Bipolarity redux: the mimetic context of the ‘new wars’

This article challenges the theorem of non-polarity in international relations theory by employing ‘mimetic theory’, a notion associated with the French anthropologist René Girard. The article argues that non-polarity is a distorted visual effect that conceals the actual polar configurations in global politics. So-called ‘new wars’ are seemingly asymmetrical and are said to mobilize fronts ‘on the basis of identity’. However, on closer inspection new wars appear to be shaped by underlying mimetic forces, whereby the contenders behave like ‘doubles’, each reflecting its own image in the wishes and actions of the other. The article picks up and develops a clue from political theorist Herfried Münkler, that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a miniature copy ‘of global political line-ups’. The conflict is placed here in its mimetic context, and implications for political theory and the theory of international relations are drawn.     

Resilience and Renewal: The Enforcement of Labor Laws in Brazil

What happens to a country's system of labor laws when its government embraces market‐oriented reforms? In a twist on the prediction that labor regulations will be repealed, researchers find that laws remain in place but are not faithfully enforced, a phenomenon known as de facto flexibility. This article examines the case of Brazil to understand its near‐opposite; namely, resilience and renewal in the enforcement of labor regulations. It finds that labor unions have combined the corporatist authority they gained under state control with the autonomy they acquired under democratization to devise new modes of action and to safeguard existing regulations. Meanwhile, labor inspectors and prosecutors rely on existing laws to combat precarious work conditions and promote formal employment relations, which strengthen the unions. This mutually supportive arrangement is neither perfect nor free of tension, but it shows how workers can be protected even when employers are subjected to global competition.     

Surviving the suicides of significant others: a case study

Psychological pain has been reported to be major contributing factor for completed suicide, and classical suicidology based its wisdom on this construct. In this paper we report the case of a patient whose family experienced a high number of suicides apparently due to an escalation of psychological pain in the family members after the successive suicides. We also briefly discuss the problem of helping survivors after the suicide of loved one.     

On the Rights of Undocumented Children

Changes in immigration laws over the last three to four decades have given rise to unprecedented numbers of undocumented children. However, as others have argued, policies regarding the control of undocumented migration have had deleterious effects on undocumented children and their basic access to social rights. Undocumented youth in the United States can legally attend K-12 education, but cannot legally work, vote, receive financial aid, or drive in most states. Their situation calls for a reexamination of immigration laws and a recasting of the frame that has been used to promote their inclusion.

How do Migration and Remittances Affect Human Capital Investment? The Effects of Relaxing Information and Liquidity Constraints

Abstract

This article explores the heterogeneous effects of the migration–remittance process on the educational attainment of Nepalese children. The results suggest that when controlling for remittances, the children of more educated or informed parents suffer from parental absence, while the children of less informed parents gain from migration, implying that the migration experience helps less educated parents estimate the value of and returns to education more precisely. The results also suggest that remittances help severely credit-constrained households enrol their children in school and prevent dropouts. These remittances help households that face less severe liquidity constraints increase their investment in quality education.     

Deaths associated with liposuction: case reports and review of the literature

Tumescent liposuction is a common cosmetic procedure that is performed as an outpatient service in physician's offices and is largely believed to be safe. The protuberant areas of the body containing the undesirable fat deposits are injected with normal saline containing lidocaine and epinephrine for pain control and hemostasis, and the waterlogged cells are suctioned out via cannula through a small incision. We recently encountered three cases in which deaths were attributed to this procedure. Two showed fat embolization in the lung and one died from fluid overload. The osmium tetroxide post-fixed lung sections showed fat emboli in the interstitial capillaries and arterioles. We reviewed the recent literature and found that pulmonary thromboemboli, fat embolization, fluid overload, and lidocaine and epinephrine intoxication are found at autopsy in many cases. Forensic pathologists responsible for determining the cause and manner of death should become familiar with the postmortem findings and risks of liposuction therapy and communicate them to their clinical colleagues and communities.     

Titian's secret: comparison of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere's skull with the Uffizi portrait

The present paper describes the study of a skeleton, kept at the Church of Santa Chiara in Urbino, Italy. Traditionally, this skeleton was thought to be that of the Duchess Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere (1493-1550), but suspicion exists as to whether or not the remains might belong to another important personage of the Urbino Renaissance, Battista Sforza (1447-1472). Here, external observation of the skull and odontological examination of the mandible were conducted in an attempt to clarify the identity. Age estimates of the skeleton were found to be consistent with the age at death of Eleonora but not with that of Battista. Craniofacial superimposition using the portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga by Titian (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) shows that the face of Eleonora matches the skull fairly closely except for the length of the nose. The historical record and the age matching appear to provide strong evidence that the remains are those of Eleonora, and the discrepancies in the superimposition may suggest that the artist altered the dimension of the Duchess' nose, possibly to make the portrait correspond to his canons of classical beauty. The results highlight the potential of forensic methods as a key to understand the work of earlier painters.     

Exchange rate, inflation and unemployment in East European economies: the case of Poland and Hungary*

The aim of the paper is to model the impact of exchange rate on both inflation and unemployment variables in economies which are characterized by important structural changes, i.e. a transition phase moving from centralized economies towards market economies. This phenomenon, which is common to the East European countries, stressed different effects both for what concerns the behaviour of economic agents and for what concerns fiscal and monetary measures adopted by governments and aiming to keep under control the inflation–unemployment trade off. Time series relationships between these variables are investigated within an econometric model. Economic theory and the available data on the hypothetically relevant variables, along with the consideration of the main facts occurred in the period under study, characterize our information set. It is found that single equation analysis yields inefficient inference relative to the whole system analysis, and important structural changes are detected which reflect possible breaks in the structure of the economic system along with a change in economic policy.     

Does homeownership counseling affect the prepayment and default behavior of affordable mortgage borrowers?

The lack of industrywide data on homeownership education and counseling (HEC) programs has severely limited evaluation. In particular, very little evidence exists on the relationship between HEC completion and loan prepayment, an outcome of interest to both mortgage lenders and consumer advocates. Where mortgage prepayment directly influences the sustainability of affordable mortgage products, it also reflects the ability of underserved borrowers to access lower‐cost credit through refinancing. This study uses a uniquely rich data set to examine the impact of HEC completion on prepayment and defaultamongborrowers receivingHECfrom a variety of providers across 42 states. The loans, originated between 1999 and 2003, are observed through the first quarter of 2006, a period in which strong housing appreciation and decreasing interest rates generated substantial refinancing activity. Using a competing risks model of mortgage prepayment and default, we find that HEC programs based on classroom instruction and individual counseling improve a borrower's exercise of the mortgage prepayment option, but that programs based on home study or telephone counseling did not affect borrower behavior. Counseling shows no effect on default propensities. © 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.