著者
佐藤 千登勢
出版者
筑波大学人文社会科学研究科 国際地域研究専攻
雑誌
筑波大学地域研究 = Area studies Tsukuba (ISSN:09121412)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.39, pp.57-70, 2018-03-31

The food stamp program (also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: SNAP) has been an integral part of American social welfare system since its inception in the 1960s. By providing food-purchasing assistance for low income families, it has saved millions of destitute people, especially children, from malnutrition and hunger. In the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the number of food stamp recipients has reached a record high and it has become the "last resort" safety net for those who lost jobs. Even after the U.S. economy regained the pre-recession level, more than 10% of the nation's population has been benefiting from the program. In recent years, this rapid expansion has made the food stamp program a target for criticism among budget-minded conservative Republicans and they have explored the possibility of cutting its benefits. However, since the food stamp program is administered by the Department of Agriculture under the Agricultural Act, in order to scale it down, critics have to confront various interests. Influential agricultural lobbies represent large-scale commercial farms and agribusiness. Food and beverage companies and retailers are also opposed to the cutbacks of food stamps. As a result, aside from minor budgetary changes, the food stamp program has not been changed to date. This article examines the recent controversy over the food stamp reform and explores the difficulties that conservative Republicans faced in Congress when they tried to remove food stamp program from the Agricultural Act of 2014. By focusing upon the debate in the 113th Congress, this article demonstrates that the food stamp program cannot be changed as long as conservative Republicans adhere to the principle of fiscal conservatism and fail to negotiate with agricultural and commercial interests which support the program.
著者
秋山 学 AKIYAMA Manabu
出版者
筑波大学人文社会科学研究科 国際地域研究専攻
雑誌
筑波大学地域研究 (ISSN:09121412)
巻号頁・発行日
no.39, pp.71-90, 2018

Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is chiefly known to us for its worldwide literary fame, and is generally considered to be characterized by its medieval view of the western world. However, when we pay attention to theological background of the Divine Comedy, especially of its Purgatory, we can recognize that the theological thought of Dante not only represents the medieval western world view, but also holds true in the Byzantine tradition, which has been maintained in the Greek Catholic Church in the Central Europe. We can explain this mystery if we take notice of the history of two Councils: in the Second Council of Lyon (1274), the same theological issues were discussed as in the later Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-39). The issue of the "Purgatory" or the "Purifying Fire of the Purgatory" was already discussed in the Second Council of Lyon, and the delegates from the Byzantine Empire, which was ruled then by the emperor Michael Ⅷ Palaeologus (1261-82), reached an agreement on this issue. Although the agreement in the later Council of Ferrara-Florence was invalidated by the Orthodox Church soon after that Council, a minor party of the Eastern Church, chiefly found in the Central Europe (the Greek Catholic Church), was true to this agreement. So since we can find the same theological view both in Dante and in the Greek Catholic Church, we can surmise that Dante was acquainted with the issues discussed in the Second Council of Lyon. One of the chief leaders of the Greek delegates in the Council of Ferrara-Florence was (later) Cardinal Bessarion (1403-72). He donated main important manuscripts of the Greek Classics to the Library of Saint Mark in Venice, and these manuscripts have greatly benefited classical scholars. Thus, both the Greek Catholic Church and the Classical Studies have their origins from Bessarion. We can say that all of the endeavors of Bessarion for the union between the Western and the Eastern Churches were made for the purpose of revalidation of the agreement made in the Second Council of Lyon. So in these points of view, too, Dante will be counted as the "sixth" (Inf. 4,102) in the line of the divine poets starting from Homer, whose best manuscript (Venetus 454: "A" of the Iliad) is found in the Library of Saint Mark in Venice.