Tourist or vagabond?

Abstract

Poverty isn't an option for the poor so why should it be one for the Church? How do we relate to the experience of being poor in the UK, to the phenomenon of globalization which increasingly shapes all our experiences, and to the task of theological interpretation of the signs of the times? This article explores dimensions of poverty in the UK and in particular the phenomenon of the invisibility of the poor, offers some explanation as to why poverty has grown substantially in the UK over the past two decades and seeks to set this within the wider context of the debate about globalization and its victors and victims—the tourists and vagabonds. Finally, it suggests that much of what passes for modern theology is in fact a form of ‘tourist theology’ and explores ways of creating a new ‘vagabond theology’ for the twenty-first century.     

Sociology or social science?

Modern sociology has set itself up as a specialised discipline dissociating itself from the broad-ranging theories of development of the early sociologists and breaking the links with economics, social anthropology and politics which had formed such an exciting unity in their works or at least in their lives.     

Sociology or social science?

Modern sociology has set itself up as a specialised discipline dissociating itself from the broad-ranging theories of development of the early sociologists and breaking the links with economics, social anthropology and politics which had formed such an exciting unity in their works or at least in their lives.     

Realism: rational or reasonable?

Realism has maintained its central role in International Relations theory throughout the post‐1945 era, but the relative clarity of the realism of Carr and Morgenthau has been lost by the addition of several variant forms of the structural realism of Kenneth Waltz; moreover, while some liberals may have tempered their criticisms of realism, constructivist scholars have taken their place as opponents of the doctrine. In the books under review, Samuel Barkin attempts to reconcile constructivism to classical realism, while Charles Glaser has produced the most sophisticated account of structural realism since that of Waltz. Both books are well‐reasoned and stimulating, but as yet constructivist realism has produced no substantive findings, while Glaser's account of states as rational egoists cannot underpin an account of the national interest which is sensitive to the reasonable interests of others.     

Transcarpathia—Bridgehead or Periphery?

This paper surveys the economic and political prospects of multiethnic Transcarpathia Oblast, a borderland region that historically has frequently changed political affiliations and which in 2004 will form a part of Ukraine's border with the European Union. More specifically, the analysis focuses on factors that have shaped the region's identity, the extent to which its current economic potential has been effectively utilized, whether its relative location confers upon it the potential to serve as a bridgehead between Ukraine and European political and economic structures, and implications of EU enlargement and Ukraine's macro-political orientation for the region. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F20, J61, 018. 4 figures, 2 tables, 44 references.     

True exchanges or thought crime?

Academic boycotts are obnoxious weapons that imperil the principle of freedom of expression and intellectual exchange and people who advocate an academic boycott of Israel open themselves to charges of hypocrisy and mendacity.     

Functional,symbolic or ritual?

Tools for determining the value of metal appear as symbols among grave goods in prehistoric and early medieval Europe and the Near East. Also, five boat burials excavated in eponymous Vendel contained touchstones. This article presents the results of chemical microanalyses of metal traces preserved on them and discusses the linear streaks of zinc in light of extraordinary ore deposits in central Sweden, exploited as early as the Early Middle Ages. In addition, forging tools found in four boat burials in Vendel are interpreted as symbols belonging to the funerary assemblages of ancient leaders. However, although both forging tools and tools for determining the value of metal were used in the treatment of metal, it would be misleading to search for their functional connection. They are linked in prehistoric and early medieval graves exclusively by their function as a symbol, one which they share with other objects, regardless whether exclusive or common.     

Universal vision or bounded rationality?

William Walker's article takes a strongly universalist view of the requirements of nuclear order. It finds recent American administrations deliberately unwilling to maintain international confidence in the necessary collective narrative of eventual universal nuclear disarmament, so causing a crisis of confidence in the Non Proliferation Treaty regime. This commentary examines how far realistically different recent US policies and declarations could have avoided such problems, given certain underlying realities and dynamics surrounding the management of nuclear weapons. It also questions how indispensable abstract universalism will be in containing future nuclear proliferation.     

Perspectivism: 'Type' or 'bomb'?

In this editorial Bruno Latour reviews a debate on 'Perspectivism and animism' between Philippe Descola (College of France) and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (National Museum of Rio de Janeiro), that took place at Maison Suger, Institute of Advanced Studies, Paris on 30 January 2009.