Open Societies and Closed Minds

Karl Popper’s equation of the closed society with tribalism is reviewed and modified. The German origins of the anthropological concept of culture and its related ideas of the folk culture and cultural relativism are explored. The vicissitudes of the idea of The Folk and its swing from Right to Left are related to contemporary neo-primitivism. The open society and high culture are defended.

Diplomatic intercepts in peace and war: Chanak 1922

Recent Public Record Office releases of British Foreign Office documents include diciphered diplomatic messages from several European capitals intercepted from 1919 onwards by a department of the Foreign Office called the Government Code and Cipher School (GCCS). These intercepts were called 'bjs' - 'blue jackets', from the blue folders in which they were regularly delivered to a very few top government officials. This paper is based on bjs mainly from French, Italian, American and Turkish capitals and embassies during the autumn of 1922 when a genocidal war was being fought along the Black Sea southern coast between Greece and Kemalist Turkish forces under the future President, Ismet Inonu. What became known as 'the Chanak Affair' led the Powers perilously close to renewing hostilities terminated at the Armistice of 1919. Despite the attention given by Lloyd George, Curzon and Churchill to the implications of the bjs as to Turkish, French and Italian intentions, peace was established on the ground before the end of the year by Inonu and the British C-in-C, General Harington.     

From Dignified Burial to ‘Terrorist Mausoleum’: Exhumations,Moral Panic and Mourning Policies in Peru

In this article, we examine mourning policies with respect to exhumations of mass graves from the Peruvian armed conflict. By reflecting on a case in which the exhumed dead, and their relatives, do not conform to the model of legitimate victims, we explore the limits of reparation policies and their effect on reconciliation. We investigate how the ‘terrorist mausoleum’ led to a significant episode of ‘moral panic’. We then analyse the normative perspective on mourning, as implemented in the public sphere, and how mourning, citizenship and nation are related when burying unwelcome dead associated with the figure of the ‘terrorist’.     

The West Assembles Its Media Arsenal

正During the lead-up to the CPC’s 100th anniversary on July 1, Western media platforms assembled an army of antisocialist thought leaders in what looked to be a concerted propaganda effort.Editors at prestigious news publications handed thousands of inches of prime media real estate to commentators with links to government agencies and defense-affiliated think tanks.     

Will They Even Hear Me? How Race Influences Citizen Complaint Outcomes

Abstract

Scholarship has explored how representation influences policing services, but little is known as to what effect officer and citizen race influences outcomes related to police misconduct cases. This analysis of the Indianapolis and New Orleans police department applies representative bureaucracy theory to create expectations on how race impacts citizen complaint cases. The findings indicate that Black citizens are more likely to have their complaint sustained when filed against a White officer compared to a White citizen. Moreover, male citizens are less likely to have their complaint sustained compared to females.     

Social Equity and COVID-19: The Case of African Americans

Emerging statistics demonstrate that COVID-19 disproportionately affects African Americans. The effects of COVID-19 for this population are inextricably linked to areas of systemic oppression and disenfranchisement, which are exacerbated by COVID-19: (1) health care inequality; (2) segregation, overall health, and food insecurity; (3) underrepresentation in government and the medical profession; and (4) inequalities in participatory democracy and public engagement. Following a discussion of these issues, this essay shares early and preliminary lessons and strategies on how public administration scholars and practitioners can lead in crafting equitable responses to this global pandemic to uplift the African American community.