Legalism as an Executive Ideology: Foundations of Barack Obama's Leadership Style

Abstract

The purpose of this commentary is to explore the sources of decision-making by President Obama. Specifically, the article notes his strong foundation in legal education, law journal editing, and early occupational activities related to law practice. It is observed that a legalist cast of mind rather than broad statements about race, class, and nation define the Obama early period in office. These considerations are often at the center of presidential options chosen, especially in areas of foreign policy and global challenges. The article claims that “legalism” serves to place serious limits on initiatives and independent actions, but also serves to put a brake on tendencies to impose a new imperial presidency. Such ideological checks and balances show unique dimensions to this president, but also continuity with past limits to extremism.     

Bourdieu, rational action and the time-space strategy of gentrification

This paper proposes gentrification as an example of class habitus adjusting to a new field via a time-space strategy that involves conscious rational coordination of class agents on a new aesthetic 'focal point'. This approach suggests: (1) a much greater role for conscious rational processes in both the intentional and intuitive processes of class reproduction; (2) an understanding via gentrification of the symbolic significance of time-space in class processes; (3) the significance of individual class agents in the process of gentrification; (4) a view of gentrification that gives greater prominence to working-class taste and habitus.     

17th century Huron village life: insights from the copper-based metals of the Ball site,southern Ontario,Canada

Copper-based metal artifacts from the Ball site, a late 16th – early 17th century Huron (Wendat) village in southern Ontario that doubled in size during its estimated 20-year existence, were analysed by INAA. The goal was to assess the number of kettles that had reached the village, explore the chronology of their arrival and examine patterns in their discard within the site. Our results suggest that about two to three dozen European copper, red brass, and yellow brass kettles may have reached the village during its occupation; that copper kettles may have been traded to the inhabitants of the village before brass kettles; that the new inhabitants may have brought some kettles with them; and that differences in the discarding of copper and brass pieces inside and outside longhouses indicate that yellow brass was possibly of lower value than red copper.