Showing papers in "Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2002"
TL;DR: This article examined the living arrangements of people between ages fifteen and thirty-five in Europe and the United States and found that young people remain for extended periods in the parental home and tend to make direct transitions from living at home to (formal) marriage and parenthood.
Abstract: This article examines the living arrangements of people between ages fifteen and thirty-five in Europe and the United States. Three regional patterns emerge in Europe. In southern Europe, young people remain for extended periods in the parental home and tend to make direct transitions from living at home to (formal) marriage and parenthood. In northern Europe, youngsters leave home earlier and more commonly live alone or in cohabiting unions. The Scandinavian countries form an extreme example of northern behavior, with particularly early home leaving and high levels of nonmarital cohabitation. In the United States, there are large differences between young blacks, whites, and Hispanics. Formal marriage is as common among whites as it is in southern Europe; the extended family is common for blacks and Hispanics, and lone motherhood among young black American women far outstrips the highest rates in Europe.
191 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines definitions of money laundering and the conceptual and actual role its regulation plays in dealing with drug markets and concludes that much detected laundering involves the same out-of-place judgments the police use, but though the proportion of routine and suspicious activity reports that yield arrests may be low, they do generate some important enforcement actions.
Abstract: This article examines definitions of "money laundering" and the conceptual and actual role its regulation plays in dealing with drug markets. If laundering is prevented, incentives to become major criminals are diminished. It identifies and critiques three aspects of harm arising from laundering: facilitating crime groups' expansion, corroding financial institutions, and extent. After a discussion of laundering techniques used with drug money, including the symbiotic relationship with some otherwise legitimate ordinary businesses, the article examines the history of public- and private-sector antilaundering policies and their implementation in the United States and globally. It concludes that much detected laundering involves the same out-of-place judgments the police use, but though the proportion of routine and suspicious activity reports that yield arrests may be low, they do generate some important enforcement actions. Nevertheless, the impact of antilaundering efforts on enforcement resources, organi...
140 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on a variety of young people's behaviors and attitudes drawn from a wide range of countries and look to institutional variation to explain the differences between countries in these attitudes and behaviors.
Abstract: The articles in this issue report on a variety of young people's behaviors and attitudes, drawn from a wide range of countries. An obvious challenge to which these findings give rise is to explain the differences between countries in these attitudes and behaviors. In this article, we look to institutional variation to supply an answer. Institutions establish a set of opportunities and constraints to which young people respond, but they also reflect, and help to establish, normatively appropriate ways of behaving. We conceptualize institutional variation in terms of welfare regime types, labor market regulation, and educational systems, and we try to sketch some of the ways in which variations in these might explain some national differences in some aspects of the position of young people and the transition from youth to adulthood.
114 citations
TL;DR: The authors synthesize essays on Italy, Sweden, Germany, and the United States that were presented at a conference seeking to explain the school, work, and family findings outlined in these foregoing chapters.
Abstract: This paper synthesizes essays on Italy, Sweden, Germany, and the United States that were presented at a conference seeking to explain the school, work, and family findings outlined in these foregoing chapters. Three essays were written per country--by a social historian, by a developmental scientist, and by someone in social policy. This paper synthesizes these country-specific accounts. For Italy, the synthesis constructed stresses the accommodations the Italian family has to make because of the protracted period during which adult children live at home. For Sweden, the synthesis emphasizes the willingness of many formal and informal institutions to support youthful experimentation, so long as it does not go over into the early twenties. For Germany, the synthesis stresses the strains the apprenticeship system is under because of the increasing strength of market-oriented labor policies in German business. And for the United States, the synthesis emphasizes how race and poverty create particularly diffic...
108 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the changes in the patterns of time use of young adults ages eighteen to thirty-four as they make the transition to adulthood, examining the reallocation of time associated with the transition from school to work, transition to partnership, and transition to parenthood.
Abstract: This article examines the changes in the patterns of time use of young adults ages eighteen to thirty-four as they make the transition to adulthood. More specifically, it examines the reallocation of time associated with the transition from school to work, the transition to partnership, and the transition to parenthood. The empirical analysis is based on time use surveys from nine industrialized countries. Results suggest that of the three transitions, it is the transition to parenthood that most significantly alters the pattern of time use of young people, more so for women than for men. The empirical analysis also reveals remarkable similarities across countries in the patterns of time use of young people as they make the transition to adulthood.
