Commercial Relationships and Spaces after Disaster

Sociological research on the relationship between social bonds and economic activity typically focuses on how social bonds facilitate economic activity. There is, however, a growing and important literature on the development of commercial relationships into social friendships and the important role that commercial spaces can play in facilitating social connections. To date, however, this research has not focused on the important role that these commercial friendships and spaces can play in facilitating an individual’s recovery efforts after a major disaster like a tornado, hurricane or flood. It has also not focused on the effect that major disasters can have on commercial ties. Moreover, while the sociological literature on post-disaster recovery has emphasized the important role of social capital, it has not emphasized the role that social networks developed within commercial contexts can play in helping individuals to rebound from disaster. This article is an effort to fill these gaps in the literature. Using interview data collected in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, we argue and describe how meaningful social bonds that emerge out of and are facilitated by commercial activity as well as the social spaces provided by commercial entities can facilitate community rebound after a major disaster.     

Toward Alliance or Ambivalence: A Theoretical Assessment of U.S.-India Relations

Utilizing prevailing International Relations theory, this article seeks to explain the conditions under which India and the United States can be expected to achieve deep, long-term, strategic cooperation that could culminate in a formal alliance. Specifically, it considers the insights and predictions of realist and liberal theories while also considering critical domestic level factors that may shape India’s capacity to be a reliable and attractive partner. While dramatic progress has been made since the initial thawing of the Cold War relationship, this article concludes that the future is likely to be a mixed bag, as the recent Obama experience has reflected. Only the emergence of an overtly revisionist China is likely to drive New Delhi and Washington toward a traditional alliance.     

Documents on terrorism

Over the last two years, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has attempted to resolve the Liberian civil conflict peacefully.’ This effort has drawn valuable lessons from previous civil conflicts in the other African states. Importantly, the ECOWAS‐sponsored cease‐fire was observed by the various warring factions for two years; however, the ceasefire was shattered on October 15, 1992, when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, the principal rebel organization, launched an armed attack on Monrovia, the capital city. In turn, this has recommenced the civil war and has drawn ECOMOG, the ECOWAS peacekeeping force, into the conflict.

Against this background, the purpose of the paper is to examine both the domestic and external factors that have impeded the peaceful resolution of the Liberian civil conflict.     

A tribute to Earl A. Thompson and, in his own words, a summary of his general economic and social theory

Brilliant but little known, in part because his style was dense and crucial papers unpublished, Earl Thompson reformulated standard theory to achieve policy relevance, focusing on significant rent-seeking inefficiencies stemming from private information and transaction costs. Drawing on history, he showed a vast array of institutions to be efficient which economists had previously found to be inefficient, modeled governments and their nature, defined government’s functions, and showed why dominant states rise and fall.