Dutch 'Multiculturalism' Beyond the Pillarisation Myth

This article is about the state of multiculturalist politics in the Netherlands. It assesses the popular claim that a paradigmatic change has occurred in the Netherlands due to events such as 9/11 and the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh. The article argues that although changes are significant, both in discourse and in practice, they must be viewed as part of a process of rethinking the relation between newcomers and the state that goes back as far as the end of the 1980s. Long-standing claims about the exemplary form of multiculturalism in the Netherlands were always ambiguous at least, or even hard to sustain. The article criticises the persistent idea that Dutch accommodating integration policies since the end of the 1970s are an extension of the historical tradition of 'pillarisation'. Only by going beyond this myth can we understand why recent changes are much less of a break with the past, and why multiculturalism was never accepted or practised as fully as has often been suggested in more stereotypical depictions of Dutch integration policy.     

Resources and Governance in Sierra Leone’s Civil War

Abstract

We empirically investigate the role of natural resources, and governance in explaining variation in the intensity of conflict during the 1991–2002 civil war in Sierra Leone. As a proxy for governance quality we exploit exogenous variation in political competition at the level of the chieftaincy. As a proxy for resources we use data on the location of pre-war mining sites. Our main result is that neither governance nor resources robustly explains the onset or duration of violence during the civil war in Sierra Leone.     

Why do Adolescents Gather Information or Stick to Parental Norms? Examining Autonomous and Controlled Motives Behind Adolescents’ Identity Style

Self-determination theory (SDT) distinguishes between autonomous and controlled reasons for people’s behavior and essentially states that beneficial effects for individuals’ psychosocial adjustment will accrue when behavior is guided by autonomous (rather than controlled) motives. The present study tested this assumption in the area of adolescents’ identity styles. In a sample of mid-adolescents (N = 247; 53% female), it was found that the motives for using an information-oriented or a normative identity style explained additional variance beyond the identity styles as such in two of the adjustment outcomes examined. Specifically, autonomous motives underlying these two identity styles were positively related to commitment and personal well-being, whereas controlled motives were negatively related to these same adjustment outcomes. Perceived autonomy-supportive parenting was examined as a possible antecedent of the motives behind identity styles. Consistent with hypotheses, it was found that autonomy-supportive parenting was positively related to autonomous motives and negatively to controlled motives underlying identity styles. Implications for future research on the motivational dynamics behind identity development are discussed.     

Crime Victims’ Perceptions of Police Behavior,Legitimacy, and Cooperation: A Review of the Literature

According to Tyler’s theoretical framework, police officers can motivate cooperation among citizens during direct interactions by using fair procedures and by showing how the police perform their job in combating crime. By conducting a systematic literature review, prior research was examined to see whether perceptions of procedural justice and police performance result in higher levels of perceived legitimacy of the police institution, and in turn whether this perceived legitimacy stimulates cooperative behavior among crime victims specifically. Results of the 15 included studies indicate that partial support for the applicability of this framework on crime victims was found. However, none of the included studies tested all relationships within the framework simultaneously among crime victims; they typically focused only on one of the interrelationships between the frameworks’ key concepts. Implications for future research and police practice are discussed.     

Legal aspects of text mining

“Text mining” covers a range of techniques that allow software to extract information from text documents. It is not a new technology, but it has recently received spotlight attention due to the emergence of Big Data. The applications of text mining are very diverse and span multiple disciplines, ranging from biomedicine to legal, business intelligence and security. From a legal perspective, text mining touches upon several areas of law, including contract law, copyright law and database law. This contribution discusses the legal issues encountered during the assembly of texts into so-called “corpora”, as well as the use of such corpora.     

Digital Hercules?

Is there a limit to what computers can do? In many areas, the facts of today put the sceptics of yesterday in the wrong. Who would have thought twenty years ago that a chess computer could ever beat the human world champion? With respect to computer programs for solving legal problems, the question is not whether they are possible, for they exist. In law, at least two important questions remain. First, whether such programs can eventually perform as good as, or better than humans. Second, whether the use of computers will alter the law and legal adjudication. These two questions are discussed in this article against the background of a comparison of chess and law. The answers give rise to certain premonitions. If the computer is used as an aid in legal decision making, it should be used in awareness of its limitations and idiosyncrasies.     

The Jingle–Jangle Fallacy in Adolescent Autonomy in the Family: In Search of an Underlying Structure

The construct of autonomy has a rich, though quite controversial, history in adolescent psychology. The present investigation aimed to clarify the meaning and measurement of adolescent autonomy in the family. Based on theory and previous research, we examined whether two dimensions would underlie a wide range of autonomy-related measures, using data from two adolescent samples (N = 707, 51 % girls, and N = 783, 59 % girls, age range = 14–21 years). Clear evidence was found for a two-dimensional structure, with the first dimension reflecting “volition versus pressure”, that is, the degree to which adolescents experience a sense of volition and choice as opposed to feelings of pressure and coercion in the parent–adolescent relationship. The second dimension reflected “distance versus proximity”, which involves the degree of interpersonal distance in the parent-adolescent relationship. Whereas volition related to higher well-being, less problem behavior and a secure attachment style, distance was associated mainly with more problem behavior and an avoidant attachment style. These associations were not moderated by age. The discussion focuses on the meaning of adolescent autonomy and on the broader implications of the current findings.     

The Body Perfect Ideal and Eating Regulation Goals: Investigating the Role of Adolescents’ Identity Styles

Adolescents are exposed to images depicting the thin or muscular ideal almost on a daily basis. When the body perfect ideal is adopted, adolescents are at increased risk for developing unhealthy and disordered eating behaviors. The aim of the current 3-wave longitudinal study among adolescents (N = 418; 54 % girls) was to investigate whether different styles of identity exploration (i.e., information-oriented, normative, and diffuse-avoidant) are associated differentially with changes in adoption of the body perfect ideal, which, in turn, would relate to changes in appearance-focused and health-focused eating regulation. Results indicated that the information-oriented style predicted decreases and the normative style predicted increases in adoption of the body perfect ideal. In turn, adoption of the body perfect ideal predicted significant increases in appearance-focused eating regulation but not in health-focused eating regulation. A diffuse-avoidant style was unrelated to changes in adoption of the body perfect, yet directly predicted decreases in health-focused eating regulation. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.