The Nicaraguan-Contra Negotiations of 1988: A Test of The Reagan Doctrine
AbstractThe 1988 peace negotiations between the Nicaraguan government and the contras were noteworty as a reaction to the implementation by the United States government of the Reagan Doctrine and the theory of Low Intensity Conflict against the Sandinista state. That government confronted the Doctrine by reversing its long-held position of refusing to talk with the contras, as well as by agreeing to hold elections at an earlier date than originally planned. A detailed examination of the 1988 negotiations indicates that the government made important concessions to the contras in order to weaken the military impact of LIC; but this strategy could not overcome the economic warfare aspect of LIC. This conclusion indicates that LIC may be a more effective economic than military strategy even though the Sandinistas have not been totally defeated. The military aspect of LIC, furthermore, depends heavily on the strength of local rightist forces.
A functional integral approach to the one-dimensional electron-phonon problem
Abstract The interplay between lattice and electronic fluctuations in one-dimensional electron-phonon systems is analyzed by a path integral approach in terms of both commuting and anticommuting field variables. Both adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes of lattice fluctuations can be investigated by applying a renormalization group procedure to both the electronic and phonon degrees of freedom. It is shown how this procedure, which is at a microscopic level, can generate the Ginzburg-Landau functional description of lattice correlations. In the adiabatic regime, this theory gives a self-consistent treatment of lattice fluctuations and of the remaining electronic degrees of freedom. Using a single-loop approximation of the quartic phonon field term, it is shown that quantum fluctuations of the phonon field suppress the Peierls order parameter. A numerical application to the spinless half-filled band in the molecular crystal model is in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.
Political Developments: Some Conclusions and an Interpretation
When the political decisions and achievements of the post-Khrushchev Soviet leadership are considered as a whole, it is not immediately obvious that there is any pattern to them. It may, nevertheless, be useful to begin by devoting attention to some of the major policy tendencies and outcomes of the past decade, most of which have already been considered in greater detail by other contributors, before going on to enquire if any broad strategy underlying them may be discerned and to attempt to place the various changes in a broader political context.