‘Let's Win this Game Together’: Children's Rights Violations,Macro‐Securitisation and the Transformative Potential of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Sport's transformative potential is known to support marginalised children, to deal with traumatic experiences and instil positive values; yet hosting mega sporting events (MSEs) can have negative impacts. Drawing on participatory research with favela‐based children during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, this article argues that MSEs bring a macro‐securitisation of urban life, which causes considerable harm. This paper also suggests that the inclusion of children's voices in advocacy debates can challenge top‐down securitisation and might allow MSEs to foster further positive social transformation. Therefore, juxtaposed with causing harm, macro‐securitisations can open opportunities for children to take action and have their voices heard.     

Electoral infidelity: Why party members cast defecting votes

Party politics and electoral research generally assume that party members are loyal voters. This article first assesses the empirical basis for this assumption before providing individual‐level explanations for defection. It combines prominent theories from party politics and electoral behaviour research and argues that internal disagreement and external pressure can each bring about disloyal voting. The hypotheses are motivated with multi‐country European survey data and tested on two sets of party‐level national surveys. The results show, first, that, on average, 8 per cent of European party members cast a defecting vote in the last election, and second, that dissatisfaction with the leadership is the strongest predictor of defection. Additionally, internal ideological disagreement is associated with higher probabilities of defection, whereas the effects of pull factors in the form of contentious policies are rather limited. These findings emphasise the importance of testing scientific assumptions and the potential significance of party leadership contests.     

Stepping in the same river twice: Stability amidst change in Eastern European party competition

Party competition in Eastern Europe faces a seeming paradox. On the one hand, research finds increased political volatility in these countries, while, on the other, some authors demonstrate inherent ideological stability in the region. This research note presents a new methodological approach to adjudicating between these two findings, and suggests that while political organisations come and go, the ideological structure of party competition in Eastern Europe is strikingly steady. By developing a number of different measures of the dimensional structure of party competition, the consistency of the measures across countries, as well as their relative stability within countries over time, is demonstrated. The findings speak to current developments in Eastern Europe, and have implications beyond the region. The conclusion that even volatile party systems can be underpinned by stable ideological oppositions points to two different types of party system structure: one related to parties as organisations, and the other related to parties as expressions of political divides.     

China's Diplomatic Manoeuvring on the Question of Darfur

This article assesses China's response to the violence in Darfur. Whereas the People's Republic had already been taking a constructive stance towards international interventions in various intra-state conflicts, the mayhem in Darfur compelled China to take the lead in engaging Khartoum. Beijing's engagement evolved from a rather passive posture, to taking a clear position, and finally, to active persuasion and mediation. During these negotiations, Beijing departed from the interests of the local political elite and tried to meet its concerns, not by imposing measures, but by clarifying the different options and creating trust to find a feasible consensus. From the Chinese perspective this approach was highly successful as it increased its moral influence, reassured its partners in Africa and the West, safeguarded its oil empire in Sudan and upheld its prerequisite of sovereignty and state consent.     

The London Ambassadorship of David K. E. Bruce During the Wilson-Johnson Years, 1964–68

Using recently released sources, this article offers a fresh perspective on the London ambassadorship of David K. E. Bruce in the years of Harold Wilson and Lyndon Johnson, 1964–68. Bruce's running of the US Embassy is examined, as are his views of the Anglo-American relationship. Further attention is given to his diplomatic management of the Anglo-American relationship in the context of the difficult personal relations between Wilson and Johnson and with regard to policy differences over the Vietnam War and Britain's position as a world power. It is argued that while Bruce did help to ease some of the personal strains between Wilson and Johnson, he was generally less significant to the White House than has previously been asserted. It is also contended that his vision of Britain joining the EEC, yet retaining extensive military commitments beyond Europe was not viable.     

‘No‐one likes us; we don't care’: ‘Dissident’ Irish Republicans and Mandates

The episodic dissident republican activity evident in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement has been accompanied by regular assertions from the police, politicians and commentators that dissidents have no backing. This article examines the historic importance of mandates and support for previous and contemporary republican armed campaigns. It explores whether violent republicans have ever enjoyed widespread support in Ireland and assesses the extent to which a lack of backing has precluded violent campaigns. The piece analyses the evidence regarding the lack of sympathy for current dissident violence, assessing the degree to which armed republicanism has reached a new level of isolation.     

SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES: CECIL GORDON'S ROLE IN THE POST-WAR TRANSITION OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH TO CIVILIAN USES

Operational research, having developed in Britain as a contribution by scientists and the scientific approach to Second World War military planning, became a significant element in the process of post-war reconstruction. Cecil Gordon, a leading wartime operational researcher, headed the principal civilian government OR unit at the Board of Trade. He was also a key member of the Working Party of the Committee on Industrial Productivity, which attempted to promote the wider adoption of operational research. These enterprises were consistent with his socialist commitment, in many ways typical of a generation of Left scientists and of many pioneers of operational research. The article describes and analyses the defeat of these initiatives, and the virtual ejection of OR from government by 1950. In the immediate post-war period, operational research attempted to develop operational methods for a rational alternative to economic coordination via market forces. Some lessons are drawn from the deflection of this radical thrust of OR, in the light of both contemporary factors and subsequent experience.