Creativity in local government: Definition and determinants

In current thinking about public service improvement, civil servant creativity plays an important role. Using the results of 43 semi‐structured interviews, we assessed the degree to which our theoretical knowledge about creativity—based primarily on business research—matches the insights of managers in local government. Respondents considered employee creativity to be important, but—in contrast to the literature—understood creativity as the act of trying out new things to better deal with specific problems at hand instead of developing new ideas potentially applicable to a wider context. As such, respondents did not see creativity as the main precondition for innovation. In line with the literature, there is little consistency across respondents about individual‐ and context‐level determinants of creativity. Lastly, respondents put forward several factors that have received little attention in the literature but are particularly relevant in understanding differences in work‐related creativity in the context of local government.     

A tribe and its states: Yemen’s 1972 Bayḥan massacre revisited

Across the Middle East, tribes and states have entered into different relationships. In many countries, tribes were confronted with massive attempts at interference by their respective states. The northern Yemeni Republic, in contrast, remained a weak state with little coercive instruments at its disposal. Its rule was rather based on indirect means: the politics of patronage, the politicization of development efforts, and the exploitation of tribal conflict. This article aims to look closer into state-tribe relations in Yemen by reviewing the power struggle between the Khawlan al-Tiyal tribe and the republican government. In 1972, the regional ramifications of this struggle culminated in the so-called ‘Bayhan massacre’ whose legacy continues to resonate across tribal Yemen today. The Khawlan case gives evidence of how power and legitimacy in republican Yemen remained, and still remain, largely contingent on the politics of co-optation and patronage, an endemic feature that comes at the expense of real institution building.     

Returnees for change? Afghan return migrants' identification with the conflict and their potential to be agents of change

This article interrogates the assumptions that returned migrants can be agents of change in development and peace-building in the country of origin. In current political and academic debates, it remains under-defined which category of returnees can contribute to what kind of change. This article identifies four ways in which voluntary and involuntary returnees relate to the conflict after return: physically, institutionally, psychologically and with regard to the future. It finds that the only returnees who could potentially live up to the expectations raised in the migration-development-peace-building debate, are voluntary returnees, while involuntary returnees were in no way potential contributors to Afghan peace-building and development. It concludes that, first, the human dimension of returnees' involvement is the most important potential contribution to change. Second, while the international community sees repatriation as the ultimate proof of peace that represents the restoring of normalcy, it is rather continued transnational mobility that could be the basis for Afghan migrants to contribute to change in Afghanistan.     

Adolescent attitudes towards the police: A new generation

The attitudes toward the police (ATP) of a group of young inner city adolescents were investigated within the context of a program designed to teach dispute resolution skills and promote a dialogue with local police. ATP were measured using a 23 item questionnaire. The results indicated that while ATP were generally positive, girls held more positive ATP than boys and adolescents who reported negative experiences with the police had less favorable ATP. A confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire yielded three factors; attitudes toward police behavior, attitudes toward interaction with the police, and attitudes toward interaction with other adults. The results are in general agreement with earlier studies with other populations and have implications for programs designed to improve adolescent relationships with the police. Authors' Note: David E. Brandt and Keith A. Markus, Department of Psychology. We would like to thank Professor Maria Volpe, director of the Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Ms. Marjorie Cohen, Executive Director of the Westside Crime Prevention Program, for their invaluable assistance in the collection of the data used in this study.     

Governance, risk and dataveillance in the war on terror

This paper critically analyses the importance of risk management techniques in the war on terror. From the protection of borders to international financial flows, from airport security to daily financial transactions, risk assessment is emerging as the most important way in which terrorist danger is made measurable and manageable. However, we argue that the risk-based approach results in the displacement of risk onto marginal groups, while its effectiveness in the war on terror remains questionable.     

The Nature and Prevalence of Familicide in the United States, 2000–2009

Familicide refers to the killing of multiple family members, most commonly the homicide of an intimate partner and at least one child. This study examines the prevalence of familicide in the United States. Second, it explores the relationship between the prevalence of familicide and the prevalence of financial problems in the United States by making use of Supplementary Homicide Reports data and newspaper reports. In the period of 2000–2009, familicide involving an intimate partner and child(ren) occurred approximately 23 times per year. The majority of the perpetrators were male, who committed the offense with a firearm. Familicides involving an intimate partner and child(ren) with financial motives alone occurred 4 to 5 times per year. The results showed that the association between familicide and financial problems is not a straightforward one. Even though correlational analyses suggest a relationship between the two, the prevalence of familicide motivated by financial problems was unrelated to periods of financial downfall. Directions for future research are discussed.