International Sociology current issue

'Illegal Aliens' and the State, or: Bare Bodies vs the Zombie

Schinkel, W. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:46:30 PST

This article focuses on the opposite poles of what Agamben, following Schmitt, calls the state of exception: the irregular migrant as homo sacer and the sovereign state. It takes the practice of detaining ‘illegal immigrants’ as a starting point for reflection on two central features of debates about globalization: (1) the declining relevance of space and (2) the declining relevance of nation-states. The author argues that both may be taking place, but they are being countered by states adapting themselves to the condition of globalization. By turning itself from welfare state into penal state, the state seeks new ways of defining itself in a globalizing world. This involves the detention centre for ‘illegal immigrants’ as a space of exception. The author uses three notions in order to capture the nature of the space occupied by the detention centre, which escapes traditional social scientific notions of space. Ranging from the more ‘formal’ characteristics of the spaces in question to their full political substance, they are Augé’s notion of the non-place, Foucault’s notion of the heterotopia and Agamben’s notion of the camp. The author argues that the global is networked through localities, and that the exceptional space of the detention centre for ‘illegal aliens’ is a political node in the global network. The incarceration of irregular immigrants as homines sacri is part of a response to the global by means of an absolute relevance of the local: the detention centre, which is at once the model of binding locality and the site of a space ‘outside’ regular social space.

Network Dynamics of the Dutch Business Elite

Heemskerk, E., Fennema, M. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:46:30 PST

This article investigates the cohesion of the Dutch business elite during the 20th century. First it considers the old boys’ network, where social cohesion builds on shared family and educational background. Second, the board-meeting network of corporate directors in the Netherlands is analysed as an expression of the cohesion of the corporate elite. Unlike most studies on interlocking directorates, this article focuses on the interpersonal perspective of the network instead of the intercorporate perspective. The study finds that social cohesion declined between 1976 and 2001. The meeting network of the Dutch corporate elite has become the realm of brokers rather than a device of social cohesion and social closure. It no longer serves the purpose of creating trust among the corporate elite. As a result, norms of corporate governance have become blurred.

The Institutional Production of National Science in the 20th Century

Castilla, E. J. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:46:30 PST

Science and scientific production have been widely promoted as powerful tools for advancing national economic and social development. While much progress has been made in determining whether this is the case, less understood are the underlying factors influencing national scientific activity in the first place, especially during its 20th-century global expansion. In order to advance our understanding of the development of science and world polity, this study investigates in-depth when and under what functional and institutional conditions countries chose to join any of the scientific unions comprising the ICSU, the pre-eminent and oldest international science institution in the world. According to analyses of historical data for 166 countries from 1919 to 1990, functional arguments are only important predictors of the rate at which nation-states join scientific organizations early in the ‘science diffusion’ process. After 1945, institutional factors best account for worldwide national scientific activity: The joining rate increases more quickly during the post-Second World War era with the rise of the world system. This article also provides evidence of both convergence in the evolution of national scientific activities and of the great invariability in the impact of functional and institutional factors for core and peripheral countries over time. The article concludes by discussing the implications of this research for the future study of national scientific production and development in the world.

International Graduate Science Training and Scientific Collaboration

Ynalvez, M. A., Shrum, W. M. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:46:30 PST

Graduate training abroad is typical for scientists in developing countries. Owing to resource scarcities, collaboration is a common form of research for these same individuals. Yet few studies have examined the linkage between graduate education and scientific collaboration. This article examines this question in a population of scientists who have experienced the simultaneous influence of three scientifically strong training systems: Australia, Japan and the US. Survey data from 312 agricultural scientists in two Philippine locations are used to explore the relationships between graduate education, Internet use, professional networks and scientific collaboration. The findings show that most collaboration is domestic, but the most common international collaborations are Japanese, followed by Australian and finally US collaborations. Japanese training, but not professional networks, is associated with such collaborations, while US and Australian training appear unimportant to collaborations in these locations. This the article explains by identifying two aspects integral to graduate education, mode of study and mentoring style , which may be critical to the development of durable professional ties and ultimately to collaborative work. The results show that even among scientific training systems in developed areas, there are variations in interaction and practices that have implications for differential participation in scientific collaboration.

Resumes/Resumenes

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:46:30 PST