bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Translation Profession in the United States Today
Authors: HAMMOND DEANNA LINDBERG
Published: March 2007

Translators represent a small part of the population, yet their services are in high demand. Working with the printed word, they can be found in the service of government, industry, and science. Recently requirements for entry into the profession have become exacting, with an in-depth knowledge of technical subject matter often the key to success. Modern technology has changed the life of translators, since sophisticated equipment makes their task less laborious and at the same time allows them a geographical freedom they never had in the past. Whereas traditionally many entering the translation profession did so by chance, the new generation of translators will come in large part from American universities. Although foreign language programs do not as a rule provide the necessary competency in written skills, some U.S. universities now offer well-established translator- and interpreter-training programs. As the need for translators continues to grow, it is to be hoped that the U.S. education system will be able to respond effectively.
Interpretation in the United States
Authors: WEBER WILHELM K.
Published: March 2007

This article attempts to outline the field of conference interpretation as the most advanced and difficult language profession in the United States. Aptitudes, preparatory studies, training, job opportunities, and the supply and demand situation are outlined. The author lists a number of recommendations in an attempt to improve both sides of the equation: the market of international conferences and meetings on the demand side and an increase of interest in the interpreting profession as well as training on the supply side. Funding possibilities to achieve these goals are briefly discussed, as are the potentially disastrous consequences of complacency and inaction for the profession in the next millennium, because of the effects of aging and natural attrition of the present population of interpreters.
Continuity and Change in Icelandic Security and Foreign Policy
Authors: GUNNARSSON GUNNAR
Published: March 2007

This article addresses the security policy of Iceland and also foreign economic policy in terms of the changes its development may imply for Iceland's external relations. Iceland has concluded that there is no reason to change its security arrangement during the present transitional period in East-West relations. Looking further ahead, it appears fairly certain that if NATO remains intact, Iceland will want to stay in it. For the short term, there is no reason to believe that Iceland would want to make any changes to its defense agreement with the United States. Iceland's participation in the undertaking to establish a European Economic Space will, if negotiations succeed, imply a substantial change in the country's foreign policy and lead to much closer integration with Western Europe. The question of European Community membership is, however, not on the agenda and is not likely to be soon, but, in the longer run, it cannot be excluded. During the postwar period, Iceland has consistently pursued good relations with Western Europe and the United States. However the external situation will evolve, Iceland will prefer a policy that aims at a balanced relationship with both.
Second Chance in China: Sino-Soviet Relations in the 1990s
Authors: LEVINE STEVEN I.
Published: March 2007

The normalization of Sino-Soviet relations in 1989 represents an important element in the evolving post-cold-war system of East Asian regional and global politics. Unlike the Sino-Soviet security alliance cum ideological partnership of the 1950s, the new relationship is both pragmatic and limited. The improved security atmosphere is evidenced by mutual force-reduction agreements and the resumption of military exchanges. Border and regional trade are an increasingly important element in the economic relationship, but centralized trade still predominates. Chinese leaders are very disturbed by the weakening of Communist Party control and the erosion of socialist values in the USSR. Political uncertainties in both countries, particularly in the USSR, require us to consider alternative scenarios for the future of Sino-Soviet relations. In any event, the relationship is less central to each country than in the past because of the altered international environment in the Asian-Pacific region.
Women and Literacy: Promises and Constraints
Authors: STROMQUIST NELLY P.
Published: March 2007

In almost every country, illiteracy rates are higher among women than among men. This gender disparity can be explained in terms of (1) the sexual division of labor that assigns women many domestic tasks, especially, among poor and rural families, time-consuming chores, and (2) men's control of women's sexuality, which creates both physical and psychological constraints in women's lives. Research has identified various benefits of literacy for women, such as better maternal behaviors regarding child health and child rearing, and effective family planning. Although women could use literacy to increase their access to new knowledge, most literacy programs do not encourage this because their curricula are still designed along sexually stereotyped lines that emphasize women's roles as mothers and household managers. This article argues that these messages do not convey emancipatory knowledge and may solidify values and attitudes that cause women to accept current gender relations rather than to question them.
Raising Literacy under Fragile State Institutions
Authors: FULLER BRUCE
Published: March 2007

Governments and educators are digging more deeply into the question of how to make Third World classrooms more stimulating settings in which to learn. Interventions emphasize making more complex the skills of teachers and the social organization of classrooms. But are fragile political institutions and education agencies equipped to move teachers toward more complex, more invigorating forms of instruction?
AIDS and Legal Access to Sterile Drug Injection Equipment
Authors: JARLAIS DON C. DES , FRIEDMAN SAMUEL R.
Published: March 2007

