The great tradition: The spread of diplomacy in the ancient world

Diplomacy as we understand it to the present day — a sophisticated system for handling affairs of state and negotiating treaties, based on accredited envoys working within a framework of international law and protocol - emerged in the third millennium BCE in the ancient Near East at the same time as the development of writing and urban culture. Transmitted by the great cuneiform civilizations of Babylon and Assyria to Achaemenid Persia and classical Greece and Rome, the heritage of diplomacy continued to flourish in Byzantium, Rome, and Venice. The Renaissance provided the conditions for the spread of a tradition that had existed in many essential aspects for millennia.     

Public Perceptions of Traumatic Events and Policy Preferences during the George W. Bush Administration: A Portrait of America in Turbulent Times

The American policy landscape during the George W. Bush administration was shaped by a series of traumatic events that confronted the nation and people of the United States. These included the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in 2001, the anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the threat of a flu pandemic in 2005 and 2006, the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, and the financial collapse of 2008. The results of the 2008 presidential election appear to be a rejection of the Bush administration's major policy responses to these events, but the variation in type and level of public support among different groups suggests a much more varied and dynamic portrait of America in turbulent times. Using a multiyear panel survey, an interdisciplinary team of political scientists and psychologists analyzed the behavior and political responses to the events by the American public. The findings suggest that even seven years after the events of 11 September 2001, people with higher levels of post-traumatic stress symptomatology related to 9/11 have significantly different interpretations of the threat of terrorism and the appropriate policy responses to it than do others. Perceptions of threat, the political salience of terrorism and other traumatic events, the level of support for political leaders and assessments of the government's actions vary over time and across different groups within society based on the psychological, political and social, and personal characteristics of the respondent. These results help to open the black box of aggregate public opinion by providing a detailed portrait of how psychological, social, political, and personal factors affected perceptions and political behavior during the George W. Bush administration.     

Carbon Neutrality in the New U.S.-China Future

正In U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry's visit to Tianjin, China, in early September and his discussions with China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua, we can see a welcome movement toward the better(old) days of cooperation in areas the two countries could agree on. The old official bridges were partially deconstructed and that self-inflicted damage was shouldered by the American people. Now, the U.S. can finally see what it produced: precisely nothing of value.     

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.     

MNE Affiliation,Firm Size and Exports Revisited: A Study of Information Technology Firms in India

In this study we argue that the export performance of affiliates of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in developing countries is determined differently from that of licensees of foreign firms or of domestic firms. Our empirical results for the information technology sector in India show that exports of MNE affiliates are greater when they have larger foreign equity stakes that bring more tacit knowledge transfer and complementary FDI advantages and when they import more explicit technology from the purchase of licences. Standard export determinants such as firm size and capital intensity do not matter for MNE affiliates, but they do for licensees and domestic firms.     

Women's urban labour market status in developing countries: How well do they fare in Khartoum,Sudan?

This article examines the insertion of women in the formal sector labour market in urban Khartoum, Sudan, in order to explain their inferior employment status in one particular developing country environment. A number of hypotheses are tested drawing upon recent labour market theoretical developments and econometric techniques from the literature which have had limited previous applications in Third World settings, particularly in Africa. Our findings indicate that occupational segregation, rather than pay discrimination, is primarily to blame for observed wage differentials suggesting that well‐intentioned equal pay laws will do little to reduce the earnings gap.     

Books in Brief

Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, HEGEMONY & SOCIALIST STRATEGY—TOWARDS A RADICAL DEMOCRATIC POLITICS (London: Verso, 1985), trans. by Winston Moore and Paul Cammack.

Chris Rojek, capitalism and leisure theory (London and New York: Methuen, 1985)

Stanley Aronowitz and Henry A. Giroux, education under siege—THE CONSERVATIVE, LIBERAL AND RADICAL DEBATE OVER SCHOOLING (South Hadley: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, 1985).

Bertell Ollman and Edward Vernoff. THE LEFT ACADEMY: MARXIST SCHOLARSHIP ON AMERICAN CAMPUSES, VOLUME 1.

—THE LEFT ACADEMY: MARXIST SCHOLARSHIP ON AMERICAN CAMPUSES, VOLUME 2, (New York: Praeger, 1984).

Alam Blum and Peter McHugh. SELF REFLECTION IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1984).

Bottomore, Tom, with Laurence Harris, V. G. Kiernan, and Ralph Miliband. A DICTIONARY OF MARXIST THOUGHT. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1983)

Resnick, Stephen, and Richard Wolff, eds. rethinking marxism: Essays for Harry Magdoff & Paul Sweezy. (Brooklyn, New York: Au‐tonomedia, 1985).

Adam Przeworski, capitalism and social democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985)

Gosta Esping‐Andersen, politics against markets: the social democratic road TO power (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985)

CUBA: twenty‐five years of revolution—1959–1984 (New York: Praeger, 1985), edited by Sandor Halabsky and John M. Kirk.

Barry Barnes, about science (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985)