Correspondence

The paper argues for the possibility of reworking the concept of ideology in such a way as to depend neither on a problematic of truth and error, nor on a division of the world into two parts one of which is more real than the other, nor on an expressive relation of subjects to meaning. The political force of the concept can be retained if ideology is thought as a provisional state of discourse (a function of its appropriation and use) rather than as a content or an inherent structure. Any discursive system produces a particular configuration of subject-positions which are the conditions of entry of individuals into discourse; but these acquire political significance only through the (historically variable) codification of discourse in terms of a play of relations of power, and the positions available can be refused or undermined. Some implications of this argument for models of the social and for discourse theory are discussed     

Recovering fraudulent claims for Australian federal expenditure on pharmaceuticals and medical devices

The Australian Federal Government expends increasingly large amounts of money on pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It is likely, given government experience in other jurisdictions, that a significant proportion of this expenditure is paid as a result of fraudulent claims presented by corporations. In the United States, legislation such as the False Claims Act 1986 (US), the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act 2009 (US), the Stark (Physician Self-Referral) Statute 1995 (US), the Anti-Kickback Statute 1972 (US), the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 1938 (US), the Social Security Act 1965 (US), and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 (US) has created systematic processes allowing the United States Federal Government to recover billions of dollars in fraudulently made claims in the health and procurement areas. The crucial component involves the creation of financial incentives for information about fraud to be revealed from within the corporate sector to the appropriate state officials. This article explores the opportunities for creating a similar system in Australia in the health care setting.     

Passion,paternalism, and politics: DIY development and independent volunteers in Honduras

Independent development volunteers (IDVs) and their DIY development projects, although largely neglected in the literature, are part of an emerging movement of non-traditional agents within development. However, they are also participants in a deeply paradoxical industry; both a reflection of passion and commitment, and a paternalist and neo-colonial practice that reflects the messy realities of geo-political and cultural power and privilege. This article explores these debates, drawing on research with IDVs in Honduras. The intersection of passion, paternalism, and politics highlights the complex environments in which IDVs work, and the need to make them visible in discussions of development.     

European group taxation-the role of exit taxes

The European Commission’s proposal to establish a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base reduces both compliance and administrative costs for European groups. The proposal would replace separate entity accounting with a profit allocation based on formula apportionment. Since formula apportionment rests on the source principle, the group faces an incentive to invest in low tax member states. Residence-based group taxation based on separate entity accounting could be an alternative. The subsidiaries’ profits and losses are attributed to the parent of the group (current inclusion), and the European group’s profit is taxed at the corporate income tax rate of the parent. The parent’s state of residence grants a foreign tax credit. Current inclusion prevents tax distortions regarding the location of investments, if no limitations on the foreign tax credit exist. A serious drawback of residence-based taxation is the incentive to move the group’s headquarter to a low tax member state. At present, this incentive is mitigated by exit taxation. Applicable exit taxation rules, however, most likely infringe upon European law. Rules that conform to European law probably abolish unfavourable liquidity effects upon exit. In net present value terms, however, exit taxes still render it burdensome for the group to move the headquarter to another member state.

Travelling with vehicular ideas: The case of the third Way

In all the various debates around Anthony Giddens's Third Way sequence, few attempts have been made to characterize its logic and impact as a type of discourse, a certain mode of ideas-work. The first dimension of this paper involves deploying Thomas Osborne's categories to depict the Third Way as a ‘vehicular’ idea, with the intellectual style of Giddens himself correlatively framed as that of a new sort of ‘mediator’. In these terms, the essential inclusiveness and indeterminacy of the Third Way series of texts is illustrated, and the issue of what counts as ideas ‘success’ in the vehicular mode is broached. Second, in line with the inherent mobility of vehicular ideas, I identify the keynote shifts in Third Way thinking over time, including the sociological register that it occupies, its pragmatism and its relationship to New Labour politics. In a third phase, the article takes up questions about the role of the critical intellectual today and the practical, though not theoretical, recovery of ‘ideology-critique’ in appraising ideas like the Third Way. The scope and limits of the very notion of ‘vehicularity’ itself are central to this discussion.