Legal access to sterile injection equipment has been a primary strategy for preventing the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) among persons who inject illicit drugs in almost all developed countries. This strategy has remained highly controversial in the United States, with only a small number of localities adopting it. This article reviews different techniques of providing legal access—over-the-counter sales and syringe exchanges—research design issues relevant to evaluating legal-access programs, and the findings from the large number of studies conducted to date. The findings are consistent in showing no increase in illicit drug use related to legal access and decreases in AIDS risk behavior related to legal-access programs. The design of legal-access programs for maximal impact and the ultimate effect of the decreases in AIDS risk behavior on transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remain to be determined.
Positive Action for Women in Britain
Authors: POVALL MARGERY
Published: March 2007

Employers' programs to improve women's opportunities in Britain started in the late 1970s after Equal Pay, Sex Discrimination, and Race Relations legislation had been passed. While equal opportunity is now on employers' agendas, activity is limited to a small number of well-known organizations whose programs often lack specific targets. In this, Britain does not differ much from other European Community countries. Action programs for women in Britain are more common than those for ethnic minorities, despite parallel legislation. Britain leads the rest of Europe, however, in its approaches to racial discrimination. Equal opportunity employers are now starting action programs for people with disabilities, though they are not covered by antidiscrimination legislation. Results are awaited from the strong religious antidiscrimination legislation in Northern Ireland and from European Economic Community attempts to strengthen legislation to assist women.
Accountancy and White-Collar Crime
Authors: WELLS JOSEPH T.
Published: March 2007

Because of several infamous cases of failure of the independent auditor to detect fraud and white-collar crime, the audit profession may change forever. Auditors are increasingly being held responsible for ferreting out instances of management misdeeds, a task that they currently cannot or will not perform. The accounting profession, which generates $46 billion in annual revenues, currently faces 4000 negligence lawsuits totaling $15 billion, with more to come. Can the profession face up to the challenge? The author thinks not, unless it does business differently.
Hemispheric Economic Integration? Some Reflections
Authors: GRUNWALD JOSEPH
Published: March 2007

The vision of a continentwide free trade area, unthinkable a few years ago, now merits consideration. Latin American countries have been opening their economies, some have succeeded in lowering previously exorbitant rates of inflation, most have moved toward democratic regimes, and the United States' Enterprise for the Americas Initiative envisions a hemispheric common market. There are obstacles, however, in integrating unequal parties such as the United States and an emerging Latin America. While the United States is the largest trading partner for most countries in the region, its importance has decreased since the early postwar years. Mexico is a striking exception, with almost three-quarters of its trade with the United States. Compared to Mexico, trade diversion costs of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States could be high for other Latin American countries. Increased investment rather than trade is the primary Latin American FTA objective. Preconditions for an investment surge are improvement in transportation, other infrastructure, and upgrading the labor force. Excepting Mexico, shortage of resources for human and physical infrastructure will delay substantial Latin American integration benefits far into the future.
Old Minorities, New Immigrants: Aspirations, Hopes, and Fears
Authors: SIMON RITA J.
Published: March 2007

Contrary to the image attributed to American society—that it loves and welcomes immigrants—public opinion polls over the past 50-plus years show that the current cohort of immigrants, whoever they may be, is viewed with suspicion and distrust. Most Americans, even those of relatively recent immigrant origins, do not favor allowing more immigrants to enter, and a large plurality favor admitting fewer than the law permits. Historical analysis of the print media, political party platforms, and the Quota Acts beginning in the 1920s also reveals the United States' ambivalence about immigrants seeking admission at any time since the 1880s. In retrospect, those who came earlier are viewed as making important and positive contributions to our society and culture, but those who seek entry now, whenever “now” happens to be, are viewed, at best, with ambivalence and, more likely, with distrust and hostility.
Los Dominicanyorks:
Authors: GUARNIZO LUIS E.
Published: March 2007

At the dawn of the 1990s, Dominicans are one of the fastest-growing and most conspicuous immigrant groups in the United States. In contrast to the prevailing conception of migrants as forming a stream of people, this article explores the U.S.-linked Dominican migration as a distinct social group, clearly distinguishable from its nonmigrant conationals and functioning in a transnational milieu. The article examines the group's own socioeconomic, cultural, and political characteristics and its relationships with the two national states. Because of the migrants' binational character, instead of espousing policies aimed solely at affecting their mobility, the U.S. and the Dominican governments would be better advised to foster connections between the resources and demands generated by these binationals and the development efforts in the Dominican Republic and in Dominican settlements overseas.
The French Response to the Asylum Seeker Influx, 1980-93
Authors: DE WENDEN CATHERINE WIHTOL
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes the evolution of the asylum situation in France, the untoward effects of rigor, and the humanitarian price paid for French efforts to curb possible abuse of asylum. French asylum policy reforms in recent years have significantly reduced asylum applications, attesting to a certain, if limited, governmental capacity to prevent unwanted migration.
Military Technology and the Arms Trade: Changes and their Impact
Authors: CARUS W. SETH
Published: March 2007

