The imperial moment: A European view This article is based on developments up through June 9, 2003, the date it was submitted for publication

This article will first review the essential characteristics of the old exceptionalism in US foreign policy, then compare it with the specific features of the new strategy of the Bush administration and finally address the challenges and risks that this enterprise entails. The article provides an analysis of realist and liberal critiques of the Bush administration's foreign policy in terms of both objectives and results. It concludes that the war in Iraq constituted a truly imperial moment in US history. Preventive war is a flawed strategy, which runs against US principles in world affairs and against its security interests in the current international environment. For this reason, Bush's imperial policy will not last. The author writes here in a personal capacity, and not in the name of the European Union Institute for Security Studies.     

Une analyse du processus de determination des salaires dans le monde des conventions collectives des secteurs de la santé et de l‘éducation au Canada

Sommaire. L'objectif de cet article est d'analyser le processus de détermination des salaires chez les travailleurs syndiqués dans les secteurs de la santé et de l'éducation au Canada. L'étude porte sur les conventions collectives dans ces secteurs pour la période allant de 1964 à 1978. L'augmentation annuelle moyenne (à taux composés) des taux de base des salaires des conventions collectives pour la durée des contrats est d'abord expliquée par l'indice des postes vacants, qui reflète la demande excéentaire de main-d'oeuvre sur le marché du travail. Puis le taux de croissance de l'indice des prix à la consommation apparaît comme une variable explicative permettant de capter l'effet sur l'évolution des salaires des anticipations concernant l'inflation. Ces variables apparaissent de façon retardée et sous une forme non linéaire. A ce modèle fondamental s'ajoutent certaines autres variables, afin de tenir compte de différents aspects plus particuliers se rapportant au secteur analysé. Sont notamment évalués l'effet sur la croissance des salaires de facteurs tels que l'indexation, les contrôles des prix et salaires, la législation concernant les relations de travail, la forme des négociations, qui peut être ou bien centralisée au niveau dun gouvemement provincial ou encore décentralisée au niveau des institutions, et enfin la durée des contrats. Plusieurs réultats intéressants se dégagent de cette estimation empirique. Par exempte, dans le secteur de la santé, la sensibilité de la croissance des salaires aux conditions du marché est faible lorsque les négociations sont cen tralisées et relativement élevée en régime décentralisé. Par ailleurs, la combinaison d'un régime centralisé de négociation et du droit de grève contribuerait à accélérer la croissance des salaires dans les secteurs analysés. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to analyse the salary determination process for union workers in the health and education sectors in Canada. The paper focuses on the collective agreements in those sectors, from 1964 to 1978. The average annual increase (at compound rates) of the salary base rates of these collective agreements for the duration of the contracts is first explained by the vacancy index reflecting the excess demand for labour in the labour-market. Then, the growth rate of the consumer price index seems to be another explanatory variable to capture the effect of expectations regarding inflation on salary variation. These variables appear in a delayed and non linear form. To this basic model, we add some variables in order to take into account various and more specific aspects relating to the sector being analysed. In particular, we assess the impact on salary increase of factors such as indexing, wage and price controls, labour relation legislation, the type of bargaining which can be either centralized at a provincial government level or decentralized at the institutional level, and finally the duration of contracts. Several interesting results are drawn from this empirical assessment. For example, in the health sector, the sensitivity of salary increase to labour-market conditions is low when the bargaining is centralized and relatively high in a decentralized system. Also, the combination of a centralized bargaining system with the right to strike seems to contribute to accelerated salary increases in the analysed sectors.     

Quebec in the Canadian federation: a provisional evaluative framework

Abstract. The authors consider two separate questions concerning the independence of Quebec: would Quebec improve its standard of living if it left the federation? and would political independence make it easier for Quebec to solve its economic problems? They argue that the first question, which is entangled in the ‘battle of regional economic accounts,’ cannot be answered satisfactorily and has drawn too much attention so far. So they focus on the second question, which they dissect into four sub-questions: 1/the options open to Quebec in the international economy; 2/structural adjustment and development policies; 3/employment stabilization policies; and 4/the organization of production and income distribution policy. The authors stress that the margins of latitude open to an independent Quebec would be rather narrow at the international level. But they conclude that, if the rigidities injected by the federal bureaucracy into the functioning of the federation and into the debate between levels of government persist, an independent Quebec could reap some net benefits in terms of economic development, employment stabilization, production organization and income distribution. Hence, the cost of political independence would be an increasing function of the capacity of Canadian federalism to display more flexibility in those matters in the future.     

The National and International Context of French Policy Communities

There are numerous, well-organized policy communities in France, based upon specialized corps of senior administrative officials in symbiosis with the environment they are responsible for regulating and managing. They also derive their strength from the integration of the groups concerned in the policy process, allowing them to compensate for the weakness of their organization and social base by the privileged access and legitimacy they acquire. Nevertheless, the traditional way in which the policy process is structured is modified by the territorial shift (both local and international) in the arenas in which public policies are made.     

Electrophysiological and Behavioral Responses of Thanatophilus sinuatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Silphidae) to Selected Cadaveric Volatile Organic Compounds

Soon after death, carcasses release volatile chemicals that attract carrion insects including Silphidae. Nevertheless, it is not known which chemical cues are involved in the attractiveness of the carcass. So far, little information is available on the chemical ecology of carrion beetles, particularly concerning the subfamily of Silphinae. The biological role of selected cadaveric volatile organic compounds including dimethyldisulfide (DMDS), butan‐1‐ol, n‐butanoic acid, indole, phenol, p‐cresol, putrescine, and cadaverine on the silphine species, Thanatophilus sinuatus Fabricius, was investigated using both electrophysiological and behavioral techniques. Among the tested cadaveric compounds, butan‐1‐ol and DMDS elicited the strongest electroantennography (EAG) from both T. sinuatus male and female antennae. In a two‐arm olfactometer, males and females were significantly attracted to DMDS for both tested doses, whereas only males were attracted to p‐cresol at 100 ng. Putrescine was repellent to males at the dose of 1 μg.     

Defense styles of pedophilic offenders

This pilot study investigated the defense styles of pedophile sexual offenders. Interviews with 20 pedophiles and 20 controls were scored using the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales. Results showed that pedophiles had a significantly lower overall defensive functioning score than the controls. Pedophiles used significantly fewer obsessional-level defenses but more major image-distorting and action-level defenses. Results also suggested differences in the prevalence of individual defenses where pedophiles used more dissociation, displacement, denial, autistic fantasy, splitting of object, projective identification, acting out, and passive aggressive behavior but less intellectualization and rationalization.