Bushwhacking the Democratic Peace

The invasion of Iraq has been justified, ex post , as for the purpose of promoting the democratic peace. It does not, however, appear to have been a principal goal ex ante . Most democratic peace theorists, moreover, do not endorse democratic regime change by great-power external military intervention. Success is difficult to achieve (usually at high cost), and the conditions in Iraq were not promising even had the occupation been carried out more competently. Greater success in democratization has been achieved by UN peacekeeping operations, and by various regional international organizations using a variety of peaceful measures to ensure free elections, constrain authoritarian leaders, and empower democratic forces. International organizations, notably those whose membership is largely composed of democracies, are especially likely to succeed in promoting democracy.     

Anspruch der Eigentümergemeinschaft auf Herausgabe der Verwaltungsunterlagen nach Kündigung des WE-Verwalters

Der gekündigte WE-Verwalter ist verpflichtet, nach beendetem Verwaltungsverh?ltnis der Eigentümergemeinschaft die Original-Verwaltungsunterlagen auch für bereits abgeschlossene Abrechnungsperioden herauszugeben. Der Herausgabeanspruch ist – entgegen der E 5 Ob 115/05f: streitiger Rechtsweg – nach nunmehr gefestigter Rsp auf Grund schlüssiger Verweisung des § 52 Abs 1 Z 6 WEG 2002 im wohnrechtlichen Au?erstreitverfahren geltend zu machen.     

The moral purpose of US power: neoconservatism in the age of Obama

The ‘neoconservative moment’ is widely assumed to have come and gone with the George W. Bush administration. This article argues, however, that the hope that the neoconservative chapter in US foreign policy will be definitively closed under Barack Obama's administration is unlikely to be realized in practice, owing to the continuing influence that neoconservatives are able to exercise over national debates regarding the ‘moral’ use of US power in order to shape the international environment. While the moral agenda of the ‘neocons’ is often misconceived as simply a mask for the naked pursuit of the United States' material and strategic interests, this article demonstrates that this misrepresents the rationale that underpins the neoconservative perspective. Exploring the re-articulation of morality in neoconservative thought reveals the nexus that both links the neoconservative domestic agenda for political change to its foreign policy goals and also provides a framework for understanding the ‘staying power’ that neoconservatism continues to exhibit. Although the Obama presidency is widely heralded as a repudiation of this agenda, the neoconservative conception of the United States as a moral power is deeply rooted in US foreign policy traditions and is domestically allied to traditional expressions of social conservatism, which enables neoconservative ideas to continue to resonate in US foreign policy debates.     

With friends like these: foreign policy as personal relationship

Governments are run by humans who have sympathies and moods. The study of leaders' personalities, albeit not widespread, is an important tool for foreign policy analysis. Plus, friendship is a feeling that decision-makers like to express for each other. This paper analyses the activity of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's three times premier, who has made ‘friendship’ a central tenet of his personal foreign policy. Three cases are considered, namely, Berlusconi's relationship with George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin. The paper concludes that his friendship-based foreign policy has somehow worked; but, because he decided to ignore Italy's structural constraints in the international arena, he ended up wasting opportunities and resources.     

Brandom on Norms and Objectivity

The aim of this paper is to investigate Brandom’s conception of the objectivity of norms. In Making It Explicit Brandom supports a weak notion of objectivity based on his understanding of the perspectival structure of linguistic practices. In his following works, he resorts to the Hegelian notion of recognition, adding a historical dimension to his account. I contend that this notion of objectivity can be successfully defended against the objections raised by the commentators. In particular, it does not jeopardise the same possibility of communication, as claimed by Habermas and others, unless a strongly objective notion of communication is assumed. However, the paradigm shift from a strong to a weak understanding of objectivity entails a consequent revision of the conception of social criticism.     

Zum Umfang des Individualrechts jedes Wohnungseigentümers auf Minderung der Rücklagenbeiträge gem § 30 Abs 1 Z 2 WEG 2002

Das Recht auf Minderung der Rücklagenbeitr?ge steht jedem Wohnungseigentümer (oder auch einer Minderheit dieser) mittels au?erstreitigem Antrag auch dann zu, wenn der WE-Verwalter einen bestehenden Mehrheitsbeschluss der Wohnungseigentümer dadurch ignoriert, dass er ihnen davon abweichende, wesentlich h?here Rücklagenbeitr?ge vorschreibt. Zur Parteistellung des WE-Verwalters im wohnrechtlichen Au?erstreitverfahren nach § 52 Abs 2 Z 1, letzter Halbsatz, WEG 2002 idF WRN 2006.     

美国调整对华战略及其影响

小布什入主白宫后，美国新政府便开始调整对华战略，将克林顿时期的对华“接触　＋遏制”战略，改为“遏制＋接触”。其原因是小布什政府看到了对华战略的侧重点发生了　重大变化，其动机是企图达到谋取建立世界政治、军事、经济和文化霸权的目的。美国调　整对华战略，必将对我国的国家安全造成新的威胁，对此，我们应予以正确的评估。     

Zambia: The First Fifty Years

As Zambia completes 50 years of independence from British rule, an assessment of the present state of the country is topical. This article argues that, for all the setbacks that Zambia has suffered over the past half century, substantial progress has been made in a number of areas and that the Zambian people have maximised the opportunities that this progress has generated.     

泰罗管理思想对NPM管理主义取向的影响

NPM被认为是西方公共行政非常可能的新范式,其理论内核是新制度经济学和管理主义。作为管理学重要源头的泰罗管理思想对NPM管理主义取向产生了重大的影响。     

An assessment of the 2000 US presidential election: a set of political marketing guidelines

This paper comprises a set of marketing guidelines using the 2000 presidential election as an example, and analysing the image building of the two candidates, Al Gore and George W. Bush. It is not hard to understand, with hindsight, why Bush was the winner. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications