Tell Me a Story: FDR,Narrative, and the Making of the Second World War

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was, by all accounts, a master orator. Yet success eluded him as he sought to make his fellow citizens aware of the threat Nazi Germany posed and to banish isolationists to the illegitimate margins. At other times, however, Roosevelt's campaigns to shift the underpinnings of national security debate were more effective. Notably, his definition of the adversary as the Nazi regime, rather than the German people, deeply shaped public discourse during the Second World War. This article explains the uneven results of Roosevelt's narrative projects—and those of other presidents—as a product of the intersection of the rhetorical mode he adopted and the rhetorical demands of the environment. During unsettled times, public demand for storytelling is elevated, and presidents who seize that opportunity can shape the narrative landscape and thereby policy. Presidents who fail to align their rhetoric to the moment—such as Roosevelt offering predominantly argument during these critical junctures—allow alternative narratives to proliferate. More broadly, this article offers an account of the structuring of legitimation in the national security arena.     

Indicative planning: failure or success?

Abstract. Two forms of national economic planning are distinguished imperative planning (planning with controls) and indicative (persuasive) planning. The trend away from controls in the Soviet Union is briefly treated. The French planning machinery and the factors determining the initial success of the French method of planning by inducement, its subsequent decline, and its anticipated recovery are outlined. Greater attention is paid to the more democratic British experiment in planning by consensus, with particular emphasis on the structure and evolution of the planning institutions and their strengths and weaknesses. Reasons for the British attempt at national economic planning and for its failure are also indicated while the aborted move towards greater intervention in the private sector is analysed in depth. The author concludes that the new emphasison planning the public sector, using both central policy reviews and annual five-year expenditure projections linked with economic assessments, is likely to prove more effective than earlier methods and that the deliberate retreat from planning the entire economy will prove a sound basis for a subsequent advance. Sommaire. L'auteur distingue deux sortes de planifications de l'économie nationale- la planification imposée (planification avec contrôles) et la planification suggérée (par persuasion). Puis il traite rapidement de la tendance en Union Soviétique d'abandonner les contrôles. L'auteur explique ensuite le mëcanisme français de planification, les facteurs qui ont déterminé le succès initial de la méthode française de planification par encouragement, son déclin subséquent et l'anticipation de son renouveau. Il examine ensuite plus en détail l'expérience britannique, d'un caractère plus démocratique, qui consiste à planifier par accordg général en insistant particulièrement sur la structure et l'évolution des institutions de planification, sur leurs points forts et sur leurs points faibles. Il expose les raisons des efforts britanniques de planification de l'économie nationale et pourquoi ils ont échoé et analyse en profondeur la tentative avortée d'une plus grande intervention dans le secteur privé. L'auteur conclut que la nouvelle importance accordée à la planification du secteur public en se servant à la fois de révisions des politiques-clés et d'estimations annuelles des dépenses quinquennales par rapport aux évaluations économiques, risque de se montrer plus efficace, comme méthode, que les précédentes et que l'abstention délibéreé d'une planification totale de l'économie permettra de faire un pas en avant.     

Assessing Newspaper Coverage of Corporate Violence: The Dance Hall Fire in Qoteborg, Sweden

The media disproportionately focus on conventional crime while neglecting the impact of corporate misbehavior. The present research examines U.S. newspaper coverage of a deadly fire at a dance hall in Goteborg, Sweden. This particular incident facilitates an examination of how newspapers treat issues involving culpability of conventional offenders (arsonists) and white collar offenders (the owners of the nightclub and the promoters of the dance). It was found that newspapers disproportionately focused on the direct harm associated with the fire, and generally neglected the role played by the organizers/promoters. Suggestions are offered regarding the need for more complete media coverage of crime, particularly white collar crime. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.