99 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a synthesis of the development of the marijuana, coca-cocaine, and poppy-opium-heroin illegal industries, and discuss the evolution of government policies and social attitudes toward the industry.
Abstract: During the past thirty years, the illegal drug industry has marked Colombia's development. In no other country has the illegal drug industry had such dramatic social, political, and economic effects. This short article provides a synthesis of the development of the marijuana, coca-cocaine, and poppy-opium-heroin illegal industries. It studies the development of the drug cartels and marketing networks and the participation of guerrillas and paramilitary forces in the industry. The size of the illegal industry and its economic effects are also surveyed and its effects on the political system analyzed. The article ends with a discussion of the evolution of government policies and social attitudes toward the industry. The article shows that in the early years, the illegal industry was perceived by many as positive, how it evolved so that today it provides substantial funding for the country's ambiguous war, and that it is one of the main obstacles to peace.
99 citations
TL;DR: The authors argues that transplanted Ayurveda is shaped not only by aspects of American medical culture, but also by millennial, heterodox elements of American religious culture, such as the loose cluster of beliefs and practices known as the New Age.
Abstract: Ayurveda, the classical South Asian medical tradition, was first introduced to American audiences in the mid-1980s as a holistic alternative to biomedical orthodoxy. This article argues that transplanted Ayurveda is shaped not only by aspects of American medical culture, but by millennial, heterodox elements of American religious culture, such as the loose cluster of beliefs and practices known as the New Age. Because New Age Ayurvedic practices occupy the ideological and statutory middle ground between medicine and metaphysics, they face a unique professionalizing dilemma: whether to present themselves as healing religions or as practicing branches of medicine. Drawing on an ethnographic study of this professionalizing dilemma in legal, clinical and popular arenas, this article shows that New Age Ayurveda--far from being a monolith--reveals a wide-ranging plurality of sub-traditions in practice. Taken together, they suggest multiple modes of reinvention and a variety of professionalizing routes that Ayur...
95 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify some of the changes that have occurred in the timing of sexual initiation and fertility across Western industrialized countries since 1960 and find that patterns of youth sexual behavior are converging across developed countries.
Abstract: The widespread interest in recent changes in fertility, union formation, and union dissolution has largely focused on adult behaviors. Much less attention has been paid to changes in related youth behaviors that foreshadow and may shape adult behaviors. This article identifies some of the changes that have occurred in the timing of sexual initiation and fertility across Western industrialized countries since 1960. Documenting the similarities and differences in these patterns helps us to understand better how youth transition experiences differ across place. This article finds that patterns of youth sexual behavior are converging across developed countries. That is, within- and between-country variation in the timing of sexual initiation has decreased. There also has been a reduction and convergence in levels of teenage fertility, but the decline in fertility was more pronounced among non-English-speaking countries than among English-speaking countries, which has resulted in an increasing gap.
74 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the power in the global system is increasingly in the hands of a transnational capitalist class (TCC) comprising four fractions: those who own and control the major corporations and their local affiliates, globalizing bureaucrats and politicians, globalising professionals, and consumerist elites.
Abstract: While globalization means many different things to many different people, there is growing consensus that capitalist globalization is its most powerful contemporary form. This article argues that capitalist globalization, and thus effective power in the global system, is increasingly in the hands of a transnational capitalist class (TCC) comprising four fractions: those who own and control the major corporations and their local affiliates, globalizing bureaucrats and politicians, globalizing professionals, and consumerist elites. The TCC engages in a variety of activities that take place at all levels, including community, urban, national, and global politics, and involve many different groups of actors. Two sets of questions are addressed : (1) What forms do these activities take? and (2) Do they enhance or undermine democracy? The role of the TCC is analyzed through brief case studies on Codex Alimentarius and the global tobacco industry.
73 citations
TL;DR: Preliminary research on environmental inequality in ambient air toxics exposures and associated health risks among schoolchildren in the Los Angeles Unified School District indicates that children of color bear the highest burden of estimated cancer and noncancer health risks associated with ambient air toxins exposures while they are in school.
