How Not to Increase Participation in Local Government: The Advantages of Experiments When Testing Policy Interventions

Local governments benefit from nonelected committees that provide citizen input on important issues. Although these committees offer a valuable tool for policy makers, they suffer from low participation and tend to underrepresent economically disadvantaged citizens. This article reports the results of a randomized survey experiment that evaluated the relative effectiveness of offering social recognition or skills training. The findings show that entreaties to participate premised on gaining social recognition had no effect on willingness to participate and that offers to provide training actually decreased citizens’ willingness to participate, especially among economically disadvantaged citizens. Even though these approaches may hold promise, this particular policy intervention did not live up to that promise. The article concludes with a discussion of the importance of testing policy interventions before wide‐scale implementation and the utility of randomized experiments in this process.     

Serial payers,serial losers? The political economy of Argentina’s public debt

A global neoliberal architecture has enabled many countries to increase their public debts to meet their fiscal needs. But since 2008 a number of European and North American economies have faced financial crises induced by unsustainable debts. This paper analyses the case of post-default Argentina since 2001, so as to better comprehend the political economy of public debt, especially in cases where governments are elected on anti-austerity platforms. Presidents Néstor and Cristina Kirchner were committed to a debt-reduction policy, yet Argentina faced a new, ‘selective’, default in 2014. This paper analyses how the country has been trapped in a cycle of debt dependency, which can only be interrupted by a comprehensive audit of the debt’s legitimacy followed by debt cancellation. Critical lessons are provided for other countries facing similar situations.     

Is Standing for Women a Stand Against Terrorism? Exploring the Connection Between Women's Rights and Terrorism

Previous large-N studies have found that the advancement of women's rights leads to a decline in conflict, but no large-N research has explored the possibility of a similar relationship between women's rights and terrorism. Nevertheless, policymakers have long argued that the advancement of women's rights forms a key component of counterterrorism policy. Simply put, we lay out a rationale for the argument that increased women's rights reduce the likelihood of terrorism. We test this hypothesis using CIRI's women's rights data combined with two datasets accounting for domestic terrorism and the production of transnational terrorism. While the results show that women's rights overall are not a panacea for both types of terrorism, the provision of women's rights is shown to have a negative relationship with domestic terrorism. States and international institutions should take the differing effects of women's rights across different types of terrorism into account when designing counterterrorism policies.     

FORENSIC Autopsy of People Having Committed Suicide in 2002 and in 2012: Comparison of Epidemiological and Sociological Data

This work compares epidemiological and sociological data on persons having committed suicide in 2002 and in 2012 through a retrospective study of every suicide case having led to an autopsy at the Institute for Forensic Medicine of Lyon in 2002 and in 2012. The study included sociodemographic data, medical data, and toxicological data. A total of 486 cases were included (242 cases in 2002 and 244 cases in 2012). People committing suicide were on average older in 2012 than in 2002 with a larger proportion of over 55. There was also an increase in the proportion of psychiatric antecedents (p < 0.001). Whatever the date of death by suicide, the most affected age range is the 45–54. The results highlight the necessity of bolstering the prevention plans, in particular for people over 45.     

An integrated exploration of factors associated with psychological distress among older prisoners

This paper compares the contributions of socio-demographic, health, mental health, social and environmental factors in explaining variations in psychological distress among older prisoners in two Australian states. One hundred and seventy-three prisoners (aged 50+ ) from 8 Australian prisons were interviewed using the Kessler Psychological Distress (K10) Scale. Three regression analyses were conducted to compare different models of 14 variables significantly associated with psychological distress. Independent variables most prominently associated with variations in psychological distress among older inmates were self-reported levels of social support, self-reported safety and ease of health care access. Difficulties in the built environment and mental health history were significantly explanatory of variations in older prisoner distress in two of the three models. The findings suggest that modifiable situational factors evident in current prison contexts are reasonably explanatory of variations in prisoner distress among older inmates.     

Fiction lagging behind or non-fiction defending the indefensible? University–industry (et al.) interaction in science fiction

The Journal of Technology Transfer - University–industry interaction has many supporters and some detractors in the scholarly literature. Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy...     

Contributions of the dark triad to moral disengagement among incarcerated and community adults

Previous research has revealed a strong association between moral disengagement (MD) and criminal behaviour. However, few studies have attempted to examine the contribution of dark personalities to MD. This study aims to first analyse the differences between forensic and community samples in the use of MD strategies and then replicate the factorial structure of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen scale in an incarcerated sample as a pre-condition to examine the relationship between dark triad (DT) traits (i.e. Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) and MD. The sample comprised 160 incarcerated and 160 community adults. Comparisons between these two groups demonstrate that the incarcerated sample scored higher in MD and DT than the community sample. Furthermore, different MD strategies were related to each of the DT traits in the forensic and community samples. The results of exploratory factor analysis for the incarcerated sample indicate adequate fit indices for a bifactorial model of the DT (a latent factor of the shared variance of these constructs named the global DT and three specific latent factors for each component of the DT). The SEM analysis for this bifactorial model and MD disclosed direct and significant relationships between the global DT and MD in the incarcerated adults, while the Machiavellianism factor was directly and significantly related to MD in the community adults. These results highlight the relevance of cognitive (i.e. MD) strategies in forensic contexts, especially in incarcerated adults who present high levels of this DT profile.     

Responsible research and innovation training programmes: implementation and evaluation of the HEIRRI project

Responsible research and innovation, or RRI, is a concept that aims to bring together society and science for a better future. There are six key elements of RRI: public engagement, gender equality, science education, open access, ethics and governance. Higher Education Institutions and Responsible Research and Innovation (HEIRRI) project aimed to bring the concept of RRI into the educational system. Using state-of-the-art review of good practices, HEIRRI team developed 10 training programmes on RRI for different higher education institution educational levels, including a summer school and a massive open online course (MOOC). We conducted pilot of the trainings and evaluated participants' experiences. Satisfaction with HEIRRI training programmes on responsible research and innovation was high, both for participants and for the trainers, and trainings raised awareness of RRI. Participants' feedback was used to identify areas that need improvement and provided for recommendations for final versions of the HEIRRI training programmes. In order to equip researchers with skills to recognize and apply RRI values, RRI should be included in their education. HEIRRI training is suitable for a range of different disciplines, including forensic science, and is free to use and adjust for specific contexts (available from: https://rri-tools.eu/heirri-training-programmes).     

The Jewish community in nineteenth century Palestine: evidence from the Montefiore censuses

Initial findings from five recently transcribed censuses of the Jewish community in nineteenth century Palestine, commissioned by Sir Moses Montefiore. This article discusses each census and presents uncorrected population figures. It describes how the Jewish community was rapidly changing: the population increased almost fourfold between 1839 and 1875, primarily due to immigration from Ashkenazi countries. The Jewish community was majority Ashkenazi by 1875. Analysis of the census data gives us detailed information about the community, such as the fact that Ashkenazim were significantly more likely than Sephardim to be engaged in full-time Torah study, whereas individuals who had immigrated to the land of Israel were slightly less likely. It also suggests that immigrations occurred at all ages, although the average age of an immigrant when they came to Palestine was 36.