Revolutionary changes now taking place in the technology of war may have a significant impact on the character of the international trade in arms. Some analysts argue that a Military Technical Revolution is now under way, as military organizations begin exploiting a wide variety of new technologies through organizational adaptation and doctrinal innovation. The result will be fundamental change in the ways wars are fought, just as the blitzkrieg and the aircraft carrier revolutionized warfare following World War I. Among the significant new technologies often identified are information systems, including advanced sensors, communications, and data processing, long-range precision guided weapons, and advanced simulation techniques. If these views are correct, the international trade in arms will undergo a fundamental transformation. While specialized defense hardware will remain, dual-use equipment will become increasingly central to the performance of advanced military forces. As a result, it will become more difficult to track the implications of trade in defense-related hardware simply by monitoring transfers of major weapons systems.
The Role of Public Opinion in Public Administration
Authors: BARRETT EDITH J.
Published: March 2007

The question of the representative role of public officials is an old one, but one that has become more complex as public administrators have gained quick and easy access to the views of the public through the widespread availability of public opinion surveys. Although they are not directly accountable to the public, nonappointed public administrators are nonetheless heavily involved in policy formation and implementation. This article uses several common definitions of representation to analyze the connection between administrator actions and public desires. It concludes with a suggestion that public administrators should act as enlightened trustees of the public: they should use their knowledge and expertise to make quality decisions, yet never allow the underlying public values to be ignored.
The Role of Values in Risk Management
Authors: KEENEY RALPH L.
Published: March 2007

Values, meaning what we care to achieve, are essential to risk management. Understanding the relevant values is critical to making good decisions about risks. Thus values should be made explicit. Conceptual ideas and a few practical suggestions for building value models are discussed. Brief descriptions of several cases in which such models have facilitated decision making about important risk management decisions conclude the article.
The Holocaust Course at the United States Air Force Academy
Authors: WESTERMANN EDWARD B.
Published: March 2007

The stated mission of the United States Air Force Academy is to motivate and train the future leaders of the United States Air Force, to develop knowledge as well as character. In conjunction with this objective, the Academy's Department of History provided a 42-lesson course on the genocide of the European Jews during the National Socialist dictatorship. The course addressed the moral, political, and military aspects of the Nazi program of terror, propaganda, and eventually annihilation. Providing a concentrated and in-depth program on the attempted annihilation of the Jews offers a unique perspective to the students of a college known both for its academic excellence and its military reputation. Students are forced to wrestle with the moral dilemmas faced by members of the European Jewish community in the years between 1933 and 1945; given the role of military professionals, it is especially important that their training confronts them with the moral dilemmas that will arise when the execution of military orders may directly affect the life and death of innocent civilians.
The Suburban Transformation of the Globalizing American City
Authors: MULLER PETER O.
Published: March 2007

As the American metropolis has turned inside out since 1970, the emerging outer suburban city has captured critical masses of leading urban activities from the central city that spawned it. Globalization increasingly shapes U.S. urban development in the 1990s, yet research to date has focused on the central city and mainly ignores the outer ring, where a growing majority of metropolitan residents live and work. Following a brief review of the unprecedented recent suburbanization of major economic activities, this article explores the rapidly expanding international role of suburban business complexes in large metropolitan areas, particularly Greater New York. Among the perspectives discussed are the world city hypothesis, relationships between telecommunications and urban form, high-technology industrial location processes, the influence of corporate headquarters on global information-flow networks, and the foreign presence in suburban America. It is concluded that globalization forces intensify and accelerate the suburban transformation of the American city. A new urban future is being shaped as fully developed suburbs become the engine driving metropolitan and world city growth.
Globalization to a Latin Beat: The Miami Growth Machine
Authors: NIJMAN JAN
Published: March 2007

Miami's globalization is accompanied by a restructuring of the city's political economy and the emergence of a powerful growth machine. After the shock caused by massive Latino immigration wore off, the old business elite combined forces with the new Hispanic (Cuban) elite and capitalized on Miami's international economic opportunities. Miami's experience illustrates the materialist imperatives of globalization and its unplanned social consequences. The benefits of economic growth are not equally distributed, and there are notable discrepancies along ethnic lines. The growth machine generates local narratives that emphasize the values of multiculturalism, but Miami's civic society has become fragmented and fragile. As an extreme example of a globalized city, Miami offers a glimpse of the fate of urban civilization in the global era.
Rail Transport:
Authors: SPYCHALSKI JOHN C.
Published: March 2007

