Polarization and ideological congruence between parties and supporters in Europe

The relationship between parties and their supporters is central to democracy and ideological representation is among the most important of these linkages. We conduct an investigation of party-supporter congruence in Europe with emphasis on the measurement of ideology and focusing on the role of party system polarization, both as a direct factor in explaining congruence and in modifying the effects of voter sophistication. Understanding this relationship depends in part on how the ideology of parties and supporters is measured. We use Poole’s Blackbox scaling to derive a measure of latent ideology from voter and expert responses to issue scale questions and compare this to a measure based on left–right perceptions. We then examine how variation in the proximity between parties ideological positions and those of their supporters is affected by the polarization of the party system and how this relationship interacts with political sophistication. With the latent ideology measure, we find that polarization decreases party-supporter congruence but increases the effects of respondent education level on congruence. However, we do not find these relationships using the left–right perceptual measure. Our findings underscore important differences between perceptions of left–right labels and the ideological constraint underlying issue positions.     

Understanding the Islamic State’s competitive advantages: Remaking state and nationhood in the Middle East and North Africa

While many researchers have examined the evolution and unique characteristics of the Islamic State (IS), taking an IS-centric approach has yet to illuminate the factors allowing for its establishment in the first place. To provide a clearer explanation for IS’s successes and improve analysts’ ability to predict future occurrences of similar phenomena, we analyze IS’s competitive advantages through the lens of two defining structural conditions in the Middle East North Africa (MENA): failure of state institutions and nationhood. It is commonly understood that the MENA faces challenges associated with state fragility, but our examination of state and national resiliency shows that Syria and Iraq yield the most deleterious results in the breakdown of the nation, suggesting that the combined failure of state and nation, as well as IS’s ability to fill these related vacuities, is a significant reason IS thrives there today. Against this backdrop, we provide a model of IS’s state- and nation-making project, and illustrate IS’s clear competitive advantages over all other state and non-state actors in both countries, except for Kurdish groupings. We conclude with recommendations on how policy-makers may begin halting and reversing the failure of both state and nation in Iraq and Syria.     

Course and Severity of Maternal Depression: Associations with Family Functioning and Child Adjustment

Number of lifetime episodes, duration of current episode, and severity of maternal depression were investigated in relation to family functioning and child adjustment. Participants were the 151 mother–child pairs in the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) child multi-site study. Mothers were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder; children (80 males and 71 females) ranged in age from 7 to 17 years. Measures of child adjustment included psychiatric diagnoses, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and functional impairment. Measures of family functioning included family cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, organization, and household control; parenting measures assessed maternal acceptance and psychological control. Children of mothers with longer current depressive episodes were more likely to have internalizing and externalizing symptoms, with this association being moderated by child gender. Mothers with more lifetime depressive episodes were less likely to use appropriate control in their homes.

Livelihood improvement and smallholder beekeeping in Kenya: the unrealised potential

This article examines the potential of beekeeping, as an appropriate livelihood strategy for smallholder farm households using the sustainable livelihoods framework. A study undertaken over a six-year period (2004–9) with over 300 small-scale farmers in Kenya's Rift Valley Province found that despite excellent revenue earning potential, honey yields and returns remain comparatively low. Compared to maize, the staple crop of most Kenyan farmers, it was found that a typical ten-hive enterprise generated earnings equivalent to 0.86ha of maize. The article emphasises the need to build human capital for beekeeping rather than just promoting modern beehives.

L'amélioration des moyens d'existence pour les petits apiculteurs au Kenya

Cet article examine le potentiel de l'apiculture comme une stratégie adaptée à l'amélioration des sources de revenu pour les ménages de petits agriculteurs en se servant du cadre moyens d'existence renouvelable. Une étude d'une durée de six ans (2004-09) entrepris parmi plus de 300 petits agriculteurs dans le Rift Valley Province du Kenya a trouvé que, malgré le potentiel excellent pour faire des bénéfices, la récolte du miel et les revenus restent relativement faibles. Une comparaison avec le maïs, la culture de base de la plupart de fermiers kényans, a trouvé qu'une entreprise typique de dix ruches génère un revenu qui est l'équivalent de celui produit par 0.86ha de maïs. L'article souligne l'importance de développer le capital humain pour l'apiculture plutôt que de se limiter à la promotion de ruches modernes.

Mejoras en los medios de vida y los pequeños apicultores de Kenia: el potencial no realizado

El presente artículo analiza el potencial que tiene la apicultura como estrategia de sustento para los pequeños productores que utilizan el marco de medios de vida sustentables. Durante seis años, de 2004 a 2009, se llevó a cabo un estudio entre 300 pequeños productores de la provincia del Valle Rift en Kenia, el cual evidenció que, a pesar de su excelente potencial para generar ingresos, los rendimientos de miel y las ganancias se mantienen relativamente bajos. Asimismo, se halló que, en comparación con el maíz, cultivo básico de la mayoría de los campesinos kenianos, el conjunto típico de 10 colmenas generó ganancias equivalentes a 0.86 ha de maíz. El artículo concluye afirmando que, además de promover la apicultura moderna, es necesario construir el capital humano para la apicultura.

