Between Cold War Imperatives and State-Sponsored Terrorism: The United States and “Operation Condor”

Operation Condor was a transnational network of organized state-sponsored terrorism that targeted Communist “subversion.” It was operational in the second half of the 1970s. The key member countries were Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil (Peru and Equador joined the network later on, with a more marginal role). Based on declassified documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and on U.S. documents of various origin, this article will assess the development of the Condor network and the U.S. reaction to such manifest acts of state-sponsored terrorism.     

Ophthalmologic Concerns in Abusive Head Trauma

When Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) is suspected in a child, a dilated eye examination by an ophthalmologist is an essential part of the medical workup, as the presence and pattern of retinal hemorrhages can have a high positive predictive rate for abusive head injury. This article proposes to review the clinical presentation, pathophysiology, natural history, sequelae, and differential diagnosis of retinal hemorrhages and other ocular lesions associated with AHT.     

‘Good-bye Pompey,komm bald zurück’: Stevie Smith's Vision of Germany in Novel on Yellow Paper

Abstract

In Stevie Smith's debut novel Novel on Yellow Paper, set in 1936, the narrator Pompey Casmilus recalls several trips to Germany she made in the years shortly before the rise of the Hitler regime. The memories of these German travels are linked to Pompey's love affair with a Swiss-German student named Karl with whom she has spent time in both England and Germany. The essay explores the significance of the German theme in the novel. This theme emerges in Pompey's memories of Germany and Karl, which at first glance appear to be random moments of recollection. However, the German theme also asserts itself in what I call Pompey's German voice, a distinct narrative voice that uses a specific German vocabulary and mimics German speech patterns, which appears at different points throughout the novel and is not exclusively linked to Pompey's memories of Germany. The essay argues that this narrative voice, the Karl-Pompey romance plot and the narrator's obsessive concern with Jewishness combine into an exploration of the Anglo-German relationship in the inter-war years and the attraction which Germany held for some British visitors during the 1920s and early 1930s, an attraction which is linked to previous literary explorations of the country by British writers such as D. H. Lawrence and which by 1936 has taken on an ominous significance as Pompey observes from afar the atrocities being committed within Germany in the name of the Hitler regime.     

The Contingent Effects of Risk Perception on Risk-Taking Behavior: Adolescent Participative Orientation and Marijuana Use

Viewing marijuana use as a risk-taking behavior, we find that the perception of high risk related to regular use of marijuana has no simple direct effect on that risk-taking behavior. Rather, the effect of risk perception is contingent upon the extent of youth participation in activities such as going to parties, going to bars, attending concerts and visiting friends. The perception of risk suppresses marijuana use most effectively in the context of activities where such a risk-taking behavior is most prevalent. These findings are congruent with recent literature on actions of risk-taking that takes into account the subjective meaning orientation as a moderator between perception and action. These lead us to conclude that a behavioral-specific approach can augment the conventional approach to common factors underlying the youths' proneness to problem behaviors.     

Administrative devolution and accountability: the case of the non-profit housing program

Abstract: The problem of bureaucratic accountability has received considerable attention in the literature of public administration, but few studies have considered the extent to which extra-governmental agencies are held accountable to governments or legislatures. This paper examines administrative devolution and the problem of accountability, using the non-profit housing program as an example. It argues that devolution of programs, without adjusting for the resulting loss of bureaucratic control, leaves governments with little information about, or control over, the people who make decisions about large expenditures of public funds. It concludes that if the advantages of using the voluntary sector for social service delivery are to outweigh the problems of reduced accountability, forms of control -such as incentives for compliance and internal professional standards - which do not limit the autonomy of these groups, but which can enhance pre-audit accountability, need to be developed. Sommaire: Si le problème de la responsabilité bureaucratique a fait I'objet de nombreuses études dans les textes de I'administration publique, peu d'entre elles, en revanche, ont pris en considération la mesure dans laquelle les organismes paragouvernementaux sont tenus de rendre des comptes aux gouvernements ou législatures. Cet article examine la décentralisation administrative et les problèmes de responsabilités, en utilisant comme exemple le programme de logement à but non lucratif. Il suggere que la décentralisation des programmes, sans ajustement qui tienne compte de la perte de contrôle bureaucratique en résultant, laisse les gouvernements avec peu de renseignements ou de contrôle sur les personnes qui prennent des décisions concernant d'importantes dépenses de fonds public. En conclusion, I'auteure dit que, si les avantages résultant de I'utilisation du secteur bénévole pour fournir les services sociaux doivent I'emporter sur les problèmes de diminution de la responsabilité, il faut mettre en place certaines mesures de contrôle (tels les encouragements à se conformer à des normes professionnelles internes), qui ne restreindraient par I'autonomie de ces groupes, mais pourraient accroître la responsabilité avant le contrôle.     

Remembering while Forgetting: The Role of Automorphism in City Management in Warsaw

This article summarizes the results of a study of city management in Warsaw. Contrary to the common opinion, the difficulties in effective city management in Warsaw do not stem from its communist past, but from a veneered sedimentation of a rationalist-legalist frame of action. These problems are aggravated by a negative attitude toward imitation of foreign models. The article discusses possibilities for reframing that are created by automorphism, that is, an imitation of the city's invented tradition.