Between 1960 and the mid-1970s, rail transport labored under siege and retreated on virtually all major fronts. Attacks and conquests by road, air, water, and pipeline transport were relentless and significant. After 1970, intercity rail passenger service was snatched from the brink of extinction and rehabilitated with government assistance. However, full realization of its latent potential for meeting travel demands and providing broader public benefits has been hampered by weak and inconsistent political will. Intra-urban rail passenger movement has grown at both ends of its technological spectrum: commuter rail, and street railway in the form of light rail. Intercity rail freight service has survived inadequate profitability and major bankruptcies. Aided by changes in regulation, it has proven capable of meeting the tests of the private marketplace. The emerging megamergers of the 1990s pose challenges for customer service and the future course of regulatory policy.
Transport Conference Report
Authors: GELLMAN AARON J.
Published: March 2007

A professor of transport and logistics attends the 126th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in 2047 and produces a report summarizing his trip. Among the sessions attended were several on high-speed transport and others on command-and-control, professional logistics services, safety, environment, energy, and space transportation.
Ratings for Program Content: The Role of Research Findings
Authors: CANTOR JOANNE
Published: March 2007

In response to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the television industry devised a program-rating system designed to be used with the V-chip, a device whose purpose is to permit parents to block reception of harmful programs. The industry's age-based system, which debuted in January of 1997, was criticized by researchers and child advocates for being inconsistent with parents' preferences, for failing to communicate useful information, and for making restricted programs more attractive. This article reviews the research that is relevant to these criticisms and that was used by advocacy groups to pressure the television industry to modify its ratings. The amended rating system, which includes content information in addition to age recommendations, began being used on 1 October 1997.
The Law of Outer Space
Authors: Galina A.
Published: March 2007

The Soviet author somewhat repetitiously discusses the concepts of air space and national sovereignty in the space age. He summarizes the opinions of a number of Western authorities on international law and notes that most of them agree with the Soviet view that state sovereignty does not extend to outer space. Certain official Soviet views and proposals concerning airspace violations, state security and the exploration of space are presented.
The Individual Response To Drugs
Authors: Miller James G.
Published: March 2007

The modification of attitudes and behavior by drugs both for scientific inquiry and therapy and control, constitutes an area of increasing concern to social scientists and policy-makers. In a theoretically integrated survey,1 the author explains some of the major dynamics and developments of psychoactive (and hence socioactive) drugs and comments upon the public issues involved in their use. Dr. Miller is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Michigan, where he is also Director of the Mental Health Research Institute.
On the Use and Abuse of Social Science by Practitioners
Authors: Dexter Lewis Anthony
Published: March 2007

Professor Dexter asserts that practitioners must learn to overcome the tendency to make only those observations and draw only those con clusions that can be pressed into simplistic and fashionable theoretical frames. He shows that the sociology of occupations is a perspective that is especially useful to practitioners, though largely ignored, and he urges that practitioners take up an interest in the now unfashionable but relevant area of political philosophy. Lewis A. Dexter, presently of the University of Maryland faculty, is co-author with R. Bauer and I. Pool of American Business and Public Policy which won the Woodrow Wilson Prize in 1963 for the best book in Political Science.
Health Care Reform
Authors: NIXON J. PETER , IGNAGNI KAREN M.
Published: March 2007

From the very beginnings of the trade union movement, labor organizations have wrestled with the problem of how to secure access to quality health care for their members and for working people generally. After successive failures by Congress to enact a comprehensive national health care program, labor unions won the right to collectively bargain over health care benefits. The system of employer-provided health insurance that developed is now in crisis as costs race out of control and employers reduce the scope of coverage, leaving millions of Americans without health insurance. As the Clinton administration moves forward with its promise to overhaul the nation's health care system, the labor movement is working to ensure that the administration's proposal guarantees access to all Americans, keeps cost under control, and includes a progressive financing mechanism that does not place an undue burden on working families.
Will the Phoenix Rise, and Where Should She Go?
Authors: HAFNER-EATON CHRIS
Published: March 2007

