bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The level of microbial contamination and frequency of surgical site infections at the Department of Orthopedic and Traumatologic Surgery of the Clinical Hospital Center in Kragujevac
Authors: Grujovic Zoran , Ilic Milena , Milicic Biljana
Published: July 2006

Introduction. The level of microbial contamination is an important risk factor for surgical site infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of surgical site infections in regard to the level of microbial contamination at the Department of Orthopedic and Traumatologic Surgery of the Clinical Hospital Center in Kragujevac. Material and methods. This study included 474 patients who underwent surgery in the period from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002 at the Department of Orthopedic and Traumatologic Surgery of the Clinical Hospital Center in Kragujevac. Hospital infections were identified using CDC definitions, modified to fit our circumstances. The traditional classification of surgical sites in regard to the level of microbial contamination includes three categories: clean, contaminated and dirty. Results The incidence of surgical site infections was higher at the Orthopedic Surgery Ward (5.94%) compared to Traumatologic Surgery Ward (5.02%). Additionally, a significantly higher frequency of deep surgical site infections, which were classified as clean were established at the Orthopedic Surgery Ward, in regard to the level of microbial contamination, whereas the greatest frequency of surface infections in clean surgical sites (p=0.000) were established at the Traumatologic Surgery Ward. Surgical site infections were more frequent in patients undergoing multiple surgeries at the Orthopedic Surgery Ward than in those treated at the Traumatologic Surgery Ward (p=0.037). Conclusion It is of utmost importance to estimate the frequency of surgical site infections and identify associated risk factors in order to undertake adequate measures for their prevention and control. .
Maintaining the cold chain for vaccines
Authors: Petrovic Vladimir , Seguljev Zorica , Gajin Branka
Published: July 2006

Cold chain for vaccines a is a system for storing and transporting vaccines at very low temperatures to maintain their effectiveness before use. Because vaccines are sensitive biological substances, their exposition to high temperatures directly affects the quality of vaccines and safety of immunization. The goal of this study was to assess the safety of cold chain for vaccines within the cold chain system in two services of Health Center Novi Sad. Cold Chain Monitors (CCM) and Freeze Watch (FW) indicators were used. A total of 155 (94.5%) Cold Chain Monitors (CCM) and 100 (95.2%) Freeze Watch (FW) indicators were analyzed. Only one CCM showed a breach in cold chain. A total of 3 CCMs indicated risk of vaccine wastage. A total of 9 CCMs were colorized without risk of vaccine wastage, FWs were positive in a high percentage in both services of Health Center Novi Sad. FWs were exposed to low temperatures during transport. Statistically significant differences in the number of exposed CCMs to high temperatures and the number of exposed FWs to low temperatures were observed in these two services. A statistically significant difference in number of FWs exposed to low temperatures was observed in regard to the period of transport and the period of storage at the vaccination stations. The study shows high level of safety of the cold chain in two services of Health Center Novi Sad. Cold Chain Monitor is a reliable indicator of the quality of cold chain for vaccines. Freeze Watch is a reliable indicator of the quality of cold chain during storage of vaccines, but not during their transport.
Thrombophilia and thrombosis
Authors: Obradovic Dusanka
Published: July 2006

Introduction Generally speaking, thrombophilia includes all congenital and acquired conditions associated with increased susceptibility to thrombosis. An impaired balance between stimulating and inhibitory components of the hemostasis system may result in thrombosis or hemorrhage (extreme disorders), while moderately impaired hemostasis induces thrombophilia. Thrombophilia, prethrombotic state and thrombosis A prethrombotic state is a condition of stimulated hemostasis system with tolerable intensity. When the activation level exceeds the capacity of inhibitory components, prethrombotic state advances to thrombosis. Classification of thrombophilia. Thrombophilia is classified as primary or hereditary and secondary or acquired. Hereditary or congenital thrombophilia is a condition of congenital mutation of one or more antithrombotic components. Acquired or secondary thrombophilia accompanies a variety of pathologic conditions and diseases. Laboratory diagnosis of thrombophilia Specific laboratory tests for congenital thrombophilia include assessment of the antigen component related to the activity of AT III, protein C, and protein S, evaluation of the resistance to the activated C protein, assessment of t-Pa and PAI-1 activity, as well as tests for hyperhomocysteinemia and prothrombin 20210 mutation. Management of thrombophilia Treatment of patients with congenital AT HI deficiency includes intravenous heparin and AT III concentrate (dosage 50 U/ kgbw). Patients with heterozygous protein C and S deficiency are treated by intravenous heparin and oral anticoagulant therapy. Regarding arterial thrombosis due to confirmed congenital hyperhomocysteinemia, it is treated the same as venous thrombosis. thrombosis.
Splenic capping in the treatment of severe spleen injuries
Authors: Jovanovic Milan , Stanojevic Goran , Jovanovic Jovica , Stojanovic Miroslav
Published: July 2006

