Civic Culture and Government Performance in the American States

In a recent study, Robert D. Putnam reported a strong relationshipbetween civic culture and government performance among the newlyempowered regions of Italy. This article extends Putnam's methodologythe American states. Using similar techniques, we constructindices of civic culture and government performance for thestates. When correlated, the results reveal a clear link betweencivicness and performance. States that are more civic lend tohave governments that enact more liberal and innovative policies.This relationship between civicness and performance remainsstrong even after controlling for political culture, ideology,education, and other factors.     

Quasi‐welfare,associationalism and the social division of citizenship

It is widely acknowledged that in many advanced capitalist societies, the role and structure of the welfare state has undergone substantial changes in recent decades. Arguments continue about the precise causes, and about the trajectory and impact of those changes. One particular strand in the debate has concerned the nature of the transformation of the welfare state in relation to the wider economy, and whether these changes reflect a ‘post‐Fordist’ welfare regime; while another important theme concerns the consequences of cultural and social differentiation, and the extent to which ‘postmodernism’ entails a fundamental dissolution of conventional assumptions about social policy. Radical reconstruction of the institutions, and questioning of the functions of welfare states, are resulting in more complex and heterogeneous patterns of social provision. At the same time, increased theoretical emphasis on, and popular demand for, choice, consumerism and diversity represent a significant challenge to, and perhaps the abandonment of, longstanding precepts about universalism in welfare. This article reviews some of the key themes in this debate, and supports arguments that predict that the universalist goals and principles of welfare are likely to be displaced by moves towards a ‘marketised’ system of quasi‐welfare in an atomised, anomic and fragmented society. The article addresses several issues: first, it briefly discusses some of the main implications of recent theorising about post‐Fordism and postmodernism; secondly it considers the emergence and consequences of’ quasi‐markets’ in social policy; and finally it challenges the claim that the revival of ‘associationalism in civil society offers a remedy for some of the principal (alleged) defects of the welfare state.     

Affirmative duties and the limits of self-sacrifice

American criminal law reflects the absence of any general duty of Good Samaritanism. Nonetheless, there are some circumstances in which it imposes affirmative duties to aid others. In those circumstances, however, the duty to aid is canceled whenever aiding subjects the actor to a certain level of risk or sacrifice, a level that can be less than the risk or sacrifice faced by the beneficiary if not aided. In this article, I demonstrate that this approach to limiting affirmative duties to aid encounters the same problem of moral arbitrariness as does a moral catastrophe override of deontological side-constraints.     

C. Reviews and notes bibliographies and works of reference

GRAMMAIRE ARABE A L'USAGE DES ELEVES DE L'ECOLE SPECIALE DES LANGUES ORIENTALES VIVANTES. By A. SILVESTRE de SACY. Paris 1831, reprinted Paris, Institut du Monde Arabe, [ca. 1987]. 2 vols. xxx, 608; 697pp. FF. 350.‐.

LERNWORTSCHATZ ARABISCH. By INGELORE GOLDMANN‐MUTLAK. (Modernes Arabisch, eds. Wolfgang Reuschel and Günther Krahl.) Leipzig, Verlag Enzyklopädie, 1990. 315pp. DM40.‐.

DICTIONARY OF POST‐CLASSICAL YEMENI ARABIC. By MOSHE PIAMENTA. Leiden, Brill, 1990. 2 vols. xxiv, 541 pp. Hfl 165.‐.

IRAN AND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA: ECONOMIC STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS. London, Economist Intelligence Unit, 1991. 245pp. £145.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 1992. London, Europa Publications, 1991. xxii, 1024pp. £115.

KURZBIBLIOGRAPHIE: PROBLEME UND PERSPEKTIVEN EINER VOLLMITGLIEDSCHAFT DER TÜRKEI IN DER EUROPÄISCHEN GEMEINSCHAFT. Compiled by G. HANSEN. Hamburg, Deutsches Übersee‐Institut, 1989. 26pp. DM8.‐

ALBANIA. Edited by WILLIAM B. BLAND. (World Bibliographical Series, 94.) Oxford, Clio Press, 1988. xxxvi, 290pp. 1 map. £39.50.

THE TIMURID ARCHITECTURE OF IRAN AND TURAN. By L. GOLOMBEK and D. WILBER. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1988. 2 vols. 510pp., 16 colour plates, 481 black‐and‐white plates, 8 maps, 162 plans and sections, 45 text figs. US$130.‐     

