Barking Mosque and Quintessential Insight: Overcoming the Problematic Government/Community Counterterrorism Partnership in the UK

This article looks specifically at the front end of the radicalization problem and argues that vulnerability to political violence is first and foremost a social problem. The article explores the historical counterradicalization approach in Britain and the government/community relationship, and argues that addressing the disaffection that comes with social vulnerability is the key to building resilience to radicalization. Last, the article profiles a holistic counterradicalization response undertaken by Quintessential Insight and the Barking Mosque whereby social vulnerability is reduced, individuals and communities are empowered, social and political agency is maximized, social contracts are restored, and resilience to radicalization is increased.     

Book note

Postgraduate Fieldwork in Developing Areas: A Rough Guide. Edited by E. Robson and K. Willis. Oxford: Developing Areas Research Group of the Institute of British Geographers, 1994. Pp.vi + 162. NP. ISBN 0 9466 8905 9     

In Search of Peace: Structural Adjustment, Violence, and International Migration

The authors analyze the effects of structural adjustment and violence on international migration from selected countries in Latin America by estimating a series of event history models that predicted the likelihood of initial migration to the United States as a function of the murder rate, economic openness, and selected controls in the country of origin. Although several theories posit a connection between structural economic change and violence, such a pattern held only in Nicaragua, where the homicide rate increased as the economy was opened to trade and average incomes deteriorated. Moreover, only in Nicaragua was lethal violence positively related to out-migration. In Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, rising violence reduced the likelihood of emigration. Violence does not appear to have uniform effects on patterns of international migration but depends on broader social and political conditions within particular countries.     

The regulation of cognitive enhancement devices: refining Maslen et?al.'s model

Our (2014) model for the regulation of cognitive enhancement devices (CEDs) received a great deal of interest from those involved in European device regulation and from academic commentators. Further, since the publication of our recommendations, the number of manufacturers of brain stimulation devices for non-medical purposes has increased, underscoring the need for a regulatory response. In this paper, we clarify aspects of our original proposal and address additional regulatory issues beyond our original focus on the sale of devices. We begin with theoretical points pertaining to the definition of a CED and the distinction between treatment and enhancement. We then respond to practical challenges raised by the prospect of implementing our regulatory framework. Next, we address some wider societal considerations relating to users and other stakeholders. Finally, we revisit the broader regulatory context within which the various discussions are situated.     

Global democracy in a society of peoples

This paper explores the political structures suitable for the realization of John Rawls’ The Law of Peoples (1999). In particular, it explores whether Rawls’ principles and fundamental foundations recommend establishing global institutions and, if so, whether, and in what sense, these institutions should be democratic. It is often suggested, either implicitly or explicitly, that The Law of Peoples would operate through the bilateral and multilateral interactions of, ideally conceived, nation-states. This paper argues, on the contrary, that it would advise a series of democratic global institutions. The case is developed with respect to the idea of a global institution with the remit of regulating international trade and applied, in the contemporary context, to the World Trade Organization (WTO).     

Book notes

Jeffrey Mourssaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy: When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals. New York: Doubleday, 1995.

Val Plumwood: Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. London: Routledge, 1993.

Karen J. Warren, ed.: Ecological Feminism. London: Routledge, 1994.

John Brinckerhoff Jackson: A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

Wendy Harcourt, editor: Feminist Perspectives on Sustainable Development. New Jersey: Zed Books Limited and the Society for International Development, 1994.     

Japanese corporate groupings (keiretsu): A reconnaissance of implications for the future

Four trends presage a possibly somber scenario for the United States at the dawn of the 21st century. American business managers face growing shares of global markets held by foreign business, diminishing U.S. industrial capabilities, and pressure to compete in Japan for Japanese markets. And U.S. policymakers are experiencing operational difficulties, simultaneously influencing and influenced by U.S. industry performance. Thus, the U.S. political business system appears out of alignment with the emerging global competitive environment.

Many explanations and antidotes have been offered, each with its element of truth. The aim is not to deny them, rather it is to explore the significance of corporate grouping structures for Japanese and by implication world business. Long practiced habits of cooperation, mutually sustained competitive advantage, and interlocking ownership appear to be the major ingredients in the glue holding corporate groupings together.

If corporate groupings are as important as some Japanese scholars suggest then a new paradigm may be necessary for understanding their implications for the global political business environment. Thus, significant changes --in philosophies, perspectives, approaches and strategies-- may loom ahead for U.S. managers and policy makers who want to compete successfully in the 21st century.

Arguably, the most competitively potent and successful enterprises in the world are Japanese. Less visible, but of critical importance to this success, are inter-organizational support networks -- Japanese corporate groupings -- which bolster group members with capital, expertise and markets. This article is a reconnaissance for managers, scholars and policy makers detailing future implications of Japanese corporate grouping structures. The first and second sections establish four important trends and summarize popular and scholarly understandings of the corporate grouping phenomenon. If corporate groupings are as important as some Japanese scholars maintain, then perhaps we need a new paradigm which clearly identifies "strategic coupling" as a critical success factor in the new global political business environment. The third and final sections develop a framework for understanding some of the economic, institutional, organizational and strategic implications of Japanese corporate groupings.