Rawls on agreeing to disagree: How democracies differ from non-democracies in justifying war

We use Rawls’s account of public reason and the Law of Peoples to test two hypotheses: democracies are more likely to invoke self-defense in justifications than non-democracies, and democracies are more likely to invoke human rights in justifications than non-democracies. Through an analysis of war justifications since 1875, we find that although democracies and non-democracies are similarly likely to use self-defense as a justification, democracies are more likely to justify war through human rights. Institutions and values centering on rights that promote domestic public justification also promote justifications compatible with those values and institutions at the international level.     

Roles of government in a mixed economy

This essay argues that market failure analysis provides an unsubstantial basis for assessing the kinds of things governments should be doing if they could do them well, and modern public choice theory an inadequate guide to obstacles to effective governmental action. The argument is supported by analysis of political rhetoric and actual policy in two arenas: support of R&D, and help for poor children.     

Prospecting for (Campaign) Gold

Campaigns and political parties are faced with the immensely important practical challenge of financing their efforts. Raising money is instrumental to all other aims. In recent years, this task has been complicated by the need to enlist ever greater numbers of contributors to raise ever larger sums of money. At the same time, fundraising burdens are eased a bit because contributors flock together. That is, campaign contributing is a spatially dependent phenomenon, associated with affluence and the presence of networks. Accordingly, geospatial tools provide a helpful method for understanding and predicting where contributions can be most successfully mined.     

Detection of the rare PGM1(3) allele. Further biochemical and genetic characterization of the PGM1(3) isozymes

A family possessing the rare PGM1(3) allele has been found in North Carolina, and criteria for the electrophoretic separation and accurate typing of the PGM1(3) isozymes are outlined. The PGM1(3) isozymes detected proved to be useful in helping to determine parentage in an incest investigation. The pattern of segregation of the PGM1(3) allele in four generations of this family and thermostability studies on the PGM1(3) isozymes are presented.     

English court upholds ban on newspaper publishing identity of HIV-positive health-care worker

In the last issue of the Review, we reported about an HIV-positive health-care worker in the UK who brought legal proceedings to prevent the National Health Service from notifying his previous patients that he is infected. In February 2002, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales (Civil Division) upheld a ban on publishing his name and that of the health authority for which he worked.     

HIV-positive child made ward of court after father refuses treatment with antiretroviral drugs

In 1999, we reported a number of cases in Canada, the US, and the UK in which child-welfare authorities have disputed parents' decisions to refuse HIV testing or treatment for their children. This article reports on new developments in one of those cases. On 10 May 2002, the English High Court heard submissions regarding the future of a three- year-old HIV-positive girl who was made a ward of the court after her father refused to allow her to be treated with antiretroviral drugs.     

Blood or blood products: Minister's decision to deny application to Extraordinary Assistance Plan upheld

In April 2002, the Federal Court of Canada decided the federal Minister of Health does not have the authority to award compensation under the Extraordinary Assistance Plan unless an independent medical review board finds that the applicant was infected with HIV as a result of the receipt of blood or blood products in Canada between 1978 and 1989.