Reflections on a crisis: political disenchantment, moral desolation, and political integrity

Declining levels of political trust and voter turnout, the shift towards populist politics marked by appeals to ‘the people’ and a rejection of ‘politics-as-usual’, are just some of the commonly cited manifestations of our culture of political disaffection. Democratic politics, it is argued, is in crisis. Whilst considerable energy has been expended on the task of lamenting the status of our politics and pondering over recommendations to tackle this perceived crisis, amid this raft of complaints and solutions lurks confusion. This paper seeks to explore the neglected question of what the precise nature of the crisis with which we are confronted involves, and, in so doing, to go some way towards untangling our confusion. Taking my cue from Machiavelli and his value-pluralist heirs, I argue that there is a rift between a morally admirable and a virtuous political life. Failure to appreciate this possibility causes narrations of crisis to misconstrue the moral messiness of politics in ways that lead us to misunderstand how we should respond to disenchantment. Specifically, I suggest that: (i) we think that there is a moral crisis in politics because we have an unsatisfactorily idealistic understanding of political integrity in the first place; and (ii) it is a mistake to imagine that the moral purification of politics is possible or desirable. Put simply, our crisis is not moral per se but primarily philosophical in nature: it relates to the very concepts we employ—the qualities of character and context we presuppose whilst pondering over political integrity

La coopération économique dans le Bassin pacifique

West-Oborne Michael. La coopération économique dans le Bassin pacifique. In: Tiers-Monde, tome 24, n°96, 1983. La coopération Sud-Sud. Etat et perspectives, sous la direction de Abdelkader Sid-Ahmed. pp. 931-938

The impact of oral corticosteroid use on bone mineral density and vertebral fracture

The use of oral corticosteroids is associated with an increased risk of fracture, but there is limited information on the relationship between corticosteroid dose, bone mineral density (BMD), and fracture. We examined this relationship in a community population (more than 50 years) taking oral corticosteroids for chronic lung disease. Details of corticosteroid use and lifestyle were obtained by questionnaire, general practice records, and patient interview. BMD was assessed at the lumbar spine and femur and vertebral fracture by morphometric X-ray absorptiometry. Of the 117 patients who participated (median age, 69), 48% were female. Fifty-eight percent had osteoporosis (a T score of less than -2.5), and 61% had a vertebral fracture. The presence of vertebral fracture was related to BMD at the femoral neck, with an odds ratio of 1.6 for a 1 SD reduction in BMD. The cumulative prednisolone dose ranged from 3.4 to 175 g and was strongly associated with vertebral fracture, with the odds ratio between the highest and lowest dose quartiles being 4.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.04, 18.8). The difference in femoral neck BMD between the same dose quartiles was only modest, however (0.5 SD; 95% confidence interval, 0.09, 0.94). In patients taking long-term oral corticosteroids for chronic lung disease, the relationship between vertebral fracture risk and BMD is similar to that seen in other populations. Cumulative prednisolone dose is strongly related to fracture risk, and this effect is independent of its more modest impact on BMD

Predicting discomfort from whole-body vertical vibration when sitting with an inclined backrest

Current methods for evaluating seat vibration to predict vibration discomfort assume the same frequency weightings and axis multiplying factors can be used at the seat surface and the backrest irrespective of the backrest inclination. This experimental study investigated the discomfort arising from whole-body vertical vibration when sitting on a rigid seat with no backrest and with a backrest inclined at 0? (upright), 30?, 60?, and 90? (recumbent). Within each of these five postures, 12 subjects judged the discomfort caused by vertical sinusoidal whole-body vibration (at frequencies from 1 to 20 Hz at magnitudes from 0.2 to 2.0 ms-2 r.m.s.) relative to the discomfort produced by a reference vibration (8 Hz at 0.4 ms-2 r.m.s.). With 8-Hz vertical vibration, the subjects also judged vibration discomfort with each backrest condition relative to the vibration discomfort with no backrest. The locations in the body where discomfort was experienced were determined for each frequency at two vibration magnitudes. Equivalent comfort contours were determined for the five conditions of the backrest and show how discomfort depends on the frequency of vibration, the presence of the backrest, and the backrest inclination. At frequencies greater than about 8 Hz, the backrest increased vibration discomfort, especially when inclined to 30?, 60?, or 90?, and there was greater discomfort at the head or neck. At frequencies around 5 and 6.3 Hz there was less vibration discomfort when sitting with an inclined backrest