The Israel and Palestine land settlement problem, 1948–2005: An analytical history

This paper traces the history of the current conflict between Israel and Palestine from 1948–2005 C.E. It focuses on the frontier conflict between Israel and Palestine, a conflict that has resulted in four major wars during the post-Second World War period, and that has left Israel as the occupying power over a large swathe of territory not allocated to it by the United Nations in 1947. It outlines the nature of the refugee problem in Palestine and neighboring Arab states, and defines the political problems posed both by relative Israel-Palestine population growth, and by the `right to return’ claim by ousted Palestinian Arabs. It reviews the political problems posed by religious extremism and theocratic government both in Israel and Palestine. It concludes with a brief discussion of the unpleasant alternatives left as the road map to peace disintegrates and outlines a preferred solution from the perspective of the advanced western nations.     

The Rise and Fall of Power Line EMFs: The Anatomy of a Magnetic Controversy

The suggestion that power line electromagnetic fields (EMFs) cause diseases like cancer has generated dozens of popular articles and television news segments, hundreds of scientific studies, and numerous consensus reports; it has attracted the attention of epidemiologists, biologists, physicists, policymakers and lawyers. This article will examine the evolution of this controversy through a detailed analysis of the arguments that have been used for and against the hypothesis that power line EMFs have adverse health effects. This article argues that the power line EMF issue provides a classic case study for exploring the challenges citizens, scientists, and policymakers face in sorting out a complex science‐based controversy. This story not only brings together many different perspectives and—from popular notions of cancer clusters to complex epidemiological arguments, from to state‐of‐the‐art animal studies to policy instruments such as the precautionary principle—but also reveals the manner in which a heated controversy can be effectively resolved over time.     

Playing with Fire: The Civil Liberties Implications of September 11th

The aftermath of September 11th has seen a worrisome rise in invasive surveillance measures. Both adopted by statute and initiated by agencies, these provisions provide unprecedented powers for government agents to investigate suspects and search individuals, whether they are directly involved in terrorism or not. The prevailing wisdom has been that the American people will accept these restrictions as the natural cost of heightened security, and initial evidence suggests the public has been willing to tolerate greater limits on civil liberties. However, over time such support will erode, leaving in place permanent restrictions on civil liberties that not only will concern Americans, but also may turn them against government officials and civic participation. Thus, contrary to many interpretations of September 11th, this article argues that the policy response has only sown the seeds for greater detachment from and dissatisfaction with government as the public becomes increasingly separated from the workings and operations of public policy.     

Hollowing out or filling in? Taskforces and the management of cross-cutting issues in British government

This article considers the problem posed by the need to build policy coherence across the levels of government but with a focus on the strategic role of the centre in the hollow state. It considers the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) as an example of a structure, the taskforce, designed to meet the demands of coherence-building. It concludes that, far from the centre being hollowed out, resulting in a permanent loss of capacity, there is a growing emphasis in the core executive on strategic co-ordination and the emergence of institutions such as the SEU indicate a counter-tendency to hollowing out: filling in.     

Unusual infant death: dog attack or postmortem mutilation after child abuse?

An unusual form of fatal child abuse is reported in which investigations by the police and the medical examiner were able to distinguish blunt force head trauma followed by postmortem dismemberment from a fatal dog attack. A discussion of the approaches used to ascertain the correct diagnosis is presented, as well as an overview of dog attacks on humans.     

Correlations between the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents and the minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in a psychiatric hospital population

In an attempt to learn more about the validity of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire for Adolescents (OSQ), the 11 scale scores for 14 male and 26 female adolescent patients in a private psychiatric hospital were correlated with their scores on 13 of the 14 minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Scales. Of the 144 correlations calculated, 27% were significant at least at the 0.05 level and 5% were significant at the 0.01 level. The OSQ seems to be measuring depression, anxiety, and self-devaluation as they affect emotional tone, mastery of external problems, psychopathology, and adjustment. Further work needs to be done with normal adolescents concerning the validity of the OSQ scales. Additional research on the Impulse Control and Social Relationship scales is especially needed to determine the exact meaning of these scales. A review of some of the pertinent literature shows that self-report methods are appropriate and efficient in clinical work and research with adolescents. A general comparison of the OSQ and the MMPI shows that the MMPI has the advantage of good validity scales and other statistical properties, while the OSQ appears more attractive because of its appropriateness for adolescents.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Bonn in West Germany.