We investigate the physical basis of the crevasse-depth (CD) calving law by analysing relationships between glaciological stresses and calving behaviour at Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. Our observations and model simulations show that the glacier has a stable position defined by a compressive arch between lateral pinning points. Ice advance beyond the arch results in calving back to the stable position; conversely, if melt-undercutting forces the ice front behind the stable position, it readvances because ice velocities exceed subaqueous melt rates. This behaviour is typical of self-organising criticality, in which the stable ice-front position acts as an attractor between unstable super-critical and sub-critical regimes. This perspective provides strong support for a ‘position-law’ approach to modelling calving at Sermeq Kujalleq, because any calving ‘rate’ is simply a by-product of how quickly ice is delivered to the critical point. The CD calving law predicts ice-front position from the penetration of surface and basal crevasse fields, and accurately simulates super-critical calving back to the compressive arch and melt-driven calving into the sub-critical zone. The CD calving law reflects the glaciological controls on calving at Sermeq Kujalleq and exhibits considerable skill in simulating its mean position and seasonal fluctuations.

The simple calving laws currently used in ice-sheet models do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of calving processes. To be effective, calving laws must be grounded in a sound understanding of how calving actually works. Here, we develop a new strategy for formulating calving laws, using (a) the Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM) to explicitly model fracture and calving processes, and (b) the continuum model Elmer/Ice to identify critical stress states associated with HiDEM calving events. A range of observed calving processes emerges spontaneously from HiDEM in response to variations in ice-front buoyancy and the size of subaqueous undercuts. Calving driven by buoyancy and melt under-cutting is under-predicted by existing calving laws, but we show that the location and magnitude of HiDEM calving events can be predicted in Elmer/Ice from characteristic stress patterns. Our results open the way to developing calving laws that properly reflect the diversity of calving processes, and provide a framework for a unified theory of the calving process continuum.

ItIs incumbent on the advocate of World Government to show first that it is desirable, and secondly that it is possible. Initially, he has to prove that it is in accord, rather than incompatible, with the dominant ethical traditions of humanity. Because largely by reason of industrialism the values of Western civilization are profoundly influential in the world today, he must indicate its special relevance as a culmination of the Western tradition. He must then demonstrate that the psychological and sociological needs of contemporary man can best be satisfied by such government, and that men's wants and feelings are not irrevocably opposed to it. Similarly, he must make it clear that, whatever be the superficial oppositions, established folkways and mores do not constitute an insuperable barrier to its achievement. Finally, it is incumbent on him to point out how the constitutional and governmental issues raised in its establishment may be met.

In applying his theory of the state to the problem of discovering and expounding the true nature of the American republic Brownson deals with three major questions: the formation of the union under his concept of the Providential constitution; the proper distribution of governmental powers in terms of his theory of territorial democracy; and the resolution of the leading political problems of the United States in the light of the real meaning of American federalism thus revealed.

While Roman Catholic commentary on specific phases of American life and politics fills many volumes, particularly in the form of periodical literature, systematic analyses of American government in terms of the philosophy of-the Church Fathers and the great scholastics are rarely encountered. Certainly, such an examination addressed to the general reading public is exceptional. Even more unusual is it to find a work from this viewpoint accepted as an influential element in our intellectual development and heritage. Such, however, has been the happy fate of Orestes A. Brownson's The American Republic, which has found its way even into text book discussions of American political ideas. Yet, while the reasons for its notice are, in historical retrospect, understandable, the resultant analysis has done the work somewhat less than justice. It has been treated almost exclusively as part of the literature which marked the triumph of Republicanism and nationalism against the Confederacy and the states' rights doctrine. Now, while Brownson, who entered his spiritual and intellectual resting place after finding Presbyterianism, Universalism, and Unitarianism successively inadequate to his needs, undoubtedly desired to justify the triumphant federal union against its opponents, his fundamental objective, in which he revealed the ardor not unusual in converts, was to show the nature of American political institutions in the light of the tradition of Roman Catholic moral and political philosophy. Indeed, while he deplored the extreme states' rights idea as manifested in Secession, he was even more concerned with the problem of excessive centralization, which he saw as the great potential danger for the future.

Disenchantment with moral abstractions as the hallmarks of enlightened foreign policy has recently revived infatuation with the slogans of “national interest,” “power politics,” and “balance of power.” Until the eve of World War II, these ideas had been recessive—at times moribund—for at least half a generation. Naive belief in the efficacy of professions of good will, reliance on weak instruments for effectuating simply noble intentions in the complex realms of policy and practice, and contentment with lofty exhortations, had too often become the directives of policy unconcerned with the harshness of politics or the intricate give-and-take of sustained diplomacy.

Since the Republic's inception, statesmen have proclaimed national interest as the firmament on which our foreign policy rests. To that concept they have repeatedly referred as a guide and rationale for action in foreign affairs. Over the years the concept of national interest has been endowed with a varied and changing content. Therefore, interpretation has been a matter of historical, rather than etymological, enquiry. Certainly, a single dictionary definition will not do. Nevertheless, while dominant meanings at different moments and a long-term trend in the development of meaning are alike discoverable, or imputable, the actual meaning in our own day rests largely on the setting of current controversies. A particular concept of the national interest, therefore, is not “automatically” warranted and acceptable by appeal to tradition and great names, any more than by formal definition.