TRIBUTES: Nina Shapiro Adams 1943–2007

The author interviews Francisco Xavier do Amaral, one of the founding leaders of Timor-Leste's independence movement, in August 2007, a few years before his death in Dili in March 2012.     

Why fight secession? Evidence of economic motivations from the American Civil War

Why fight secession? This paper is a case study on this question, asking why the North chose to fight the South in the American Civil War. It tests a theoretical prediction that economic motivations were important, using county-level presidential election data. If economic interests like manufacturing wished to keep the Union together, they should have generated votes to do so. That prediction is borne out by the data, and explanations other than Northern economic concerns about Southern secession appear unable to explain the results, suggesting that economic motivations were important to support for fighting the South.     

Legitimating totalitarianism: Melodrama and mass politics in North Korean film

This article attempts to analyze the construction and maintenance of political legitimacy in North Korea through the lens of its state-produced films. After classifying North Korea’s regime as totalitarian, we then discuss the strategies of legitimation available given this classification, and highlight the importance of ideology therein. Next, we demonstrate the importance of film within North Korea’s ideological apparatus and thematically analyze six North Korean films dating from 1948-2006. From this analysis, we situate the social role of film in contemporary North Korea and argue that it will remain a crucial force amongst the country’s various attempts to maintain legitimacy.     

Fair Play, Political Obligation, and Punishment

This paper attempts to establish that, and explain why, the practice of punishing offenders is in principle morally permissible. My account is a nonstandard version of the fair play view, according to which punishment’s permissibility derives from reciprocal obligations shared by members of a political community, understood as a mutually beneficial, cooperative venture. Most fair play views portray punishment as an appropriate means of removing the unfair advantage an offender gains relative to law-abiding members of the community. Such views struggle, however, to provide a plausible account of this unfairly gained benefit. By contrast, on my account punishment’s permissibility follows more straightforwardly from the fair play view of political obligation: specifically, the rule instituting punishment is itself among those rules with which members of the political community are obliged to comply. For criminal offenders, compliance requires submitting to the prospect of punishment.     

Israel's Deterrence Strategy Revisited

During the 2001–2009 period when American foreign policy was internationally unpopular and perceived as unilateral, many states strengthened their security cooperation with the United States and facilitated the reach of the us military. This behavior spans a range of actions along a spectrum from reaffirming traditional alliances to far more subtle forms of alignment. This pattern is in large part driven by the actions of regional powers such as Russia and China whose rising power pushes neighboring states to seek the assurance of the United States, and it has distinct implications for the endurance of American hegemony. As those regional powers seek to expand their influence, secondary states may increase their contributions to the maintenance of American hegemony, thus helping to extend it well into the future. They are less prone to do so, however, if the United States follows a strategy of restraint that calls into question its willingness to defend its hegemony. Therefore, a policy focused on maintaining American military preeminence and the demonstrated willingness to use it may be what sustains the cooperation from second-tier states that helps to maintain American hegemony.     

Subvalvular aortic stenosis as a cause of sudden death: two case reports

Sudden death is defined as a death that occurs suddenly, develops during an unpredictable course, and is due to natural or unnatural causes. Although there is no universally standardized definition on how "sudden" a sudden death is, WHO defines sudden death as a death that occurs within 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. The aim of this study is to present 2 rarely reported autopsy cases and to emphasize the importance of systemic autopsy at sudden death. On macroscopic examination, crescent-shaped, thick, fibrous membranes, located 5 mm and 3 mm away from the aortic valves, were detected. Fibrous membranes extended from the ventricular septum to the left ventricular outflow tract, thus apparently narrowing this region. Left ventricular wall and septum were slightly thickened, and there were scattered grayish-white areas of a small diameter. These became more intense in the septum and myocardium of the left ventricle on the anterior plane of the myocardial sections. In both cases, the aortic valves of were thickened and also markedly narrowed on one of them. In this case, the fibrous membrane adhered to the aortic valve and extended to the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve at one side. Both aortic valves comprised 3 leaflets. Other valves and coronary arteries showed no macroscopic pathologic findings. Microscopic examination of both cases demonstrated that the fibrous membrane comprising abundant collagen fibers was situated on the ventricular septum. Hypertrophy, moderate to severe interstitial fibrosis, and focal areas of scarring were observed in the specimens taken from the septal and ventricular myocardium. No abnormality was found on the conduction system examinations. Toxicologic analysis results in blood were negative. Based on the findings, membranous-type (discrete type) subvalvular aortic stenosis, diagnosed during the autopsy, was considered as the cause of sudden death in both cases.