Introduction Permanent and lifelong threat of developing fatal sepsis and other severe infections in splenectomized patients is an important reason for promoting splenic preservation. Material and methods Experimental preservation of severe spleen injuries (grade IV), with splenic-capping, was performed in 30 dogs, operated using Ketalar anesthesia. Spleen preservation and concomitant treatment of excessive hemorrhage were achieved by highly controlled "conic" compression of injuried spleen parenchyma, additional hemostatic Z-sutures and fibrin tissue adhesion. Results Satisfactory hemostasis and complete preservation of the spleen parenchyma damage were achieved in 20% bv splenic capping splenorraphy, alone. Additional placement of hemostatic sutures was necessary in 30%, and concomitant application of serum thymic factor (STF) FTA (along with sutures) in 50% of patients. The abovementioned techniques were very effective in achieving hemostasis (100%), with no mortality and low rate of postoperative complications - 6.7% (1 intrasplenic abscess and 1 adhesive ileus). Conclusion Excellent results and efficacy, splenic capping-splenorraphy is the method of choice in the treatment of severe and multiple transcapsular spleen injuries with involvement of segmental vessels.
Mechanical cornpicker hand injuries
Authors: Momcilovic Dragan , Prokes Bela , Janjic Zlata
Published: July 2006

Mechanical cornpicker hand injuries are not frequent in comparison to general hand trauma, but they have a specific mechanism of occurrence and are very severe. This investigation included 221 hand injuries. The sex distribution shows a general male dominance (85.25%) in their active age (84.44%). These are, seasonal injuries mostly occurring in October (75.11%). By type of injuries, mutilating crush injuries are most frequent (64.25%). After completing the treatment, in most cases the functional result were estimated as bad (50.68%). Data concerning education and training for operating agricultural machines (96.38% - patients without training) and carrying out safety measures (63.35% of injured patients did not apply any protection measures) are devastating. The number of these injuries, as well as consequent permanent disabilities, may be considerably reduced by preventive measures, including public health services and media. Use of contemporary agricultural machinery, as well as obligatory training for operating these machines and application of protective measures, may also reduce the incidence of hand injuries during corn picking.
Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome: A rare manifestation of paraneoplastic syndrome in ovarian cancer: Case report
Authors: Zivaljevic Milica , Popovic Svetlana , Vujkov Tamara
Published: July 2006

Introduction Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes are rare non-metastatic complications of cancer that have an immune-mediated etiology. The Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) is a neuromuscular disorder, often associated with small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), which is characterized by reduced quantal release of acetylcholine from the motor nerve terminals. Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome The Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS) is characterized by proximal muscle weakness initially affecting gait, autonomic symptoms (dry mouth, constipation, erectile failure) and augmentation of strength during initial voluntary activation. Symptomatic treatment of the junctional disorder is based on cholinergic drugs, immunosuppression, immunomodulation and physical therapy useful in case of unsuccessful antineoplastic therapy. Case report A rare case of ovarian cancer with Eaton-Lambert syndrome is reported. A 50-year-old woman was admitted to the gynecologic department, complaining of weakness and pain in her arms and shoulders. Physical therapy resulted in partial improvement. Treatment of paraneoplastic syndrome markedly improves the quality of life of cancer patients. Patients presenting with this syndrome should undergo a careful evaluation for the presence of an occult malignancy.
Clinical characteristics of coinfection with hepatitis C virus in HIV-positive patients
Authors: Preveden Tomislav
Published: July 2006

Introduction Patients with HIV are commonly coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) mostly due to similar routes of transmission, especially in areas with high prevalence of intravenous drug use. In the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), life expectancy of these patients has increased and end-stage liver disease is a common cause of death. Material and methods This study included 387 HIV-positive patients treated at the Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases "Dr. Kosta Todorovic" in Belgrade. We investigated epidemiological and clinical features of patients who underwent biochemical liver tests, ultrasonography and some of them blind liver biopsies. Results The prevalence of HCV infection among these patients was 58.13% with' 225/387 ELISA anti-HCV-antibody positive patients. HCV coinfection was statistically more significant among male patients aged between 30 and 34, and among intravenous drug users. None of the biochemical parameters were statistically significant among coinfected patients, except aminotraspherase levels which were significantly higher among patients with chronic hepatitis C and HIV. 44 patients underwent biopsy and pathohistological findings showed that every 4th patient (25%) had chronic hepatitis C infection. The average survival rate in coinfected patients in the pre HAART era was the same as in AIDS patients. Conclusions Liver biopsy, elevated aminotraspherase and positive serology can help in making the diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C, and possible future treatment options.
Kinesitherapy: One of the most important aspects of medical rehabilitation
Authors: Savic Kosta
Published: July 2006

