A Web of Interests: Stalemate on the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel

The United States has adopted a policy of geological disposal to resolve the problem of permanent disposition of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel (SNF), but has been unable to implement this policy. This study draws upon literature on policymaking and interest group representation to examine that inability. It develops and explores a conceptualization of policy stalemate to analyze the case.
The study finds that the United States has arrived at a stalemate over SNF disposal policy in part because of its pluralist system of interest group representation, and in part because of the nature of the problem. The case demonstrates how, in a pluralist system, the interaction of interests over a complex and difficult policy problem can result in stalemate. Few of the involved interest groups have sufficient incentives to either implement current SNF disposal policy or to revisit the policy. Barring significant change in the nature of the problem, the balance of interests, or other factors in the policy environment, the stalemate will continue.
The central question of this symposium is how institutionalized systems of interest group representation manage competing demands for environmental protection with demands for energy. In the case of SNF disposal, the United States in effect is managing these competing demands by not addressing them. SNF disposal policy does not appear to pose directly the expected tradeoff between demands for environmental protection and accessible energy, as the conflict tends to be defined primarily in environmental terms. However, the trade-off is implicit; failure to resolve the problem will eventually impact continued access to nuclear energy.     

Transfer of population as a solution to international disputes: population exchanges between Greece and Turkey as a model for plans to solve the Jewish-Arab dispute in Palestine during the 1930s

The author explores the reasons for the failure of a plan for population exchanges that took place between Jews and Arabs in Palestine in the 1930s. Special focus is given to the success of previous exchanges between Greece and Turkey that took place during the 1920s and why this model failed in Palestine. The author concludes that "the Zionist plans which assumed that one could encourage voluntary transfer by creating attractive economic conditions in the target areas, did not take into account the factors of nationalism, ties to place of residence, religion, etc. These factors carried no less weight than the economic factor and they could effectively prevent any voluntary transfer of the Arab population."     

Rapid phytolith extraction for analysis of phytolith concentrations and assemblages during an excavation: an application at Tell es-Safi/Gath,Israel

A rapid phytolith extraction procedure is described, that allows phytolith concentrations and morphotype assemblages to be analyzed within hours. This procedure enables the results of these analyses to be used during an archaeological excavation, in order to better understand how plants were used. The new procedure was tested using a standard phytolith extract and two experimental phytolith-sediment blends and found to be both accurate and precise. The reliability of partial slide counting was evaluated and found to be as accurate and precise as existing phytolith quantification methods. The new extraction and counting procedures were applied to an archaeological site, Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel. The results demonstrate how information on phytolith concentrations in sediments that are available from one day to the next, can be used during an excavation to more effectively document the local features of interest and obtain better information.     

Quantification and the Scientific Study of History

Abstract

A survey of the illustrations in art history textbooks reveals that the most important Modern American painters, including Pollock, Johns, and Warhol, failed to produce individual paintings as famous as the masterpieces of a number of major French artists, such as Picasso, Manet, and Seurat. Analysis of the textbooks reveals that art historians do not consider the American artists to be less important than their French predecessors or judge the Americans' innovations to be less important. The absence of American masterpieces instead appears to be a consequence of market conditions. as changes over time in the primary methods of showing and selling fine art reduced the incentive for artists to produce important individual works. This study demonstrates that the study of markets is essential to a full understanding of the development of Modern art.     

Heritage Interpretation and Politics in Kfar Etzion,Israel

Kfar Etzion is a Kibbutz first established in Palestine in the 1930s. At the end of the British Mandate, in 1948, it became a de facto Israeli military outpost that controlled access to Jerusalem from the south. Kfar Etzion fell to Arab forces in 1948 and the area became Jordanian territory until 1967 when Israeli forces occupied the West Bank. Kfar Etzion was re-established in the same year. Kfar Etzion now interprets its history through a sophisticated multilingual audio-visual presentation offered in a museum built over a former bunker where Jewish defenders were killed. This presentation is analysed to illustrate the ways in which an historical narrative is constructed for interpretive purposes and to show that Bloc and Israeli perspectives are conflated for political purposes. The battle for the Bloc continues through the interpretation of heritage.