The Politics of Crisis: Deconstructing the Dominant Narratives of the Housing Crisis

This paper considers how dominant narratives of the housing crisis, since the 2008 banking crisis in England, have been created and what actions taken in its name. The paper deconstructs the term “crisis”, highlighting that its meaning has evolved from a critical moment to a protracted narrative which must be understood historically. Through discourse analysis into housing and party political policy, media and think tank reports, we argue that the employment of housing crisis by the government and others perceives it as an outcome of housing supply constraints and over-regulation—narratives that have justified subsequent policy actions aimed at propping up the housing and financial systems, opening new avenues for housing commodification, deregulation and financialisation and reproducing crisis anew. However, we note that these narratives can also break down and space can be created for the articulation of new narratives which refocus housing crises as emerging from inequality and class divisions.     

Managing the Solid Waste Crisis

Policymakers at all levels of government now face the difficult task of siting new waste facilities in the face of public apprehension and opposition. This study offers a causal model to evaluate the potential of operation and economic incentives for mitigating siting opposition while controlling for background characteristics and environmental attitudes. Among those incentives evaluated, local committee oversight, property tax credit, and money for schools proved to be the most useful options for tempering opposition among citizens.     

近代中国乡村危机简论

近代中国是一个农业社会,农村的状况如何,从根本上制约着整个社会的演化。本文认为,近代百年,中国乡村一直处于危机之中。文章从宏观上探讨了乡村危机的表现、乡村危机产生的原因、乡村危机的主要特征等问题,以求对乡村危机有一个较为清晰的认识。     

Budgetary Crisis and Congressional Spending

Dennis S. Ippolito, Congressional Spending .
Lance T. LeLoup, The Fiscal Congress .
Rudolph G. Penner, editor, The Congressional Budget Process After Five Years .
Allen Schick, Congress and Money .     

Ukraine's Financial Crisis, 2009

A prominent specialist in the economic affairs of the former Soviet Union relates and analyzes the state of Ukraine's economy in light of a series of discussions and interviews with the country's Prime Minister and leading economic officials in Kyiv in 2008 and April 2009. The author, a former economic advisor to the country's government and co-chair of the UN's Blue Ribbon Commission for Ukraine, devotes this paper to a penetrating analysis of the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 on Ukraine's budget, banks, exchange rates, money supply, industrial sectors (particularly energy and steel), GDP, and inflationary pressures. Due attention is given to economic relations with the EU and Russia as well as to financial assistance from the IMF.Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E500, E600, O520, P200. 1 table, 4 figures, 38 references.     

Revisiting the Cuban Missile Crisis

Book reviewed in this article:
Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow (eds.), The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis     

乌克兰国家安全危机分析

冷战结束后的相当长时间内,乌克兰在对外战略的抉择中不断陷入困境.在与国际体系的互动过程中,因处于大国地缘竞争的过渡地带,造成自身在领土安全和国家稳定方面的悲剧局面.乌克兰的外交重点处于西方或俄罗斯这两种外交方向的不断转换之中,通过平衡这两种政策的运用来增进国家的实力和利益.与此对应,大国通过遵守规则予以奖励,漠视规则进行遏制与惩罚的方式来应对乌克兰的对外行为.其结果是乌克兰与周边大国的互动逐渐陷入循环往复式的困境,处境变得日益糟糕.乌克兰内部的认同冲突根源于其处于特殊的地缘政治地带之上的历史互动与实践,并最终造就乌克兰的弱国家地位,使得其在国际体系中处于边缘化的角色,国家安全与诉求长期遭到漠视,在内外冲突的互动过程中,乌克兰的国家安全问题不断恶化.