Famines in 19th century Indian history: A materialist alternative to ecological reductionism

This article charts the ways in which gender politics have featured within political landscape of contemporary Singapore. It is shown that there has been remarkable consistency in the approaches of the Singaporean government to women and gender relations in the post-independence period. Gender policies have consistently been interventionist and proactive, and have revealed the willingness of the government to subordinate the interests of women to those of the state. Fluctuations in policy regarding women are traced, and shown to be related to such factors as changes in Singapore's position within the global economy, the putative invasiveness of Western culture and perceived ethnic imperatives of Singapore's dominant ethnic group, the Chinese.     

The Return of "Captain Moonlight": Informal Justice in Northern Ireland

In the working-class areas of Northern Ireland alternative forms of justice operating in parallel to the State's criminal justice system exist. This informal criminal justice system, administered by paramilitaries, includes threats, warnings, beatings, shootings, and executions. Informal justice mechanisms emerged in the early days of "the Troubles" and have continued to develop. This article maps the development of informal justice in both republican and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland and examines the ways in which paramilitaries "police" their communities and mete out "punishments."     

CBRN Incidents: Political Regimes,Perpetrators, and Targets

This article investigates the relationship between regime characteristics and the likelihood of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) terrorist incidents. Odds ratios establish that democratic ideals—democratic rule, strong rule of law, and honest regimes—are associated with more CBRN incidents. Failed states may be where some terrorist groups form or take refuge, but these states have not been the venue of choice for CBRN incidents. Religious (cults and fundamentalists) and nationalist/separatist groups are not more likely than others to engage in CBRN attacks. To date, indiscriminate CBRN attacks are as likely as discriminate attacks to cause casualties. Transnational terrorist groups are less adept than others in concealing their acquisition of CBRN substances. For some regressions, democratic rule and strong rule of law are positive determinants of CBRN incidents.     

Bracket creep in Australian abortion indications: when did rubella arrive?

This article highlights a common misconception about abortion law that is apparent from reading Harriton v Stephens (2006) 226 CLR 52; namely, that fetal abnormality forms a prima facie case for lawful abortion across Australia. This fallacy stems from the legacy of British law drafted in the aftermath of the thalidomide crisis of the early 1960s, and continues to shape beliefs about Australian abortion law in society and within the judiciary. The article notes the fundamental contradictions between British-style law that provides for abortion on the ground of fetal abnormality and New South Wales case law that provides for lawful abortion in regard to the health and wellbeing of the woman. The author concludes that it is misguided and erroneous to configure abortion law in terms of the fetus inconsistent with the tradition of abortion law, and New South Wales authority.     

Individual differences in young offender emotional behaviour

Purpose. Recent research into adolescent emotional behaviour has confirmed a three‐factor structure for emotional style in samples of children and adolescents, ranging in age from nine to nineteen years ( Clarbour & Roger, 2004 ). This study was aimed at replicating the factor structure for the Emotional Behaviour Scale (EBS) amongst young offenders, and investigating the role of the factors in offender behaviour. Method. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to compare the responses of 307 male young offenders to those of 294 schoolchildren. A subsample of 264 offenders additionally completed indices of offending behaviour that were used for further validation of the EBS amongst young offenders. Results and conclusions. The three emotional style factors obtained for schoolchildren – social anxiety, malevolent aggression and social self‐esteem – were confirmed in the young offender sample. Lower scores on malevolent aggression, and higher scores on social anxiety and social self‐esteem, were significantly associated with later first police contact. High malevolent aggression and lower social anxiety were also significantly associated with placement on Governor's report, and high malevolent aggression was associated with violent offence types. The three scales were also found to relate systematically and predictably to a range of other personality and emotional style scales.     

Complex adaptive systems as a valid framework for understanding community level development

Complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory is gaining mainstream recognition in development policy and management. This article looks to the correlations between development theory and CAS theory to support an argument for the validity of community level development as a complex adaptive system. The article describes some theoretical and practical implications of using CAS theory as a framework for community level development. This includes a call for researchers and practitioners to understand more thoroughly the contextualised nature of development, and the communities in which development interventions are implemented.     

Mental health expertise at prison reception

Although screening has become an established procedure in prison health care, some difficulties persist. In attempts to improve this, many local adaptations have been introduced, but few have been evaluated. We introduced an adaptation – mental health expertise (a Community Psychiatric Nurse, CPN) – into the reception area of a busy remand prison, and compared standard and enhanced assessment procedures over a six-month period. Referrals (n = 67) were significantly more likely to be suitable for onward caseworking by the clinical team after a CPN was introduced. The team showed little evidence of the ‘mission creep’ (where teams operating at a secondary level absorb mental health problems at a primary care level) that has been described elsewhere in the literature. Despite its limitations, this evaluation suggests that prison pathways can be improved by relatively inexpensive local initiatives, and that advancing specific mental health expertise into prison reception areas can enhance existing processes.