Abstract: Two policy frameworks, environmental justice and the precautionary principle, have begun to transform traditional approaches to environmental policy making and community organizing related to public health. Despite having several important overlapping policy goals, little effort has been made to purposefully integrate these two frameworks. This article discusses preliminary research on environmental inequality in ambient air toxics exposures and associated health risks among schoolchildren in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Results indicate that children of color, namely, Latinos and African Americans, bear the highest burden of estimated cancer and noncancer health risks associated with ambient air toxics exposures while they are in school. The implications of these study results for controversial policy decisions related to school siting and construction in urban districts are discussed within the context of environmental justice and the precautionary principle.
61 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposed that cross-national research should pay more attention to broadly based measures of various types of problem behavior, such as violent crime, property crime, alcohol abuse, and drug use.
Abstract: Previous studies on cross-national patterns of crime and problem behavior have focused primarily on homicide. This article proposes that cross-national research should pay more attention to broadly based measures of various types of problem behavior. By combining different types of sources, I derive measures for four types of problem behavior, namely violent crime, property crime, alcohol abuse, and drug use for a sample of thirty-seven countries. Analysis of these data first shows that, at the level of cross-national comparison, different manifestations of problem behavior do not constitute a single underlying dimension. Rather, a cluster analysis reveals several groups of countries with similar configurations of problem behavior. Many Anglo-American countries, for example, were found to belong to a cluster with a high likelihood of various kinds of problem behavior associated with the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. High levels of violence characterize many Eastern European countries. Fu...
TL;DR: In this article, the level of economic in dependence among young adults, ages 18 to thirty-two, in seven industrialized countries was analyzed and the cross-national variations the authors uncover help one understand how work, family, and comparative income packages affect economic self-sufficiency.
Abstract: Economic independence is an important indicator of the transition to adulthood. This article portrays the level of economic in dependence among young adults, ages eighteen to thirty-two, in seven industrialized countries. The cross-national variations the authors uncover help one understand how work, family, and comparative income packages affect economic self-sufficiency. In all countries, young women are less able than are young men to become economically independent through market work alone. The ability to support a family is affected more by government transfers than the ability to support oneself. The authors also find that family support through additional income, the provision of housing, and caring labor as well as decisions to have roommates are clearly important to the economic well-being of young adults. In closing, the authors suggest several avenues for future research.
TL;DR: A new, multilateral, democratically screened, global migration regime to set forth and guarantee the general principles governing the regulation of transnational migrations, ensure proper coordination between regional and national migration regimes, and call into existen... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Globalization involves the international expansion of market relations and the global pursuit of economic liberalism. The essential factor in this process is commodification, including the commodification of human labor. Globalization integrates an increasing proportion of the world population directly into capitalist labor markets and locks national and regional labor markets into an integrated global labor market. We are on the threshold of global initiatives to shift the balance even further, especially regarding the management of global migration flows. The answer cannot be a return to strictly national forms of migration control and should not be a complete capitulation to market-driven regulation of migration. One possible answer is a new, multilateral, democratically screened, global migration regime to set forth and guarantee the general principles governing the regulation of transnational migrations, ensure proper coordination between regional and national migration regimes, and call into existen...
TL;DR: In this paper, the preconditions for this control policy are discussed, as are the advantages of the Swedish drug control model with its massiveness regarding prevention, treatment, and repression.
Abstract: During the 1990s, the drug problem in Sweden stabilized in spite of a heroin wave on the European continent and in the United Kingdom. The preconditions for this control policy are discussed, as are the advantages of the Swedish drug control model with its massiveness regarding prevention, treatment, and repression. When drawing conclusions from the 1980s, focus has been placed on zero tolerance and dissociation of harm reduction activities in connection with the economic crisis that, although temporary, hit Swedish society in the 1990s. This resulted in the control policy's having a list so that preventive measures and treatment had to give in on behalf of further strengthening of the police in the drug control model. The change in focus toward an even more pronounced zero tolerance approach did not yield any visible results regarding drug use. Experimenting with drugs and heavy drug use increased considerably during the 1990s.
TL;DR: The authors examines the consequences of capital market liberalization, with special reference to its effects under different exchange rate regimes, and argues that capital flows give rise to large externali- ties, which affect others than the borrower and lender, and whenever there are large externalities, there is potential scope for government interventions.