Introduction Kinesitherapy, as a part of physical therapy, represents one of the most important aspects of medical rehabilitation. It involves movement of various parts of the body, or of the whole body, using exercises in order to maintain, establish, develop and change functions of the locomotor apparatus and organs of locomotion. Aim The aim of kinesitherapy is to use all potentials of the treated patients, to achieve optimal recovery of the damaged function of locomotion. Classification Kinesitherapy includes active and passive exercises. Active exercises are divided into: active exercises with assistance, without assistance and active exercises with resistance. Indications and contraindications Kinesitherapy is applied in almost all medical branches in numerous pathological conditions, as well as a method of prevention. Practically, there are no absolute contraindications, and relative are extremely rare.
The growth hormone axis and insulin-like growth factors
Authors: Radosavljevic Tatjana , Todorovic Vera , Vucevic Danijela , Sikic Branka
Published: July 2006

Introduction Growth is regulated by the interaction of environmental signals with endogenous neuroendocrine responses to the genetic programs that determine the body plan. The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are integral components of multiple systems controlling both growth and metabolism. The IGF system The IGF system is thought to be more complex than other endocrine systems, as genes for six IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) have been identified so far. The IGFs play a critical role in both cell cycle control and apoptosis, two functions involved in regulation of tumorigenesis. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is essential for normal growth. Confirmation of the significance of IGF-I in human physiology was obtained by the discovery of a patient with intrauterine growth retardation and postnatal growth failure associated with a mutation in the IGF-1 gene. Stages of evolution of the somatomedin hypothesis The original somatomedin hypothesis postulated that somatic growth was regulated by growth hormone's (GH's) stimulation of hepatic IGF-1 production, with IGF-1 acting in an endocrine fashion to promote growth. The dual effectors theory proposed an alternative view, involving direct effects by GH on peripheral tissues not mediated by IGF-1 and GH-stimulated local IGF-1 production for autocrine/paracrine action. It is now clear that G H stimulates the formation of ternary IGF binding complex, which stabilizes IGF-I in the serum.
The significance of some anthropometric parameters and parameters ensuing from them in assessing cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes
Authors: Katona-Djurekovic Aniko , Stokic Edita
Published: July 2006

Introduction. Current clinical practice requires simple and available tools for cardiovascular risk assessment in diabetic patients. Material and methods. This study included 290 type 2 diabetics of both sexes. The following anthropometric parameters were measured: body mass index, waist circumference, sagital abdominal diameter, while ensuing parameters included: waist-to-stature ratio(WSH), ratio of abdominal sagital diameter to height (SADE), and conicity index. Metabolic status was evaluated based on lipidograms and HbAlc, and of cardiovascular parameters blood pressure was measured. Results. Female patients were obese, with central accumulation of fat, elevated blood pressure and lipid disorders such as hypo-HDL cholesterolemia. The applied anthropometric parameters and indicators ensuing from them (WSH, SADH and conicity index), are reliable indicators of elevated blood pressure in diabetic patients. Conclusion. The obtained results showed negative correlation with HDL cholesterol in women, which indirectly indicates to development of hypertension, as one of the most common diabetic complications. Central accumulation of fat with dyslipidemic disorder, characteristic of metabolic syndrome, is of highest importance. Sagital abdominal diameter (SAD) and WSH showed the highest correlation with lipidograms in females, whereas BMI was the best indicator in males. .
The role of autonomic cardiovascular neuropathy in pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease in patients with diabetes mellitus
Authors: Popovic-Pejicic Snjezana , Todorovic-Djilas Ljiljana , Pantelinac Pavle
Published: July 2006