This article reviews the broad spectrum of women's major health problems from a public health paradigm, which balances the need for individual freedoms and overall equity. The article begins with a brief analysis of the recroachment of women's issues and lack of reform consensus on the abundance of health issues. Specific issues discussed include social ones such as poverty and violence against women, the competition of preventive and treatment resources, specific access to care through insurance mechanisms, treatment and pharmaceutical disparities, personnel gender gaps, and iatrogenic disease pertinent to women. A lengthy agenda is presented from professional literature, research findings, and women's interest group statements. This agenda is forthright and not politically timid, presenting serious challenges to the Clinton team.
How Domains Constrain Creativity
Authors: LI JIN , GARDNER HOWARD
Published: March 2007

Creativity has been traditionally studied from the point of view of the individual creator, and it has been assumed that creativity is the same across all knowledge domains. An argument is advanced for a new view of creativity—one that builds on the nature of the domains in which creative work can be carried out. Through a case analysis of Western and Chinese painting, it is argued that the two seemingly similar domains, in fact, differ greatly in the so-called parameters (e.g., pursuit, methodology, and symbol systems). Such parameters place unique constraints on the process of creativity.
Otherness and the Actor Network
Authors: LEE NICK , BROWN STEVE
Published: March 2007

Human... is an adjective and its use as a noun is in itself regrettable.

—William Burroughs
The Influences of Human Communication on Health Outcomes
Authors: KREPS GARY L. , O'HAIR DAN , CLOWERS MARSHA
Published: March 2007

This article examines the many assertions made in the health communication literature about the importance of communication as an essential process in promoting effective health care. If these assertions are true, then researchers should be able to demonstrate the ways in which communication influences the accomplishment of health care goals—how communication influences health outcomes. The links between health communication and health outcomes are examined, as well as the health outcomes literature. The authors propose a conceptual model of the role of communication in achieving advantageous outcomes in health care and health promotion based on the systems transformation model. The model can serve as a template for both guiding research on communication and health outcomes and for directing the health communication activities of interdependent participants in the modern health care system to promote desired health outcomes in health care/health promotion efforts.
Education for the Health Communication Professional
Authors: RATZAN SCOTT C. , STEARNS NORMAN S. , PAYNE J. GREGORY , AMATO PHILIP P. , LIEBERGOTT JACQUELINE W. , MADOFF MORTON A.
Published: March 2007

This article provides the context and rationale for a unique partnership of a communication college and medical school synergistically combining resources to create a master's degree program specifically in health communication. The architects of this revolutionary educational approach to health communication at Emerson College and Tufts University School of Medicine offer suggestions for administrators and professors interested in advancing health communication education. A slightly modified version of the actual proposal of a unique academic relationship to educate leaders in the field of health communication is discussed in relation to the target audience, curriculum, and career opportunities. Given the groundbreaking nature of the program, it is presented as an exemplar, with a copy of the proposal approved by each institution's Board of Trustees.
Checking Perceptions and Reality in Small-Town Innovation Research
Authors: LONDON ROSANNE
Published: March 2007

This article reports on the results of a study of innovation in programs and practices on the part of city and county governments in four western states. The objective of the research was to identify any patterns or “profiles” of innovative and noninnovative behavior that might serve the interest of promoting the “reinvention of government” at the local level. An unanticipated finding concerning how “innovation” is perceived emerged when a quantitative, four-state survey was followed up with an intensive study of six matched jurisdictions (small cities/towns) in the state of Washington. The implications of this finding for the conduct of community-oriented research are discussed.
Breadth of Program and Outcome Effectiveness in Drug Abuse Prevention
Authors: JOHNSON C. ANDERSON , MacKINNON DAVID P. , ANN PENTZ MARY
Published: March 2007

The most popular school programs for tobacco and other drug abuse prevention address a variety of substances from tobacco to alcohol to other drugs. It is not uncommon for the same school program to address an even broader range of health and social objectives including exercise and nutrition promotion, pregnancy and HIV prevention, and violence prevention. In this article, the authors address the question of whether it is more effective to target a narrow range of objectives (e.g., smoking prevention) or a wider range of related behaviors (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, and other drug abuse). First, they consider a range of assumptions about effectiveness including definition of program effectiveness, issues regarding program acceptance and maintenance, and the objectives of sponsoring agencies. Next, they present the arguments for broad and narrowly focused programs and present comparative data from broadly and narrowly targeted programs. Finally, they suggest strategies for program developers and implementers to consider in making decisions about breadth of objectives. They recommend that future research address these behavioral and policy issues directly.
Conventionalizing Gender
Authors: BLANKENSHIP JANE , ROBSON DEBORAH C. , WILLIAMS MAUREEN S.
Published: March 2007

