bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reporting of fertility events by men and women in rural Gambia
Authors: Ratcliffe Amy A. , Hill Allan G. , Harrington David P. , Walraven Gijs
Published: February 2007

We conducted a survey of male and female fertility in rural villages in The Gambia and compared men and women’s reports of recent pregnancy events in the aggregate and of children ever born for matched couples. Despite widespread polygyny and sex differences in fertility, men’s and women’s reports were similar. Small sex differences in reports of recent stillbirths and neonatal deaths were found. For matched couples, husbands reported 0.23 more children ever born than their wives on average, but discordant reporting had little effect on recent marital fertility rates. Modeling of discordant reports indicates that fertility reports are more likely to be underestimated by both men and women for their earliest marriages. Reliable fertility data can be collected from men in this population.
Private schools and “Latino flight” from black schoolchildren
Authors: Fairlie Robert W.
Published: February 2007

Several recent studies provided evidence that white students’ choice between private and public schools is influenced by the racial composition of the local student population. None of these studies, however, examined whether Latinos are also fleeing to private schools in response to black schoolchildren. I explore the “Latino-flight” hypothesis using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study and a recently released confidential data set from the National Center for Educational Statistics. In probit regressions for the probability of Latinos attending private schools, I found a large, positive, and statistically significant coefficient on the black share of the school-age population. The coefficient estimates imply that a 10-percentage point increase in the black share increases the probability of private school attendance by 25.7% to 33.2% among Latino 8th graders and 35.2% to 52.2% among Latino 10th graders. I interpret these results as providing evidence of “Latino flight” from public schools into private schools. I did not find evidence that Latinos respond differently to black schoolchildren than do whites.
Appropriate methods for analyzing the effect of method choice on contraceptive discontinuation
Authors: Steele Fiona , Curtis Siân
Published: February 2007

The contraceptive method chosen is an important determinant of contraceptive discontinuation. However, method choice is endogenous to contraceptive discontinuation. Using data from the 1997 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey, we apply a multilevel multiprocess model to examine the impact of method choice on three types of contraceptive discontinuation. We confirm that method choice is endogenous to the processes of contraceptive abandonment and method switching, but not failure. Ignoring the endogeneity of contraceptive choice leads to various biases in the magnitude of estimated effects of method choice on abandonment and method switching, but the general conclusions are robust to these biases.
"Girls Trained in Beautiful Writing": Female Scribes in Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity
Authors: Haines-Eitzen Kim
Published: February 2007

Embedded within Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History is a rather
curious reference to Origen's female calligraphers (HE 6.23). This
article seeks first to contextualize Eusebius' remarks by surveying
the evidence--both literary and epigraphic--for female scribes in
Greco-Roman antiquity and early Christianity. The appearances of women
as amanuenses, notariae, and librariae in Latin literature
and inscriptions are explored. The article then turns to the evidence for
women copying texts in late-ancient Christian monasticism. The central
proposal of the article--that some of our earliest Christian manuscripts
may have been copied by women--offers a new dimension to the history of
the textual transmission of early Christian writings.
An Apology for the Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity: Eustratius Presbyter of Constantinople, On the State of Souls after Death (CPG 7522)
Authors: Constas Nicholas
Published: February 2007

Toward the end of the sixth century, Eustratius,
a leading presbyter of Constantinople, refuted a series of arguments
which threatened to undermine both the cult of saints and the church's
ritual care for the souls of the dead. Based in part on more scientific
and materialist models of causality, along with the concern to protect
the sovereign activity of the divine, Eustratius' opponents denied the
ability of dead souls to involve themselves in, or be affected by, the
affairs of the living. However, rather than reject the then widespread
phenomena of saintly apparitions, Eustratius' critics argued that they
were in fact produced by a divine power simulating the forms of dead
martyrs and saints. Eustratius' refutation of these arguments applies
the language of contemporary christology to the cult of saints in order
to develop a theological anthropology and eschatology commensurate with
ritual practice. Eustratius' work, and the arguments of his opponents,
which have never been the focus of a major study, are here considered
in detail, and this paper suggests that the views of both parties
anticipate respectively the iconophilic and iconoclastic theologies of
later centuries.
Gender Participation in Technical Training Institutions: An Assessment of the Kenyan Case
Authors: Ngware Moses Waithanji
Published: February 2007

The paper focuses on skill training opportunities for females in Technical Education Programmes (TEP) in Kenya. In Africa, labour markets have become so competitive that females need to be assisted to enter such markets. Expanding skill-training opportunities for females in training institutions could meet this demand. Informal interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data that were analysed within the framework of human capital theory. Sex balance was lacking in TEP and most institutions were internally inefficient, with endogenous factors forcing trainees out of the training programmes.
Translating Thebes: Lydgate's Siege of Thebes and Stow's Chaucer
Authors: Edwards Robert
Published: February 2007

