online archive

International law, political thought, science and academia

From the European Journal of International Law, Bruno Simma (ICJ) and Dirk Pulkowski (Munich): Of Planets and the Universe: Self-contained Regimes in International Law; Steven Wheatley (Leeds): The Security Council, Democratic Legitimacy and Regime Change in Iraq; Marko Milanovic (BCHR): State Responsibility for Genocide; Patrick Dumberry (GIIS): New State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts by an Insurrectional Movement; a symposium on WTO "Constitutionalism": Joel P. Trachtman (Tufts): The Constitutions of the WTO; Jeffrey L. Dunoff (Temple): Constitutional Conceits: The WTO's "Constitution" and the Discipline of International Law; a review essay on Legalizing Lawlessness: On Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception; a review of Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law by Antony Anghie; a review of Denial of Justice in International Law by Jan Paulsson; and a review of State Sovereignty: The Reconstruction and Meaning of the Notion in International Law by Roman Kwiecien.

A review of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought by Anthony Kenny and Charles Kenny. A review of Reinventing "The People": The Progressive Movement, the Class Problem, and the Origins of Modern Liberalism by Shelton Stromquist. A review of Attendant Cruelties: Nation and Nationalism in American History by Patrice Higonnet. A review of Robert Service's Comrades: A World History of Communism. A review of Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag by Nicolas Werth; The Unknown Gulag: The lost world of Stalin’s special settlements by Lynne Viola; and Gulag: Life and death within Soviet concentration camps by Tomas Kizny.

From Discover, an article on The Math Behind Beauty: A plastic surgeon computes the perfect face; and a look at The Real Story on Gay Genes: Homing in on the science of homosexuality—and sexuality itself. Only 55 percent of men are satisfied with the penis nature gave them. Now British scientists are trying to persuade men suffering from penis anxiety not to worry, saying most men afflicted by "small penis syndrome" actually have average-sized members. High self-esteem may be culturally universal: The notion that East Asians are self-effacing and have low self-esteem compared to Americans may well describe the surface view of East Asian personality, but misses the picture revealed by recently developed measures of self-esteem.

From Campus Progress, an article on reauthorizing No Child Left Behind and why it hasn’t saved American education. "Do you think you can teach our students?" Having a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university can open some doors for you, but it can also close others. Student Veterans: They’ve served their country in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world. But a whole new set of challenges await when they return to campus and readjust to civilian life. From Der Spiegel, Poland's education minister wanted to replace classic works of literature on the school syllabus with patriotic and Catholic authors. But Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has overruled him, reassuring the Poles that their children will be taught Goethe, Dostoyevsky and Conrad. Reality—Better than Fiction: A literature student, excited by physics but turned off by how it was taught, took to inventing her own theories of the universe. Then a university course showed her that reality is more interesting than anything she could invent.