Waller R. Newell,Tyrants: A History of Power,Injustice, and Terror

Waller Newell's historical typology of tyrants looks even more interesting from the philosophical perspective of Plato's Gorgias. Socrates pinpoints a blind spot typical of the reformer tyrant in Gorgias, whose success depends on his personal, not his principled, influence. Polus, the garden-variety tyrant, wants to acquire more and more with impunity, an old story with the usual bad ending. Callicles pushes furthest of all: it's only the exceptional individual like himself who steels himself to follow ideology to the bitter end. The Socratic rejoinders do not persuade the interlocutors, but they might serve to educate liberal democrats: some tyrants are just incurable.     

The Demographics of Gubernatorial Appointees: Toward an Explanation of Variation

This study examines the various factors that could potentially predict or explain demographic diversity in high‐level gubernatorial appointments in state government. In particular, it identifies and analyzes a set of variables that could help answer the question: Under what conditions are governors more likely to appoint higher proportions of women and people of color to top‐ranking executive branch positions? This question, not yet addressed by researchers, is particularly salient in the current climate of accelerated devolution. Decisionmakers in state governments play a greater role in determining policy across an increasingly wide range of areas than at any time in recent history. From the standpoint of representativeness, the demographic background of state policymakers increases the stakes of those who participate, particularly in terms of policy outcomes. Thus, it is especially important to identify the participants in state‐level policy arenas and the factors that could predict their appointments.     

Raptor pellets as zooarchaeological material for paleoparasitological studies in Patagonia

Raptor pellets from Cerro Casa de Piedra archaeological sites, Patagonia, have yielded consistent evidence of parasitism and possible zoonoses in ancient times. Pellet samples analyzed were dated at 2740 ± 100 and 3.990 ± 80 years before present and have produced evidence of three intestinal parasite genera. Eggs of two nematodes Trichuris and Calodium, and one cestode, taeniid, were found. Its significance for rock shelters paleoepidemiology of the Holocene is discussed. This study increases the evidences that raptor pellets can be used as source of paleoparasitological information in archaeological sites.