Arms control: Focus on denial and deception

Conclusion Arms control continues to be a key element of U.S. national security policy. Yet, to be a constructive part of our national strategy, stringent arms control verification is required. Of late, the government has moved from agreements incorporating effective monitoring methods to multilateral, feel-good agreements that are very difficult, if not impossible, to monitor. Since the United States is not going to violate agreements, we could be placed at a long-term strategic disadvantage.     

Measuring Sexual Violence on Campus: Climate Surveys and Vulnerable Groups

ABSTRACT

Since the 2014 Not Alone report on campus sexual assault, the use of climate surveys to measure sexual violence on campuses across the United States has increased considerably. The current study utilizes a quasi meta-analysis approach to examine the utility of general campus climate surveys, which include a measure of sexual violence, in comparison to sexual assault specific climate surveys, in measuring student sexual assault experiences. Past research has highlighted the need to not only understand campus sexual assault prevalence rates for the general student population, but also the specific risk posed to more vulnerable populations such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning/queer community (LGBQ) and Native American students. Results indicate that general campus climate surveys may be underestimating both the sexual victimization of the general student body as well as that of LGBQ and Native American students. Research and policy recommendations that focus on improved measurement of campus sexual assault experiences are discussed.     

Irrational Addicts and Responsible Pleasure Seekers: Constructions of the Drug User

Historically, drug use has been understood as a problem of epidemiology, psychiatry, physiology, and criminality requiring legal and medical governance. Consequently drug research tends to be underpinned by an imperative to better govern, and typically proposes policy interventions to prevent or solve drug problems. We argue that categories of ‘addictive’ and ‘recreational’ drug use are discursive forms of governance that are historically, politically and socially contingent. These constructions of the drug problem shape what drug users believe about themselves and how they enact these beliefs in their drug use practices. Based on qualitative interviews with young illicit drug users in Brisbane, Australia, this paper uses Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality to provide insights into how the governance of illicit drugs intersects with self-governance to create a drug user self. We propose a reconceptualisation of illicit drug use that takes into account the contingencies and subjective factors that shape the drug experience. This allows for an understanding of the relationships between discourses, policies, and practices in constructions of illicit drug users.     

Social theory and social action

Modern social thought identifies social science with the conception of (1) ‘social action’ and (2) the ‘rationality’ of social action. This identification is central to the specificity of modern social thought as opposed, in particular, to Marxian social theory. In this paper we present a critical appraisal of these fundamental categories of current social science and trace out the contradictions which they entail for the theoretical comprehension of social phenomena. The contradictions intrinsic to the social action methodology, once made explicit, provide the necessary starting point for the critique of modern sociology and economics.     

Should They Stay,or Should They Go?

正A Greek exit from the euro zone would have major economic and political consequences What was unthinkable a year ago is now being thought about much more seriously.The exit of Greece from the euro zone is now being discussed increasingly by commentators,economists,and even political figures in Europe.British Prime Minister David Cameron has raised the ire of euro-zone members (the UK is not     

Borders and frontiers in women's history

Abstract

This article, based largely on London material, seeks to explore the interaction of various pressures from home, from school and from domestic education advocates on girls in their last two years at elementary school before leaving at fourteen. It examines in particular the extent and nature of resistance from some teachers and other educationists to overmuch domestic tuition for pupils, seeing this as leading to a narrowed perspective and as an unwarranted interference with the girls' right to a good general education. Given the strong official backing and widespread public agreement in the early twentieth century for the need to domesticate girls at school along approved lines, the determination of teachers and others to uphold the counter-claims of general education deserves detailed study.     

China Australia Tie

Australia’s newly elected prime minister must guide crucial China policy A new government was elected in Australia on September 7,bringing an end to six years of Labor Party rule.This was an election fought,and won,almost wholly on domestic issues.But it is also widely known now that some of the most pressing demands     

Restoring the Rule of Law to Public Administration: What Frank Goodnow Got Right and Leonard White Didn't

Although the rule of law is universally regarded as a fundamental principle of democratic governance, the field of public administration continues to exhibit the "anti-legal temper" that emerged in the 1920s, when Leonard White's managerialism largely displaced Frank Goodnow's emphasis on the intimacy of law and administration. Although administrative law is a distinguished subfield of scholarship and practice within public administration, the consensus view within the profession seems to be that law is one of many constraints on administrative discretion rather than its source, a challenge to administrative leadership rather than its guiding principle. In addition to unacceptably narrowing the range of values infusing public administration, such a view undermines the profession's ability to contribute to the design of our governance arrangements at a time when constitutional institutions are being seriously challenged. To fulfill its constitutional role, public administration must commit itself to the rule of law as an institution that secures its legitimacy.