John Stow’s 1561 edition of The Workes of Geffrey Chaucer prints John Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes among the “diuers addicions” that amplify and enhance the prestige of the Chaucer canon. The effect of this addition is also to translate Lydgate’s poem to a new context. Stow relocates a work of Lancastrian dynastic propaganda within an early-Elizabethan discourse on governance. Stow’s textual sources, the make-up of his book, and the specific readings he adopts reflect his concerns with antiquities and citizen history; and they open up broad questions about the nature of monarchy, nationhood, and political authority.
From " Nos Ancetres, les Gaulois " to " Leur Culture Ancestrale ": Symbolic Violence and the Politics of Colonial Schooling in Indochina
Authors: Ha Marie-Paule
Published: February 2007

Cette étude porte sur la politique de l'école coloniale
en Indochine durant la période de l'entre-deux-guerres, et
s'appuie sur la notion de la "violence symbolique" telle que Pierre
Bourdieu l'a définie. Elle commençe avec une discussion
des tentatives du gouvernement indochinois visant à former et
réformer par le biais de l'action pédagogique les valeurs
sociales et culturelles du sujet colonisé. L'analyse porte sur
les directives de la Direction Générale de l'Instruction
Publique, ainsi que sur les manuels scolaires et les bulletins
pédagogiques officiels. Maints critiques littéraires
postcoloniaux soutiennent que le but de la "mission civilisatrice"
était de faire des indigènes des Français par un
processus d'acculturation pédagogique et de répression des
cultures locales. L'article démontre que la violence symbolique
coloniale avait un autre objectif. Il consistait, d'une part, à
faire admettre aux colonisés la supériorité de la
culture métropolitaine sans leur y donner accès, et d'autre
part, à enjoindre à ces derniers un "retour" à
"leur culture ancestrale," mais remaniée de façon à
promouvoir l'hégémonie française.
The Combes-Tamisier Mission to Ethiopia, 1835-37: Saint-Simonian Precursors of Colonialism
Authors: Jaenen Cornelius J
Published: February 2007

Dans le contexte de la rivalit� anglo-fran�aise dans
la Corne de l'Afrique, les Saint-Simoniens envoy�rent Maurice
Tamisier et Edmond Combes pour faire des travaux de reconnaissance en
vue de l'�tablissement d'une colonie utopique bas�e
sur les conceptions d'un christianisme renouvell�, de
l'�galit� des races, d'une soci�t�
�galitaire, et du libre-�change. Cependant, leur Voyage
en Abyssinie (1838) aborda surtout les emp�chements et les revers
qu'ils recontr�rent le long de leur itin�raire d'un royaume
f�odal � l'autre. Comme r�sultat de ce voyage, la
Compagnie Nanto-Bordelaise acquit le territoire d'Edd, marquant ainsi
le d�but du colonialisme europ�en en Afrique orientale;
mais elle ne r�ussit point � profiter du commerce qu'elle y
lan�a. Les Saint-Simoniens tourn�rent vers d'autres projets,
sans divulguer exactement ce qu'ils entendaient par la recherche de la
"femme libre."
Scientific Methodologies in Medieval Islam
Authors: McGinnis Jon
Published: February 2007

The present study considers Ibn S�n�'s (Lat. Avicenna) account of induction (istiqra') and experimentation (tajriba). For Ibn S�n� induction purportedly provided the absolute, necessary and certain first principles of a science. Ibn S�n� criticized induction, arguing that it can neither guarantee the necessity nor provide the primitiveness required of first principles. In it place, Ibn S�n� developed a theory of experimentation, which avoids the pitfalls of induction by not providing absolute, but conditional, necessary and certain first principles. The theory of experimentation that emerges though not modern, does have elements that are similar to a modern conception of scientific method.
A Maimonidean Critique of Thomistic Analogy
Authors: Buijs Joseph A
Published: February 2007

On the question of language about God, Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas propose directly opposing viewpoints. Whereas Aquinas explicitly argues in favour of an analogical use and against an equivocal use, Maimonides on the contrary argues against an analogical use and in favour of an equivocal use of terms when applied to God. Although their respective concepts of analogical meaning appear to differ, I argue on the basis of an analysis of the criteria for analogical predication implicit in each that a thomistic concept of analogical predication is reducible to a maimonidean concept. Thus, it follows that the explicit critique Maimonides lodges against an analogical use of terms when applied to God, if defensible, can be shown to be successful against Aquinas' proposal for analogical language of God. On this basis I conclude that there is a significant and defensible philosophical difference between Aquinas and Maimonides on language about God.
Groups and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
Authors: Murray Rachel, Dr , Wheatley Steven
Published: February 2007

