Belarusians between East and West

Belarus has a divided identity that reflects its complex history and culture. A mixed-methods investigation incorporating focus groups and national representative surveys conducted over a decade or more suggests that Belarusians themselves are more likely to regard themselves as “European” than their counterparts in Ukraine and Russia, but less likely to do so than in other European countries. There is substantial support for a hypothetical European Union membership, particularly among younger respondents, but there is also strong and widely distributed support for a closer association with the other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Consistently, it is the “multidirectional” foreign policy promoted by the current leadership, which seeks closer relations with East and West at the same time, that finds the greatest support. But a “Slavic choice” is also popular, and much more so than a “Western choice” or isolationism.     

Weak Power Bargaining with China: Mongolia and North Korea in comparative perspective

This article examines Mongolia's and North Korea's bargaining with the People's Republic of China to provide insight into Northeast Asian regional dynamics and weak state bargaining behavior. The article demonstrates how both Mongolia and North Korea (which it demonstrates are weak states) employ a variety of tactics within the categories of capitulation, neutrality and confrontation when managing their respective relations with China. The article also argues the applica`bility of the two case studies to a better understanding of the diplomatic challenges China faces as it continues its development and to China's relations with the various weak states on its periphery.     

Practices of assemblage and community forest management

Abstract

Governmental interventions that set out to improve the world are assembled from diverse elements – discourses, institutions, forms of expertise and social groups whose deficiencies need to be corrected, among others. In this article I advance an analytic that focuses on practices of assemblage – the on-going labour of bringing disparate elements together and forging connections between them. I identify six practices that are generic to any assemblage, whatever its specific contours: 1) forging alignments, 2) rendering technical, 3) authorizing knowledge, 4) managing failures, 5) anti-politics, and 6) reassembling. I demonstrate the power of this analytic through an extended study of community forest management. This is an assemblage that brings together an array of agents (villagers, labourers, entrepreneurs, officials, activists, aid donors, scientists) and objectives (profit, pay, livelihoods, control, property, efficiency, sustainability, conservation). Its very unwieldiness helps to sharpen analysis of how such an assemblage is, in fact, assembled, and how it has been sustained for more than thirty years, absorbing hundreds of millions of dollars in programmes from the west coast of Canada to the eastern islands of Indonesia. I do not attempt to adjudicate the rights and wrongs of this assemblage. Rather, I deploy an analytic of assemblage to explore the practices that fill the gap between the will to govern and the refractory processes that make government so difficult.     

Grading a rape case followed by death from the study of autosomal STRs and STRs of the Y chromosome—Case study

Two women were found dead inside a residence. Choke causes death in one that had been naked in a bed and contusion injury in another that was found on a sofa. Were received samples of vaginal and anal swabs of the two victims of homicide with suspected of having suffered sexual violence. References also received samples of two victims and a suspect. We performed genetic analysis for identification of samples from the meeting of any possibility of overlap between patterns and profiles of sequences of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) based on genetic relationship between those involved. The reference samples were subjected to the procedure of extraction of nuclear DNA by Chelex method and the swabs samples by differential extraction. For all the samples were performed for amplification of STRs loci and autosomal STRs of chromosome Y. The profiles of DNA sequences were obtained by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), using sequences starting with marked substances emitting fluorescence detected by reading the optical laser in 3100 Avant automatic sequencer from Applied Biosystems. The information of consecutive loci of Short Repeats or STRs of autosomal chromosomes and the Y chromosome was obtained using the systems or products sold in multilocus, methodologies recommended by the supplier and valid for analysis of DNA. We used the multilocus Identifiler and YFiler system of Applied Biosystems to the amplification of samples. The validation of results has shown a genetic profile in male anal secretion of the victims with a complete coincidence with the suspect.     

Discussing conflict in contemporary China

The research suggests there is a gap in the peace studies and conflict resolution literature, with little representation or understanding of Chinese perspectives. In a project to address this gap, the researchers conducted interviews individually with 30 participants identified as ‘ emerging leaders’, who came from diverse universities and parts of the Peoples’ Republic of China. This paper reports on the language used by young emerging leaders to talk about conflict, the main concepts that were discussed and what meanings may be communicated in the context of contemporary China. The research method was developed in collaboration with Chinese academics, was elicitive and dialogic, used context-grounded vignettes of conflict scenarios and aimed to build a foundation for deepening dialogue and engagement. The findings are important theoretically for a more inclusive peace and conflict studies literature and have practical implications for the way in which relationships with China may best be approached.     

Treating sexual offenders with learning disabilities in the community: a critical review

This study offers a critical review of a treatment group for sexual offenders with learning disabilities. The participants were diverted from criminal proceedings due to their level of cognitive functioning and attended a 7-month treatment program comprising of four main components: sex education, cognitive distortions, offending cycle, and relapse prevention. A number of psychometric assessments were administered immediately before and after intervention. Although no significant differences were found in attitudes toward sexual offending following treatment, the trend was for improvements in sex knowledge and honesty of sexual interest. Improvements in socialization skills (leisure time and interpersonal skills) were significant. No further incidents of sexual offending have been reported during a 12-month follow-up. A number of explanations for the nonsignificant improvement in attitudes are considered and recommendations for future treatment evaluation studies are made. The development of specific questionnaires and treatment programs for sexual offenders with learning disabilities is discussed.     

Entangled in Social Safety Nets: Administrative Responses to and Lived Experiences of Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine

Abstract

This essay explores the citizenship experiences of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine. Since 2014, conflict in eastern Ukraine has forced over 1.7 million people to leave their homes. Unlike refugees, who are protected by international law, IDPs rely primarily on state support. Based on ethnographic research and analysis of secondary sources, the essay focuses on IDPs’ interactions with the state to highlight how displacement affects the provision of social guarantees. The discussion questions the distinctions between categories of migrants and citizens by offering insights into new modalities of controlled citizenship that displaced people live through.     

Reconocimiento y ejecución de sentencias mexicanas de divorcio en venezuela

Judges rule their decisions to enforce foreign divorce judgments and therefore to achieve procedural justice. Notwithstanding of that, the enforcement couldface different challenges, not only about its coercive enforcement —lacking of voluntarily compliance of the original decision— but also ju-risdictional/territorial limitations. These limitations are related with the existence of different locations among the place of the original subject matter, the place of its effects and, the place where the enforcement decision will be ruled. However, geographical boundaries should not affect vested rights. Therefore, it is crucial to grant mechanisms that will ensure the enforcement of foreign decisions. Based on two Venezuelan Supreme Court decisions, this document analyses issues related with the enforcement in Venezuela of Mexican divorce judgments, considering both the Inter-American Convention on Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards and Venezuelan domestic rules.