Introduction. Diabetes is strongly associated with macrovascular complications, among which ischemic heart disease is the major cause of mortality. Autonomic neuropathy increases the risk of complications, which calls for an early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to determine both presence and extent of cardiac autonomic neuropathy, in regard to the type of diabetes mellitus, as well as its correlation with coronary disease and major cardiovascular risk factors. Material and methods. We have examined 90 subjects, classified into three groups, with 30 patients each: those with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and control group of healthy subjects. All patients underwent cardiovascular tests (Valsalva maneuver, deep breathing test, response to standing, blood pressure response to standing sustained, handgrip test), electrocardiogram, treadmill exercise test and filled out a questionnaire referring to major cardiovascular risk factors: smoking, obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Results. Our results showed that cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy was more frequent in type 2 diabetes, manifesting as autonomic neuropathy. In patients with autonomic neuropathy, regardless of the type of diabetes, the treadmill test was positive, i.e. strongly correlating with coronary disease. In regard to coronary disease risk factors, the most frequent correlation was found for obesity and hypertension. Discussion Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is considered to be the principal cause of arteriosclerosis and coronary disease. Our results showed that the occurrence of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy increases the risk of coronary disease due to dysfunction of autonomic nervous system. Conclusions. Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes that significantly correlates with coronary disease. Early diagnosis of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy points to increased cardiovascular risk, providing a basis for preventive and therapeutic measures. .
Nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit of a gynecology clinic
Authors: Arsenijevic Ljubica , Popovic Nada , Gojnic Miroslava
Published: July 2006

Introduction. Nosocomial infections are caused by microorganisms, and they develop 48 hours or more after admission to a hospital. It is considered that these infections are neither manifested nor present during the incubation period at the time of admission. Material and methods. The objective of our study was to identify the most frequent microorganisms causing nosocomial infections in the Intensive Care Unit of the Institute of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The study included 33 patients, mean age 43.5?5 years, who were critical cases treated in Intensive Care Unit of the Institute of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Clinical Center of Serbia, in the period 2001-2003. All patients were surgically treated, intubated and assisted by mechanical ventilation. Results. The most common causative agents isolated from the endotracheal tube were Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus coagulasa negative and Pseudomonas spp., whereas Escherichia colli and Enterococcus were isolated from the wounds. These are highly resistant strains to antimicrobial agents. Discussion. Two big groups of microorganisms were isolated as causative organisms of nosocomial infections. The first group causes blood stream infections, such as Staphilococcus aureus and coagulasa negative, and the second group causes respiratory infections like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella Enterobacter and Acinetobacter. The mortality and morbidity are very high, up to 40-80%. Conclusion. We can conclude that invasive diagnostic procedures are causing a high percentage of nosocomial infections. It is of utmost importance to prevent these infections by early use of antibiotics and infection control which depends on the hospital or clinic. .
Mathematics achievement of Serbian eighth grade students and characteristics of mathematics curriculum
Authors: Antonijevic Radovan
Published: July 2006

This paper considers the main results and some educational implications of the TIMSS 2003 assessment conducted in Serbia, in the fields of mathematics achievement of Serbian eighth grade students and the mathematics curriculum context of their achievement. It was confirmed that Serbian eighth graders have made average scale score of 477 points, and with this achievement they are placed in the zone of intermediate international benchmarking level. The average mathematics achievement of the Serbian eighth graders is somewhat above the average international mathematics achievement. The best result was achieved in the content domain of "algebra", and the lower result in the content domains of "measurement" and "data". In the defined cognitive domains the Serbian students have achieved the best results in "solving routine problems" and "knowing facts and procedures", and the weaker result in "reasoning". Statistically significant difference was found in the mathematics achievement between girls and boys in the Serbian TIMSS 2003 sample, so the girls? average scale score was 480 points and the same value for the boys was 473 points. The achieved results raise many questions about the contents of mathematics curriculum in Serbia, its quality and basic characteristics of its implementation. These results can be eligibly used to improve the mathematics curriculum and teaching in Serbian primary school.
The Soviet Theory of “People's Democracy”
Authors: Rosa Ruth Amende
Published: July 2006

The concept of “people's democracy” has posed a real ideological dilemma for the U.S.S.R. Prior to the spring of 1948 Soviet theory was confronted with the fact that—partly because of Soviet policy itself—eastern Europe was not developing toward socialism by exactly the same pattern of violent revolutionary change which the U.S.S.R. had experienced, but in a manner more closely approximating gradual “reform.” To a very considerable extent it was in the interest of the Soviet Union to emphasize the differences between its own development and that of the “new democracies” in order to quiet national and non-Communist fears in those countries. At the same time, the U.S.S.R. apparently felt obliged to establish its own position of ideological “leadership” in eastern Europe and, simultaneously, to fit the concept of “people's democracy” into the body of orthodox Marxist-Leninist doctrine.
Problems of Colonialism
Authors: Emerson Rupert
Published: July 2006

