Free Trade: Problematic Theory and Anachronistic Faith

Despite disruptive and costly impacts of imports, the U.S. maintains adherence to an ideal of free trade as the goal of trade policy. This article questions that axiomatic preference in arguing that goods from low-wage and non-market economies pose significant trade policy issues.
It sets forth the costly effects of such imports on workers and producers and asks whether trade benefits are commensurate. It addresses the fairness of competition between American and non-market producers as well as the viability of U. S. fair trade safeguards.
The article ultimately observes that there is a basic conflict of interest between comparatively less developed low-wage countries and high-cost, high-employment nations and that free trade theory does not produce an acceptable resolution of this conflict. At stake for the U.S. is its standard of living and its social values as well. Management of trade thus is not a vestige but an essential part of this nation's commitments.     

The Institutionalization of Risk

The centrality of risk assessment and risk management to complex organizations testifies to the institutionalization of risk in modern society. Much of the writing on risk assessment and management deals with how decision makers struggle with uncertainty rather than calculable risk. The conceptualization of risk and uncertainty depends in part upon whether one focuses upon decision makers and their decisions or upon outcomes of decisions. Focusing on decision makers leads to concern with risk management whereas focusing on the decision or outcomes draws attention to risk analysis. The papers examined in this paper are primarily concerned with decision makers and risk management. In doing so, we examine the social construction of risks and their control, how intelligence gathering and processing affects risk analysis and management, and the latent functions of risk regulation.     

Union Africaine des Arts et des Lettres

In many ways, the Belgian Congo leads the rest of Africa, ina really serious effort at the mingling of cultures. It is,for example, significant that despite Makerere, neither SouthernRhodesia nor Kenya, main areas of British Settlement, have anythingapproaching the Centre d'Etudes des Problémes SociauxIndigénes, on which we had a note in April, 1949. Thisarticle describes another Belgian initiative. It is by the founderof the U.A.A.L., who is also editor of its journal Jeune Afrique.The translation is by M. H. C. Willems.     

ENVIRONMENTAL ADMINISTRATION IN SIX EUROPEAN STATES: SECULAR CONVERGENCE OR NATIONAL DISTINCTIVENESS?

To what extent has environmental administration in Europe been shaped by common secular forces or by distinctive national contexts? Middle range theories of the policy process suggest competing answers to this question, with some implying the likelihood of convergence in administrative structures and others suggesting persistent national distinctiveness. Using data on Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, we construct a measure of administrative concentration in each country. From this measure we assess the extent of convergence over time among the six nations. We argue that national context is a more important influence than common secular trends, and we identify in each state the political dynamics behind the national pattern. The symbolic role of administrative reorganization is thereby highlighted in the politics of environmental policy.