Crises of confidence: Rhetorical constraints for incumbent party successors

Crises of confidence have plagued the American presidency since the introduction of television into the political sphere. Recognizing from previous research that unpopular incumbents use rhetoric in an effort to regain their credibility, this study looks at these rhetorical choices to see how they constrain or provide opportunities for the incumbent party's successors. Specifically, the study looks at the rhetoric surrounding instances where presidents have dropped 20 points in Gallup approval ratings within the last two years of their terms.

The study reveals that an unpopular incumbent's interest in regaining the public's faith is frequently at odds with his successor's interests. Incumbents need to remove themselves as the cause of the crisis, convince the public that they have the solution to the problem, and bide enough time to affect the situation. These choices tend to constrain the simplicity, flexibility, and timeliness of the successor's choices for rhetorically resolving the crises.     

The Association between Intimate Partner Violence and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and Symptoms among Adult Women: Systematic Review

Journal of Family Violence - Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and symptoms have been identified as possible health consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, whether...     

Fatal positional asphyxia associated with rollover crashes

Motor vehicle rollover crashes result in complex occupant kinematics with the potential for severe injury. Five cases of fatal asphyxia in occupants suspended from their safety belt upside down after a rollover crash are presented. These fatalities accounted for 13.5% of all motor vehicle related asphyxia deaths in San Diego County over a 10-year period. This study supports previous research noting that incapacitation due to other injuries, alcohol, or obesity may be associated with fatal positional asphyxia due to inversion during rollovers. Safety belts are proven to prevent serious injury in motor vehicle crashes and should always be worn. However, redesign of the buckle could be considered to permit easier release by an occupant. We also suggest that pre-existing heart disease may contribute to the possibility of a fatal asphyxia outcome. Although this is a rare cause of motor vehicle related death, our results suggest that these are potentially preventable deaths.     

Dealing in Discipline: Party Switching and Legislative Voting in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 1988–2000

Compared to U.S. political parties, parties in Italy (and Europe generally) are quite cohesive. Rarely do members of parliament vote against their copartisans in legislative divisions. Yet in Italy in recent years, legislators switch parties with seeming abandon. Between 1996 and spring 2000, one out of four deputies in the Chamber of Deputies switched parties at least once, compared to only 20 switches in the U.S. Congress from 1947 to 1997 ( Nokken 2000 ). We examine the relationship between switching and observed party unity in Italy by focusing on individual legislators' switching decisions and voting behavior. Overall, switchers move out of highly disciplined parties, suggesting that they switch partly in order to escape strong discipline.     

Gender Analysis and Community Consultation: The Role of Women's Policy Units

Community consultation has become a widely accepted part of policy development in Australia. In this article, we consider how, in an Australian context, consultation can be incorporated within gender analysis processes. Gender analysis refers to systematic procedures to detect and correct gender bias in the full range of government programs, projects and policies. We draw upon insights from a qualitative case study to argue that policy workers located within women's policy units could play a key role in designing and coordinating meaningful and inclusive consultation. We conclude that well‐resourced women's policy offices within Australian governments are essential to ensuring effective, equitable consultation exercises are included within gender analysis processes.     

China and the 1995 United Nations conference on women

This study looks at the ways in which China's hosting of the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women failed to improve China's international prestige. China made enormous commitments of resources to the meetings. However, China did not benefit because of its own internal policies, because of a series of political events that, in conjunction with media coverage, created a critical environment, and because of the deteriorating relationship between China and the US.     

The British federation of university women and the status of women in universities, 1907-1939

Abstract

The early 1990s have marked a turning point in the history of the British Federation of University Women (BFUW), which has recently renamed itself the British Federation of Women Graduates, and has had to leave its historic premises in Crosby Hall, Chelsea. This article looks at the origin of the BFUW in the context of feminist concern with women's position in the universities in the first decade of this century. It sketches some of the difficulties faced by the Federation in defining, promoting and defending ‘women's interests’ in the universities and highlights its role in providing a supportive network for women in academic posts.     

Forms of production in practice: Fresh approaches to simple commodity production

Jaques M. Chevalier, Civilization and the Stolen Gift: Capital, Kin and Cult in Eastern Peru, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.

In an important new book, Jacques Chevalier advances the concept ‘form of production’ by giving it explicit theoretical treatment. In doing so he reveals a number of significant differences in the way various scholars have used the concept, especially on the central question — the relationship between capitalist and non‐capitalist forms of production in peripheral social formations. This is an old problem, but one that refuses quietly to die. It thus deserves continued discussion. What makes Chevalier's book worthy of extended discussion, however, is that it provides an anthropological treatment of the cultural elements involved in creating and sustaining distinctive forms of production. It does so by elaborating some of Pierre Bourdieu's notions about social practice in creating cultural as well as material life. The two sets of issues are not as far apart as one might think, since both consider actual social practice within particular material and cultural contexts, giving agency to both economic practice and to the environment containing it in determining the resulting social dynamic. In this way the scholars working on these two traditions hope to avoid many of the deterministic assumptions embedded in most analysis of production ‐ a problem that has long bedevilled marxists (as well as anthropologists). In this review essay I reflect on both sets of issues and the advantages to be gained by considering them as interrelated.