Abstract: This paper examines the consequences of capital mar- ket liberalization, with special reference to its effects under different exchange rate regimes. Capital market liberalization has not lead to faster growth in developing countries, but has led to greater risks. It describes how International Monetary Fund policies have exacer- bated the risks, as a result of the macro-economic response to crises, with bail-out packages that have intensified moral hazard problems. The paper provides a critique of the arguments for capital market lib- eralization. It argues that capital flows give rise to large externali- ties, which affect others than the borrower and lender, and whenever there are large externalities, there is potential scope for government interventions, some of which are welfare increasing.
TL;DR: Doubts have been expressed about the way the law will be implemented because the law only sets a framework for those communities that wish to undertake such activities--it is an enabling law, which increases the risk of dissimilarity of implementation in different parts of the country.
Abstract: Drug use is an increasing problem in Portugal. In response, following the advice of a select committee, the Portuguese government has recently issued a number of laws implementing a strong harm-reductionistic orientation. The flagship of these laws is the decriminalization of the use and possession for use of drugs. Use and possession for use are now only administrative offenses; no distinction is made between different types of drugs (hard vs. soft drugs) or whether consumption is private or in public. Although most people favor decriminalization in principle, doubts have been expressed about the way the law will be implemented because the law only sets a framework for those communities that wish to undertake such activities--it is an enabling law. This has led to a considerable lack of clarity and increases the risk of dissimilarity of implementation in different parts of the country. The future will show the effects.
TL;DR: In this paper, the relationship between democracy and development is re-considered to set the scene for the pressing contemporary issue of how globalization might affect democracy and vice versa, and the authors turn to the work of Karl Polanyi who famously posited a dual movement of market expansion on one hand matched by increasing social control over it on the other hand.
Abstract: The relationship between democracy and development is (re)considered to set the scene for the pressing contemporary issue of how globalization might affect democracy and vice versa. To move beyond simplistic binary oppositions, we turn to the work of Karl Polanyi who famously posited a dual movement of market expansion on one hand matched by increasing social control over it on the other hand. We see how globalization, at one and the same time, creates a growing process of social exclusion within and between nations but also the social movements that will contest it and seek to democratize it.
TL;DR: The convergence of interests between these economic and political forces and many of CAM's goals is one important reason for CAM's recent success as mentioned in this paper, which can be seen as an indicator of the growing acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine.
Abstract: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly utilized and accepted by patients and providers throughout the American health care system. Most accounts attribute this growing acceptability to the shortcomings of conventional medicine, the appeal of CAM's core beliefs, and the growing body of research indicating that CAM actually works. These explanations, while all accurate to some degree, neglect the extent to which CAM's recent success is due to economic and political factors. This article describes the emerging relationship between CAM and major economic actors (pharmaceutical firms, managed care companies, insurance companies, media conglomerates, Internet providers, etc.) as well as CAM's relationship with a range of political forces (political parties, bureaucrats, lobbying groups, ethnic- and gender-based movements and organizations, etc.). The convergence of interests between these economic and political forces and many of CAM's goals is one important reason for CAM's recent success.
TL;DR: How one South Asian medical system works is described, an emerging phenomenon of traditional medical systems' opening themselves to seekers of alternative health care; in a recent initiative, the government of India encouraged medical tourism for Indian systems of medicine.
Abstract: This article is a collaboration between an expert practitioner and researcher of Unani Tibb and a social scientist. A hakim (physician), versed in the thinking and language of biomedicine, describes a traditional system of medicine to nonspecialists. Relevant sociological, historical, and organizational aspects of Unani Tibb are presented. Expanding interest in Asian medical systems has made Ional practitioners' leading seminars and writing books on their medical systems for American and European audiences commonplace. This article describes how one South Asian medical system works. There is an emerging phenomenon of traditional medical systems' opening themselves to seekers of alternative health care; in a recent initiative, the government of India (GOI) encouraged medical tourism for Indian systems of medicine. Future research will need to analyze the outcomes of these types of interactions, the most recent for a medical system with a long history of interaction with many medical and social traditions.
TL;DR: The fact that Mexico is a natural supplier of illegal drugs to the biggest market in the world, the United States, puts the Mexican government in a very complex situation with no alternatives other than to continue fighting drugs with very limited institutional and human resources.
