The Importance of Social and Political Context: The Case of AIDS Activism

We utilize a 1992 survey of approximately, 2500 AIDS activists to analyze their degree of participation. Activity levels were affected by several traditional predictors, but the inclusion of contextual measures indicating the activists' connection with AIDS, especially the pain and loss incurred, led to a much fuller and more complex explanatory model. We argue that a richer comprehension of political participation requires more studies of issue-specific activists and the specification of contexual features that serve to motivate more intensive degrees of participation.     

Unlocking the Alienation: A Comparative Role for Alien Torts Legislation in Post-colonial Reparations Claims?

This article continues the themes developed in a previous paper looking at reparations for past wrongs in post-colonial Australia. It narrows the focus to examine the scope of the law of tort to provide reparations suffered as a result of colonisation and dispossession, with particular emphasis on the assimilation policies whose legacy is now known emphatically, although it ought not be exclusively, as the Stolen Generations. The search for more than just words is particularly topical in light of the Australian Prime Minister’s formal apology in early 2008. This highly symbolic step must not lose momentum. That momentum could be both political and legal. In the latter context, we explore here the concept of alien tort, in the light of current Australian tort jurisprudence, which has thus far proved inadequate to achieve compensation for the harms suffered. Taking a comparative approach, procedural and substantive developments are to better deliver justice consistent with community values. In particular, the greater acceptance of psychological harm as actionable tortious conduct in Canada and the United States is examined. The article further examines the scope for stolen children to bring suit under the US Alien Tort Claims Act 1789. While the Australian government enjoys sovereign immunity in the courts of the United States, non-state organisations such as churches that were complicit in the forcible removals may be subject to United States jurisdiction wherever they have a presence in that country. The procedural and substantive elements of such a claim are discussed. In particular, the relevant cause of action, the issue of forum non conveniens and the statute of limitations will be analysed to map out whether a claim could be developed and successfully prosecuted.     

Predictions,Pollification, and Pol Profs: the ‘Corbyn Problem’ beyond Corbyn

It has been noted that UK political punditry has a ‘Corbyn problem’: an underlying hostility to the Corbyn project and its supporters. As the Corbyn era draws to a close, we take stock and argue that the Corbyn problem was never fully ‘about’ Corbyn. Instead, it was the outward manifestation of a conjunction of tendencies present in contemporary UK politics: the prominence of a relatively small group of ‘intensely involved’ individuals driving dominant political discourse; the inability of traditional purveyors of broadcast media coverage to adapt to contemporary political currents and an unwillingness to self-reflect on possible biases in their approach; and the ‘pollification’ of election campaign coverage, aided by mainstream political scientists stereotyped in the figure of the ‘Pol Prof’. Combined, these tendencies are hostile to left-wing political actors and movements. They will not disappear with Corbyn and may even intensify as their structural underpinnings strengthen further.     

Climate change research in bilateral development programmes: experiences from India and Peru

This article reflects on the merits and shortfalls of bilateral research programmes aimed at strengthening climate change research capabilities, using the experience from two programmes, the PACC and IHCAP in Peru and India, respectively. The study highlights key aspects of these types of bilateral programmes, namely: capacity; performance, salary and appreciation; funding; bureaucracy and hierarchy; publishing; and data sharing. Furthermore, it emerged that these programmes would benefit from a more extensive consolidation phase of the research activities and partnership rather than rapidly transferring into out- and up-scaling phases.     

Does Adolescent Bullying Distinguish Between Male Offending Trajectories in Late Middle Age?

The perpetration of bullying is a significant issue among researchers, policymakers, and the general public. Although researchers have examined the link between bullying and subsequent antisocial behavior, data and methodological limitations have hampered firm conclusions. This study uses longitudinal data from 411 males in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development from ages 8 to 56 in order to examine the relationship between adolescent bullying and distinct late middle adulthood trajectories of offending, in which different groups of males follow different offending pathways. Results show that self-reported bullying predicts only certain adult offending trajectories but that the effect becomes insignificant once controls are introduced for childhood risk factors, although this may be due to the small number of the most chronic offenders. Study implications and directions for future research are noted.     

普京政权交接问题和俄罗斯外交

历史上俄国领导人的政治任期与俄的国际地位有一定的相关性。俄政权交接制度化程度较低,往往影响到国内和国际稳定。考虑到普京任内卓越的贡献和影响力,其政权交接问题对俄外交势将产生重要的影响。如果2008年普京离任,其外交方针将保持延续性,即普京的接班人将继续一方面把欧亚中部作为外交政策的优先着力点,另一方面努力保持与G7为代表的发达世界之间的和谐。受种种结构性因素制约,如果将来的权力交接出现失控,不排除普京时代的外交进程中断的可能。     

Parental Suicidality as a Risk Factor for Delinquency Among Hispanic Youth

Several studies have examined the factors associated with juvenile delinquency, but this literature remains limited largely because it has not moved beyond traditional factors generally and because of the lack of research conducted on minority—especially Hispanic—youth. This study seeks to overcome these two limitations by using data from a longitudinal study of 2,491 Hispanic (Puerto Rican) youth ages 5–13 (48.5% female) socialized in two different cultural contexts, Bronx, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an effort to examine the relationship between parental suicidality and offspring delinquency. Results indicate that while traditional risk/protective factors and parental mental health issues relate to delinquency in expected ways, youths whose parents attempted suicide engaged in more frequent and varied delinquency over time. Implications for theory and future research are addressed.