Us strategy in the middle east and the 2004 presidential election 9/11: towards a redefinition of america's role in the world

September 11th dramatically changed the geopolitical landscape for the United States. Though President Bush was elected as a domestic policy president, the war against radical Islam has become the central theme of his presidency. In this war, adhering to the analyses of the neoconservatives, the President believes that the region's tyrannies are a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. Overthrowing Saddam Hussein's tyranny and replacing it with a more democratic regime is the start of a long process of liberalization of the Arab world that will have reverberations for years to come. Though Senator John Kerry has based his 2004 presidential campaign on criticizing President Bush's Iraq policy, if Kerry were elected president, his Iraq policies would actually differ little from those of Bush.     

The Rentier State: Oil-related Legislation And Conflict In The Niger Delta,Nigeria

Oil presents a horrendous paradox in Nigeria. It provides enormous wealth and means of patronage to the rentier state and its joint venture partners, the transnational oil companies. However, to large sections of the local oil-bearing communities, the commodity is mainly a source of anxiety and misery. Dating from colonial history, the state has made systematic and sustained efforts to disfactor the local oil-bearing Niger Delta communities from asserting or holding any consequential stakes in the oil resources underneath their soil. In this ironic political game, the state employs the unmitigated paraphernalia of law and public policy to privilege itself and its business partners primarily within the oil industry. This leaves the local oil-bearing communities with limited breathing space, hence, their massive resort to violent protests. This study critically examines the emergence of the contemporary rentier state and how the latter mobilizes and exploits the instrumentality of rule making to entrench and advance its rent-seeking interests in the Nigerian oil economy. The rent-seeking interests and devices of the federal state not only underlie but also complicate the oil conflict.     

Public perceptions of police misconduct and discrimination: Examining the impact of media consumption

The media portrayal of policing is juxtaposed with both positive and negative representations. As a result, a complex relationship exists between media consumption and public attitudes towards the police. The purpose of this study was to test the impact that media consumption had on attitudes toward police misconduct and discrimination. The findings revealed that heavy consumers of network news were more likely to believe that police misconduct was a frequent event. This was especially true for minority respondents. Similarly, minority respondents that frequently viewed network news were more likely to believe that Whites received better treatment by the police. Finally, the findings revealed that frequent viewers of police dramas believed that the wealthy received preferential treatment from the police. Conversely, frequent viewers of crime solving shows believed that the wealthy did not receive preferential treatment.     

Social Correlates of Party System Demise and Populist Resurgence in Venezuela

Considering its strong, highly institutionalized two-party system, Venezuela was surely one of the least likely countries in Latin America to experience a party system breakdown and populist resurgence. That traditional party system nevertheless was founded on a mixture of corporatist and clientelist linkages to social actors that were unable to withstand the secular decline of the oil economy and several aborted attempts at market liberalization. Successive administrations led by the dominant parties failed to reverse the economic slide, with devastating consequences for the party system as a whole. The party system ultimately rested on insecure structural foundations; and when its social moorings crumbled in the 1990s, the populist movement of Hugo Chávez emerged to fill the political void. This populist resurgence both capitalized on and accelerated the institutional decomposition of the old order.     

THE PERCEIVED SIZE OF SMALL BUSINESS BANKING MARKETS

Definition of markets is fundamental to any analysis of competitionand is the first step in enforcement of antitrust statutes.In the banking industry, geographic market definitions havebeen the subject of considerable discussion in recent years.This paper utilizes a survey conducted by the National Federationof Independent Business Research Foundation in 2001. The surveyasked a variety of questions relating to American small businesses'experience with financial institutions, including a questionasking how many banks were in the market area where the smallfirm did most of its business. Using the zip code of the surveyrespondent, this answer was compared with the number of banksin the same county, in the same metropolitan area, or in thelocal banking market as defined by the Federal Reserve. Theresults show that both urban and rural markets as perceivedby small businesses are considerably smaller than markets asdefined by either the US Department of Justice or the FederalReserve.     

Insight Mediation: A Learning-Centered Mediation Model

Insight mediation is the name we have given to the model of mediation that is taught and practiced at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. The name has evolved from our efforts to situate the model in relation to the transformative and narrative styles of mediation. Drawing upon the work of Canadian philosopher Bernard Lonergan and his theory of insight, mediators practicing this model seek direct and inverse insights into what the conflict means to each party by discovering what each party cares about and how that threatens the other party. Insights shift attitudes and create space for collective action. The authors argue that coming to recognize the theoretical underpinnings of our practice helps us become better practitioners.