THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NO-GROWTH

Problems of scarcity generate critical political issues as advanced industrial societies shift away from growth-oriented economies. This analysis recommends substituting more abundant political resources for scarce economic ones. Appropriate scenario resulting from these substitution patterns are subjected to speculative analysis.     

Litigating Agency Change

A study of Forest Service-related litigation and administrative appeals was undertaken to examine their potential roles in effecting change within the Forest Service. The frequency of federal lawsuit decisions involving the Forest Service increased markedly between 1971 and 1993, indicating a dramatic increase in the use of litigation as a tool to force change within the agency, particularly in the Ninth Circuit. Administrative appeals followed a similar increasing trend. An examination of the instigators and purposes of lawsuits found that litigation is used most frequently by environmentalists and most often to block commodity production activities by the agency. Although the agency wins the majority of suits in which it is involved, litigants who initiated lawsuits to stop commodity production activities had higher success rates than litigants seeking to challenge additional environmental measures or to promote commodity production by the agency. A qualitative examination of five National Forest Management Act lawsuit case studies concluded that when litigants are successful in legal challenges against the agency, the court decision often results in substantive on-the-ground changes in management, thereby providing an incentive for additional use of litigation as a means to alter agency actions. These results indicate that the courts and administrative appeals process likely have been significant factors in catalyzing change within the Forest Service.     

The fort in the doctor’s house: using tree-ring growth patterns to discover historic Fort Wayne,Indiana, USA

Local Fort Wayne, Indiana (USA) lore says that the Dr. Merchant Huxford House contains timbers from Fort Wayne, the US military outpost constructed in 1794 by General Anthony Wayne. The wilderness fort played roles in Native American and British conflicts and was the genesis for a city with a current population of more than 250,000. The doctor’s residence was built on the outskirts of the young city, but within 0.4 km of the fort site. Accounts contemporary to the house’s construction describe timbers being recycled from the fort for use in new building projects. This article describes the use of dendrochronological methods to establish a construction date for the Huxford House and attempts to confirm or dispel accounts that the house contains recycled timbers from the historic fort.