Asian ambiguities

The Asian Dilemma in U.S. Foreign Policy: National Interest versus Strategic Planning, by K. Holly Maze Carter. M. E. Sharpe, Armonk and London, 1989. xxiv + 247 pp. £30 hardback, £13.95 paperback. ISBN 0–87332–512–3 and 0–87332–535–4.

Nuclear Dynamite, by Trevor Findlay. Brassey's Australia, Rushcutters Bay, NSW, 1990. xv+339 pp. £19.50. ISBN 0–08–034436–4.

New Directions for American Policy in Asia, Bernard K. Gordon. Routledge, London and New York, 1990. xiii+170pp. £35. ISBN 0–415–02289–4.     

The power few: experimental criminology and the reduction of harm

The promise of experimental criminology is finding ways to reduce harm from crime and injustice. The problem of experimental criminology is that so few experiments produce evidence of big effects from the interventions they test. One solution to this problem may be concentrating scarce resources for experiments on the “power few:” the small percentage of places, victims, offenders, police officers or other units in any distribution of crime or injustice which produces the greatest amount of harm. By increasing the homogeneity and base rates of the samples enrolled in each experiment, the power few hypothesis predicts increased statistical power to detect program effects. With greater investment of resources, and possibly less variant responses to greater dosages of intervention—especially interventions of support, as distinct from punishment—we may also increase our chances of finding politically acceptable interventions that will work.

Through the Quarantine Looking Glass: Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis and Public Health Governance, Law, and Ethics

The incident in May-June 2007 involving a U.S. citizen traveling internationally while infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis involved the U.S. federal government's application of its quarantine and isolation powers. The incident and the isolation order raised numerous important issues for public health governance, law, and ethics. This article explores many of these issues by examining how the exercise of quarantine powers provides a powerful lens through which to understand how societies respond to and attempt to govern threats posed by dangerous, contagious pathogens. The article considers historical aspects of governmental power to quarantine and isolate individuals and groups; analyzes the current state of quarantine and isolation law in the United States in light of the recent incident with drug-resistant tuberculosis; and explores global aspects of public health governance and law highlighted by this incident.     

EU enlargement and the rise of Asian FTAs: Implications for Asia-Europe relations

  Over the past few years, there has been resurgence in regionalism and preferential trade across the global economic system. The European Union has taken steps at enlargement of their economic community to include countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Bilateral trade arrangements are proliferating in Asia involving the region's largest economies Japan and China. These arrangements mirror similar initiatives in the Americas. These developments have profound implications on the world trading system, in general, and to Asia-Europe relations in particular. The rise of preferentialism runs the risk of heightened discrimination, trade diversion and the fragmentation of the multilateral trade order. This prospect will have a direct impact on the future relations between Asia and Europe. Both Europe and Asia should remain outward oriented, open to reciprocal arrangements with non-member economies, and supportive of the multilateral trading system.