Cuba: heading for a new development and political model – an introduction

Cuba, this iconic revolutionary island which has brought so much hope to the Third World and, at one point, worry for a nuclear World War III, is going through a process of change never seen since Fidel Castro led his revolutionary forces to triumph around New Year’s of 1959. Yet, 10 years into the change process, led by the younger Castro Raúl (now 85), nobody can really forecast where the country will end up in socio-economic and political terms. In this TWQ subsection, two economists and three political scientists – two Cubans and three European Cuba watchers – analyse the reforms and their possible outcome.     

Why We Love to Hate the Wolf (of Wall Street): Using Georges Bataille and Friedrich Nietzsche to Critique the Function of Moral Ideology Under Late Capitalism

The release of Martin Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street in late 2013 helped to reignite a public conversation about corporate greed and the moral excesses and violations of Wall Street firms and executives. A barrage of articles, reviews, and criticisms of the film emerged throughout popular media that sought, for the most part, to single out and condemn the immoral actions and behaviors of individuals (for example, Jordan Belfort, whose actions constitute the primary subject matter of the film) within a pre-given and non-negotiable context of capitalist economic and social relations. This article uses the writings of Georges Bataille and Friedrich Nietzsche to critique this popular discourse. It reads the discourse as structured by a false identity of opposites, whereby the normal, moral, legal, and “peaceful” state of things is depicted as constitutive of a separate world from that of Belfort and the “criminal” excesses and expenditures of Wall Street. As a result of this conceptual maneuver, a mode of moralizing is enabled. In a fit of ressentiment, critics unleash their moralizing sentiments, single out and constitute guilty subjects, and hold these subjects responsible in order to repair the “secondary malfunctions” of capitalism. They do this so that capitalism can continue to survive and so they can have a good conscience while it does.     

Participative leadership and hierarchical structures in multiple perpetrator rape: replicating and extending a scale of influence among offenders

ABSTRACT

This paper replicates and extends Porter and Alison’s (2001. A partially ordered scale of influence in violent group behavior: An example from gang rape. Small Group Research, 32(4), 475–497) method of leader identification in Multiple Perpetrator Rape (MPR). The study examined 216 MPR offences (totalling 712 different offenders), collected from archival sources (predominantly law reports). Porter and Alison’s original coding scheme was refined and Multidimensional Scaling identified a partially ordered scale of influence based upon the decisions, actions and orders made by the offenders at each chronological offence stage. The updated scale identified leaders in 97% of the sample groups. The hierarchical structures of the groups were also examined through the distribution of influence among co-offenders. While the majority (68%) of cases exhibited a dichotomous leader/follower structure, some “followers” also exhibited influence tactics to varying degrees with the presence of “lieutenants” and linear hierarchies. The findings are discussed in relation to group dynamics as well as the reliability and validity of the influence scale.     

Toulmin's philosophy of argument and its relevance to offender profiling

This study sought to identify the extent to which claims about the probable characteristics of offenders in ‘offender profiles’ were based on substantive arguments. Because Toulmin's (1958) philosophy of argument has been demonstrated as a useful way of breaking down arguments into their constituent parts (Burleson, 1979) we examined the extent to which profiles contained grounds, warrants, backing and rebuttals to support or refute various claims about offenders. Twenty-one profiles, representing a range of ‘profiling styles’, were obtained from a variety of sources. All of these had been used in major criminal investigations either in the UK or internationally. Of the nearly 4,000 claims made, nearly 80% were unsubstantiated. That is, they contained no grounds, warrant, backing or rebuttal. Moreover, less than 31% of the claims were falsifiable. We argue that (a) this demonstrates the need for a careful, systematic evaluation of profiling advice (b) Toulmin's structure is one useful method for evaluating such material and for providing a possible framework for such advice.     

Sequential angulation,spatial dispersion and consistency of distance attack patterns from home in serial murder,rape and burglary

Abstract

Three related measures of spatial movement (sequential angulation, spatial dispersion and consistency of distance in attack target) were compared across three serial offence types: serial homicide (n=35), serial rape (n=41) and serial burglary (n=30). In each case, each offender had committed at least five offences. “Spatial dispersion”, defined as the extent to which an offender distributes his offences across either a focused or relatively more evenly distributed area, revealed that burglary was less evenly distributed (i.e. more focused) than rape and murder. “Sequential angulation”, defined as the degree of rotational movement around the home of the offender from one offence to the next, revealed that serial murderers have higher angulation scores than do rapists who, in turn, have higher angulation scores than burglars. Lastly, a comparison of the offender's consistency in the relative distance travelled from home to each attack site (“consistency of distance in attack target”) was relatively similar across the three groups. This was despite the comparison of different serial offence types from disparate geographical areas. The supposition that differences in dispersion and sequential angulation scores across crime types are related to the perceived risk of the crime has been confirmed. The specificity and the mobility of the targets are also discussed.     

How Economists Help Central Government Think: Survey Evidence from the UK Government Economic Service

Economic thinking is widely used now across most areas of government activity, though there is not much research on what professional economists do. This paper, therefore, develops and reports on a survey of over 500 members of the UK Government Economic Service, which we use to shed light on the activities and thinking of practitioners. We find, inter alia, that professional economics can be seen as drawing on at least four distinct economic paradigms, that the uses of economics vary significantly between areas of government and that whilst significant use of research can be made, this is not necessarily a defining aspect of professional practice.     

Nazi archaeology abroad: German prehistorians and the international dynamics of collaboration

Examining the work of German prehistoric archaeologists during the Third Reich reveals the importance of international scholarship in understanding how and why professional academics collaborated with the Nazi regime. Hare's article focuses on a specific cohort of German prehistorians at the University of Kiel and the Schleswig-Holstein Museum of Antiquities whose work was especially valued by Nazi ideologues. Through a study of their correspondence with colleagues at home and abroad, it identifies four key ways in which the international academic sphere informed collaboration at home, including the demands of foreign networks, the politics of cross-border projects and conferences, concerns about the reputation of German academia and the involvement of German archaeologists in occupied countries during the Second World War. Ultimately, this case study of Kiel archaeologists working during the 1930s and 1940s shows that engagement on the international level led both German and foreign scholars to make accommodations with the regime, but also at times led away from Nazi goals and provided a foundation for rebuilding the discipline after 1945.     

Religious extremism: The good, the bad, and the deadly

This paper challenges conventional views of violent religious extremism, particularly those that emphasize militant theology. We offer an alternative analysis that helps explain the persistent demand for religion, the different types of religions that naturally arise, and the special attributes of the “sectarian” type. Sects are adept at producing club goods – both spiritual and material. Where governments and economies function poorly, sects often become major suppliers of social services, political action, and coercive force. Their success as providers is much more due to the advantages of their organizational structure than it is to their theology. Religious militancy is most effectively controlled through a combination of policies that raise the direct costs of violence, foster religious competition, improve social services, and encourage private enterprise.