Ironies of state building: a comparative perspective on the American state

This paper challenges prevailing assumptions about the American State. It rejects the conventional distinctions between strong and weak and activism and inactivism as no longer adequate to the modern reality of the expansive and extensive American State. With this premise, the paper undertakes three tasks. First, it examines the reasons for the scholarly neglect of the State amongst students of American government and politics, concluding that the level of federal activism (including taxing, spending, regulating and war making) observable in respect to both Democrat and Republican administrations renders this oversight unsustainable intellectually and analytically. Second, the paper develops a typology of ways in which the American State has been an effective presence in the US political system including its role in sustaining and then ending segregation, in standardizing national rights of citizenship, and in militarizing society. Last, the paper shows how recent advances in comparative studies of the state, notably with respect to federalism and state-society relations, offer lessons for developing scholarly knowledge of the American State. -- In diesem Arbeitspapier sollen die Annahmen über den amerikanischen Staat überprüft werden, die üblicherweise in der Wissenschaft gemacht werden: Die Unterscheidungen zwischen starkem und schwachem sowie zwischen aktivem und inaktivem Staat werden zurückgewiesen, da sie der heutigen Wirklichkeit eines expandierenden und ausgreifenden amerikanischen Staatswesens überhaupt nicht mehr angemessen sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund leistet das Arbeitspapier ein Mehrfaches: Erstens werden die Gründe dafür geprüft, warum die Forscher, die sich mit der US-amerikanischen Regierung und Politik befassten, den Staat so stark vernachlässigt haben. Dabei wird festgestellt, dass ein steigendes Niveau von Bundesaktivitäten das schließt Steuern, Ausgaben, Gesetzgebung und Kriegsführung ein - sowohl unter demokratischen wie republikanischen Präsidentschaften zu beobachten ist, sich diese Achtlosigkeit also intellektuell wie analytisch nicht rechtfertigen lässt. Zweitens wird in diesem Arbeitspapier eine Typologie der effektiven Präsenz des amerikanischen Staates im US-Politiksystem entwickelt, was dessen Rolle bei der Unterstützung wie der Beendigung der Rassentrennung, beim Durchsetzen nationaler Bürgerrechtsstandards und bei der der Militarisierung der Gesellschaft einschließt. Drittens wird gezeigt, wie jüngste Fortschritte in der vergleichenden Staatswissenschaft - vornehmlich bezogen auf den föderalen Staatsaufbau und die Beziehungssysteme zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft - Impulsgeber für die Weiterentwicklung des Wissens zum amerikanischen Staat sein können.

Robert Mossman, Endurance and the Weddell Sea ice

Before Shackleton arrived at South Georgia aboard Endurance on 5 November 1914 he was aware that the vessel might meet bad pack-ice in the Weddell Sea. This had been forecast on the basis of climate analysis by Robert Mossman, the meteorologist on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–1904), who was currently working at the Argentine Meteorological Office. Mossman was interested in teleconnections linking meteorological and oceanic conditions in widely separated places and had studied the links between the Weddell Sea and South America. Mossman's Antarctic data were mainly records from the Orcadas station in the South Orkneys which had operated continuously from 1903. He found a correlation between extensive pack-ice in the Weddell Sea and plentiful rain in a belt across South America that included Buenos Aires. The experiences of Endurance supported this. Modern studies of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) broadly confirm Mossman's conclusions

Ironies of state building: a comparative perspective on the American state

This paper challenges prevailing assumptions about the American State. It rejects the conventional distinctions between strong and weak and activism and inactivism as no longer adequate to the modern reality of the expansive and extensive American State. With this premise, the paper undertakes three tasks. First, it examines the reasons for the scholarly neglect of the State amongst students of American government and politics, concluding that the level of federal activism (including taxing, spending, regulating and war making) observable in respect to both Democrat and Republican administrations renders this oversight unsustainable intellectually and analytically. Second, the paper develops a typology of ways in which the American State has been an effective presence in the US political system including its role in sustaining and then ending segregation, in standardizing national rights of citizenship, and in militarizing society. Last, the paper shows how recent advances in comparative studies of the state, notably with respect to federalism and state-society relations, offer lessons for developing scholarly knowledge of the American State.In diesem Arbeitspapier sollen die Annahmen über den amerikanischen Staat überprüft werden, die üblicherweise in der Wissenschaft gemacht werden: Die Unterscheidungen zwischen starkem und schwachem sowie zwischen aktivem und inaktivem Staat werden zurückgewiesen, da sie der heutigen Wirklichkeit eines expandierenden und ausgreifenden amerikanischen Staatswesens überhaupt nicht mehr angemessen sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund leistet das Arbeitspapier ein Mehrfaches: Erstens werden die Gründe dafür geprüft, warum die Forscher, die sich mit der US-amerikanischen Regierung und Politik befassten, den Staat so stark vernachlässigt haben. Dabei wird festgestellt, dass ein steigendes Niveau von Bundesaktivitäten das schließt Steuern, Ausgaben, Gesetzgebung und Kriegsführung ein - sowohl unter demokratischen wie republikanischen Präsidentschaften zu beobachten ist, sich diese Achtlosigkeit also intellektuell wie analytisch nicht rechtfertigen lässt. Zweitens wird in diesem Arbeitspapier eine Typologie der effektiven Präsenz des amerikanischen Staates im US-Politiksystem entwickelt, was dessen Rolle bei der Unterstützung wie der Beendigung der Rassentrennung, beim Durchsetzen nationaler Bürgerrechtsstandards und bei der der Militarisierung der Gesellschaft einschließt. Drittens wird gezeigt, wie jüngste Fortschritte in der vergleichenden Staatswissenschaft - vornehmlich bezogen auf den föderalen Staatsaufbau und die Beziehungssysteme zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft - Impulsgeber für die Weiterentwicklung des Wissens zum amerikanischen Staat sein können