IT is not the least of the sins of the current East-West conflict that its hypnotic influence has seduced our attention away from a number of other problems some of which are at least as likely to determine the future of mankind as that conflict itself. Among these problems one which stands out as of indisputably central importance is the future development of the many millions of peoples who remain in a colonial status or have recently emerged from it into a precarious independence. To these peoples there must be assimilated others—notably the Chinese—who, although they have never come under explicit colonial rule, are in the same general position of emerging suddenly from an ancient world into the complex modernities which are essentially the creation of Western Europe and its descendants overseas. From another aspect these are all peoples who in modern times have been the object of the policies and activities of more dynamic states and peoples and who are now vigorously asserting the right to become masters of their own destiny. At the least they demand the right to be let alone to shape their own societies according to their own conceptions of the good life, with such non-imperialistic aid as they may be able to secure; and, beyond this, they seek to play an active role in the shaping of the world at large on equal terms with the peoples to whom they have been subject and inferior. The internal cohesion, structure, and advancement of these peoples, the attitudes which they come to develop, the power which they may achieve, and the goals toward which they direct this power, are matters which may well prove to be the most crucial issues of future decades and even centuries.
The Function of Intelligence
Authors: Kendall Willmoore
Published: July 2006

Strategic Intelligence can be read variously as: 1) a general introduction to intelligence work which, say, the director of almost any section of Central Intelligence might give a new recruit to read on his first day at the office; 2) a memorandum from an Old Hand at intelligence work who has thought it all over—like the bird in Peter and the Wolf, from a safe distance—and has a thing or two to tell those of his colleagues who have stayed on in Washington; and 3) an attempt by that same Old Hand to make sense—inter alia for himself—out of a greatly expanded United States government activity in which, as all who know it can testify, sense does not leap to the eye. Because the book is in part each of these three things, it is not perfectly satisfactory as any one of them. But it is evidently not offered as a learned treatise on any or all of them: indeed, the gap in the existing literature in the field is so great that one can hardly be surprised at Mr. Kent's failure to define his task with precision. The great merit of his book is that it provides a body of descriptive material which will enable serious public discussion to begin on the relation of intelligence to policy in a democratic system. Since it is American policy on which the future of the free world seems to depend, it is high time for the public debate to commence.
Democratic Psychology and a Democratic World Order
Authors: Cook Thomas I.
Published: July 2006

If the passing of the European age is not to mean the passing of the democratic way of life, democrats must be better equipped than they now are to carry on the struggle for the minds and hearts of men who dwell beyond the confines of the Western, democratic world. Indeed, if democracy is to maintain itself against the forces which threaten it from within, democrats must reexamine the bases of their belief. The struggles to make the world safe for democracy and to make democracy safe in its traditional Western homelands are indeed so intertwined that the task is as urgent on the one front as it is on the other.
Statesmanship and Moral Choice
Authors: Wolfers Arnold
Published: July 2006

Throughout the ages moralists have expressed horror at the way princes and sovereign states behave toward each other. Behavior which would be considered immoral by any standard can obviously be detected in all realms of life; but nowhere does the contradiction between professed ethical principles and actual behavior appear so patent and universal as in the conduct of foreign relations. Governments spy on each other and lie to each other; they violate pledges and conduct wars, often at the cost of millions of lives and untold misery. No wonder, then, that in western democracies if not elsewhere indignation over such practices should be voiced with vehemence. In our day it frequently expresses itself in wholesale denunciations of the multi-state system on the ground that sovereign states cannot deal with each other except by the use of immoral means, derogatorily called power politics. Some draw the cynical conclusion that morality has no place in international politics, while others would have men fulfill their moral duty by substituting world government for the present immoral political system.
The Thirty-Eighth Parallel in Korea
Authors: McCune Shannon
Published: July 2006

The 38th parallel in Korea marks a critical segment of the ‘international frontier’ between the two worlds into which our one globe seems to be dividing. South of the line is the American-sponsored and U. N.-approved Korean Republic. North of the parallel is the Soviet-backed Korean Peoples” Republic. Both of these governments claim jurisdiction over all of Korea. Both seem to follow the most extreme aspects of the political philosophies of their backers. Thus Korea, a long-unified nation, has, on its liberation from Japan, been split by a purely geodetic line. This line is found on maps but is not evident in the geographic landscape. One may well wonder about the choice of such a line, its geographic character and its present and future function.
Cultural Relations and Soviet Foreign Policy
Authors: Barghoorn Frederick C. , Friedrich Paul W.
Published: July 2006