Fragliche Autonomie

Zusammenfassung Die Autonomie der Soziologie als Wissenschaft ist nicht einfach eine Frage der Freiheit oder Befreiung von politischen Restriktionen in Forschung und Lehre. Sie l?sst sich auch nicht auf das Problem der ungehinderten organisatorischen Etablierung des Faches reduzieren. Mindestens ebenso wichtig ist die Entwicklung wissenschaftlicher Klassifikationen, die den epistemologischen Bruch zwischen auβerwissenschaftlichem und wissenschaftlichem Diskurs in der Soziologie erst m?glich machen. Informiert von der franz?sischen wissens-und wissenschaftssoziologischen Tradition (von Durkheim bis Bourdieu) geht der vorliegende Text der Frage nach, ob und inwiefern sich die heutige russische Soziologie in ihrem Anwendungs-, Gegenstands-und Methodenverst?ndnis von den Vorgaben der rein politischadministrativen Einführung des Faches in der Sowjetunion der 1960er Jahre gel?st hat. Hierfür wird das disziplin?re Feld analysiert, zum einen am Beispiel administrativ herausragender Repr?sentanten, zum anderen anhand (institutionalisierter) theoretisch-methodologischer Grundpositionen dieser SoziologInnen, die bis heute den Lehrbuch-Kanon des Faches bestimmen. Für die sowjetisch/russische Soziologie der 1960er-90er Jahre kann auf personeller und disziplin?rer Ebene ungeachtet der gravierenden historisch-politischen Ver?nderungen in diesem Zeitraum ein hohes Maβ an Kontinuit?t ausgemacht werden. Ungebrochen dominiert die übersetzung politischer Klassifizierungen in soziologische Kategorisierungen als „gesunder Menschenverstand“ der Disziplin. Die Professionalisierung der Soziologie in Russland ist daher auch in ihrer postsowjetischen Phase als unabgeschlossen zu bezeichnen.

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Summary The autonomy of sociology as a science is not simply a question of freedom or liberation from political restrictions in teaching and research. Neither can it be reduced to the problem of its unrestricted organizational establishment. At least as important is the development of scientific classifications without which the epistemological breach between non-scientific and scientific discourse could not be sustained. Based on the French tradition in the sociology of knowledge and science from Durkheim to Bourdieu, this analysis seeks to establish if and to what degree current Russian sociology in its understandings of its applications, objects and methods could liberate itself from the guidelines and structures set forth by the purely political-administrative institutionalization of the field in the Soviet union of the 1960s. The analysis of the disciplinary field considers administratively prominent representatives and their (institutionalized) theoretical- methodological positions which shape the textbook canon up to the present day. for the Soviet/Russian sociology from the 1960s to the 1990s and notwithstanding the serious historical and political changes, the findings suggest a very high degree of personnel and disciplinary continuity. The translation of political differentiations into sociological categorizations is still dominant and represents the “common sense” of the discipline. Thus, post-soviet sociology remains characterized by incomplete professionalization.

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Résumé L’autonomie de la sociologie n’est pas qu’une question de liberté ou d’émancipation à l’égard des contraintes politiques en matière de recherche et d’enseignement. Elle n’est pas réductible au problème de l’autonomie de la discipline au niveau organisationnel. L’élaboration de classifications scientifiques dont dépend l’instauration de la rupture épistémologique entre discours scientifique et discours non-scientifique est un facteur au moins aussi important. Instruit de la tradition fran?aise en matière de sociologie de la connaissance et de la science (de Durkheim à Bourdieu), le présent article étudie la question de savoir si et dans quelle mesure la sociologie russe contemporaine s’est affranchie, quant à la conception qu’elle a de ses applications, de son objet et de ses méthodes, du cadre purement politico-administratif qui lui avait été assigné au moment de son introduction dans l’Union soviétique des années 1960. A cette fin, cet article analyse le champ disciplinaire, d’une part en prenant pour exemple des occupants de positions académiques éminentes, d’autre part en partant de positions méthodologiques et théoriques de base (institutionnalisées) des sociologues qui, dans les manuels, comptent aujourd’hui encore parmi les classiques de la matière. L’auteur met en évidence le haut degré de continuité de la sociologie soviétique/russe dans les années 1960–1990, sur le plan personnel et disciplinaire, en dépit des bouleversements politiques et historiques de cette période. Aujourd’hui encore, la traduction des différences politiques en catégories sociologiques continue de s’imposer comme le „sens commun“ de la discipline. Ainsi peut-on parler également pour la sociologie postsoviétique d’une professionnalisation inachevée.

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Eine l?ngere, gemeinsam mit Sergej Gavrilenko verfasste Version dieses Artikels erschien in der russischen Zeitschrift Logos, Nr. 5-6, 2002 und Nr. 1-2, 2003.     

Economics and the Left Party Vote in Scandinavia: A Cross-National Analysis

While the literature on economic voting is vast, relatively little is known about how the economy affects party vote shares in Scandinavia per se. This article argues that left of center parties rather than incumbent governments per se bear the brunt of economic judgments at the voting booth. In large part this is due to these parties' preeminent role in establishing and maintaining the institutional welfare systems of these countries. We examine this hypothesis using pooled time-series data for Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden from 1960 to 1991.     

Dismantling intelligence agencies

Intelligence agencies from a remarkable institutional constant in most societies. They are frequently reformed but almost never dismantled, since their capabilities, personnel, and knowledge are simultaneously too vital and too threatening to successor regimes. Several case studies are reviewed which demonstrate the tenacity of personnel, bureaucratic structures, and institutional culture. The problem of dismantling intelligence agencies will confront both successor regimes to failed states and the West, and it left unaddressed will almost certainly undermine efforts at democratization. The problems are especially acute when considering totalitarian regimes such as Iraq. Carefully planning, debate over ethical and legal questions, and changes in institutional and public culture are all necessary.