The Public Interest articles from January 2004

The Public Interest archives from January 2004

Multilateralism comes to the courts.(customary international law)
January 1, 2004... THE rulings of the Supreme Court in last spring's landmark affirmative-action and gay-rights cases were less surprising than the reasoning used by some of the Court's justices. In resolving constitutional questions, the Court routinely relies...

The corporate scandals and American capitalism.
January 1, 2004... FOR a century, regulation by government and modesty on the part of business leaders have guided efforts to preserve and improve the capitalist system. The phrase "There oughta be a law" captures the spirit of that impulse, and experience has...

Conservatives and neoconservatives.
January 1, 2004... NEOCONSERVATISM has become the topic of the day. But does neoconservatism really exist, and if so what is it? What exactly is "new" in neoconservatism, and how does it differ from other strands of conservative thought in America? And finally,...

The homework wars.
January 1, 2004... THE American child, a gloomy chorus of newspapers, magazines and books tells us, is overworked. All spontaneity is being squeezed out of him by the vice-like pressures of homework, extracurricular activities, and family. "Jumping from Spanish...

Thinking about the draft.
January 1, 2004... IN the wake of September 11, the United States has undertaken a range of new and expanded military commitments, especially in Central Asia and the Middle East. The military occupation of Iraq is likely to last longer, and require larger forces,...

The puzzle of black male unemployment.
January 1, 2004... THE last decade was a good one for low-income women, especially minorities and single mothers. Welfare reform pushed many of them into the labor force, and the strong economy helped others to find jobs. Initiatives to "make work pay," such as...

Sports, sex, and Title IX.
January 1, 2004... THIS past July, the Department of Education reaffirmed existing Title IX regulatory policy, rejecting several changes proposed earlier in the year. Title IX supporters were surprised, delighted, and triumphant; would-be conservative reformers...

The culture of welfare reform.
January 1, 2004... MOST people know that the state of Wisconsin led the nation in reforming welfare, but few realize the full implications of that achievement. The state's reform restored hope in the possibility of an effective antipoverty policy. Government...

The university for sale.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... DEREK Bok, the former president of Harvard, who in the dozen years since he left the presidency has written five important books on major issues affecting the nation and higher education, has now turned his attention toward a peculiarly...

The LaGuardia myth.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... HAILED as "America's greatest mayor" in a 1999 national survey, Fiorello LaGuardia is a figure of enduring appeal. According to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, LaGuardia gave Gotham the "most honest and I believe the most efficient...

Assimilation and its discontents.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... IN the past, our immigration debates have centered on whether immigrants would assimilate into mainstream American society. It was a battle between defenders of the melting pot on the one hand and those who feared that millions of "undesirable...

The new nepotism.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... AMERICANS cherish the idea of the meritorious self-made man. "A man who makes boast of his ancestors doth but advertise his own insignificance," Benjamin Franklin, the original self-made man, once wrote. The sentiment has stuck. Merit makes...