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The article surveys & summarizes recent literature in political geography & normative international relations theory to highlight how territorial borders are increasingly regarded as social phenomena, rather than material facts, & how this opens them to ethical & normative critique. The article suggests this is a line of inquiry that has yet to be fully developed. In order to do so, though, it is necessary to recognize the ontological sedimentation & power of territorial borders understood as fences between states, suggesting that ontologically minimalist methodologies may be inappropriate. From here, the article argues that an ethically plausible defense of territorial borders-as-fences can be made, but only by scaling back the role that territorial borders play & linking it more closely to the role of borders in making possible & meaningful human ethical life. Adapted from the source document.

Political scientists have been fascinated with the role of the Federal Reserve in making monetary policy. It has long been recognized that the Fed has a tremendous amount of power for a regulatory agency that has so much independence from political bodies. Students of comparative monetary institutions have marveled at the contrast of United States policy to that of the rest of the world, with the exception of Germany's Bundesbank. Yet political scientists and economists continue to try to identify how politics shapes American monetary policy. Irwin Morris's book offers a major corrective to some of the flaws of earlier efforts.

• Summary: This article examines the need for a new public law designed to protect vulnerable adults who are being abused. It considers the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the debate on the need for a new law, and considers developments in the USA and proposals for reform in Scotland. Social workers are frequently in the position of having to deal with the abuse of adults, without a clear legal framework that empowers them to act to protect the person being abused. • Findings: The article concludes that there is a need for some form of public law designed to protect vulnerable adults. Existing law, which is mainly judge-made, is inappropriate and lacks the required predictability and procedural safeguards. The article argues that the European Convention on Human Rights imposes a duty on states to protect vulnerable adults; however, in devising such a law, regard must be had to the right under the convention to a private life. Any new law must carefully balance these two (often competing) rights. Further difficulties may arise when seeking to define 'vulnerable adult' and to identify the precise moment of intervention. The term 'vulnerable adult' should include in its definition not only people who lack capacity, but others who are extremely vulnerable and at grave risk. • Applications: Existing provisions do not provide adequate protection for abused vulnerable adults. The governments in Wales and England need to learn from the US experience and also look at the Scottish Law Commission's proposals. The current soft-law approach is no longer adequate; new legislation is urgently needed. Social workers should consider their professional response to the current situation.

This article offers an assessment of the ethical status of territorial borders, arguing for a partial defence of their role in international relations. Utilising the English School as one way such a defence has been developed, it assesses pluralist and solidarist arguments, suggesting both are flawed. The article develops a notion of territorial borders as contributing to the value of tolerating difference in international relations, and that this is an ethically desirable thing to do. It doing so it utilises the political theory of Hannah Arendt as an alternative to more common, if usually implicit, liberal understandings.

The decision to allow the force‐feeding of Ian Brady raises many complex ethical and legal issues. Early case law sanctioned force‐feeding, as suicide was illegal. However, this raises the question of whether death by hunger‐strike is suicide, or simply an exercise of the right to self‐ determination. Recent case law provides a mixed message. Some cases recognise the duty of the prison authorities to intervene, others that it is merely a power, whilst a third category emphasises self determination. American case law also fails to give clear guidance on the constitutionality of force‐feeding. This article examines the case law, and considers the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the force‐feeding of hunger‐striking prisoners.