WE attempt in this article to identify some politically significant characteristics of Soviet policy in the field of “cultural relations. These are discussed in the context of international affairs since the death of Stalin. The significance of this topic for governments was reemphasized by its prominence at the two Geneva East-West meetings of 1955. It impinged noticeably upon world attention once the ”Geneva spirit” had rekindled hope for a lessening of tension.
Mr. Toynbee and World Politics: War and National Security
Authors: Thompson Kenneth W.
Published: July 2006

IHE problem of war and national security, at one time conceived of as the province of almost anyone but the peace-minded international relationist, has come increasingly to occupy scholars and researchers. Arnold J. Toynbee, whose major concern is the philosophy of history, preserves a lively interest in international politics and particularly in the problem of war, the principles of foreign policy, and the quest for an applicable body of theory concerning international society. With the publication of the last four volumes of his famed A Study of History, it may be appropriate to call attention to the other side of his work, especially as he brings to the discussion a clarity, simplicity, and concreteness refreshing by contrast with the pompous tautologies of much of modern scholarship. This article reviews Mr. Toynbee's contribution to knowledge on the first of the problems mentioned, namely, war and national security. It seeks to present his conception of the crisis in modern war, social factors underlying the transformation of warfare, and prevailing theories on the nature and inevitability of war.
Japan's Response to the West: The Contrast with China
Authors: Lockwood William W.
Published: July 2006

JAPAN'S response to the intrusion of the West, by contrast with the response of China and other Asian nations, has long intrigued statesmen and scholars. Generalizations about Asia, its cultural traditions, its policies, its economic development, are especially difficult to fit to the Japanese. “Japan is of coursesui generis,” says O. H. K. Spate, the British geographer, and few will disagree.
On Universal History
Authors: Harbison E. Harris
Published: July 2006

The problem of how to conceive and write “universal history” A is increasingly haunting the imaginations and troubling the consciences of historians in the West. We live in one world, but our historiography is still national, or at most regional. We no longer really believe that piling the known historical facts higher and higher will save us, but we still hopefully support antiquarianism and monographic research. Professional historical writing has thus lost all power to influence the man in the street because its thought-frame is parochial, myopic, and so irrelevant to the modern world. It cannot prepare us to understand the world we live in unless it casts off Leopold von Ranke's Europe-centered mentality and becomes truly “universal” in attitude and perspective. Or so it seems to one particularly articulate British historian, Geoffrey Barraclough, in History in a Changing World, a volume of essays recently published.
Africa: Scholarship and Policy
Authors: Fallers Lloyd A.
Published: July 2006

The current attempt by European and American scholarship to come to grips with Africa is bound to be frustrating work for some years to come. The continent is vast and varied; Western knowledge of it is, for the most part, recent and superficial; and yet the demand for understanding, arising out of Africa's increasing importance in world affairs, will not wait for the slow process of maturation which scholarship normally requires. Policies must be made and points of view arrived at, and it is no use complaining that the stock of information and ideas out of which these policies and points of view must be fashioned are the premature products of half-digested thought. At the same time, it is clear that it is in such circumstances as these, where standards are non-existent or only half-formed, that the academic charlatan and the purveyor of facile formulae thrive. The more long-term goals of orthodox scholarship may be in danger of being sacrificed to the search for quick answers.
The European Welfare State in the Atlantic System
Authors: Knorr Klaus
Published: July 2006

To regard Socialism and Communism as Siamese twins is an error, wilful or genuine, which rarely troubles American thinking on foreign politics now. It cannot be said, however, that the shadow of the confusion has been entirely dispelled. Some groups, influential in the making and execution of American foreign policy, appear to be gravely disturbed by what they term the development of the welfare state in western Europe. At a time—they argue—when the United States requires strong partners in the common attempt to defend large parts of the non-Soviet world against Communist expansion, the spread of welfare-state practices weakens western Europe economically as well as politically. The development of the welfare state is said to lessen the capacity of countries for raising productivity and hence for standing on their own feet in their economic dealings with the outside world and also for mounting substantial defense efforts. Since a less progressive and adaptable economy will frustrate expectations of income and economic security, political stability and morale are alleged to suffer. This effect, as well as the abridgment of democratic freedoms perceived to follow from abandoning the liberal economy, is believed to make such countries more susceptible to Communist subversion. These misgivings are not aroused by the behavior of all the western European nations. It is rather the United Kingdom, the three Scandinavian countries, and the Netherlands which are identified with the evolution of the welfare state, while economic liberalism is perceived to have a more abiding hold in Belgium, France, Italy, and western Germany.
The Concept of the Balance of Power in Soviet Policy-Making
Authors: Garthoff Raymond L.
Published: July 2006

