Finding Politics in Cinema: The Portuguese Democratic Transition

Taking into account the political and social transformations initiated by the 1974 April revolution and the process of democratic transition, this article analyzes the political context and issues registered in documentary films in the period 1974–76. In their own way, documentary films carried a certain cultural praxis and social memory through the variety of symbols, beliefs, values, attitudes, and discourses that lay within these documentaries, allowing us to evaluate the dynamics of both power and legitimacy implicit in political culture. This article will focus on the cultural and political implications of documentary films on political theory in regards to the Portuguese democratic transition.     

Governance Interventions in Conflict-Affected Countries

This paper reviews an emerging body of literature on governance interventions in countries with ongoing violent conflict, recovering from conflict or at risk of conflict. The review focusses on three broad intervention areas. The first includes interventions that support local governance and the improvement of local capacity for collective action. The second area comprises interventions that strengthen the accountability, legitimacy, and reach of state institutions, including the improvement of information and the provision of public goods. The third centres on interventions aimed at changing social norms that shape systems of governance. Ways forward for future research and policy are proposed.     

Book Notes

Domestic and Foreign Finance in Modern Peru, 1850–1950. By Alfonso W. Quiroz. Oxford: Macmillan in association with St Anthony's College, 1993. Pp.xiv + 297. £45. ISBN 0 333 56565 7.

Out of the Shadows: Women, Resistance and Politics in South America. By Jo Fisher. London: Latin American Bureau, 1993. Pp.228. £17.99 and £7.99. ISBN 0 906156 78 5 and 77 7.

When the Grass is Gone: Development Intervention in African Arid Lands (Seminar Proceedings 25). Edited by P.T.W. Baxter. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1991. Pp.214. SEK 170 (hardback). ISBN 91 71 06318.     

Predicting Deliberative Conversation: The Impact of Discussion Networks,Media Use,and Political Cognitions

This study explores the meaning and origins of deliberative political conversation, characterized by an openness to political conflict, the absence of conversational dominance, clear and reasonable argument, and mutual comprehension. Adapting McLeod, Scheufele, and Moy's (1999) McLeod, J. M., Scheufele, D. A. and Moy, P. 1999. Community, communication, and participation: The role of mass media and interpersonal discussion in local political participation. Political Communication, 16: 315–336. [CSA][CROSSREF][Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] model of democratic engagement, we posit a series of relationships among discussion networks, media use, political cognition, and public participation. Using two divergent samples—one consisting of 149 adult literacy students and another comprising 130 public forum participants—we test the model's utility as a predictor of deliberative conversation. Structural equation modeling indicates that network characteristics had mixed effects. Print media use and interpersonal discussion tended to enhance deliberative conversation, and television news viewing hindered both the reasonableness of one's arguments and the comprehension of others' views. Taken together, these results suggest that the deliberative quality of public talk has a complex relationship with common predictors of other political communication behavior.     

Prevalence and blood concentrations of benzodiazepines and opioids in opioid-positive death investigations in Ontario,Canada, from 2017 to 2021

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of benzodiazepines in opioid-positive death investigations, including trends in frequency and combination of drugs, as well as demographic data and blood concentrations, where available. Additionally, naloxone concentrations in polysubstance compared to opioid-only cases were analyzed. This was a retrospective study that consisted of all post-mortem toxicology cases in Ontario, Canada, from January 01, 2017, to December 31, 2021, with an opioid finding in any analyzed autopsy specimen. There were 11,033 death investigations identified. The overall rate of benzodiazepine co-involvement was 54.5%. Males accounted for the majority of cases (71%), and the most affected age group was 30- to 39-year-olds. The most frequently detected opioid was fentanyl and the most frequently detected benzodiazepine was etizolam, which was also the most frequently observed opioid/benzodiazepine combination. Findings related to differences in concentrations of opioids when naloxone was also present were mostly non-significant, except for methadone. The rate of benzodiazepine detection with opioids grew faster than opioid detections overall, potentially due to the increasingly toxic drug supply. Detection of novel psychoactive drugs fluctuated more unpredictably than opioids and benzodiazepines associated with clinical use. These findings can help inform policy decisions by public health agencies in exploring harm reduction efforts, for example, education and drug-checking services.     