This article examines the position of groups under the African Charter
of Human and Peoples Rights. The Charter does not contain a "minorities
article" similar to that of Article 27, International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights. It does, though, contain a substantive
section on "peoples rights." The work examines the way in which the
African Commission has interpreted human rights to non-discrimination,
to take part in the cultural life of the community, freedom of religion
and freedom of expression to ensure, to a limited extent, a right of
cultural security for minority groups. Further, the section relating to
peoples rights has been used by the African Commission to consider such
issues as economic exploitation, environmental concerns, the exclusion
and domination of one ethno-cultural group by another and claims for
autonomy and secession.
The Ethics of Intervention in Self-Determination Struggles
Authors: Farer Tom J
Published: February 2007

National self-determination claims draw their moral force in part from
the qualified human right to free association, in part from the sum of
cultural rights. In contemporary practice, such claims are generally
made by groups imagining themselves as communities of blood. Such
communities tend to draw sharp boundaries between themselves and the
rest of the world. Their inherent exclusiveness places them in a morally
tense relationship with the universalism that informs the universe
of human rights. Reconciliation requires acceptance of limits on the
nationalist group's right to privilege its members and to protect its
cultural narratives. In general, self-determination claims should be
processed within the framework of minority rights. It follows that the
international community should support non-consensual secession only as
a last resort to protect the human rights of an oppressed community.
Pharmaceutical Corporations and Access to Drugs: The "Fourth Wave" of Corporate Human Rights Scrutiny
Authors: Joseph Sarah
Published: February 2007

Access to essential medicines is a human right which is currently
compromised by the high prices charged by pharmaceutical corporations,
which are facilitated by the global protection afforded to pharmaceutical
patents by Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). However,
pharmaceutical patents are arguably justified as they promote research
and development (R&D) in the industry. The arguments for and
against patents are herein examined, along with the salient human rights
duties of pharmaceutical companies and governments, as well as recent
victories in the battle for access to essential drugs in the developing
world. Alternative strategies for facilitating access to essential
medicines, without compromising research and development (R&D),
are put forward.
Historical Injustice and International Law: An Exploratory Discussion of Reparation for Slavery
Authors: Du Plessis Max
Published: February 2007

This article considers the issue of reparation for slavery and the
claim for reparation advanced by African states against the West. The
paper begins by briefly outlining the principles relating to State
responsibility and reparation in international law, and gives an overview
of the recognised forms of legal reparation that exist. The paper then
provides some exploratory discussion on the issue of reparation for
slavery. It is exploratory in the sense that this is a matter which has
received scant attention in recent international law literature. As
regards the current call for reparation, the author identifies the
weaknesses of legal claims within the existing international law paradigm
of State responsibility. As an alternative, the paper considers ways in
which political strategies might be employed to achieve reparation. In
particular, the author aims to align calls for reparation for slavery
with existing claims to development by African states, as a means
by which a moral global economy can be achieved. In this regard, the
author considers the feasibility of the different forms of reparation,
insofar as they are able to underpin and advance the idea of a moral
global economy. The paper also briefly examines the issue of reparation
for colonialism and considers how the insights as regards reparation for
slavery might be useful in relation to reparation claims for colonialism.
Effect of Block Scheduling on Academic Achievement Among High School Students
Authors: Gruber Charlotte D , Onwuegbuzie Anthony J
Published: February 2007

Although block scheduling has become increasingly popular in the
past decade, only a few researchers have investigated its effect on
academic achievement. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine
the effects of block scheduling on academic achievement between 115 high
school students who received instruction via a 4X4 block schedule and
146 students who received instruction via a traditional schedule. A
series of independent t-tests, utilizing the Bonferroni adjustment,
was conducted to compare grade point averages and scores on the Georgia
High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) between the two groups.
Findings revealed no statistically significant difference in grade
point averages or in scores on the Writing portion of the GHSGT between
the two groups. However, statistically significant differences were
found for Language Arts (Cohen's d = .34, moderate), Mathematics
(d = .52, large), Social Studies (d = .51, large), and
Science (d = .46, large) scores. For each of the statistically
significant differences, students who received instruction via a
traditional schedule received the higher GHSGT scores.
How Block Scheduling Reform Effects Classroom Practice
Authors: Veal William R , Flinders David J.
Published: February 2007

Block scheduling has become an increasingly popular reform movement for
schools, school districts, and principals to enact. Much of the decision
making as to whether to implement some type of block scheduling has
occurred without understanding the implications this type of reform has
on teachers and their classroom practices. This paper reports on a study
conducted in a high school with three contiguous schedule types. Teachers,
parents and students perceptions were ascertained to determine the impact
of scheduling change on teachers and their classroom practices. Likert
scale surveys, interviews, classrooms observations, and text data
were used to compile a picture of how and why teachers adjusted to the
change in schedule. Four areas of change from the surveys and supported
with other qualitative data are reported: 1) methods of instruction,
2) opportunities for reflection, 3) student-teacher rapport, and 4)
levels of anxiety. These results are then discussed and compared to the
broader view of beneficial changes for block scheduling and the stability
of context.
Observations on the Ossianesque in Medieval Irish Literature and Modern Irish Folklore
Authors: Nagy Joseph Falaky
Published: February 2007

