Unearned income of Supplemental Security Income recipients, May 1982

About 3 out of 5 Supplemental Security Income recipients have some type of unearned income. The major source of this income is Social Security benefits. Other sources are veterans' pensions, pensions from employment, asset income, and support and maintenance in-kind. This article presents for the first time detailed estimates of the distributions of these income sources, based on a 1-percent sample of May 1982 recipients. In two-thirds of the cases, the Social Security benefits were between $100 and $260 a month. Unearned income from sources other than Social Security was usually smaller. Only 5 percent of the SSI population received less tha $100 in Social Security benefits. Differences in distributions for retired-worker and disabled-worker benefits, and for widow's and children's benefits are noted.     

Cardiac injury during valve replacement surgery

The commonly referenced mortality of cardiac valve replacement surgery is 2 to 5%. Some of this mortality is due to therapeutic misadventure during the procedure. Therapeutic misadventure during cardiac valve replacement may result in patterned injury of the heart, so that postmortem examination can establish the nature of the surgical injury. A case of patterned myocardial injury during valve replacement surgery is presented, with a review of literature and associated cases.     

Coping with Life in Rebel Captivity and the Challenge of Reintegrating Formerly Abducted Boys in Northern Uganda

In this qualitative study of 134 formerly abducted adolescentboys at four rehabilitation centres in Northern Uganda, theboys described their lives in rebel captivity and coping strategiesand suggested ways of reintegration. They witnessed, enduredand participated in hideous atrocities while in rebel captivity.Vigilance, absolute obedience, and cooperation with their captors;prayer and hope; denial, blaming others, constant preparednessto flee; use of traditional medicine; and resilience and perseverance,were some of the coping strategies they employed while in captivityand during escape. Once out of captivity, they suggested a reintegrationagenda sensitive to their economic wellbeing and social relationsin the context of their culture and tradition. They proposedpsychosocial activities, vocational and entrepreneurial skillstraining, provision of credit facilities, and an education systemthat recognizes their background and needs. However, all theseshould be viewed in the context of huge resource limitationsand the continuing conflict.     

Book reviews

John R. Davis, Britain and the German Zollverein, 1848–66 (London: Macmillan, 1997). x + 238 pp. £45. ISBN 0–333–67828–1.

Martin Thomas, Britain, France and Appeasement: Anglo‐French Relations in the Popular Front Era (Oxford and New York: Berg. 1996). xi + 268 pp. £29.95 hb; £12.95 pb. ISBN 1–85973–192–9.

Peter Lowe, Containing the Cold War in East Asia: British Policies Towards Japan, China and Korea, 1948–53 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997). xii + 288 pp. £40. ISBN 0–7190–2508–7.

David M. Barrett, Uncertain Warriors: Lyndon Johnson and His Vietnam Advisers (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1994). xii + 279 pp. £11.95 pb. ISBN 0–7006–0631–9.

Rhodri Jeffreys‐Jones, Changing Differences: Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917–1994 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997). x + 275 pp. £14.50 pb. ISBN 0–8135–2449–0.

Philip M. Taylor, Global Communications, International Affairs and the Media Since 1945 (London &; New York: Routledge, 1997). xx + 248 pp. £45 hb. ISBN 0–415–11678–3; £15.99 pb. ISBN 0–415–11679–1     

The GATT‐WTO system: Environmental friend or Foe?

Abstract

The GATT‐WTO system has been attacked for being at best indifferent to the environment and at worst hostile to it. However, rather than being an environmental foe, the GATT‐WTO system is environmentally‐friendly in many respects. Several World Trade Organization agreements — the Agreement on Agriculture, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures — not only permit but encourage WTO member‐countries to implement national programs and laws to protect the environment free from WTO interference. Multilateral initiatives through organizations such as the WTO, as opposed to unilateral bullying, are the surest way of securing robust legal protections for the environment.     

Opposition politics in Malawi: hopeful signs amid the warnings

Across Africa, governments are either peacefully and legitimately ousted, or forced to share power, through the ballot box. In Malawi, the emergence of many political parties since the advent of a multiparty dispensation in 1993 signalled the flourishing of pluralism and opposition politics. However, in the May 2009 elections, the Malawi Congress Party and the United Democratic Front, which constituted the opposition, were largely rejected by the electorate in favour of President Bingu Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), credited for his sound economic policies emulated internationally. The reduced presence in parliament of parties outside of the Democratic Progressive Party coalition is troubling. This development has stimulated debate on the opposition's role and ability to defend democratic governance, and the challenges facing it. On the other hand, the DPP's landslide victory has to some degree demonstrated that it is possible to ‘de-regionalise’ and ‘de-ethinicise’ the configuration and alignment of political interests and forces, confirming for other African countries that the analysis of African politics need not be oversimplified into ethnic and cultural terms as is often the case. This paper contends that democratic governance is promoted by a credible opposition that effectively acts as an alternative government. Therefore, there is need for addressing the major factors that militate against its operations to enable it play its rightful role in Malawi's emerging democracy.     

Asia–Pacific news

This column provides a country by country analysis of the latest legal developments, cases and issues relevant to the IT, media and telecommunications' industries in key jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific region. The articles appearing in this column are intended to serve as ‘alerts’ and are not submitted as detailed analyses of cases or legal developments.