Militarization in Burma's ethnic states: causes and consequences

Despite a dramatic reduction in fighting in Burma's ethnic states, militarization has increased as the regime seeks to extend its sovereignty and capitalize on economic opportunities. Rather than ensuring civilians' safety, militarization has exposed more civilians to human security threats, with serious consequences for families and communities. Abuses are likely to continue as long as the regime under-finances its army, disregards disciplinary problems, and receives diplomatic cover from its foreign economic partners. While civilians have sought to manage these threats as best they can, their degree of agency is, in most cases, highly constrained, and women have been particularly affected. Nevertheless, the development of community-based organizations which make use of porous borders to expose abuses and provide assistance to distressed communities constitutes an important, if limited, development.     

Slovenia: Interest group developments in a postsocialist‐liberal democracy

Slovenia has a rich tradition of associations and interest group activity dating back to the 19th century. To some extent, the development of the group system was stymied by the 60 years of authoritarian rule from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. However, the resilience of this tradition is evident in major developments in group activity since the return to democracy. In addition to influences from the past, including a neocorporatist tradition, is the impact of Slovenia's process of integration into the European Union. This article considers the extent to which the modern nature of the interest group system is both constrained by hangovers from the past but enhances by European integration, both of which have affected the development of Slovenia's majoritarian democracy.     

The Balkan experience: Explanations of public affairs and interest group activity

This final article is a synthesis of findings from the seven country studies in this special issue. Although there are characteristics common to all group systems, particularly those transitioning to democracy, there are also significant differences. Analysis of these differences reveals a direct relationship between both the level of socioeconomic and political development and the characteristics of the group systems in all Balkan countries. In addition, we provide new insights into group system development and operation. These are particularly related to the impact of war, inter‐ethnic cleavages, constitutional arrangements (majoritarian and consociational), economic crises, geopolitics, and the major presence of external interests.     

Naval Blockade and the Russia–Ukraine Conflict

Netherlands International Law Review - The Russia–Ukraine conflict is also being fought in the maritime dimension. Regarding methods of warfare, of particular note has been the possible...     

“We Don't Want a Teacher”: Using the Past to Offer Fresh Eyes to Contemporary Practice

Much historical and contemporary writing lauds the Citizenship Schools of the Civil Rights Movement, and the Highlander Folk School that supported them, as major players in the struggle to educate Black people across the South as citizens and voters. However, little scholarly literature explores the pedagogical and programmatic elements of these community-driven schools or the ways these schools provided an infrastructure to the movement. Drawing from archival research, this article examines these schools and connects their educational methods to the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. It names ways these methods influenced present practice in youth work for social change while also identifying the ways that many of the practices of these schools have been ignored or lost in contemporary youth work. It concludes by identifying from this work 9 questions youth workers can pose to orient their youth work toward social and racial justice.     

The development of interest groups in the Balkans: Background and contemporary characteristics

Understanding the political development of the Balkans can be challenging even for historians and social scientists. This is particularly the case with the region's past and present interest group systems as virtually no research is available on the subject. With this in mind, this article provides basic background on the region and its fledgling interest group system as a foundation for approaching the analysis in the 7 country articles that follow. The topics considered include an overview of the common elements of the 7 group systems and their differences, developments that shaped these systems, and an initial look at the role of interest groups in consolidating the region's pluralist political systems.     

Interest groups and public affairs in the contemporary Balkans: Project overview and preliminary explanations

This comprehensive coverage of public affairs and interest group activity in the Balkans has 2 objectives. One is to produce the first study focusing solely on interest groups in each of the 7 countries of the former socialist Yugoslavia. The second is to compare developments across the region to assess the extent to which this study reflects existing research and what it can add to this knowledge. To achieve these objectives, this article explains several aspects of the methodology used by all contributors. These include common use of terms, an explanation of the topics covered, and the survey instrument.     

Variability in cancer death certificate accuracy by characteristics of death certifiers

Death certificates are the source for mortality statistics and are used to set public health goals. Accurate death certificates are vital in tracking outcomes of cancer. Deaths may be certified by physicians or other medical professionals, coroners, or medical examiners. Idaho is one of 3 states that participated in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded study to assess the concordance between cancer-specific causes of death and primary cancer site among linked cancer registry/death certificate data. We investigated variability in the accuracy of cancer death certificates by characteristics of death certifiers, including certifier type (physician vs coroner), physician specialty, years of experience as death certifier, and number of deaths certified. This study showed significant differences by certifier type/physician specialty in the accuracy of cancer mortality measured by death certificates. Nonphysician coroners had lower accuracy rates compared with physicians. Although nonphysician coroners certified less than 5% of cancer deaths in Idaho, they were significantly less likely to match the primary site from the cancer registry. Results from this study may be useful in the future training of death certifiers to improve the accuracy of death certificates and cancer mortality statistics.