东南亚地区恐怖主义的新动向

印度尼西亚和菲律宾仍是区域恐怖主义活动的主要基地,但教派团体在分化、重组又分化组合,因此控制起来比以往更加困难。泰国南部的动乱仍然使人忧虑,但目前还没有发现本地暴徒寻求和接受外界援助的可靠线索。在印度尼西亚,2005年10月1日的巴厘岛爆炸案再一次把本区域最著名的教     

War and Economic Crisis: What Would Veblen Say?

The nation’s recent experience with war and economic crisis would hardlyshock Thorstein Veblen. America’s most original radical voice, Veblen has much to teach us about the common predatory origins of war and finance and the tragic consequences of their pursuit. This brief survey of the contemporary relevance of Veblen’s observations about war and economic collapse emphasizes the political foundation of his critical theory. Though widely regarded as an economic thinker, Veblen’s critique of modern business enterprise and its alliance with government rests on an essentially political dissection of what he termed barbaric exploit, the ancient root of war, power politics, the state, and latter day financial conquest. For Veblen, barbarism did not end with the coming of liberal democracy, rule of law or capitalism; its habits of exploit, waste and destruction go marching on.     

Mass Mobilization and Elite Exchange: Democratization Episodes in Italy and Spain

At its dawn, democracy was a social movement, but little attention has been given to social movements in recent (mainly American) theorizations of democratization.1 The reason for this seems to be the division of labour in the social sciences as well as the bad press that movements gained between the two world wars and in the cold war years. As a result, most theorists have emphasized the role of elites in transitional cycles and largely ignored the role of social movements. Since the 1960s, advances in social movement theory and research both in Europe and North America allow a fresh look at the role of movements in transitional cycles. In this article, three aspects coming from this tradition ‐ the structure of political opportunity, the relations of elites and citizens, and the problem of organization ‐ are applied to three episodes of democratization: the failed transition to democracy in Italy after the First World War, the successful transition in Spain in the mid‐1970s and the incomplete transition in East‐Central Europe since 1989. The article closes with a brief reflection on the role of learning from past transitions in democratization cycles.     

Nursing home quality-of-care cases after Mikes v. Straus

The quality of care rendered to residents of nursing facilities continues to gain attention from legislators, regulators, and the courts. Advocates for improvements in the quality of care by government-funded healthcare providers have identified the False Claims Act (FCA) as a potent tool. The Second Circuit decision in Mikes v. Straus might be viewed as a barrier to FCA claims against nursing facilities. Any impediment imposed by this decision, however, is limited by the facts of the case; the authors believe that carefully-crafted pleadings can enable litigants to rely upon the FCA in pursuing quality-of-care claims against nursing facilities.