Sample records for communism

  1. Sidney Hook's Pragmatic Anti-Communism: Commitment to Democracy as Method

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferriter, Courtney

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, opposition to Communism has emerged as Sidney Hook's central philosophical legacy in the eyes of scholars and historians, who tend to ignore all of Hook's pre-Cold War philosophical contributions. Furthermore, critics who treat Hook's anti-Communism often accuse him of abandoning pragmatism for dogmatism in his later career. In…

  2. Communism and the meaning of social memory: towards a critical-interpretive approach.

    PubMed

    Tileagă, Cristian

    2012-12-01

    Using a case study of representations of communism in Romania, the paper offers a sketch of a critical-interpretive approach for exploring and engaging with the social memory of communism. When one considers the various contemporary appraisals, responses to and positions towards the communist period one identifies and one is obliged to deal with a series of personal and collective moral/political quandaries. In their attempt to bring about historical justice, political elites create a world that conforms more to their needs and desires than to the diversity of meanings of communism, experiences and dilemmas of lay people. This paper argues that one needs to study formal aspects of social memory as well as "lived", often conflicting, attitudinal and mnemonic stances and interpretive frameworks. One needs to strive to find the meaning of the social memory of communism in the sometimes contradictory, paradoxical attitudes and meanings that members of society communicate, endorse and debate. Many of the ethical quandaries and dilemmas of collective memory and recent history can be better understood by describing the discursive and sociocultural processes of meaning-making and meaning-interpretation carried out by members of a polity.

  3. Romanian Youths' Civic Identities: 20 Years after the Revolution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Obenchain, Kathryn; Bellows, Elizabeth; Bernat, Simona-Elena; Smith, Billy

    2013-01-01

    The study explores the civic identities of Romanian youth. Children born after 1989 have no memory of the communism; yet, they are the children and students of those who were educated under communism. Data sources were small group interviews with 21 youth and results indicate that participants believe "civic engagement is possible and…

  4. Contextualizing Trump: Education for Communism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malott, Curry

    2017-01-01

    In this article, Dr. Malott challenges the conclusion that the primary factor that led to Trump's victory in the 2016 United States presidential election was the racism of poor whites. Rejecting this position for its capitulation to bourgeois caricatures of segments of the working class, Malott points to the fall of communism for a more…

  5. 'Co-operation and Communism cannot work side by side': Organized Consumers and the Early Cold War in Britain.

    PubMed

    Gurney, Peter

    2018-04-02

    This article contributes to a better understanding of labour anti-communism in Britain through an exploration of the evolution of ideas and attitudes within the co-operative movement during the early Cold War. It demonstrates that the period witnessed an increasingly rigid separation of co-operation from communism and argues that this separation made it harder for activists within the co-operative movement to imagine a total or utopian alternative to capitalism. Drawing particularly on a close reading of the co-operative press as well as other sources, the study is divided into three main parts. The first section discusses sympathy among co-operators for the achievements of the Soviet Union, which increased during the war against fascism. The article then moves on to consider the continuing dialogue between British co-operators and their counterparts in European communist states and how international tensions shaped co-operators' views. The final major section explores the hardening of attitude towards communism after Marshall Aid was declared in June 1947, and underlines the role played by figures such as A. V. Alexander and Jack Bailey who worked with the Information Research Department at the Foreign Office to spread anti-communism within the movement. The conclusion reflects, more speculatively, on what implications this shift may have had for the medium and long-term decline of co-operation and the hegemony of capitalist consumerism post-war.

  6. Free Trade and Tariffs: Level III, Unit 2, Lesson 1; Capitalism, Communism, Socialism: Lesson 2; Nationalism vs. Internationalism: Lesson 3. Advanced General Education Program. A High School Self-Study Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manpower Administration (DOL), Washington, DC. Job Corps.

    This self-study program for high-school level contains lessons on: Free Trade and Tariffs; Capitalism, Communism, Socialism; and Nationalism vs. Internationalism. Each of the lessons concludes with a Mastery Test to be completed by the student. (DB)

  7. The United States Enters the Korean Conflict. Teaching with Documents.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

    After World War II the United States centered its foreign policy on the containment of communism, at home and abroad. Although it was aimed primarily at containing the spread of communism in Europe, the policy also extended to Asia. Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War. Dividing…

  8. Deep cultural ancestry and human development indicators across nation states.

    PubMed

    Sookias, Roland B; Passmore, Samuel; Atkinson, Quentin D

    2018-04-01

    How historical connections, events and cultural proximity can influence human development is being increasingly recognized. One aspect of history that has only recently begun to be examined is deep cultural ancestry, i.e. the vertical relationships of descent between cultures, which can be represented by a phylogenetic tree of descent. Here, we test whether deep cultural ancestry predicts the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) for 44 Eurasian countries, using language ancestry as a proxy for cultural relatedness and controlling for three additional factors-geographical proximity, religion and former communism. While cultural ancestry alone predicts HDI and its subcomponents (income, health and education indices), when geographical proximity is included only income and health indices remain significant and the effect is small. When communism and religion variables are included, cultural ancestry is no longer a significant predictor; communism significantly negatively predicts HDI, income and health indices, and Muslim percentage of the population significantly negatively predicts education index, although the latter result may not be robust. These findings indicate that geographical proximity and recent cultural history-especially communism-are more important than deep cultural factors in current human development and suggest the efficacy of modern policy initiatives is not tightly constrained by cultural ancestry.

  9. "I Asked My Parents Why a Wall Was so Important": Teaching about the GDR and Post-Reunification Germany

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Streitwieser, Bernhard; Lys, Franziska

    2008-01-01

    Fifteen years after the "peaceful revolutions" brought about the collapse of communism and the reunification of East and West Germany, a heated debate rages over the legacy of communism and the continuing impact of 1989. This paper describes a new course that explores the contentious issues in this debate through the innovative use of…

  10. Post-communism: postmodernity or modernity revisited?

    PubMed

    Ray, L

    1997-12-01

    Coinciding with the popularity of postmodern theory, the fall of communism appeared to offer further evidence of the exhaustion of modernity. Such analysis is grounded in a view that the Soviet system was the epitome of modernity. An alternative approach regards post-communism as opening new terrains of struggle for modernity. Thus Habermas and others suggest that post-communist societies are rejoining the trajectory of western modernity whose problems they now recapitulate. This alternative view implies that Soviet systems were something other than 'modern', although their nature is not always clearly defined. However, even if post-communist societies do encounter problems of modernity, they do so in new circumstances where modernist notions of social development have become problematic. This article argues that, contrary to those who regard modernization or postmodernization as irresistible trends, core post-communist societies are likely to develop along an alternative path to that of western modernity. This is tentatively described as 'neo-mercantilist'.

  11. Emerging Threats, Force Structures, and the Role of Air Power in Korea

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2000-01-01

    Cold War. From 1948 to 1989 two different ideolo- gies, Communism and Democracy, struggled for the hearts and minds of the people of the world. It...and eventually, space-based reconnaissance intelligence and communication sys- tems. Throughout the Cold War, large standing armies and navies...were still necessary to meet the threat. The two centers of Communism were the Soviet Union and China. To respond to the challenge from the spread of

  12. The Implications of Eurocommunism for the NATO Alliance: A Case Study of Italy and the PCI

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-03-01

    smaller proportions of economic prosperity compared to others of Western Europe. Aiding the growth of Communism was the dis - crediting of the Socialist...understand and cope with this brand of Communism. A dis - cussion of the development of the Eurocommunist trend will aid in this understanding. By being...stepped up action against the Communists with Mussolini launching a major attack against his internal enemy. Under the strong leadership of Antonio

  13. The Soviet Central Asian Challenge: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-09-01

    transmutated into the Soviet Union. This point is fundamental to understanding why the Russians are the ruling nationality group in the Soviet Union. The Great...initial years, force and coercion were instrumental for ensuring the continued existence of the transmuted Russian Empire. The new Soviet Union also...information on .Muslim national communism s1 l (Reft. 31, i33. 26F1or an excellent article on Russian nationalism’s transmutation to Soviet communism and the

  14. Creativity, Freedom and the Crash: How the Concept of Creativity Was Used as a Bulwark against Communism during the Cold War, and as a Means to Reconcile Individuals to Neoliberalism Prior to the Great Recession

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Sophie

    2013-01-01

    At first glance, creativity in the classroom and global capitalism have little in common, yet scratch beneath the surface of "creativity" and we find a discourse of economic and cultural freedom that was used as a bulwark against communism during the Cold War, and more recently to reconcile individuals to neoliberalism in the post-Cold…

  15. The Impact of the Collapse of Communism and EU Accession on Language Education Policy and Practice in Central and Eastern Europe: Two Case-Studies Focussing on English and Russian as Foreign Languages in Hungary and Eastern Germany

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruen, Jennifer; Sheridan, Vera

    2016-01-01

    This paper considers the impact of geopolitical factors, and in particular the collapse of Communism and EU accession, on language education policy and practice in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). CEE is understood here as referring to the former soviet-controlled, eastern bloc counties of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary,…

  16. The Role of the People’s Republic of China in the East Bengal Crisis of 1971.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1973-01-01

    propon-nt of close ties with the P]JC, and William J. 3arnds, in his book, India. Pakistan and The Great Powers, posits t1-0at ,::. Khan’s dismissal of...the Sino-Indian border was 1 2 William J. Barnds, "Moscow and South Asia," Prob- lems of Communism , May-June, 1972, p. 22. 1 31nterview with U.S...21 (924-27 A,’ 1971), 169. 44Michael, "Desiign f’or Aggre.:;ion," p. 01) 45AIlen S. Whitinir, " Chira ’.; New Iplom,!cy," r etu.: of Communism, November

  17. Deep cultural ancestry and human development indicators across nation states

    PubMed Central

    Sookias, Roland B.; Passmore, Samuel

    2018-01-01

    How historical connections, events and cultural proximity can influence human development is being increasingly recognized. One aspect of history that has only recently begun to be examined is deep cultural ancestry, i.e. the vertical relationships of descent between cultures, which can be represented by a phylogenetic tree of descent. Here, we test whether deep cultural ancestry predicts the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) for 44 Eurasian countries, using language ancestry as a proxy for cultural relatedness and controlling for three additional factors—geographical proximity, religion and former communism. While cultural ancestry alone predicts HDI and its subcomponents (income, health and education indices), when geographical proximity is included only income and health indices remain significant and the effect is small. When communism and religion variables are included, cultural ancestry is no longer a significant predictor; communism significantly negatively predicts HDI, income and health indices, and Muslim percentage of the population significantly negatively predicts education index, although the latter result may not be robust. These findings indicate that geographical proximity and recent cultural history—especially communism—are more important than deep cultural factors in current human development and suggest the efficacy of modern policy initiatives is not tightly constrained by cultural ancestry. PMID:29765628

  18. Reifications of the intellectual: representations, organization and agency in revolutionary China.

    PubMed

    U, Eddy

    2013-12-01

    How did 'intellectuals' evolve from a class of subjects in Marxian thoughts to highly visible populations under communism? Such 'reifications of the intellectual' have deeply affected subjectivity, conflict and organization, but received little attention in the political sociology of communism. This essay draws on research on classifications and social boundaries to address the objective and subjective foundations of the reifications and their impact on communist rule. The intellectual is viewed as an identification formed and performed around multiple social axes (most notably family background, educational achievement, occupational history, institutional affiliation and revolutionary rank) that reflected broader patterns of communist political domination. I use the Chinese Communist movement to demonstrate that (1) interaction of political contests, ruling strategies and institutional developments turned a diversity of persons into 'intellectuals' who were allegedly imbued with reprehensible interests and habits linked to privileged economic classes; (2) constant competitions for power and organizational changes led to classificatory ambiguities and, in turn, allowed individuals some control over their identifications; and (3) the developments profoundly influenced identity, state and class formation. Focusing on the dynamics that produced a highly visible but fluid population of 'intellectuals' opens new pathways for comparative research on communism. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2013.

  19. A SELECTED LIST OF UNCLASSIFIED PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT-THE RAND CORPORATION

    DTIC Science & Technology

    BIBLIOGRAPHIES, * SOCIAL SCIENCES, MILITARY OPERATIONS, CIVIL DEFENSE, COMMUNISM, FOREIGN POLICY, POLITICAL SCIENCE, PROPAGANDA, PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE, PSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION, REPORTS, STRESS (PSYCHOLOGY)

  20. 8 CFR 313.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... communism, in all countries of the world through the medium of an internationally coordinated communist... advocates or teaches: (1) Opposition to all organized government; (2) The overthrow, by force or violence or...

  1. 8 CFR 313.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... communism, in all countries of the world through the medium of an internationally coordinated communist... advocates or teaches: (1) Opposition to all organized government; (2) The overthrow, by force or violence or...

  2. 8 CFR 313.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... communism, in all countries of the world through the medium of an internationally coordinated communist... advocates or teaches: (1) Opposition to all organized government; (2) The overthrow, by force or violence or...

  3. 8 CFR 313.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... communism, in all countries of the world through the medium of an internationally coordinated communist... advocates or teaches: (1) Opposition to all organized government; (2) The overthrow, by force or violence or...

  4. 8 CFR 313.1 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... communism, in all countries of the world through the medium of an internationally coordinated communist... advocates or teaches: (1) Opposition to all organized government; (2) The overthrow, by force or violence or...

  5. Long-term care policy for the elderly in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine: a case study of social development following the collapse of Communism.

    PubMed

    Palley, Howard A; Romanenkova, Lyudmyla A

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, we review the status of social policy for the elderly in Ukraine since the fall of Communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union. We specifically address the problem of "rebuilding" an income and services policy for the at-risk elderly after the unraveling of the system that existed prior to the fall of Communism. Also, we address some existing problems faced by the elderly in the health care system. Within this context, we present a case study of the current status of long-term care policy for the elderly in one province of Ukraine, the eastern province of Zaporozhye, encompassing the industrial city of Zaporozhye on the Dnieper River. This case study particularly pays attention to current attempts to promote a social development process of long-term care services for the elderly. It examines recent developments with respect to public sector organizations and voluntary sector organizations that are trying to provide necessary services to the needy elderly. With respect to the voluntary sector, the paper pays particular attention to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) model of a largely externally funded NGO that provides comprehensive and integrated social supports, while emphasizing local empowerment and the use of volunteers, for the needy Jewish population in the province of Zaporozhye. Based on our findings, we make some proposals regarding the improvement of income and services policy with respect to the elderly in Zaporozhye and Ukraine.

  6. The specter of post-communism: women and alcohol in eight post-Soviet states.

    PubMed

    Hinote, Brian Philip; Cockerham, William C; Abbott, Pamela

    2009-04-01

    Because men have borne the heaviest burden of premature mortality in the former Soviet Union, women have for the most part been overlooked in studies of the health crisis in this part of the world. A considerable body of research points to alcohol consumption among males as a primary lifestyle cause of premature mortality. However, the extent to which alcohol use has penetrated the female population following the collapse of communism and how this consumption is associated with other social factors is less well-understood. Accordingly, this paper investigates alcohol consumption in eight republics of the former USSR - Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine using data collected in 2001. More specifically, discussion of gender role transformations and the historical experiences of women during the Soviet era emphasize two potentially important social influences examined in this analysis: psychological distress and Soviet political ideology. Findings suggest that distress is only weakly statistically associated with frequent drinking behavior among women, but results for political ideology show that this factor is statistically and significantly associated with drinking behaviors. Alcohol consumption was not particularly common among women under communism, but trends have been changing. Our discussion suggests that, after the collapse of the Soviet state, women are more able to embrace behavioral practices related to alcohol, and many may do so as an overt rejection of traditional Soviet norms and values. Findings are also discussed within the context of current epidemiological trends and future research directions in these eight republics.

  7. Origins of Tolerance: Findings from a Replication of Stouffer's Communism, Conformity and Civil Liberties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, J. Allen; And Others

    1976-01-01

    Stouffer's classic study of attitudes toward civil liberties is re-examined using education, city size, exposure to mass media news, gender, and occupation as indices of exposure to diversity. (Author/AM)

  8. Health lifestyles and political ideology in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.

    PubMed

    Cockerham, William C; Hinote, Brian P; Cockerham, Geoffrey B; Abbott, Pamela

    2006-04-01

    This paper examines the association of political ideology with health lifestyle practices and self-rated health in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The political trajectory of post-Soviet societies has taken two divergent paths, either toward democracy or autocracy. The health trajectory has followed the same pattern with the more autocratic states continuing to experience a mortality crisis, while those former socialist countries that have embraced democracy and moved closer to the West have escaped this crisis. This paper investigates whether political ideology in three post-Soviet countries that are firmly (Belarus), increasingly (Russia), or recently (Ukraine) autocratic is related to health lifestyles and health self-ratings. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews (N = 8406) with a representative national sample of the adult population. The results show that respondents who are against restoring communism have healthier lifestyles and rate their health better than respondents who wish to see communism return.

  9. 'Spending My Own Money, Harming My Own Body': Addiction Care in a Chinese Therapeutic Community.

    PubMed

    Hyde, Sandra Teresa

    2017-01-01

    In this article, I explore a Chinese residential therapeutic community I call Sunlight in order to understand its quotidian therapies, its fraught nature binding China's past with its future, and the to care for the self under postsocialism. Reviewing Sunlight ethnographically allows for broader theoretical exploration into how China's economic transition created tensions between capitalism, socialism, and communism; between individual and community, care and coercion, and discipline and freedom. Sunlight blended democratic, communal, and communist values that in several ways transition drug addicts into a market-socialist society. In focusing on the socialist transition to capitalism much work concentrates on the neoliberal transition as the only path out of communism rather than exploring its exceptions. In exploring China as an exception, I ask: What do the residents, peer-educators and administrators reveal in their stories and reactions to community-based therapeutics of care and what happens when their notions of care clash?

  10. Comparing Economic Systems.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wolken, Lawrence C.

    1984-01-01

    Defines the predominate classifications of economic systems: traditional, command, market, capitalism, socialism, and communism. Considers property rights, role of government, economic freedom, incentives, market structure, economic goals and means of achieving those goals for each classification. Identifies 26 print and audio-visual sources for…

  11. Teaching Social Studies in North Korean Schools under Communism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, H. C.

    1970-01-01

    The main purpose of social studies instruction in North Korea is to develop in the students a devotion to their country and to the principles of socialism and a concomitant hatred for the West and its principles. (CK)

  12. Reel Politik: Great Conservative Cinema.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Michael

    1994-01-01

    This viewer's guide reflects some of the best classic and contemporary film titles available. These are films that reflect the traditional values of faith, family, and freedom. Seventy-five films are reviewed in the categories of achievement, communism, conscience, entrepreneurship, faith, family, freedom, crime and justice, regulation and…

  13. The Relationship Between Economic Understanding and the Social Studies Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boddy, Edward; Tocco, Thomas S.

    1974-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to describe the contribution made by the social studies curriculum, in general, and the Americanism vs. Communism course in particular, to the development of overall economic understanding among high school seniors in Southwest Florida. (Author/JH)

  14. Iroquois Contributions to Modern Democracy and Communism.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bagley, Carol L.; Ruckman, Jo Ann

    1983-01-01

    Considers the influence of the Iroquois Great Law of Peace in American government and its possible influence on Russian government. Discusses history of Iroquois society and describes their form of representative democracy. Cites references to Iroquois government and law by Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, and Benjamin Franklin. (JHZ)

  15. Superpower Competition and the Militarization of the Third World.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Loughlin, John

    1987-01-01

    Discusses the United States' policy on containment of communism after World War II and the superpower competition for influence in developing nations. Examines the increasing arms build-up in developing nations and provides graphs of arms sales and maps of superpower armed forces distribution. (GEA)

  16. Library Consortia in Hungary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Csajbok, Edit; Szluka, Peter; Vasas, Livia

    2012-01-01

    During the last two decades many Hungarian libraries have developed considerably, beyond what was considered possible prior to 1989 and the beginning of events signaling the end of Communism in the country. Some of the modernization of library services has been realized through participation in cooperative agreements. Many smaller and larger…

  17. Ludwik Rajchman--international health leader.

    PubMed

    Balińska, M A

    1993-01-01

    Ludwik Rajchman was a man caught up in the whirlwind of international politics. He suffered from the conquest of his country, Poland, by both Nazism and Communism yet managed to rise to eminence as a leader of the Health Organisation of the League of Nations and then of UNICEF.

  18. Ludwik Rajchman, international health leader.

    PubMed

    Balińska, M A

    1991-01-01

    Ludwik Rajchman was a man caught up in the whirlwind of international politics. He suffered from the conquest of his country, Poland, by both Nazism and Communism yet managed to rise to eminence as a leader of the Health Organisation of the League of Nations and then of UNICEF.

  19. Economics with a Sense of Humor.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keenan, Diane

    1985-01-01

    In this humorous dialogue that can be read and acted out as a play in high school economics classes, Karl Marx, a spokesman for communism, and Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, debate (1) whether an economy should produce designer jeans and (2) who should own McDonald's restaurant. (RM)

  20. Socioeconomic Gradients in Eastern European Countries: Evidence from PIRLS 2006

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caro, Daniel H.; Mirazchiyski, Plamen

    2012-01-01

    This article analyses educational inequalities related to socioeconomic status (SES) in 12 Eastern European countries that participated in the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006. Economies and educational systems of these countries have undergone critical transformations since the fall of communism. The authors' analyses, using data…

  1. After the Fall: A Conflict Management Program to Foster Open Society

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shapiro, Daniel L.

    2004-01-01

    The fall of the Berlin Wall rocked the sociopolitical equilibrium of eastern and central Europe. Communism lost its grip over much of Europe. The USSR, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia divided along ethnic, religious, and historical lines. Ethnopolitical tensions surfaced across the region, and in Yugoslavia, tensions combusted. Whereas democracy…

  2. Concerns for the Historical Profession: A Liberal Perspective.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jarausch, Konrad H.

    This paper contends that the debate over multiculturalism in the university is best understood from a broadened historical perspective. The experiences of educational reformers in Germany and the impact of fascism and communism are explored. Based on a historical approach to the multiculturalism debate, three areas of particular concern are…

  3. The Rise of Conservatism since World War II.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Dan T.

    2003-01-01

    Discusses the rise of the conservatism movement in the United States since World War II. States that laissez-faire capitalism and the rise of communism contributed to the popularity of conservatism in the United States. Focuses on the role of U.S. Presidents, such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. (CMK)

  4. Economic Heritage: Adam Smith vs. Karl Marx

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manton, Edgar J.; English, Donald E.

    2008-01-01

    The problem of this study was to determine the number of first semester college freshmen who could correctly identify the individuals who are generally considered the "fathers" of communism and capitalism. A questionnaire was administered to 241 freshmen students enrolled in English 101, College Reading and Writing, at Texas A&M…

  5. Student Attitudes towards Enterprise Education in Poland: A Positive Impact

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Paul; Jones, Amanda; Packham, Gary; Miller, Christopher

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to appraise the delivery of an enterprise education course to a cohort of Polish students evaluating its impact in encouraging entrepreneurial activity. The Polish economy continues its expansion with adoption of free market economies post communism. To encourage this growth, entrepreneurial activity must be encouraged…

  6. The Intellectual Repression of the Cold War.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DiBona, Joseph

    1982-01-01

    Examines professional periodicals published during the late 1940s and 1950s for their positions on the following questions: (1) Should Communists be permitted to teach in public schools? (2) Should controversial material including Communism be taught in the schools? and (3) Are loyalty oaths appropriate for teachers? (CT)

  7. Teaching Gender and Geography in Romanian Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Voiculescu, Sorina

    2011-01-01

    The fall of communism in Central-Eastern Europe in 1989 brought major political, social, economic and cultural changes that reshaped the Romanian society as it transitioned from the totalitarian communist regime to a democratic one. The entire process of transition, eventuating in Romanian access to the European Union, brought important changes at…

  8. The Specter of Salem in American Culture.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams, Gretchen A.

    2003-01-01

    Focuses on the impact of the Salem (Massachusetts) witchcraft trials on U.S. society over the centuries, particularly in relation to the trials as a metaphor for persecution and witch-hunting. Explores different events in history, such as the anti-communism evident in the 1950's and abolitionism during the U.S. Civil War. (CMK)

  9. Some Educational Implications of Karl Marx's Communism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hellerich, Gert

    1970-01-01

    According to the expressed ideas of Karl Marx, education should be viewed as a means to develop a person's whole potential and to make him a better human being. It is his contention that in a capitalist society, the educational process causes misery and exists solely to further entrench the power of the rich. (CK)

  10. Marx and the Education of the Future

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rikowski, Glenn

    2004-01-01

    With reference to Karl Marx's writings on education, this article outlines the education of the future as anti-capitalist education. In starting out from a conception of communism as the "real movement which abolishes the present state of things" (Marx), it is argued that the anti-capitalist education of the future consists of three…

  11. Education for Democratic Citizenship in Malawian Secondary Schools: Balancing Student Voice and Adult Privilege

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Namphande, Peter; Clarke, Linda; Farren, Sean; McCully, Alan

    2017-01-01

    In countries that embraced democracy after the fall of communism, education became a particular focus for policy change, particularly within their citizenship programmes. Schools that had been used to inculcate obedience to and unfailing support for authoritarian regimes were now being required to adopt citizenship programmes incorporating…

  12. "Make Your Voice Heard": Communism in the High School Curriculum, 1958-1968

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scribner, Campbell F.

    2012-01-01

    The launch of "Sputnik" in 1957 sparked a crisis in American education. Suddenly threatened by superior Soviet technology, progressive educators' concern for children's preferences, health, and adjustment in school yielded to public demands for more basic learning and academic skills. Congress soon passed the National Defense Education Act,…

  13. American Students' Perceptions of American Foreign Policy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barger, Robert N.

    The perception of typical U.S. college students toward the Reagan administration's foreign policy is that it is based on the principle that Communism must be stopped at any cost. Students' beliefs are defined according to their reactions to specific U.S. foreign policy initiatives. Three areas have aroused considerable campus reaction and…

  14. 8 CFR 211.2 - Passports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Passports. 211.2 Section 211.2 Aliens and...; WAIVERS § 211.2 Passports. (a) A passport valid for the bearer's entry into a foreign country at least 60... to Communism is unwilling or unable to obtain a passport from the country of his or her nationality...

  15. 8 CFR 211.2 - Passports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Passports. 211.2 Section 211.2 Aliens and...; WAIVERS § 211.2 Passports. (a) A passport valid for the bearer's entry into a foreign country at least 60... to Communism is unwilling or unable to obtain a passport from the country of his or her nationality...

  16. 8 CFR 211.2 - Passports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Passports. 211.2 Section 211.2 Aliens and...; WAIVERS § 211.2 Passports. (a) A passport valid for the bearer's entry into a foreign country at least 60... to Communism is unwilling or unable to obtain a passport from the country of his or her nationality...

  17. 8 CFR 211.2 - Passports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Passports. 211.2 Section 211.2 Aliens and...; WAIVERS § 211.2 Passports. (a) A passport valid for the bearer's entry into a foreign country at least 60... to Communism is unwilling or unable to obtain a passport from the country of his or her nationality...

  18. 8 CFR 211.2 - Passports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Passports. 211.2 Section 211.2 Aliens and...; WAIVERS § 211.2 Passports. (a) A passport valid for the bearer's entry into a foreign country at least 60... to Communism is unwilling or unable to obtain a passport from the country of his or her nationality...

