gendered discipline in globalising India

Discrimination and violence against women in India often tend to be discussed, framed and explained in cultural terms alone. It is a commonplace assumption that Indian cultural norms are responsible for women’s oppression in India and that India’s moves to open up the economy to globalisation will usher in modernity and empower women. Another similar assumption is that gendered violence and patriarchal oppression are produced and located primarily in the (Indian traditional) family and community, and that women’s entry into the globalised workforce will empower and help them confront and overcome such violence and oppression. This paper attempts to challenge this false binary between ‘family/community/tradition/culture’ and ‘modern political economy’. It looks at the methods used across various sites—household/family, college/university and factory—to subject women’s labour and sexuality to a regime of surveillance and gendered discipline. It also looks at the ways in which this regime is disrupted and challenged repeatedly by women’s protests.     

India’s obsession with Kashmir: democracy,gender, (anti-)nationalism

This article attempts to make sense of India’s obsession with Kashmir by way of a gendered analysis. I begin by drawing attention to the historical and continuing failure of Indian democracy in Kashmir that results in the violent and multifaceted dehumanisation of Kashmiris and, in turn, domesticates dissent on the question of Kashmir within India. This scenario has been enabled by the persuasive appeal of a gendered masculinist nationalist neoliberal state currently enhanced in its Hindutva avatar. I focus on understanding how the violence enacted upon Kashmiri bodies is connected to feminised understandings of the body of Kashmir in India’s imagination of itself as a nation state. I argue that the gendered discourses of representation, cartography and possession are central to the way in which such nationalism works to legitimise and normalise the violence in Kashmir. I conclude with a few reflections on how Kashmir is a litmus test for the discourse on (anti-)nationalism in contemporary India.     

Du fatalisme en matière de prolifération nucléaire: Retour sur une représentation opiniâtre

Les discours des décideurs politiques mais aussi de la majorité des spécialistes du nucléaire militaire véhiculent l'idée selon laquelle l'augmentation, pas nécessairement linéaire, du nombre d'acteurs dotés de l'arme nucléaire est une tendance lourde, voire une loi de l'histoire. Cet article entend mettre au jour le rôle de la métaphore biologique de la prolifération, transposée aux armes nucléaires, dans la construction de cette vision de l'histoire nucléaire et explorer la sélection qu'elle opère dans la mise en récit qui en découle. Il conclut par la saisie des conséquences politiques de cette vision et une mise en garde contre une alternative fallacieuse au fatalisme proliférant que serait la pédagogie de la catastrophe, avant de proposer plusieurs pistes de recherche sur les autres sources du « fatalisme » que nous avons identifié ainsi que la possibilité d'un changement de paradigme.     

Neuroscientific and behavioral genetic information in criminal cases in the Netherlands

In this contribution an empirical approach is used to gain more insight into the relationship between neuroscience and criminal law. The focus is on case law in the Netherlands. Neuroscientific information and techniques have found their way into the courts of the Netherlands. Furthermore, following an Italian case in which a mentally ill offender received a penalty reduction in part because of a ‘genetic vulnerability for impulsive aggression’, the expectation was expressed that such ‘genetic defenses’ would appear in the Netherlands too. To assess how neuroscientific and behavioral genetic information are used in criminal justice practice in the Netherlands, we systematically collect Dutch criminal cases in which neuroscientific or behavioral genetic information is introduced. Data and case law examples are presented and discussed. Although cases are diverse, several themes appear, such as prefrontal brain damage in relation to criminal responsibility and recidivism risk, and divergent views of the implications of neurobiological knowledge about addiction for judging criminal responsibility. Whereas in the international ‘neurolaw literature’ the emphasis is often on imaging techniques, the Dutch findings also illustrate the role of neuropsychological methods in criminal cases. Finally, there appears to be a clear need of practice oriented instruments and guidelines.     

Probleme in der Umsetzung von EU-Naturschutzrecht in ?sterreich

Die Anwendung des Gemeinschaftsrechts in einem f?deralen System ist stets eine besondere Herausforderung. Im Bundesstaat ?sterreich sind die Angelegenheiten des Naturschutzes Zust?ndigkeit der L?nder in Gesetzgebung und Vollziehung. Es ist daher von Interesse, wie die Implementierung der Naturschutzrichtlinien der EU in ?sterreich erfolgt und welche Probleme dabei festzustellen sind.     

Opening the Black Box Between Justice and Reactions to Unfavorable Outcomes in the Workplace

Though several studies have shown that the perception of social justice can effectively reduce negative attitudinal and behavioral reactions to an unfavorable outcome, few studies have tried to empirically test explanations of this mitigating effect. The present study was undertaken to fill this gap by examining under what conditions social justice suppresses negative reactions, such as exit, neglect, and aggressive voice, and stimulates positive reactions, such as considerate voice and patience. Two potential moderators were derived from the control model (Thibaut and Walker, 1975, 1978) and the group-value model (Lind and Tyler, 1988, Tyler and Lind, 1992). Ninety-eight teachers participated in the study. Results support the hypotheses that overall procedural and distributive justice discourage negative reactions, particularly when employees value control or standing, or both. Moreover, distributive justice stimulates positive reactions (i.e., considerate voice) when employees value control. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Innovativer F?deralismus? – Das ?sterreichische Naturschutzrecht zwischen Deregulierungsdruck und Europ?isierung

Die Angelegenheiten des Natur- und Landschaftsschutzes stellen im Bundesstaat ?sterreich eine wichtige und vergleichsweise abgerundete Landeskompetenz dar. Sie sind in den Kompetenzartikeln der Bundesverfassung nicht ausdrücklich erw?hnt und fallen daher unter die Generalklausel des Art. 15 Abs. 1 der Bundesverfassung (B-VG) und damit in die ausschlie?liche Zust?ndigkeit der L?nder in Gesetzgebung und Vollziehung. Dies bedeutet freilich nicht, dass in der Praxis nicht zahlreiche Abgrenzungsfragen auftauchen würden, weil eine Vielzahl von Umweltschutzkompetenzen, wie etwa das Wasserrecht und das Forstrecht der Gesetzgebungskompetenz des Bundes zugewiesen sind.     

Delivering security through networks: Surveying the relational landscape of security managers in an urban setting

The concept of network is fast becoming ubiquitous. Its broad appeal lies in its ability to account for the present multiplicity of institutional, organizational, and social morphologies. Networks promise to absorb, recombine, and merge the two dominant and competing forms of social organization (the bureaucratic hierarchy and the market) into a third one that would transcend the proclaimed obsolescence of bureaucracies (see for example Osborne and Gaebler, 1992) or the excesses of the market. Crime or dark networks (Raab and Milward, 2003) and their real level of (dis)organization have been studied for a number of years (Naylor, 2002; Morselli, 2005 and in this issue), but the 9/11 events and the failures of the verticalhierarchical bureaucratic forms of security delivery they highlighted provided an audience to those advocating flatter and more flexible law enforcement assemblages (Williams, 1994; Arquilla and Ronfeld, 2001).