As the 1996 national political conventions approached, the Republican presidential challenger Robert Dole was faced with an almost insurmountable gender gap. At the conventions, the Republicans sought to reduce that gap by appealing to women voters, just as the Democrats sought to maintain their advantage. The three key Republican strategies were to showcase Republican women, to focus on families, and to re-vision the party's history and record on issues of concern to women. A similar strategy was employed by the Democrats, except their history and legislative record needed no reconstruction. In this article, we examine the role of the media in co-constructing women's participation in both conventions, the role of women in articulating convention themes, and the dimensions of discourse added by women on prime time television. We also suggest implications these enactments hold for the future.
Derrida, Deconstruction, and Public Administration
Authors: FARMER DAVID JOHN
Published: March 2007

Derridean deconstruction is a significant resource for public administration thinking and practice. It facilitates antiadministration, for example. This article recognizes the severe difficulties that deconstruction presents. Yet, it supports the claim that deconstruction can help public administration. It does so by exploring the nature of deconstruction, by illustrating how bureaucratic deconstruction can be used in public administration and how it is useful, and by analyzing the most significant of deconstruction's difficulties.
Forming Electorates, Forging Spaces
Authors: FLINT COLIN
Published: March 2007

Using a social constructivist view of space, the agency of both the Nazi Party and the electorate created spatial contexts that, in turn, mediated future political activity. Spatial statistical analysis of aggregate voting data models the diffusion of Nazi Party electoral support across space as well as the construction of regionally specific electorates. The statistical concept of spatial dependence captures the creation of new spaces of power by the Nazi Party. The concept of spatial heterogeneity captures how the Nazi Party's electorate was composed of different socioeconomic groups in different regional settings. The growth of the Nazi party vote in Baden between May 1924 and July 1932 is used to exemplify the social theoretical view of space and the application of spatial statistics.
From CSR1 to CSR2
Authors: Frederick William C.
Published: March 2007

This 1978 paper outlines a conceptual transition in business and society scholarship, from the philosophical-ethical concept of corporate social responsibility (corporations' obligation to work for social betterment) to the action-oriented managerial concept of corporate social responsiveness (the capacity of a corporation to respond to social pressure). Implications of this shift include a reduction in business defensiveness, an increased emphasis on techniques for managing social responsiveness, more empirical research on business and society relationships and constraints on corporate responsiveness, a continued need to clarify business responsibilities, and a need to work toward more dynamic theories of values and social change.
Of Babies and Bathwater
Authors: Szwajkowski Eugene , Figlewicz Raymond E.
Published: March 2007

A research forum published in Business & Society in 1995 (Issue 2) analyzed whether Fortune magazine's annual Reputation Survey (FRS) is viable as a corporate social performance (CSP) research database. We examine plausible alternative interpretations for a number of assertions and conclusions by the forum authors, including the premise for Brown and Perry's proposed transformation: that the Fortune data are confounded by the presence of a financial "halo," which biases ratings of nonfinancial attributes. Finally, we examine the appropriate roles of the two primary corporate rating systems in the context of CSP.
Modeling Industry Political Dynamics
Authors: Mahon John F. , McGowan Richard A.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this article is to extend from the business and society research focus on corporate political strategy and to factor this emphasis into business strategy thinking. The approach taken is to incorporate business and society concepts into a model that parallels Michael Porter's well-known Five Forces Model of business strategy. The applicability of the parallel model for practitioners and academics is then illustrated by using the model to analyze the television violence issue.
Value Change and Democratic Reform in Japan and Korea
Authors: FLANAGAN SCOTT C. , LEE AIE-RIE
Published: March 2007

This study explores the underlying causes of the processes of democratic reform in Japan and Korea over the past decade. In both nations, elite-challenging pressures from below have been the stimulus forcing reforms on the governing elites. For this reason, changes in mass attitudes and values become a crucial explanatory variable in accounting for recent political reforms. The authors discuss the pattern of political development in these two nations and their theory of how and why values are changing from an authoritarian to libertarian set of attitudinal orientations. This pattern of value change has been eroding the traditional tolerance of the mass publics in these two nations for authoritarian and corrupt practices. The authors empirically demonstrate how and why values have been changing and how these changes are related to increasing levels of elite-challenging protest potential and leftist reform-oriented attitudes.
An Insurgent Path to Democracy
Authors: WOOD ELISABETH JEAN
Published: March 2007

