Hegemons, empires, and their elites

I compare ancient with modern empires and show why hegemony beyond the military realm is possible only in the modern capitalist world. I examine Germany, Spain and France, which failed to achieve hegemony, along with the three successive hegemons: the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States. I identify the elites that were created and strengthened by their home polity’s empire or hegemony, and enumerate the factors that allowed some colonial elites to achieve high levels of autonomy. Colonial elite autonomy or high levels of elite unity in the metropole prevented or undermined hegemony.Comparo impérios antigos e modernos e mostro de que forma a hegemonia além da esfera militar é possível apenas no mundo capitalista moderno. Analiso a Alemanha, a Espanha e a França, que falharam no alcance da hegemonia, juntamente com três poderes hegemónicos sucessivos: Holanda, Grã-Bretanha e Estados Unidos. Identifico as elites que foram criadas e reforçadas pelos regimes imperiais ou hegemónicos dos seus países, e enumero fatores que permitiram a algumas elites coloniais alcançar elevados níveis de autonomia. A autonomia de certas elites coloniais ou os níveis elevados de unidade das elites das metrópoles impediram ou enfraqueceram a hegemonia.Cet article compare des empires anciens et modernes afin de montrer comment l’hégémonie au-delà de la sphère militaire n’est possible que dans un monde capitaliste moderne. Il analyse l’Allemagne, l’Espagne et la France qui ont échoué dans leur quête d’hégémonie, face à trois pouvoirs hégémoniques successifs : Hollande, Grande-Bretagne et États-Unis. Il identifie les élites qui ont été créées et renforcées par les régimes impériaux ou hégémoniques de leurs pays, tout en énumérant les facteurs qui ont permis à certaines élites coloniales d’atteindre des niveaux élevés d’autonomie. L’autonomie de certaines élites coloniales ou les niveaux élevés d’unité des élites des métropoles ont empêché ou affaibli l’hégémonie.Comparo imperios antiguos y modernos y muestro de qué forma la hegemonía además de la esfera militar es posible solamente en el mundo capitalista moderno. Analizo a Alemania, a España y a Francia, que fallaron en el alcance de la hegemonía, en comparación con tres poderes hegemónicos sucesivos: Holanda, Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos. Identifico las elites que fueron creadas y reforzadas por regímenes imperiales o hegemónicos de sus países, y enumero factores que permitirán a algunas elites coloniales alcanzar elevados niveles de autonomía. La autonomía de ciertas elites coloniales o los niveles de elevados de unidad de las elites de las metrópolis impedirán o debilitarán la hegemonía

Building bridges across time and space

Richard Lachmann is a professor in the Department of Sociology of the University at Albany, State University of New York. He completed his B. A. with highest honors at Princeton University and his M. A. and Ph. D. at Harvard University. His research and writing are focused on Political Sociology and Comparative Historical Sociology, especially on the origins of capitalism and the decline of dominant powers. His book Capitalists in Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions i..

Trump: authoritarian, just another neoliberal republican, or both?

