Monetized time-space: derivatives – money's 'new imaginary'?

This paper examines some of the ways in which the everyday is becoming connected into the world of finance, a process facilitated through so-called derivatives.The increasing use of derivatives is traced to the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement and the ways in which innovative developments in financial engineering were used to overcome the uncertainties of interest rate, currency and price risks that grew apace from the early 1970s. We argue that these risks are not ‘more of the same’.They are qualitatively different and run deeper through the highly integrated financial markets of today. And, as later parts of the paper argue taking their cue from the works of Paul Virilio and Georg Simmel, notably the latter’s Philosophy of Money , the manner in which these risks interact and the speed of their interaction suggest the emergence of new forms of money, a new monetization of time-space. The paper then moves on to consider how the calculative practices that lie at the heart of derivatives involve a process of socialization of the understanding of the risks that new money forms are made to negotiate successfully. The ‘idea of money’ – of what it is now supposed to be capable of doing with and across time-space – thus stems from a ‘new money imaginary’. The paper concludes by reemphasizing the reasons why, when understood through areading of Virilio and Simmel, derivatives should be viewed as representing new forms of money.     

Model of religious schism with application to Islam

This is a study of religious schism. The purpose of the research is to explore the nature and causes of religious segmentation and realignment. A model of religious schism is developed and illustrated with reference to many different religions. The model is then directly applied to Islamic history. Schism occurs because of innovations in dogma or practice. These innovations must appeal to demanders of the religious product. However, the innovations themselves may be driven by organizational conflicts within firms supplying religion. A special situation is created when schism occurs within a state-supported supplier of religion. Our study leads us to revisit the debate between Hume and Smith over the effect of state religion. We side with Smith.     

Book reviews

Bryan S. Turner, Orientalism, Postmodernism and Globalising (Routledge, London 1994). 208pp. ISBN 0–415–10861–6, 0–415–10862–4 (pb).

Mir Zohair Husain, Global Islamic Politics, (Harper Collins, London 1995). 282pp. ISBN 0–06501484–7 (pb).

Sondra Farganis, Situating Feminism: From Thought to Action, (Sage, London 1994). 195pp. ISBN 0–8039–4650–3

Tom Mayer, Analytical Marxism, (Sage, California 1994). 371pp. ISBN 0–8039–4681–3 (pb).

Ian Adams, Political Ideology Today, (Manchester University Press, Manchester 1995). 369pp. ISBN 0–7190–3347–0.

Geoffrey Pridham and Tatu Vanhanen, Democratization in Eastern Europe: Domestic and international perspectives, (Routledge, London 1994). 274pp. ISBN 0–415–11063–7(hb), 0–415–11064–5(pb).

Ash Amin (ed), Post‐Fordism: A Reader, (Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1994). 435pp. ISBN 0–631–18857–6 (pb).     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Stalkers and their Victims. By Paul E. Mullen, Michele Pathé and Rosemary Purcell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 310 pp. ISBN 0 521 66950 2 (pb).

Violence: Reflections on Our Deadliest Epidemic. By James Gilligan. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2000. 320 pp. ISBN: 1-85302-842-8 (paperback), €12.95.

Violence, Crime and Mentally Disordered Offenders: Concepts and Methods for Effective Treatment and Prevention. By S. Hodgins and R. Müller-Isberner (Eds.). Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2000. ISBN 0-471-97727-6.     

Spatial Frameworks and the Management of Dissent: From Parks to Free Speech Zones

The space in which dissent is performed, and the way that space is used to manage dissent, has generally been understudied in the legal literature. This article examines how spatial frameworks—popular ideas about the importance of space to democracy—have influenced legal decisions about the management of dissent. Three spatial frameworks, Property, Place and Planning, are identified. It is suggested that each framework brings with it assumptions about the value of dissent to society, the use of public space for expressive purposes, and the amount of expressive freedom citizens enjoy in the realization of democracy. Through an examination of the historical transition from Property, through Place, to today's Planning Framework, this article demonstrates how different frameworks have influenced the management of dissent. It concludes by arguing that today's Planning Framework, as played out in the creation of free speech zones, undervalues the importance of dissent to society.