The Scotsman James Macpherson's treatment of Fenian tradition (stories centered on the
figure of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of heroes) in his Ossianic poems is anticipated
in key respects in the Fenian literature of medieval Ireland, particularly in the
monumental text "Acallam na Senorach" ("Dialogue of the Ancients"). Among the
shared features are the authorizing conceit that the written text is the extension of a disappearing
oral tradition; the use of Fenian story to further a nascent sense of nation and
of "us" versus "them"; and a pronounced interest in the emotional reactions of the characters
to and in the narrative situations. This anticipation of the Macphersonian agenda
provides a fascinating glimpse of folklorismus, as well as of folklore, in the medieval literary
corpus.
Freedom and Autonomy in Schiller
Authors: Roehr Sabine
Published: February 2007

This essay provides a systematic as well as chronological account of
Schiller's concepts of freedom and autonomy. Its main thesis is that
the duality of Schiller's moral/aesthetic ideal in the Letters on
the Aesthetic Education of Man - of beauty and the sublime, of play
and the moral law - is a result of his use of conflicting concepts of
autonomy. While it is widely accepted that Schiller took over Kant's
concept of autonomy, I argue that he simultaneously employed another
concept of autonomy, that of the contemporary philosopher Karl Leonhard
Reinhold, whose criticism of Kant's concept of free will and alternative
formulation of the concept of a neutral will influenced Schiller.
Baudouin, Flacius, and the Plan for the Magdeburg Centuries
Authors: Lyon Gregory B
Published: February 2007

The
Lutheran theologian and polemicist Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520-75)
organized an unprecedented collaborative project to write an encyclopedic
Protestant church history, known as the Magdeburg Centuries (1559-74). At the
planning stage in 1556, Flacius and his colleagues consulted with the Flemish
jurist FranÁois Baudouin (1520-73). This article shows how, in this
correspondence, ecclesiastical history became the workshop where legal and
theological humanism met and interacted over issues of historical methodology.
Two innovations are traced through the correspondence and into the finished
history: Flacius's organization of the material by commonplaces
French Strategy in 1914: Joffreis Own
Authors: Doughty Robert A
Published: February 2007

In August 1914, General Joseph Joffre controlled the design and
execution of French strategy. After concentrating the French army
on the northeast frontier in the opening days of the war, he waited
until after the Germans began their advance to complete the design of
his strategy and did not fully inform his political superiors or his
military subordinates until he published General Instructions No. 1
on 8 August. As Joffre implemented his strategy, he complied with the
provisions of the Franco-Russian alliance by attacking into Alsace and
Lorraine, but he sent his main thrust through central Belgium toward
Neufch�teau and Arlon where he hoped to avoid the powerful enemy
force driving toward his left and strike the enemy's less dense, more
vulnerable center. French strategy in 1914 was Joffre's own.
Pressing for Openness in Singapore
Authors: Chee Soon Juan
Published: February 2007

Although friendly to business, SingaporeÕs government represses dissent and is far from transparent in its management of public funds. A leading dissident chronicles his struggle for greater openness.
Rediscovering Culture
Authors: Novak Michael
Published: February 2007

A review of Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, edited by Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington.
Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Limits of Electoral Engineering
Authors: Manning Carrie , Antić Miljenko
Published: February 2007

Abstract: In the six years since the first post-war elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country has developed a technically impressive democratic system, with the help of a large corps of international experts supported by considerable administrative authority. Yet advanced democratic procedures have continued to generate outcomes that international authorities believe to be inimical to the creation of a durable, integrated, and fully democratic state in Bosnia. Specifically, the wartime nationalist parties continue to dominate in free and fair electoral contests. Elections are part of a larger strategy framed by the Dayton peace accord to rebuild Bosnia as a multiethnic state, a strategy which relies in part on the reconfiguring of underlying political cleavages and a transformation in the way interests are both articulated and aggregated by political parties. This article examines the part elections have played in this state-building strategy and highlights the limitations of that strategy.
Making Sense of the EU: The Achievements of the Convention
Authors: MÃ©ny Yves
Published: February 2007

Abstract: Building democracy at the supernational level is an unprecedented task, but so once was building democracy at the level of the modern state. By todayâs standards we would not likely classify France, Britain, or the United States in the nineteenth century as âdemocratic,â but in the time they were in the forefront of democratic development. The same can be said for the European Union today, and the progress of the EU in the last half-century has been remarkable. Recent advancements by the Brussels Conventionâreflected in the resulting draft treaty for a European Constitutionârepresent significant steps forward for entrenching the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the peopleâs input and participation in Europeâs supernational institutions.
"Participation in the Creative Work of the Nation:" Polish Women Intellectuals in the Cultural Construction of Female Gender Roles, 1864-1890
Authors: Fidelis Malgorzata
Published: February 2007

