President Barack Obama pledged in his first TV interview—with the Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya—that America under his watch would "listen with respect and not dictate" to the world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has further announced that this country will no longer just throw around its military might but will pursue a "smart power" approach by tempering the use of hard weaponry with the "soft power" of persuasion and cultural attraction. Or, as Madame Secretary's husband Bill has put it, America will now lead through the power of example instead of the example of power. The first exceedingly complex test of Obama's smart power strategy will be how to end George W. Bush's misguided "war on terror" in Afghanistan and Pakistan, keeping al-Qaida at bay without being swallowed by the quagmire of tribal politics. An array of experts from New Delhi to Paris offers their views in this section. 相似文献
There is an increasing interest today in reestablishing Islamic Penal Law in most Middle East countries. The majority of the population apparently favors this change. There are, however, a minority opposed to such changes. This paper examines how those opposed to reinstituting Islamic Penal Law differ from others based on data gathered from 600 respondents in Kuwait. The findings indicate that those most opposed to such a change are the upper or upper middle class. They apparently are opposed not only to reestablishing Islamic Penal Law but also are less orthodox Muslems. They have had considerable more contact with the Western world but are a small but important minority in their society. 相似文献
The research reported in this paper was supported in part by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and Tulane University's Center for Latin American Studies. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Gloria Lessan, Cecilia Camacho H., and Fany Ackerman at various stages of this investigation.
Though there is considerable consensus that newspapers distort the crime picture, there is little agreement that the papers structure public ideas about crime. In an effort to investigate that possibility free of the complications created by intervening variables, the present research investigates the influence of Cali, Colombia's major newspaper's presentation of homicide news upon Cali citizens' ideas about that type of crime. Media-related intervening variables are controlled because Cali has no local television stations and because crime news, focusing on homicide, is reported in the same quantity, fashion, and location in the daily newspaper. A sample of Cali residents was surveyed to ascertain whether or not their views of certain homicide characteristics coincided with the image presented by the newspaper. Victimization patterns were found not to influence public ideas about homicide. Public views, in the main, were found related to newspaper coverage of homicide. It is suggested that newspaper reporting, while one of several potential influences on public opinion, should not be considered inconsequential in structuring public ideas about crime. The implications of this finding for future research are examined. 相似文献
This article analyzes the state of aviation security, beginning with the characteristics of the air transportation system that complicate the achievement of a high level of security. It analyzes the situation that existed prior to 9/11 and then evaluates the changes that have occurred since. It concludes that no overall systematic program has yet been put in place to deal with the threats that terrorism poses to the various elements of aviation. It also argues that aviation security, indeed homeland security, requires incorporating antiterrorism into foreign policy and ongoing attempts to deal with the underlying factors that promote terrorism.‐ 相似文献
The campaign for same‐sex marriage is animated by two, contradictory impulses: a libertarian‐egalitarian strain that continually expands the boundaries of what is publicly legitimate; and a conservative one that seeks to reinforce traditional boundaries. Democratic polities would benefit from public discussion on whether to retain normative, sexual boundaries, and if so, what they should reasonably be. I outline a moderately conservative agenda that would limit public legitimacy to sexually exclusive monogamy (heterosexual or homosexual), but informally tolerate most, consenting, nonconventional sexual practices. A spirit of humility, empathy and tragedy will help us to exercise reasonable judgement as we redraw the lines on marriage and sexuality. 相似文献
The now well‐documented explosion in prison populations over the last 30 years has spurred significant attention in the literature. Early research focused primarily on economic explanations. More recently it has focused on political explanations of prison growth. Here we extend research on political explanations of imprisonment by drawing on the literature on state politics and public policy. We argue that the effect of partisan politics on punishment is conditional on how much electoral competition legislators face. We test this hypothesis using annual state level data on imprisonment from 1978 to 1996. Our findings show that the effect of Republican state legislative strength on prison admissions depends on time and the level of competition in state legislative elections. We argue that these findings suggest the need for a more nuanced understanding of the link between partisan U.S. politics and imprisonment. 相似文献
This article examines the use of alternative sentencing provisions as mechanisms for departing from sentencing guidelines in Washington State and as structural sources of unwarranted sentencing disparity. The authors argue that these structural features of guidelines not only serve as “windows of discretion” through which disparities arise, but they also may encourage disparities by requiring consideration of substantive criteria that disadvantage certain offender groups. The analyses find that males and minority offenders are less likely to receive alternative sentences below the standard range, but that race‐ethnicity and gender have inconsistent effects on departures above the standard range. Theoretical implications of the study are discussed. 相似文献
Globalization may yet repeal the Biblical adage that the poor will always be with us. But for now there are enough losers to go along with the winners that a slide back toward fragmentation and protectionism is a distinct possibility, as was also the case at the turn of the 20th century. Our contributors in this section offer their advice on how to make globalization work for everyone. 相似文献