State crises and the crackdown on crime under Reagan

This article explores the United States' crackdown on crime in light of other state agency policy shifts under the Reagan administration, such as those affecting the poor, the unemployed, the rich, and the corporate world. Actions across these realms manifest continuity, as identified through the investigation of the state's duel roles of accumulation and legitimation. The fiscal and legitimation crises that develop corollary to state functioning in advanced capitalistic societies are drawn upon to interpret the creation of a new crime problem and get tough response across the United States over the 1980s. Different state policy directions are discussed as they have operated for the accumulation of the few at the expense of exacerbated inequality and injustice for all. Conclusions suggest that such developments hold the potential to call forth new callenges and change.     

The metropolitan character of urbanization in Mexico, 1900-1988

The author analyzes trends in urbanization in Mexico during the twentieth century, with a focus on the impact of rapid industrialization since 1982. Sections are included on the interrelations among economic development, industrialization, and urbanization; stages, levels, and measures of urbanization; the development of the city system in Mexico; and stages in the growth of Mexico City. (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Are you ready for the cure?

The Clinton health-care plan will soon be unveiled. Here is an inside look at what it contains so far.     

The struggle over retiree medical benefits: who's on top?

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of litigation addressing an employer's right to unilaterally amend or terminate medical benefits provided to retirees. The sheer volume of these cases and the variety of facts and legal theories have combined to obscure the patterns and trends that actually are emerging from this litigation. This article will describe the context of the struggle over retiree benefits and discuss those leading decisions in which the federal courts of appeals have established their rules for deciding retiree benefits cases.     

Immigration as a source of political discontent and frustration in Western democracies

"This article describes the migration context of three sets of Western democracies and then explores plausible linkages between the scale, timing, and characteristics of migration, and the substance and process of migration policies, on the one hand, and support for government, on the other. Trying to move beyond plausibility, I discuss indirect indicators of the impact of immigration on Western publics: attitudes toward immigration policy and immigrants, support for extremist parties, and acts of violence and disorder linked to anti-immigrant or racist motives."