“A disagreement between allies”: The United Kingdom,the United States,and the Soviet-Japanese territorial dispute, 1945–1956

Russian-Japanese relations are frozen in time by their territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands. In untangling the dispute, scholars have studied the history of Russo-Japanese relations, the USSR’s annexation of the islands in 1945, and the role of the United States as the USSR’s erstwhile wartime ally and Japan’s postwar partner. The United Kingdom, a key player in 1945, has been neglected in these studies. This article analyzes the evolution of the British position on the Soviet-Japanese territorial dispute from 1945 to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1956. The article reveals the marked divergence in this position from that of the United States, proceeding from a disagreement over the interpretation of the 1945 Yalta Agreement. In addition, the article highlights the manipulation of the territorial dispute by the United States to further its own political and security objectives and the British reaction to these maneuvers. Her recent publications includeBack in the USSR: Russia’s Intervention in the Internal Affairs of the Former Soviet Republics and the Implications for United States Policy Toward Russia (with Pamela Jewett) (John F. Kennedy School of Government, 1994).     

Expert Evidence As Context: Historical Patterns and Contemporary Attitudes in the Prosecution of Sexual Offences

In H.M. Advocate v. Grimmond ¹ the judge in a Scottish High Court trial refused permission for expert psychological evidence to be admitted on behalf of the Crown in a prosecution involving sexual offences against two children. The Crown had sought to lead an expert witness to explain to the jury about patterns of disclosure in child sexual abuse cases. The case was remarkable, not so much for the strict application of the longstanding rule in R. v. Turner that constrains the use in the courtroom of expert evidence from the behavioural sciences, but for the way in which the arguments presented by the Crown in Grimmond resonate with enduring feminist critiques regarding the treatment of women in rape trials. The theoretical issues raised by the decision include the quest for context to counter rigid evidential frameworks, and the choice of a child sexual abuse case as the medium for challenging the boundaries of the admissibility of expert evidence in the courtroom. The ramifications of Grimmond are tangible as legislation intended to benefit children and women has already been enacted by the Scottish Parliament to ameliorate the effects of the decision. This article suggests that while this legislation should be given a cautious welcome it remains to be seen whether the heralded benefits will actually materialise. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Understanding Women in Scotland

This article explores obstacles to understanding the history and contemporary experiences of women in Scotland, and to the development of feminist research in Scotland. It is argued that explanations which invoke Scottish male chauvinism and misogyny alone are insufficient, and that the marginalization of women in Scotland is produced both by male domination within Scotland, and by English cultural and political hegemony within the UK. The article comments on the relationship of the concept of ‘Britishness’ to that of ‘Scottishness’ (and other identities within the UK) and illustrates how the frequent confusion of ‘British’ with ‘English’ serves to obscure Scottish experience. It is also argued that the place of Scotland within the British state has led to the creation of an institutional framework that disadvantages women, and a system of government that excludes women. This implies that feminist debates on the state in Britain require a specific focus on the form of the British state, and in the context of constitutional change in particular this is important for the development of future strategies. It is argued that the double marginalization of women in Scotland is not just a problem in relation to the development of feminist research, but is also a political problem in that it contributes to a degree of alienation from feminism in England. The article concludes by arguing for the necessity of recognition of difference, but also for dialogue, as the basis for feminist alliances in different parts of the UK.     

Put Down Your Knitting: Unpicking Social Welfare Professionalisation in 1970s Australia

This article compares evidence given to the 1970s Commonwealth Commission of Enquiry into Poverty by a social worker from Armidale with that of a group of foster carers in Adelaide. It does so to illuminate the power struggle underway between volunteers, professionals and experts at a key moment in Australia’s social welfare history. The testimonies provide two very different perspectives on the challenges of social welfare professionalisation. Analysing them allows a deeper exploration of those challenges, which, to date, have been under-explored, while bringing a greater understanding of the factors that shaped the creation of enquiry submissions.     

Satanism: Myth and reality in a contemporary moral panic

In the last decade, there have been many allegations about the prevalence of occult or Satanic criminality, which is believed to be involved in many offenses ranging from vandalism to child abuse and serial murder. Some have advocated the creation of specialized police units to combat the supposed threat. On the other hand, most of the alleged evils are very poorly substantiated, and highly questionable statements have been widely circulated. In fact, the current concern about the occult appears to have all the hallmarks of a classic moral panic, where a peripheral issue is suddenly perceived as a major social menace. This paper discusses the limited foundation of truth underlying the present crime-wave; and suggests that the panic reflects the moral and political agenda of extremists from the fundamentalist religious Right. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** AW502017 00005     

Understanding transnational bribery: a corporate crime framework

Despite calls for utilizing white-collar and corporate crime frameworks to study corruption, the role of corporations in supplying bribes to foreign government officials is not well understood. In the current study, we draw upon a recent framework designed to examine the transnational corporate bribery process from an opportunity theory perspective. We apply the framework to a sample of individuals and organizations with enforcement actions levied against them by the United States Department of Justice’s Fraud Section for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 between 2011 and 2016. Using an exploratory mixed methods approach, we assess the prevalence and qualitative nature of multiple components of the framework. Our goal is to develop a systematic way to apply it to different sets of bribery data and to move toward a fuller theoretical account of transnational corporate bribery. Our findings demonstrate the significance of the corporate role in foreign bribery, the utility of the bribery process framework, and some areas of refinement and future theoretical development.

     

The interpretation of cocaine and benzoylecgonine concentrations in postmortem cases.

This study examined cocaine and benzoylecgonine concentrations in 100 consecutive deaths where either compound was identified in blood or urine specimens to determine whether any relationship between these concentrations and cause of death can be found. Forty-seven of the 100 cases were deaths attributed to cocaine, narcotic or combined cocaine and narcotic intoxication. There were 13 cases of cocaine intoxication where no psychoactive substance other than ethanol was detected. The mean cocaine concentration in these deaths was 908 ng/ml; three cases had cocaine concentrations greater than 2000 ng/ml, while the other ten cases had cocaine concentrations less than or equal to 700 ng/ml. The mean cocaine concentration in non-cocaine deaths where no psychoactive substance other than ethanol was detected was 146 ng/ml. This difference was not statistically significant. However, the average blood benzoylecgonine concentration in the 13 cocaine deaths was significantly higher than in the 19 non-cocaine deaths. A review of combined cocaine and narcotic deaths suggest that the narcotic is the main causative agent in these deaths.