Voting Islamist or voting secular? An empirical analysis of voting outcomes in Egypt’s “Arab Spring”

This paper studies empirically the voting outcomes of Egypt’s first parliamentary elections after the Arab Spring. In light of the strong Islamist success at the polls, we explore the main determinants of Islamist versus secular voting. We identify two dimensions that affect voting outcomes at the constituency level: socioeconomic profile and the electoral institutional framework. Our results show that education is negatively associated with Islamist voting. Interestingly, we find significant evidence suggesting that higher poverty levels are associated with a lower vote share for Islamist parties. Exploiting the sequential voting setup, we show that later voting stages have not resulted in stronger support for the already winning Islamist parties (i.e., there is no bandwagon effect).     

The Fair Housing Act Today: Current Context and Challenges at 50

ABSTRACT

As is true for most legislation, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) was a product of its time; the legislation’s content, and even passage, was formed by dominant issues in housing markets and the country at that time. The context shaped the goals of the FHA and the strategies and tools employed under its auspices. Fifty years after the passage of the FHA, much of that context has changed. This commentary argues that changes in the context not only raise new fair housing challenges and create new gaps in our knowledge, but also may necessitate a fresh look at fair housing strategies and tools if they are to be effective at achieving the goals of the act. This commentary begins with a brief background on the FHA itself, the social context at the time of its writing, and its main goals. Next it lays out a few key changes in housing markets relevant for fair housing, highlighting challenges they may create and where research could be of greatest value. It then considers challenges arising from threats to two specific U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fair housing rules seen by many as critical fair housing tools. The commentary ends with two examples of a “refresh,” where current context has shaped, or reshaped, a strategy to address today’s fair housing challenges.     

Constraints to conservation at Okomu National Park: a ranger’s perspective

Park rangers form an integral part of national parks because they help to ensure that the objectives of the park are achieved. The objective of the study was to investigate the challenges facing rangers at the frontiers of conservation at Okomu National Park, Nigeria. Questionnaires and structured interviews using the purposive sampling method was used to collect data. Atlas.ti version 8.0 was used to analyse the data. The findings indicated that 46% of the respondents are natives of the area, major constraints faced by the park rangers are inadequate funding (86%), poaching (82%), and poor salaries (82%). These limitations affect the output of the rangers. The findings indicate that both internal factors (which can be solved by the management of the park) and external factors (which need to be addressed at the national level) affecting rangers in the field, which needs to be addressed to improve ranger productivity conservation efforts.     

Perceptions of drink driving legal limits in England: a qualitative investigation

ABSTRACT

There are strict laws relating to alcohol intake and driving; however, while most people are aware of these laws, drink driving still occurs. The current research provides an in-depth account of individuals’ awareness and attitudes towards current drink driving limits and laws in England. Individuals (N?=?83) were interviewed, and their responses recorded for thematic analysis. Results indicated major themes of: attitudes towards drink driving laws, limits, and effectiveness; reasons for drink driving; and post-drink driving reflections. Outcomes show that most individuals are aware there are strict laws, but are unaware of the exact limits, and do not understand how to convert legal limits into actual drinking behaviours. Sub-themes emerged indicating that individuals held heuristic beliefs about being able to consume one or two alcohol beverages without negative effects on their driving ability. Conclusions from this research indicate that views are mostly invariant across key population demographics; peer pressure was the only sub-theme that appeared to differ between younger and older individuals. The findings have implications for policy makers and future interventions in terms of clarifying drink driving limits and translating this into drinking behaviour. There was also some support for stricter laws and regulations.