Sino‐French relations: Historical alliance vs. economic reality

Abstract

In an increasingly integrated international economy, nation-states are, of themselves, no longer the prime containers or coordinators of political–economic activity. The extra-territoriality of states and the blurring of the boundaries between states and firms, for example, have been captured in analytical concepts such as ‘triangular diplomacy’ the ‘web of global interdependencies’ and ‘cosmopolitan democracy’. Such trends have become visible in what have been termed mega-urban regions or zones of economic integration or of graduated sovereignty. Moreover, such zones are held to illustrate non-traditional or cooperative inter-state relations. This paper utilizes Stopford and Strange's (1991) Stopford, J. and Strange, S. 1991. Rival States, Rival Firms: Competition for World Market Shares, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] notion of ‘triangular diplomacy’ to interpret the development of one such zone – the Indonesia–Malaysia–Singapore growth triangle (IMS-GT). The paper argues that whilst embodying elements of cooperative inter-state relations the development of the IMS-GT also highlights the persistence of the ‘traditional’ concerns of inter-state relations. It also uses the notion of triangular diplomacy to draw attention to different models of social order sought by multinational enterprises (MNEs).     

The ambiguous Heritage of Mitteleuropa: the Resurfacing of Mitteleuropa as a Counter-image to the EU in Austrian Populism

The analysis in this article addresses the resurfacing of Mitteleuropain the populist discourse or, more precisely, the use of Mitteleuropa-ideas in the political strategies of the Austrian FPÖ (Austria's right-wing `Freedom Party'). The plans of the future European assessment spread by the European right-wing populism have an ambiguous character, which partly reproduces the ambiguity of the traditional definitions ofMitteleuropa in the debate at the beginning of the twentieth century. The article shows that the FPÖ's use of the concept ofMitteleuropa must be analysed with regard to the problem of the Austrian identity, because the ambiguous status of an ‘Austrian identity between Mitteleuropa and German re-union’ is the most important condition underpinning the emergence of the FPÖ. Secondly, the choice of a particular idea ofMitteleuropa - the Mitteleuropadefined by principles of exclusion, by a strong German culture and identity (Kulturnation), and strict reference to a Volksgemeinschaft with a territory and a culture that are juxtaposed to a cosmopolitan and liberal idea of Mitteleuropa- reveals the FPÖ's historical legacy and its opposition towards democracy and the representative institutions. Finally, the question is raised as to whether Haider should be considered not only an Austrian phenomenon, but an Austrian reaction to political and economic transformations, which evoke other protest movements in Europe. On the one hand, Haider is an Austrian phenomenon. On the other hand, he represents an Austrian reaction to political and economic transformations. In this sense, Haider's populism can be compared to France's Le Pen or Belgium's Vlaams Blokif we look at the form of popular legitimacy that they invoke, the request for a re-territorialisation of politics and for the defence of a national / European identity, and the opposition to constitutional patriotism and to all forms of ``thin'' European identities.     

Different Concepts of Ethnicity in a Cross-Atlantic Study of Violence and Drug Use among Deviant Youth

Despite their common multi-ethnic populations, the meaning and application of the term ethnicity varies between the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. This paper attempts the construction of a racial/ethnic measure that enables meaningful cross-national comparisons. As part of the Drugs, Alcohol and Violence International (DAVI) project, the link between different measures of ethnicity and alcohol use, drug use, violence, and delinquency was studied within samples of 14- to 17-year-old juvenile detainees and dropouts in Philadelphia, Toronto and Amsterdam. Results showed a relationship between origin (the most discriminating of ethnicity measures) and alcohol and drug use, but not violence-related behaviour. Differences in substance use and violence were more attributable to differences between countries and samples than between ‘western’ and ‘non-western’ youth.Annemieke Benschop (MSc) is a researcher at the Bonger Institute of Criminology at the University of Amsterdam. Lana D. Harrison (MA, PhD) is Associate Director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies and a Professor at the University of Delaware (Newark, DE). Dirk J. Korf (MA, PhD) is an Associate Professor and Research Director at the Bonger Institute of Criminology at the University of Amsterdam, and an Associate Professor in Criminology at Utrecht University. Patricia Erickson (MA, PhD) is a Senior Scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto (Canada) and a cross-appointed Professor in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Toronto.