macro analysis.