The National Dialogue,Collusive Transactions and Government Legitimacy in Tunisia

The Tunisian political crisis that started in July 2013 was resolved thanks to the National Dialogue hosted by the Quartet who were recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The ND was a collusive transaction that allowed Ennahdha to escape accountability for its political responsibility. Nevertheless, by resolving the crisis, it generated legitimacy. It also contributed significantly to the current configuration of alliances within the power circle by making possible the alliance between Ennahdha and Nidaa Tounes after the 2014 elections. The mechanisms of mutual recognition between Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes help ensure political stability by reinforcing the government’s position. However, this alliance appears to be a source of delegitimation now that the government is facing many challenges (economic crisis, security crisis and disputed political decisions). The critical situation, particularly at the security level, challenges the idea of compromise and undermines the government’s ability to make the people believe in its legitimacy.     

Potential Health Outcome and Vulnerability Indicators of Climate Change for Australia: Evidence for Policy Development

There is a growing need to develop health‐related indicators for climate change to assist in policy, planning, and evaluation of preventive measures. To date, no environmental health indicators of climate change have been developed specifically for Australia. We conducted a review of the Australian literature relevant to climate change health impacts to find out which exposure–response relationships could be readily used as indicators. The bulk of the literature relates to direct health‐related outcomes of extreme heat, and indirect outcomes associated with air pollution and infectious disease agents. Based on this information, evidence‐based indicators were chosen using the modified Driving force‐Pressure‐State‐Exposure‐Effect‐Action framework. Three groups of health outcome indicators are proposed: direct heat related, air pollution related, and climate‐sensitive infectious diseases. Indicators of human vulnerability to these outcomes are also included. The potential usefulness of and barriers to their use are discussed in the context of relevance for policy makers.     

Polio vaccines--"no thank you!" barriers to polio eradication in Northern Nigeria

This article is an analysis of the boycott of the polio vaccinationcampaign in northern Nigeria, which has indefinitely stalledglobal polio eradication targets. The polio immunization drivewas brought to a standstill in July 2003 as religious and politicalleaders in northern Nigeria responded to fears that the vaccineswere deliberately contaminated with anti-fertility agents andthe HIV virus. The article explores the political and culturalangles of this controversy, revealing deeper dimensions thathave contributed to the rejection of polio vaccines in northernNigeria. In doing so, it argues that there is an underlyinglogic to public anxieties often dismissed as ‘anti-vaccinationrumours’. Although the polio vaccine boycott has provedcostly in both economic and human terms, it has opened importantlines of communication at global and national levels, potentiallydeepening dialogue, participation and sensitivity necessaryfor global health campaigns. Although immunization comes withcountless benefits, it is a complex and difficult health strategyto enforce. Decisions on broader health as well as immunizationgoals are often made at a global level to be incorporated andadapted into national health plans and budgets. Evidently forimmunization campaigns, the journey from the global to the localis a vulnerable and unpredictable one.     

Sexual Dimorphism of Maxillary Sinus Dimensions Using Cone‐Beam Computed Tomography

Sex determination of unknown persons plays an important role in forensic medicine. Cone‐beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an excellent imaging modality for accurate measurement of maxillary sinus dimensions. This study aimed to evaluate whether maxillary sinus measurements on CBCT scans can be applied for sex determination. The width, length, and height of maxillary sinuses in CBCT images of 100 patients (50 males and 50 females) were measured. Student's t‐test and discriminant function analysis were used to compare differences in the measured parameters between males and females. The correct predictive accuracy rate of sex determination was 78% in females and 74% in males with overall accuracy of 76%. Based on discriminant analysis, the most pronounced variable in differentiation of sex groups was maxillary sinus height. This study suggests that maxillary sinus measurements can be valuable for sex determination in forensic investigation, especially for cases in which other traditional methods are not applicable.     

Labour market attainment of Canadian women in 1921: influences of religious affiliation,ethnicity, and linguistic proficiency

The 1921 Canadian Census is exploited to examine the labour market attainment of Canadian women. Acknowledging the general context of Catholic and Protestant divide and the tensions between francophones and anglophones during the WWI, special attention is paid to the influences of religious affiliation, ethnicity, and linguistic proficiency. Working urban women, overwhelmingly unmarried, are found to earn between 68 and 29% less than their male counterparts, depending on occupation and religio-linguistic group. The gender earnings gap is found to be the largest among francophone Catholics. When the sample is restricted to unmarried urban women, francophone Catholic females are found at a large disadvantage compared with anglophone Catholic and Protestant females. Bilingual Catholic women, mostly of French Canadian ethnicity, were the second lowest earning group in Canada of 1921. Bilingual Protestant women, on the other hand, are found to have had the most favourable labour market outcomes. The cumulative weight of the results indicates that among religious affiliation, ethnicity, and linguistic proficiency, ethnicity had exercised the strongest influence on the labour market attainment of Canadian women at that time.     

The ethical identity of law students

This paper uses measures of values, moral outlook and professional identity to explore the ethical and professional identity of law students. We do so in two jurisdictions, surveying 441 students studying in England and Wales and 569 students studying in the US. The survey covers the first and final years of an undergraduate law degree and the postgraduate vocational stage in England and Wales, as well as students in all years of the JD programme in the US. We explore whether law students towards the end of their legal education have ethical identities predictive of less ethical conduct than those at the beginning of their legal education; whether law students intending careers in business law have values and profiles consistent with less ethical conduct than those intending to work for government or individuals; and what factors might explain these differences in ethical outlook. Our findings suggest that ethical identity is strongly associated with gender and career intentions. They also suggest weaker moral identities for students intending to practise business law. Ultimately, our findings support a conclusion that is more nuanced than the predominant theses about the impact of legal education on student ethicality which tend to suggest legal education diminishes ethicality.     

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the Iran–Iraq war: an unconventional military’s survival

Abstract

As Iraqi forces invaded the Iranian border shortly after the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) participated in the battle along with the debilitated Iranian Army. The IRGC was a young religious-revolutionary institution that lacked the resources that revolutionary armies and militias conventionally rely on. Nevertheless, it survived the battle pressure and even achieved relative military successes in the second year of the war. By examining personal narratives written by Iranian veterans, this article argues that in the void of conventional resources in the first year of the war, the Guards retrieved elements of their Shia background to recognize a religiously inspired charisma in every combatant who would devotedly step up for martyrdom. This shared understanding of the omnipotent charisma was then acknowledged in action—by commanders’ deployment of it to impose order and through frequently held Shia rituals on the battlefield. It thereby created an alternative source of cohesion and motivation that led to the IRGC’s survival and prepared them for further successful steps by the end of the war’s first year.     

Enhancing climate resilience of transboundary water allocation agreements: the impact of shortening the agreement’s lifetime on cooperation stability

Efficient use of transboundary rivers under climate change requires periodic adaptation of their governing regime to the hydrological realities of the basin. Applying a short-term time horizon to an agreement on water allocation can make it easier for the riparian states to update the terms of their cooperation periodically, and thus, adapt them to changes in water availability resulting from climate change. However, agreements with a pre-agreed termination date can only increase the efficiency of water use if they lead to a stable cooperation. In this paper, I analyze how riparian states’ previous knowledge of the termination date of a water allocation agreement affects the agreement’s stability. The results show that when riparian states are aware of the agreement’s termination date, there is a higher chance for them to free-ride. However, certain cases may occur in which previous knowledge of the agreement’s termination date can contribute to the stability of an agreement by enforcing compliance.