Melhoria dos meios de subsistência e pequenos produtores de abelhas no Quênia: o potencial não-percebido

Esse artigo examina o potencial da apicultura como estratégia adequada para meios de subsistência de famílias de pequenos produtores rurais utilizando a estrutura de meios de subsistência sustentáveis. Um estudo realizado durante um período de seis anos (2004–9) com mais de 300 pequenos produtores rurais da Província de Rift Valley, no Quênia, constatou que apesar do excelente potencial para gerar renda, a produtividade e rendimento da apicultura permanecem comparativamente baixos. Em comparação com o milho, plantação básica da maioria dos produtores rurais quenianos, constatou-se que um empreendimento típico com dez colméias gerou ganhos equivalentes a 0.86ha de milho. O artigo enfatiza a necessidade de se desenvolver capital humano para apicultura em vez de apenas promover instalações modernas para a produção de abelhas.     

Good governance and security: The limits of Australia's new aid programme

This article analyses the Australian Agency for International Development's (AusAID) approach to overseas development assistance (ODA) through an examination of AusAID's recent White Paper. The White Paper focuses on the nexus between poverty reduction and security in the Asia-Pacific region. We argue that the Paper's emphasis upon good governance as the key to poverty reduction and security is fundamentally flawed. This stems from the particular ideological and political conditions in which the Paper materialised. In focusing on good governance and security the Paper neglects more fundamental poverty reduction issues, while promoting policies that are difficult to implement and, when implemented, have highly problematic outcomes. This article examines the Australian-led intervention in Solomon Islands and the Australian aid programme in Indonesia as examples for the shortcomings of the approach articulated in the White Paper. We conclude by examining alternative development policies that move beyond the neo-liberal orthodoxy endorsed by AusAID.     

‘You caught ’em!’…or not? Feedback affects investigators’ recollections of speech cues thought to signal honesty and deception

Purpose. When eyewitnesses to crime receive feedback about their choice of a suspect from a line‐up (or post‐identification feedback), such information can substantially alter their recollections of the witnessing experience. This study examined whether feedback exerts similar effects on investigators’ recollections of a suspect's behaviours. Methods. Participant‐investigators received training on speech cues that they were told, when present in a speaker's account, signal either honesty or deception. After hearing a suspect's account of a theft, participants decided whether the suspect was lying or telling the truth. One‐third of participants subsequently received immediate confirming feedback about their performance, while another third received disconfirming feedback. The remaining one‐third of participants did not receive feedback about their decision. Finally, participants rated the frequencies of speech cues that they had been instructed to detect in the suspect's account. Results. Disconfirming feedback significantly altered retrospective judgments about the characteristics of the suspect's account. Specifically, when told that the decision they made about the speaker's credibility was incorrect, participants judged the speaker as having exhibited fewer behaviours consistent with the credibility decision they had made, relative to those who either received no feedback or confirming feedback. Conclusions. Biases in recollections of a suspect may have consequences in real‐world interrogations wherein investigators assess credibility on the basis of numerous behavioural cues. Results are discussed in light of findings of post‐identification feedback studies on eyewitnesses.     

The Case Against Intelligence Openness

The buccaneer as Donovan's heir

Joseph Persico: Casey: From the OSS To The CIA Viking, New York, 1990, 601 p., $24.95.

Keeping up with Jones

R. V. Jones: Reflections on Intelligence. Heinemann, London, 376 p. (Price not given.)

Toward the science of war

Edward N. Luttwak: Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace Belknap, Cambridge, Mass., 1987, 283 p., $20.00.

The Chinese puzzle

Roger Faligot and Remi Kauffer: The Chinese Secret Service: Kang Sheng and the Shadow Government in Red China William Morrow and Company, New York, 1989, 525 p., $24.95.

Peeking into keyhole

Jeffrey T. Richelson: America's Secret Eyes in Space: The U.S. Keyhole Spy Satellite Program Harper &; Row/Ballinger, New York, 1990, 375 p., $24.95.     

Using international law to assess elections

This article provides an overview of existing obligations for democratic elections in public international law (PIL), and links these obligations to criteria for assessing electoral processes. We argue that PIL provides a basis for election observation that is more transparent, more objective, and has greater authority with host countries because it relies on states' acknowledged international legal commitments. In addition, the authors argue that this approach provides a solid foundation for building broad consensus on what constitutes ‘international standards for democratic elections’, an often-used term for which there still is no single commonly accepted definition.     

Mapping Corporate Influence and Institutional Corruption Inside Canadian Universities

Corporate influences that threaten the independence of science and trust in research often remain hidden from the general public. For university administrators these improper influences are often tacitly accepted as simply the new reality of funding environments—something to be managed, rather than eliminated. In this article, we structurally map patterns of corporate influence that threaten to distort the independence of research. Specifically, we map relationships between the fossil fuel industry and three major Canadian institutions of higher education. We also provide case studies of institutional corruption inside two of these universities. Our findings reveal elite interlocking networks between the fossil-fuel sector and academia as well as corporate influences that serve to decrease the independence of science and trust in research.