  19. Promoting Positive Family Involvement in Russian Communities through Volunteer Agencies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scheer, Scott D.; Safrit, R. Dale

    During the state of transition in contemporary Russia from communism to a market economy, nonprofit organizations have been thrust into the forefront to provide to youth and families services formerly rendered by the government. This paper describes Moscow Charity House (MCH) and Nevsky Angel in St. Petersburg, the first nonprofit organizations in…

  20. From Foreign Internal Defense to Unconventional Warfare: Campaign Transitions When US-Support to Friendly Governments Fails

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-05-27

    counter the spread of communism .20 FID as a whole involves “the instruments of national power (diplomatic, informational , military, and economic) through... A thesis presented to the Faculty of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College ...

  1. The People of the Soviet Union. Sixth Grade.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reikofski, Joyce

    This sixth grade teaching unit covers Soviet propaganda, communism, relations with the United States, Soviet geography, Soviet arts, and Soviet life. Unit goals address the above content areas, map skills, and an attitudinal goal of helping students to develop a sense of respect for the life of Soviet citizens. Behavioral objectives are keyed to…

  2. Landmarks in the Literature: Super Soviet Pedagogue.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alston, Patrick L.

    1979-01-01

    Anton Makarenko became a national hero for effecting education for communism in the 1920s. His book, "The Road to Life," is an artistic achievement and the most widely read and influential work on education in the Soviet Union. But Makarenko's legacy is more myth than model in present-day Russia. (Author/SJL)

  3. From System Expansion to System Contraction: Access to Higher Education in Poland

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kwiek, Marek

    2013-01-01

    Access to higher education in Poland is changing due to the demography of smaller cohorts of potential students. Following a demand-driven educational expansion after the collapse of communism in 1989, the higher education system is now contracting. Such expansion/contraction and growth/decline in European higher education has rarely been…

  4. Church, State and Education: Catholic Education in Hong Kong during the Political Transition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tan, John Kang

    1997-01-01

    Draws on interviews and published sources to examine Catholic educational policies and issues in Hong Kong, 1984-97, in the context of relationships between the Hong Kong Catholic Church and three authorities: colonial government, Chinese government, and Vatican. Discusses conflicts between Roman Catholicism and Communism, and language of…

  5. Karl Marx vs. Adam Smith Revisited

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manton, Edgar J.; English, Donald E.; Flanagan, Jennifer; Dubey, Anvit

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ability of freshman college students to identify the founding fathers of free enterprise and of communism has improved. This study is a follow-up to four previous studies. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to College of Business and College of Education & Human Services…

  6. The Chinese Intervention in Korea: An Analysis of Warning

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-12-19

    elections. 4 This was simple diplomatic bargaining from the underdog position; the US revelled in it. Plans were Deing arawn ror the redeployment of troops...components that formed the foundations of Peking’s particular brand of Communism contributed to this fact. Also, Communist China’s immaturity as a nation

  7. Smoking differences between university faculties in Tartu, Estonia, and Oulu, Finland, after the disruption of communism.

    PubMed

    Heikkinen, Rauno; Kivastik, Jana; Kingisepp, Peet-Henn; Hirvonen, Leo; Näyhä, Simo

    2006-01-01

    To provide information on smoking differences between university faculties. Data from smoking surveys performed on 1,441 staff members and 2,308 students at the University of Tartu, Estonia, soon after the fall of communism, were analysed by faculties, using similar data from the University of Oulu, Finland (1,830 staff members, 5,947 students) for reference. Wide variations in smoking were found between faculties in Tartu, the prevalence being high among male students of theology (54%) and low among staff and students in the faculties of exercise & sports sciences (< 5%) and mathematics (< 15%). Less variation was seen in Oulu. The medical faculty showed low smoking rates in Oulu but not in Tartu. High percentages of smokers were typical of Tartu faculties representing disciplines closely connected with the country's transition (e.g. theology), and low percentages in faculties emphasising physical and mental performance (e.g. sports). The relatively high percentage of smokers in the Tartu medical faculty compared with that in Oulu can be interpreted as delayed diffusion of medical information beyond the former Iron Curtain.

  8. Rank distributions: A panoramic macroscopic outlook

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eliazar, Iddo I.; Cohen, Morrel H.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a panoramic macroscopic outlook of rank distributions. We establish a general framework for the analysis of rank distributions, which classifies them into five macroscopic "socioeconomic" states: monarchy, oligarchy-feudalism, criticality, socialism-capitalism, and communism. Oligarchy-feudalism is shown to be characterized by discrete macroscopic rank distributions, and socialism-capitalism is shown to be characterized by continuous macroscopic size distributions. Criticality is a transition state between oligarchy-feudalism and socialism-capitalism, which can manifest allometric scaling with multifractal spectra. Monarchy and communism are extreme forms of oligarchy-feudalism and socialism-capitalism, respectively, in which the intrinsic randomness vanishes. The general framework is applied to three different models of rank distributions—top-down, bottom-up, and global—and unveils each model's macroscopic universality and versatility. The global model yields a macroscopic classification of the generalized Zipf law, an omnipresent form of rank distributions observed across the sciences. An amalgamation of the three models establishes a universal rank-distribution explanation for the macroscopic emergence of a prevalent class of continuous size distributions, ones governed by unimodal densities with both Pareto and inverse-Pareto power-law tails.

  9. Rank distributions: a panoramic macroscopic outlook.

    PubMed

    Eliazar, Iddo I; Cohen, Morrel H

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a panoramic macroscopic outlook of rank distributions. We establish a general framework for the analysis of rank distributions, which classifies them into five macroscopic "socioeconomic" states: monarchy, oligarchy-feudalism, criticality, socialism-capitalism, and communism. Oligarchy-feudalism is shown to be characterized by discrete macroscopic rank distributions, and socialism-capitalism is shown to be characterized by continuous macroscopic size distributions. Criticality is a transition state between oligarchy-feudalism and socialism-capitalism, which can manifest allometric scaling with multifractal spectra. Monarchy and communism are extreme forms of oligarchy-feudalism and socialism-capitalism, respectively, in which the intrinsic randomness vanishes. The general framework is applied to three different models of rank distributions-top-down, bottom-up, and global-and unveils each model's macroscopic universality and versatility. The global model yields a macroscopic classification of the generalized Zipf law, an omnipresent form of rank distributions observed across the sciences. An amalgamation of the three models establishes a universal rank-distribution explanation for the macroscopic emergence of a prevalent class of continuous size distributions, ones governed by unimodal densities with both Pareto and inverse-Pareto power-law tails.

  10. The Rising Tiger (United States Policy Consideration towards Southeast Asia)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1997-01-01

    presence in the region, the demise of the Soviet Union, and the fall of communism have produced a new environment for economic growth and political ... stability . It is now the breeding ground for fledgling democracies and flourishing economic activity that can contribute significantly to many U.S. national interests well into the next century.

  11. Little Mosie from the Margaree: A Biography of Moses Michael Coady.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Welton, Michael R.

    This book examines the life of the Reverend Moses Michael Coady (1890-1959), a Roman Catholic priest who led the Antigonish Movement. During the Antigonish Movement, residents of the small maritime town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, worked to achieve a nonviolent alternative to communism and fascism and to effect the social and economic…

  12. Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Colloquium. Crisis, Challenge, and Change: Perspectives in Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pittsburgh Univ., PA. Council of Graduate Students in Education.

    Graduate students and faculty from within and outside of the University of Pittsburgh community were among the presenters at this colloquium on educational change and challenge. The papers include: Academic Freedom, Anti-Communism, and the McCarthy Era (Steve Aby); The Finnish Contribution to the American Workers' Education Movement (Richard J.…

  13. Chinese-Russian Study Center. Bibliography of Materials (with Supplement Number 1).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McIndoe, Sara S.

    The major bibliographic emphasis in this work is on Russia and China, although some of the sub-headings and entries also focus on India and Japan. Entries are listed under the following categories: 1) Bibliographies; 2) Art, Music, Theater, and Dance; 3) Civilization; 4) Communism, Marxism, and Socialism; 5) Customs and Folklore; 6) Economy and…

  14. Core Ideas of Democratic Civic Education and the Great Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patrick, John J.

    This paper discusses the importance of civic education in the transformation from totalitarian communism to constitutional democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. The primary question of civic education for this great transformation is: What are the few core ideas of democratic civic education that learners must know and support to prepare them…

  15. Pathos in Criticism: Edwin Black's Communism-as-Cancer Metaphor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Condit, Celeste M.

    2013-01-01

    Edwin Black's essay on "The Second Persona," introduced to rhetorical critics a rationale and model for a type of ideological criticism. Because it ignored the role of pathos in both the rhetoric Black purported to critique and in the construction of his own audience, Black's essay mis-described key features of Robert Welch's "Blue Book", which…

  16. An Examination of Emerging Adulthood in Romanian College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nelson, Larry J.

    2009-01-01

    Little work has been done to examine emerging adulthood in Eastern European countries such as Romania that are making the transition out of communism into the broader free-market economy of Western Europe. The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the criteria that college students in Romania have for adulthood, and (b) explore whether…

  17. Mapping Russia: Geographic and Cultural Diversity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khachikian, Arthur

    For people living in the 20th century, Russia has been associated with images of communism, the Bolshevik Revolution, totalitarian regimes and leaders, and the fears and stereotypes of the Cold War era. The dissolution of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the liberal revolutions of the 1980s-1990s have provided an opportunity to…

  18. Hidden Challenges to Education Systems in Transition Economies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berryman, Sue E.

    This book, published by the World Bank, sounds the alarm for education in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). It describes how the transition from communism to free-market economies has left many countries' educational systems in disarray. At the start of transition, ECA education systems had solved problems that plagued other regions of the world,…

  19. Evolving Privatization in Eastern and Central European Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levy, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    With the fall of communism in 1989, Eastern and Central Europe would quickly become part of an already strong global tide of privatization in higher education. Nowhere else did private higher education rise so suddenly or strongly from virtual nonexistence to a major regional presence. A fresh database allows us to analyze the extent and…

  20. Two Faces of American Communism: Pamphlet Rhetoric of the Third Period and the Popular Front.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burgchardt, Carl R.

    1980-01-01

    Contrasts the rhetoric of Communist pamphlets in the periods before and after 1935. Examines the Third Period's advocacy of violent overthrow of the government and the Popular Front's appeal to cooperation and unity in opposition to fascism. Analyzes the lack of success of both movements in the United States. (JMF)

  1. Understanding Susan Sontag's Critique of Communism and the Democratic Left: Confession? Conversion? Conundrum?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Page, Judy Lynn

    Provoking violent controversy, Susan Sontag's speech, "The Lesson of Poland," is an example of subversive rhetoric. Delivered at a February 6, 1982, show of support for the recently oppressed Polish people, Sontag's speech, like other modernist writing, did not seek a consensus with the audience, but challenged its whole scheme of…

  2. Teachers' Cultural Autobiography as Means of Civic Professional Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Enache, Mihaela

    2018-01-01

    This article will present my autobiographical journey: from communism to capitalism, from the banking system and the pedagogy of the oppressed to problem-posing education. My personal experiences are seen as a way of emigrating internally and as part of the struggle through the process of self-actualisation and self-understanding. In effect, the…

  3. Contested Namesakes: East Berlin School Names under Communism and in Reunified Germany

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plum, Catherine

    2005-01-01

    In this article, the author discusses how the municipal authorities eliminate the names of all schools in eastern Berlin in 1990 to formalize the spontaneous purge of school identities. She added, that the renaming of primary and secondary schools at this historical juncture provides a unique vantage point for examining what the democratic turning…

  4. Advertising and Public Relations in Transition from Communism: The Case of Hungary, 1989-1994.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hiebert, Ray E.

    1994-01-01

    Discusses the gradual rise of free print media, Western-style advertising and marketing, and limited public relations in Hungary in its first four years of democracy (1990-94). Notes how Hungary's first democratically elected government failed to understand the public relations implications of a free press, made one public relations mistake after…

  5. From Totalitarianism to Democracy: The Case of Poland, Controversies and Heritage of Communism

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-06-01

    Nazism and German militarism, removing of Nazi emblems, insignia , and symbols from statues, monuments, and edifices not amenable to removal pending...playing or singing of Nazi anthems and the public display of Nazi flags and other Party insignia and paraphernalia.”159 After some difficulties at...PAST ................................................................................................ 49 A. POST- NAZI GERMANY

  6. The Scientific-Technological Revolution and the Formation of the New Man

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Soviet Education, 1976

    1976-01-01

    This issue contains the proceedings of a round table discussion by Ukranian educators, philosophers, and social scientists on the education of the new Soviet man in the era of scientific-technological revolution. The "new man" is defined as the builder of communism, the participant in the transition to an advanced industrial economy.…

  7. Conserving biodiversity on Mongolian Rangelands: Implications for protected area development and pastoral uses

    Treesearch

    Richard P. Reading; Donald J. Bedunah; Sukhiin Amgalanbaatar

    2006-01-01

    Mongolia is a sparsely populated country with over 80 percent of its land used by pastoralists for extensive livestock grazing. Mongolia’s wildlife and pastoralists have faced dramatic challenges with the recent rapid socioeconomic changes. Livestock numbers increased dramatically in the 1990s following the transition from communism to democracy and capitalism. Yet,...

  8. The Liberal Virus in Critical Pedagogy: Beyond "Anti-This-and-That" Postmodernism and Three Problems in the Idea of Communism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kachur, Jerrold L.

    2012-01-01

    In the shadow of triumphalist and hubristic capitalism, many adherents to critical pedagogy promote "democracy" as a kind of anti-capitalist challenge to inequality, oppression and exploitation. However, American culture has gone global, immersing the world in the received wisdom of a variety of liberalisms or in the reaction formations of…

  9. West Europe Report, No. 2174.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-07-15

    shown itself incapable of tackling the problem of public assistance spending. The study from the CESPE social research section, which we are presenting...been able to influence important Riksdag decisions on more than one occasion. Within historical and social science research , Swedish communism has...Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Correspondence pertaining to matters other than procurement may be addressed to Joint Publications Research

  10. History and the End of the Cold War: A Whole New Ball Game?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clifford, J. Garry

    1992-01-01

    Contends end of the Cold War and demise of communism caught most historians by surprise. Questions whether increased military spending by Unites States was the primary cause of the fall of the Soviet Union and communist nations in Europe. Argues world is still a dangerous place, and the Unites States must be diplomatically skillful and encourage…

  11. Red Scare in the Sunshine State: Anti-Communism and Academic Freedom in Florida Public Schools, 1945-1960

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dahlgren, Robert L.

    2016-01-01

    Academic freedom has long been a sacrosanct principle in higher education; however, the same rights to intellectual autonomy have rarely been afforded K-12 practitioners. In times of national political crisis, the abilities of teachers to engage students in the crucial debates about contemporary public policy issues have been stretched to the…

  12. Waiting for the Market: Young Adults in Telavi and Vanadzor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tarkhnishvili, Levan; Voskanyan, Ana; Tholen, Jochen; Roberts, Ken

    2005-01-01

    This paper uses two cases studies to analyse what has happened to young people and their life-stage transitions in those parts of the former communist bloc where all the main industries stopped when communism ended and remained shut-down over 10 years later. Our evidence is from two such places--Telavi in eastern Georgia and Vanadzor in…

  13. A Comparative Look at the Influence of Buddhism and Communism on the Chinese Language. Interfaces, No. 9, Spring 1978.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boulton, Nancy

    The nature of the relationship between linguistic expression and thought has been a source of controversy in linguistics and psychology. This relationship should be considered one of mutual influence and subject to change. An example of this interrelationship can be found in the process of alteration and assimilation that Indian Buddhist thought…

  14. East Europe Report.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-09-05

    spectators. Let us not forget, however, that "over there," while ritually condemning the " Coca - Cola civilization," they have entered marketing agreements...on this Leninist tradition without restraint while enriching and developing further the party policy, the general line aimed at perfecting the...better and more accurate view of the ways to perfect socialism and attain communism. The CPSU is undeterred in holding on firmly to the communist

  15. The Impact of "Old-Wave" McCarthyism at Four Private Black Colleges and Universities in Atlanta, Georgia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Patricia Coleman

    2017-01-01

    Decades after the term "McCarthyism" was first coined, it continues to be used to describe those who prey on the fears of Americans to discriminate against others. In the post-world War years, and well into the sixties, it was Communism. Today, it is "terrorism," and an irrational fear of Muslims. The word is used to describe…

  16. Unionised Faculty and the Political Left: Communism and the American Federation of Teachers on the Eve of the Second World War

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cain, Timothy Reese

    2012-01-01

    During the contentious late 1930s and early 1940s, American education and American labour struggled with both internal and external concerns over Communist infiltration. These struggles converged on the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a union of 30,000 K-12 and college teachers. Through its focus on leftist politics and organised college…

  17. China’s Largesse: Why China Is Generous With Foreign Aid

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-12-01

    leftist factions failed to establish a foothold for communism, and Kenyatta maintained the power of his right-wing regime. Shortly after independence...avenues of diplomatic pressure. Even if this model holds explanatory power , it is unlikely by itself to explain a state’s decisions when accepting...Global Power .............70  3.  China’s Intent and the Supply and Demand of Foreign Aid

  18. Airman Scholar Journal. Volume 19, Spring 2013

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-01

    of technological prowess and a symbol of ideological victory over communism . The Apollo program, which Stephen Johnson has called the United States...CO,80840 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11 ...Space Deterrence in a Labrynthine World Zachary Crippen and Andrew Hilton Topical Focus: Proliferation and Deterrence 11 Racism: A Stumbling Block to

  19. The Development of Soviet Society: Perspectives from Educational Experience. Keynote Addresses from the Horace Mann Lecture Series and the Paul Masoner International Lecture Series, 1972-1978.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, William H. E.

    Historical, philosophical, and social perspectives concerning the development of Soviet society are presented. The concepts of orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationalism that were integral to Russian life for nearly one thousand years of history are discussed, and principles of socialism and communism that were inaugurated in November 1917 in…

  20. Russia’s Air Power at the Crossroads,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1996-01-01

    Chapter Five CONTINUATION TRAINING IN LINE FIGHTER UNITS . . 123 Contrasting Western Views Before the Fall of Communism 124 Standardization...Level-of-Analysis Problem 182 Ambiguities in the Changing Threat Picture 183 The Fallacy of Mirror -Imaging 185 The Limits of Informed Hindsight...to view it darkly in an effort to understand what was going on beneath the often tantalizing, but rarely satisfying, appearances on the surface

  1. The Right to Be Included: Homeschoolers Combat the Structural Discrimination Embodied in Their Lawful Protection in the Czech Republic

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kašparová, Irena

    2015-01-01

    There is a 240-year tradition of compulsory school attendance in the Czech Republic. To many, compulsory school attendance is synonymous with the right to be educated. After the collapse of communism in 1989, along with the democratization of the government, the education system was slowly opened to alternatives, including the right to educate…

  2. Southeast Asia Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-03-10

    Asian zone, the commercial advisory office in Bejing will serve as the zone center. It will be responsible for overseeing things in China , Korea...that remain include the offices in Washington, DC, Geneva, Brussels, Bejing , Jakarta, Tokyo, and London. At the same time, personnel changes are...States fought in Korea and Vietnam because it wanted to limit communism to China and North Vietnam. But after Vietnam fell and the United States withdrew

  3. Compilation of References and Bibliography. Volume 1. An Annotated Bibliography on Low Intensity Conflict Taken from the Joint Low- Intensity Conflict Project Final Report of 1 August 1986. CLIC PAPERS.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-08-01

    conditions--especially in rural areas. Moreover, the author recognizes a continued dependence upon the army in various matters. Some of these are electoral ...Mau Mau revolt in Kenya in East Africa, and the period of the " violencia " in Colombia. 54. Book, Insurgency, COIN. Wesson, Robert, editor, Communism

  4. United States Warship Transfers to Argentina, Brazil, and Chile: Options for U.S. Policy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-12-19

    127 C. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS OF RECIPIENT COUNTRIES ...... ............. 130 D. APPEASES MILITARY IN POST -AUTHORITARIAN DEMOCRACIES...of transferring significant numbers of second-hand warships to the Southern Cone. In this post -Cold War environment a reassessment must be made as to... POST -AUTHORITARIAN DEMOCRACIES Exporting democracy and containing Communism has been a U.S. foreign policy goal throughout the Cold War. In the post Cold

  5. East Europe Report, Political, Sociological and Military Affairs, No. 2185

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-08-15

    Interviewed on Transfer of Union Assets (Romana Kalecka Interview; ZYCIE WARSZAWY, 27 Jun 83) 43 Return to Scientific Marxism -Leninism Urged...opponents of revolutionary Marxism , the Bolshevik party was founded—a party of new Marxist-Leninist type, a combat vanguard in thought and...speakers who subscribe to neither Marxism nor socialism exposed the anti-communism and the hysterical slander of the Soviet Union, the GDR and other

  6. Shaping Air and Sea Power for the Asia Pivot: Military Planning to Support Limited Geopolitical Objectives

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-01

    Summer 2013 [ 117 ] hostile ideological worldviews. The reality of unprecedented interstate socioeconomic networks in creating an internationalized...superior in military and economic terms to dominate a much-feared ideological rival with a contending, ag- gressive value system.10 The US triumph over...communism facilitated this pragmatic rather than ideological pursuit of power by generating a seemingly ingrained and durable transnational

  7. China Report, Red Flag No. 16 August 1982

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1982-10-12

    illegal activities. Such phenomena 19 are clear illustrations of the egoism of the capitalist classes which has developed in the hearts of some...and educate the people on the ideas arid ethics of communism. Article 20 in the "General Principles" stipulates in principle the develop- ment of...one important aspect of socialist spiritual civilization—political consciousness and ideas and ethics . This article embraces three contents: One is

  8. China: Domestic Change and Foreign Policy.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1995-01-01

    prepared for the RAND- Sejong Project on East Asia’s Potential for Instability and Crisis, February 1995. Political-Military Leadership Trends 15...prepared for the RAND- Sejong Project on East Asia’s Potential for Instability and Crisis, February 1995. Swaine, Michael D., "Strategic Appraisal... King , "Prospects for Democratization in China," Problems of Communism, Vol. 41, May-June 1992, pp. 58-70. Wolf, Charles, Jr., et al., Long-Term

  9. Survival through Adaptation: The Chinese Red Army and the Encirclement Campaigns, 1927-1936

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-06-08

    the Soviet Union and communism shifted after his suppression of a communist 99For more information ...other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a ...period. The movement encompassed not only reforms, but also a fundamental shift from traditional Chinese culture and norms. For more information on the

  10. Assessing the Use of Social Media in a Revolutionary Environment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-06-01

    36 radio stations played a significant role in ending state communism in the Soviet Union .62 Building on this lineage, digital communication...Scheme Defendant Defrauded Credit Unions with Phony Purchase Orders for Luxury Cars,” The United States Attorney’s Office Western District of...existing social networks (such as student unions , labor unions , clubs and other civic organizations) is the most effective way to build a large social

  11. New Class Divisions in the New Market Economies: Evidence from the Careers of Young Adults in Post-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Ken; Pollock, Gary

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents evidence from the biographies of samples totaling 1,215 young adults in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, who all reached age 16 between 1986 and 1992, and whose subsequent life histories coincided with their countries' transitions from communism. The evidence is used to examine whether new classes are being created in the new…

  12. Pseudo Democracy, Real War. Russia’s Autocratic Conduct in Chechnya and the Implications for U.S. National and Regional Security Strategy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2000-03-22

    assumption that the new Russian democracy with its renunciation of communism is a mirror image of its own, or at least fraternal to its own. That...Spring 1997): 9-19. Kozyrev , Andrei. “Partnership or Cold Peace?” Foreign Policy (Summer 1995): 3-14). 31 “A Look at How the Kremlin Slid Into the

  13. Red Genesis: The Hunan First Normal School and the Creation of Chinese Communism, 1903-1921. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Liyan

    2012-01-01

    How did an obscure provincial teachers college produce graduates who would go on to become founders and ideologues of the Chinese Communist Party? Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng, and others attended the Hunan First Normal School. Focusing on their alma mater, this work explores the critical but overlooked role modern schools played in sowing…

  14. Perestroika: The End Game

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-08-01

    of economic systems from feudalism, through capitalism, and finally to communism as the ultimate objective or goal. It is essential to appreciate that...capitalists-what it must do and how it must operate in order now to support them and their ecnomic and social efforts. In theorct... Marxism, the concept... essential for building socialism in countries such as the Soviet Union. If the Soviet leadership’s perception of how far democratic socialism has progressed

  15. The Bear and Dragon Embrace: Russian-Chinese Security Cooperation

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-04-21

    weapons and the Soviets refused.30 In 1958, Mao rebuffed a Russian request to build a joint submarine communications and repair facility in Chinese...between these two nations works against a formal defense pact. China and Russia no longer share the ideology of communism . However, they both...nations’ interactions with one another and the rest of the international community . For many centuries after Russia formed, China and Russia had little

  16. INSERM sets up forum.

    PubMed

    Walgate, R

    Considerable public controversy is expected over the composition and role of a new ethics advisory committee set up in association with France's medical research council, INSERM. French president Mitterrand has tried to represent all possible conflicting groups on the committee, which includes 15 scientists nominated by research institutions, 15 persons knowledgeable about ethical issues nominated by various legislative and judicial bodies, and five representatives of the "principal philosophical families": Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islam, and Communism.

  17. Underdevelopment: Major Cause of Insecurity in West Africa

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-03-03

    Government involvement in business in many West African countries could be another reason for the sub-region’s undeveloped industrial sector...PAGES: 30 CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified The stability of a country in terms of physical security is necessary for economic development when considered...insecurity emanate from within the borders of a country . Since the demise of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union as a super power, there has

  18. Translations on Eastern Europe Political, Sociological, and Military Affairs No. 1384.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-05-03

    developments; information on general sociological problems and developments in such areas as demography , manpower, public health and welfare, education...as pioneers on the historically new path of socialism/communism, that these peoples have made the greatest sacrifices for proletarian solida- rity...74 average longevity reached 71.3 years. A declining morbidity trend exists for a number of contagious deseases. In the Sixth Five-Year Plan their

  19. Translations from Kommunist, Number 8, May 1977

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-08-02

    and place their struggle for the triumph of communism on a planned, scientific basis. Article 7. In accordance with their statutory tasks [zadachi... scientific cadres, and organize the application of the results of scientific research in the national economy and other spheres of life. Article 2...countries. 15 Article T7. Citizens of the USSR shall, in accordance with the aims of communist construction, be guaranteed freedom of scientific

  20. The Romani Minority, Coercive Sterilization, and Languages of Denial in the Czech Lands

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Sterilizations of Romani women in socialist Czechoslovakia, either carried out without proper consent, or coerced through substantial financial incentive, were first reported in 1978. Yet these practices did not end with the fall of communism, and it took until 2005 for this to be officially acknowledged by the Czech government. This article draws on published and unpublished documents, as well as oral history interviews, to trace the history of efforts to expose such practices, ‘come to terms’ with their existence, and change social attitudes in relation to the Romani minority in the Czech lands. These exposures have uncovered instances of denial, and have also offered up a variety of ways of understanding the mental and social mechanisms that might have enabled silences, refusals or disavowals with regard to human rights abuses. Under Communism, dissidents associated with Charter 77 elaborated these through the philosophical concepts of phenomenology; after the transition to democracy, a more psychological and therapeutic language came to the fore. I argue that the Czech case suggests that the historiography of denial and disavowal could be enriched by looking beyond the framework of psychoanalysis: by taking into account how historical actors, sometimes with opposing worldviews, have comprehended these processes within the languages of their own culture and period. PMID:29695946

  1. The social organization of representations of history: the textual accomplishment of coming to terms with the past.

    PubMed

    Tileagă, Cristian

    2009-06-01

    This paper is concerned with the social organization of collective memory and representations of history in the context of how post-communist democracies reckon with former regimes. It specifically centres on the textual accomplishment of coming to terms with the past in the 'Tismăneanu Report' condemning Communism in Romania. The focus is on how the Report displays and shapes the ideological contours of coming to terms with the past around a particular 'social representation' of history. Several constitutive features of the Report that facilitate bringing off a particular 'representation of history' are identified: (a) the construction of a practical framework for the inquiry as a matter of public concern and attention; (b) the production of 'Communism' as an empirical category with uniquely bound features; and (c) the structuring of time by bringing together a political agenda and national identity. The present argument tries to place representations of history (and coming to terms with the past) as something in need of constitution rather than simply relied on. It is suggested that a conception of coming to terms with the past as a textual accomplishment may lead to a fuller appreciation of the structure, function and salience of representations of history as integral part of moral/political/legal courses of action.