Abstract: Illegal drugs threaten the Mexican governance because of the corruption they generate. The Mexican government has been fighting this threat for years in a context of institutional weakness and strong pressures from the United States. The fact that Mexico is a natural supplier of illegal drugs to the biggest market in the world, the United States, puts the Mexican government in a very complex situation with no alternatives other than to continue fighting drugs with very limited institutional and human resources. In this process, Mexico has no margin for maneuver to change the parameters of the war on drugs.
TL;DR: This article examines how environmental health problems have been addressed from an environmental justice perspective in a low-income community of color in Boston by examining a case study of youth who organized to clean up diesel exhaust from transit buses.
Abstract: This article examines how environmental health problems have been addressed from an environmental justice perspective in a low-income community of color in Boston. The disparate impact of environmentally related diseases on low-income people and people of color are the result of deeply rooted racial and class injustices. The authors examine a case study of youth who, out of concern about high asthma rates, organized to clean up diesel exhaust from transit buses. In this case, scientific uncertainty about multiple, dispersed causes demanded a problem frame broader than one that identifies and addresses a single cause. Environmental justice expands the frame to ask, Why are there so many risk factors? What rights do we have to a healthy environment? and Who decides what is to be done? The environmental justice approach goes beyond treating individuals to changing the underlying environmental conditions causing these illnesses.
TL;DR: The Love Canal crisis of 2003 as mentioned in this paper galvanized a new social justice movement that is as much about justice and human rights as it is about public health and the environment, and it has been widely recognized as a watershed event in the history of environmental justice.
Abstract: The year 2003 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Love Canal crisis, when more than 900 working-class families were relocated away from a leaking toxic waste dump and the nation awoke to the hazards of toxic chemicals in our environment. This grassroots effort demonstrated how ordinary citizens obtained power through community organizing and succeeded against great odds. The events at Love Canal sparked a new social justice movement. While traditional environmentalism has focused on protecting the natural environment using legislative and regulatory strategies, the grassroots leadership of this new movement focuses on protecting public health through building power at the local and state levels to influence federal policies. Many members of this movement believe their neighborhoods were deliberately targeted because of their economic and political weakness. As a result, this is a movement that is as much about justice and human rights as it is about public health and the environment.
TL;DR: An overview of national policies adopted by African governments following World Health Organization recommendations for the incorporation of traditional and allopathic systems of care is provided.
Abstract: Traditional medicine is the main, and often the only, source of medical care for a great proportion of the population of the developing world. Systems of traditional medicine are usually rooted in long-standing cultural traditions, take a holistic approach to health, and are community based. The World Health Organization has long recognized the central role traditional systems of care can play in efforts to provide primary health care, especially in rural areas. This article provides an overview of national policies adopted by African governments following World Health Organization recommendations for the incorporation of traditional and allopathic systems of care.
TL;DR: The author outlines some of the issues that arise in the struggle to integrate these practices into biomedicine and suggests some criteria for establishing priorities when funding research in complementary and alternative medicine.
Abstract: The political and social dynamics around unconventional or complementary and alternative medical practices has shifted from marginalization to a struggle for control of definitions and priorities. These practices have arisen because of public rather than professional or scientific interest. Conventional medicine has made significant gains in health care for acute disease, translating basic science into diagnostic and therapeutic value, and improving public health. These gains have been accompanied by high costs, depersonalization, and side effects. Complementary medicine has aligned with public preferences for more natural, lower-cost, and more holistic health care practices. Attempts to integrate the concepts and practices of complementary and alternative medicine into biomedicine present significant challenges for determining how language, funding, and standards of evidence are established. The author outlines some of the issues that arise in the struggle to integrate these practices into biomedicine an...
TL;DR: This paper argued that population aging does not necessarily result in lesser investment in children and youth, and instead, our new demographic condition demands a renegotiation of the public intergenerational contract between age groups.
Abstract: Population aging and the delay in family formation that are occurring in industrialized countries are intimately related. Young adults are spending more of their early twenties attending school and focusing on employment, and they are postponing marriage and childbearing until their late twenties and early thirties. In sum, they are having fewer children later in life, and in doing so, they contribute to the aging of the population. Some argue that population aging results in lower public and private investments in children and greater public expenditures on the elderly. In this article, the author reviews evidence for this argument and concludes that population aging does not necessarily result in lesser investment in children and youth. Instead, our new demographic condition demands a renegotiation of the public intergenerational contract between age groups.
