Transnational Information Politics: NGO Human Rights Reporting, 1986–2000

What shapes the transnational activist agenda? Do non-governmental organizations with a global mandate focus on the world's most pressing problems, or is their reporting also affected by additional considerations? To address these questions, we study the determinants of country reporting by an exemplary transnational actor, Amnesty International, during 1986–2000. We find that while human rights conditions are associated with the volume of their country reporting, other factors also matter, including previous reporting efforts, state power, U.S. military assistance, and a country's media profile. Drawing on interviews with Amnesty and Human Rights Watch staff, we interpret our findings as evidence of Amnesty International's social movement-style "information politics." The group produces more written work on some countries than others to maximize advocacy opportunities, shape international standards, promote greater awareness, and raise its profile. This approach has both strengths and weaknesses, which we consider after extending our analysis to other transnational sectors.     

Citizenship Education and Post-16 Students: A Habermasian Perspective

This article is based on a research project carried out at the Graduate School of Education, Queen's University Belfast. The researchers conducted a study of discussion-based citizenship education for post-16 students in Northern Ireland (UK) over a period of 18 months. One of the researchers designed and delivered a course of citizenship education for students in a case study school (100 of whom were involved). This course was constructed within a theoretical framework that drew heavily upon the work of Jurgen Habermas. The results of the study showed that an overwhelming majority of the students involved gave comprehensive and positive evaluations of a citizenship course that was reliant upon a discussion-based form of education. This article argues that such courses, premised on the need to encourage communicative competence amongst young people, should be offered to all students within the non-compulsory education sector in the UK and beyond.     

Price competition and the acquisition of weapons systems

The acquisition of major weapons systems by the Department of Defense shares many elements of traditional “natural monopoly” problems in that efficiency considerations often require that only a single producer exist. This article examines the costs and benefits associated with introducing added producers as a means of stimulating competition. The costs are largely those entailed in transferring technology from the firm that originally developed the system to other potential producers, costs that are concentrated at the beginning of the acquisition period. The benefits are manifested primarily in the form of possible reduced acquisition costs spread over the acquisition period. Under appropriate circumstances, the use of price competition to allocate production contracts can be cost-effective. Some familiar analytical techniques help program managers to recognize such circumstances.     

A Multi-Theoretical Framework to Assess Gendered Stalking Victimization: The Utility of Self-Control,Social Learning,and Control Balance Theories

Despite recent advancements in the criminological study of stalking, few theoretical tests have been conducted to date to explain stalking victimization among men and women separately. The current study individually and simultaneously extends three criminological theories to the study of stalking victimization: self-control, social learning, and control balance theories. Among a sample of 2,766 university students, a series of models were estimated for men and women separately to assess each set of theoretical variables net of control variables. Results reveal consistent significant positive relationships between stalking victimization and low self-control for men; differential peer association (e.g. friends are stalking victims) for men and women; and several social learning variables for only women. However, the control imbalance variables do not explain stalking victimization among men or women, net of other theoretical and control variables. The utility of a multi-theoretical approach to future stalking victimization research is discussed.