'Hollow promises?' Critical materialism and the contradictions of the Democratic Peace

© Cambridge University PressThe Democratic Peace research programme explicitly and implicitly presents its claims in terms of their potential to underpin a universal world peace. Yet whilst the Democratic Peace appears robust in its geographical heartlands it appears weaker at the edges of the democratic world, where the spread of democracy and the depth of democratic political development is often limited and where historically many of the purported exceptions to the Democratic Peace are found. Whereas Democratic Peace scholarship has tended to overlook or downplay these phenomena, from a critical materialist perspective they are indicative of a fundamental contradiction within the Democratic Peace whereby its universalistic aspirations are thwarted by its material grounding in a hierarchical capitalist world economy. This, in turn, raises the question of whether liberal arguments for a universal Democratic Peace are in fact hollow promises. The article explores these concerns and argues that those interested in democracy and peace should pay more attention to the critical materialist tradition, which in the discussion below is represented principally by the world-system approach

QUantitative Imaging of eXtraction of oxygen and TIssue consumption (QUIXOTIC) using venular-targeted velocity-selective spin labeling

available in PMC 2012 December 1While oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) are fundamental parameters of brain health and function, a robust MRI-based mapping of OEF and CMRO2 amenable to functional MRI (fMRI) has not been established. To address this issue, a novel method called QUantitative Imaging of eXtraction of Oxygen and TIssue Consumption, or QUIXOTIC, is introduced. The key innovation in QUIXOTIC is the use of velocity-selective spin labeling to isolate MR signal exclusively from postcapillary venular blood on a voxel-by-voxel basis. Measuring the T2 of this venular-targeted blood allows calibration to venular oxygen saturation (Yv) via theoretical and experimental T2 versus blood oxygen saturation relationships. Yv is converted to OEF, and baseline CMRO2 is subsequently estimated from OEF and additional cerebral blood flow and hematocrit measurements. Theory behind the QUIXOTIC technique is presented, and implications of cutoff velocity (VCUTOFF) and outflow time parameters are discussed. Cortical gray matter values obtained with QUIXOTIC in 10 healthy volunteers are Yv = 0.73 ± 0.02, OEF = 0.26 ± 0.02, and CMRO2 = 125 ± 15 μmol/100 g min. Results are compared to global measures obtained with the T2 relaxation under spin tagging (TRUST) technique. The preliminary data presented suggest that QUIXOTIC will be useful for mapping Yv, OEF, and CMRO2, in both clinical and functional MRI settings.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Neuroimaging Training Program Grant, 5-T32-EB001680)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Neuroimaging Training Program Grant, 5-R01-EB002066-20)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Center for Functional Neuroimaging Technologies; Grant number: P41RR14075S10RR023401)Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (Siemens Medical Solutions)Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (Martinos Catalyst Fund)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (NIH Grant number RO1 EB007942)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Medical Scientist Training Program Fellowship, grant no. T32-GM07753

Science and Ideology in Economic, Political, and Social Thought

This paper has two sources: One is my own research in three broad areas: business cycles, economic measurement and social choice. In all of these fields I attempted to apply the basic precepts of the scientific method as it is understood in the natural sciences. I found that my effort at using natural science methods in economics was met with little understanding and often considerable hostility. I found economics to be driven less by common sense and empirical evidence, then by various ideologies that exhibited either a political or a methodological bias, or both. This brings me to the second source: Several books have appeared recently that describe in historical terms the ideological forces that have shaped either the direct areas in which I worked, or a broader background. These books taught me that the ideological forces in the social sciences are even stronger than I imagined on the basis of my own experiences. The scientific method is the antipode to ideology. I feel that the scientific work that I have done on specific, long standing and fundamental problems in economics and political science have given me additional insights into the destructive role of ideology beyond the history of thought orientation of the works I will be discussing

