The ‘masterpieces of the twentieth century’ festival and the congress for cultural freedom: Origins and consolidation 1947–52

The Congress for Cultural Freedom was established in June 1950 in West Berlin with the intention of solidifying anti‐communist opinion among Western intellectuals. Despite much having already been written on its history and its relationship with the CIA, there remains a lack of clarity over its early years concerning the extent of the CIA role and the degree to which a coherent ‘strategy’ existed. This article concentrates on the various individuals and groups who were involved in the Congress' origins, and how its purpose and method was consolidated by means of its first major venture after Berlin, the ‘Masterpieces of the 20th Century’ festival held in Paris in May 1952.     

Economists in government: The case of Malawi

The problem of the relationship between economic rationality and decision‐making in Africa is seen largely as a problem of communication between economists, administrators and politicians. The way in which economists are integrated into the machinery of government in Malawi is described and briefly compared with Zambia, where the Ministry of Development Planning was effectively excluded.     

Globalisation,liberal theory and the spatiality of governance in Sub‐Saharan Africa

The debate over development and democracy is a highly charged one, because the two concepts are open to such divergent interpretation. In recent years, while academics were discovering globalisation, the major international financial institutions have been championing a particular version of the democracy‐development debate centred upon the notion of governance. They contend that democratisation and institutional reforms must occur before or alongside economic development. This article argues that their vision of governance is highly normative and simplifies reality for ideological purposes. This revolves around a particular reading of liberal political economy which sees political institutions as neutral arbiters and civil society as a space of freedom for plural voices. These formulations are implicitly spatial since they see political space as divided neatly into the international, national and local and thereby ignore the multiple power flows between these sites. The article concludes by trying to reformulate some of these concerns around the idea of the developmental state and progressive democracy.     

Validation and uses of a Y-chromosome STR 10-plex for forensic and paternity laboratories

Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) provide valuable information in cases of rape and questioned paternity, and they allow for the genetic identification of male lineages. The present study validated a Y-STR 10-plex on the ABI PRISM 3100 Genetic Analyzer for use in forensic and paternity laboratories at Orchid Cellmark. Following optimization of the polymerase chain reaction, father-son pairs were analyzed to ensure that each pair generated identical haplotypes. This study demonstrated that the 10-plex is sensitive to 0.125 ng of input DNA and that female samples mixed with male samples did not interfere with Y-STR haplotyping. In a sample of 525 males, there were three instances of locus multiplication, two at DYS19 and one at DYS435. Overall, haplotype diversity was 0.996, suggesting that the 10-plex can effectively distinguish among male lineages.     

Pop culture portrayals of capital punishment: A review ofDead Man Walking andAmong the Lowest of the Dead

American Journal of Criminal Justice -