HIV/AIDS prevention: building on community strengths in Ajegunle,Lagos

This paper builds upon field research in Ajegunle, Nigeria, which suggests that effective HIV/AIDS prevention requires a much higher degree of independent community participation. In exploring ways to achieve this, we suggest that assessing community strengths provides positive scope for understanding and utilising a much wider variety of HIV/AIDS responses which have not been previously used in the context of community development. Community-based approaches also encourage a deeper understanding of locally-specific vulnerability issues that surround HIV and AIDS. Such initiatives can be linked to trends that value the knowledge and capacities of neglected local people and build on their resources, including their networks, relationships and trust. However, the connection to, and use of, the resources of international NGOs (INGOs) remain central to success. If an interactive community-based agenda of working with local level resources receives enough acceptance at the higher levels of the INGOs, the results could be very significant. Such international/local agreements, where INGOs seek to work more closely with local community groups and their people on shared agendas, could begin to tackle some of the key structural issues, especially conflict and poverty, that exacerbate HIV/AIDS at the grassroots and are not responsive to purely medical solutions.

Prévention du VIH/sida: développer les points forts des communautés à Ajegunle, Lagos

Ce document se base sur des recherches menées sur le terrain à Ajegunle, au Nigeria, qui suggèrent que, pour être efficace, la prévention du VIH et du sida requiert un degré beaucoup plus élevé de participation communautaire indépendante. Dans le cadre d'une étude des manières d'arriver à ce résultat, nous suggérons qu'une évaluation des points forts de la communauté donne des perspectives positives pour la compréhension et l'utilisation d'une variété beaucoup plus importante d'interventions en matière de VIH/sida qui n'ont pas été précédemment lancées dans le contexte du développement communautaire. Les approches fondées sur les communautés encouragent par ailleurs une compréhension plus profonde des questions de vulnérabilité propres au niveau local autour du VIH et du sida. Les initiatives de ce type peuvent être reliées à des tendances qui accordent une importance aux connaissances et aux capacités des populations locales délaissées et qui se basent sur leurs ressources, y compris leurs réseaux, leurs relations et leur confiance. Cependant, la connexion avec les ressources des ONG internationales (ONGI) et leur utilisation restent essentielles pour le succès. Si un ordre du jour interactif fondé sur les communautés du travail avec les ressources locales reçoit une acceptation suffisante aux échelons plus élevés des ONGI, les résultats pourraient être très considérables. Les accords internationaux/locaux de ce type, dans le cadre desquels les ONGI cherchent à travailler en plus étroite collaboration avec les groupes communautaires locaux et leurs membres sur des ordres du jour partagés, pourraient commencer à remédier à des problèmes structurels clés, en particulier les conflits et la pauvreté, qui ont pour effet d'exacerber le VIH/le sida au niveau de la base populaire et ne peuvent pas être résolus par des moyens purement médicaux.

Prevenção do HIV/AIDS: aproveitando os pontos fortes da comunidade em Ajegunie, Lagos

Este artigo baseia-se em uma pesquisa de campo em Ajegunle, Nigéria, que sugere que a prevenção efetiva do HIV/AIDS exige um grau muito maior de participação da comunidade independente. Ao explorar maneiras para se alcançar isto, sugerimos que avaliar os pontos fortes da comunidade oferece um escopo positivo para se compreender e utilizar uma variedade muito mais ampla de respostas ao HIV/AIDS que não foram utilizadas anteriormente no contexto de desenvolvimento da comunidade. Abordagens baseadas na comunidade também incentivam uma compreensão mais profunda de questões de vulnerabilidade localmente específica que cercam o HIV e AIDS. Tais iniciativas podem ser conectadas a tendências que valorizam o conhecimento e a capacidade de pessoas locais negligenciadas e aproveitar seus recursos, inclusive suas redes de trabalho, relacionamentos e confiança. Porém, a conexão com recursos de ONGs Internacionais (ONGIs) e o uso deles permanecem centrais para o sucesso. Se uma agenda de trabalho interativa baseada na comunidade com recursos no âmbito local obtém aceitação suficiente nos níveis mais altos das ONGIs, os resultados podem ser muito significativos. Tais acordos internacionais/locais, em que ONGIs buscam trabalhar de maneira mais próxima com grupos da comunidade local e suas pessoas em agendas compartilhadas, poderiam começar a lidar com algumas das questões estruturais centrais, especialmente conflito e pobreza, que agravam o HIV/AIDS na base e não são suscetíveis a soluções puramente médicas.

