Grading the Quality of ISIS Videos: A Metric for Assessing the Technical Sophistication of Digital Video Propaganda

Abstract

This article offers a method for systematically grading the quality of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) videos based on technical production criteria. Using this method revealed moments when ISIS production capacity was severely debilitated (Fall 2015) and when they began to rebuild (Spring 2016), which the article details. Uses for this method include evaluating propaganda video output across time and across groups, and the ability to assess kinetic actions against propaganda organizations. This capacity will be critical as Islamic State media production teams will be pushed out of its territory as the State collapses.     

Transnational processes,development studies and changing social hierarchies in the world system: A Central American case study

Globalisation is bringing about changes in social hierarchies in the world capitalist system which traditional categories and frameworks in development studies and macro-sociologies are unable to capture. Under globalisation processes of uneven accumulation are unfolding in accordance with a social and not a national logic. The increasing subordination of the logic of geography to that of production and the rising disjuncture between the fortunes of social groups and of nation-states, among other processes, demand that we rethink development. The social configuration of space can no longer be conceived in the nation-state terms that development theories posit but rather as processes of uneven development denoted primarily by social group rather than territorial differentiation. Social polarisation, the fragmentation of national economies, and the select integration of social groups into transnational networks, suggest that development may be reconceived not as a national process, in which what 'develops' is a nation, but in terms of developed, underdeveloped and intermediate population groups occupying contradictory or unstable locations in a transnational environment. The shift to flexible accumulation worldwide and from an international to a global division of labour result in an increasing heterogeneity of labour markets in each locale. Labour market participation becomes a key determinant of new social hierarchies and of development conceived in social groups terms. Local and national labour markets are themselves increasingly transnationalised, part of a global labour market, in which differentiated participation determines social development. This article applies these propositions to a case study of Central America, examining the changing fortunes of one particular region under global capitalism and the lessons it offers for changing social hierarchies in the world capitalist system and for a renewal of the sociology of development.     

Psychosocial Perspectives of Girls and Violence: Implications for Policy and Praxis

Psychosocial and feminist criminologies produce a complex etiology of adolescent female violence, and advance understanding of much female behavior that juvenile authorities formally address: mental health disturbances. When girls’ violent behaviors are considered within a psychodynamic theoretical framework, policy problems are dramatically redefined, resulting in a reformulation of the social problem, newly contextualized, and the collective responses to the troubled girls it has defined. This paper places known etiologies of violent behaviors, including case study material, in a context of extant social policies that impact and determine the social location and control of violent girls. We argue that efficacious policy responses would be psychosocially informed, and focus upon a more holistic mental health praxis, rather than criminal justice practices alone.     

Treated sex offenders as “paraprofessional” co-workers in the treatment of the sex offender

This paper will briefly review the utilization of the paraprofessional in a community-based sex offender treatment programme in Merseyside, UK. The paraprofessionals are treated paedophiles in the role of treatment co-facilitators. Further thoughts on the role dynamic, training issues and supervision are discussed. This is an example of service-user involvement in practice.     

How the Party Can Win in Personal Vote Systems: The “Selectoral Connection” and Legislative Voting in Lithuania

Electoral rules can motivate politicians to cultivate a “personal vote” through their legislative voting records. However, I argue that candidate‐selection procedures have the ability to overpower these electoral incentives. This study—the first systematic study of how candidate selection and electoral rules interact—takes advantage of Lithuania's unique mixed electoral rules and fortuitous candidate‐selection procedures. Regardless of electoral rules, MPs whose future careers depend on getting renominated by central party leaders vote against the party less than those whose careers do not. This evidence of a “selectoral connection” suggests candidate‐selection procedures must be studied much more seriously.