National Minorities and Intra-Ethnic Coordination in the European Parliament: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

This article investigates the role that intra-ethnic coordination and kin-state alliances play in shaping how parties that represent national minority groups approach their participation in the European Parliament (EP). This is done through an analysis of the political behaviour—electoral strategy, party group choice and modes of interest assertion in the EP—of ethnic minority parties in five Central and East European countries. The article finds that the role of intra-ethnic coordination and kin-state alliances is limited at the level of EP elections, but significant at the level of party group choice and in the visibility of minority issues in the EP.     

Juvenile Court Variations: Procedural and Processing Differences in a Midwestern State

This study examined whether location and type of juvenile court impacted processing for juveniles in a Midwestern state. 1 For the analysis, the author used qualitative data. This article was built on the opinions and observations of those who work in the juvenile justice system on a daily basis. The author observed juvenile courts and interviewed judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. The information contained herein verifies the differences between rural and urban juvenile justice practice and procedure. The results of this study also revealed that processing varies across jurisdictions and type of court in the juvenile justice system.     

Batterers Stalking Patterns

This clinically based study asked 165 batterers attending a court-mandated assessment program to quantify a series of behaviors that occurred since being convicted of battering. The behaviors clustered into 2 factors: (1) an Ambivalent Contact Pattern whereby behaviors of batterers were associated with contacting their ex-partner, sending gifts and letters, and watching her without her knowing while harboring conflicting feelings of love, hate, and anger; and (2) a Predatory Contact Pattern whereby the behaviors of batterers were associated with hang up calls, entering her home without permission, threatening or physically causing harm to her while harboring a propensity for abusiveness. Clinicians should assess batterers for predatory thoughts about the estranged partner, and reason for the contact since separation. Presence of stalking behaviors and predatory fantasy is a window to determine repetitive and escalating domestic violence.     

Engaging with the Legacy of Nehemia Levtzion: An Introduction

This volume draws principally on presentations from two African Studies Association meetings (2003, 2004) that celebrated Nehemia Levtzion’s contributions to the field of Islam in Africa and reminisced about our collective personal interactions with him. It is enriched by additional papers from former students, colleagues and friends (usually one and the same), as well as from contemporary young scholars just beginning to “know” Levtzion through his legacy. The “Epilogue” gives a final, posthumous word to Levtzion himself, in an article looking at the contemporary role of fundamentalism from the perspective of an historian who spent his life engaged in the history of Islam at its Middle Eastern and African crossroads. The following pages are meant not only to pay homage to Nehemia Levtzion but also to reflect critically, to push boundaries, and to introduce Africanist scholars, engaged in other areas of study and new generations of Africanist scholars in this field, to Levtzion’s role in shaping how we have come to understand the experience of Islam in Africa.