Introduction: The Progressive Dilemma in British Politics

This special edition reflects on the contemporary relevance of the insights and concerns of David Marquand's book The Progressive Dilemma. In this Introduction, the editors set the scene for these reflections. They consider the structural changes that have occurred in politics since the 1990s: the impact of globalisation, the erosion of class identities, the rise of ‘identity politics’ and the continued fragmentation of the party system. There has been no reconciliation between the parties of the centre‐left, nor any re‐examination of the ‘liberal tradition’ and the potential for a new synthesis with revisionist social democracy. On the one hand, Corbynism is a radicalised metropolitan species of liberalism, while on the other there are plenty in Labour who stress the need for the party to re‐engage with the traditional, socially conservative values of the working class in a new ‘postliberal’ appeal. Yet the authors argue that those who broadly identify with progressive causes in British politics—animated by the various overlapping strands of social liberalism, social democracy and liberal socialism—have still to work out how to address the historic failings that Marquand so eloquently exposed, to create a new and inspiring intellectual vision that unites and energises the left and centre‐left.     

Elevator-Related Deaths

Elevators are mechanical transportation devices used to move vertically between different levels of a building. When first developed, elevators lacked the safety features. When safety mechanisms were developed, elevators became a common feature of multistory buildings. Despite their well-regarded safety record, elevators are not without the potential for danger of injury or death. Persons at-risk for elevator-related death include maintenance and construction workers, other employees, and those who are prone to risky behavior. Deaths may be related to asphyxia, blunt force, avulsion injuries, and various forms of environmental trauma. In this review, we report on 48 elevator-related deaths that occurred in nine different medicolegal death investigation jurisdictions within the United States over an approximately 30-year period. The data represents a cross-section of the different types of elevator-related deaths that may be encountered. The review also presents an overview of preventive strategies for the purpose of avoiding future elevator-related fatalities.     

Hemorrhagic Retinopathy and Optic Nerve Sheath Hemorrhage Associated With Fatal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage from a Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysm Due to Segmental Fibromuscular Dysplasia

Fibromuscular dysplasia is an idiopathic, nonatheromatous, and noninflammatory arterial disease that most commonly affects the renal and carotid arteries. We report a child with subarachnoid and ocular hemorrhage associated with an aneurysm due to fibromuscular dysplasia. Computed tomography following a witnessed collapse revealed diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage and severe cerebral edema. An autopsy confirmed the radiographic findings and detected bilateral retinal hemorrhages, optic nerve sheath hemorrhages, and a ruptured saccular aneurysm due to focal fibromuscular dysplasia involving the intracranial right vertebral artery. This case documents a fatal subarachnoid hemorrhage in a child with an intracranial saccular aneurysm caused by fibromuscular dysplasia. The associated retinal hemorrhages are easily detected by postmortem monocular indirect ophthalmoscopy.     

Testing Antemortem Blood for Ethanol Concentration from a Blood Kit in a Refrigerator Fire

The stability of ethanol in antemortem blood stored under various conditions has been widely studied. Antemortem blood samples stored at refrigerated temperature, at room temperature, and at elevated temperatures tend to decrease in ethanol concentration with storage. It appears that the stability of ethanol in blood exposed to temperatures greater than 38°C has not been evaluated. The case presented here involves comparison of breath test results with subsequent analysis of blood drawn at the time of breath testing. However, the blood tubes were in a refrigerator fire followed by refrigerated storage for 5 months prior to analysis by headspace gas chromatography. The subject’s breath was tested twice using an Intoxilyzer 8000. The subject’s blood was tested in duplicate using an Agilent headspace gas chromatograph. The measured breath ethanol concentration was 0.103 g/210 L and 0.092 g/210 L. The measured blood ethanol concentration was 0.0932 g/dL for both samples analyzed. Although the mean blood test result was slightly lower than the mean breath test result, the mean breath test result was within the estimated uncertainty of the mean blood test result. Even under the extreme conditions of the blood kit being in a refrigerator fire, the measured blood ethanol content agreed well with the paired breath ethanol test.     

And . . . Action! Using Film to Learn about Foreign Policy

Here we recount the experience of designing and executing an experimental summer course, at two different universities, that used popular films as primary texts to facilitate active learning about foreign policy. One course, designed for non–political science majors, was offered at the introductory level as credit/no credit; the other, intended for students with some background in political science and international affairs, was offered as an upper-level graded course. We held many of the films and readings constant across the two courses so that we could track similarities and differences between the courses. Here we report on why and how we designed the movie courses and what films and readings we used. We also evaluate the courses by drawing on the assessment mechanisms we employed as well as the students' evaluations. In short, although there are some important trade-offs involved in designing a movie course, we found the experience to be a positive one that prioritized student learning in a relaxed and novel way and achieved with some success the procedural and conceptual learning goals that we set forth.     

Programme Participation Intensity and Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from a Randomised Control Trial in Mozambique

Abstract

Agricultural interventions are thought to have the potential to improve nutrition, but little rigorous evidence is available about programmes that link the two. In this article, we study impacts of an integrated agricultural and nutritional biofortification project, the REU in Mozambique. We first provide evidence on dietary impacts of the programme and then examine impacts of the programme by participation intensity. Using OLS and IV techniques, we find that more intense participation in both project components led to larger impacts. The results therefore have important implications for refining the design of future projects attempting to link agricultural and nutrition interventions.     

Local Chairs vs International Networks: the Beginning of the Scholarly Career in a Peripheral Academic Field

Sensitive to the differences between centers and peripheries of knowledge production, this article explores how scholars in peripheral fields use knowledge from central fields to structure their academic careers. The article presents the findings of a case study of career choices of political scientists in Argentina. In order to understand the interplay between foreign knowledge and local strategies of enacting networks, this article focuses on the beginning of academic careers. At this early stage, political scientists in Argentina usually have to make a decision whether to stay in the country or go abroad for postgraduate education. Relying on positioning theory and recent developments in Science and Technology Studies, we identified two alternative positioning strategies. Those who stay in Argentina tend to hoard as many scholarly positions as possible, enacting local networks oriented towards teaching. Scholars who go abroad enact networks with international dimensions, in the process enrolling persons and objects, though not always successfully. Scholars with international experience tend to be research oriented, and they mention the working conditions abroad as particularly attractive. We show the extent to which these findings challenge some views of centers and periphery and highlight the active role of scholars in peripheral scientific fields.     

Tensions in the discourse and practice of the European Union's Aid for Trade

The contemporary global Aid for Trade (AfT) agenda emerged out of world trade negotiations and it could have profound implications for the future of development aid, depending on how it is interpreted. The European Union (EU) has recontextualised this global agenda to suit its own approach to trade and development; specifically a focus on regional integration, and free market but ‘pro-poor’ development models. AfT is ascribed a variety of purposes in EU texts and its use continues to adapt as the EU's trade and development policy evolves. Institutionally the AfT framework has not strongly affected EU processes, organisational structures or methodology. A study of the use of EU aid for regional integration reveals dissonance between its development relationship and its trade policies while a focus on pro-poor AfT reveals a lack of capacity. Overall, there are tensions not just between discourse and practice but between different discourses of the EU.