Social constraints in the political arena: A theoretical inquiry into their form and manner

In the past three different paradigms or, more loosely, frames of reference, have been used by students of politics to interpret various dimensions of mass political participation. Each of these, which are referred to as the political socialization, the group interests and beliefs, and the political party/organization paradigms, has received empirical support for its scheme of interpretation; yet recent political events also suggest that these frames of reference may be inadequate, and may need to be complemented, if not replaced, by other schemes. The present paper outlines one such scheme, drawing upon recent writings on social networks and social influences on political participation. It relies on the metaphor of a political arena, and proposes two simple propositions to account both for conventional and unconventional participation in this arena.An earlier version of this paper was delivered at the Annual Meetings of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, New York, NY, August 1976.     

Tribes and Tribulations: Bedouin Losses in the Saudi and Iraqi Struggles Over Kuwait's Frontiers, 1921–1943

In the years following World War One the pastoral populations of northern Arabia were subjected to political pressures and economic hardships arising from the creation of French and British spheres of influence in the territories that would become the states of Jordan, Syria and Iraq, and by the aggressive expansion of the domains of the ruler of Najd, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman Al Saud. Year by year the nascent states in the region asserted more control over the vast stretches of desert and steppe that had heretofore been the domains of powerful bedouin tribes and confederations. New borders often cut across tribal territories creating complications and conflict in such matters as sovereignty, citizenship, migration, raiding and political refuge. The establishment of new customs regimes and economic policies meant that age-old patterns of trade between the settled and nomadic populations were altered, curtailed or criminalized as ‘smuggling’.

This article examines two sets of policies that Iraqi and Saudi forces employed to express political domination in the desert and steppes of Kuwait and beyond in the guise of controlling trade: the Saudi blockade of overland trade with Kuwait; and Iraq's aggressive ‘anti-smuggling’ measures that often victimized innocent bedouin. In both cases, members of bedouin tribes were harassed, attacked, pillaged and forced to alter their normal patterns of trade and migration. The eventual rise and dominance of state power resulted in the historic defeat of bedouin control in the deserts and steppes and a gradual loss of their traditional economic options. This article provides detailed evidence showing how part of this large transformation in bedouin society took place.     

1H NMR analysis of GHB and GBL: further findings on the interconversion and a preliminary report on the analysis of GHB in serum and urine

A 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) method for the determination of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and gamma-hydroxybutyrolactone (GBL) in human serum and urine using spiked samples has been developed. The method gives linear responses (correlation coefficients of 0.99 or greater) over the concentration range 0.01 mg/mL to 4.0 mg/mL in urine and 0.3 mg/mL to 2.0 mg/mL in serum. No sample pretreatment is required. Studies of the chemical interconversion of GBL and GHB showed hydrolysis of GBL to be rapid at pH 11.54, slower and less complete (30% hydrolysis) at pH 2.54 and slowest at pH 7.0, reaching 30% hydrolysis in about 40 days. No esterification of GHB was observed at any pH.     

Development and evaluation of a standard method for the quantitative determination of elements in float glass samples by LA-ICP-MS

Forensic analysis of glass samples was performed in different laboratories within the NITE-CRIME (Natural Isotopes and Trace Elements in Criminalistics and Environmental Forensics) European Network, using a variety of Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) systems. The main objective of the interlaboratory tests was to cross-validate the different combinations of laser ablation systems with different ICP-MS instruments. A first study using widely available samples, such as the NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612 reference glasses, led to deviations in the determined concentrations for trace elements amongst the laboratories up to 60%. Extensive discussion among the laboratories and the production of new glass reference standards (FGS 1 and FGS 2) established an improved analytical protocol, which was tested on a well-characterized float glass sample (FG 10-1 from the BKA Wiesbaden collection). Subsequently, interlaboratory tests produced improved results for nearly all elements with a deviation of < 10%, demonstrating that LA-ICP-MS can deliver absolute quantitative measurements on major, minor and trace elements in float glass samples for forensic and other purposes.     

Trace analysis of peroxide explosives by high performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-APCI-MS/MS) for forensic applications

An HPLC-APCI-MS(/MS) method for the (trace) analysis of the most commonly encountered peroxide explosives, hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine (HMTD) and triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), has been developed. With this method, HMTD and TATP have been analyzed in the same run. (Pseudo-)molecular ions of these peroxides have been obtained as base peak under the same condition. A series of product ions was produced from these pseudo-molecular ions ([HMTD - 1]+ and [TATP + NH4]+) in the MS/MS analysis. We also pioneered in showing that a TATP molecular ion [TATP + H]+ can be observed with HPLC-MS/MS. The limit of detection for HMTD and TATP was 0.26 and 3.3 ng, respectively, on column by HPLC-MS in the Full Scan mode and 0.08 and 0.8, respectively, by HPLC-APCI-MS/MS in Selected Reaction Monitoring (single mass unit) mode. The method presented has been applied successfully for the identification of peroxides in the bulk solid state (powder sample), as well as in post-blast extracts originating from a forensic case. For the post-blast extracts, the use of tandem MS has been shown clearly to be of crucial importance for the identification and detection of the peroxide explosives.     

Explaining Regulatory Non-compliance: A Survey Study of Rule Transgression for Two Dutch Instrumental Laws, Applying the Randomized Response Method

Within a rational choice framework, secondary data analysis of a survey study on compliance with two Dutch regulatory laws is carried out. Selection of explanatory variables to be considered is guided by a heuristic device, called the Table-of-Eleven. Using adapted logistic regression analysis, we show that self-reported compliance, measured by means of a randomized response procedure, can be explained in terms of benefits of non-compliance, social norms and deterrence, while knowledge and general norm-conformity have no role to play. The impact of various contributing factors turns out to be rather different in size for the two laws.     

What Patent Data Reveal about Universities: The Case of Belgium

In recent years, there has been a surge in patenting by Belgian universities. It appears that this increase can be attributed to growth of biotechnology, where there is a greater propensity to patent, to a desire on the part of universities to enhance commercialization through technology transfer offices (TTOs), and to effective collaboration between universities and government-sponsored research centers. Our qualitative analysis reveals that patent statistics could be a misleading indicator of an individual university's technological productivity, since many inventions are developed at universities, yet applied by other institutions.