  2. JPRS Report, China.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-05-17

    By any stretch of the imagination this will be a very important decade. The year 1990, which signifies the beginning of a brand -new era, also...indulging in unbridled propaganda to the effect that "communism has become bankrupt throughout the world," but also its specific policies and actions...5478): "The Serious Effects of the Cold War on Eastern Europe"] INTERNATIONAL JPRS-CAR-90-038 17 May 1990 [Text] After World War II, the countries

  3. JPRS Report, China, Red Flag, Number 23, 1 December 1987

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-03-04

    unhealthy tendency of violating laws and abusing power to seek personal gains. Party organizations and the vast numbers of party members should stand...34transition to communism" in production relations, and practiced egalitarianism characterized by "everybody sharing food from the big pot" in distribution...the party from those of the government easily engender the unhealthy tendency of bureaucracy and abusing power for personal gains. It is difficult

  4. Polish Martial Law: The Crisis of Communism

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-12-01

    unprepared to deal with the crisis and eager for the workers to stop the strikes, agreed to all the demands. This act was a great success for the new union ...authority as the legitimate decision making body. Striking workers throughout the country created the Solidarity Union . They demanded personal freedom...citizens or preserving its Marxist-Leninist ideology. With the aid and coercion of the Soviet Union , as well as other fraternal states, the government

  5. Covert Coercion: A Formal Analysis of Unconventional Warfare as an Interstate Coercive Policy Option

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-06-01

    as the most notable of the founding game theorist patriarchs .121 Game theory’s evolution and development exploded during World War II and the...Kennan’s “containment” telegraph. Containment sought to prevent the further expansion of communism by developing a sphere of democratic influence in...the subjective cardinal value interval scaling used to model the decision behavior of the principal actors, which is resultant from the author’s

  6. Enterprise Funds: Evolving Models for Private Sector Development in Central and Eastern Europe

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1994-03-01

    and Hungary to help private sector development in those countries. Enterprise funds for the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic were created in...institutions are reluctant to invest. The enterprise funds are also to provide technical assistance for private sector development in the host country...Strategies of loan programs developed. Poland and Hungary had taken some steps toward the creation of a private sector before the collapse of communism

  7. Integrating Civilian Agencies in Stability Operations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    Defense for Policy, COL Norman Cotton . At the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Mr. Carl Rosengrant. At the U.S. Joint...rationale for pro- viding foreign aid was to help defeat Soviet-style communism by pro- moting economic development and political reforms that would...1990s, the U.S. government’s stated intent for allocating foreign aid was to achieve broad-based and sustainable economic growth, to pro- mote the

  8. Shaping the New World Order: International Cultural Opportunities and the Private Sector. Edited Proceedings of an International Cultural Forum (Washington, D.C., December 13, 1991).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richardson, Malcolm, Ed.; And Others

    This publication presents the proceedings of a forum held at the U.S. State Department (Washington, D.C.) on the influence of international cultural opportunities in the new world order taking shape since the demise of Communism. The speeches, introductions, and forum discussions are offered in the order that they occurred over the course of a…

  9. Images of Inherited War: Three American Presidents in Vietnam

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-02-01

    famous for his strong stance against Communism . Comparatively, Kennedy seemed a squire taking on a seasoned statesman. On the radio , the outcome was...REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11 . SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12...action and the enemy’s goals [the] decisive error” in Vietnam (emphasis in original). 11 Undoubtedly, a litany of perspectives and nuances on Vietnam is

  10. Economic Development in Afghanistan during the Soviet Period, 1979-1989: Lessons Learned from the Soviet Experience in Afghanistan

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-08-01

    edited by Harold Shukman; Adam B. Ulam, The Bolsheviks: The Intellectual and Political History of the Triumph of Communism in Russia ( New York...Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Professor Hugh White, Head Strategic and Defence Studies Centre Australian National University Coombs Building # 9...International Crisis Group Brussels Office 149 avenue Louise Level 24 B-1050 Brussels Belgium Mr. Robert Barrett Chief, International

  11. On a Wing and a Prayer: A Holistic Vision for Airpower in Small Wars

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-05-25

    Clausewitz, 156. 7 The MPU Model first and foremost starts with the political nature of war, appropriately defining its character and shape... starts with the beginning of the Cold War and the fight against Communism following World War II, with initial strategic guidance from President...defeat and withdrawal in 1954, a period of gradually increasing US involvement and violence began in and around Vietnam, initially starting with the

  12. Area Handbook Series: Italy, A Country Study,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-09-01

    8217 stronrg luiNaltY toc their families. eslcecialI\\ toc their tI,- rrristii gricins..icontinunes toi prevail. The fenrlliikt nnrov~ernt arril cianirg 1catterr...quino, Il sistema politico italiano. is recommended. The PCI has been discussed in a number of excellent works. Communism in Italv and France. edited b...Pasquino, Gianfranco (ed.). Il sistema politico italiano. Bari. Italr: Laterza, 1985. Paterson, W.E. (ed.). Foreign Policv-Making in Western Europe

  13. Regaining Strategic Competence

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    and Vietnam. He is the author of the recent book, 7 Deadly Scenarios. A graduate of West Point, he retired from the US Army in 1993. Dr . Krepinevich...Defense in the Nuclear Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960), p. 23. 2 Robert M. Gates, “A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the...February 1946 “long telegram” from the US embassy in Moscow, Ken - nan likened world communism to a “malignant parasite which feeds only on diseased

  14. Beyond the Warsaw Pact: Russian Foreign Policy in East Central Europe

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-06-01

    Western Overview." Problems of Communism 37 (May/August 1988): 56-60. 134 Brzezinski , Zbigniew. "East-West Relations and Eastern Europe...A Special...Bonn Press EC Superpower Role." Times (London), 17 October 1991, 10. Brzezinski , Zbigniew. "A Common House, a Common Home." The New York Times, 15...December 1990): 27. Aleksandrowicz, Piotr . "October Economic Performance Indicators Reported" (text). Warsaw Rzeczvospolita in Polish, 10-11 November

  15. Translations from Kommunist, No. 14, September 1977

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-11-04

    of social activity. The unquestionable merit of the book is to be found in its analysis of the educational and ideological work of the party as a ...toiling intelligentsia around the party for a systematic struggle for the building of communism marked the victory of socialist so- cial relations in...represent a single entity. They do no insure continuity and the systematic progress from one level of voca- tional skill to a different, higher one. The

  16. Tilting at Windmills: Colonialism, Communism, and the Limits of Coercion

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-06-01

    existential threat to Jewry at the hands of Hitler, the Nazis, and their sympathizers had generated an elemental desire for recognition. If such...Strategic Context- Framing the Problem The existential threat to the United States, in the form of possible nuclear war with the Soviet Union...South East Asia. In Indochina’s case, the realpolitik consideration of “Europe first” would take precedence over more liberal, humanist policies on the

  17. Making of the New Man

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1960-02-24

    The aspiration to be a healthy society, to create for it all new material and cultural values — exactly that incentive, and not the corroding of...people of our generation. And everyone who is acquainted with the materials and resolutions of the.XXI CPSÜ Congress must feel a surge of pride, of...full.of deep meaning are now spreading: "the material -technical base of communism,’» "the decisive stage in competition with the capitalist world

  18. The SED in the 1980’s -- New Program and Statutes for the Party

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-08-17

    cit., p 294. 85. Protocol, Vol 1, p 40. 86. " Scientific Communism," loc. cit., p 295. 87. Zatsepilin, V.G., "Sorevnovaniye dvukh mirovykh sistem ...Covered 14. 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstracts The report contains an analysis by the West German Federal Institute for Eastern Scientific ...for Eastern Scientific and International Studies] CONTENTS PAGE Summary -*- I. Historical Background 5 II. Discussion of Party Documents 6 1

  19. Understanding the role of nationalism in "new democracies".

    PubMed

    Matić, D

    1999-06-01

    The transition from communism to democracy has raised numerous discussions regarding the nature of postcommunism in Eastern Europe. According to the author, the two main approaches used to explain the collapse of communism--one that claims that resurrected civil society triumphed over totalitarianism, and, the other that avers Eastern Europe's propensity for irrationalism and a political behaviour based on ethnic exclusion and hatred--overlook the unique nature of postcommunism. In order to properly grasp the nature of this phenomena, the author argues that one must first understand the intrinsic nature of Eastern Europe's transformation. To do this requires an analysis of the social structures that drive political change and identifying the social group that is the main bearer of transformation. The author believes that though her analysis focuses primarily on the case of former Yugoslavia, and Croatia in particular, the conclusions she draws from it are also valid for other East European countries: that the nation is regarded as the principal catalyst for political change and that nationalism is the main legitimizing principle of emerging states. This analysis rejects the common view according to which nationalism is casually discounted as an irrational political movement that is fundamentally hostile to democracy and freedom. Quite the contrary. Throughout Eastern Europe nationalism has had a positive role in bringing down communism and creating a space for democracy to take root. Still, tension exists between nationalism and the democracy it spawned. To understand this paradox requires an extensive sociological and historical study of the particular conditions within which a particular community defines the goals of nationalism and the specific content of its main undergirding concepts like nation and state. Identifying the circumstances within which nationalism begins to act as an obstacle to the establishment of full-fledge democracy is key to understanding the political reality of today's Croatia and of many other East European "new democracies". Nationalism works differently in different socio-political conditions--differently in countries that recently achieved independence from countries with a long tradition of sovereign statehood, differently in countries with an underdeveloped or non-existent civil society from those with a strong civil society, differently in countries that are economically prosperous from those that are experiencing economic hardship. All these factors, not nationalism per se, determine the overall prospects for liberal democracy in Eastern Europe.

  20. JPRS Report, China

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-05-25

    Chongqing Acad- emy of Social Sciences: "The CPC’s Third Echelon of Successors and Their Special Role"] [Text] The CPC’s plan for raising a third echelon...students who graduated after 1949; 2) Those who became communist cadres after 1949; 3) Those born during or after 1928. Persons born a year or two earlier...restrictions that obstruct the development of productive forces must be removed. They believe that socialism and communism are things far away in the remote

  1. JPRS Report, Arms Control

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-02-23

    point of distorted anti-communism. I think dissidents and student activists should not resort to intermittent violence as in the past. [Moderator...of it is now depen- dent only on the conclusion of a trade agreement between our two countries and then on the President’s excercising his powers...in Europe." "But we must act fast ," De Michelis warned, also in view of the elections slated in Eastern Europe this spring. "One must not give the

  2. Europe, the United States, and the International Criminal Court

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2003-06-01

    assumed this task and committed itself to help free peoples in their fight against Communism. The Truman Doctrine meant a turning point in the...Europeans as “ free -riders” under the U.S. security umbrella, while Europeans viewed Americans as using Europe as a means of defending itself against...knuckles, the EU made a few cosmetic changes in its regulations and content to drag out if not defy the process. The U.S. in return threatened

  3. Soviet Strategy in the Red Sea Basin.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-03-01

    xenophobic sentiments to a fever pitch. Feelings of honor and blood revenge run strong within the tribes, and on occasion caused sheikhs to switch...communism which stressed self-reliance. In 1971 he drew upon the Chinese rnidel to establish the people’s militia as a means of taking the revolution to the...Moscow and stressing the inadequacies of Peking’s assistance. This complemented the Soviet desire to enhance its influence in Aden. Peking’s and

  4. Parameters, U.S. Army War College Quarterly. Volume 22, Number 2, Spring 1992

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-01-01

    the Hitler -Tojo Axis, or Moscow- centered communism at its height of aggressiveness. To be sure, Japan and the European Community threaten our...military community was interested in what Hitler was doing in Europe, it seemed far away. As for the Japanese threat to the islands, it was not until the...reminders of bouts with pellegra and malnutrition. Arrival in the states meant some handshaking with generals and ad- mirals, hometown newspaper stories

  5. Cups, Cowbells, Medals, and Flags: Sport and National Identity in Germany, 1936-2006

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-12-01

    Nazism, Maoism, Communism, and Marxism – viewed and incorporated sport into their tenets and tools for attaining ideological goals.20 Nafziger looks at...in the United States – an Old World high bourgeoisie rather than the New World middle class.”150 In Germany, after World War II, the Rotarians...Rotarians. With the aristocratic members fled or dead, the Jewish bourgeoisie extinguished, and the professionals and business elites scrabbling to deal

  6. Reinforcing a Regime: Strengthening Clientelism in Iran with Sanctions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-09-01

    for this thesis. Of the scholarship focusing on class, Max Weber’s Economy and Society served as an excellent starting point in the effort to...of the twentieth century brought with it Western business interests that would start the process of building a capitalist market. The opening of the...advanced communism, which he calls ‘the structure of Abel’; or a class society, as in slavery , feudalism, and capitalism, which he calls ‘the structure of

  7. Soviet Intentions and American Options in the Middle East,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1982-01-01

    restraints upon cannibals and elimi- nating the slave trade appeared to our ancestors. Some of the Soviet leadership may be cynically mouthing propaganda...ish military weakness-the fall of Khartum in the Sudan, and the 9 massacre of General Gordon and his forces there in January 1885.1 Similarly, the...rare in the Middle East-a modern urban setting. The educational system spawned a hoard of Marxist teachers, many of whom saw Soviet communism as the

  8. Risky Invasions: Decisions Made by the Argentine Junta Regarding Disputed Islands, 1978-1982

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-09-01

    ruled a majority black population, was very different from the situation in the Falklands. Norden suggests that the islands were of limited value to...preventing the spread of communism. The junta may not have had a stellar human rights record, but its anti-communist credentials were spotless. The...Malvinas was their only chance to dig themselves out of the hole they were in with any sense of credibility and legitimacy. 3. Lack of Resolution

  9. Bugs, Gas, and Joint Maritime Operations--Are we Immune?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-06-19

    asPira::on - and an opp rtunity. ŗ Even with the collapse of Soviet communism , there are powers who would challenge our aspirations: a technological ... technological data are used to analyze the effects of chemica’l warfare on joint naval operations throughout the continuum of peace, conflict and war. A judgement...IM1MUNE? Historical and technological data are used to analyze the effects of chemical warfare on joint naval operations throughout the continuum of

  10. Was the Soviet Union Responsible for the Outbreak of the Korean War?

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-06-05

    opinion, "The bugaboo of communism had been conjured up to appeal to the emotions of the American people, rather than to their intelligence." The...More likely, Stalin may have made a conscious decision to limit his investment in favor of Eastern Europe. George F. Kennan has argued that...focused on mining and heavy industry- the major sources of exports to the USSR- while minimizing investments in domestic manufactures. Chemical fertilizers

  11. 'If I Ever Have to Go to Prison, I Hope it's a Russian Prison': British Labour, Social Democracy and Soviet Communism, 1919-25.

    PubMed

    Hodgson, Max

    2017-09-01

    Through the inter-war period, the USSR became an example of 'socialism in action' that the British labour movement could both look towards and define itself against. British visitors both criticized and acclaimed aspects of the new Soviet state between 1919 and 1925, but a consistently exceptional finding was the Soviet prison. Analysing the visits and reports of British guests to Soviet prisons, the aims of this article are threefold. Using new material from the Russian archives, it demonstrates the development of an intense admiration for, and often a desire to replicate, the Soviet penal system on the part of Labour members, future Communists, and even Liberals who visited Soviet Russia. It also critically examines why, despite such admiration, the effect of Soviet penal ideas failed to significantly influence Labour Party policy in this area. Finally, placing these views within a broader framework of the British labour movement's internal tussles over the competing notions of social democracy and communism, it is argued that a failure to affect policy should not proscribe reappraisals of these notions or the Soviet-Labour Party relationship, both of which were more complex than is currently permitted in the established historiography. © The Author [2017]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  12. Translations on Western Europe. Number 1321. Communism and Socialism in Italy: Enrico Berlinguer, Bettino Craxi Vie for Power

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1978-11-01

    of Its own. Now, 14 years have passed since my polemic with Norberto Bobbio which at the time created a certain stir and from which was taken the...had in fact been discussed by the Association for the Socialist Project ( Norberto Bobbio , president, and Giorgio Ruffolo, secretary) and then among...succession in perspective—Trockij and Rosa Luxemburg, Gramsci and Lenin, Bertrand Russell, Carlo Rosselli, Norberto Bobbio , Gilles Martinet, Isaac Deutscher

  13. Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in Al-Qa’ida from 1989-2006

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-09-01

    situation in 1989 by the Egyptian jihadi Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu’l-Walid, written some time after 1996. Abu’l-Walid’s single most...many of the Arab mujahidin, especially fellow Egyptians , who would go on to take leading roles in al-Qa’ida. Of these he was closest to Abu Hafs al...the leadership in Peshawar, with the long-term goal being the liberation of South Yemen from communism.40 Egyptian Islamic Jihad: participation in

  14. People, Process, and Policy: Case Studies in National Security Advising, the National Security Council, and Presidential Decision Making

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-01

    processes. Rothkopf, David J. 2006. Running the World: The Inside Story of The National Security Council and The Architects of American Power . 1st ed...recognized Soviet aims. They aimed to gain power , spread communism, and counter the West. Eisenhower’s belief in American physical and ideological...The Architects of American Power . 1st ed. New York: Public Affairs: 322-324. 22 Burke, Honest Broker?, 341. 23 U.N. Ambassador Albright, Treasury

  15. Insurgency in Peru, Retrospective Analysis of the Sendero Luminoso’s (Shining Path)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-01-01

    revive the idea of the glory of the Inca Empire before its conquest by Spain. Mariategui depicts the Incas as a glowing portrait ofan ideal society... Empire and called for, to a time before Spanish col~:mialism corrupted society. The Sendero believed that the only way to renew the Inca past was through...that was primarily agrarian and prospered. He dismissed criticisms of the Inca state as despotic and argued that it was Inca communism. In his eye, the

  16. U.S. Stabilization and Reconstruction Doctrine: A Failure to Address the Specifics of Authoritarian Regime Transition

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-12-03

    A. Frick U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies United States Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas AY 2009...involvement. The expansion of free markets , the advent of two world wars and the rise of communism shifted U.S. policy to a focus on global leadership...improvements in technology and the expansion of free markets . Free markets , a principle of classical liberalism, slowly pushed America into the global realm

  17. U.S. Stabilization and Reconstruction Doctrine: A Failure to Address the Specifics of Authoritarian Regime Transition

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-05-21

    A. Frick U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies United States Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas AY 2009...involvement. The expansion of free markets , the advent of two world wars and the rise of communism shifted U.S. policy to a focus on global leadership...improvements in technology and the expansion of free markets . Free markets , a principle of classical liberalism, slowly pushed America into the global realm

  18. NATO’s 1979 Dual-Track Decision: National Interests and the Influence of Former Political Leaders of the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-05-22

    reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services , Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215...Germany contributed fundamentally to the agreement.1 The dual-track decision led to controversial and emotional discussions in the Federal Republic...starting another war. He considered a strong western Social Democracy to be the greatest challenge to Soviet communism . His self-consciousness and

  19. JPRS Report, Soviet Union, USA: Economics, Politics, Ideology, No. 3, March 1988

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-08-11

    economic regulation and social welfare and appealed for the resolute "rolling back" of communism in foreign policy. Reaganism reached its peak in 1983 and...of correspondence between their declared inten- tions and actual results. It is true that the "fat" was trimmed from social spending, but the...system of govern- ment-financed social welfare was not dismantled. Taxes were lowered in the interest of big capital, but only at the cost of a dramatic

  20. Jane Fonda: Repercussions of Her 1972 Visit to North Vietnam

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    government did not indict her for treason or sedition , and she was not held accountable for her actions in North Vietnam. Consequently, the issue of... speech at Duke University, “I am a Socialist, I think we should strive toward a socialist society – all the way to communism. I would think that if...sending you on bombing missions.” 28 Fonda felt justified in her antiwar speeches , claiming the people who spoke out against the war were the

  1. Cuba in Transition: Communism vs Charisma Who Will Emerge as Cuba’s Next Leader

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-04-04

    38 Olivo Verde, Defense of the Socialist Homeland, 6 March 1986. 26 MajGen Frias LtGen Espinosa MajGen Sola Cuban forces.39 The FAR is...comprised of three separate branches: the Army (Ejercito 150,000 troops strong), the Navy [Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria (MG) 5,000 troops strong] and...Cintro Frias , and is headquartered in Havana. The Eastern Army Corps, is led by General Ramon Espinosa Martin, and is headquartered in Santiago de Cuba

  2. Meeting the Needs of Polonia: A Comparison of the Polish-American Press Before and After 1980-1981

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-01-01

    He adds that, in 1923, the opposite was true : newspapers comprised 88 percent and 57 periodicals only 12 percent of the total publications, indicating...Dusza remarked that people of both Polonias were getting tired of political news. Dusza said this was particularly true for the immigrants for whom it...that the role of Emisariusz is to inform readers about the reality behind perestroika, the dangers of Communism, and to provide " true " information about

  3. 'These reforms killed me': doctors' perceptions of family medicine during the transition from communism to capitalism.

    PubMed

    Czachowski, Slawomir; Pawlikowska, Teresa

    2011-08-01

    The establishment of family medicine (FM) in Poland following political reform. To describe family doctors' (FD) experiences during the introduction of FM. A qualitative study of 25 FDs in Poland, using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. Open-structured narrative-based interviews with five FDs were then used to deepen understanding of the major emergent themes. Fifteen of 25 had a different initial specialization to FM; 10 of 25 overseas work experience. Many doctors were driven by personal circumstances to engage with this new discipline, which provided a better fit with their life circumstances and a chance to escape from hierarchical structures characterizing the old regime. Personal experience of role models helped embrace FM, whereas adherence to ingrained biomedical approaches led to difficulty with exposure to common problems and could facilitate burnout. Shifting relationships in the reformed system caused tensions between primary and secondary care. While relationships with patients and specialists were being renegotiated, the concept of an independent FD practice surfaced. We observed that the most serious problems that the doctors encountered were circumstances related to the former health care system, in contrast to any lack of professional skills. This is a rare qualitative study exploring Polish doctors' perspectives of the health care reform after the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. This analysis of newly qualified FDs has provided an insight into the authentic experiences, and motivation of grass roots FM pioneers in Poland.

  4. The Succession Problem in the People’s Republic of China.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-06-01

    Kung Yen Chiu" (Studies in Chinese Communism) is a monthly publication by the Nationalist Chinese on Taiwan and "Cheng, J. Chester" is a personal name...beans on a beanstalk fire, Came a plaintive voice from the pot, 0 Why, since we sprang from the selfsame root, "- should you kill me with anger hot...someone of shallow experience (a rookie, or "wet behind the ears"). Literally, it means that "the smell of your mother’s milk is still fresh on you ." Most

  5. The Origins of Nunn-Lugar and Cooperative Threat Reduction (Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Case Study 3, April 2010)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-04-01

    Washington and Moscow that would facilitate communications and help minimize misunderstandings that could create or exacerbate a nuclear crisis .4 Nunn’s...16 1 Prologue: From Silos to Sunflowers The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR in the two short years from 1989 to 1991...the former Soviet Union, key leaders in Congress and experts in the policy and academic communities began to assess the nature of this threat and to

  6. Translations on Eastern Europe Political, Sociological, and Military Affairs, Number 1456.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1977-10-06

    first line of each item, or following the last line of a brief, indicate how the original information was processed. Where no processing indicator is...34’ t6ChniCal ^ and ^^ the ^ve^mSt or n i ai abil y and endurance among young people. Basic defense training is given to all boys and girls aged 16-18...real prerequi- sites for the transition to communism are being created in the true home- land of Marx and Engels. This is how the GDR appears today

  7. [Gregorio Marañón, a pioneer of endocrinology, 50 years after his death].

    PubMed

    Zarate, Arturo

    2011-01-01

    Gregorio Maranon born and dead in Madrid (1887-1960), was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer, considered one of the most brilliant Spanish intellectuals of the 20th century. He was also a Republican and fought the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, though later expressed his disagreement with communism. Maranon participated closely with the process of exile of Alfonso XIII. From a very early age he learned several foreign languages and was an avid reader, hence he became in contact with the intellectual circles of the time and cultivated a close friendship with Perez Galdos, Menendez-Pelayo, Ortega y Gasset, Pio Baroja, Unamuno, Lerroux among several outstanding and eminent figures of the famous Generation of 14. In Medical School he had great teachers such as Santiago Ramon y Cajal, and later he specialized in endocrinology and became professor of the specialty in the Complutense University in Madrid, moreover he founded the Institute of Medical Pathology and the Department of Experimental Endocrinology, henceforth he contributed to establish the relationship between endocrinology and psychology. At the beginning of the instauration of the Republic, Maranon became a member of the constituent assembly and the parliament, but soon became disillusioned of communism and left Spain before the initiation of the Civil War, remaining in France until 1942 when he returned to Spain to reestablish his private practice, and soon the medical teaching at the hospital which now bears his name. Late work about history, poetry was elaborated at his Toledo Cigarral de Menores.

  8. Body or soul: representing lesbians in post-soviet Russian culture.

    PubMed

    Baer, Brian James

    2011-01-01

    This article examines representations of lesbians in contemporary Russian literature and film as expressions of a host of post-Soviet anxieties over the social, political, and economic turmoil following the fall of communism. In particular, the author examines three recurrent motifs: the lesbian as narcissist; the lesbian as prostitute; and the lesbian as predator. While many authors and filmmakers present these qualities as a threat to the (patriarchal) social order, others celebrate those very attributes as a liberating alternative to the narrow roles traditionally available to Russian women, which stress their qualities of maternal love and self-sacrifice.

