Grappling with the “real politics” of systemic corruption: Theoretical debates versus “real‐world” functions

A growing body of research argues that anticorruption efforts fail because of a flawed theoretical foundation, where collective action theory is said to be a better lens for understanding corruption than the dominant principal–agent theory. We unpack this critique and advance several new arguments. First, the application of collective action theory to the issue of corruption has been, thus far, incomplete. Second, a collective action theory‐based approach to corruption is in fact complementary to a principal–agent approach, rather than contradictory as is claimed. Third, applications of both theories have failed to recognize that corruption persists because it functions to provide solutions to problems. We conclude by arguing that anticorruption effectiveness is difficult to achieve because it requires insights from all three perspectives—principal–agent theory, collective action theory, and corruption as serving functions—which allows us to better understand how to harness the political will needed to fight corruption.     

Leash

“Leash” is a performance text about power, vulnerability, and cultural constructions of girlishness. The monologue was written to be performed in an art gallery.     

Smoke in the Looking Glass: Effects of Discordance Between Self- and Peer Rated Crowd Affiliation on Adolescent Anxiety, Depression and Self-feelings

Peer crowds serve as an identity marker for adolescents, indicating their image and status among peers; but adolescents do not always endorse peer appraisals of crowd affiliation. We report on two studies—one with 924 adolescents in grades 7–12 and a second with a more diverse population of 2,728 students in grades 9–11, followed for 2 years—that examined how congruence between peer and self-appraisals of crowd affiliation relate to self-esteem and internalizing symptoms. Analyses indicate that high-status crowd members may suffer and low-status crowd members benefit by denying their peer crowd affiliation, but effects are modest in size and not entirely consistent across the two studies. Findings underscore the value of symbolic interactionist principles concerning reflected appraisal processes in understanding how peer crowd affiliation affects adolescent self-image.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Delinquency: DF Analysis of NLSY Kinship Data

This paper follows earlier research (Rowe et al., 1992) in evaluating the basis of family influences on adolescent delinquent behavior. Delinquency is measured in a number of different ways to account for important theoretical distinctions that exist in the delinquency literature. We use recently identified kinship structure in a large national data set—the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—to estimate genetic and shared environmental influences on self-reported delinquency scores. Our analytic model is based on DF analysis, a regression procedure used to estimate parameters reflecting genetic and environmental influence. Results suggest a consistent and moderate genetic basis to sibling similarity in delinquency and little evidence of a shared environmental basis. A large amount of variance is attributable to nonshared influences and/or measurement error. Our findings suggest that the search for environmental influences on adolescent delinquency should focus on those that are not shared by siblings.     

Developmental explanations of delinquent behavior among siblings: Common factor vs. transmission mechanisms

We compare the statistical fit of two developmental explanations of delinquent behavior using longitudinal sibling data. The transmission effects model relates future delinquency to prior delinquency, delayed sibling effects, and unique environment. The common-factor effects model adds to these influences a latent variable representing persistent causes shared by siblings. These two models were fit to longitudinal data on 470 sibling pairs interviewed on three occasions. The common-factor effects model fit the data more closely than the transmission model. Nonmutually exclusive interpretations of the common effects model include (a) personality dispositions and (b) unchanging aspects of the social environment such as concurrent sibling effects and siblings' common friends.     

’My Mother Resides in the Beating Artery …’: Engendering Voices for Medieval and Early Modem Studies

Elizabeth D. Harvey, Ventiloquized Voices: Feminist Theory and English Reniassance Texts (Routledge) London and New York, [1992 rpt], 1995.

Andrew Lynch and Philippa Maddern (eds), Venus and Mars: Engendering Love and War in Medieval and Early Modem Europe (University of Western Australia Press) Nedlands, 1995.     

Direct and Indirect Effects of Childhood Adversity on Depressive Symptoms in Young Adults

While researchers have provided evidence that recent stressors in adulthood and single traumatic events in childhood predict psychological disorder, few have examined the cumulative impact of childhood adversity on later well-being. Using a sample of 649 college students from New England, this research examines whether cumulative trauma in childhood and adolescence is related to depressive symptoms in young adults, and explores the mediating factors that operate in this association. Results indicate clear differences in cumulative trauma by sociodemographic characteristics, with males, nonwhites, and those with less than college-educated parents, reporting significantly greater levels of adversity. We also find that higher trauma is associated with both early onset of depressive disorder and later depressive symptoms. Path analyses reveal that, while some of the association between childhood adversity and depression in young adults is direct, most is explained by the mediating effects of later stress, low self-esteem, and early onset of disorder.     

Health advocacy on the margins: human rights as a tool for HIV prevention among LGBTI communities in Botswana

ABSTRACT

Human rights discourse in health advocacy is largely correlated with experiences of vulnerability, marginalisation and discrimination, with the global story of HIV activism the most visible example. In a domestic context where culture, consensus and belonging are highly valued, both human rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people face critiques of being foreign, un-African, new, individualistic and threatening to tradition. Why, when and how do civil society actors draw on human rights to advocate for LGBTI health in relation to HIV in Botswana? I examine this paradox through a case study of the key civil society actor in this sector. I argue that while formal structures and belief shape why the group engages with human rights, when and how human rights are invoked is shaped by perceptions of threat, cultural context, and belonging.