David Brian Robertson

Political Conflict and Lesson-Drawing

Political adversaries have reason and opportunity to use foreign lessons to gain advantage in political conflicts. Political factors strongly affect the way public policy lessons are drawn and transformed into public policy. Political opponents contest the value, practicality, and transferability of policy initiatives in order to bias the outcome. The paper hypothesizes that (i) the politicization of lesson-drawing induces issue experts to emphasize the descriptive and technical aspects of programs; (2) gives an incentive to advocates of change to use lessons to advance their position during the agenda-setting process; and (3) gives opponents of change an incentive to draw counterbalancing negative lessons from foreign experience when a proposed lesson reaches the point where adoption is entirely possible. The 1988 Congressional debate over mandatory plant closing prenotification provides evidence supporting hypotheses. The paper further hypothesizes: (4) most polities will not adopt both conservative and liberal programs even when theoretically they could do so; and (5) the degree to which a population of polities adopt a particular lesson will be a function of the programs economic and politicial feasibility. The diffusion of labor market and income maintenance policies across the American states supports both of these claims.

The Bias of American Federalism: The Limits of Welfare-State Development in the Progressive Era

Welfare state programs developed later in the United States than in other nations. Today, American programs are less widely accessible, less uniform, and often less generous than programs abroad. Explanations for this relative conservatism usually focus on the lack of a socialist movement or a socialist ideological tradition in the United States. Yet during the Progressive Era, when the gap between the American and European welfare states widened significantly enough for contemporaries to acknowledge it, the forces for social reform had never been stronger in the United States. In many ways these forces resembled those in England, which at the time was laying the foundations for a model welfare state.

METHODOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS FOR APPLICATION TO THE STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL BORON AND TO BORON NEUTRON CAPTURE THERAPY

The combination of immunogold labelling with electron microscopy or the direct detection of boron by electron energy loss spectrometry have the best lateral resolution for the imaging of boron or boron binding sites in tissues at the sub-cellular level. However these methods do not discriminate the boron isotopes. A number of physical methods make it possible to combine analytical imaging with isotopic labelling for boron studies in biological material. Secondary ion mass spectrometry has the potential to isotopically localise virtually any element with a resolution of ∼250nm with conventional instruments and 20–50nm with prototype instruments or with the NanoSIMS50; although SIMS has a relatively poor sensitivity for boron detection in biological matrices, boron imaging in plant samples is possible. Laser microprobe mass analysis also has the potential to detect boron isotopes with a lateral resolution of 3 to 5 μm and a detection limit of a few tens of μg/g with the conventional instruments and of the order of 1ng/g with the new LARIMP system; although mass resolution of LMMS is in general not very good, the risk of interference by other ions at the level of boron masses is limited. Neutron capture radiography is probably the easiest technique for boron imaging and boron isotopic labelling studies in tissues and sometimes at the sub-cellular level, although it detects only 10B isotopes. Nuclear reactions with charged particles (nuclear reaction analysis) have the potential to detect both isotopes of boron and carry out absolute boron concentration measurements with minimal matrix effects, limited risk of interference by other nuclides, a lateral resolution of a few μm at the best, a detection limit better than 1 μg/g for 11B, of the order of 10 μg/g for 10B and an accuracy of 1 to 2% in the determination of 10B/11B isotopic ratios. Preventing the diffusion of possibly mobile forms of boron during the preparation of the biological specimens is still a difficult problem for most techniques. The appropriate application of those methods, or their mutual combination or combination with other methods has made it possible: i) to yield information about the boron concentrations and fluxes in sub-cellular compartments and support the view that the cellular transport of boron was mainly passive under the experimental conditions under consideration; ii) to image the distribution of boron and of boron binding sites in tissues and sometimes at the sub-cellular level; iii) to study the short-distance diffusion and the long-distance transport of boron in plants and to assess the role of the phloem in the long-distance transport in various plant species; iv) to determine the origin (seed reserves vs uptake by roots) of the boron present in different sub-cellular compartments. For boron neutron capture therapy of cancers, invasive techniques of boron detection and imaging are comparable to the techniques described above for the study of physiological boron; for clinical applications, non-invasive techniques to follow 10B-compounds in vivo are being developed, especially by targeting of such compound by 18F and the use of positron emission tomography or by direct detection of 10B by magnetic resonance imaging.

LnPO4 nanoparticles doped with Ac-225 and sequestered daughters for targeted alpha therapy

For targeted alpha therapy (TAT) with 225Ac, daughter radioisotopes from the parent emissions should be controlled. Here, we report on a second-generation layered nanoparticle (NP) with improved daughter retention that can mediate TAT of lung tumor colonies. NPs of La3+, Gd3+, and 225Ac3+ ions were coated with additional layers of GdPO4 and then coated with gold via citrate reduction of NaAuCl4. MAb 201b, targeting thrombomodulin in lung endothelium, was added to a polyethylene glycol (dPEG)-COOH linker. The NPs:mAb ratio was quantified by labeling the mAb with 125I. NPs showed 30% injected dose/organ antibody-mediated uptake in the lung, which increased to 47% in mice pretreated with clodronate liposomes to reduce phagocytosis. Retention of daughter 213Bi in lung tissue was more than 70% at one hour and about 90% at 24 hours postinjection. Treatment of mice with lung-targeted 225Ac NP reduced EMT-6 lung colonies relative to cold antibody competition for targeting or phosphate-buffered saline injected controls. We conclude that LnPO4 NPs represent a viable solution to deliver the 225Ac as an in vivo α generator. The NPs successfully retain a large percentage of the daughter products without compromising the tumoricidal properties of the α-radiation.