  9. Commensal communism and the oral cavity.

    PubMed

    Henderson, B; Wilson, M

    1998-09-01

    The world we live in contains unimaginable numbers of bacteria, and these and other single-celled creatures represent the major diversity of life on our planet. During the last decade or so, the complexity and intimacy of the interactions which occur between bacteria and host eukaryotic cells during the process of infection have begun to emerge. The study of such interactions is the subject of the new discipline of cellular microbiology. This intimacy of bacteria/host interactions creates a major paradox. The average human being is 90% bacteria in terms of cell numbers. These bacteria constitute the commensal or normal microflora and populate the mucosal surfaces of the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, urogenital tract, and the surface of the skin. In bacterial infections, much of the pathology is due to the release of a range of bacterial components (e.g., modulins such as lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, DNA, molecular chaperones), which induce the synthesis of the local hormone-like molecules known as pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, such components must also be constantly released by the vast numbers of bacteria constituting the normal microflora and, as a consequence, our mucosae should constantly be in a state of inflammation. This is patently not the case, and a hypothesis is forwarded to account for this "commensal paradox", namely, that our commensal bacteria and mucosal surfaces exist in a state of bio-communism, forming a unified "tissue" in which interactions between bacteria and epithelia are finely balanced to ensure bacterial survival and prevent the induction of damaging inflammation. Evidence is emerging that bacteria can produce a variety of proteins which can inhibit the synthesis/release of inflammatory cytokines. The authors predict that such proteins are simply one part of an extensive signaling system which occurs between bacteria and epithelial cells at mucosal surfaces such as those found in the oral cavity.

  10. Foodborne botulism in southwest Romania during the post-communism period 1990-2007.

    PubMed

    Neghina, Adriana Maria; Marincu, Iosif; Moldovan, Roxana; Iacobiciu, Ioan; Neghina, Raul

    2010-02-01

    This study was a retrospective investigation of botulism cases over a period of 18 years following major political and economic changes, addressing the question of whether this disease is still an important health concern in southwest Romania. The medical records of botulism cases were used as the source of data. Patients from five southwest Romanian counties were hospitalized at Victor Babes Hospital of Infectious Diseases in Timisoara during the period 1990-2007. The median annual incidence of botulism cases in southwest Romania decreased from 0.1 per 100 000 persons during 1990-1998, to 0.05 per 100 000 persons during 1999-2007. Most of the cases (18.6%) were diagnosed in 1990, immediately following the communism period. The median age of the patients was 38 years (range 16-73 years); 24 (55.8%) were male; the case fatality rate was 2.3%. A significantly higher incidence rate of 2.7 cases per 100 000 persons occurred in rural areas, even though most of the cases (53.5%) were inhabitants of urban areas. The clinical pattern included: difficulty swallowing (79.1%), double and/or blurred vision (69.8%), dry mouth (60.5%), drooping eyelids (51.2%), vomiting (39.5%), mydriasis (37.2%), constipation (27.9%), abdominal pain (23.3%), and slurred speech (18.6%). All cases were attributed to contaminated food sources, mainly home-prepared traditional pork products. Although the botulism cases decreased over the study period in southwest Romania, this life-threatening disease continues to be an important concern. A strategy addressing individual behaviors in the home is needed to improve food safety. Copyright 2009 International Society for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Visual persuasion and politics: ideology and symbols of the totalitarian regimes'--case study: hammer and sickle.

    PubMed

    Svilicić, Niksa; Maldini, Pero

    2013-06-01

    Unlike all other autocracies, authoritarian regimes are, as the ultimate form of authoritarianism, a distinct phenomenon of the modern era. Caused by the crisis of liberal democracy and industrial capitalism of the early twentieth century, and led by radical populist political movements/parties and their leaders, they established themselves as the regimes which marked one of the greatest degrees of unfreedom. The article analyzes the specific sociostructural, sociocultural and sociopsychological aspects of the formation of totalitarian regimes (particularly communism), as well as their political system, ideological foundations and modus operandi. In doing so, it particularly emphasizes the dissolution of civil society and its substitution by a political society as a key structural determinant, authoritarianism and fear as a sociopsychological basis, and repression as the functional basis of operation for totalitarian regimes. In that context, it analyzes the political, anthropological and visual aspects of the symbols of totalitarian regimes, their archetypal (mythological, religious, ethnic, cultural, historical) meaning, and explains their function (political, anthropological, sociocultural, and sociopsychological) in the development and preservation of totalitarian regimes. Using the example of the hammer and sickle, a typical symbol of communism, it shows a substantial and communicational (particularly visual) dimension of symbol, by breakdown by the elements of semiotics (signum, designatum, interpretant) and its sub-disciplines (semantics, pragmatics, sintactics). On this basis, it tries to show the decisive power of political symbols over the political perceptions and political behavior of individuals and entire social groups, i.e. their manipulative power by meanings assigned to them by totalitarian authorities and forms of their communication, with the goal of preserving the totalitarian regime.

  12. Working through a psychotherapy group's political cultures.

    PubMed

    Ettin, Mark F; Cohen, Bertram D

    2003-10-01

    Macropolitical evolution, starting with authoritarian monarchism, has moved through anarchistic transitions either to the totalitarianism of fascism and communism or to liberal and social democracy. We posit analogous micropolitical development in process-oriented therapy groups: "dependence" and "counterdependence" corresponding to monarchism and anarchism; and "independence" and "interdependence" to liberal and social democracy, respectively. Transition from counterdependence to independence and interdependence may be: (1) facilitated through group members' cooperative experience of rebellion, or (2) blocked by collective identification, the internalization of dystopian or utopian fantasies that coalesce as "group-self" perceptions. We explore how group therapists work clinically with and through these several "political cultures" in the service of group and self transformation.

  13. [The power of ideologies].

    PubMed

    Rubia Vila, Francisco José

    2010-01-01

    The ideologies of the xx century have caused millions of casualties. It is important to know the cognitive processes that originate ideological thinking. Ideologies are typically closed visions of the world with a strong dualistic component. Dualistic thinking is likely to be a distinct mental category which implicates the right inferior parietal lobe of the brain. Nevertheless, the connection between a manichean mental-cognitive thought and an emotional component presents great danger, due to the resulting simplification of history, its reification, and the demonization of the opposite, before proceeding to its destruction. Both communism and national socialism are evident examples of this perversion of thought. To know the neurocognitive underpinnings is hence of great relevance if we do not want ro repeat history.

  14. Russian perspectives: The past shapes the present

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Houck, R.P.

    1994-11-01

    This document contains an outline of a speech given to a group of professionals at Pacific Northwest Laboratory which was intended to give an unbiased view of Soviet perceptions. Topics discussed include: The new mission of US and Soviet labs and institutions to develop products and dedicate research to post cold war threat, historical prospectives of Russia, Russian military roles and missions, ideology of Russian politics, evils of capitalism, Russian civil war, communism, world war II, Russian losses during the war, the cold war, reasons why America should care what happens in Russia, the internal threat against a market-based economy,more » the US should help, and the Russian people and their attitudes.« less

  15. "Who's winning the human race?"Cold war as pharmaceutical political strategy.

    PubMed

    Tobbell, Dominique A

    2009-10-01

    Between 1959 and 1962, Senator Estes Kefauver led a congressional investigation into the pricing practices of U.S. drug firms. As part of its defense, the industry mobilized the rhetoric of cold war and promoted the industry as a critical national asset in the global war against communism. The industry argued that any effort to undermine corporate innovation by inviting, as Kefauver proposed, greater government involvement in drug development threatened the public's health and invited socialism-in the form of socialized medicine-into the domestic political economy. This strategy proved critical to the industry's efforts to build political support for itself, particularly among the medical profession, and undermine Kefauver's reform agenda.

  16. Human genetics in troubled times and places.

    PubMed

    Harper, Peter S

    2018-01-01

    The development of human genetics world-wide during the twentieth century, especially across Europe, has occurred against a background of repeated catastrophes, including two world wars and the ideological problems and repression posed by Nazism and Communism. The published scientific literature gives few hints of these problems and there is a danger that they will be forgotten. The First World War was largely indiscriminate in its carnage, but World War 2 and the preceding years of fascism were associated with widespread migration, especially of Jewish workers expelled from Germany, and of their children, a number of whom would become major contributors to the post-war generation of human and medical geneticists in Britain and America. In Germany itself, eminent geneticists were also involved in the abuses carried out in the name of 'eugenics' and 'race biology'. However, geneticists in America, Britain and the rest of Europe were largely responsible for the ideological foundations of these abuses. In the Soviet Union, geneticists and genetics itself became the object of persecution from the 1930s till as late as the mid 1960s, with an almost complete destruction of the field during this time; this extended also to Eastern Europe and China as part of the influence of Russian communism. Most recently, at the end of the twentieth century, China saw a renewal of government sponsored eugenics programmes, now mostly discarded. During the post-world war 2 decades, human genetics research benefited greatly from recognition of the genetic dangers posed by exposure to radiation, following the atomic bomb explosions in Japan, atmospheric testing and successive accidental nuclear disasters in Russia. Documenting and remembering these traumatic events, now largely forgotten among younger workers, is essential if we are to fully understand the history of human genetics and avoid the repetition of similar disasters in the future. The power of modern human genetic and genomic techniques now gives a greater potential for abuse as well as for beneficial use than has ever been seen in the past.

  17. Shostakovich versus the Central Committee: the power of music.

    PubMed

    White, Richard H R

    2008-08-01

    The centenary of Shostakovich's birth, celebrated in 2006, generated considerable interest in his life and music. During the Cold War his music was rarely played in the West, and it was not until after his death in 1975 that it re-emerged. The publication of his memoirs in the UK, in 1979, gave new insights into his life in Soviet Russia. Music, like art and literature, has the power to shock and can reflect anger and frustration at contemporary social issues. Much debate has focused on whether Shostakovich was a victim or mouthpiece of Communism. In order to fully appreciate his music, it is essential to understand his personal and professional life under Josef Stalin--in particular his public humiliation by the Central Committee, and by professional musicians who were Communist Party members.

  18. The rise of homosexuality and the dawn of communism in Hong Kong film: 1993-1998.

    PubMed

    Grossman, A

    2000-01-01

    I have designed this essay as a general overview of the self-evident trend towards queer subject matter in the past decade in Hong Kong film, a trend that not only coincides historically with the 1997 handover to the Mainland but also frequently comes equipped with parent-child relationships that can be read as allegories for the colony's future as the "child" to its mother country. Queerness in HK films has both alternated between and combined indigenous forms of queerness and the imported Western variety; by charting courses through internationalized concepts of homosexuality, HK films have posited their queerness not only as an existential allegory of (post)colonialism but also as a claim (or hope) for a utopian sexuality cum utopian international politics.

  19. How to end the nuclear nightmare

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Speiser, S.M.

    1984-01-01

    An international lawyer examines the underlying causes of and ways to remove the Soviet-US enmity. He traces the history of distrust between the superpowers to differences in ideology and political systems, expansionism based on nationalism, and the human drive for power, and concludes that these tensions compel us to be enemies. Ideology is the only difference between the superpowers that can be removed. Capitalism could be made compatible with communism by distributing corporate stock to everyone. Eliminating poverty and exploitation would remove the ideological barrier to world peace and nuclear disarmament, making it worthwhile for the Soviet self-interest to cooperatemore » with the US. The capitalistic system and Western freedoms would be preserved, and religious leaders could solve the dilemma of liberation theology. 61 references, 3 figures.« less

  20. A tour of inequality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eliazar, Iddo

    2018-02-01

    This paper presents a concise and up-to-date tour to the realm of inequality indices. Originally devised for socioeconomic applications, inequality indices gauge the divergence of wealth distributions in human societies from the socioeconomic 'ground state' of perfect equality, i.e. pure communism. Inequality indices are quantitative scores that take values in the unit interval, with the zero score characterizing perfect equality. In effect, inequality indices are applicable in the context of general distributions of sizes - non-negative quantities such as count, length, area, volume, mass, energy, and duration. For general size distributions, which are omnipresent in science and engineering, inequality indices provide multi-dimensional and infinite-dimensional quantifications of the inherent inequality - i.e., the statistical heterogeneity, the non-determinism, the randomness. This paper compactly describes the insights and the practical implementation of inequality indices.

  1. Patient rights protection in the Czech Republic: challenges of a transition from Communism to a modern legal system.

    PubMed

    Dostal, O

    2007-03-01

    The post-Communist countries in Central Europe, including the Czech Republic, underwent a rapid transformation of their legal systems, within which the concept of patient rights passed through revolutionary changes. This process however often left significant gaps in patient rights protection. There are practical difficulties for patients in defending their rights before the courts, such as problems with obtaining evidence and independent expert opinions, long delays and high costs of court proceedings, strict burden of proof rules and low compensation levels. Modern patient rights often collide with the systems of health care provision that are still unprepared for patient autonomy and responsibility. The experience gained in the transition process might be applicable also to other countries that undergo changes from traditional to modern system of patient rights protection.

  2. Beyond lognormal inequality: The Lorenz Flow Structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eliazar, Iddo

    2016-11-01

    Observed from a socioeconomic perspective, the intrinsic inequality of the lognormal law happens to manifest a flow generated by an underlying ordinary differential equation. In this paper we extend this feature of the lognormal law to a general ;Lorenz Flow Structure; of Lorenz curves-objects that quantify socioeconomic inequality. The Lorenz Flow Structure establishes a general framework of size distributions that span continuous spectra of socioeconomic states ranging from the pure-communism extreme to the absolute-monarchy extreme. This study introduces and explores the Lorenz Flow Structure, analyzes its statistical properties and its inequality properties, unveils the unique role of the lognormal law within this general structure, and presents various examples of this general structure. Beyond the lognormal law, the examples include the inverse-Pareto and Pareto laws-which often govern the tails of composite size distributions.

  3. The challenge of sustainability

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Orr, D.W.

    1993-01-01

    This paper discusses sustainability in a world that has changed rapidly. The author suggests that ecological assumptions embedded in communism and capitalism are badly flawed, but the flaws were not apparent when there were fewer than a billion people on earth living at low technology levels. Sustaining the earth's vital signs is a challenge to our perception of time, and the numbers - population, environmental damage, oil consumption, waste disposal - are too large to comprehend easily. There is a global debate about what sustainability means. In fact the challenge of sustainability is 6 different challenges: overcoming the tendency tomore » deny inconvenient realities; establishing accurate indicators of human and ecological health; questions about the kinds of technology necessary to make the transition to sustainability; education; the need for an emotional bond between man and nature; rebuilding the existing democratic institutions. 16 refs.« less

  4. The Normative Orientations of Climate Scientists.

    PubMed

    Bray, Dennis; von Storch, Hans

    2017-10-01

    In 1942 Robert K. Merton tried to demonstrate the structure of the normative system of science by specifying the norms that characterized it. The norms were assigned the abbreviation CUDOs: Communism, Universalism, Disinterestedness, and Organized skepticism. Using the results of an on-line survey of climate scientists concerning the norms of science, this paper explores the climate scientists' subscription to these norms. The data suggests that while Merton's CUDOs remain the overall guiding moral principles, they are not fully endorsed or present in the conduct of climate scientists: there is a tendency to withhold results until publication, there is the intention of maintaining property rights, there is external influence defining research and the tendency to assign the significance of authored work according to the status of the author rather than content of the paper. These are contrary to the norms of science as proposed by Robert K. Merton.

  5. Social work services in Army medical treatment facilities: are they reorganizing?

    PubMed

    Hamlin, E R; Pehrson, K L; Gemmill, R

    1996-01-01

    The end of the Cold War and the fall of Communism in Europe resulted in profound changes in U.S. defense policy. Those changes led to dramatic reductions in personnel and programs within the Army. The Army Medical Department (AMEDD) is also being reduced in size and reorganized. At the same time, the AMEDD is facing escalating health care costs associated with demand and access to medical care. Social work services in Army medical treatment facilities are being directly affected by these system changes. Therefore, the question is raised whether changes in the organization and delivery of social work services are being initiated or anticipated. To what extent are social work chiefs of service involved in these decisions at the medical treatment facility level, and what are the positive and negative effects of reorganization on social work staff and the clients they serve?

  6. What's Left of the Left-Right Dimension? Why the Economic Policy Positions of Europeans Do Not Fit the Left-Right Dimension.

    PubMed

    Otjes, Simon

    2018-01-01

    In political science the economic left-right dimension plays a central role. A growing body of evidence shows that the economic policy preferences of a large segment of citizens do not scale sufficiently. Using Mokken scale analysis, this study determines the causes of this phenomenon. Differences in the extent to which the economic policy preferences of citizens fit the left-right dimension can be explained in terms of the interaction between individual level and political system-level variables: citizens who spend more attention to politicians with views that conform to the left-right dimension, have views that conform to the left-right dimension. There is also a role for the legacy of communist dictatorship: citizens who were socialised in democratic countries have views that fit the left-right dimension better than those socialised during communism.

  7. Health status among elderly Hungarians and Americans.

    PubMed

    Buss, T F; Beres, C; Hofstetter, C R; Pomidor, A

    1994-07-01

    Selected health status data for elderly populations from similar industrial cities-Youngstown, Ohio, USA, and Debrecen, Hungary-were compared. Because of their impoverished health care system, unregulated heavily industrialized society, and unhealthful life-styles Hungarians were hypothesized to have poorer health status than Americans, even after taking into account demographic mediating factors. The study provides a health status baseline for elderly Hungarians shortly after communism's fall in 1989-1990 and shows how great a gap exists between Hungarian health status and that in the West. Hungarians were in much poorer health as measured by functional status, symptomatology, medical condition, depression, and subjective health status. Distinctions persisted when controlling for gender, age, and education. Poverty-level (and income) did not explain health status differences. The paper concludes that Hungary should pay more attention to health promotion, prevention, and primary care, as well as to reforming patient management in hospitals, nursing homes, and home care programs.

  8. Therapeutic Fascism: re-educating communists in Nazi-occupied Serbia, 1942-44.

    PubMed

    Antic, Ana

    2014-03-01

    This article probes the relationship between psychoanalysis and right-wing authoritarianism, and analyses a unique psychotherapeutic institution established by Serbia's World War II collaborationist regime. The extraordinary Institute for compulsory re-education of high-school and university students affiliated with the Communist resistance movement emerged in the context of a brutal civil war and violent retaliations against Communist activists, but its openly psychoanalytic orientation was even more astonishing. In order to stem the rapid spread of Communism, the collaborationist state, led by its most extreme fascistic elements, officially embraced psychotherapy, the 'talking cure' and Freudianism, and conjured up its own theory of mental pathology and trauma - one that directly contradicted the Nazi concepts of society and the individual. In the course of the experiment, Serbia's collaborationists moved away from the hitherto prevailing organicist, biomedical model of mental illness, and critiqued traditional psychiatry's therapeutic pessimism.

  9. Contested visions of American democracy: citizenship, public housing, and the international arena.

    PubMed

    Argersinger, Jo Ann E

    2010-01-01

    This essay reexamines the history of public housing and the controversy it generated from the Great Depression to the Cold War. By recasting that history in the global arena, it demonstrates that the debate over public housing versus homeownership was also a debate over the meaning of American citizenship and democracy, pointing up starkly divergent notions about what was and was not American. Through an examination of national conflicts and neglected local struggles, this article further shows that the fight over public housing was far more meaningful and volatile than traditionally assumed. Both critics and advocates of public housing drew from international experiences and imagery in positioning the home as a constitutive feature of citizenship in American democracy. Fears of Bolshevism, fascism, and communism served to internationalize issues of race, space, and housing and together shaped the decision of whether a decent home was an American right or privilege.

  10. Call to modernization: distributed interactive simulation (DIS)-an answer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tarr, Ronald W.

    1995-04-01

    The recent profound change in the geo-political alignment of nations, fall of Soviet Communism, economic reform at home, lessons learned from Operation DESERT STORM, and increased reliance on the military to execute Operations Other Than War (OOTW), has resulted in a Modernization renaissance throughout the Department of the Defense. Focused by a diminished strategic threat and reduced budget, the Army must tackle the challenge of realism and accurate Comand and Control capabilities across the entire spectrum of the Synthetic Environment. To accomplish this, as the DoD lead for DIS, it has formulated many new modernization strategies during the last three years to ensure its premier status as the world's Dominant Landforce into the 21s1 Century. Responding to the National Military Strategy, the Army has established five modernization objectives that are necessary to ensure future sustainment of the warfighting force over the next decade.

  11. Anti-alcohol posters in Poland, 1945-1989: diverse meanings, uncertain effects.

    PubMed

    Gorsky, Martin; Krajewski-Siuda, Krzysztof; Dutka, Wojciech; Berridge, Virginia

    2010-11-01

    We provide a historical study of the anti-alcohol public health poster in Poland between 1948 and 1990. Our case study illuminates public health policies under communism, with the state as the dominant force in health communication. Poland has a distinctive history of poster art, moving from a Stalinist phase of socialist realism to the diverse styles of the later Polish School. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of 213 posters establishes the major themes and differentiates community approaches, which depict the drinker as a social or political deviant, from those emphasizing individual risk. Medical issues were a minor theme, reflecting public policies geared more toward confinement than treatment. However, Polish School artists used metaphor and ambiguity, and references to the contested cultural symbolism of drink, to complicate and subvert the narrow propaganda intent. Thus, although apparently unsuccessful in restraining overall consumption, these posters offer valuable lessons for policymakers on the use of visual media in health campaigns.

  12. Aging in Poland.

    PubMed

    Leszko, Magdalena; Zając-Lamparska, Ludmila; Trempala, Janusz

    2015-10-01

    With 38 million residents, Poland has the eighth-largest population in Europe. A successful transition from communism to democracy, which began in 1989, has brought several significant changes to the country's economic development, demographic structure, quality of life, and public policies. As in the other European countries, Poland has been facing a rapid increase in the number of older adults. Currently, the population 65 and above is growing more rapidly than the total population and this discrepancy will have important consequences for the country's economy. As the population ages, there will be increased demands to improve Poland's health care and retirement systems. This article aims to provide a brief overview of the demographic trends in Poland as well a look at the country's major institutions of gerontology research. The article also describes key public policies concerning aging and how these may affect the well-being of Poland's older adults. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  13. Anti-alcohol Posters in Poland, 1945-1989: Diverse Meanings, Uncertain Effects

    PubMed Central

    Krajewski-Siuda, Krzysztof; Dutka, Wojciech; Berridge, Virginia

    2010-01-01

    We provide a historical study of the anti-alcohol public health poster in Poland between 1948 and 1990. Our case study illuminates public health policies under communism, with the state as the dominant force in health communication. Poland has a distinctive history of poster art, moving from a Stalinist phase of socialist realism to the diverse styles of the later Polish School. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of 213 posters establishes the major themes and differentiates community approaches, which depict the drinker as a social or political deviant, from those emphasizing individual risk. Medical issues were a minor theme, reflecting public policies geared more toward confinement than treatment. However, Polish School artists used metaphor and ambiguity, and references to the contested cultural symbolism of drink, to complicate and subvert the narrow propaganda intent. Thus, although apparently unsuccessful in restraining overall consumption, these posters offer valuable lessons for policymakers on the use of visual media in health campaigns. PMID:20516371

  14. Who has time for Ćejf? Postsocialist migration and slow coffee in neoliberal Chicago.

    PubMed

    Croegaert, Ana

    2011-01-01

    The official end to communism in Eastern Europe marked the onset of major migratory movements. Perhaps the most abrupt of these population shifts was the displacement of more than two million people in Yugoslavia's violent dissolution. Much of the existing literature on refugee migration has focused on victimization and citizenship claims. Alternatively, I draw on ethnographic research among Bosnian refugee-immigrants in Chicago to examine how a group of adult women migrants used one commodity - coffee - to manage and evaluate their displacements. The kind of slow-coffee drinking described here is informed by an ethics of consumption developed under Yugoslav socialism, nostalgias for pre-Yugoslav Islam and pre-Ottoman Bosnia, and exposure to U.S. neoliberalism. Placing consumption at the center of analysis reveals the structural constraints of the postconflict period and brings to light refugees’ active navigations of everyday life and society in their postsocialist present, lived out as refugees in the United States.

  15. The Gradual Transformation of the Polish Public Science System

    PubMed Central

    Heinecke, Steffi

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates institutional change in the Polish public science system (PPSS) in the past twenty years. Employing macro-statistical data, the paper argues that this change process has unfolded stepwise and relatively late despite major political and economic transformations in post-socialist Poland. Using a historical-institutionalist perspective, the paper focuses on processes of institutional change, including layering, displacement, and dismantling. One major finding is that the speed and depth of the gradual transformation differs considerably between the three research performing sectors of the Polish public science system. As the Polish Academy of Sciences was reproduced institutionally, the former governmental units for applied R&D were partly dismantled and displaced by private sector R&D units. In contrast, the Higher Education sector underwent a strong expansion and, thus, layering of new research activities and fields. Since policy shifts within the PPSS occurred relatively late, the more than two decades following the collapse of communism are of special interest to scholars of incremental, yet cumulative, institutional change. PMID:27077386

  16. Private Education in Poland: Breaking the Mould?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klus-Stanska, Dorota; Olek, Hilary

    1998-03-01

    The burgeoning private sector is perhaps the most tangible of the changes in education which followed the upheavals of 1989/90 in Central and Eastern Europe. This article sets out to analyse the growth of private education in Poland and its contribution to the ongoing processes of democratisation and educational development. The authors argue that the euphoria of the period immediately following the overthrow of one-party communism encouraged unrealistic expectations of educational reform. Their analysis of private sector schooling in Poland suggests that its development has occurred in a haphazard fashion, reflecting the uncertainties of a society undergoing a painful process of transition. Symptomatic of this has been the failure to establish a clear regulatory framework for the private sector - an omission which has undermined the credibility of private schools. Nevertheless, the authors argue that the development of private sector schooling in Poland has brought diversity and a degree of innovation to a system previously almost devoid of either. There is now an urgent need for the evaluation and dissemination of private sector initiatives, which can serve as examples for future educational decision-making in Poland.

  17. Psychiatric gadfly: in search of Reginald Ellery.

    PubMed

    Kaplan, Robert M

    2012-02-01

    To explore the life and contributions of Reginald Spencer Ellery (1897-1955), one of the most eminent psychiatrists in Australia between the wars. Ellery pioneered malariotherapy and psychoanalysis, mixed with leading intellectuals, including Max Harris, John and Sunday Reed, was a member of the Communist Party, wrote poetry and published widely on a wide range of topics. Ellery was talented, innovative, driven and highly energetic, managing a range of activities aside from his work without difficulty. While his writing talent was questioned by some, there is no doubting his influence on painters such as Albert Tucker and Sidney Nolan and his standing in the intellectual life of Melbourne. Ellery was uncompromising in his public stand on issues such as communism and psychoanalysis, but by the end of his life he was deeply disillusioned. Ellery's autobiography, The Cow Jumped Over the Moon, confirms the impression of a restless and creative mind reluctant to be constrained by conventional orthodoxy, the most eminent Australian psychiatrist of his time. His diverse achievements and talent, now largely forgotten, deserve recognition from a profession that is rapidly losing its links with the historical past.

  18. Psychological distress, gender, and health lifestyles in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine.

    PubMed

    Cockerham, William C; Hinote, Brian P; Abbott, Pamela

    2006-11-01

    This paper examines the relationship between psychological distress, gender, and health lifestyles in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. These countries have been subjected to highly stressful and extensive social change associated with the transition out of communism. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews (n = 10,406) in November 2001. Distress was measured by 12 psychological distress symptoms. Health lifestyles focused on measures of alcohol consumption, smoking and diet. We found that females carried a much heavier burden of psychological distress than males, but this distress did not translate into greater alcohol consumption and smoking for these women or for men. The greatest influence of distress on health lifestyle practices was on daily diets in that both less distressed females and males consumed a more balanced diet than more distressed persons. Our findings suggest that it is the normative demands of a particular lifestyle, rather than distress, that principally shapes the pattern of heavy male drinking. This is an important finding as some sources indicate heavy drinking is largely responsible for the health crisis in the former socialist states.

  19. Theoretical Developments in SUSY

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shifman, M.