La prevención del VIH/SIDA: confiando en las fortalezas de la comunidad. Una experiencia en Ajegunie, Lagos

Este ensayo se centra en una investigación de campo realizada en Ajegunle, Nigeria, la cual demostró que para conseguir una prevención efectiva del VIH/SIDA se requiere de una profunda e independiente participación comunitaria. En su investigación sobre cómo lograr este objetivo, los autores sugieren que valorar las fortalezas comunitarias puede ser una base sólida para concebir y utilizar una gama de respuestas ante el VIH/SIDA más amplia de la que hasta ahora se aplica en el contexto del desarrollo comunitario. Los métodos basados en la comunidad también contribuyen a que se entiendan mejor las vulnerabilidades específicas y locales ante el VIH/SIDA. Estas iniciativas pueden contribuir a valorar más los hasta ahora ignorados conocimientos y capacidades de las personas locales, los cuales se basan en sus recursos propios como sus redes, sus relaciones sociales y su confianza. Sin embargo, el acceso a, y el uso de, los recursos de las ONG internacionales (ONGI) siguen siendo factores importantes para lograr el éxito. Si las directivas de las ONGI consideraran una agenda de trabajo interactiva con las comunidades utilizando los recursos locales, los resultados podrían ser muy significativos. Con este tipo de acuerdos internacionales/locales en los que las ONGI intentan trabajar más estrechamente con los grupos comunitarios y las personas a nivel local compartiendo estrategias, podrían comenzar a atajarse algunos de los principales problemas estructurales, en especial en situaciones de conflicto y pobreza, que agravan el VIH/SIDA entre personas de la base y que no pueden resolverse únicamente con soluciones médicas.     

Corporate response strategies to regulatory uncertainty: evidence from uncertainty about post-Kyoto regulation

A better understanding of firms’ response strategies to regulatory uncertainty enables policymakers to improve policymaking efficiency and to enhance the effectiveness of regulation. Based on a literature review, we categorize responses according to their objective toward regulatory uncertainty into four strategies: avoidance, reduction, adaptation, and disregard strategies. Unique data from a worldwide cross-industry survey show that firms predominantly pursue reduction, and to a lesser extent adaptation and disregard strategies, in response to post-Kyoto regulatory uncertainty. Surprisingly, firms in fact only sporadically pursue avoidance strategies, in contradiction to their own public announcements commonly made during policymaking to realize such strategies. The degree of regulatory uncertainty perceived and its interpretation as a threat increase the pursuit of most of these strategies. In addition, firms’ response strategies to post-Kyoto regulatory uncertainty differ across industries and partly across regions.     

Reparation in Cases of Genocide

In the judgement delivered in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia,the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Serbia,with regard to the acts of genocide committed in Srebrenica,had breached the obligation, as set out in Article I of the1948 Genocide Convention, to prevent genocide. However, it alsofound that Bosnia and Herzegovina had no right to monetary compensationand that the mere declaration of Serbia's responsibility fornot preventing the genocide in Srebrenica was in itself appropriatesatisfaction. This article criticizes the decision of the ICJnot to accord monetary compensation, which was based on thelack of a causal nexus between the failure by Serbia to complywith its obligation to prevent genocide and the death of 7000men in Srebrenica. It argues that the Court should have shiftedthe burden of proof and should have required Serbia to showthat even if the institutions of the then Federal Republic ofYugoslavia (FRY) had taken appropriate measures, the BosnianSerbs would nonetheless have completed their criminal plans.Concerning the issue of satisfaction, the article notes thatthe ICJ could have ordered symbolic monetary damages, by takinginto account international practice and the request by the Applicant.In addition, it observes that international tribunals enjoya large measure of discretion in awarding satisfaction and that,in making a determination on the most appropriate form of satisfactionthe genocidal tragedy itself should not have been left aside.In this connection, the ICJ could have found guidance in thecase law of the European Court of Human Rights, which in someinstances has taken into account the degree of pain and sufferingendured by the victims. Finally, with regard to guarantees andassurances of non-repetition, the article notes that these donot constitute a form of reparation, but rather should be consideredas an expression of the obligation to comply with the primaryrule incumbent upon a state in particular situations. The articleagrees with the Court's conclusion that an assessment of theprevailing situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not provideany clues to the presence of an actual threat to the physicalintegrity of the Muslim population. However, it contends thatthe reluctance by Serbia to arrest and transfer to the ICTYGeneral Mladi, more than three months after the delivery ofthe judgment of the ICJ and the issuance of a specific orderin this regard, unequivocally demonstrates the strong ties ofsolidarity between the Serbian leadership in Serbia and in theRepublika Srpska. Serbia is making itself an ex post accompliceof genocide, with far-reaching consequences for its envisagedintegration into the European Union.     

Police Interviewing and Interrogation: A Self-Report Survey of Police Practices and Beliefs

By questionnaire, 631 police investigators reported on their interrogation beliefs and practices-the first such survey ever conducted. Overall, participants estimated that they were 77% accurate at truth and lie detection, that 81% of suspects waive Miranda rights, that the mean length of interrogation is 1.6 hours, and that they elicit self-incriminating statements from 68% of suspects, 4.78% from innocents. Overall, 81% felt that interrogations should be recorded. As for self-reported usage of various interrogation tactics, the most common were to physically isolate suspects, identify contradictions in suspects' accounts, establish rapport, confront suspects with evidence of their guilt, and appeal to self-interests. Results were discussed for their consistency with prior research, policy implications, and methodological shortcomings.     