This article discusses Polish women intellectuals' ideas about
womanhood and women's emancipation in the second half of the nineteenth
century in the Kingdom of Poland (part of Poland under Russian
control). It focuses on two women's periodicals, traditionalist Bluszcz (Ivy) and progressive Swit (Dawn), in
which women writers debated female gender roles in the context of
national ideologies, Polish tradition, economic and political changes,
and liberal Western trends, and shows how cultural models of womanhood
were constructed on an everyday basis. Liberal intellectuals associated
with Swit , such as Maria Konopnicka and Eliza Orzeszkowa,
often envisioned the role of women differently from the conservative
editor of Bluszcz , Maria Ilnicka, who stressed patriotic motherhood
and homemaking. Progressive women emphasized women's rights and promoted
the diversity of women's contributions to the national community. In the
final account, however, both conservative and liberal women adjusted
their ideas to national goals and abstained from establishing separate
women's organizations or formulating a distinct feminist agenda.
No Color Line at Loretto Academy: Catholic Sisters and African Americans on Chicago's East Side
Authors: Hoy Suellen M
Published: February 2007

During the 1950s, over 300,000 African Americans from the rural South moved to Chicago, "the capital of black America," in search of a better life. A majority of these newcomers, traveling by train (Illinois Central), got their �rst glimpse of the promised land at 63rd and Dorchester in Woodlawn. Loretto Academy, an established Catholic girls' high school owned and staffed by the Ladies of Loretto, was located only a few blocks away. Not unlike many other South Side schools, the student population of Loretto Academy changed demographically during the 1950s. In August 1950, only two African Americans had enrolled; a decade later, this high school had only ten white pupils. This article examines the Loretto Sisters' response to racial change. It explores the ways in which the nuns, who always expected to teach white girls, adjusted their ministry both in the school and in the neighborhood of Woodlawn by demonstrating that their commitment to racial justice preceded the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 and the participation of numerous Catholic sisters in the Selma march of 1965. More important, it analyzes the workings of race, religion, gender, and education at the local level during the early years of the modern civil rights movement.
The Status of Pleasure: Courtesan and Literati Connections in T'ang China (618-907)
Authors: Yao Ping
Published: February 2007

This article investigates various forms of courtesanship and the
liaison between courtesans and literati during the T'ang dynasty in
China. Based on close examination of epitaphs, poetry, dynastic histories,
monographs, and miscellaneous writings, it demonstrates that courtesan
culture reached its peak during the T'ang; that house courtesanship was
the most distinct type of courtesanship at the time; and that associating
with courtesans provided a means whereby the new elite affirmed their
social status and unique identity.
Charitable Choice: Bringing Religion Back into American Welfare
Authors: Carlson-Thies Stanley
Published: February 2007

According to the most influential metanarratives in American social-policy history, religion has been virtually irrelevant to the development of American welfare in the twentieth century. In crude terms, the main story line is that public welfare replaced religion—for good. The chief alternative story agrees that religion was replaced—but for bad. More carefully, the mainstream story portrays a “quasi-welfare state” supplanting the fragmentary assistance offered by local sectarian, voluntary, and municipal programs, and measures welfare progress by the growth of government provision at the expense of private and religious action. The competing interpretation regards the creation of the government welfare system to constitute, in Marvin Olasky's terms, “the tragedy of American compassion,” because effective, personal, and spiritual assistance was replaced by bureaucratic programs unable to address the deepest needs of the poor. Although the two stories evaluate the outcome differently, they agree about the disappearance or irrelevance of religion to American public welfare.
Introduction: Does Money Buy Policy?
Authors: Baker Paula
Published: February 2007

Money in politics is a funny thing. By legend and cliché, money is the “mother's milk of politics,” that which keeps party machinery working and campaigns running. It is also the focus of generations of suspicion and complaint. From the advent of the “spoils system” in the early nineteenth century to the PACs and “soft money” of today, there appear to be few takers for the proposition that money does not stain what ought to be the majesty and purity of politics. Money, unlike the suffrage, introduces inequality among citizens. Money gives its favored candidates and policies an unfair advantage for the public's attention. Money is the appearance, if not the fact, of corruption.
Campaigns and Potato Chips; or Some Causes and Consequences of Political Spending
Authors: Baker Paula
Published: February 2007