    2009-01-01

    I am proud that I was personally acquainted with Julius Wess. We first met in 1999 when I was working on the Yuri Golfand Memorial Volume (The Many Faces of the Superworld, World Scientific, Singapore, 2000). I invited him to contribute, and he accepted this invitation with enthusiasm. After that, we met many times, mostly at various conferences in Germany and elsewhere. I was lucky to discuss with Julius questions of theoretical physics, and hear his recollections on how supersymmetry was born. In physics Julius was a visionary, who paved the way to generations of followers. In everyday life he was a kind and modest person, always ready to extend a helping hand to people who were in need of his help. I remember him telling me how concerned he was about the fate of theoretical physicists in Eastern Europe after the demise of communism. His ties with Israeli physicists bore a special character. I am honored by the opportunity to contribute an article to the Julius Wess Memorial Volume. I will review theoretical developments of the recent years in non-perturbative supersymmetry.

  20. Globalising Synthetic Nitrogen: The Interwar Inauguration of a New Industry.

    PubMed

    Travis, Anthony S

    2017-02-01

    The most spectacular development in industrial chemistry during the early twentieth century concerned the capture of atmospheric nitrogen by the Haber-Bosch high-pressure ammonia process at the German chemical enterprise Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik (BASF), of Ludwigshafen. This firm, confident that its complex process could not be readily imitated, set out to dominate the global nitrogen fertiliser market. The response was the emergence of rival high-pressure ammonia processes in Western Europe, the United States, and Japan during the 1920s. This article is an historical appreciation of the settings in which several countries, often driven by concerns over national security, were encouraged to develop and adopt non-BASF high-pressure nitrogen capture technologies. Moreover, synthetic ammonia was at the forefront of large-scale strategic self-sufficiency and state sponsored programmes in three countries - Italy, Russia, and Japan - at the very same time when the newer technologies became available. As a result, the chemical industries of these nations, under the influences of fascism, communism, and colonial modernisation projects, began moving into the top ranks.

  1. The new institutionalist approaches to health care reform: lessons from reform experiences in Central Europe.

    PubMed

    Sitek, Michał

    2010-08-01

    This article discusses the applicability of the new institutionalism to the politics of health care reform in postcommunist Central Europe. The transition to a market economy and democracy after the fall of communism has apparently strengthened the institutional approaches. The differences in performance of transition economies have been critical to the growing understanding of the importance of institutions that foster democracy, provide security of property rights, help enforce contracts, and stimulate entrepreneurship. From a theoretical perspective, however, applying the new institutionalist approaches has been problematic. The transitional health care reform exposes very well some inherent weaknesses of existing analytic frameworks for explaining the nature and mechanisms of institutional change. The postcommunist era in Central Europe has been marked by spectacular and unprecedented radical changes, in which the capitalist system was rebuilt in a short span of time and the institutions of democracy became consolidated. Broad changes to welfare state programs were instituted as well. However, the actual results of the reform processes represent a mix of change and continuity, which is a challenge for the theories of institutional change.

  2. [25 years after re-unification of Germany: An overview on Eastern German psychiatry. Part 2: Pluralistic approaches and the collapse in the 1980s].

    PubMed

    Steinberg, H

    2016-05-01

    This is the second part of a 2-part study of the history of psychiatry in East Germany, i. e. the Soviet Occupied Zone and later German Democratic Republic. This part primarily covers the 1970 s and 1980 s. Starting from the 1970 s, pluralistic views on and approaches to mental illness and its treatment gained ground, which was especially visible in psychotherapy. The exacerbating economic crisis of the 1970 s and 1980 s led to a steadily worsening collapse of the building infrastructure of clinics and any reformation that would have led to significant financial investment became impossible. Despite attempts from party and state, psychiatric institutions successfully resisted being systematically misused against their patients.In the discussion part, the study supports the notion that East German psychiatry was neither totally isolated nor communist in nature. Even though communism had an influence, it did not have a decisively modifying impact on psychiatry, so that one can characterize psychiatry in East Germany as a medical discipline with a certain specific typology. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  3. Women's Land Tenure Security and Household Human Capital: Evidence from Ethiopia's Land Certification.

    PubMed

    Muchomba, Felix M

    2017-10-01

    This paper examines the impact of Ethiopia's gendered land certification programs on household consumption of healthcare, food, education, and clothing. Ethiopia embarked on a land tenure reform program in 1998, after years of communism during which all land was nationalized. The reform began in Tigray region where land certificates were issued to household heads, who were primarily male. In a second phase carried out in 2003-2005, three other regions issued land certificates jointly to household heads and spouses, presenting variation in land tenure security by gender. Results using household panel data show that joint land certification to spouses was accompanied by increased household consumption of healthcare and homegrown food and decreased education expenditure, compared to household-head land certification. Joint land certification was also accompanied by increased consumption of women's and girls' clothing, and decreased men's clothing expenditures indicating results may be explained by a shift in the gender balance of power within households. Analysis on the incidence and duration of illness indicates that increased healthcare expenditures after joint land certification may be due to joint certification households seeking more effective treatment than head-only certification households for household members who fell ill or suffered injuries.

  4. Radioisotopes as Political Instruments, 1946–1953

    PubMed Central

    Creager, Angela N. H.

    2009-01-01

    The development of nuclear “piles,” soon called reactors, in the Manhattan Project provided a new technology for manufacturing radioactive isotopes. Radioisotopes, unstable variants of chemical elements that give off detectable radiation upon decay, were available in small amounts for use in research and therapy before World War II. In 1946, the U.S. government began utilizing one of its first reactors, dubbed X-10 at Oak Ridge, as a production facility for radioisotopes available for purchase to civilian institutions. This program of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was meant to exemplify the peacetime dividends of atomic energy. The numerous requests from scientists outside the United States, however, sparked a political debate about whether the Commission should or even could export radioisotopes. This controversy manifested the tension in U.S. politics between scientific internationalism as a tool of diplomacy, associated with the aims of the Marshall Plan, and the desire to safeguard the country’s atomic monopoly at all costs, linked to American anti-Communism. This essay examines the various ways in which radioisotopes were used as political instruments—both by the U.S. federal government in world affairs, and by critics of the civilian control of atomic energy—in the early Cold War. PMID:20725612

  5. Before the "boom": Readings and uses of Vygotsky in Argentina (1935-1974).

    PubMed

    García, Luciano Nicolás

    2016-11-01

    This article analyzes, from the standpoint of reception studies and transnational history, the different ways Lev S. Vygotsky's published work in Spanish, English, and Russian was read, discussed, and used in Argentina from 1935 to 1974. This "early" reception primarily involved 2 groups: writers affiliated with the Argentine Communist Party, and individuals without political affiliations who engaged in discussion with Communists. The article argues that Communism, as a cultural tradition and political organization, played a key role in the reception and diffusion of Vygotsky's work. The ideas of the Soviet psychologist were applied in 3 different areas: the psychophysiological theorizing of consciousness, the diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia, and the study of psychiatric phenomena. This article partially reconstructs the circulation of Soviet psychology in Argentina in order to provide a critical approach regarding the inclusion of certain figures in the psychological canon, the methods by which these authors have been researched in the past, the means that enable the circulation of psychological knowledge, and the ways in which the political and intellectual milieu of reception define the productivity and relevance of an author. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. COMMUNISM AND THE TRAUMA OF ITS COLLAPSE REVISITED.

    PubMed

    Schmidt-Löw-Beer, Catherine; Atria, Moira; Davar, Elisha

    2015-12-01

    This paper focuses on the intertwinement of society and the psyche as a consequence of 70 years of Communist rule and the trauma of its collapse in the 90's. The trauma had profound effects on the psyche. An empirical study that was carried out in 1996/1997, which compared the personality structure of adolescents from Russia and Austria, and a research dialogue in 1999, has been re-evaluated in the light of current political events. One aim that we had was to find out whether we could discover characteristic personality features, resulting from the Communist totalitarian society in Russia, as well as from the trauma of its collapse. This led to the development of the concepts of the "impersonal self" and the "denial mode". The Russians seemed to be frozen in a protective shell with "flat" affects. They were anxious, conflict avoidant, and somewhat lost. Ideas about missing adolescence and the importance of privacy are discussed. Society was shown to not only have intruded into the individual psyche, but also into the members of the intercultural research team in the form of projective identification. The importance of the interaction between society and the individual as a basic psychoanalytic concept dating back to Freud is elaborated. Finally, considerations pertaining to mental health and democracy are presented.

  7. Assessing the Contribution of Unstable Employment to Mortality in Posttransition Russia: Prospective Individual-Level Analyses From the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey

    PubMed Central

    Bobak, Martin

    2009-01-01

    Objectives. We used the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) to investigate associations between employment, socioeconomic position, and mortality. Methods. Data were from working-age respondents in 8 rounds (1994–2003) of the RLMS. We measured associations between education, occupation, unemployment, and insecure employment and mortality with Cox proportional hazards analyses. Results. Of 4465 men and 4158 women who were currently employed, 251 men and 34 women died. A third of employed respondents experienced wage arrears, and 10% experienced compulsory leave and payment in consumer goods. Insecure employment, more common among the less-educated and manual workers, fluctuated with macroeconomic measures. Mortality was significantly associated with payment in consumer goods among men (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.46; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03, 2.07), compulsory unpaid leave among women (HR = 3.79; 95% CI = 1.82, 7.88), and male unemployment (HR = 1.88; 95% CI = 1.38, 2.55). Associations with death within 1 year of entry were generally somewhat stronger than the association with mortality over the whole study period. Conclusions. Unemployment and job insecurity predicted mortality, suggesting that they contributed to Russia's high mortality during the transition from communism. PMID:19696378

  8. Orion: Design of a system for assured low-cost human access to space

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Elvander, Josh; Heifetz, Andy; Hunt, Teresa; Zhu, Martin

    1994-01-01

    In recent years, Congress and the American people have begun to seriously question the role and importance of future manned spaceflight. This is mainly due to two factors: a decline in technical competition caused by the collapse of communism, and the high costs associated with the Space Shuttle transportation system. With these factors in mind, the ORION system was designed to enable manned spaceflight at a low cost, while maintaining the ability to carry out diverse missions, each with a high degree of flexibility. It is capable of performing satellite servicing missions, supporting a space station via crew rotation and resupply, and delivering satellites into geosynchronous orbit. The components of the system are a primary launch module, an upper stage, and a manned spacecraft capable of dynamic reentry. For satellite servicing and space station resupply missions, the ORION system utilizes three primary modules, an upper stage, and the spacecraft, which is delivered to low earth orbit and used to rendezvous, transfer materials, and make repairs. For launching a geosynchronous satellite, one primary module and an upper stage are used to deliver the satellite, along with an apogee kick motor, into orbit. The system is designed with reusability and modularity in mind in an attempt to lower cost.

  9. Between 'Pioneers' of the Cardiovascular Revolution and Its 'Late Followers': Mortality Changes in the Czech Republic and Poland Since 1968.

    PubMed

    Fihel, Agnieszka; Pechholdová, Marketa

    2017-01-01

    After several decades of stagnation, mortality in most Central European countries started to decrease after 1989. The Czech Republic and Poland were the first former Communist countries in this region to experience a rapid and sustained increase in life expectancy. This study focuses on the trends in cause-of-death mortality that have contributed to the recent progress in these two countries. The analysis is based on the cause-of-death time series (1968-2013) reconstructed in accordance with the 10th ICD revision, which makes the data fully comparable over the full period under study. Actual trends in cause-specific mortality are presented, and age, sex and causes of death components of life expectancy changes are disentangled. In both countries, the reduction in cardiovascular mortality at adult and old ages was crucial for the increase in life expectancy after 1991. Results are discussed in the context of institutional changes that occurred after the fall of Communism, such as the reorientation of health policies and the emergence of non-governmental organizations. Changes in health-related attitudes and behaviours as well as structural changes in societies, notably the rising share of persons with tertiary education, are also discussed.

  10. Defusing the population bomb in the 1950s: foam tablets in India.

    PubMed

    Löwy, Ilana

    2012-09-01

    After the World War II era, Western experts explained that the progress of medicine, which had led to a decrease in mortality in developing countries ('control of death') was not accompanied by a parallel decrease in birth rates ('control of life'). This conjunction, they warned, would lead inexorably to population explosion and its terrifying consequences: famines, riots, political instability, expansion of Communism, wars. A heterogenous coalition of demographers, public health experts and politicians was urgently looking for an effective means to curb population growth. In the 1950s, many of them considered that mass distribution of foam tablets, a local contraceptive presented as simple to use, cheap and efficient, was a possible solution for the population crisis. At the same time, a potential opening of huge markets for this product generated intense competition among manufacturers and attempts to disqualify competing preparations as inefficient and dangerous for health. Struggles around the marketing of foam tablets, especially in India, reveal a unique combination of science, medicine, cold war politics, philanthropy and business. The presumed commercial and social potential of foam tablets was never fulfilled, due to the unreliability both of the product itself and of its 'backward' users, who either refused this contraceptive mean, or abandoned it promptly. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Long-term changes in CO(2) emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia-Identifying the drivers of environmental pressures.

    PubMed

    Gingrich, Simone; Kušková, Petra; Steinberger, Julia K

    2011-02-01

    This study presents fossil-fuel related CO(2) emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia (current Czech Republic and Slovakia) for 1830-2000. The drivers of CO(2) emissions are discussed by investigating the variables of the standard Kaya identity for 1920-2000 and conducting a comparative Index Decomposition Analysis. Proxy data on industrial production and household consumption are analysed to understand the role of the economic structure. CO(2) emissions increased in both countries in the long run. Czechoslovakia was a stronger emitter of CO(2) throughout the time period, but per-capita emissions significantly differed only after World War I, when Czechoslovakia and Austria became independent. The difference in CO(2) emissions increased until the mid-1980s (the period of communism in Czechoslovakia), explained by the energy intensity and the composition effects, and higher industrial production in Czechoslovakia. Counterbalancing factors were the income effect and household consumption. After the Velvet revolution in 1990, Czechoslovak CO(2) emissions decreased, and the energy composition effect (and industrial production) lost importance. Despite their different political and economic development, Austria and Czechoslovakia reached similar levels of per-capita CO(2) emissions in the late 20th century. Neither Austrian "eco-efficiency" nor Czechoslovak restructuring have been effective in reducing CO(2) emissions to a sustainable level.

  12. Nutrition transition and dietary energy availability in Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism.

    PubMed

    Ulijaszek, Stanley J; Koziel, Slawomir

    2007-12-01

    After the economic transition of the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a rapid increase in overweight and obesity in many countries of Eastern Europe. This article describes changing availability of dietary energy from major dietary components since the transition to free-market economic systems among Eastern European nations, using food balance data obtained at national level for the years 1990-92 and 2005 from the FAOSTAT-Nutrition database. Dietary energy available to the East European nations satellite to the former Soviet Union (henceforth, Eastern Europe) was greater than in the nations of the former Soviet Union. Among the latter, the Western nations of the former Soviet Union had greater dietary energy availability than the Eastern and Southern nations of the former Soviet Union. The higher energy availability in Eastern Europe relative to the nations of the former Soviet Union consists mostly of high-protein foods. There has been no significant change in overall dietary energy availability to any category of East European nation between 1990-1992 and 2005, indicating that, at the macro-level, increasing rates of obesity in Eastern European countries cannot be attributed to increased dietary energy availability. The most plausible macro-level explanations for the obesity patterns observed in East European nations are declines in physical activity, increased real income, and increased consumption of goods that contribute to physical activity decline: cars, televisions and computers.

  13. William L. Wolfe, 1989 President of SPIE, encourages scientists from Eastern Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmit, Joanna

    2012-10-01

    In 1990 Professor Wolfe after his SPIE presidency trekked the world, even making it as far as post-communist Poland, to see (in the visible and maybe in infrared - who knows) the work of optical scientists hidden behind the iron curtain. I am not sure if he was ready for how different that world was at this time, but for sure he was very inquisitive and eager to learn about the nuances of Poland right after the fall of communism. He met, visited with and encouraged young and old scientists from Poland, Russia, Hungary and Lithuania to add their expertise to the scientific conversations happening in the West. His mission in Poland was to invite us all, and he was ready to help us achieve our dreams. I was one of those he encouraged. This talk is my personal reflection of Professor Wolfe as an encouraging and sometimes brave SPIE pioneer - a stranger in a strange land - and as an energetic, caring SPIE president, Optical Sciences professor and human being. Disclaimer: Professor Bill Wolfe's contributions to the field of radiometry are well known and very well recognized. This conference is a tribute to him. However, my paper is not on radiometry; rather, I wish to illustrate the adventurous, caring and positive Bill Wolfe that helped me find my way to the American desert Southwest.

  14. Overweight trends among Polish schoolchildren before and after the transition from communism to capitalism.

    PubMed

    Gomula, Aleksandra; Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia; Danel, Dariusz P; Koziel, Slawomir

    2015-12-01

    This study aims to reveal the secular trends in body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Polish schoolchildren between the years 1966-2012, during which intense socio-political changes took place. Four surveys were conducted in several districts of Poland looking at 69,746 schoolchildren aged 7-18. Significant increase in mean BMI as well as in the prevalence of overweight and obesity was observed. During this time the highest increase in both mean BMI and excess weight was observed between 1988 and 2012, i.e. after the political transformation, resulting in the improvement of living conditions. However, with respect to girls in late adolescence, between these years, the mean BMI as well as the prevalence of overweight were leveling off, while the percentage of boys with excess body fat in the same developmental category significantly increased in 2012. In the years 1966-1978 and 1978-1988 the pattern of changes in the prevalence of overweight and obesity reflected the social and economic circumstances, i.e. temporary economic improvements, or deepening political crises and food shortage. In conclusion, the weight status of schoolchildren strongly reflects socio-political changes that took place in Poland, as well as in most of the Central European countries in the last half century. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Biological costs of economic transition: Stress levels during the transition from communism to capitalism in Poland.

    PubMed

    Lipowicz, Anna; Szklarska, Alicja; Mitas, Andrzej W

    2016-05-01

    At the end of the 1980s, Poland began the transformation from an essentially one-party communist system to a politically pluralistic democratic system. These political and economic changes had major social consequences, among others unemployment and a sharp decrease in real personal income. The aim of the study was to investigate the possible relationship between stress in adult men, measured by the Allostatic Load, and the socio-economic deterioration during the first part of the economic transition. The Allostatic Load included eleven markers assessing adverse nutritional intake, cardiovascular activity, inflammatory processes, and lung, hepatic and renal functions. The results indicate a significantly higher risk of metabolic dysregulation in men examined after 1990, compared to men from previous years. After adjustment for socioeconomic variables and lifestyle variables, men examined in 1991 had a 31% greater risk of higher Allostatic Load compared with men examined in 1985 (OR=1.31; p=0.0541), in 1992, this risk was 50% greater (OR=1.50; p<0.01), and in 1993, the risk was 66% greater (OR=1.66; p<0.05). The conclusion is drawn that significantly more stressogenic factors for men were those directly connected with the financial situation of their families, than a sudden but short increase of prices for goods and services. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Women's vital voices. The costs of exclusion in Eastern Europe.

    PubMed

    Hunt, S

    1997-01-01

    In the newly independent states of Eastern Europe, the low status of women is hindering economic development and the transition to democracy. The transition from communism to capitalism has caused women to suffer from diminished labor market access, increased vulnerability to crime (including trafficking in women), loss of family-oriented social benefits, and exceedingly low representation in parliaments. These factors have combined to produce the striking feminization of poverty evident in many countries. Many countries also have not yet established laws and mechanisms to protect women from sexual harassment in employment, rape, or domestic violence. All of this ignores the fact that women create the essential social elements of political stability and fuel economies because they are reliable employees and innovative entrepreneurs. In response, women have formed new alliances, (including some that reached across enemy lines in Bosnia) and scores of nongovernmental organizations. The US has responded by taking actions that focus on women's economic enterprises, such as directing management training to women farmers in Albania and Russia and advocating the creation of microcredit schemes for women. The US is also supporting efforts to harmonize national and international policies and legislation to stop trafficking in women and is taking steps to support and develop women leaders in the region. It is in the best interest of the US to magnify the voices of women who are echoing US values in postcommunist Europe.

  17. [Richard Koch's life in national socialism and in Soviet emigration].

    PubMed

    Boltres, Daniela; Töpfer, Frank; Wiesing, Urban

    2006-01-01

    The Jewish historian and theorist of medicine, Richard Koch, teaching in Frankfurt/Main, fled in 1936 from National Socialist Germany to the USSR where he lived in the Caucasian spa Essentuki until his death in 1949. Here he worked as a doctor and continued his scientific work, especially on the foundations of medicine in natural philosophy. None of his works of this time were published. Koch was a scientific outsider in the USSR, and he was aware of this. However, he tried to make his views compatible with official doctrines. In 1947 he lost his employment at the medical clinic of Essentuki, and his material situation grew worse. It is still an open question whether this development was related to an increasingly anti-Jewish atmosphere in the USSR that was linked with the Stalinist "purges", as Koch himself appeared to believe. Before his flight from Germany Koch did not show any tendency towards communism or the political left at all. His attitude towards Soviet society and Stalin was mixed: cautious criticism was accompanied by strong expressions of commitment to Stalin and Koch's new Socialist home. The question to what extent Koch's comments showed his true convictions must remain without a definite answer. At least in part they can be understood as precautions in threatening circumstances. The opportunity of a remigration to Germany after 1945, however, was turned down by Koch.

  18. Long-term changes in CO2 emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia—Identifying the drivers of environmental pressures

    PubMed Central

    Gingrich, Simone; Kušková, Petra; Steinberger, Julia K.

    2011-01-01

    This study presents fossil-fuel related CO2 emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia (current Czech Republic and Slovakia) for 1830–2000. The drivers of CO2 emissions are discussed by investigating the variables of the standard Kaya identity for 1920–2000 and conducting a comparative Index Decomposition Analysis. Proxy data on industrial production and household consumption are analysed to understand the role of the economic structure. CO2 emissions increased in both countries in the long run. Czechoslovakia was a stronger emitter of CO2 throughout the time period, but per-capita emissions significantly differed only after World War I, when Czechoslovakia and Austria became independent. The difference in CO2 emissions increased until the mid-1980s (the period of communism in Czechoslovakia), explained by the energy intensity and the composition effects, and higher industrial production in Czechoslovakia. Counterbalancing factors were the income effect and household consumption. After the Velvet revolution in 1990, Czechoslovak CO2 emissions decreased, and the energy composition effect (and industrial production) lost importance. Despite their different political and economic development, Austria and Czechoslovakia reached similar levels of per-capita CO2 emissions in the late 20th century. Neither Austrian “eco-efficiency” nor Czechoslovak restructuring have been effective in reducing CO2 emissions to a sustainable level. PMID:21461052

  19. "A world crazier than us": Vanishing social contexts and the consequences for psychiatric practice in contemporary Romania.

    PubMed

    Friedman, Jack R

    2016-04-01

    Since the end of Communism, mental health care in Romania has increasingly sought to align its practices with idealized models of Western psychiatric practice. Much of this realignment has been made possible by accessing and integrating new pharmaceuticals into psychiatric hospital settings. Less straightforward have been the painful attempts to create a system modeled on international standards for training and certifying psychotherapists. Unfortunately, the political, economic, infrastructural, and epistemological environment of the Romanian mental health care system has prevented many other reforms. This paper examines the ironic trajectory that Romanian psychiatry has taken since the end of state socialism. Specifically, this paper shows how psychiatric practice in most places (outside of university-training hospitals) is increasingly disconnected from a concern with the social conditions that surround mental illness during a period when social upheaval is profoundly impacting the lives of many people who receive mental health care. Thus, as the contribution of social problems to the suffering of those with mental illnesses has increased, some Romanian mental health practitioners have moved away from a concern with these social problems under the guise of aligning their psychiatric practices with (imagined) Western standards of biomedical care. The paper provides a brief history of Romanian psychiatry and explores contemporary challenges and contradictions in many Romanian psychiatric treatment settings through the case study of a 31-year-old Romanian female diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. © The Author(s) 2015.

  20. Identity loss and recovery in the life stories of Soviet World War II veterans.

    PubMed

    Coleman, Peter G; Podolskij, Andrei

    2007-02-01

    We examined the adjustment to societal change following the fall of communism in a group of Soviet war veterans from Russia and the Ukraine. The focus of the study was on the dynamics of identity development, and especially generativity, in a period of intense social upheaval. We administered measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and generativity to 50 World War II veterans from five distinct areas of the former Soviet Union. We also conducted life-history interviews and made a thematic analysis of the transcripts. Despite the loss of the system of government and values that had dominated their lives, most participants demonstrated positive well-being, and especially a high sense of generativity. They described their experience of societal change as having disturbed their past, present, and future sense of self. Most, however, had found ways of reaffirming a generative identity. For some, this meant maintaining a Soviet identity; for others, it meant taking a critical view of the history through which they had lived. The principal sustaining element among the participants as a whole was hope in their own families' future. Major societal change of the kind experienced by Soviet war veterans in later life poses a challenge to a continued sense of generativity. These elderly veterans were able to meet this challenge, providing evidence of their resilience and the continuing strength of family bonds in the former Soviet Union at this time of debate about national identity.

  1. Women, conflict, and culture in former Yugoslavia.

    PubMed

    Stojsavljevic, J

    1995-02-01

    The civil war in the former Yugoslavia has taken a toll on the women's movement which has disintegrated across male-defined nationalist borders. The women's movement in this area got its start during the Second World War but was disbanded under communism until women's groups began to form in the 1970s. Today the women's movement has lost the power to oppose the war and has been unable to prevent widespread violence perpetuated against women. Some feminists who have refused to embrace nationalism and patriotism have been vilified and have had to seek refuge abroad. Recently, however, hundreds of nongovernmental organizations have been formed to provide support to women and children victimized by the war. Women have been raped and impregnated as a strategy of male warfare, and raped women who refused an abortion were ostracized. War-related rape has yet to be fully recognized as an international human rights violation, and the issue is being used as political propaganda in the former Yugoslavia while it is ignored elsewhere. Sensationalist reporting of these rapes has further victimized women and made them unable to give voice to their trauma. War also increases women's suffering by destroying economic and social welfare systems. Oxfam is helping women record their testimonies of war and reconstruct the fabric of their societies through programs which provide income-generation and training in micro-enterprises. In addition, Oxfam is strengthening electronic communication and networking among women's groups throughout the region.

  2. Economic downturn results in tick-borne disease upsurge.

    PubMed

    Godfrey, Elinor R; Randolph, Sarah E

    2011-03-15

    The emergence of zoonoses is due both to changes in human activities and to changes in their natural wildlife cycles. One of the most significant vector-borne zoonoses in Europe, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), doubled in incidence in 1993, largely as a consequence of the socio-economic transition from communism to capitalism and associated environmental changes. To test the effect of the current economic recession, unemployment in 2009 and various socio-economic indices were compared to weather indices (derived from principal component analyses) as predictors for the change in TBE case numbers in 2009 relative to 2004-08, for 14 European countries. Greatest increases in TBE incidence occurred in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (91, 79 and 45%, respectively). The weather was rejected as an explanatory variable. Indicators of high background levels of poverty, e.g. percent of household expenditure on food, were significant predictors. The increase in unemployment in 2009 relative to 2008 together with 'in-work risk of poverty' is the only case in which a multivariate model has a second significant term. Background socio-economic conditions determine susceptibility to risk of TBE, while increased unemployment triggered a sudden increase in risk. Mechanisms behind this result may include reduced resistance to infection through stress; reduced uptake of costly vaccination; and more exposure of people to infected ticks in their forest habitat as they make greater use of wild forest foods, especially in those countries, Lithuania and Poland, with major marketing opportunities in such products. Recognition of these risk factors could allow more effective protection through education and a vaccination programme targeted at the economically most vulnerable.