In El Salvador and South Africa, mobilization by the economically and socially marginalized impelled the transition to democracy, forcing the initial liberalization of the regime and eventually laying the political and economic foundations for democratizing compromise. These cases thus provide an opportunity to analyze one mechanism by which mobilization “from below” impels some regime transitions. In this insurgent path to democracy, sustained mobilization by poor and working-class people transformed key interests of economic elites, leading to pressure on the state to compromise with the insurgents, thereby strengthening regime moderates over hard-liners with the result that negotiated transitions to democracy followed. The dramatis personae of these transitions were not contending elite factions, as in most Latin American and southern European transitions, but representatives of distinct classes whose conflict of economic interest propelled the conflict and whose economic interdependence contributed to the structural basis of its democratizing resolution.
Dimensions of Partisan Conflict in Swiss Cantons
Authors: KATZ RICHARD S.
Published: March 2007

One of the intriguing problems of empirical democratic theory is to explain the stability of Switzerland, a society divided both by language and by religion. Kerr (1974) suggests federalism as an explanation, because it both defuses political conflict and allows different patterns of party conflict to emerge in French and Geman speaking areas. Analysis of split votes ( panachage) from the 1975 election of the National Council shows wide variation in party spaces at the cantonal level, but such variation exists within religio-linguistic groups of cantons as well as across groups. Comparison to similar data from 1951 shows the level of panachage to be increasing along with divergence among cantonal party systems. This is consistent with Lijphart's (1969) hypothesis that Switzerland is entering a postconsociational period.
A Note on the Meaning of Cabinet Durability
Authors: LIJPHART AREND
Published: March 2007

Cabinet durability is widely — but not very plausibly — regarded as an indicator of regime stability. The alternative, and more convincing, interpretation is that it reflects executive dominance in executive-legislative relationships.
Social Distance in the Israeli-Arab Conflict
Authors: YUCHTMAN-YAAR EPHRAIM , INBAR MICHAEL
Published: March 2007

This article deals with the phenomenon of social distance as a social-psychological dimension of intergroup relationships. We discuss the concept of social distance and the research associated with it, pointing to some shortcomings in the theoretical thinking associated with this concept. We adopt an analytic framework that views the varieties of social distance as collective phenomena, reflecting the structure of resource interdependence between groups. The data set at our disposal enabled us to apply this framework to two reciprocal dyadic relationships in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict: Israeli Jews vis-à-vis Israeli Arabs (Palestinians), and Israeli Jews vis-à-vis Egyptian Arabs. The empirical findings indicate that while the Israelis are unwilling to have the same degree of close relations with the Palestinians that the Palestinians desire with the Israelis, the Egyptians are unwilling to have as close a relationship with the Israelis as the Israelis would like to have with the Egyptians. Both patterns of social distance are those expected in the light of the proposed resource-dependency perspective, as alternative theoretical views seem incapable of adequately explaining them.
The Spatial Analysis of Peace and War
Authors: KIRBY ANDREW M. , WARD MICHAEL D.
Published: March 2007

This article uses methodological insights to argue for a reconceptualization of the way in which we approach spatial data, and specifically for a rejection of the primacy of the nation state as the unit of analysis. We pay particular attention to the way in which the analysis of data with a geographic basis is undertaken, particularly in situations where some form of data aggregation has been undertaken, and in cases where there exists a wide variation in the size of data units. This analysis explores the implications of this variation, employing the technique of spatial autocorrelation. Our study of peace and war in Africa extends previous analyses by Starr and Most, and illustrates the way in which the measurement of spatial autocorrelation can be employed as a powerful analytical tool to identify relations of conflict and cooperation. This article builds on these findings with some speculations on the ways in which further research on conflict and cooperation might proceed, in both technical and conceptual directions.
Citizens' Attitudes Toward Environmental Issues
Authors: ROHRSCHNEIDER ROBERT
Published: March 2007

Environmental issues have emerged recently as a new dimension on the political agenda of advanced industrial democracies. The most prominent explanations for this issue concern have been psychological models of postindustrial value change. These models, however, neglect to link environmental concerns to the true state of ecological affairs. This research examines the degree to which psychological dimensions and the perceived ecological problems contribute to the rise of environmentalism in Western Europe. For this purpose, we employ Inglehart's model of postmaterial values, a self-interest model, and a sociotropic model. The self-interest model holds that citizens favor strict environmental regulations if their local environment is polluted. In the sociotropic model, citizens evaluate ecological problems as national issues. We approach the research questions cross-nationally using a Eurobarometer on ecological issues. We find that psychological factors and the perceived degree of national pollution problems contribute to the rise of environmentalism. Self-interest motives have only an indirect impact on citizen attitudes toward environmental protection.
Modeling Spatial Diffusion
Authors: FRENDREIS JOHN P.
Published: March 2007

