Reactions to flag desecration in American society: Exploring the contours of formal and informal social control

Although flag burnings today rarely draw the amount of attention they received in the late 1980s, efforts to protect the flag have persisted for nearly a decade. Accordingly, the flag protection campaign has captured the interest of intellectuals from various academic backgrounds, including political scientists, egal scholars, and journalists. Conspicuously absent from the literature on flag desecration, however, are sociologists and criminologists. Combining historical evidence with recent cases, this article unveils key sociological aspects of social control, including formal and informal responses to flag desecration.     

Crossing the DNA Rubicon

正Chinese scientists make history by editing humangenes with new technologyIs it possible for humans to wall off a branch of knowledge that is deemed too dangerous,risky or formidable to pursue?That is what James Burke,the science historian,asked in his 1985 documentary series,The Day the     

DAWN OF CASHLESS SOCIETIES

China's mobile payment providers are working to kickstart cashless societies around the world. Riding on the back of the growing numbers of Chinese tourists abroad, companies such as Ant Financial Services Group's Alipay and Tencent's WeChat Pay are developing new ways for consumers to spend their money while traveling without having to carry cash or credit.     

Assessing policy capacity in Canada's public services: Perspectives of deputy and assistant deputy ministers

Abstract: The state of policy capacity within Canada's various levels of government has for some time been the subject of discussion both within the public services themselves and among the academic research community. Drawing on the results of a 2006 survey of deputy and assistant deputy ministers working in Canada's federal, ten provincial and three territorial governments, this article presents assessments made by the most senior leadership. The survey results show that ninety per cent of deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers agree that policy capacity has changed but that the change is not uni‐directional. Both improvements and decline in policy capacity were observed, although assessments of decline were somewhat more pronounced. Moreover, improvements in policy capacity were found to be associated with a reduced focus on direct service delivery, a greater concern with long‐term planning, and the presence of a political leadership interested in innovation. Conversely, declining policy capacity was found to be linked to centralization of power, the loss of institutional memory, and “churning” within the ranks of the executive leadership. Additionally, level of government was also observed to be linked with change in policy capacity, with provincial deputies reflecting more negatively on policy capacity decline in their government than deputies at other levels.     

A Comment on Kellogg's Analysis

An American specialist on the Soviet and Russian military-industrial complex examines the economic, social and political tensions within one of the most important, closed nuclear cities in Russia. Based on an intensive examination of the city's daily newspaper, not heretofore available in the West, the author explores the implications of the current situation for prospective nuclear accidents or proliferation. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P29, R58, O18.