  3. [Blind alleys and misconceptions in public health].

    PubMed

    Müller, H E

    1995-07-01

    The concept of hygiene was created in the 19th century although Hippocrates had already conceived an influence of atmosphere, soil and water on human health. The concept of a public health organisation, however, is a fairly recent one. Environmental and social hygiene were the two poles of the new discipline that focussed on public health. However, the ideologies of capitalism, communism and socialism as well as of social darwinism and "survival of the elite" discredited social hygiene. The decline of totalitarianism was associated with a "loss of face" of state-controlled medicine, including social hygiene. Both the post-World War II German constitution and the previous German statutory health insurance ordinance had blocked it, and hence, no Federal bill on public health was carried. The consequences of this disregard of public health are poor protection by vaccination, a gap in compulsory notification and in epidemics control and high rates of nosocomial infections. Absolutely no development of the science of epidemiology was possible whereas that of medical microbiology is choked by the system now in existence. There is a great misconception within individual hygiene by identifying it merely with cleanliness. Hygiene became a synonym for cleanliness, although that had evolved during a long cultural sociological process centuries before hygiene was established. The modern evolution of the science of hygiene shows the danger that emphasis on healthy lifestyles or on environmental protection may result in regulations and finally in a tyranny that may threaten the liberty of human rights. The so-called "principle of concern" is an example of such irrationality because there is no sensible proportion between risk and expense.

  4. [Psychiatry at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries].

    PubMed

    Bilikiewicz, A

    1998-01-01

    The author makes an attempt at considering the most important achievements in psychiatry which have taken place in the global scale during the passing century, and the direction taken up by the development of global psychiatry in the coming century. The 20th century was characterised not only by the impressive development of science, thanks to which completely new possibilities opened up for global psychiatry, but also by the presence of extreme events that took place as a result of false ideologies such as fascism and communism. In the 20th century concepts like homicide, holocaust, the extermination of the mentally ill, experiments on people that are prohibited by the ethics of medicine and the elementary rules of humanity, etc. The paper includes the achievements of diagnosis and therapy of psychiatric disorders and the latest organisational solutions as well as the perspectives for further development of psychiatry. The author also implies the aims that psychiatry has to take up due to the numerous threats from our civilization: the technical-technological development, pollution of the natural environment, the negative changes in human values, the rising brutality in interhuman relations due to racial, national and religious conflicts and terrorism, the disappearing feeling of being safe in society, vision of hunger and poverty in many countries on a few continents, the danger of an epidemic outbreak of new unknown diseases caused by viral mutations, or genetics--the possible negative effects of genetic engineering (cloning of humans), etc. The author tries to define the role of psychiatry in preventing the threats of civilization.

  5. Correlates of frequent alcohol consumption among middle-aged and older men and women in Russia: A multilevel analysis of the PrivMort retrospective cohort study.

    PubMed

    Gugushvili, Alexi; Azarova, Aytalina; Irdam, Darja; Crenna-Jennings, Whitney; Murphy, Michael; McKee, Martin; King, Lawrence

    2018-05-01

    A large proportion of premature deaths in Russia since the early 1990s, following the transition from communism, have been attributed to hazardous drinking. Little is known about the correlates of alcohol consumption. We present new data on the consumption of alcoholic beverages among middle-aged and older Russians and identify socio-demographic, socio-economic, and life-course correlates of frequent drinking. Within the framework of the PrivMort project, conducted in 30 industrial towns in the European part of Russia, we acquired information on the frequency of drinking among 22,796 respondents and 57,907 of their surviving and deceased relatives. We fit three-level mixed-effects logistic regression models of frequent drinking in which respondents' relatives, aged 40 and over, are nested in their families and towns. Deceased male relatives consumed alcohol significantly more often, while deceased female relatives consumed alcohol significantly less often than the respondents of corresponding gender. In a multivariable analysis, we found that individuals' education, communication with family members, labour market status, history of unemployment, and occupational attainment are all significant correlates of frequent drinking in Russia. These associations are stronger among men rather than among women. There are significant differences between frequency of drinking among surviving and deceased individuals and frequent drinking is associated with a wide array of individual socio-demographic, socio-economic, and life course factors that can partially explain high alcohol consumption in post-communist Russia. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Change in tobacco excise policy in Bulgaria: the role of tobacco industry lobbying and smuggling.

    PubMed

    Skafida, Valeria; Silver, Karin E; Rechel, Boika P D; Gilmore, Anna B

    2014-05-01

    To examine how transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) tried to penetrate the Bulgarian cigarette market and influence tobacco excise tax policy after the fall of communism and during Bulgaria's accession to the European Union (EU). Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents supplemented by analysis of press coverage, tobacco industry journals, market reports and key informant interviews. TTCs have been involved in cigarette smuggling to and through Bulgaria since at least 1975 and used smuggling as a market-entry strategy. National tobacco company Bulgartabac appears to have been involved in smuggling its own cigarettes from and reimporting them to Bulgaria. Since Bulgaria's accession to the EU opened the market to the TTCs, TTCs have exaggerated the scale of the illicit trade to successfully convince politicians and public health experts that tax increases lead to cigarette smuggling. Yet, sources point to TTCs' continued complicity in cigarette smuggling to and through Bulgaria between 2000 and 2010. TTCs aimed to influence the Bulgarian tobacco excise tax regime, import duties and pricing mechanism, but appear to have been less successful than in other former communist countries in part due to the co-existence of a state-owned tobacco company. Undisclosed meetings between the tobacco industry and government ministers and officials are ongoing despite Bulgaria being a party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The TTCs continued involvement in smuggling suggests that deals in 2004, 2007 and 2010 which the European Commission has reached with TTCs to address cigarette smuggling are inadequate. The TTCs' continued access to policymakers suggests that the FCTC is not being properly implemented. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  7. The fight for reproductive rights in Central and Eastern Europe. Poland: Catholic backlash.

    PubMed

    Nowicka, W

    1995-01-01

    In Poland, some of the changes brought about after the collapse of communism in 1989 have damaged women's rights and reproductive health. The liberal abortion law passed in 1956 was overturned in 1993. The post-communists elected to Parliament in 1992 will not challenge right-wing groups and their social agendas. The influence of Roman Catholicism on education began in state schools in 1990. The nature of the influence is illustrated in the example of a school board ruling preventing embryos and other anatomical specimens from being used as educational models in schools. Sex education textbooks use non-scientific language and the descriptions reflect a philosophical notion of sexuality rather than a biological one. A girl is called "a closed garden, a secret source." Human female organs are referred to as the source of life located in "the lower part of her body, inside the body..." The male source of life is described as lying partly outside the body. The Catholic influence affects the practice of medicine. Doctors instruct patients on the Roman Catholic doctrine on contraception and try to convince women that contraception is the same as abortion. Some women's health texts refer to only natural family planning methods. The legal changes affect the programs of in vitro fertilization. The Commission of Medical Ethics decreed that freezing embryos is a violation of the new Law on Family Planning, Protection of Human Embryos, and Condition of Admittance of Abortion. Women must now make a choice between seeking an illegal abortion or bearing an unwanted child. One gynecologist committed suicide after a failed abortion attempt rather than face criminal charges. In Poland political priorities are sacrificing high-quality family planning information and services and balanced sex education.

  8. A case study of an unknown mass grave - Hostages killed 70 years ago by a Nazi firing squad identified thanks to genetics.

    PubMed

    Ossowski, Andrzej; Diepenbroek, Marta; Zwolski, Marcin; Falis, Adam; Wróbel, Maria; Bykowska-Witowska, Milena; Zielińska, Grażyna; Szargut, Maria; Kupiec, Tomasz

    2017-09-01

    Almost 6 million people died in Poland during the Nazi occupation and about 570 thousand during the Soviet occupation. But the end of the war was not the end of the trauma. Historians estimate that at least 30 thousand people were killed during the Stalinist regime in Poland. In 2012 the Institute of National Remembrance started to search for hidden burials of victims of communism. Many exhumations were carried out under the project. One of them took place in Białystok, eastern Poland. According to information gathered by local historians, a detention centre in the heart of city was the place of secret burials of victims of the communist regime. During the exhumation work a burial pit with the remains of 24 victims was found. It's characteristics supported the hypothesis that these people were shot on the spot, in a mass execution during the Nazi occupation. Historians knew of only one such execution, but its victims - according to the available records - were supposed to have been exhumed at the end of the war. Exhumation works and the discovery of the discussed mass grave put in question the events of 1944, which would have been impossible without the field work. The first identifications confirmed the doubts of historians, since both the results of genetic profiling and the conducted anthropological analysis revealed that at the end of the war a mistake was made, and bodies other than those suspected had been exhumed. Having established this fact, the mass grave created at that time should be investigated to reveal the identity of the remains uncovered then. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Economic downturn results in tick-borne disease upsurge

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background The emergence of zoonoses is due both to changes in human activities and to changes in their natural wildlife cycles. One of the most significant vector-borne zoonoses in Europe, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), doubled in incidence in 1993, largely as a consequence of the socio-economic transition from communism to capitalism and associated environmental changes. Methods To test the effect of the current economic recession, unemployment in 2009 and various socio-economic indices were compared to weather indices (derived from principal component analyses) as predictors for the change in TBE case numbers in 2009 relative to 2004-08, for 14 European countries. Results Greatest increases in TBE incidence occurred in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (91, 79 and 45%, respectively). The weather was rejected as an explanatory variable. Indicators of high background levels of poverty, e.g. percent of household expenditure on food, were significant predictors. The increase in unemployment in 2009 relative to 2008 together with 'in-work risk of poverty' is the only case in which a multivariate model has a second significant term. Conclusion Background socio-economic conditions determine susceptibility to risk of TBE, while increased unemployment triggered a sudden increase in risk. Mechanisms behind this result may include reduced resistance to infection through stress; reduced uptake of costly vaccination; and more exposure of people to infected ticks in their forest habitat as they make greater use of wild forest foods, especially in those countries, Lithuania and Poland, with major marketing opportunities in such products. Recognition of these risk factors could allow more effective protection through education and a vaccination programme targeted at the economically most vulnerable. PMID:21406086

  10. [The becoming of the Soviet health care in Russian province in 1920s].

    PubMed

    Kattcyna, T A; Krylov, I I; Pashina, N V; Mezit, L E

    2016-01-01

    He article presents the analysis of infrastructure of health care and its manpower potential in 1920s. The analysis is limited by the territory of the Eniseiskaia gubernia (Krasnoiarskii' kraii) as an example for developing a notion about occurrences in life not only ofparticular region but of a whole country. The Soviet government finally established in the Enisei'i'skaia gubernia later (in January 1920) than in in the rest of the European part of the country. This was the reason of implementing on the territory with accelerated rates the experience ofSoviet development cumulated during the years of military communism (October 1917-1920). Exactly during this period the general nationalization of curative institutions and pharmacies was implemented. The traditional autonomy of physicians made way to the «Soviet employee» status and the state monopoly to social policy and practice was made official. The article is based on documents of the State archives of the Krasnoiarskii' kraii and published sources. These materials permitted to discover limitedness of the material and human resources inthe sphere of medical care and services. To verify existing in the scientific publications notion that in 1920s the elimination of differentiation between urban and rural citizen in receiving medical services and establishment in full measure qualitative and accessible medical care failed. The discrepancy between declared program of medical care and real possibilities of its implementation became the main deterrent. The absence of unified system of settling, social territorial isolation of settlements, immense scale of territory required huge material expenses for getting over space and developing infrastructure of health care in the kraii.

  11. Selected legal developments in reproductive health in 1991.

    PubMed

    Boland, R

    1992-01-01

    Because of American preoccupation with abortion, worldwide reproductive health issues in 1991 received scant attention, despite many important changes. With the fall of Communism, Eastern European governments struggle in the legislatures and the courts to regulate abortion, particularly Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the newly unified Federal Republic of Germany. Two international tribunals ruled narrowly on the restrictive Irish abortion law and international treaties ratified by Ireland protecting freedom of speech, leaving the Irish law intact. Spain's Supreme Court relaxed restrictions on abortion and for the 1st time allowed abortions for social reasons. Frances' highest administrative court ruled that the French government exceeded its authority in ordering the distribution of RU 497 (mifepristone), but ruled that French abortion law, allowing abortions in the 1st 10 weeks in "situations of distress," did not violate international treaties guaranteeing the "right to life." England approved use of RU 486 under English abortion law, with medical restrictions. The Canadian Supreme Court agreed to review a province's legislation that had the effect of limiting access to abortions via medical and hospital regulations. The Islamic, developing countries of Pakistan and the Sudan replaced colonial laws with more liberal abortion rules tailored to Islamic law. Pakistan decriminalized early abortions when given to provide (undefined) "necessary treatment" the Sudan allows abortions during the 1st 90 days. Peru reduced the penalties for some abortions. In Latin America, only Cuba allows abortions on request in early pregnancy. Iran, China, and the former USSR tightened and encouraged compliance with their family planning regulations. Fear of AIDS prompted several countries to tighten condom regulations. Artificial insemination, embryo research and surrogate motherhood also received attention.

  12. Breaking worse: the emergence of krokodil and excessive injuries among people who inject drugs in Eurasia.

    PubMed

    Grund, Jean-Paul C; Latypov, Alisher; Harris, Magdalena

    2013-07-01

    Krokodil, a homemade injectable opioid, gained its moniker from the excessive harms associated with its use, such as ulcerations, amputations and discolored scale-like skin. While a relatively new phenomenon, krokodil use is prevalent in Russia and the Ukraine, with at least 100,000 and around 20,000 people respectively estimated to have injected the drug in 2011. In this paper we review the existing information on the production and use of krokodil, within the context of the region's recent social history. We searched PubMed, Google Advanced Search, Google Scholar, YouTube and the media search engine www.Mool.com for peer reviewed or media reports, grey literature and video reports. Survey data from HIV prevention and treatment NGOs was consulted, as well as regional experts and NGO representatives. Krokodil production emerged in an atypical homemade drug production and injecting risk environment that predates the fall of communism. Made from codeine, the active ingredient is reportedly desomorphine, but - given the rudimentary 'laboratory' conditions - the solution injected may include various opioid alkaloids as well as high concentrations of processing chemicals, responsible for the localized and systemic injuries reported here. Links between health care and law enforcement, stigma and maltreatment by medical providers are likely to thwart users seeking timely medical help. A comprehensive response to the emergence of krokodil and associated harms should focus both on the substance itself and its rudimentary production methods, as well as on its micro and macro risk environments - that of the on-going syndemic of drug injecting, HIV, HCV, TB and STIs in the region and the recent upheaval in local and international heroin supply. The feasibility of harm reduction strategies for people who inject krokodil may depend more on political will than on the practical implementation of interventions. The legal status of opioid substitution treatment in Russia is a point in case. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Mortality in Transition: Study Protocol of the PrivMort Project, a multilevel convenience cohort study.

    PubMed

    Irdam, Darja; King, Lawrence; Gugushvili, Alexi; Azarova, Aytalina; Fazekas, Mihaly; Scheiring, Gabor; Stefler, Denes; Doniec, Katarzyna; Horvat, Pia; Kolesnikova, Irina; Popov, Vladimir; Szelenyi, Ivan; Marmot, Michael; Murphy, Michael; McKee, Martin; Bobak, Martin

    2016-07-30

    Previous research using routine data identified rapid mass privatisation as an important driver of mortality crisis following the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe. However, existing studies on the mortality crisis relying on individual level or routine data cannot assess both distal (societal) and proximal (individual) causes of mortality simultaneously. The aim of the PrivMort Project is to overcome these limitations and to investigate the role of societal factors (particularly rapid mass privatisation) and individual-level factors (e.g. alcohol consumption) in the mortality changes in post-communist countries. The PrivMort conducts large-sample surveys in Russia, Belarus and Hungary. The approach is unique in comparing towns that have undergone rapid privatisation of their key industrial enterprises with those that experienced more gradual forms of privatisation, employing a multi-level retrospective cohort design that combines data on the industrial characteristics of the towns, socio-economic descriptions of the communities, settlement-level data, individual socio-economic characteristics, and individuals' health behaviour. It then incorporates data on mortality of different types of relatives of survey respondents, employing a retrospective demographic approach, which enables linkage of historical patterns of mortality to exposures, based on experiences of family members. By May 2016, 63,073 respondents provided information on themselves and 205,607 relatives, of whom 102,971 had died. The settlement-level dataset contains information on 539 settlements and 12,082 enterprises in these settlements in Russia, 96 settlements and 271 enterprises in Belarus, and 52 settlement and 148 enterprises in Hungary. In addition to reinforcing existing evidence linking smoking, hazardous drinking and unemployment to mortality, the PrivMort dataset will investigate the variation in transition experiences for individual respondents and their families across settlements characterized by differing contextual factors, including industrial characteristics, simultaneously providing information about how excess mortality is distributed across settlements with various privatization strategies.

  14. Disabled children and their families in Ukraine: health and mental health issues for families caring for their disabled child at home.

    PubMed

    Bridge, Gillian

    2004-01-01

    In the Eastern European countries included in the communist system of the USSR, parents of disabled children were encouraged to commit their disabled child to institutional care. There were strict legal regulations excluding them from schools. Medical assessments were used for care decisions. Nevertheless many parents decided to care for their disabled child at home within the family. Ukraine became an independent country in 1991, when communism was replaced by liberal democracy within a free market system. Western solutions have been sought for many social problems existing, but 'hidden,' under the old regime. For more of the parents of disabled children, this has meant embracing ideas of caring for their disabled children in the community, and providing for their social, educational, and medical needs, which have previously been denied. The issue of disability is a serious one for Ukraine where the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 caused extensive radiation poisoning. This almost certainly led to an increase in the number of disabled children being born and an increase in the incidence of various forms of cancer. This paper is based on a series of observation visits to some of the many self-help groups established by parents, usually mothers, for their disabled children. It draws attention to the emotional stress experienced both by parents and their disabled children in the process of attempting to come to terms with the disabling conditions, and the denial of the normal rights of childhood resulting from prejudice, poor resources, ignorance, and restrictive legislation. Attempts have been made to identify the possible role and tasks of professional social workers within this context. International comparisons show that many parents and their children do not benefit from the medical model of disability, and that serious consequences include the development of depressive illness among those who find that little help is available from public services.

  15. Anti-nuclear liberals and the bomb: A comparative history of Kampf dem Atomtod and the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, 1957-1963

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Thiede, B.

    The premises of Kampf dem Atomtod (KdA) and Citizens for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) were based on nineteenth century traditions of liberal peace advocacy. Both groups gained substantial public support for their goals to prevent the nuclear armament of the Bundeswehr and to stop nuclear testing. Both organizations won well-educated middle-class and mostly white supporter. The dissertation examines the role of women: whether housewife or doctor, women stressed their special concerns as mothers. Both KdA and SANE had troubled relations with the labor movement. Their leaders hoped to gain government leaders' respect by winning a respectable, non-Communist constituency andmore » claiming their goals were reasonable ones. Government officials attacked KdA and SANE as dupes of Moscow. Many supporters left the organizations because of their strict anti-Communism. Local groups accused their leaders of lacking initative. KdA and SANE's leaders wasted time and energy rehashing issues and postponing decisions. After a period of providing initiatives and ideas local committees disintegrated. Both organizations considered education their paramount goal but their arguments primarily reached the converted, who often preferred more political action. KdA and SANE's leaders instead chose to support respectable projects based on humanitarian ideals. Since these projects offered little in the way of concrete action agendas, supporters defected to more active organizations or slipped into apathy. Neither organization achieved its national goals. Both governments generally denied them access to the policymaking process, ignored them as irrelavant, or attacked them as Communist sympathizers. While SANE and KdA were heard by those concerned by nuclear policy, and while members of SANE's National Board did help muster support for the Partial Test Ban Treaty, both organizations failed to make liberal peace values productive in the nuclear decisionmaking process.« less

  16. The contributions of risk factor trends and medical care to cardiovascular mortality trends

    PubMed Central

    Ezzati, Majid; Obermeyer, Ziad; Tzoulaki, Ioanna; Mayosi, Bongani M; Elliott, Paul; Leon, David A

    2016-01-01

    Ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for an estimated 17.5 million annual deaths in the world. If account is taken of population aging, death rates from CVDs are estimated to be steadily decreasing in the world as a whole, and in regions with reliable trend data. The declines in high-income countries and some countries in Latin America have been ongoing for decades with no indication of slowing. In high-income countries, these positive trends have broadly coincided with, and benefited from, declines in smoking and physiological risk factors like blood pressure and serum cholesterol. Improvements in medical care, including effective primary prevention through management of physiological risk factors, better diagnosis and treatment of acute CVDs, and post-hospital care of those with prior CVDs, are also likely to have contributed to declining CVD event and death rates, especially in the past 40 years. However, the measured risk factor and treatment variables neither explain why the decline began when it did, nor much of the similarities and differences in the start time and rate of the decline across countries or between men and women. There have been sharp changes and fluctuations in CVDs in the former communist countries of Europe and the Soviet Union since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, with changes in volume and patterns of alcohol drinking, as a major cause of the rise in Russia and some other former Soviet countries. The challenge of reaching more definitive conclusions concerning the drivers of what constitutes one of the most remarkable international trends in adult mortality in the past half-century in part reflects the paucity of time trend data not only on disease incidence, risk factors, and clinical care, but also on other potential drivers, including infection and associated inflammatory processes throughout the lifecourse. PMID:26076950

  17. Joshua N Haldeman, DC: the Canadian Years, 1926-1950

    PubMed Central

    Keating, Joseph C; Haldeman, Scott

    1995-01-01

    Born in 1902 to the earliest chiropractor known to practice in Canada, Joshua Norman Haldeman would develop national and international stature as a political economist, provincial and national professional leader, and sportsman/adventurer. A 1926 graduate of the Palmer School of Chiropractic, he would maintain a lifelong friendship with B.J. Palmer, and served in the late 1940s as Canada’s representative to the Board of Control of the International Chiropractors’ Association. Yet, he would also maintain strong alliances with broad-scope leaders in Canada and the United States, including the administrators of the National and Lincoln chiropractic schools. Haldeman, who would practice chiropractic in Regina for at least 15 years, was instrumental in obtaining, and is credited with composing the wording of, Saskatchewan’s 1943 Chiropractic Act. He served on the province’s first board of examiners and the provincial society’s first executive board. The following year Dr. Haldeman represented Saskatchewan in the deliberations organized by Walter Sturdy, D.C. that gave rise to the Dominion Council of Canadian Chiropractors, forerunner of today’s Canadian Chiropractic Association. As a member of the Dominion Council he fought for inclusion of chiropractors as commissioned officers during World War II, and participated in the formation of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, which he subsequently served as a member of the first board of directors. Dr. Haldeman also earned a place in the political history of Canada, owing to his service as research director for Technocracy, Inc. of Canada, his national chairmanship of the Social Credit Party during the second world war, and his unsuccessful bid for the national parliament. His vocal opposition to Communism during the war briefly landed him in jail. His 1950 relocation of his family and practice to Pretoria, South Africa would open a new page in his career: once again as professional pioneer, but also as aviator and explorer. Although he died in 1974, the values he instilled in his son, Scott Haldeman, D.C., Ph.D., M.D. continue to influence the profession. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5Figure 6Figure 7Figure 8Figure 9Figure 10

  18. Smoking differences between employees in faculties of the University of Tartu, Estonia, and changes during the country's transition

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background A previous study found marked differences in smoking between employees in various university faculties in Tartu, Estonia, soon after the disruption of communism. The present study was conducted to see whether such differences still exist and how the patterns had changed during the country's first transitional decade. Methods All employees at the University of Tartu (UT) were surveyed for smoking habits by means of a questionnaire in 1992 and 2003. The present paper is based on respondents whose faculty or workplace was known (1390 people in 1992, 1790 in 2003). Smoking differences were assessed in terms of regression-based adjusted figures. Results While 20% of the male employees smoked daily in 1992, 13% did so in 2003, the figures for females being 10% and 7%, respectively. The prevalence of men's daily smoking varied between faculties and other workplaces in the range 4-30% in 1992, and 0-24% in 2003, with corresponding ranges of 3-21% and 0-10% among females. Men in the medical faculty in both surveys, and those in the faculty of philosophy in the second survey showed higher rates than men in most other faculties, as did women in the faculty of law in the first survey and those in the faculty of philosophy in the second. The figures were usually low in the faculties of sports & exercise, physics & chemistry and mathematics. The sex pattern was reversed in the faculty of law and also in that of economics, where the women smoked more than the men. Conclusions Even in this low-smoking academic community, wide smoking differences existed between the faculties and other workplaces. Faculties where physical or mental performance is of prime importance are leading the way towards a smoke-free community, while men in the faculty of philosophy and, paradoxically, men in the medical faculty are lagging behind. The reversed sex ratio in the faculties of law and economics may indicate women's intensified drive for equality in this transitional society. We assume that different professional cultures may introduce variations in smoking patterns, thereby modifying the course of the smoking epidemic. PMID:21385456

  19. Evolution and complexity of government policies to protect the health of undocumented/illegal migrants in Thailand – the unsolved challenges

    PubMed Central

    Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong; Putthasri, Weerasak; Prakongsai, Phusit; Tangcharoensathien, Viroj

    2017-01-01

    Background Of the 65 million residents in Thailand, >1.5 million are undocumented/illegal migrants from neighboring countries. Despite several policies being launched to improve access to care for these migrants, policy implementation has always faced numerous challenges. This study aimed to investigate the policy makers’ views on the challenges of implementing policies to protect the health of undocumented/illegal migrants in light of the dynamics of all of the migrant policies in Thailand. Methods This study used a qualitative approach. Data were collected by document review, from related laws/regulations concerning migration policy over the past 40 years, and from in-depth interviews with seven key policy-level officials. Thematic analysis was applied. Results Three critical themes emerged, namely, national security, economic necessity, and health protection. The national security discourse played a dominant role from the early 1900s up to the 1980s as Thailand attempted to defend itself from the threats of colonialism and communism. The economic boom of the 1990s created a pronounced labor shortage, which required a large migrant labor force to drive the growing economy. The first significant attempt to protect the health of migrants materialized in the early 2000s, after Thailand achieved universal health coverage. During that period, public insurance for undocumented/illegal migrants was introduced. The insurance used premium-based financing. However, the majority of migrants remained uninsured. Recently, the government attempted to overhaul the entire migrant registry system by introducing a new measure, namely the One Stop Service. In principle, the One Stop Service aimed to integrate the functions of all responsible authorities, but several challenges still remained; these included ambiguous policy messages and the slow progress of the nationality verification process. Conclusion The root causes of the challenges in migrant health policy are incoherent policy direction and objectives across government authorities and unclear policy messages. In addition, the health sector, especially the Ministry of Public Health, has been de facto powerless and, due to its outdated bureaucracy, has lacked the capacity to keep pace with the problems regarding human mobility. PMID:28458588

  20. Smoking differences between employees in faculties of the University of Tartu, Estonia, and changes during the country's transition.

