The Question of Political Responsibility and the Foundation of the National Transitional Council for Libya

In March 2011 Jean-Luc Nancy published an article entitled ??What the Arab Peoples Signify to Us?? in the Libération newspaper. The article supported the NATO-led military intervention in Libya that followed the anti-government protests of 15?C16 February 2011. It is in the name of ??political responsibility?? that Nancy makes his intervention. I want to explore the question of ??political responsibility?? in light of Nancy??s work, and his Libération article in particular. I do this by first assessing one of the distinguishing features of the uprising in Libya: the emergence of the National Transitional Council (NTC). By setting Nancy??s response against Derrida??s work on spectrality and his critique of the founding declaration (in ??Declarations of Independence??) we can more clearly appreciate the scope that Nancy??s account of responsibility entails. I suggest that Derrida??s logics of spectrality help not only critique Nancy??s response but also understand the conditions that make his account of political responsibility possible.     

Multivariate Comparison of Male and Female Adolescent Substance Abusers with Accompanying Legal Problems

Purpose

The factors that distinguish adolescent male and female substance abusers with and without legal problems were investigated.

Method

Youths (N = 4,071) admitted for substance abuse treatment were administered the revised Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI-R) to measure severity of health, behavior, and social adjustment problems.

Results

Legal problems were more frequent among boys; however, severity of disturbance was greater in girls on 9 of 10 scales. Substance abusing girls and boys with legal problems reported more severe behavior, substance abuse, family adjustment, and peer relationship problems than substance abusing peers without legal problems. Quality of peer relationship mediated the association of family dysfunction, substance abuse and behavior problems with legal problems in boys only.

Conclusions

Gender and legal status both need to be taken into account to potentiate treatment prognosis of substance abusing youths.     

Marijuana But Not Alcohol Use During Adolescence Mediates the Association Between Transmissible Risk for Substance Use Disorder and Number of Lifetime Violent Offenses

Aim

This study determined the extent to which alcohol and marijuana use during adolescence mediates the relation between transmissible risk for substance use disorder (SUD) and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses.

Methods

The transmissible liability index was administered to 359 10-12 year old youths who were tracked to 22 years of age. Past year frequency of alcohol and marijuana consumption was longitudinally tracked to age 22 at which time lifetime violent offenses was recorded.

Results

Rate of increase in marijuana use mediated the association between transmissible risk and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses. No association was found between past year frequency of alcohol use and violent offenses.

Conclusions

Prevention directed at lowering the psychological characteristics associated with transmissible risk for SUD may also reduce violent offending.     

Correlates of handgun carrying among adolescents in the United States

Weapon-related violence, especially the use of handguns, among adolescents is a serious public health concern. Using public-use data file from the adolescent sample (N = 17,842) in the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this study examines the behavioral, parental involvement, and prevention correlates of handgun carrying. Overall, 3.1% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 reported carrying a handgun in the past year. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicated that males, selling and using illicit drugs, were robustly associated with an increased probability of handgun carrying among adolescents. Furthermore, youth who carry handguns were significantly less likely to report a parent being involved in their lives and were significantly more likely to have encountered violence and drug prevention programming compared with youth who did not carry handguns. Implications of these results for prevention and policy are discussed.     

The Riddle of Charisma

The word “charisma” is widely and carelessly employed, without investigation or definition of the phenomenon. Rather than a singular attribute, charisma is complex, manifesting itself in at least three non-exclusive forms: innate charisma, achieved charisma, and the charisma of position. Given the human craving for leadership, understanding the different forms of charisma and their associated strengths and weaknesses helps us steer between, triumph, tragedy and travesty.     

Industrial safety: The political challenge∗

The Philosophical Origins of Modern Contract Doctrine. JAMES GORDLEY. Oxford. 1991. The Clarendon Press. 263 pp. £35 hb; £16.99 pb.

A History of the Anglo‐American Common Law of Contract. KEVIN M. TEEVEN. New York. 1990. Greenwood Press, xii + 382 pp.

Legal Fiction: Law in the Novels of Nineteenth Century Women Novelists. KATHLEEN LONCAR. London. 1995. Minerva Press. 266pp. (inc Index). £7.99 pb. ISBN 1 85863 668 X.

Adversaria: Literature and Law. E.J. HINZ, T. ANDERSON AND A. McGILLIVRAY (eds.) [Special Issue of Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, vol.27 no.4 ‐ December 1994] Winnipeg. 1994. University of Manitoba, ix + 230 pp. $20 pb. ISSN 0027–1276.

The Independence of the Judiciary. The View from the Lord Chancellor's Office. ROBERT STEVENS. Oxford. 1993. Clarendon Press, xii + 221 pp (incl. index). £27.50 hb. ISBN 0 19 825815 1

Marriage, Property and Law in Late Imperial Russia. WILLIAM G. WAGNER. Oxford. 1994. Clarendon Press. xiv+413pp (incl. Index) £45 hb. ISBN 0–19–820447–7.