French nuclear idiosyncrasy: how it affects French nuclear policies towards the United Arab Emirates and Iran

This article elaborates the notion of ‘nuclear idiosyncrasy’ as a specific understanding of what nuclear weapons and energy are, what they stand for and what they can do. It then assesses the persistence of nuclear idiosyncrasy over time and its effects on French nuclear policies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran. Based on interviews in France, Geneva and the UAE, this article contributes to three debates within foreign policy analysis and nuclear history. Is a regional approach necessary to understand the framing of foreign policies in the twenty-first century? Does a change in leadership fundamentally affect the orientations of nuclear policies? Are the risks of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and the measures to prevent it similarly understood by all the players in the international community? First, it shows that French nuclear policies in the Middle East are not shaped by dynamics specific to the region as the often invoked notion of an ‘Arab policy of France’ would suggest. Secondly, in-depth analysis leads one to reject the idea of a major change between the nuclear policies of Presidents Chirac and Sarkozy. Thirdly, persistent French nuclear idiosyncrasy leads also to rejection of the idea of convergence towards a shared understanding of the proliferation threat in the Middle East.     

Governmental behavior in representative democracy: a synthesis of the theoretical literature

What is the impact of bureaucratic behaviors on tax rates? What is preferable: a bureaucrat or a partisan politician? Does a flypaper effect occur when lobby groups influence public policies? This article tries to answer these questions by analyzing and comparing six different models of public choice: (1) the median voter model, (2) the Leviathan model, (3) the slack-maximizing model, (4) a general model of bureaucracy, (5) the partisan politicians model and (6) a general model of lobbying. Among several results, it is shown that the median voter’s income and tax share almost always play a significant role in the design of the public good/tax package, even if the government does not explicitly try to maximize the median voter’s utility. The article also provides a synthesis of the positive analysis of the flypaper effect.     

The birth of the memory of Communism: memorial museums in Europe

This article argues that the memory of Communism emerged in Europe not due to the public recognition of pre-given historical experiences of peoples previously under Communist regimes, but to the particularities of the post-Cold War transnational political context. As a reaction to the uniqueness claim of the Holocaust in the power field structured by the European enlargement process, Communism memory was reclaimed according to the European normative and value system prescribed by the memory of the Holocaust. Since in the political context of European enlargement refusing to cultivate the memory of the Holocaust was highly illegitimate, the memory of Communism was born as the “twin brother” of Holocaust memory. The Europeanized memory of Communism produced a legitimate differentia specifica of the newcomers in relation to old member states. It has been publicly reclaimed as an Eastern European experience in relation to universal Holocaust memory perceived as Western. By the analysis of memorial museums of Communism, the article provides a transnational, historical, and sociological account on Communism memory. It argues that the main elements of the discursive repertoire applied in post-accession political debates about the definition of Europe were elaborated before 2004 in a pan-European way.     

Navigating the dichotomy: The top public servant's craft

How in their day‐to‐day practices do top public servants straddle the politics–administration dichotomy (PAD), which tells them to serve and yet influence their ministers at the same time? To examine this, we discuss how three informal ‘rules of the game’ govern day‐to‐day political–administrative interactions in the Dutch core executive: mutual respect, discretionary space, and reciprocal loyalty. Drawing from 31 hours of elite‐interviews with one particular (authoritative) top public servant, who served multiple prime ministers, and supplementary interviews with his (former) ministers and co‐workers, we illustrate the top public servants’ craft of responsively and yet astutely straddling the ambiguous boundaries between ‘politics’ and ‘administration’. We argue that if PAD‐driven scholarship on elite administrative work is to remain relevant, it has to come to terms with the boundary‐blurring impacts of temporal interactions, the emergence of ‘hybrid’ ministerial advisers, and the ‘thickening’ of accountability regimes that affects both politicians and public servants.     

Was Mead wrong about coming of age in Samoa? An analysis of the Mead/Freeman controversy for scholars of adolescence and human development

This paper presents an analysis of the Mead/Freeman controversy with a focus on Mead's claim that coming of age in 1920s Samoa was accomplished with relative ease. It is concluded that, while Mead appears to have engaged in some inappropriate generalizations to the rest of Samoa from the small island of Ta'u, Freeman's counterevidence to support his claim that adolescence on Ta'u would have been problematic is weak and easily dismissed. Accordingly, Freeman's claim to have refuted Mead's findings is based on evidence that itself is easily refuted. Thus, Mead's pioneering study, which was the first to argue that adolescent storm and stress is not universal, continues to stand the test of time.Received Ph.D. in sociology from York University, Toronto, Canada. Research interests include the empirical investigation of Eriksonian theory, cross-cultural and historical analyses of youth and adolescence, higher education and personal development, and gender roles.     

From Status Politics to Technocratic Pluralism: Toleration of Religious Minorities in Canada

This paper examines patterns of public regulation as they may emerge throughout the West from controversies constructed around new and minority religions. Following Beckford's and Richardson's insights about the sociological exemplarity of these issues, we argue that evidence for some of these trends as well as clues for interpretation can be found in contemporary Canadian constitutional development that parallels and at times precedes that of Europe. Close examination of notions of society and religion found in more than 35 religion cases brought before the Canadian Supreme Court from 1951 to 1997 lead to the conclusion that beside governmental and parliamentary intervention, legal management of religious pluralism is assuming a decisively normative turn. Notions such as status politics, civic ethos, and technocratic pluralism are offered as an explanation of this trend.     

The Implausibility of Freeman's Hoaxing Theory: An Update

This article updates a series of critical analyses of Derek Freeman's claim that Margaret Mead was hoaxed during the field research that constituted the basis of her book Coming of Age in Samoa. In particular, Freeman claims that this hoaxing caused Mead to falsely portray Samoa as a free-love society. Based on Mead's written correspondence, progress reports, and the contents of her book, it is concluded that no hoaxing of any significance could plausibly constitute the basis of her book. Moreover, while Mead may have made some misleading statements about the extent of sexual freedom among her informants, she did not portray a free-love society in her book. Instead, some of the misleading statements can be traced to the encouragement of her publisher to make a show for the public.     

Managing Tax Regimes: A Call for Research

Most academic research on taxation relates to higher-level issues of fiscal policy. Much public debate takes place about the calculation and incidence of different taxes, but little academic research addresses the management problems that are specific to national taxation regimes. This paper identifies emerging issues and calls for joint practitioner/academic attention on an international basis to address these issues.