    PubMed

    Näyhä, Simo; Kivastik, Jana; Kingisepp, Peet-Henn; Heikkinen, Rauno

    2011-03-08

    A previous study found marked differences in smoking between employees in various university faculties in Tartu, Estonia, soon after the disruption of communism. The present study was conducted to see whether such differences still exist and how the patterns had changed during the country's first transitional decade. All employees at the University of Tartu (UT) were surveyed for smoking habits by means of a questionnaire in 1992 and 2003. The present paper is based on respondents whose faculty or workplace was known (1390 people in 1992, 1790 in 2003). Smoking differences were assessed in terms of regression-based adjusted figures. While 20% of the male employees smoked daily in 1992, 13% did so in 2003, the figures for females being 10% and 7%, respectively. The prevalence of men's daily smoking varied between faculties and other workplaces in the range 4-30% in 1992, and 0-24% in 2003, with corresponding ranges of 3-21% and 0-10% among females. Men in the medical faculty in both surveys, and those in the faculty of philosophy in the second survey showed higher rates than men in most other faculties, as did women in the faculty of law in the first survey and those in the faculty of philosophy in the second. The figures were usually low in the faculties of sports & exercise, physics & chemistry and mathematics. The sex pattern was reversed in the faculty of law and also in that of economics, where the women smoked more than the men. Even in this low-smoking academic community, wide smoking differences existed between the faculties and other workplaces. Faculties where physical or mental performance is of prime importance are leading the way towards a smoke-free community, while men in the faculty of philosophy and, paradoxically, men in the medical faculty are lagging behind. The reversed sex ratio in the faculties of law and economics may indicate women's intensified drive for equality in this transitional society. We assume that different professional cultures may introduce variations in smoking patterns, thereby modifying the course of the smoking epidemic.

  1. Evolution and complexity of government policies to protect the health of undocumented/illegal migrants in Thailand - the unsolved challenges.

    PubMed

    Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong; Putthasri, Weerasak; Prakongsai, Phusit; Tangcharoensathien, Viroj

    2017-01-01

    Of the 65 million residents in Thailand, >1.5 million are undocumented/illegal migrants from neighboring countries. Despite several policies being launched to improve access to care for these migrants, policy implementation has always faced numerous challenges. This study aimed to investigate the policy makers' views on the challenges of implementing policies to protect the health of undocumented/illegal migrants in light of the dynamics of all of the migrant policies in Thailand. This study used a qualitative approach. Data were collected by document review, from related laws/regulations concerning migration policy over the past 40 years, and from in-depth interviews with seven key policy-level officials. Thematic analysis was applied. Three critical themes emerged, namely, national security, economic necessity, and health protection. The national security discourse played a dominant role from the early 1900s up to the 1980s as Thailand attempted to defend itself from the threats of colonialism and communism. The economic boom of the 1990s created a pronounced labor shortage, which required a large migrant labor force to drive the growing economy. The first significant attempt to protect the health of migrants materialized in the early 2000s, after Thailand achieved universal health coverage. During that period, public insurance for undocumented/illegal migrants was introduced. The insurance used premium-based financing. However, the majority of migrants remained uninsured. Recently, the government attempted to overhaul the entire migrant registry system by introducing a new measure, namely the One Stop Service. In principle, the One Stop Service aimed to integrate the functions of all responsible authorities, but several challenges still remained; these included ambiguous policy messages and the slow progress of the nationality verification process. The root causes of the challenges in migrant health policy are incoherent policy direction and objectives across government authorities and unclear policy messages. In addition, the health sector, especially the Ministry of Public Health, has been de facto powerless and, due to its outdated bureaucracy, has lacked the capacity to keep pace with the problems regarding human mobility.

  2. How Changing Human Lifestyles are Shaping Europe's Regional Seas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mee, L. D.; Lowe, C. D.; Langmead, O.; McQuatters-Gollop, A.; Attrill, M.; Cooper, P.; Gilbert, A.; Knudsen, S.; Garnacho, E.

    2007-05-01

    European society is experiencing unprecedented changes triggered by expansion of the European Union, the fall of Communism, economic growth and the onset of globalisation. Europe's regional seas, the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean and North-East Atlantic (including the North Sea), provide key goods and services to the human population but have suffered from severe degradation in past decades. Their integrity as coupled social and ecological systems depends on how humanity will anticipate potential problems and deal with its ecological footprint in the future. We report the outcome of an EU-funded 15-country, 28 institution project entitled European Lifestyles and Marine Ecosystems (ELME). Our studies were designed to inform new EU policy and legislation that incorporates Ecosystem-Based Management. ELME has modelled the key relationships between economic and social drivers (D), environmental pressures (P) and changes in the state of the environment (S) in Europe's regional seas. We examined four key issues in each sea: habitat change, eutrophication, chemical pollution and fisheries. We developed conceptual models for each regional sea and employed a novel stochastic modelling technique to examine the interrelationship between key components of the conceptual models. We used the models to examine 2-3 decade projections of current trends in D, P and S and how a number of alternative development scenarios might modify these trends. These simulations demonstrate the vulnerability of Europe's seas to human pressure. As affluence increases in countries acceding to the EU, so does the demand for marine goods and services. There are `winners' and `losers' amongst marine species; the winners are often species that are opportunistic invaders or those with low economic value. In the case of eutrophication, semi-enclosed seas such as the Baltic or Black Sea are already affected by the `legacy of the past'; nutrients that have accumulated in soils, ground waters and sediments and are gradually released to the water column. This situation is analogous to climate change `locked in' by current greenhouse gas concentrations that are products of past economic activities. For the Baltic Sea for example, only a radical reduction in both phosphorus and nitrogen loads to the sea would overcome eutrophication, and future management strategies must contemplate adaptation as well as mitigation. These strategies will also need to accommodate climate change, regime shifts and emergent issues such as `lifestyle' chemicals and the massive development of offshore renewable energy.

  3. The evolution of the health system outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe and their association with social, economic and political factors: an analysis of 25 years of transition.

    PubMed

    Romaniuk, Piotr; Szromek, Adam R

    2016-03-17

    After the fall of communism, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe started the process of political, economic, and social transformation. In health system the reform directions were often similar, despite differences in transition dynamics and the degree of government determination to implement reforms. Nonetheless, for most post-communist countries, there is a gap in evidence regarding the effectiveness of implemented reforms and their impact on health system performance. The presented study attempts to analyse and evaluate the results of health reforms in CEE countries with regard to their influence on health system outcomes. We also analysed the external and internal health system environments during the transition period to determine the factors affecting the effectiveness of health reforms. We compared the indicators of population health status, lifestyle, occupational safety issues and health system resources in 21 post-communist countries between sub-periods across the entire transition period at the aggregate level. The dynamics of change in health system outcomes in individual countries, as well as between countries, was also compared. Finally, we analysed the correlations between health system outcomes gathered into one synthetic measure and factors considered as potential determinants affecting the effectiveness of health reforms. The analyses were performed based on one-dimensional, two-dimensional and multidimensional statistical methods. The data were retrieved from the international databases, such as WHO, World Bank, International Labour Organization, World Value Survey and the European Social Survey. Among the factors positively stimulating improvements in health system outcomes were the total expenditure on health and a lower financial burden on patients, but primarily they were determined by the broader economic context of the country. Another finding was that better initial position positively determined health system outcomes at later stages, but did not affect the degree of improvements. Countries that embarked on comprehensive reforms early on tended to achieve the greatest improvements in health system outcomes. Poorer countries may have only limited ability to improve health system outcomes by committing more financial resources to the health system. Progress can still be made in terms of health behaviours, since policies to address these have so far been insufficient or ineffective.

  4. Sexual behaviour and sexual and reproductive health education: a cross-sectional study in Romania.

    PubMed

    Rada, Cornelia

    2014-06-23

    Up-to-date, genuine sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education programmes have been possible in Romania only since communism collapsed in 1990. Since 2006, Romania has had no national strategy in this field. Under current global circumstances (high labour mobility, internationally mixed marriages), issues previously considered solely national have become worldwide concerns. In 2011-2012, 1215 respondents homogeneously distributed on background, gender, educational level and age group (18-74) were sampled. This article uses a 96-item questionnaire about family and SRH, presenting results on nine items: first intercourse (FI), virginity, knowing first sexual partner, safe sex, number of sexual partners and sexual education. The data were analysed using Pearson chi-square tests and latent class analysis. Some participants (7.2%) engaged in FI at age 15 or earlier. The average age at FI was lower for men (18.08), for individuals with a lower education level (18.07) and for those in rural areas (18.27), compared with that for women, those with more education and those in urban areas, respectively. The average age at FI was over 2.5 years lower for people aged 18-24 (16.99) than for those aged 60-74 (p < 0.001). More than 60% were not married or partnered with their FI partner, and 17.8% engaged in FI less than a month after meeting their partner. Less than one-fourth practiced safe sex at FI, with higher proportions for the urban sample, those with an average level of education and those aged 18-35 (p < 0.001). Higher average numbers of sexual partners were found among men (6.56, compared with 2.37 among women), in urban areas (5.07, compared with 3.75 in rural areas) and among those with higher levels of education (p < 0.005). On average, subjects first received information on SRH at 15.39 years of age, with only 10% listing the school, doctors or medics as a source. Unsafe sex, early initiation of sexual activity and poor SRH education from schools, experts and parents require a multidisciplinary approach within prevention programmes, especially among the populations at risk: rural residents, those with low levels of education and youth.

  5. Muslim refugees in Southeast Asia, the Malaysian response.

    PubMed

    Dorall, R F

    1988-01-01

    This article surveys the arrivals of Muslim refugees from countries in Southeast Asia who have not only come to Malaysia for political refuge, but who have also stayed on, in many instances integrating into the local Muslim community. The author concludes that Burmese, Thai, and Filipino Muslim refugee-cum-migrants, and the estimated 500,000 illegal Indonesian migrant workers in East and Peninsular Malaysia make the presence of economic migrants in Malaysia's towns and rural sectors a far more pressing concern to Malaysians than that posed by the arrival of genuine political refugees. Only the Indonesians present in Malaysia are consistently termed by all parties as illegal migrants and some of them have been subjected to well-publicized deportation by the Malaysian immigration authorities. Sympathy for fellow-Muslims in distress explains Malaysia's open-door policy to Muslim refugees. The Koran specifically enjoins Muslims to assist Muslim refugees who have been persecuted by others. However, the necessity to maintain regional political and military alliances, principally as a bulwark against Communism, and the Malay--Non-Malay, Muslim--Non-Muslim dichotomy in Malaysia which almost evenly divides Malaysia's 16 million population into mutually antagonistic halves, results in any overt public policy in favor of Malays and Muslims to be immediately denounced by the other half of the population as a move against the Non-Malays and Non-Muslims. Without political and media attention, the refugees live wherever they can find work, as do hundreds of thousands of mainly Indonesian illegal migrant workers. They surreptitiously get their children admitted to public schools, and through bribery, can even get Malaysian identification papers. Malaysia is a relatively tranquil haven for Malaysia's Muslim refugees compared to their homelands, but their continued stay remains dependent on the ever-present struggle for more equitable sharing of political and economic power between the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. At present, it is deemed inopportune to discuss publicly the issue of Muslim refugees in Malaysia. To do so would be to invite strong emotional responses from Malaysian Muslim groups objecting to refugee repatriation to what they see as continued persecution in Southeast Asia's non-Muslim countries, and from non-Muslim Malaysians who see in their continued presence a possible long-term demographic threat. Furthermore, the presence of Muslim evacuees granted refugee status brings painful memories as to why non-Muslim refugees principally from Indochina were denied such a similar privilege.

  6. The role of social participation in municipal-level health systems: the case of Palencia, Guatemala.

    PubMed

    Ruano, Ana Lorena

    2013-09-10

    Social participation has been recognized as an important public health policy since the declaration of Alma-Ata presented it as one of the pillars of primary health care in 1978. Since then, there have been many adaptations to the original policy but participation in health is still seen as a means to make the health system more responsive to local health needs and as a way to bring the health sector and the community closer together. To explore the role that social participation has in a municipal-level health system in Guatemala in order to inform future policies and programs. Documentary analysis was used to study the context of participation in Guatemala. To do this, written records and accounts of Guatemalan history during the 20th century were reviewed. The fieldwork was carried out over 8 months and three field visits were conducted between early January of 2009 and late March of 2010. A total of 38 in-depth interviews with regional health authorities, district health authorities, community representatives, and community health workers (CHWs) were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Guatemala's armed civil struggle was framed in the cold war and the fight against communism. Locally, the war was fed by the growing social, political, and ethnic inequalities that existed in the country. The process of reconstructing the country's social fabric started with the signing of the peace agreements of 1996, and continued with the passing of the 2002 legal framework designed to promote decentralization through social participation. Today, Guatemala is a post-war society that is trying to foster participation in a context full of challenges for the population and for the institutions that promote it. In the municipality of Palencia, there are three different spaces for participation in health: the municipal-level health commission, in community-level social development councils, and in the CHW program. Each of these spaces has participants with specific roles and processes. True participation and collaboration among can only be attained through the promotion and creation of meaningful partnerships between institutional stakeholders and community leaders, as well as with other stakeholders working at the community level. For this to happen, more structured support for the participation process in the form of clear policies, funding and capacity building is needed.

  7. Using DMSP-OLS Night Light Data for Proxying and Comparing Regional Development in Russia and China, 1992-2012

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bennett, M.; Smith, L. C.

    2016-12-01

    To date, no studies have examined the transition from communism to capitalism in Russia or China with night light (NTL) data despite the availability of DMSP-OLS satellite imagery dating back to 1992, one year after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This paper uses the DMSP-OLS Version 4 stable lights annual image composites for every year from 1992-2012 to reveal the complex and sometimes divergent trajectories of regional development in Russia and China. We first characterize the spatial patterns and characteristics of NTL intensity and extensivity in Russia versus China at national and regional scales across this 21-year period. Although GDP rises in both countries during this time, NTL tells a different story: total night light (tNTL) in Russia in 2012 is slightly lower than in 1992, while tNTL in China is significantly higher. Next, we generate regional-level tNTL from each annual composite and examine their relationships with population, GDP, and fixed capital investment data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service and the National Bureau of Statistics of China using a fixed effects model. We determine that while the fixed effects "between" model explains more of the differences in tNTL between Russia's federal subjects, the "within" model better explains differences over time within China's provinces. This suggests that on the one hand, Russia's regions are more heterogeneous than China's. On the other hand, whereas change over time in population and GRP explains change over time in tNTL in China's regions, they hardly do so at all for Russia's. Finally, we attempt to combine these socioeconomic variables with NTL data to build an NTL-based typology of regional development, representing a step beyond existing research. The preliminary creation of a regional development typology allows us to begin identifying emerging resource frontiers (places with increases in NTL but decreases in population) along with areas experiencing a reversal of development (places with decreases in both NTL and population). Our research also demonstrates that although NTL increase is often taken as a proxy for population increase, the case of post-Soviet Russia shows that there are important exceptions to this relationship that merit further investigation.

  8. The role of social participation in municipal-level health systems: the case of Palencia, Guatemala

    PubMed Central

    Ruano, Ana Lorena

    2013-01-01

    Background Social participation has been recognized as an important public health policy since the declaration of Alma-Ata presented it as one of the pillars of primary health care in 1978. Since then, there have been many adaptations to the original policy but participation in health is still seen as a means to make the health system more responsive to local health needs and as a way to bring the health sector and the community closer together. Objective To explore the role that social participation has in a municipal-level health system in Guatemala in order to inform future policies and programs. Design Documentary analysis was used to study the context of participation in Guatemala. To do this, written records and accounts of Guatemalan history during the 20th century were reviewed. The fieldwork was carried out over 8 months and three field visits were conducted between early January of 2009 and late March of 2010. A total of 38 in-depth interviews with regional health authorities, district health authorities, community representatives, and community health workers (CHWs) were conducted. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Guatemala's armed civil struggle was framed in the cold war and the fight against communism. Locally, the war was fed by the growing social, political, and ethnic inequalities that existed in the country. The process of reconstructing the country's social fabric started with the signing of the peace agreements of 1996, and continued with the passing of the 2002 legal framework designed to promote decentralization through social participation. Today, Guatemala is a post-war society that is trying to foster participation in a context full of challenges for the population and for the institutions that promote it. In the municipality of Palencia, there are three different spaces for participation in health: the municipal-level health commission, in community-level social development councils, and in the CHW program. Each of these spaces has participants with specific roles and processes. Conclusions True participation and collaboration among can only be attained through the promotion and creation of meaningful partnerships between institutional stakeholders and community leaders, as well as with other stakeholders working at the community level. For this to happen, more structured support for the participation process in the form of clear policies, funding and capacity building is needed. PMID:24028936

  9. Advancing human rights in patient care through higher education in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

    PubMed

    Ezer, Tamar; Overall, Judy

    2013-12-12

    In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, for society's most marginalized people, health systems are too often places of violations of basic rights, rather than of treatment and care. At the same time, health practitioners are largely unaware of how to incorporate human rights norms in their work. Additionally, they may face abuses themselves, such as unsafe working conditions and sanctions for providing evidence-based care. Similarly, legal professionals have limited experience working in the health sector, trying to address abuses that occur. Republics of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia have emerged from communism and experienced continued restructuring of their health care systems. As faculties of law, public health, and medicine have sought to incorporate these rapid changes into their curricula, this period of reform and openness to new approaches presented a particular opportunity to integrate human rights education. The Open Society Foundations have attempted to respond to the need to build health and human rights capacity by supporting the development of over 25 courses in human rights in patient care in nine countries. Targeted at different audiences, these courses are now part of the regular offerings at the academic institutions where they are taught. Student evaluations point to the strength of the interdisciplinary approach and the need to integrate practical examples and exercises. Faculty response has led to the development of a virtual community of practice and series of workshops to gain exposure to new ideas, strengthen interactive teaching, and share materials and experiences. Critical to this initiative has been working with faculty champions in each university, who shaped this initiative to meet the needs in their context. It quickly became apparent that teaching methodology is as important as content in human rights education. Meaningful engagement with health practitioners has entailed connections to day-to-day practice, participatory methodology, inclusion of marginalized voices, and linkages to provider rights and challenges. Copyright © 2013 Ezer and Overall. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

  10. Sexual behaviour and sexual and reproductive health education: a cross-sectional study in Romania

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Up-to-date, genuine sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education programmes have been possible in Romania only since communism collapsed in 1990. Since 2006, Romania has had no national strategy in this field. Under current global circumstances (high labour mobility, internationally mixed marriages), issues previously considered solely national have become worldwide concerns. Methods In 2011–2012, 1215 respondents homogeneously distributed on background, gender, educational level and age group (18–74) were sampled. This article uses a 96-item questionnaire about family and SRH, presenting results on nine items: first intercourse (FI), virginity, knowing first sexual partner, safe sex, number of sexual partners and sexual education. The data were analysed using Pearson chi-square tests and latent class analysis. Results Some participants (7.2%) engaged in FI at age 15 or earlier. The average age at FI was lower for men (18.08), for individuals with a lower education level (18.07) and for those in rural areas (18.27), compared with that for women, those with more education and those in urban areas, respectively. The average age at FI was over 2.5 years lower for people aged 18–24 (16.99) than for those aged 60–74 (p < 0.001). More than 60% were not married or partnered with their FI partner, and 17.8% engaged in FI less than a month after meeting their partner. Less than one-fourth practiced safe sex at FI, with higher proportions for the urban sample, those with an average level of education and those aged 18–35 (p < 0.001). Higher average numbers of sexual partners were found among men (6.56, compared with 2.37 among women), in urban areas (5.07, compared with 3.75 in rural areas) and among those with higher levels of education (p < 0.005). On average, subjects first received information on SRH at 15.39 years of age, with only 10% listing the school, doctors or medics as a source. Conclusions Unsafe sex, early initiation of sexual activity and poor SRH education from schools, experts and parents require a multidisciplinary approach within prevention programmes, especially among the populations at risk: rural residents, those with low levels of education and youth. PMID:24957900

  11. Two steps back: Poland's new abortion law.

    PubMed

    Nowicka, W

    1993-06-01

    After the fall of Communism in Poland, the Catholic church exerted pressure to increase its influence in public life. One way in which this pressure has manifested itself has been in the passing of a restrictive abortion bill which was signed into law on February 15, 1993. Abortion had been legalized in Poland in 1956 and was used as a means of birth control because of a lack of availability and use of contraceptives. The number of abortions performed was variously reported as 60,000 - 300,000/year. In 1990, the Ministry of Health imposed restrictions on abortions at publicly funded hospitals, and 3 deaths were reported from self-induced abortions. In 1 year (1989-90), the number of induced abortions at 1 hospital dropped from 71 to 19, while the number of self-induced abortions increased from 48 to 85. Further restrictions were introduced in May 1992 as part of the "Ethical Code for Physicians," which allows abortions only in cases where the mother's life or health is in danger or in cases or rape. This code brought abortions to a halt at publicly funded hospitals and doubled or even tripled the cost of private abortions. Women have been refused abortions in tragic and life=threatening situations since the code was adopted. When an outright anti family planning bill was drafted in November 1992, the Polish citizenry collected 1,300,000 signatures to force a referendum. The referendum was not held, but the bill was defeated. The amended bill which passed allows abortions in publicly funded hospitals only when the mother's life or health is in danger and in cases of rape, incest, or incurable deformity of the fetus. The implications of this law remain unclear, since its language is strange and vague. The reproductive rights of Polish women face a further threat because the Catholic church is working to limit the availability of contraceptive methods which they deem to be "early abortives." On the other side of the issue, the Federation for Women and Planned Parenthood was established in 1992 and presently has 9 member organizations dedicated to reestablishing legal abortion and to helping women avoid unwanted pregnancies through sex education and contraception. Polls show that the new abortion law dose not reflect the favorable attitude of a majority of the Polish people toward legal abortion. It is unfortunate that Polish women will now have to fight for the rights that were once given to them.

  12. The population problem and policy in Mainland China 1949-1980: a demographic and anthropological observation.

    PubMed

    Yin, C C

    1981-12-01

    This research focuses on Mainland China's population problems and the formation of population policy. It attempts to analyze the relationships between economy and population and between modernization and Communist party decisionmaking. The second hand data used from 4 sources: related newspapers, magazines, official reports and documents from Mainland China; some related Western studies; some Communist China watchers' reports and studies from Hong Kong and the Republic of China; and some related studies of demographic, social, and economic theory. The analysis covers: population growth the Mainland China; sociocultural background of population growth; Communist China's point of view of population problems; Communist China's economy and population problems; and a diachronic approach to population policy. The August 1979 article "For the Realization of the Four Modernizations" suggests that Communist China faces a crisis. First, from the macroeconomic viewpoint Marxian ideology must be reconciled with Malthus' theory. As a result of the increasingly ambitious mainlandwide goals of trimming population growth, the Communit regime set a goal of lowering the natural population growth rate to 0.5% by 1985 and zero population growth at 2000. It also established an incentive/disincentive policy to reach the goal of a 1-child family. In the sphere of economic development, they turn to a nonsocialist model which seems to be a revision back to Liu Shao-chi's line. Finally, it seems at this time that the top officianls realize the need to raise the standard of living for the people. Yet, the question remains as to how long this policy can survive. 30 years after Mainland China became the biggest human laboratory for Communism the Communists have failed to solve most of the salient problems, including educational and scientific development, cultural development, socioeconomic development, and the population problem. They also have created many unprecedented problems, including a low standard of living and a low per capita income, a lack of incentive among the working people, and numerous power struggles and economic policy vacillations. To carry out the 4 modernizations Mainland China is giving up the Maoist and Marxist line. The policy is shifting to revisionism. It is also necessary to reconcile with the Malthusian theory in order to carry out the birth control campaign. The population is 80% rural. More than 50% of the total populations is in the 0-21 age group. The Communist Party always attempts political solutions to solve the population problem, and it now uses the reward and penalty system. The regime attempts to create the image that the 1-child family policy will decide the success or failure of the 4 modernizations. It is believed that the success or failure of the 4 modernizations depends upon the reformation of the regime's institution as a whole rather than a single policy -- the 1-child family.

  13. [The life of Choe Ung-sok: with a focus on his design for and role in the health care system immediately after the liberation].

    PubMed

    Shin, Young-Joen; Kim, Jinhyouk

    2014-12-01

    Born in Pyongyang in 1914, Choe Ung-sok was a physician who lived through the Japanese colonial era (1910-1945), rule by the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK; 1945-1948), and national division (1948). Influenced by socialism and social hygiene/social medicine during his studies in Japan, he played the role of representing the socialist camp in the discussions related to the construction of a heath care system immediately following the Liberation (1945). His key arguments were: first, the nationalization of the medical system and the implementation of nationwide programs to eradicate diseases; second, the provision of free medical services through the expansion of social insurance; third, the reeducation of the medical personnel; fourth, the provision of social sciences education to the medical personnel and the reorganization of medicine into preventive medicine; fifth, the nationalization of pharmaceutics; sixth, the laborers' establishment of autonomous medical organs (affordable clinics, medical consumers' unions through cooperatives); and seventh, the reduction of work hours to 6-8 hours, technical improvement, respite from research, and guarantee of economic life for the medical personnel. Influenced by the medical systems of the Soviet Union and Japan, such arguments stood in opposition to the right wing's plan for the construction of a relatively passive health care system at the time but, in the end, failed to be realized in southern part of Korea under the USAMGIK. Subsequently, he defected to northern part of Korea and came to participate in the task of constructing North Korea's health care system. Choe's life and design for a health care system provide examples through which one can confirm the nature of social hygiene/social medicine both during the Japanese colonial era and before and after the Liberation and the contents of the design related to a health care system as held by the socialist faction. In addition, they show that, immediately after the Liberation, there existed a broad spectrum of imagination and arguments concerning the desirable health care system. Following the division of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea witnessed the instatement of a regime that established anti-communism as the state policy and the strong influence of the United States in politics, economy, and culture. The consequent frustration of Choe's design for a health care system and his defection to North Korea frustrated the creation of a National Heath Service (NHS) in South Korea, reinforced the tendency to view NHS and social insurance as "socialist" or "communist" methods, and led to the restriction of the scope of subsequent discussions related to health care system. In conclusion, the course of Choe's life and thought went beyond the life of an individual during a period in which diverse ideologies collided through the Japanese colonial era, Liberation, and national division and symbolically demonstrates one important path of the process of constructing a health care system on the Korean Peninsula.

