Urbanism,cities and local self‐government

Abstract: This article explores the relationship between urbanism, cities and local self‐government to identify some key issues for contemporary public administration. State‐centric political theory marginalizes urban analysis, but the latter enables us to see the world in a different way. Understanding ourselves as urban is to see that conventional political categories seriously misrepresent the conditions of our lives. Various thinkers like Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift and Michael Peter Smith have suggested ways of building on contemporary urban analysis, but it is still a struggle to overcome the spatial imagination that we have inherited from conventional political theory. This poses particular problems for any “new urban agenda,” since questions of local autonomy have yet to be properly posed. Gerald E. Frug's analysis of the issue of civic autonomy is helpful in this regard because it highlights the philosophical assumptions that lie behind our fears about the misuse of local authority. Foucauldian discussions of governmentality reveal the way self‐government works as a strategy to control populations by liberating them. Local self‐government is thus an ambiguous and dangerous ideal ‐ but not for the reasons usually supposed. It is in any case the practice implicit in urbanism as a way of life. The key constitutional issue today is how to recognize that practice and regulate it appropriately. Sommaire: Le présent article examine les relations entre l'urbanisme, les villes et l'autonomie gouvernementale locale pour identifier certaines questions‐clés dans le domaine de l'administration publique contemporaine. La théorie politique axée sur l'État marginalise l'analyse urbaine, mais cette dernière nous permet de voir le monde sous un nouveau jour. Se considérer comme des citadins, c'est voir que les catégories politiques conventionnelles représentent très mal nos conditions de vie. Différents penseurs comme Ash Amin, Nigel Thrift ct Michael Peter Smith ont proposé des manières de développer l'analyse urbaine contemporaine, mais il est tou‐jours difficile d'aller au‐delà de l'imagination spatiale qui nous a été transmise par la théorie politique conventionnelle. Cela soulève des problèmes particuliers pour tout nouvel agenda urbain, étant donné que les questions d'autonomie locale n'ont pas encore été posees adéquatement. L'analyse de la question de l'autonomie civique réalisée par Gerald E. Frug est utile à ce sujet, car elle souligne les hypothèses philosophiques sur lesquelles reposent nos craintes concemant l'utilisation abusive de l'autorité locale. Les discussions à la Foucault sur la gouvernementalité révèlent la manière dont l'autonomie gouvernementale fonctionne en tant que stratégie visant à contrôler les populations tout en les libérant. L'autonomie gouvernementale locale est ainsi un idéal ambigu et dangereux, mais non pour les raisons que l'on suppose généralement. C'est en tout cas la pratique implicite dans l'urbanisme comme mode de vie. La question constitutionnelle clé qui se pose aujourd'hui est de savoir comment reconnaître cette pratique et la réglementer adéquatement.     

Radiographic determination of developmental age in fetuses and stillborns.

The gestational age and/or viability of a fetus can become an important forensic issue. Several investigators have produced linear regression formulas based on crown-heel length (CHL), crown-rump length, or body diameters to determine gestational age. This study re-examines the relationship between fetal long bone length and CHL and tests a method of estimating CHL, and therefore gestational age, from radiographic measurements of the major long bone diaphyses. The results are compared with data based on dry bone measurements. Data from 252 cases confirm a strong correlation between all long bone lengths and CHL (> or = r = .9063; p < 0.01). Long bone length means for each CHL group are presented, as well as regression formulas for estimating CHL from radiographic measurements of the long bone diaphyses. The findings correspond closely with results based on a European sample, thereby validating that reference population as a normative sample for fetal analysis in the United States. The radiographic method can be used in instances where skeletal preparation is impossible or undesirable.     

Applied Decision Analysis: Utilizing Poliheuristic Theory to Explain and Predict Foreign Policy and National Security Decisions

In recent years, more than 40 articles and chapters have utilized Poliheuristic Theory to analyze critical decisions made by foreign leaders and U.S. presidents. In this paper, I introduce the Poliheuristic Procedure—a series of steps that one can use to explain or predict decisions by world leaders. Subsequent articles in this Symposium present examples of poliheuristic analyses of decisions made by Presidents Carter, Clinton, Gorbachev, Mussaref and Saddam Hussein. These case studies provide strong support for Poliheuristic Theory: leaders use a two-stage process in making decisions: they first use simple heuristics to eliminate alternatives based on the avoid-major-political-loss principle, and then use more analytic calculations in selecting an alternative from a subset of surviving alternatives.     

In praise of joan robinson: Economics as social control

He specializes in the history of economic thought, methodology, law and economics, and related areas. His principal current research centers on the use of the concept of the “invisible hand” and on the fundamentals of the economic role of government.     

Criminal offense, psychiatric diagnosis, and psycholegal opinion: an analysis of 894 pretrial referrals

This article presents the results of a study of 894 criminal defendants referred by Virginia courts for evaluation of competency to stand trial or criminal responsibility. All evaluations were conducted on an outpatient basis by mental health professionals who had received specialized training in forensic evaluation. Findings as to the referral questions posed, the criminal offenses charged, and the clinical diagnoses and psycholegal opinions offered by the evaluators are described. Statistical analyses demonstrate significant relationships between both diagnosis and criminal charge and the psycholegal opinion rendered.