Strategic campaigning, closeness, and voter mobilization in U.S. Presidential elections

The scholarly literature on voter mobilization is ambivalent regarding the effects of closeness on turnout. Economic analyses of turnout (i.e. the classic calculus of voting) contend that as elections become closer, voters perceive their participation as more valuable because there is a greater chance that they will cast the deciding vote. Other work argues that voters do not take closeness into account because the probability that their vote uniquely changes the outcome of an election is quite small even in close elections. Still, this second perspective maintains that closeness may increase turnout because elites distribute campaign resources to places where election results could be affected by mobilizing additional supporters. While the latter perspective is theoretically well-developed, empirical support for the notion that elite activity (rather than citizen perceptions) connects closeness and turnout is limited. Using improved measures of closeness and campaign activities, we test for citizen perception and elite mobilization effects on turnout in the context of U.S. Presidential elections. Results show that while closeness has no direct effect on turnout, elites indeed target campaign activities on close states and the asymmetric distribution of resources across states results in higher turnout in battleground states.     

Hooks down! Anti-apartheid activism and solidarity among maritime unions in Australia and the United States*

Our research compares and contrasts the transnational activism of maritime unions in Australia and the United States in what became the first and longest example of global solidarity in the post-World War II era – the anti-apartheid movement. Dockworkers, with a deep history of solidarity, occupied a strategic position to exert real influence on the South African state by refusing to unload South African cargo. We analyze the actions of the Waterside Workers’ Federation (WWF) in Australia and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in the US, namely by exploring notions of solidarity and political unionism among marine transport workers, ideological motivations for solidarity activism, ethnic and race relations among workers, and labor connections these maritime unions made beyond the waterfront. We find and account for similarities and differences in Australian and US labor activism that often is underrepresented and incompletely explained in the literature.     

Cultural encounters: learning from cross-disciplinary science and development practice in ecosystem health

Overcoming challenges to ecosystem health calls for breaking down disciplinary and professional barriers. Through reflection on a research and development project to address pesticide-related concerns in northern Ecuador, this article presents challenges encountered and accommodations made, ranging from staff recruitment, through baseline assessments and community education activities, to mobilising for policy change. In so doing, it exposes underlying problems of paradigm and process inherent in bringing researchers and development practitioners together, in addition to the problematic role of advocacy that is associated with joint research and development initiatives in the fields of agriculture and health.     

Treating depression in adolescence: A review of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatments

The literature of the last decade reveals a renewed interest in treating adolescent depression. Several treatments have been proposed that are derived from adult models, but few studies have evaluated their efficiency. Those that have been done, have typically used a cognitive-behavioral approach. This article reviews studies published from 1980 to 1994 on the efficacy of these programs. Groups of 6–10 adolescents were treated in these programs. Some programs also included treatment for parents. Treatments were multimodal, utilizing intervention strategies from cognitive and/or behavioral models of depression. Treatment components included relaxation, cognitive restructuring, self-control skills, and communication and problem-solving skills. Studies were most often done in school settings but only rarely in a clinical milieux. Depression measures included self-report questionnaires and semistructured interviews. Results suggest that short-term group cognitive-behavioral interventions are effective with early and late adolescents. Futhermore, depressive symptoms remained improved at follow-up. No single strategy, however, seemed to be clearly more effective than the others.Financial support for this work was provided by the Fonds institutionnel de recherche of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.     

Co-producing a post-trafficking agenda: collaborating on transforming citizenship in Nepal

This article discusses how a new agenda on post-trafficking is gaining momentum through academic and activist anti-trafficking collaborations focused on co-producing knowledge with women who have returned from trafficking situations. Co-production of this nature is important as the issues raised by post-trafficking scenarios are largely ignored in anti-trafficking strategies, and the stigmatisation and poverty which women in these circumstances encounter means they rarely have a voice in policy-making. Drawing on research in Nepal, we present four types of co-produced data around transforming citizenship post-trafficking, and reflect on the strategies for generating and using them for advocacy purposes.