I review Donald Trump’s actions as president to evaluate the extent to which he differs from longstanding Republican Party policies. I find that except for trade and immigration he has furthered existing Republican desires in the fields of tax cuts, deregulation, weakening labor unions, and the appointment of rightwing judges. I then turn to the question of whether Trump is an authoritarian. I show that while his rhetoric is an escalation of previous Republican racial demagoguery, Trump benefits more than he adds to his party’s decades-long strategy of suppressing minority and young voters, vulgarizing political discourse and normalizing brazen lying by candidates and officials, obstructing Democratic officeholders, and allowing unlimited campaign spending by rich people and corporations. I conclude that Trump is now the head of an increasingly authoritarian political party rather than a self-generated strongman. This reduces the insights one can gain from comparisons with rulers like Hitler, Putin or Erdogan.Revêm-se as ações de Donald Trump enquanto presidente para avaliar até que ponto ele difere das linhas políticas duradouras do Partido Republicano. Com exceção do comércio e da imigração, ele promoveu os desejos republicanos já existentes nos campos de cortes de impostos, desregulamentação, enfraquecimento dos sindicatos de trabalhadores e nomeação de juízes de direita. De seguida, aborda-se a questão do autoritarismo de Trump. Mostra-se que enquanto a sua retórica é uma escalada da anterior demagogia racial republicana, Trump beneficia mais do que acrescenta à estratégia de décadas do seu partido de reprimir os eleitores jovens e as minorias, vulgariza o discurso político e normaliza a insolência de candidatos e funcionários, obstrui os funcionários democratas e permite gastos de campanha ilimitados por pessoas ricas e por corporações. Conclui-se que Trump é agora o líder de um partido politico cada vez mais autoritário em vez de um um homem forte autoproduzido. Isto reduz a perceção que se pode obter das comparações com governantes como Hitler, Putin ou Erdogan.Cet article passe en revue les actions de Donald Trump afin de voir à quel point il s’éloigne des lignes politiques durables du Parti Républicain. Hormis le commerce et l’immigration, on observe une augmentation des désirs républicains déjà existants en ce qui concerne les baisses d’impôts, la déréglementation, l’affaiblissement des syndicats de travailleurs et la nomination de juges de droite. L’article aborde ensuite la question de l’autoritarisme de Trump. Il montre que tant que sa rhétorique est une escalade de la démagogie raciale républicaine existante, Trump bénéficie, plus qu’il n’y ajoute, de la stratégie poursuivie pendant des décennies par son parti de réprimer les électeurs jeunes et les minorités, il vulgarise le discours politique et normalise l’insolence des candidats et des fonctionnaires, fait obstruction aux fonctionnaires démocrates et permet des dépenses de campagnes illimitées financées par de riches particuliers et des groupes économiques. L’étude conclut que Trump est aujourd’hui le leader d’un parti politique de plus en plus autoritaire au lieu d’un homme fort qui ne doit sa réussite qu’à lui-même. Cela réduit la perception que l’on peut obtenir des comparaisons avec des gouvernants tels que Hitler, Putin ou Erdogan.Se revisan las acciones de Donald Trump como presidente para evaluar hasta qué punto él difiere de las líneas políticas duraderas del Partido Republicano. Con excepción del comercio y de la inmigración aumentaron los deseos republicanos ya existentes en términos de recortar impuestos, desreglamentar, debilitar los sindicatos de trabajadores y nominar jueces de derecha. A continuación, se aborda la cuestión del autoritarismo de Trump. Se muestra que mientras su retórica es una versión aumentada de la anterior demagogia racial republicana, Trump beneficia más de lo que aporta de la estrategia de décadas de su partido de reprimir a los electores jóvenes y de las minorías, vulgariza el discurso político y normaliza la insolencia de candidatos y funcionarios, obstruye a los funcionarios demócratas y permite gastos de campaña ilimitados a personas ricas y a corporaciones. Se concluye, que Trump es ahora el líder de un partido político cada vez más autoritario en vez de un hombre fuerte autoproducido. Esto reduce la percepción que se puede obtener de las comparaciones con gobernantes como Hitler, Putin o Erdogan

Décentralisation : l'exigence du débat.

Cette publication n'a pas de résumé

Death and the Times: Depictions of War Deaths in the United States and Israel From Vietnam and the Six-Day War to Iraq and Lebanon

Why has support for casualties in foreign wars declined in the United States since Vietnam? We compare The New York Times’ very different depictions of war deaths in the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Then we offer an explanation for why there has been this fundamental transformation in the ways in which American war dead are regarded and valued. We find that the change is in retrospective interpretations of the war and in memorials to the Vietnam dead after that war ended rather than in public evaluations of the geopolitical interests of the U.S. or prospects for victory in either Vietnam or Iraq. We trace the deepening personalization of war dead to specific political and cultural events within the United States rather than positing a general change in Western attitudes toward death and war. We conclude by speculating on the implications of that change for future wars and propose a research agenda to extend our findings to other countries that have fought wars in recent decades