Before getting too upset about the initially eye-popping sums candidates spend to win elections, law professor (and current member of the Federal Election Commission) Bradley A. Smith advises us to put campaign costs in perspective. Americans, he notes, spent two or three times more on potato chips than on electing candidates in the mid-1990s. For Smith, the potato chip example is only one illustration that ought to settle fears about “obscene” and “runaway” campaign expenses. Perspective, however, is unlikely to move those convinced that big donors drive the political agenda. Convinced that money and politics is a far more nefarious combination than fat and salt, campaign finance reformers will no doubt carry on their search for new ways to limit spending and contributions, continuing the Progressive Era crusade to eliminate money's degrading influence on democracy.
Ideology and Process in the Creation of the British National Health Service
Authors: Stewart John
Published: February 2007

The British National Health Service (NHS) was created shortly after the end of World War II and formally came into being on its “Appointed Day” in July 1948. The NHS has been seen as the crowning achievement of the postwar Labour government's “welfare state” by both the general public and academic commentators. As Rodney Lowe points out, by the late 1940s opinion polls showed it to be by far the best-received part of Labour's social policies; and in popular perceptions the terms “NHS” and “welfare state” were often viewed as synonymous. Lowe himself, while carefully noting the problems that attended the birth of the health service, nonetheless sees it as an “idealistic” institution and remarks that in no other Western country, not even social democratic Sweden, “were the whole population and the full range of medical need (Beveridge's principles of universalism and comprehensiveness) so quickly realized by afreeservice.” Another respected commentator, Rudolf Klein, similarly highlights the exceptionally wide-ranging remit of the NHS, claiming it as a “unique experiment in social engineering.”
“Big” Theories and Policy Counsel: James Burnham, Francis Fukuyama, and the Cold War
Authors: Abbott Philip
Published: February 2007

As many commentators note, American political discourse is not generally characterized by a receptivity to “big” theories; nor, in particular, is policy analysis. But two writers, one at the beginning of the Cold War and one at the end, offered theories that are notable exceptions to this generalization. James Burnham and Francis Fukuyama, anchoring their theories on their observations of the Cold War, construct dramaturgical philosophies of history, synthesize and append European architectonic writers to their accounts, and offer comprehensive critiques of American liberal democracy. Moreover, both “big” theories, despite their apparent incongruence with American political discourse and conventional policy counsel, attract wide attention and are well received by economic and political elites.
Is There No Democratic Left in America? Reflections on the Transformation of an Ideology
Authors: Hamby Alonzo L.
Published: February 2007

Historians historicize. They attempt to understand the present and make educated guesses about the future by looking to the past. This attempt at prognosticating “the future of the democratic left” primarily in the United States begins with a broad-brush history of “the left” as equalitarian idea and political movement in the modern world, examines its development in the United States within a context of “American exceptionalism,” discusses its transformation in the 1960s, and assays its struggles in the “present day” of the last three decades. A once-revolutionary impulse, it suggests, has surrendered to the necessity of incremental entitlement politics. As a result, it has subjected itself to the hazards of the pragmatic test, the awkwardness of interest-group politics, and the distinct possibility that even success in the quest for universal social provision would fail to alter existing patterns of inequality.
Introduction
Authors: Hargrove Erwin C.
Published: February 2007

The purpose of this issue is to explore the possible political futures of parties and movements of the “democratic left” in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Poland, and Russia. The task could not proceed without clear definition, or definitions, of the “democratic left” because of national variations. There is “liberalism” or “progressivism” in the United States of many hues, but with no “social democracy” or politically viable socialism to the left. Socialism, in the old sense, of ownership of the means of production, has died in Britain, and the present government of “New Labour” refers to itself as the “Third Way” between capitalism and socialism. But there is much controversy at home whether “social democracy” has been also jettisoned in favor of a kind of “neoliberalism” that has embraced markets and trimmed social security. The large, democratic parties of the left in France and Germany derive from traditions of “social democracy” that have challenged many capitalist values and institutions, whether from Marxist or non-Marxist perspectives, and sought to establish a state and society organized around principles of social justice. These parties may win national elections but are torn between old left politics and the need to form larger coalitions in order to win. One might ask, Why include Poland and Russia? The purpose was to ask if new democratic forms of “social democracy” could be discerned in the ashes of defunct communist systems that might bear some resemblance to the politics of Western Europe.
From Mexico to Copenhagen to Nairobi: The United Nations Decade for Women, 1975-1985
Authors: Zinsser Judith P
Published: February 2007

This essay describes the increasing radicalization of the United Nations-sponsored Decade for Women from 1975 to 1985, as seen in the final documents from each of its three conferences: the Mexico Declaration and Plan of Action, the Copenhagen Programme of Action, and the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies. The essay also argues that the Decade for Women demonstrates the significance of the United Nations to the creation of a truly international women's movement, to the acceptance of many varied definitions of "feminism," and to the advancement of all peoples' human rights.
The Culture of Culture Contact: Refractions from Polynesia
Authors: Campbell I. C. (Ian Christopher)
Published: February 2007

