Do two-year colleges increase overall educational attainment? Evidence from the states

Are two- or four-year colleges more efficient at increasing the educational attainment of young adults? I use state variation in two- and four-year college systems to address this question at the state level. I find that the composition and cost of higher education in a state affect the enrollment decisions of individuals in that state. Further, attending a two-year rather than a four-year college may lower the educational attainment of some students, but more students will benefit from the community college alternative. It also most likely costs the state more to educate a student in a four-year rather than a two-year college. As a result, community colleges provide a potentially efficient way to increase access to higher education as well as increase the overall educational attainment of a state's residents.     

No humanitarian intervention in Asian genocides: how possible and legitimate?

Abstract

This article addresses an important empirical puzzle: why has the United States, without exception, chosen not to intervene in the six humanitarian catastrophes in post-war Asia, namely in Indonesia, East Pakistan/Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Timor, Sri Lanka and Myanmar? We use an eclectic approach that blends arguments about the international normative structure and geostrategic interests to examine what has made the absence of humanitarian intervention in Asia by the US possible and legitimate. Specifically, we focus on the paradox between calls for humanitarian intervention and the historically and geographically contingent social construction of the norms of humanity, national sovereignty and United Nations-backed multilateralism in conjunction with US and Chinese concerns over their regional geostrategic interests. The normative narratives about race, ‘communists’, ‘terrorists’, international order and inclusive multilateral processes, and the geostrategic interests of the US and China, combine to make non-intervention possible and legitimate.     

Explaining Bullying Victimization: Assessing the Generality of the Low Self-Control/Risky Lifestyle Model

ABSTRACT

The integrated low self-control/risky lifestyle theoretical framework has proven useful for explaining various types of victimization. Bullying victimization (i.e., verbal, social, or physical attacks), however, may not fit this explanation very well if youths who are bullied do not have to engage in risky behaviors to be singled out by their peers, but could instead be targeted for other reasons (e.g., physical vulnerabilities). In this context, the current paper examines the generality of the low self-control/risky lifestyle model by assessing whether it can effectively explain which youngsters are more likely to be bullied. Using a sample of 1,901 middle school students, the results indicate that, although low self-control significantly predicts whether youths will engage in risky lifestyles (e.g., displaying aggressive attitudes, committing delinquent acts, using illicit substances), participating in such behaviors does not elevate the likelihood of bullying victimization. Instead, the authors’ findings reveal that low self-control directly influences victimization. Further, physical vulnerability is significantly related to being bullied. These findings suggest that the low self-control/risky lifestyle model needs to be revised to accommodate potential age-graded consequences of self-control, and that physical limitations—not “traditional” risky lifestyles—are persistent sources of bullying victimization that should be further evaluated.     

Financial reporting transparency,citizens' understanding,and public participation: A survey experiment study

This study investigates the conditions under which transparency contributes to citizens' understanding of financial reporting and examines how this enhanced understanding is associated with public participation. To this end, a survey experiment was conducted in which two attributes of financial reporting transparency (i.e., content clarification and presentation format) were the manipulated variables, whereas citizens' understanding and public participation were the outcome variables. Results demonstrate that the provision of explanations to clarify obscure technical jargon does have a positive effect on citizens' understanding. A similar effect was found for the provision of graphical and visual representations. However, the study reveals that there is no additional benefit in simultaneously providing both explanations of technical jargon and visual aids. Furthermore, findings show that the levels of public participation are highest among the individuals who felt they understood the financial information the best, but yet possessed the lowest level of actual understanding.     

Palynology and mycology as biological evidence in a homicide case

Criminal cases are studied from several disciplines to link a suspect with a criminal act. In this case, a man was reported missing in a coastal area in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The victim's relatives pointed to a possible suspect, and the local police carried out the investigation. We contributed to this research by applying palynological and mycological techniques. Palynomorphs and fungal spores offer valuable trace evidence, as they can be easily transferred between objects and crime scenes due to their minute size and persist on them for a long time. The victim was found 25 days later, lying on sandy soil, which partially covered the body, 35 km from where the suspect was arrested. Comparative samples were collected from the crime scene and the suspect's home and belongings (clothes, footwear, and seized vehicle). The palynological associations obtained from the crime scene and the defendant's belongings were dominated by diatoms and acritarchs (Acantomorphitae), all elements of marine origin, and a high CFU number of Bipolaris cynodontis, which allowed the defendant's clothing to be related to the place of corpse discovery. Soil from the defendant's home had an entirely continental composition, and the fungal biota was characteristic of prairie areas which were different from those of the crime scene.     

European Union Training Missions: security sector reform or counter-insurgency by proxy?

With European Union Training Missions (EUTM) Mali and EUTM Somalia, the EU seeks to stabilize countries facing state weakness caused by intrastate conflict. While the EU formally promotes security sector reform (SSR) through its foreign policy, the EUTM missions in Mali and Somalia in one sense can be described as “counter-insurgency by proxy” as military trainees combat local insurgencies shortly upon graduation. This raises the question whether the EUTM missions are consistent with SSR aims, such as creating a security sector that is legitimate, sustainable, and under civilian control, or inadvertently risk contributing to negative side effects in the medium term. Based on extensive interviews in Belgium, Kenya, Mali, Sweden, and Uganda with personnel who either served in or planned these missions, this study analyses factors which hinder the EUTM concept from being fully consistent with SSR and identifies possible policies to ameliorate the risk of unintended side effects.     

Care to Compare

This article explores constructions of marginality in practices and processes in schools. The main focus is on games played in and around the margins by school students, and on the feelings of pleasure and anxiety generated in this process. The data are drawn from a collective ethnographic project Citizenship, Difference and Marginality in Schools: With Special Reference to Gender, exploring ways in which students are differentiated in terms of gender and other dimensions of inequality. Margins construct both inclusion and exclusion. Processes of marginalisation take place in the official school (teaching and learning), in the informal school (social interaction) and in the physical school (spatiality and embodiment). Emotions located in the margins are explored through these analytically differentiated but intertwined layers. Marginality is a social positioning, a spatial location and a subjective experience.