PatMaN: rapid alignment of short sequences to large databases

Summary: We present a tool suited for searching for many short nucleotide sequences in large databases, allowing for a predefined number of gaps and mismatches. The commandline-driven program implements a non-deterministic automata matching algorithm on a keyword tree of the search strings. Both queries with and without ambiguity codes can be searched. Search time is short for perfect matches, and retrieval time rises exponentially with the number of edits allowed

The in vivo expression of actin/salt-resistant hyperactive DNase I inhibits the development of anti-ssDNA and anti-histone autoantibodies in a murine model of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterised by the production of autoantibodies against ubiquitous antigens, especially nuclear components. Evidence makes it clear that the development of these autoantibodies is an antigen-driven process and that immune complexes involving DNA-containing antigens play a key role in the disease process. In rodents, DNase I is the major endonuclease present in saliva, urine and plasma, where it catalyses the hydrolysis of DNA, and impaired DNase function has been implicated in the pathogenesis of SLE. In this study we have evaluated the effects of transgenic over-expression of murine DNase I endonucleases in vivo in a mouse model of lupus. We generated transgenic mice having T-cells that express either wild-type DNase I (wt.DNase I) or a mutant DNase I (ash.DNase I), engineered for three new properties - resistance to inhibition by G-actin, resistance to inhibition by physiological saline and hyperactivity compared to wild type. By crossing these transgenic mice with a murine strain that develops SLE we found that, compared to control non-transgenic littermates or wt.DNase I transgenic mice, the ash.DNase I mutant provided significant protection from the development of anti-single-stranded DNA and anti-histone antibodies, but not of renal disease. In summary, this is the first study in vivo to directly test the effects of long-term increased expression of DNase I on the development of SLE. Our results are in line with previous reports on the possible clinical benefits of recombinant DNase I treatment in SLE, and extend them further to the use of engineered DNase I variants with increased activity and resistance to physiological inhibitors.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

The Neandertal genome and ancient DNA authenticity

Recent advances in high-thoughput DNA sequencing have made genome-scale analyses of genomes of extinct organisms possible. With these new opportunities come new difficulties in assessing the authenticity of the DNA sequences retrieved. We discuss how these difficulties can be addressed, particularly with regard to analyses of the Neandertal genome. We argue that only direct assays of DNA sequence positions in which Neandertals differ from all contemporary humans can serve as a reliable means to estimate human contamination. Indirect measures, such as the extent of DNA fragmentation, nucleotide misincorporations, or comparison of derived allele frequencies in different fragment size classes, are unreliable. Fortunately, interim approaches based on mtDNA differences between Neandertals and current humans, detection of male contamination through Y chromosomal sequences, and repeated sequencing from the same fossil to detect autosomal contamination allow initial large-scale sequencing of Neandertal genomes. This will result in the discovery of fixed differences in the nuclear genome between Neandertals and current humans that can serve as future direct assays for contamination. For analyses of other fossil hominins, which may become possible in the future, we suggest a similar ‘boot-strap' approach in which interim approaches are applied until sufficient data for more definitive direct assays are acquired

Functionality of Intergenic Transcription: An Evolutionary Comparison

Although a large proportion of human transcription occurs outside the boundaries of known genes, the functional significance of this transcription remains unknown. We have compared the expression patterns of known genes as well as intergenic transcripts within the ENCODE regions between humans and chimpanzees in brain, heart, testis, and lymphoblastoid cell lines. We find that intergenic transcripts show patterns of tissue-specific conservation of their expression, which are comparable to exonic transcripts of known genes. This suggests that intergenic transcripts are subject to functional constraints that restrict their rate of evolutionary change as well as putative positive selection to an extent comparable to that of classical protein-coding genes. In brain and testis, we find that part of this intergenic transcription is caused by widespread use of alternative promoters. Further, we find that about half of the expression differences between humans and chimpanzees are due to intergenic transcripts