  14. Contemporary attitudes and their ideological representation in Flanders (Belgium), Poland, and the Ukraine.

    PubMed

    Hiel, Alain Van; Kossowska, Malgorzata

    2007-02-01

    The present research tests the validity of a two-dimensional cultural and economic right-wing model of ideology, as well as the relationships between these dimensions and attitudes toward recent political issues. Opinions about environmentalism, war on terror, and European Union enlargement were selected as representative contemporary attitudes. The present research questions were investigated in a Flemish (N = 176), Polish (N = 93), and Ukrainian (N = 93) sample. The results revealed that two dimensions underlie the ideological spectrum in all samples, one referring to cultural conservatism and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and one referring to economic conservatism and social dominance orientation (SDO). Although the validity of differentiating between these ideological dimensions has been amply illustrated in studies on Western samples, the replication of these dimensions in former communist countries add to their validity and generality, because these countries have a specific political culture and history. However, important cross-cultural differences with respect to the representation of the contemporary attitudes in this two-dimensional ideological space were obtained as well. Whereas the war on terror attitude was meaningfully related to the cultural right-wing dimension in all samples, the relationships for the environmentalism and EU enlargement attitudes were sample dependent. These cross-cultural differences were explained in terms of saliency of the issue (nonsignificant versus significant relationships in the case of environmentalism) and pragmatic concerns in terms of profits and costs (in the case of EU enlargement). In the discussion it is also argued that the closer correspondence between the ideological representation of these attitudes in Polish and Western society may be caused by the fact that communism was less successful in penetrating political mentality in Poland than in the Ukraine. La présente recherche teste la validité d'un modèle idéologique d'extrême droite à deux dimensions culturelle et économique ainsi que les relations entre ces dimensions et les attitudes envers les enjeux politiques récents. Les opinions sur l'environnementalisme, sur la guerre contre le terrorisme et sur l'élargissement de l'Union Européenne (UE) ont été sélectionnés comme étant des attitudes contemporaines représentatives. Les présentes questions de recherche ont été examinées dans un échantillon flamand (N = 176), polonais (N = 93) et ukrainien (N = 93). Les résultats ont révélé que deux dimensions sont sous-jacentes au spectre idéologique dans tous les échantillons: une de ces dimensions réfère au conservatisme culturel et à l'autoritarisme d'extrême droite (RWA en anglais) et l'autre réfère au conservatisme économique et à la théorie de la dominance sociale (SDO en anglais). Même si la validité de la différentiation entre ces dimensions idéologiques a été amplement illustrée dans les études sur les échantillons occidentaux, la réplication de ces dimensions dans les anciens pays communistes ajoute à leur validité et à leur généralisabilité parce que ces pays ont une culture et une histoire politique spécifique. Cependant, d'importantes différences trans-culturelles en ce qui concerne la représentation des attitudes contemporaines dans cet espace idéologique à deux dimensions ont également été obtenues. Tandis que la guerre contre le terrorisme a été liée significativement à la dimension culturelle d'extrême droite dans tous les échantillons, les relations pour l'environnementalisme et les attitudes envers l'élargissement de l'UE variaient selon les échantillons. Ces différences trans-culturelles ont été expliquées en termes de degré de saillance du sujet (relations non significatives versus significatives dans le cas de l'environnementalisme) et des soucis pragmatiques quant aux profits et aux coûts (dans le cas de l'élargissement de l'UE). Dans la discussion, il est aussi argumenté que la correspondance plus étroite entre la représentation idéologique de ces attitudes dans les sociétés polonaise et occidentale peut être due au fait que le communisme a moins réussi à pénétrer la mentalité politique en Pologne qu'en Ukraine. La presente investigación somete a prueba la validez de un modelo de dos dimensiones, cultural y económico de ideología de derecha, así como las relaciones entre estas dimensiones y actitudes hacia temas políticos recientes. Las opiniones sobre el ambiente, la guerra al terror, y la ampliación de la Unión Europea se seleccionaron como actitudes representativas contemporáneas. Se investigaron las preguntas de investigación en muestras flamencas (N = 176), polacas (N = 93) y ucranianas (N = 93). Los resultados revelan que subyacen dos dimensiones al espectro ideológico en todas las muestras, una se refiere al conservadurismo cultural y al autoritarismo de derecha (AD), y otra que se refiere al conservadurismo económico y a la orientación de dominancia social (ODS). A pesar de que los estudios en muestras occidentales han ilustrado ampliamente la validez de las diferencias entre estas dimensiones ideológicas, la réplica de estos estudios en países anteriormente comunistas contribuye a su validez y generalidad, porque estos países poseen una cultura e historia política específica. Sin embargo, también se obtuvieron diferencias interculturales importantes respecto a la representación de las actitudes contemporáneas en este espacio ideológico de dos dimensiones. En tanto que la guerra al terror se relacionó de manera significativa a la dimensión de derecha en todas las muestras, las relaciones para el ambientalismo y la ampliación de la Unión Europea dependieron de la muestra. Las diferencias interculturales se explican en términos de la notoriedad del tema (relaciones no significativas contra significativas en el caso del ambientalismo) y preocupaciones pragmáticas en términos de ganancias y costes (en el caso de la ampliación de la Unión Europea). En la discusión, se argumenta también que el hecho de que el comunismo penetrara en la mentalidad política con menos éxito en Polonia que en la Ucrania podría ser la causa de la correspondencia cercana entre la representación ideológica de estas actitudes en Polonia y la de la sociedad occidental.

  15. [Present state of countermeasure to AIDS in the world today].

    PubMed

    Takakuwa, E

    1997-11-01

    1. Only about 10 years have passed since HIV was discovered but WHO presumes that there will be 30 to 40 million infected cases by the year 2,000. This then possesses the possibility of more frequent contact with such persons and thus means we must look for how to protect ourselves. I would like to discuss the present state of AIDS, particularly in eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Russia, based on recent data I have compiled. 2. AIDS-related laws at present in various countries. (1) Comparison of major laws (17 countries) including 1) patient (17 countries) and infected person (13 countries) notification, 2) protection of privacy (9 countries), 3) prohibiting infected person discrimination (3 countries) and 4) other matters including restraint on behavior to spread infection (6 countries). (2) Entry laws from foreign country (10 countries) applicable to patient and infected person for 1) entry (3 countries) and 2) long period of stay (8 countries). 3. Present countermeasures to AIDS. (1) Data for 8 countries including Japan, U.S.A. U.K., France, Germany and three eastern European countries with regard to 1) budgets, 2) examinations, 3) medical care, 4) consultation and guidance and 5) education. I shall also discuss the following 2 countermeasures in Japan. I have proposed to the Diet: 1) Examination to detect HIV-antibodies in donated blood. This measure is present in effect since Nov. 1st, 1986, as a result of my proposal made to the Diet on March 14th, 1986. 2) For person infected by transfusion of the blood products without heat treatment, I proposed that expenses should be defrayed according to the CD4 level at either CD4 < or = 200 or CD4 < or = 500. (2) Present situation in eastern European countries. Common features are as follows: 1) Infected person and patient are quarantined if they request, since they know their condition which was disclosed based on data from past mass screening test under communism. 2) At present infected persons are few in number. 3) This number will rapidly increase with greater active interchange with western countries following elimination of the Berlin Wall. 4) AIDS countermeasures such as blood and blood products examinations are inadequate due to insufficient funds. In Bulgaria, the government has conducted AIDS tests on more than half the population and in Romania, there is the tragic situation. (3) Guidelines for WHO-ILO countermeasures to AIDS at work places. 4. Present situation in research. The development of effective medicines and vaccines is the primary objective of AIDS research. Research programs may be enumerated as follows; 1) In the U.S.A., NIH and CDC are major organizations which lead research around the world. The major objective is synthetic medicine. 2) In U.K., the development of vaccines for monkey and cat is being sought. 3) In China, herb medicine is administrated to patients in Un-nan-sho where AIDS patients are quite numerous. 4) In Japan, a recombinant vaccine is being sought through use of BCG, vaccinia viruses and the like. 5. Topics related to AIDS include 1) informed consent to be treated by a AIDS-infected doctor, 2) suits against doctors who fail to make infected person known infection and 3) government control laws for AIDS in Russia.

  16. Cs-137 geochronology, epithermal neutron activation analysis, and principal component analysis of heavy metals pollution of the Black Sea anoxic continental shelf sediments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duliu, O. G.; Cristache, C.; Oaie, G.; Culicov, O. A.; Frontasyeva, M. V.

    2009-04-01

    Anthropogenic Cs-137 Gamma-ray Spectroscopy assay (GrSA) performed at the National Institute of Research and Development for Physics and Nuclear Engineering - Bucharest (Romania) in correlation with Epithermal Neutrons Activation Analysis (ENAA) performed at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Researches - Dubna (Russia) were used to investigate a 50 cm core containing unconsolidated sediments collected at a depth of 600 m off Romanian town of Constantza, located in the anoxic zone of the Black Sea Continental Shelf. A digital radiography showed the presence of about 265 distinct laminae, 1 to 3 mm thick, a fact attesting a stationary sedimentary process, completely free of bioturbation. After being radiographed, the core was sliced into 45 segments whose thickness gradually increased from 0.5 to 5 cm, such that the minimum thickness corresponded to the upper part of the core. From each segment two aliquots of about 0.5 g and 50 g were extracted for subsequent ENAA and Cs-137 GrSA. The Cs-137 vertical profile evidenced two maxima, one of them was very sharp and localized at a depth of 1 cm and the other very broad, almost undistinguished at about 8 cm depth, the first one being attributed to 1986 Chernobyl accident. Based on these date, we have estimated a sedimentation ratio of about 0.5 mm/year, value taken as reference for further assessment of recent pollution history. By means of ENAA we have determined the vertical content of five presumed pollutants, e.i. Zn, As, Br, Sn and Sb and of Sc, as natural, nonpolluting element. In the first case, all five elements presented a more or less similar vertical profile consisting of an almost exponential decrease for the first 10 cm below sediment surface followed by a plateau until the core base, i.e. 50 cm below surface, dependency better described by the equation: c(z) = c0 [1+k exp (-z/Z)] (1) where: where c(z) represents the concentration vertical profile; z represents depth (in absolute value); c0 represents the plateau concentrations; k represents the surface to plateau relative increment of concentration; Z represents concentration decrement: the depth at which the concentration becomes 1+k times greater than plateau one. Final results have shown with clarity that in the case of Zn, As, Br, Sn and Sb, the concentrations near sediment surface were 1.6 to 4.1 times greater then the plateau ones while Sc vertical profile, excepting some small fluctuations observed between 18 to 25 cm below surface, shown to be almost constant. Moreover, the concentration decrements Z of Zn, Br, Sn and Sb were almost coincident within one standard deviation while in the case of As, this coincidence appears within two standard deviation, these facts pleading for a comparable time evolution in the past 100 years. On the other hand, in the case of Sn and As, the maximum concentrations were reached 1 cm below the sediment surface, roughly corresponding to 1990 year, while the concentrations of all other three elements monotonously increases up to sediment surface. Further Principal Components Analysis of the data concerning the vertical distribution of all six elements illustrates the presence of two distinct clusters, one consisting of Zn, As, Br, Sn and Sb and the other on only of Sn, attesting both differences and similarities in the vertical distribution of considered elements. By comparing the experimental concentrations of all five elements with Romania Regulations concerning heavy metal pollution, we remarked that, by respect to these Regulations the only Zn, As, Br and Sb slightly exceeded normal accepted limits while the minimum alert concentrations were exceeded only in few cases by of As and Br, but no elements concentrations reached the intervention threshold. In our opinion, these results reflect the dynamics of the industrial activity in the riparian to Danube River European countries: a steady increase beginning with the last half of the XIX-th century followed by a slightly decline after the fall of Communism.

  17. Andrei Sakharov Prize Talk: Supporting Repressed Scientists: Continuing Efforts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Birman, Joseph L.

    2010-02-01

    Some years ago, Max Perutz asked ``By What Right Do We Scientists Invoke Human Rights?" My presentation will start with mentioning actions of the international community which relate to this question. Such action as the creation in 1919 of the International Research Council, and continuing on to the present with the UN sanctioned International Council of Scientific Unions [ICSU], and other Committees such as those formed by APS, CCS, NYAS, AAAS which give support to repressed scientists around the world now. My own work has attempted to combine my individual initiatives with work as a member and officer of these groups. Together with like minded colleagues who are deeply affected when colleagues are discharged from their positions, exiled, imprisoned and subject to brutal treatment, often after mock ``trials", we react. On visits in 1968 to conferences in Budapest, and then in 1969 to Moscow, Tallin and Leningrad I became personally and deeply touched by the lives of colleagues who were seriously constrained by living under dictatorships. I could move freely into and out of their countries,speak openly about my work or any other matter. They could not, under penalty of possibly serious punishment. Yet, I felt these people were like my extended family. If my grandparents had not left Eastern Europe for the USA in the late 189Os our situations could have been reversed. A little later in the 197O's, ``refusenik" and ``dissident" scientists in the USSR needed support. Colleagues like Andrei Sakharov, Naum Meiman, Mark Azbel, Yakov Alpert, Yuri Orlov and others were being punished for exercising their rights under the UN sanctioned international protocals on ``Universality of Science and Free Circulation of Scientists". Their own governments [which signed these agreements] ignored the very protections they had supported. On frequent trips to the USSR during the 7Os,and 8Os I also seized the opportunity for ``individual initiative" to help these colleagues. I asked for, and got, the opportunity to meet some high level Soviet administrators such as vice President Velikhov of the Academy of Sciences as well as Laboratory directors, and pressed the cases of individual scientists by name. This led to a memorable double existence. During the days I was an ``official guest" of the USSR, while in the evening I would visit colleagues who were fired ; on weekends I participated in Refusenick ``Sunday" Seminars in an apartment in Moscow. This all changed in 1991 with the end of communism in the USSR. Unfortunatly various authorities in the new Russia still violate the UN protocals and scientists there need support even now. The need to continue both individual & group mode of support continues to the present, and now includes helping colleagues in China, Cuba, Iran, the USA [Wen Ho Lee case],and other locales around the world. Intervention for Liu Gang [imprisoned in Beijing], Professor Fang LiZhi, and others in China, the brothers Drs Allaei in Iran, was and is still necessary. In all these cases we must have reliable information. We publicize by direct contact with officials of the relevant country. And very important is that we press the U S government to intervene. Even the step of having a US official inquire about a repressed scientist makes a difference. Judge Brandeis of the U S Supreme Court is the attributed author of the saying that ``Sunlight is the best disinfectant". Sunlight on repression can help end it. When Andrei Sakharov first visited New York at the Academy of Sciences in 1988 he gave us advice which I paraphrase ``Keep alert and informed of violations of Human Rights everywhere and protest both individually and together". Scientific work has deep rewards when you discover a new aspect or explanation for natural phenomena. Supporting repressed colleagues as part of the fabric of scientific work adds another dimension. Namely our satisfaction upon greeting Sakharov, Fang, and others and we know that to some degree our efforts helped free them. This too is an answer to the Max Perutz question: our right is to help another scientist do his or her work, and to reap the reward of knowing we aided. Contact information for the Committee of Concerned Scientists [CCS], The APS Committee on International Freedom of Scientist [CIFS] and other groups efforts are easily obtained on the net. )

  18. The World – Socio-economically and politically: What you need to know

    PubMed Central

    Ausman, James I.

    2013-01-01

    The gravest challenge facing the USA and the nations of the world is the coming economic crisis of the world economies, if present policies are pursued. Few are aware or believe that this event could happen. The spread of centralized government control of the economies, the growth of the welfare state worldwide, the expenditures on entitlements beyond what any nation or even most states can afford, the cost of wars, the rapidly climbing debt of the USA and other countries and their inability to pay for these excessive expenses, the actions of many countries to print “fiat” (false) money to pay for their debts, the raising of taxes to pay for these debts, the rise in immigration to developed countries from the undeveloped world, the associated costs to their societies of this immigration, the promises made by politicians to get elected that cannot be fulfilled, and the desire of the public to have what they want, now, paid for by credit cards (debt), are all contributing to the coming economic crisis. The unfunded promised benefits to the citizens of the USA in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and pensions plus the USA debt amount to about $140 trillion. The total value of all the assets of all the people in the USA is $99 trillion dollars. So, one can see that the people of the USA do not have the resources to pay their expenses. Besides, these entitlements, the rest of the expenses are paid for with borrowed or printed (fiat) money that has little chance of being repaid unless perhaps by subsequent generations or by increases in taxes. Efforts to correct this coming economic crisis by austerity and sacrifice have been rejected by the public and the politicians worldwide. The Governments and the Press have participated in deception of the public about these issues in order to maintain their positions of power, for the truth would destroy them. No solution is in sight except more spending and valueless money printing. This unchecked desire for more of everything without the responsibility to work or pay for these entitlements, has touched many countries and people with a few exceptions. This problem is the result of a worldwide breakdown of ethics and morality in society and a desire of the few for centralized control and power over the people. No country has instituted a solution to these problems that results in reducing expenditures or the growing debts. As many have stated in this paper, this policy cannot be sustained. The result of this scenario will be a worldwide economic crisis. Fundamental to this impending economic crisis is the failure of centrally controlled economies and socialistic programs. Those selected groups, who benefit from having control, are the politicians, bankers, some selected industry leaders, and socialist planners, who will stop at nothing to maintain power and control over the people. Liberty of the people is in jeopardy worldwide. Read the evidence presented and decide if this summary is correct. The troubling question is, “What will happen if the world economy collapses?” Will this crisis be a time for the few to take more control of the people through fear, crisis decisions, misinformation, prevention of the public from protecting themselves with guns, and pervasive spying technology on each citizen or will more democratic governments arise from the failure of centralized control, the welfare state, and the loss of liberty? Such crises have been repeated throughout 4000 years of recorded history. What happened in those past times? Read the quotations of Vladimir Lenin, developer of Marxism–Leninism, the foundation of Communism and judge what you have read from his statements. An alternative to this dismal scenario is little discussed also in the Press. Why not? In the past 150 years, the alternative has happened with a rapid growth in democracy, communications technology, and life expectancy from advances in science and medicine. To unleash this huge human potential, at this time, will require individual freedom to create and innovate with the opportunity for risk and reward in an environment aided by unrestrictive governments even at the community and organizational levels. History records the success of the alternatives in the great leadership and creativity of humankind. The USA and the world are at the critical choice for their futures. We are experiencing the results of centrally controlling governments worldwide that are not working. Is it time for an alternative option? Read the evidence in this paper and decide for yourself. Reading this paper will take you time, but you will not read all of this information elsewhere. It is key to your future. Decide for yourself what you should do after reading it. The URLs of many of the references are included so that you can read further about the many subjects presented yourself. PMID:24231906

  19. The World - Socio-economically and politically: What you need to know.

    PubMed

    Ausman, James I

    2013-01-01

    The gravest challenge facing the USA and the nations of the world is the coming economic crisis of the world economies, if present policies are pursued. Few are aware or believe that this event could happen. The spread of centralized government control of the economies, the growth of the welfare state worldwide, the expenditures on entitlements beyond what any nation or even most states can afford, the cost of wars, the rapidly climbing debt of the USA and other countries and their inability to pay for these excessive expenses, the actions of many countries to print "fiat" (false) money to pay for their debts, the raising of taxes to pay for these debts, the rise in immigration to developed countries from the undeveloped world, the associated costs to their societies of this immigration, the promises made by politicians to get elected that cannot be fulfilled, and the desire of the public to have what they want, now, paid for by credit cards (debt), are all contributing to the coming economic crisis. The unfunded promised benefits to the citizens of the USA in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and pensions plus the USA debt amount to about $140 trillion. The total value of all the assets of all the people in the USA is $99 trillion dollars. So, one can see that the people of the USA do not have the resources to pay their expenses. Besides, these entitlements, the rest of the expenses are paid for with borrowed or printed (fiat) money that has little chance of being repaid unless perhaps by subsequent generations or by increases in taxes. Efforts to correct this coming economic crisis by austerity and sacrifice have been rejected by the public and the politicians worldwide. The Governments and the Press have participated in deception of the public about these issues in order to maintain their positions of power, for the truth would destroy them. No solution is in sight except more spending and valueless money printing. This unchecked desire for more of everything without the responsibility to work or pay for these entitlements, has touched many countries and people with a few exceptions. This problem is the result of a worldwide breakdown of ethics and morality in society and a desire of the few for centralized control and power over the people. No country has instituted a solution to these problems that results in reducing expenditures or the growing debts. As many have stated in this paper, this policy cannot be sustained. The result of this scenario will be a worldwide economic crisis. Fundamental to this impending economic crisis is the failure of centrally controlled economies and socialistic programs. Those selected groups, who benefit from having control, are the politicians, bankers, some selected industry leaders, and socialist planners, who will stop at nothing to maintain power and control over the people. Liberty of the people is in jeopardy worldwide. Read the evidence presented and decide if this summary is correct. The troubling question is, "What will happen if the world economy collapses?" Will this crisis be a time for the few to take more control of the people through fear, crisis decisions, misinformation, prevention of the public from protecting themselves with guns, and pervasive spying technology on each citizen or will more democratic governments arise from the failure of centralized control, the welfare state, and the loss of liberty? Such crises have been repeated throughout 4000 years of recorded history. What happened in those past times? Read the quotations of Vladimir Lenin, developer of Marxism-Leninism, the foundation of Communism and judge what you have read from his statements. An alternative to this dismal scenario is little discussed also in the Press. Why not? In the past 150 years, the alternative has happened with a rapid growth in democracy, communications technology, and life expectancy from advances in science and medicine. To unleash this huge human potential, at this time, will require individual freedom to create and innovate with the opportunity for risk and reward in an environment aided by unrestrictive governments even at the community and organizational levels. History records the success of the alternatives in the great leadership and creativity of humankind. The USA and the world are at the critical choice for their futures. We are experiencing the results of centrally controlling governments worldwide that are not working. Is it time for an alternative option? Read the evidence in this paper and decide for yourself. Reading this paper will take you time, but you will not read all of this information elsewhere. It is key to your future. Decide for yourself what you should do after reading it. The URLs of many of the references are included so that you can read further about the many subjects presented yourself.

  20. Obituary: Bohdan Paczynski, 1940-2007

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spergel, David

    2007-12-01

    Bohdan Paczynski, Lyman Spitzer, Jr. Professor of Astrophysics, died at home in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 19, 2007. Born in Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) on February 8, 1940, Paczynski's first encounter with astronomy was in 1954 when he visited Warsaw Astronomical Observatory in Ostrowok. Soon after his visit, he began a program of observing variable stars that led to his publishing his first paper, "Minima of Eclipsing Variables in 1954-56" at age 18. The study of binary star evolution would be a life-long interest. His highly cited 1971 review paper on "Evolutionary Processes in Close Binary Systems" still provides our framework for understanding binary stars. In his final year, Pacyznsk returned to his beloved variable stars and coauthored a paper with Warsaw University Observatory colleagues on "A Model of AW UMa," which has just appeared in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1957, Pacyznski began studies at Warsaw University, where he worked with Stefan Piotrowski. After completing his Master's Degree, he traveled to the United States to become a night assistant at Lick Observatory. After his year in California, he returned to Poland to defend his PhD thesis in 1964 and to marry Hania Adamska, his lifelong companion. During the subsequent decade, Pacyznski's work had a profound impact on our understanding of stellar evolution. In between 1965 and 1967, Paczynski wrote a series of papers, "Evolution of Close Binaries I-V", that describe how nearby neighbors alter the evolution of stars. These papers were the basis for his doctor habilatus, a higher degree remarkably earned at age 27. He then spent a year as a Fellow at the University of Colorado's Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics. Primarily during his year in Boulder, he developed "The Paczynski Code". Using this code, Paczynski wrote a series of papers that showed that the cores of stars between 3 and 7 times the mass of the Sun converge to similar behavior. These stars end their life as planetary nebulae and leave behind cooling white dwarfs. This code was made publicly available and was widely used by the international community. The code is still in circulation—most recently, it was made available as a CD in Carl Hansen, et al's 2004 book on Stellar Interiors. In 1969, Paczynski returned to the Institute of Astronomy as an assistant professor. He would be promoted to associate in 1974 and to professor in 1979. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Paczynski and his collaborators wrote a number of influential papers on the properties of accretion disks around black holes. These papers showed that geometrically thick disks of gas could radiate at super-Eddington rates. These "polish donut" models are important tools in our understanding of quasars and accreting X-ray sources. In December 1981, martial law was declared in Poland. Paczynski and his family were visiting the California Institute of Technology at the time, where he was spending the year as a Fairchild Fellow. Faced with the decaying political situation in Poland, Pacynski decided to stay in the United States. He quickly received offers from many leading universities. In 1982, he joined the Princeton faculty as a Professor in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences. In 1989, Paczynski became the first Lyman Spitzer, Jr. Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics. While not able to visit Poland until the collapse of communism in 1989, Paczynski invited many of his Polish colleagues to visit Princeton and the USA. Throughout his career, he was a vital link between US and Polish astronomy and was an important mentor for many Polish and US astronomers. At Princeton, Pacynski's interests turned to gravitational lensing and its astrophysical applications. The nature of the dark matter that makes up more than 80% of the mass of our Galaxy is one of the great mysteries of astronomy and physics. Many astronomers suspected that low mass stars could be the dark matter. Paczynski recognized that these stars would act as foreground gravitational lenses and amplify the light from background stars. In a subsequent paper with Princeton graduate student Shude Mao, Paczynski noted that planets would produce a distinctive microlensing signal. Paczynski's gravitational-lensing papers inspired a host of projects that used large CCDs to study the variable universe. Working with colleagues at Warsaw University and the Carnegie Institution, Paczynski and his Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) collaborators detected the first microlensing events towards the galactic bulge. While the microlensing surveys detected the expected number of events when looking toward the galactic center, very few events were seen in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds. This low event rate implies that "Jupiters" or low mass stars do not make up most of the mass of our Galaxy and strengthens the case that a new subatomic particle makes up most of the dark matter. Last year, the OGLE collaboration produced its most dramatic result: the first detection of terrestrial planets around another star. Searches using other techniques have only been able to detect Jupiter-like planets and have not been sensitive enough to detect rocky planets like our own Earth. By following up on OGLE detections in nearly real time with other telescopes, Paczynski and his collaborators made a major step along the path towards find a planet like Earth around a nearby star. Their initial results imply they are common and that many nearby stars harbor rocky planets. OGLE's variability survey has also uncovered a host of exciting astronomical objects. OGLE discoveries include transiting planets, RR Lyrae stars, and eclipsing binaries. Paczynski recognized the potential value of eclipsing binaries for establishing the distance scale and for testing stellar models. Paczysnki was a very early, persistent, and effective advocate of the idea that Gamma Ray Bursts were extragalactic. This idea ran counter to conventional wisdom and implied that the energy released in gamma-ray bursts greatly exceeded the energy released in optical light in supernova explosions. Many high-energy astrophysicists found Paczynski's proposal absurd; however, Paczynski emphasized that the astronomical evidence all pointed towards these powerful explosions coming from outside our Galaxy. With improved data from a new generation of high-energy satellites, observers were able to confirm the extragalactic nature of gamma-ray bursts. Paczynski's heresy has become our firmly established understanding. The astronomy community recognized Bohdan Paczynski with many honors and awards. The American Astronomical Society awarded him the Heinemann Prize and its highest honor, the Russell Prize in 2006. The Royal Astronomical Society recognized his contributions with the Eddington Medal (1987), the George Darwin Lectureship (1996), and its Gold Medal (1999). He won the Astronomical Society of Pacific's Bruce Gold Medal (2002). He was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Academy of Sciences. Diagnosed three years ago with inoperable brain cancer, Paczynski bravely fought on and continued his intellectual activities. With his life prolonged by an experimental treatment, he spent his valuable time with his family, his students, and his colleagues. He continued to be a regular presence at department coffee, where he offered wise and witty insights into a wide range of topics in astrophysics. Paczynski is survived by his wife, Hanka, his daughter, Agnieszka, his son, Martin, and a grandchild. Paczynski was generous with his time and his thoughts, and colleagues and students sought his scientific insight and personal wisdom. His good spirits during his final struggle was an inspiration to all around him. His conduct as a scientist and as a human being was distinguished by unfailing politeness, good sense, and personal integrity. I would like to thank Bruce Draine and Jeremiah Ostriker for their assistance in writing this obituary. The photograph is by Robert P. Matthews, Princeton University (1989).

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