Unpacking the Relationships between Impulsivity,Neighborhood Disadvantage,and Adolescent Violence: An Application of a Neighborhood-Based Group Decomposition

Scholars have become increasingly interested in how social environments condition the relationships between individual risk-factors and adolescent behavior. An appreciable portion of this literature is concerned with the relationship between impulsivity and delinquency across neighborhood settings. The present article builds upon this growing body of research by considering the more nuanced pathways through which neighborhood disadvantage shapes the development of impulsivity and provides a situational context for impulsive tendencies to manifest in violent and aggressive behaviors. Using a sample of 12,935 adolescent from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (mean age?=?15.3, 51% female; 20% Black, 17% Hispanic), we demonstrate the extent to which variation in the association between impulsivity and delinquency across neighborhoods can be attributed to (1) differences in mean-levels of impulsivity and violence and (2) differences in coefficients across neighborhoods. The results of a series of multivariate regression models indicate that impulsivity is positively associated with self-reported violence, and that this relationship is strongest among youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The moderating effect of neighborhood disadvantage can be attributed primarily to the stronger effect of impulsivity on violence in these areas, while differences in average levels of violence and impulsivity account for a smaller, yet nontrivial portion of the observed relationship. These results indicate that the differential effect of impulsivity on violence can be attributed to both developmental processes that lead to the greater concentration of violent and impulsive adolescents in economically deprived neighborhoods as well as the greater likelihood of impulsive adolescents engaging in violence when they reside in economically disadvantaged communities.     

Lustration after totalitarianism: Poland’s attempt to reconcile with its Communist past

The former Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe have attempted to reconcile their Communist past in different ways. It is in Poland, however, where the issue of dealing with its Communist past through attempts at lustration has been especially fraught. It will be argued here that Poland’s lustration problems are caused primarily by a failure to understand the specific nature of totalitarian dictatorship that existed in Poland under Communist rule.     

"Who Are You Wearing?" Using the Red Carpet Question Pedagogically

This paper presents an active learning module design and implementation strategy for use in an undergraduate course on globalization, world politics, international political economy, or international relations. Students are first asked to conduct research on their wardrobe and its origins by country, allowing for classroom discussion of research methods and designs. Results are submitted, along with a short response essay. This is evaluated in conjunction with a case-study short reading and shared discussion, followed by a short video/multimedia presentation on free trade and labor issues. Drawing on literature on active learning, I argue that this presents a more cohesive approach for engaging students in the material on a substantive level, while at the same time allowing them to actively appreciate and understand such diverse concepts as commodity chains, free trade zones, fair trade versus free trade, gendered divisions of labor, consumer responsibility, research methodologies, and macroeconomic shifts in employment across nations. This also serves as a rubric for instructors to use in creating their own topical "modules." Preliminary data and classroom results are discussed, as are additional strategies for lesson development.     

Preemptive public policy for genomics

To many, genomics is merely exploitable technology for the leviathan of biotechnology. This is both shallow and short sighted. Genomics is applied knowledge based on profound and evolving science about how living things develop, how healthy or sick we are, and what our future will be like. In health care, genomics technologies are disruptive yet potentially cost-effective because they enable primary prevention, the antidote to runaway costs and declining productivity. The challenges to integration are great, however, and many bioethical and social-policy implications are alarming. Because it is poorly understood today, we must debate genomics vigorously if we are to act wisely. Public policy must lead.     

Moving Beyond Sovereignty? A brief consideration of recent changes in China's approach to international order and the emergence of the tianxia concept

This article examines recent trends in the evolution of elite Chinese foreign policy discussions about the normative organizing principles that should ground contemporary international politics. It finds that a pragmatic emphasis on sovereignty, albeit as a right which is flexible and far from sacrosanct, still maintains a core position within Chinese thinking in this regard. However, at the same time, a surprising reconstitution of an old world view has begun to take shape in China. More specifically, the tianxia (all-under-heaven) concept has emerged as a new reference point for some Chinese deliberations on the normative structure of international relations. While such a perspective is still of secondary importance within Chinese international relations circles, its emergence suggests that a potentially far-reaching, if still inchoate, reconsideration of international order is underway in China. Moreover, such a development may have broad ranging implications for the security dynamic that takes shape in Asia in the coming years.