Textual Corruption in the Civil Rights Cases

The Civil Rights Cases ¹ do not quite rival Plessy v. Ferguson ² for notoriety as the decision that most clearly confirmed the failure of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. Yet the Civil Rights Cases did far more than Plessy to limit federal power to address the continuing consequences of slavery. They declared unconstitutional the Civil Rights Act of 1875 insofar as it prohibited discrimination in public accommodations operated by private parties. Congress passed that act under its powers to enforce the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, but the Court held the act unconstitutional on the ground that private discrimination was neither a badge or incident of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment nor a manifestation of state action under the Fourteenth. Although the Court's holding under the Thirteenth Amendment was effectively overruled by the Warren Court, ³ its holding under the Fourteenth Amendment continues to be influential, supporting a decision of the Rehnquist Court striking down the Violence Against Women Act. ⁴     

Dangerous Liaisons: Neoliberal Foreign Policy and Australia's Regional Engagement

Recent dramatic events in the Asia/Pacific region have prompted a reassessment within the Australian community of the prevailing analytical and policy orthodoxies associated with our contemporary regional engagements. This paper, written well before the serious upheavals in Indonesia and Malaysia, warns of the likelihood of such upheavals taking place and of the long-term dangers faced by Australian foreign policy in relation to them. In this context it concentrates primarily on Australia's explicit and enthusiastic commitment to a neoliberal global trade agenda and its less explicit but still solid commitment to a neo-Realist security agenda. It suggests that the tensions intrinsic to this policy matrix could provoke major problems for Australia in the future. More specifically, it argues that the pursuit of traditional (elite-centred) political stability and radical (market-driven) economic prosperity in the Asia/Pacific might well accelerate an opposite scenario, as people throughout the region resist the processes of rapid free-market development and ongoing political repression. It urges less fealty to the latest grand-theory of (Western) global power and a more serious empirical analysis of the implications of it for Australia's long term future in the Asia/Pacific.     

YIELDING OSCILLATOR UNDER TRIANGULAR GROUND ACCELERATION PULSE

An analytical solution is presented for the response of a bilinear inelastic simple oscillator to a symmetric triangular ground acceleration pulse. This type of motion is typical of near-fault recordings generated by source-directivity effects that may generate severe damage. Explicit closed-form expressions are derived for: (i) the inelastic response of the oscillator during the rising and decaying phases of the excitation as well as the ensuing free oscillations; (ii) the time of structural yielding; (iii) the time of peak response; (iv) the associated ductility demand. It is shown that when the duration of the pulse is long relative to the elastic period of the structure and its amplitude is of the same order as the yielding seismic coefficient, serious damage may occur if significant ductility cannot be supplied. The effect of post-yielding structural stiffness on ductility demand is also examined. Contrary to presently-used numerical algorithms, the proposed analytical solution allows many key response parameters to be evaluated in closed-form expressions and insight to be gained on the'response of inelastic structures to such motions. The model is evaluated against numerical results from actual near-field recorded motions. Illustrative examples are also presented.     

THE TIGERS of PEMAKO

About seven years have passed since we visited Pemako. I wonder if the deity Vajrayogini has protected Tibet‘s last tigers in this sacred hidden land.