China in the 21st Century: on Borrowing, Translation, and Mixed Economies

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Chinoiserie—the European appropriation of “China”—has counterparts in Zhongxi hebi and nalai zhuyi. Part I, “Translating Literatures,” shows that creative translation and borrowing are indigenous to modern China. From the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, when foreign novels were regarded as a primary requirement for social and cultural rebirth, modern Chinese literature was inseparable from the introduction of world literature into China. The pioneers of modern Chinese literature were all professional translators. Lu Xun’s “hard translation” was specifically intended to introduce a change in Chinese characteristics. Esperanto was proposed at Peking University to replace written Chinese, and moves were made to institute a language for science, technology, and democratization. From the 1920s to 1966 under various forms of self-styled Marxisms, literature first from the Eastern Bloc and then from the Third World was translated. After 1978, the Chinese diaspora have written in both adopted languages and Chinese, and the majority of writers within the PRC have drawn on indigenous and cosmopolitan traditions. Part II, “Translating Political Economies,” shows that just as languages and literatures are selectively appropriated through processes of transculturation, so also are economic and political systems. These are the result of concrete historical processes, and labels like capitalism and socialism are not easily translated between countries with very different cultures and histories. When modernizing, democratizing, or liberalizing indigenous institutions, each country has to respond effectively to specific challenges, so political institutions are gradually developed rather than rationally designed.We argue that previous ideological debates between forms of capitalism and socialism are less urgent today than degrees of government as China’s financial and commodity markets take a leading role in the global economy. Neoliberal governments worldwide want less governance, letting the market regulate goods and services. Whether China liberalizes politically or merely neoliberalizes economically, whether liberal democracies give up on demands for equality in the face of neoliberal regimes, will be the key issues of our time. Ultimately we have choices and freedoms, and these should not be limited to the consumer choice and market freedoms of neoliberalism, in China or the west

A better life through information technology? The techno-theological eschatology of posthuman speculative science

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the article, published in Zygon 41(2) pp.267-288, which has been published in final form at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118588124/issueThe depiction of human identity in the pop-science futurology of engineer/inventor Ray Kurzweil, the speculative-robotics of Carnegie Mellon roboticist Hans Moravec and the physics of Tulane University mathematics professor Frank Tipler elevate technology, especially information technology, to a point of ultimate significance. For these three figures, information technology offers the potential means by which the problem of human and cosmic finitude can be rectified. Although Moravec’s vision of intelligent robots, Kurzweil’s hope for immanent human immorality, and Tipler’s description of human-like von Neumann probe colonising the very material fabric of the universe, may all appear to be nothing more than science fictional musings, they raise genuine questions as to the relationship between science, technology, and religion as regards issues of personal and cosmic eschatology. In an attempt to correct what I see as the ‘cybernetic-totalism’ inherent in these ‘techno-theologies’, I will argue for a theology of technology, which seeks to interpret technology hermeneutically and grounds human creativity in the broader context of divine creative activity

Stereotypes and Madrassas: Experimental evidence from Pakistan

Little is known about the behavior of Madrassa (Islamic religious seminaries) students, and how other groups in their communities interact with them. To investigate this, we use data from economic decision-making experiments embedded in a survey that we collected from students pursuing bachelors-equivalent degrees in Madrassas and other educational institutions of distinct religious tendencies and socioeconomic background in Pakistan. First, we do not find that Madrassa students are less trusting of others; in fact, they exhibit the highest level of other-regarding behavior, and expect others to be the most trustworthy. Second, there is a high level of trust among all groups. Third, within each institution group, we fail to find evidence of in-group bias or systematic out-group bias either in trust or tastes. Fourth, we find that students from certain backgrounds under-estimate the trustworthiness of Madrassa students

Bias corrections of GOSAT SWIR XCO₂ and XCH₄ with TCCON data and their evaluation using aircraft measurement data

We describe a method for removing systematic biases of column-averaged dry air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2) and CH4 (XCH4) derived from short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectra of the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). We conduct correlation analyses between the GOSAT biases and simultaneously retrieved auxiliary parameters. We use these correlations to bias correct the GOSAT data, removing these spurious correlations. Data from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) were used as reference values for this regression analysis. To evaluate the effectiveness of this correction method, the tnzuncorrected/corrected GOSAT data were compared to independent XCO2 and XCH4 data derived from aircraft measurements taken for the Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiner (CONTRAIL) project, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Department of Energy (DOE), the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole observations (HIPPO) program, and the GOSAT validation aircraft observation campaign over Japan. These comparisons demonstrate that the empirically derived bias correction improves the agreement between GOSAT XCO2/XCH4 and the aircraft data. Finally, we present spatial distributions and temporal variations of the derived GOSAT biases