One Nation's Electoral Support: Where Does It Come From,What Makes It Different and How Does It Fit?

This paper does three things. First, it offers a critique of the academic literature on the One Nation vote, focusing on the limitations of the work of political geographers and the methodological shortcomings of survey researchers. Second, it re-examines data from the 1998 Australian Election Study in order to explore the demographic and attitudinal forces that both drove the One Nation vote and distinguished it from the votes secured by the Labor Party, the Liberal and National parties and the Australian Democrats; this highlights the importance of gender, geography and class, of political alienation and of attitudes to Aborigines and immigration. Third, it suggests that the basis of One Nation's mobilisation did not lie in concerns about economic insecurity so much as in opposition to 'new class' values, particularly around race. In doing so, it challenges common understandings of the Party's constituency and of its distinctiveness.     

Neo-feudalism in Latin America? Globalisation,agribusiness, and land re-concentration in Chile

This article traces the effects of globalisation on an export-oriented ‘hotspot’ in Chile's non-traditional agricultural export sector. Drawing on evidence from fieldwork carried out in 1994 and in 2004/5, the analysis examines the impact of neoliberal policy over the past two decades. Although the fruit export sector is seen as a key success story of the Chilean economy, and is an area to which small producers are often encouraged to ‘reconvert’, it is argued here that the outcome has been land re-concentration, marginalisation and proletarianisation. Small farmers become increasingly locked into dependent relationships with larger landowners and agribusiness, whilst others form a rural proletariat that serves these concerns. Whilst some commentators have labelled this process ‘semi’ or ‘neo’ feudalism, this article maintains that we are witnessing a deepening fragmentation of the peasantry driven by the continued development of capitalism. The gains of the earlier land reform period are being eroded as rural Chile differentiates and depeasantisation unfolds.     

Interdisciplinary problem solving workshops for grizzly bear conservation in Banff National Park,Canada

We used the policy sciences as an organizing framework for a series of workshops with stakeholders in Banff National Park on “Interdisciplinary problem solving for grizzly bear conservation and management.” In recent years, bear conservation efforts in this region have been hindered by acrimonious disputes about the production and use of scientific knowledge in management. The workshops introduced the policy sciences as a means of thinking more effectively about problems, and encouraged participants to use this approach to develop innovative solutions to the problems of grizzly bear conservation. Each workshop addressed different aspects of the policy sciences framework: (i) Standpoint Clarification; (ii) Problem Orientation; (iii) Social Process Mapping; and (iv) Decision-Process Mapping. In this article, we discuss the design and outcomes of the workshops and assess their effectiveness in integrating knowledge to find common ground.     

The Age Structure of Soviet Population: Preliminary Analysis Of Unpublished Data

This article presents and analyzes hitherto unpublished data on the age structure of the population of the USSR and four of its republics. Analysis of the patterns revealed by these newly available data provides a basis for understanding why they had not been published in the USSR in the six years since the census date. The implications of the data for the analysis of Soviet society, its economic potential, and military draft pools are discussed. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: 052, 124, 800.     

Review essay: Conflicting interpretations of the Vietnam War, 1945–75

Abstract

Who owns the history of the Vietnam War? Whose vision or revision of the war will remain in the minds of Americans who were not there? These are questions that have certainly not been answered definitively in the flood of cogently argued, carefully researched books written over the past fifteen years. A striking feature of the writing on this topic has been the inability of scholars to move toward any overarching interpretive consensus that could assist in clarifying which questions have been more or less answered, and organizing which problems remain to be resolved.     

Social Context Matters: Predictors of Quality of Life among Recently Arrived Refugee Women-at-Risk Living in Australia

Abstract

Little is known about the predictors of quality of life among refugee women. 104 refugee women-at-risk were recruited within 6 months of arriving in Australia. A structured questionnaire was administered using standardized tools to assess pre-migration trauma, post-migration living difficulties, social capital, social networks, and quality of life. Hierarchical multiple and logistic regressions assessed factors predicting quality of life. Post-migration factors such as low trust in the community, and lack of support from individuals in their social networks predicted poorer quality of life. These findings have implications for community and social programs for refugee women-at-risk.