Capital, Labor, and State: The Battle for American Labor Markets from the Civil War to the New Deal

Chapter 1 The Battle Between Capital and Labor in America Chapter 2 American Labor Market Policy, Strategy, and Political Institutions Chapter 3 Labor and Regulation, 1865-1900 Chapter 4 The AFL Confronts Employers Chapter 5 Employers Counterattack Chapter 6 The AFLs Strategic Retreat and Its Consequences Chapter 7 Limitations of Labor Market Regulation Chapter 8 Confining Trade Union Powers Chapter 9 Marginalizing Labor Market Management Chapter 10 Circumscribing Work Insurance Chapter 11 The American Model of Labor Market Policy

Mrs. Thatcher's Employment Prescription: An Active Neo-Liberal Labor Market Policy

Though each of the capitalist democracies has developed a similar battery of programs for mitigating labor market problems, politically significant differences in strategy underlie superficial similarities. By the 1970s, labor market strategies could be distinguished by three models: a passive social democratic or guardian strategy (Britain), an active social democratic or egalitarian strategy (Sweden), and a passive neo-liberal or business-centered strategy (United States). In response to high unemployment, the Thatcher government has resurrected a long dormant fourth strategy that combines neo-liberal principles with an active state. This active neo-liberal or market-centered approach seeks a workforce that is less organised, has greater wage disparities, and is more adaptable to business needs. The governments activism is evident in the growth of the Manpower Services Commission, both in absolute terms and relative to passive compensatory measures. Its neo-liberalism is evident in reducing structural impediments to lower wages, increasing incentives for individual initiative, and revamping employment and training schemes along neo-liberal lines. These efforts correlate with decreasing levels of union membership, increasing self-employment, and increasing wage disparities in the British economy, trends that are, by the governments criteria, improvements.

Policy Entrepreneurs and Policy Divergence: John R. Commons and William Beveridge

British and American labor-market policies such as workmens compensation, public employment offices, and unemployment insurance diverged markedly as they evolved after 1900. Most cross-national social policy studies compare such macropolitical variables as spending, culture, wealth, and political competition. This study takes an alternative micropolitical approach in order to detail the links between policy effort, program design, and macropolitical constraints. It compares two leading authorities on labor-market problems after 1900, John R. Commons in the United States and William Beveridge in Britain. Differences between American and British labor-market policy reflect differences between the strategies of Commons and Beveridge rather than their relative influence and effectiveness. These strategies reflect pragmatic adaptations to contrasting political cultures and structures. American federalism exerted effects that limited effort and narrowed the range of feasible policy options in the United States.

Bellwether Politics in Missouri

Professor Robertson explains what makes Missouri a consistent bellwether state in presidential politics, and points to trends in the electorate that show why it will continue to be a microcosm of American politics. In describing recent state campaigns, he demonstrates how the deep urban-rural split in Missouri will endure far beyond the 2004 elections. Missouri Republicans have seized the advantage of a growing rural base and nurtured a rural-suburban alliance. While demographic and policy trends have weakened the Democrats, their ability to adapt has kept them competitive in statewide elections. Early returns in St. Louis County may indicate how Missouri will deliver its electoral votes.

Introduction: Loss of Confidence and Policy Change in the 1970s

The 1970s had at least as powerful an impact on the course of American public policy as the decade that preceded it. Polls showed that confidence in large institutions—including government—was wearing down under the burden of crisis, complexity, scandal, and doubt. Inflation, economic stagnation, and severe oil shortages directly disrupted individual lives. Faith in the future of the nation, its economy, its institutions, and its government eroded.

International political economy

IPEC 4301 Political Economy of Industrialized Countries (3 semester credit hours) How can German carmakers be among the best in the world if they are required to give two years notice before firing someone? Why did Swedish firms help to introduce a free universal health care system? Why it is rational for German companies to grant their workers veto rights over management decisions, but not for U.S. firms? Clearly, labor rights, market regulations, and industrial organization differ significantly across the United States, Germany, and Sweden. Yet, economics as a social science typically does not incorporate these differences. On the other hand, political economy analyzes how factors such as the electoral system, degree of business coordination, and governmental regulation shape business strategy. Understanding the effect of these differences is essential for managers designing investment strategies or policy makers developing policy recommendations. Using case studies, this course offers students opportunities to sharpen their analytical skills with real world applications and expand upon black-and-white theories from business and economics. (3-0) T