Power and Elements of National Power

Quite seriously, I thought about what might be most meaningful to you on this question of national power, and I came to the conclusion that a case study, or rather two case studies, com­paring the uses of the elements of national power by the United States might be most useful to you, because these case studies are, what you might say, the spice of life

Paying Refugees to Leave

States are increasingly paying refugees to repatriate, hoping to decrease the number of refugees residing within their borders. Drawing on in-depth interviews from East Africa and data from Israeli Labour Statistics, I provide a description of such payment schemes and consider whether they are morally permissible. In doing so, I address two types of cases. In the first type of case, governments pay refugees to repatriate to high-risk countries, never coercing them into returning. I argue that such payments are permissible if refugees’ choices are voluntary and if states allow refugees to return to the host country in the event of an emergency. I then describe cases where states detain refugees, and non-governmental organisations provide their own payments to refugees wishing to repatriate. In such cases, non-governmental organisations are only permitted to provide payments if the funds are sufficient to ensure post-return safety and if providing payments does not reinforce the government’s detention policy

Accounting for International War: The State of the Discipline

In studies of war it is important to observe that the processes leading to so frequent an event as conflict are not necessarily those that lead to so infrequent an event as war. Also, many models fail to recognize that a phenomenon irregularly distributed in time and space, such as war, cannot be explained on the basis of relatively invariant phenomena. Much research on periodicity in the occurrence of war has yielded little result, suggesting that the direction should now be to focus on such variables as diffusion and contagion. Structural variables, such as bipolarity, show contradictory results with some clear inter-century differences. Bipolarity, some results suggest, might have different effects on different social entities. A considerable number of studies analysing dyadic variables show a clear connection between equal capabilities among contending nations and escalation of conflict into war. Finally, research into national attributes often points to strength and geographical location as important variables. In general, the article concludes, there is room for modest optimism, as research into the question of war is no longer moving in non-cumulative circles. Systematic research is producing results and there is even a discernible tendency of convergence, in spite of a great diversity in theoretical orientations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69148/2/10.1177_002234338101800101.pd

Dar biografii

In her multifaceted, polyphonic essay “The Gift of Biography,” Caroline Stoessinger offers her reader an intimate insight into the emotional substratum of the ineffable bond between the biographer and her subject. The rapport, whose complex texture involves compassion, respect, and attentiveness, unwittingly manifests itself to the reader as the sine qua non condition of an authentic dialogue soon after he or she accepts Stoessinger’s invitation to join her in retracing the history of her friendship with Alice Herz-Sommer, the heroine of her internationally acclaimed book A Century of Wisdom. In the process of the shared recollection, the emotional horizons of the autobiographer and the reader fuse, allowing the latter to sense that the (auto)biography to which she or he has been made privy, has been gifted to them by the author, who has, imperceptibly, become a dear friend. Two selves sharing their inner lives – Herz-Sommer and Stoessinger, Stoessinger and the reader – share the space of authenticity, in which the hope that reverberates through the genius of Beethoven pierces the darkest of nights.W swym wieloaspektowym, polifonicznym, ale jednoznacznie autobiograficznym eseju “Dar biografii” Caroline Stoessinger oferuje czytelnikowi osobisty wgląd w subtelności emocjonalnego podłoża niewyrażalnej słowami więzi między biografką a jej bohaterką. Ta symfoniczna więć, której złożona struktura obejmuje współczucie, szacunek i uważność, bezwiednie objawia się czytelnikowi jako warunek sine qua non autentycznego dialogu kiedy tylko przyjmie zaproszenie Stoessinger, towarzyszyć jej w podróży przez historię jej przyjaźni z Alice Herz-Sommer, bohaterką tłumaczonej na wiele języków książki autorki pod tytułem Wiek mądrości. W procesie wspólnego wspominania horyzonty emocjonalne (auto)biografki i czytelnika stapiają się, pozwalając mu wyczuć, że (auto)biografia, w jaką został wtajemniczony, została mu ofiarowana w darze przez autorkę, która – niepostrzeżenie – stała się mu bliską przyjaciółką. Dwie jaźni dzielące swoje wewnętrzne życie – Herz-Sommer i Stoessinger, Stoessinger i czytelnik – dzielą przestrzeń autentyczności, w której nadzieja rozbrzmiewa w sonatach Beethovena, przeszywając nawet najciemniejszy mrok

Why nations go to war. Ninth edition

Southbank, Victoriaxvi, 370 p.: bibl., index; 21 c