TL;DR: This article explores, through a selective review of the recent literature, how social and behavioral scientists are focusing their investigations of traditional and alternative medicine in Native American communities of the United States and Canada today.
Abstract: Native American traditional medicine is alive and vibrant in many North American societies, although not all. These traditions coexist with other forms of healing, and the particular patterns of existence, interaction, and meaning vary among groups. The literature examining these issues is likewise diverse. This article explores, through a selective review of the recent literature, how social and behavioral scientists, among others, are focusing their investigations of traditional and alternative medicine in Native American communities of the United States and Canada today. Issues include how native practices have persisted and changed, how they are being used (e.g., in framing cultural identity), and how they interact with other systems, especially biomedicine and faith healing.
TL;DR: This paper analyzes mortality rates for 3 of the main causes of deaths between the ages of 15 and 34 (motor vehicle injuries, homicide, and suicide) from 1950 to 1996, and across 26 countries, and emphasizes the "outlying" position of the United States among industrialized nations.
Abstract: This paper analyzes mortality rates for 3 of the main causes of deaths between the ages of 15 and 34 (motor vehicle injuries, homicide, and suicide) from 1950 to 1996, and across 26 countries. Average sex ratios and age patterns and the trends in age- and sex-standardized mortality rates are analyzed for each cause. Overall, youth violent mortality levels have been remarkably stable since the 1950s. As mortality due to other causes has receded, the contribution of these three causes has increased from 25 to 40 percent between the 1950s and the mid-1970s, and has remained above 40 percent since. Last, a principal component analysis is performed to summarize the variance in age-, sex-, and cause-specific rates over time and across countries. This summary representation of international differences displays regional clusters and emphasizes the "outlying" position of the United States among industrialized nations.
TL;DR: This article examined a series of strongly held values and beliefs concerning the political and wider social world, on a cross-nationally comparative basis, and found that young people do have common values cross-national, but only within certain supranational limits.
Abstract: Using data from the World Values Survey, this article examines a series of strongly held values and beliefs concerning the political and wider social world, on a cross-nationally comparative basis. Orientations such as political outlook, attitudes toward religion, political participation, social movements, women's roles, and satisfaction with life are examined. Tentative groupings of young people by country are attempted, revealing a commonality of values among the old and young in certain clusters of societies. Within these clusters, the relative magnitude of gender and age differences in attitudinal positioning are analyzed, to show how nationality and youth interact differently when examining different attitudes. It is found that young people do have common values cross-nationally, but only within certain supranational limits.
TL;DR: The authors identify four factors that shape policy for these three diseases: the science base supporting the environmental causation hypothesis, prevalence and perception of risk, the sources of support for the environmental correlation hypothesis, and the strength of health social movements.
Abstract: This article compares the state of policies concerning three different diseases/conditions with putative environmental factors: asthma, breast cancer, and Gulf War-related illnesses. By comparing the state of four different types of policies--research funding, regulations, compensation/treatment, and citizen participation--the authors demonstrate the dynamic relationship between policies and health social movements. They identify four factors that shape policy for these three diseases: the science base supporting the environmental causation hypothesis, prevalence and perception of risk, the sources of support for the environmental causation hypothesis, and the strength of health social movements. All four factors contribute to policy outcomes, but they find the strength of health social movements to be particularly important for the three diseases they examine. In some cases, social movement activity can be more important than the strength of the science base in terms of policy outcome success.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the history of the concepts of legal and monetary sovereignty and their applications in political philosophy and monetary policies and discuss the implication of the sovereignty issue for choice along the road to the European Monetary Union.
Abstract: Different types of monetary sovereignty are issues in exchange rate agreements monetary unions. Policy sovereignty refers to independence in making exchange rate and monetary policy, legal sovereignty to a country's ability to make its own laws with respect to the unit of contract and medium of exchange. This article traces the history of the concepts and their applications in the history of political philosophy and monetary policies. The first section relates the concepts of legal and policy sovereignty as they emerged in Roman law into the Europe of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The second part discusses the implication of the sovereignty issue for choice along the road to the European Monetary Union.