Russia's African Toolkit: Digital Influence and Entrepreneurs of Influence

Today, Russian influence on the African continent is still anecdotic compared to the People's Republic of China, the United States, and former colonial powers, such as France. Yet, Moscow has committed to reasserting itself as an alternative pole of influence to China and Western countries in the eyes of some African elites. This article analyzes two key components of Russia's African toolkit: its media outlets such as RT and Sputnik, which have managed to impose themselves on the African media landscape, and its entrepreneurs of influence, in charge of influence campaigns of different scopes. The article contends that Russia's media success relies more on the appropriation of its informational content by African actors with their own political agendas than on Moscow convincing African audiences of the legitimacy of its foreign policy or political model, and that entrepreneurs of influence may play a useful, but limited, role in testing new parameters of influence.     

Childhood history of abuse and adult child abuse potential

The experience of aversive interactions within the family of origin is believed to increase the probability of parental physical child abuse. To test this hypothesis, 375 subjects were given a Childhood History Questionnaire (CHQ) and the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory. The CHQ contained a series of questions about the presence and frequency of various abusive behaviors and associated sequelae that were received and/or observed before and/or after puberty. The CAP Inventory was used to measure adult physical child abuse potential. As expected, a childhood history of physical abuse was significantly related to adult physical child abuse potential; and, as chronicity increased, so did abuse potential. The experience of physical abuse prior to puberty produced higher abuse scores than the experience of physical abuse after puberty. The study provides preliminary data indicating the childhood experience of a caring adult and / or caring friend moderates adult child abuse potential.     

How Capital Budgeting Helped a Sick City: Thirty Years of Capital Improvement Planning in Cleveland

During the 1970s, Cleveland's capital improvement plan (CIP) was scorned as a bad joke, and the city's roads, bridges, and public buildings fell into disrepair. The city's default on its fiscal obligation in 1978 seemed to cap the city's infrastructure problem; there was no comprehensive strategy for capital spending and in a bankrupt city, no money to spend in any event. Yet, during the 1980s, with support from the administration, the business community, and the innovations of a small group of dedicated urban planners, the CIP was restructured and hundreds of millions were systematically invested in public infrastructure. By the 1990s, most of the innovative changes of the 1980s seemed to be institutionalized, but there were ominous clouds on the horizon.     

Studying Chinese Politics in an Age of Specialization

The relationship between area studies and political science is fraught with tradeoffs. In particular, a danger exists that the field of Chinese politics is being hollowed out because (a) there are many islands of highly specialized research with few bridges between them; and (b) more and more Chinese politics scholars are engaged in debates in which the ‘other side’ is no longer a China scholar but instead a colleague in the discipline. At a time when China's economic growth and prominence in world affairs have generated remarkable interest inside and outside the academy, few scholars are willing to take a stab at characterizing the polity or addressing other, equally large questions. Further thought is needed about the ‘terms of enlistment’ for China scholars in political science, in an era when ever more-focused studies and greater participation in disciplinary debates have become the norm.