The council for national academic awards and legal studies

This is part one of a two-part paper. The papers outline the research for designing an m-learning (mobile phone) financial education game to counter financial exclusion. The paper will explain what led the researchers to use an m-learning game and what is unique about the design of the game compared to other serious games. The researchers will present the results of their 18-month project called “Innovation in Inclusion”, which teaches financial education to secondary school children aged between 13 and 15 years old, but which can be extrapolated into any type of interactive or m-learning method of teaching at any age. This game tested the hypothesis that if you increase financial education you can decrease the chances of being financially excluded in the future, by ensuring the people undertaking the learning aims can make effective financial decisions.     

Predicting Probationer Rates of Reincarceration Using Dynamic Factors from the Substance Abuse Questionnaire-Adult Probation III (SAQ-Adult Probation III)

Individuals incarcerated for violating the terms of their probation constitute a large portion of the prison population. Intervention programs designed to rehabilitate probationers have the potential to reduce prison populations and moderate the costs associated with incarceration. Unlike previous research, which has focused on demographic and static characteristics, the present study examined dynamic factors as predictors of probation revocation, as they may be more amenable to rehabilitation. The sample was comprised of 8,310 adult probationers and used scores from the SAQ-Adult Probation III. Poisson regression analyses showed that three dynamic factors, violence, antisocial behavior, and stress risk were positively related to the number of lifetime probation revocations. These results are discussed in light of potential rehabilitative benefits.     

Encountering China: Contexts and Methods for Teaching Chinese Politics in American Classrooms

This article explores the use of student-centered learning activities when teaching Chinese politics in American college classrooms and discusses the importance of context in those activities. In particular, the article explores how classroom context, including student identities, and student exposure to diverse, often conflicting ??political identities?? in course material emerge during different ??encounters????a Cultural Revolution poster exhibition, a simulation about the Three Gorges Dam, a Cultural Revolution role-play, and a problem-solving session involving factory workers. The article argues that encounters, which encompass in-class activities, such as problem solving, simulations, and role-play, enhance student engagement with course material, improve student retention of historical and contemporary political knowledge, and encourage critical thinking and peer collaboration in a student-centered learning environment. The article concludes that learner-centered teaching is significant because as the world becomes more complex, the knowledge and skills acquired through student-centered activities in politics classes are highly relevant for the future of self-organization, social interactions, and institution building.     

United Nations Peacekeeping and Civilian Protection in Civil War

Does United Nations peacekeeping protect civilians in civil war? Civilian protection is a primary purpose of UN peacekeeping, yet there is little systematic evidence for whether peacekeeping prevents civilian deaths. We propose that UN peacekeeping can protect civilians if missions are adequately composed of military troops and police in large numbers. Using unique monthly data on the number and type of UN personnel contributed to peacekeeping operations, along with monthly data on civilian deaths from 1991 to 2008 in armed conflicts in Africa, we find that as the UN commits more military and police forces to a peacekeeping mission, fewer civilians are targeted with violence. The effect is substantial—the analyses show that, on average, deploying several thousand troops and several hundred police dramatically reduces civilian killings. We conclude that although the UN is often criticized for its failures, UN peacekeeping is an effective mechanism of civilian protection.     

An Examination of Officer Stress: Should Police Departments Implement Mandatory Counseling?

This study suggests that police departments who promote counseling benefit from officer stress reduction. Officers from sixteen municipal police departments (n = 1,114) across the state of Alabama possessed moderate stress, but were influenced significantly by organizational demographics (including counseling opportunities). A majority of officers believed that stress signs were not predictive of police suitability but remained reluctant to share fears and anxieties with fellow colleagues, suggesting that officers feared the stigma associated with the need for stress counseling. Officers working in supportive counseling climates had significantly less stress, a reduced need for counseling, and a greater willingness to use counseling. Officers who engaged in counseling (at least occasionally) also reported more stress, indicating an awareness of their need for counseling. The authors concluded that police departments should consider requiring mandatory and periodic counseling for all officers, a procedural tactic that camouflages counseling need while concurrently treating the source of officer stress.     

Community Sustainability and Land Use

Books reviewed:
Timothy Beatley, Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities
Amer El-Ahraf, Mohammad Qayoumi and Ron Dowd, The Impact of Public Policy on Environmental Quality and Health: The Case of Land Use Management and Planning
Daniel A. Mazmanian and Michael E. Kraft, (eds.) Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy
Kee Warner and Harvey Molotch, Building Rules: How Local Rules Shape Community Environments and Economies     

The Ambiguous Host-Citizen Contract: An Evolving Notion of Duty in the U.S. Military Quest for Local Legitimacy

The article explores how the recent quest for local legitimacy in Iraq and Afghanistan has shaped the U.S. military notion of duty toward host citizens. It argues that military duty is conceptualized as a “host-citizen contract.” Based on a qualitative comparison of the 2006 and 2014 versions of FM3-24, the U.S. counterinsurgency field manual, it finds that U.S. forces are obligated to suppress insurgents, build host-nation agency, and protect the host population in exchange for legitimacy. The article's main finding is that the notion of legitimacy has changed in ways that fundamentally limit the scope of duty and justify a breach of contract should the host nation fail to comply.     

Time,labour, and the household: measuring “time poverty” through a gender lens

This article applies functional time use (FTU) analysis towards understanding inequalities in developing countries and the relevant relationships among the use of time, gendered divisions of labour, and the household economy. In so doing, it proposes one way of approaching the development concept of “time poverty”. The findings from an empirical study of an indigenous village in the Bolivian Amazon illustrate a heavier overall labour burden of the female population across all age groups. The paper also argues for FTU analysis as an analytic tool for gender-sensitive analysis with a potential to inform the work of development practitioners.