1. A method of managing authorizations in a Java programming environment, the method comprising: defining a set of roles for grouping subjects having similar needs to access objects in the Java programming environment, wherein the objects comprise computing resources; for each of said roles, granting one or more privileges to access one or more of the objects; assigning each subject authorized to access the Java programming environment to one or more of said roles; and when a first subject is authenticated in the Java programming environment, constructing a first access control context comprising: identities of a first subset of said roles to which the first subject is assigned; and identities of any of said roles indirectly assigned to the first subject by virtue of the first subject's assignment to a role in said first subset of said roles.