Conventional treatments of first contact between Europeans and non-Europeans are framed within a model of either conflict or consensus. Modern Pacific historiography conventionally avoids both models and presents contact in terms of the Pacific Islanders' pragmatic rationality. This approach makes little attempt to present the European side of the encounter. Attempts by Marshall Sahlins to reconfigure indigenous behavior have not so far been incorporated into wider Pacific historiography because it appears to conflict with the established paradigm of "practical rationality." A synthesis of these approaches is possible if behavior by both Europeans and Polynesians is recognized as abnormal. The example of Tahiti suggests that a medial culture, a "culture of culture contact," came into existence spontaneously to mediate contact between two peoples who had no prior norms for engaging with one another.
Forget About Equality
Authors: Powers Madison
Published: February 2007

Justice is widely thought to consist in equality. For many theorists,
the central question has been: Equality of what? The author argues
that the ideal of equality distorts practical reasoning and has deeply
counterintuitive implications. Moreover, an alternative view of
distributive justice can give a better account of what egalitarians
should care about than can any of the competing ideals of equality.
Pain Relief, Acceleration of Death, and Criminal Law
Authors: Thomas George C. (George Conner) , Cantor Norman L , McCarrick Pat Milmoe , Darragh Tina
Published: February 2007

This paper considers whether a physician is criminally liable for
administering a dose of painkillers that hastens a patient's death.
The common wisdom is that a version of the doctrine of double
effect legally protects the physician. That is, a physician is
supposedly acting lawfully so long as the physician's primary
purpose is to relieve suffering. This paper suggests that the criminal
liability issue is more complex than that. Physician culpability can
be based on recklessness, and recklessness hinges on whether a
physician has taken an unjustifiable risk of hastening death. The
authors identify three conditions of justifiability. Their analysis helps
to explain the distinction between euthanasia, which is legally
banned, and the use of risky analgesics, which is permitted in
limited circumstances.
Clinical Pragmatism: A Method of Moral Problem Solving
Authors: Fins Joseph , Miller Franklin G , Bacchetta Matthew D
Published: February 2007

This paper presents a method of moral problem solving in clinical
practice that is inspired by the philosophy of John Dewey. This
method, called "clinical pragmatism," integrates clinical and ethical
decision making. Clinical pragmatism focuses on the interpersonal
processes of assessment and consensus formation as well as the
ethical analysis of relevant moral considerations. The steps in this
method are delineated and then illustrated through a detailed case
study. The implications of clinical pragmatism for the use of
principles in moral problem solving are discussed.
Nursing Considered as Moral Practice: A Philosophical-Ethical Interpretation of Nursing
Authors: Gastmans Chris , Schotsmans Paul , Dierckx de Casterle Bernadette
Published: February 2007

Discussions of ethical approaches in nursing have been much
enlivened in recent years, for instance by new developments in the
theory of care. Nevertheless, many ethical concepts in nursing still
need to be clarified. The purpose of this contribution is to develop a
fundamental ethical view on nursing care considered as moral
practice. Three main components are analyzed more deeply--i.e.,
the caring relationship, caring behavior as the integration of virtue
and expert activity, and "good care" as the ultimate goal of nursing
practice. For the development of this philosophical-ethical
interpretation of nursing, we have mainly drawn on the pioneering
work of Anne Bishop and John Scudder, Alasdair MacIntyre,
Lawrence Blum, and Louis Janssens. We will also show that the
European philosophical background offers some original ideas for
this endeavor.
The Meaning of the Act: Reflections on the Expressive Force of Reproductive Decision Making and Policies
Authors: Nelson James Lindemann
Published: February 2007

Prenatal and preconceptual testing and screening programs provide
information on the basis of which people can choose to avoid the
birth of children likely to face disabilities. Some disabilities
advocates have objected to such programs and to the decisions
made within them, on the grounds that measures taken to avoid the
birth of children with disabilities have an "expressive force" that
conveys messages disrespectful to people with disabilities.
Assessing such a claim requires careful attention to general
considerations relating meaning, intention, and social practices; it
has only begun to receive such attention. Building on work by Allen
Buchanan, who has challenged this claim, I further consider the
disabilities advocates' objection, ultimately concluding that it is
misplaced; neither individual actions nor general practices of this
type necessarily express disrespectful messages.
0The Question Not Asked: The Challenge of Pleiotropic Genetic Tests
Authors: Wachbroit Robert Samuel
Published: February 2007

Nearly all of the literature on the ethical, legal, or social issues
surrounding genetic tests has proceeded on the assumption that
any particular test for a gene mutation yields information about only
one disease condition. Even though the phenomenon of pleiotropy,
where a single gene has multiple, apparently unrelated phenotypic
effects, is widely recognized in genetics, it has not had much
significance for genetic testing until recently. In this article, I
examine a moral dilemma created by one sort of pleiotropic testing,
APOE genotyping, which can yield information about the risk of two
different conditions--coronary heart disease and Alzheimer's
disease. A physician administering APOE testing for the beneficial
purpose of assessing the risk of heart disease may discover
medically useless and socially harmful information about the
patient's risk of Alzheimer's disease. I explore how much providers
should disclose to patients about pleiotropic test results and
whether patients are obligated to know as much about their genetic
condition as possible.
The Ethics of Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research: A Catholic Viewpoint
Authors: Doerflinger Richard M
Published: February 2007

Stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos
is incompatible with Catholic moral principles, and with any ethic
that gives serious weight to the moral status of the human embryo.
Moreover, because there are promising and morally acceptable
alternative approaches to the repair and regeneration of human
tissues, and because treatments that rely on destruction of human
embryos would be morally offensive to many patients, embryonic
stem cell research may play a far less significant role in medical
progress than proponents believe.
The Failure of Theories of Personhood
Authors: Beauchamp Tom L
Published: February 2007

The belief persists in philosophy, religion, science, and popular
culture that some special cognitive property of persons like
self-consciousness confers a unique moral standing. However, no
set of cognitive properties confers moral standing, and
metaphysical personhood is not sufficient for either moral
personhood or moral standing. Cognitive theories all fail to capture
the depth of commitments embedded in using the language of
"person." It is more assumed than demonstrated in these theories
that nonhuman animals lack a relevant form of self-consciousness
or its functional equivalent. Although nonhuman animals are not
plausible candidates for moral personhood, humans too fail to
qualify as moral persons if they lack one or more of the conditions
of moral personhood. If moral personhood were the sole basis of
moral rights, then these humans would lack rights--and precisely
for the reasons that nonhuman animals would.
Trust in Managed Care Organizations
Authors: Buchanan Allen E.
Published: February 2007

Two basic criticisms of managed care are that it erodes
patient trust in physicians and subjects physicians to incentives and
pressures that compromise the physician's fiduciary obligation to the
patient. In this article, I first distinguish between status trust
and merit trust, and then argue (1) that the value of status trust in
physicians is probably over-rated and certainly underdocumented; (2)
that erosion of status trust may not be detrimental if accompanied by an
increase in well-founded merit trust; and (3) that under conditions of
managed care the physician's commitment to traditional medical ethics
cannot serve as an adequate basis for merit trust. Next, drawing on
an analogy between managed care organizations and polities, I argue
that (4) the most appropriate basis for merit trust in managed care
is a conception of organizational legitimacy that includes procedural
justice, empowerment of constructive criticism within the organization,
and organizational accommodation of the noninstrumental commitment to
patient well-being that is distinctive of medical professionalism. I
then explore the conditions necessary for robust competition for merit
trust among managed care organizations and indicate the kinds of public
policies needed to facilitate such competition. Finally, I show how the
account of organization-based merit trust can accommodate the special
fiduciary obligation of medical professionals, without indulging in
the delusion that it is the physician's fiduciary obligation always to
provide all care that is expected to be of any net benefit to the patient.
Moral Reasoning and the Review of Research Involving Human Subjects
Authors: Eckenwiler Lisa
Published: February 2007

The model of moral reasoning used in Institutional Review
Board review fails to uphold ethical ideals for research participants
for it does not adequately acknowledge the particular context of
research or of subjects, including their gender, their socioeconomic
status, and the communities in which they lead their lives. The ethical
review of research needs to take seriously the particularities of the
research context as well as the situations of potential participants. A
variety of conclusions are drawn for changes to the system for ethical
review. Most significant is a call for effective consultation with the
various communities affected by research and greater reliance on subject
representatives. Also proposed is national review for selected research.
Patently Controversial: Markets, Morals, and the President's Proposal for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Authors: Fins Joseph , Schachter Madeleine
Published: February 2007

This essay considers the implications of President George
W. Bush's proposal for human embryonic stem cell research. Through the
perspective of patent law, privacy, and informed consent, we elucidate
the ongoing controversy about the moral standing of human embryonic stem
cells and their derivatives and consider how the inconsistencies in the
president's proposal will affect clinical practice and research.
Predictive Genetic Testing for Conditions that Present in Childhood
Authors: Ross Lainie Friedman
Published: February 2007

There is a general consensus in the medical and medical ethics
communities against predictive genetic testing of children for late onset
conditions, but minimal consideration is given to predictive testing of
asymptomatic children for disorders that present later in childhood when
presymptomatic treatment cannot influence the course of the disease. In
this paper, I examine the question of whether it is ethical to perform
predictive testing and screening of newborns and young children for
conditions that present later in childhood. I consider the risks and
benefits of (1) predictive testing of children from high-risk families;
(2) predictive population screening for conditions that are untreatable;
and (3) predictive population screening for conditions in which the
efficacy of presymptomatic treatment is equivocal. I conclude in favor
of parental discretion for predictive genetic testing, but against
state-sponsored predictive screening for conditions that do not fulfill
public health screening criteria.