Woodrow Wilson and The Birth of a Nation: American Democracy and International Relations

President Woodrow Wilson led the United States into World War One, promising to make the world safe for democracy. Advocating liberal internationalism, he called for collective security and national self-determination. He wanted democratic states to create the League of Nations as a partnership for peace in a new world order. But in his thinking and statecraft, the text of modern liberalism was intertwined with the subtext of White racism. His friendship with Thomas Dixon, Jr., and his contributions to David W. Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation revealed this nexus between liberalism and racism. His liberal civic ideals appeared quite different from the ultra racism of the film, which was based on Dixon's novels. He seemed to advocate inclusive nationalism, in contrast to its exclusive Americanism. The president's apparently universal principles, however, were still influenced by the White South's Lost Cause. His diplomacy and his legacy of Wilsonianism combined racism with liberalism. He adhered to the color line at home by promoting Jim Crow segregation in the federal government and abroad by limiting his liberal internationalism in practice. Historians and political scientists have typically identified Wilsonian diplomacy only with liberalism. To see him and his legacy in international history from a different perspective, which brings into focus the experience of people of color, it is necessary to recognize the subtext of racism in the text of Wilson's liberalism. Racism shaped his understanding of America's national identity and global mission, and thus his vision of liberal democracy and peace.     

Pay-for-performance in local governments: the views of personnel directors

This article provides new information about the use of pay-for-performance in local governments by presenting findings from a national survey of personnel directors in municipalities and counties. The findings show that most respondents view pay-for- performance as a useful tool, even though it is only used in a minority of local governments. An in-depth analysis of 40 possible benefits and problems showed that PFP benefits are relatively undefined and that users do experience some potentially serious problems, though these problems appear less serious than the existing literature would predict.     

苏里南——文化多元化的缩影

苏里南是一个既年轻又古老的国家。目前,在全球化进程越来越快的大环境和本国力求更好地适应大环境以求发展的情况下,苏里南逐渐融入整个世界大文化中,形成了具有"苏里南特色"的多元文化。这种文化现象不仅仅只发生在苏里南,当今的许多亚、非、拉国家正经历着与苏里南相似或相同的过程,因此,深入探讨和研究苏里南社会的文化现象具有借鉴意义。本文从苏里南的人口、族群的构成、土著人对本国历史的影响、苏里南语言的形成及目前国内存在的宗教问题等诸方面,从社会学的角度分析了苏里南在经历了几百年的西方殖民统治之后的国家概念的重要性及由此产生的重大影响。20世纪后半叶苏里南取得独立,之后发生的社会变化、目前存在的社会问题及应采用何种方式解决这些社会问题,应引起广泛关注。     

Membership in Canadian regulatory agencies

Abstract. The paper reports some of the results obtained from a questionnaire administered to 320 members of 70 federal and provincial regulatory agencies in Canada. The data contained in this paper encompasses three areas: fundamental socio-economic information about regulators; their perceptions of why they were selected for positions with the agency; and their ideological and political predilictions. The paper concludes, subject to the qualifications set forth in the paper, that Canadian regulators are of a fairly high quality but that they are not as judicial as they assume or as free from politics as might be presumed. Sommaire. L'auteur de cet exposé donne les résultats d'un questionnaire auquel ont répondu 320 membres de 70 organismes de regulation fédéraux et provinciaux au Canada. Les résultats de ce questionnaire se regroupent sous trois rubriques: données socio-économiques fondamentales sur les responsables de la réglementation; les opinions des régisseurs quant aux raisons pour lesquelles ce poste leur été confié; et leurs orientations idéologiques et politiques. L'auteur conclut que sous certaines réerves, les régisseurs au Canada sont d'un assez haut calibre, mais qu'ils ne sont ni aussi impartiaux qu'ils le croient, ni aussi indépendants de la politique qu'on pourrait le supposer.     

Is Obtaining an Arrestee''s DNA a Valid Special Needs Search Under the Fourth Amendment? What Should (and Will) the Supreme Court Do?

A small number of states have enacted laws that authorize the taking and analysis of DNA from certain categories of arrestees. This article addresses the constitutionality, under the Fourth Amendment, of taking DNA samples from persons subject to arrest.