A qualitative and quantitative measure of Aufwuchs Production

"Reprinted from Trans. Amer. Micros. Soc. 85 (2) : 232-240. 1966.""Aufwuchs production was measured from its accrual on plexiglass substrates submerged in a stream. A method was developed for separating autotrophic and heterotrophic aufwuchs production and for separating this production from organic and inorganic sediments. The average aufwuchs production in the entire river during the summer of 1961 was 281.8 mg organic weight M-2 day-1, with the autotrophic organisms contributing 212.8 mg and the heterotrophic 69.0 mg."--Abstract

Recent Decisions

Recent Decisions Jurisdiction and Procedure - Forum non Conveniens--The Foreign Plaintiff is Entitled to Less Deference in His Choice of Forum than is a Citizen or Resident Plaintiff; A Change of Law Resulting from Dismissal is Not a Substantial Factor in the Forum non Conveniens Analysis. Robert Charles Goodrich, Jr. ============================== ALIENS--Exclusion of Aliens from State Probation Officer Position is not Unconstitutional because it Falls Within the Political Function Exception Christopher Qualley King ============================== SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY--Ship Owning Corporation\u27s Contacts with United States are Sufficient to Extend Jurisdiction over Action for Damages involving Maritime Collision: Financial Effect on a United States Corporation is Sufficiently Direct Effect on United States for Purposes of the Commercial Activities Exception of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Dee Ann Weldon-Wilson ============================== SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY--Failure to Assert Affirmative Defense of Sovereign Immunity in a Motion to Dismiss Doesn\u27t Waive Immunity by Implication Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 Jay D. Grushki

Adoption of site-specific variable rate sprinkler irrigation systems

More than 20 years of private and public research on site-specific variable rate sprinkler irrigation (SS-VRI) technology on self-propelled center pivot and linear move irrigation systems has resulted in limited commercial adoption of the technology. Competing patents, liability, and proprietary software have affected industry’s willingness to move into a new technology area. Documented and proven water conservation strategies using site specific irrigation are quite limited. Marginal costs associated with site-specific technologies are high. Although sales of SS-VRI are increasing, they are primarily being used for eliminating irrigation and chemigation on non-cropped areas of a field or for land application of liquid agricultural and municipal wastes. Various aspects of SS-VRI technologies for general crop production are beginning to slowly gain widespread acceptance; however, their uses are largely focused on addressing symptoms of poor design and suboptimal water and nutrient management. Although currently underutilized, SS-VRI technology has the potential to positively impact crop water productivity, water and energy conservation, and the environment. There are also few economic incentives to motivate growers to move to higher levels of SS-VRI management. Greater adoption rates will likely require higher costs for water and energy, severely restricted water diversions on a broad scale, and enforcement of compliance with environmental and other regulations. Sustainable use of SS-VRI will require strong research support, which is currently limited. In the short term, adoption of SS-VRI technologies will be enhanced by addressing equipment deficiencies and research developing basic criteria and systems for defining management zones and locations of various sensor systems for both arid and humid regions. Training adequate personnel to help write site-specific variable rate irrigation prescriptions in humid and arid areas to assist growers with the decision-making process is also a high priority. There is also a large need to educate government boards and bankers on the potential benefits of these systems. The long-term challenges will be to demonstrate that SS-VRI will improve water management or increase net returns. There is a critical need to develop fully integrated management systems with supporting elements that accurately and inexpensively define dynamic management zones, sense within-field variability in real time, and then adaptively control site-specific variable rate water applications, which will be challenging as significant knowledge gaps exist