Wellhofer's adaptation of Klingman's suggestion that spatial diffusion be modeled as an autoregressive spatial series is questioned on two counts. First, this approach is inappropriate for most classes of diffusion models, including dendritic diffusion systems. Second, the procedure by which Wellhofer has ordered the observations in his Argentine illustration produces a database that bears almost no resemblance to the underlying pattern of causation he wishes to examine and actually creates an additional source of bias in the analysis.
Public Pension Reforms in the United States and Japan
Authors: KATO JUNKO
Published: March 2007

In the early 1980s, facing the financial crises in their public pension systems, the governments of both the United States and Japan proposed reform. In each case the reform efforts failed. A few years later policy proposals by special commissions led to the enactment of reform legislation in both countries. No major political upheavals occurred in the intervening years; but in both cases, failure turned into success in a short period. The article demonstrates that similar shifts in political strategy (the use of special commissions) produced parallel outcomes (the benefits cut reforms). This study points to the universal components of political strategy in democratic systems at the same time as it emphasizes the distinctive feature of the American and Japanese political systems.
Corporatist Bargaining and International Politics
Authors: HUELSHOFF MICHAEL G.
Published: March 2007

International regimes and multinational corporations (MNCs) play active roles in domestic political processes. This article links these international systems variables to corporatist analyses of domestic structural adjustment politics in the Federal Republic of Germany. The interplay of regimes and MNCs with domestic politics is seen in case studies of the German steel and oil refining industries. It is demonstrated that corporatist models should incorporate international-level variables.
Political Intolerance in the USSR
Authors: GIBSON JAMES L. , DUCH RAYMOND M.
Published: March 2007

Political tolerance is a democratic value that has often been studied by those interested in the relationship between mass public opinion and democracy. Yet most research efforts have been mounted in relatively democratic regimes. Little is known about political tolerance in relatively totalitarian regimes. The authors' purpose in this article is to explore intolerance within the mass public of the Soviet Union. Focusing on two surveys of public opinion conducted in the USSR in 1990, the authors demonstrate that political intolerance is fairly widespread in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the objects of intolerance are focused, not dispersed pluralistically. Many of the predictors of intolerance found useful in the West (e.g., perceptions of threat, closed-mindedness) are also good predictors in the Soviet Union. Level of education plays an especially interesting role, contributing to support for more general democratic values, but not directly to political tolerance. The authors conclude this article by speculating about the future of the democratization process in the USSR in light of regnant intolerance in that country.
The Dynamics of Public Support for Coalition Governments
Authors: ANDERSON CHRISTOPHER J.
Published: March 2007

This article investigates the relationship between economic conditions and party support for coalition parties in Denmark and the Netherlands. The article argues that the simple reward-punishment model cannot fully account for changes in citizens' support for parties, given variable economic performance. Using aggregate public support data for political parties, the article shows that citizens differentiate between coalition partners depending on the parties' issue priorities. Instead of blaming or rewarding all coalition parties in a uniform fashion, citizens shift support from one coalition party to another, depending on the perceived competence of a party to deal with particular economic problems. The article finds that the structure of responsibility in parliamentary democracies ruled by coalition governments is more complex than is often assumed. Therefore, it is argued that students of economics and public opinion should pay particular attention to the institutional context in which citizens make choices.
Public Opinion and Market Reforms:
Authors: STOKES SUSAN C.
Published: March 2007

The broadly held view that promarket reforms are good for most people is in conflict with the equally broadly held view that, in democracies, reforms will generate widespread resistance. Resistance is expected because reforms typically produce economic downturns, at least over the short term. Under normal circumstances, we expect citizens to withdraw support from governments during periods of economic decline. If citizens withdraw support, then governments, worried about the next election, may abandon reforms. But our expectations should be different of new democracies pursuing promarket reforms. Citizens may believe governments when they claim that things have to get worse before they get better or that economic stagnation is the fault of the past model. Research in Poland, Peru, and Mexico, reported in this special issue, supports these expectations. Hence under democracy there is more scope for support of painful reforms than frequently acknowledged.
Public Support for Economic Reforms in Poland
Authors: PRZEWORSKI ADAM
Published: March 2007

Using monthly surveys, the author examines the impact of aggregate economic conditions on the dynamic of support for the Polish program of economic reforms, the Balcerowicz Plan. To highlight the ambiguity of the standard retrospective model, the author analyzes the impact of subjective perceptions of economic conditions on postures toward the reform program, asking if people were extrapolating the past when forming predictions about the future. Then the effect of these predictions on the postures toward reform is studied. Finally, the author focuses on the distributional effects. Substantive conclusions concerning the impact of economic conditions on the support of economic reform programs under democracy close the article.