Collaboration by Deflection: Coping with Spent Nuclear Fuel

For more than three decades, the U.S. national government has wrestled with the problem of siting a central repository for high‐level radioactive waste, most of it spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Scholars and practitioners recommend a collaborative and participative approach to the siting process to ensure accountability and representativeness, but the search for a working repository so far has been unsuccessful. Consequently, more nuclear power plants must add or expand dry cask facilities to store accumulating amounts of spent fuel. Are collaboration and accountability and successful execution of results possible in state decisions on dry cask storage in a way that they have eluded the central siting process? The special characteristics of dispersed dry cask storage, in contrast to transporting the waste to a central repository, can facilitate collaboration and accountability, as decisions on dry cask storage in Minnesota and Vermont demonstrate.     

The Moral Identity of Europe: From Warfare and Civil Strife to “In Varietate Concordia”

It will be argued that the values of liberalism and peace are essential elements of the moral identity of Europe, as well as universal moral values. They will be contrasted to Europe??s history of warfare. An essential point of reference for the moral identity of Europe is going to be sought in Kant??s notions of the ??ethical commonwealth?? and ??perpetual peace??. The link between this identity and cosmopolitanism will be established. In addition to that, the moral superiority of cosmopolitanism vis-à-vis its alternatives will be asserted on the basis of the concept of the ??normative will??. This concept is going to be situated in the framework of four paradigmatic formulations of cosmopolitanism. The primary conclusion will be that a pre-condition for the preservation of the moral identity of Europe is a redefinition of the concept of ??being European?? in the direction of increasing cultural inclusiveness. In other words, Europe is to reformulate its cultural underpinnings in order to preserve its moral identity.     

The Security Situation in Southern Thailand: Toward an Understanding of Domestic and International Dimensions

The spat of recent violence in Southern Thailand has drawn international attention once again to the political and security situation in the Malay-Muslim provinces of Thailand's restive Southern region. In this regard, this article suggests that in the search for solutions, the Thai government cannot afford to be pre-occupied with Muslim militancy while ignoring the role of other forces and interest groups, or the sensitivities of the Muslim population at large. Doing so, this article contends, will foster the very environment it should aim to eliminate--one that continues to alienate its Malay-Muslim community, strains relations with important neighbors, and encourages exploitation from foreign terrorist networks seeking a foothold in Southeast Asia.­