The analysis of any human concept is infinitely and inevitably complicated by the mental processes of the original user and the investigator. Dedication to objectivity by the analyst can usually prevent only the more obvious, and not always the most important, psycho-cultural pressures which condition or determine both the content and the method of the analysis, to say nothing of its purpose and material. In turn, the concept under examination, even though it is necessarily rendered an object isolate for intensive review, remains and must be treated as essentially a living precipitate of the entire environment in which it was born and nourished.
An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems
Authors: Easton David
Published: July 2006

IN an earlier work I have argued for the need to develop general, empirically oriented theory as the most economical way in the long run to understand political life. Here I propose to indicate a point of view that, at the least, might serve as a springboard for discussion of alternative approaches and, at most, as a small step in the direction of a general political theory. I wish to stress that what I have to say is a mere orientation to the problem of theory; outside of economics and perhaps psychology, it would be presumptuous to call very much in social science “theory,” in the strict sense of the term.
West German Trade Unions
Authors: Kirchheimer Otto
Published: July 2006

THE German labor unions are presently passing through a critical period. The outward portents of the crisis are clearly visible. The membership of the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB—German Trade Union Federation), which continued to climb regularly until 1952, is now stationary or, viewed in proportion to employment figures, slightly on the decline. Union headquarters ring with controversies between factions and personalities. The recent, predominantly Catholic, split-off from the DGB threatens to enlarge the hitherto minor area of rival or dual unionism; even a moderate enlargement of this sort would probably lead to an increase (as it did in France) in the indifference of the majority of workers toward all labor organizations.
Communications Research and Public Policy
Authors: George Alexander L.
Published: July 2006

The two studies under review were issued in the series of the Library of Policy Sciences, edited by Harold D. Lasswell and Saul K. Padover, and are concerned with different areas of knowledge about communications. Sykewar presents the first detailed description of the activities and operations of the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF. The evaluations may not be definitive, but Dr. Lerner, a former intelligence officer in PWD, has made an important contribution toward codifying the lessons learned in this policy field.
Understanding a Foreign Society: A Sociologist's View
Authors: Inkeles Alex
Published: July 2006

The scheduling of a joint section meeting of the American Political Science Association and the American Sociological Society on “The Understanding of a Foreign Culture” may be taken as evidence that American social scientists feel the study of foreign societies to be a problem of increasing concern. It may perhaps also indicate that they are not fully satisfied with the progress made to date. Since this is a period given to radical innovations in social science, however, it seems appropriate to offer the caution that our problem cannot properly be defined as one of developing a new science of foreign societies. There cannot be one social science for the study of one's own country and a different one for the study of other nations. The primary task is not that of making our research methods more adequate for the study of foreign societies, but of improving our conceptual tools and methodological equipment to make us more effective in the study of any society.
An Introduction to the Strategy of Statecraft
Authors: Kaplan Morton A.
Published: July 2006

The term “statecraft” is used here in a sense which is stronger than that of “diplomacy” as used, for example, by Harold Nicolson. In its present meaning it includes the construction of strategies for securing the national interest in the international arena, as well as the execution of these strategies by diplomats. In a day when the world is being divided between two great power blocs, when neutrality is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain, when statecraft is invading the economic and cultural aspects of social existence, as well as the political and military, when most great problems of domestic life must be reconsidered with regard to their bearing on the international situation, few, if any, can doubt its importance. The successful or unsuccessful conduct of statecraft may settle the fate of our way of life; and, given the possibilities of modern war, it may, in a deeper sense, settle the question of whether any type of civilized life, ours or the Soviets', can survive.
Concerning Strategies for a Science of International Politics
Authors: McClosky Herbert
Published: July 2006

The outsider who presumes to instruct specialists in the needs of a field which is theirs and not his is very like the bachelor who dares to lecture parents on the requirements of child-rearing: having learned everything secondhand, he is in frightful danger of talking nonsense and, what is worse, of thinking it sagacity.