Zubehör-Wohnungseigentum ohne Eintragung ins Hauptbuch?

Zubeh?r-Wohnungseigentum an Hausg?rten, Kellerr?umen oder Lagerfl?chen wird oft nicht eigens im Grundbuch eingetragen, obwohl eine st?ndige, schon zum alten WEG 1975 ergangene Rsp des OGH seine dingliche Wirksamkeit von dieser Verbücherung abh?ngig macht. Der Beitrag versucht, die Begründung zu vertiefen, warum die Rsp eine solche Verbücherung zu Recht verlangt.     

Generational discourse in urban youth images: Private letters and popular literature in the case of Nuremberg's Tucher family around 1550

The history of generations is often researched in the light of ego-documents, including diaries or letters. These sources of communication between young and old require methods of literary criticism, as this article suggests in exemplary cases. Popular (and in some cases popular forms of learned) literature show how stereotypes dominated letters between Nuremberg fathers and sons fom the 16th century. Reading these letters as witnesses of direct emotional expression, as has been done so far, would be problematic on a theoretical level of the concept of autobiography (according the Ricoeur ‘an other’ of the self), but also an empirical level. Letters were cultural artefacts that were considered well-formed only when they met the standards set by the urban youth image. This included a conglomerate of religious discourses, psychological assumption about the nature of emotions, the urban system of values and honour relating to merchant education more specifically. In letters of this intergenerational context, even information could be put into the context of a situational self-representation of the person writing. Writing a letter as an apprentice or a student was not at all confined to convey factual information. Rather than that, writing letters meant to participate in the generation of norms and to act on a meta-level of communication, as well. Negative images of youth were rhetorically implemented in letters to maintain and reaffirm the hierarchy within the family. Letter exchanges secured economic stability of family firms and the subsequent social rise.     

Doubling Down: Inequality in Responsiveness and the Policy Preferences of Elected Officials

Is bias in responsiveness to constituents conditional on the policy preferences of elected officials? The scholarly conventional wisdom is that constituency groups who do not receive policy representation still obtain some level of responsiveness by legislators outside of the policy realm. In contrast, we present a theory of preference‐induced responsiveness bias where constituency responsiveness by legislators is associated with legislator policy preferences. Elected officials who favor laws that could disproportionately impact minority groups are also less likely to engage in nonpolicy responsiveness to minority groups. We conducted a field experiment in 28 US legislative chambers. Legislators were randomly assigned to receive messages from Latino and white constituents. If legislators supported voter identification laws, Latino constituents were less likely to receive constituency communications from their legislators. There are significant implications regarding fairness in the democratic process when elected officials fail to represent disadvantaged constituency groups in both policy and nonpolicy realms.     

Drones over Pakistan: Secrecy,Ethics, and Counterinsurgency

Abstract

The US government appears to be using drones to launch air strikes inside Pakistan. This article details uncertainties regarding the ethical soundness of these strikes and highlights the consequent need for greater official transparency. Available evidence is assessed in the light of traditional ethical requirements that the use of force is beneficial to a legitimate military objective, that it discriminates between combatants and noncombatants, and that it generates harm that is proportional to the expected military benefit. The murky picture that emerges is an inadequate foundation for determining whether US drone strikes in Pakistan constitute a just or an unjust use of force. Arguably, however, the very persistence of doubt on this point undermines international norms on the use of force and the reputation of the United States as a champion thereof. The US government should therefore either refrain from drone strikes or explain publicly how they are beneficial, discriminate, and proportionate.     

City Management in the United States and Norway: A Comparative Analysis of Professional Orientations

This analysis examines the effects of political culture on the nature and practice of professional local government management by comparing the structures, responsibilities, and relationships of city administrative executives in the democratic countries of the United States and Norway. The findings suggest that, despite fundamental differences in societal institutions and settings, American and Norwegian city managers serve similar roles in their respective local government organizations. However, the notable variations in the processes of municipal management identified between the two nations appear to reflect the contextual influence of divergent political foundations on the operational environment of professional public administrators.     

Through the European looking glass: citizenship tests in the USA,Australia, and Canada

Discussing new or recently reformed citizenship tests in the USA, Australia, and Canada, this article asks whether they amount to a restrictive turn of new world citizenship, similar to recent developments in Europe. I argue that elements of a restrictive turn are noticeable in Australia and Canada, but only at the level of political rhetoric, not of law and policy, which remain liberal and inclusive. Much like in Europe, the restrictive turn is tantamount to Muslims and Islam moving to the center of the integration debate.