Academic freedom and international standards in higher education: Contestation in journalism and political science at Moscow State University

Recently two new departments, the School of Broadcast Journalism and the Department of Political Science, were created at Moscow State University while leaving the two traditional departments that engendered them intact. The result has been a contestation over academic freedom, standards, and the very definition of both disciplines at Russia’s premier university. The new departments are both closely associated with United Russia, the dominant political party in Russian politics and the political movement designed to promote the priorities and policies of Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin. This paper examines the self-definition of each of the four departments by means of open-ended, semi-structured interviews with faculty and content-analytic examination of curricular materials, including syllabi and assigned readings. We conclude that the newer departments are somewhat more attuned to certain aspects of the international standards of both disciplines, but demonstrate little adherence to key ethical and pedagogical norms, leaving them more susceptible to political influence.     

An examination of types of delinquency through path analysis

Relationships between father's occupation, delinquent peer association, tendency to neutralize, and self-reported delinquency are explored in a path model. Self-reported delinquency are categorized into Minor, Predatory, and Aggressive delinquency. The effect of this division is analyzed among Mexican Americans and Anglo college students (N=694). The structure of the resulting path models remained similar across these subsamples, although there was some variation in the strength of the relationships. The effect of father's occupation was minimal. The strongest relationships were between neutralization and delinquency, controlling for delinquent peers and for father's occupation, which decreased as the seriousness of the delinquency increased. Additionally, neutralization was more strongly related to delinquency among Anglos than among Mexican Americans, explaining 39% of the variation in delinquency among Anglos, but only 28% among Mexican Americans. Association with delinquent peers, however, was more strongly related to delinquency among Mexican Americans.Received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Current interests are social gerontology, adolescent behavior, and medical sociology.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. Current interests are adolescent behavior, human development, and the sociology of sport.     

Climate action versus inaction: balancing the costs for Gulf energy exporters

ABSTRACT

Climate change poses a strategic dilemma for oil-exporting states of the Gulf. By sapping global demand for crude oil, climate action threatens the economic rents that underpin their governance and regime legitimacy. However, the Gulf states are also among the countries most exposed to physical risks of a warming climate and thus would benefit most from reducing ongoing accumulations of carbon in the atmosphere and associated adaptation costs. In other words, the political and economic risks of climate action run counter to the physical and environmental risks. These bifurcated interests differentiate the Gulf producers from oil exporters in more temperate regions, which would experience milder short-run damage—or even benefits—from a warming climate. A successful economic diversification strategy could address both physical and economic risks but would require structural changes in rentier governance.     

The incidence of drugs in drivers killed in Australian road traffic crashes

The incidence of alcohol and drugs in fatally injured drivers were determined in three Australian states; Victoria (VIC), New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA) for the period of 1990-1999. A total of 3398 driver fatalities were investigated which included 2609 car drivers, 650 motorcyclists and 139 truck drivers. Alcohol at or over 0.05 g/100ml (%) was present in 29.1% of all drivers. The highest prevalence was in car drivers (30.3%) and the lowest in truckers (8.6%). WA had the highest rate of alcohol presence of the three states (35.8%). Almost 10% of the cases involved both alcohol and drugs. Drugs (other than alcohol) were present in 26.7% of cases and psychotropic drugs in 23.5%. These drugs comprised cannabis (13.5%), opioids (4.9%), stimulants (4.1%), benzodiazepines (4.1%) and other psychotropic drugs (2.7%). 8.5% of all drivers tested positive for Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the balance of cannabis positive drivers were positive to only the 11-nor-Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (carboxy-THC) metabolite. The range of THC blood concentrations in drivers was 0.1-228 ng/ml, with a median of 9 ng/ml. Opioids consisted mainly of morphine (n=84), codeine (n=89) and methadone (n=33), while stimulants consisted mainly of methamphetamine (n=51), MDMA (n=6), cocaine (n=5), and the ephedrines (n=61). The prevalence of drugs increased over the decade, particularly cannabis and opioids, while alcohol decreased. Cannabis had a larger prevalence in motorcyclists (22.2%), whereas stimulants had a much larger presence in truckers (23%).     

A Critical Appraisal of the Statecraft Interpretation

This article subjects the Statecraft interpretation to critical assessment. It argues that, while Bulpitt has provided a parsimonious and stimulating contribution to our understanding of British politics, his work needs to be developed. More specifically, although the Statecraft thesis evolved out of Bulpitt’s concerns with the methodology of political science, a neglect of ontological and epistemological questions has led it to propound explanations which are both reductionist and insensitive to empirical criticism. The article concludes by suggesting ways in which the Statecraft interpretation can be developed to take account of these weaknesses.     

Female victims of child sexual abuse: Adult adjustment

A questionnaire administered to a University sample of 245 female victims of sexual child abuse and 750 nonvictims attempted to determine whether abuse is related to poor adult social and psychological adjustment. The instrument consisted of three outcome measures of adjustment, variables directly related to abuse, perceived satisfaction with early family life, and demographic data. Only one of the outcome measures — the Texas Social Behavior Inventory — yielded a statistically significant difference between the samples. There was a steady, significant and progressive increase in maladjustment between the nonabused, the nonincestuously abused and the incest victims. When controls were applied for levels of satisfaction with early family life, differences between the abused and nonabused samples disappeared. Those abused as children who reported good treatment by parents exhibited no ill effects as adults on the TSBI.