Two things encourage me to undertake the risk: (1) The difficulties which beset the study of international politics do not seem to me peculiar to that field alone, but are encountered firsthand and in substantially the same form in other fields of which I have direct knowledge. (2) It is apparent from even a casual exposure to the field that its own practitioners are currently in a stock-taking mood in which they seem eager to scrutinize their own product and to have its value assessed. This mood of disquiet has also begun to express itself in proposals for new general approaches to the field, new areas of inquiry, new schemes for collating and analyzing data, explorations into questions once thought remote from the concerns of international politics, and other such developments signifying vitality and a lively spirit of inquiry. The two works which provide the occasion for this essay are items in point, but many others could be cited.
Choice in the West
Authors: Bernard S.
Published: July 2006

The advent of a new administration in the United States and the passage of seven years since the end of World War II make it appropriate to review the political situation which has developed in Europe during that period and to ask what choices now are open to the West in its relations with the Soviet Union.

The end of World War II found Europe torn between conflicting conceptions of international politics and of the goals that its members should seek. The democratic powers, led by the United States, viewed the world in traditional, Western, terms. The major problem, as they saw it, was one of working out a moral and legal order to which all powers could subscribe, and in which they would live. Quite independently of the environment, they assumed that one political order was both more practicable and more desirable than some other, and that their policies should be directed toward its attainment.
The Growth of Nations: Some Recurrent Patterns of Political and Social Integration
Authors: Deutsch Karl W.
Published: July 2006

At many places and times, tribes have merged to form peoples; and peoples have grown into nations. Some nations founded empires; and empires have broken up again into fragments whose populations later attempted again to form larger units. In certain respects, this sequence appears to describe a general process found in much of history. This process shows a number of patterns which seem to recur, and which to a limited extent seem to be comparable among different regions, periods, and cultures.
Career Diplomat: The Record of Joseph C. Grew
Authors: Challener Richard D.
Published: July 2006

“The best thing about diplomatic life,” Joseph C. Grew once confided to his diary, “… is that one never knows when some event or development of prime importance is going to occur. We pursue the even tenor of our ways for weeks and months and then, often suddenly and unexpectedly, we find ourselves in the midst of a maelstrom of hectic activity, working day and night, rushing telegrams, drafting press communiqués and speeches, dashing from place to place, doing useful work.” Turbulent Era, the account of the forty years he spent as a career diplomat in the American Foreign Service, is convincing evidence that Joseph Grew was present on an extraordinary number of occasions when something of importance broke and that, above all, he was always doing useful work for the country he served so faithfully and so well.
German Rearmament and the Old Military Elite
Authors: Speier Hans
Published: July 2006

American policy toward postwar Germany has gone through two major phases from the stand point of military affairs. Until 1950 Germany was kept disarmed; since 1950 the United States has sought the rearmament of Western Germany. The problems of information policy raised by the change, and the attitudes of the old German military elite in the face of this volte-face, have considerable interest for the student of political communication.
Civil-Military Relations Research: The SSRC Committee and Its Research Survey
Authors: Fox William T. R.
Published: July 2006

In June 1952 a Social Science Research Council committee was established to take stock o? research on civil-military relations and make proposals with respect to the further development of research in this area. The members of the committee were not entirely satisfied with the phrase “civil-military relations” as describing the focus of their attention, but it was understood that the committee's interest lay in research bearing upon those problems of public policy which were posed by the prospect of a continuing high mobilization even in peace time, and by the continuing necessity for a careful coordination of military, diplomatic, and industrialization policy.
Max Weber And Russia
Authors: Pipes Richard
Published: July 2006

When Max Weber published in 1906 two book-length studies of contemporary Russian politics, Zur Lage der bürgerlichen Demokratie in Russland (On the situation of bourgeois democracy in Russia), and Russlands Übergang zum Schein-konstitutionalismus (Russia's transition to pseudo-constitutionalism), he was venturing upon a field of inquiry in which he had previously shown no interest, and which seemingly lay entirely outside the range of his professional qualifications. He was by this time widely known as an economic historian specializing in agrarian and financial problems, and in the methodology of the social sciences. True, two years earlier he had also departed from his specialty by writing on the relationship between capitalism and Protestantism, but in that instance his deviation had not been quite as radical, since these studies had concerned the economic implications of a religious movement. What could have induced him, so shortly after recuperation from a nervous breakdown which had incapacitated him for the better part of five years (1897–1903), to interrupt his academic routine, acquire a reading knowledge of Russian, and devote several months to the tedious perusal of the Russian daily press? Why did he, as his widow and biographer reports, “follow for months in breathless tension the Russian drama” of 1905? Weber's interest in Russian politics, it is obvious, had deeper motives than mere fascination with current events; indeed, it was intimately connected with his two most vital concerns: the future of Germany, and the future of free society.