The symbiosis between Palestinian ‘Fayyadism’ and Israeli ‘economic peace’: the political economy of capitalist peace in the context of colonisation

Abstract

Recent years have seen both the Palestinian Authority and Israeli government conveying the supremacy of economic approaches over politics to achieve peace and stability. More specifically, the encounter and symbiosis between Palestinian 'Fayyadism' as a professional application of neo-liberal approaches to state-building and economic development, and the Israeli strategy of 'economic peace' towards the Palestinians have shaped much of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dynamic, with a particularly discernible materialisation in the West Bank. This article critically analyses this dynamic in light of the recently revived theory of 'capitalist peace', which, despite valid criticism, entails considerable similarities with the basic assumptions of 'Fayyadism' and 'economic peace'. While two key dimensions express this symbiosis—security co-ordination and economic normalisation—the article focuses mainly on the economic part, particularly the case of joint industrial zones, which exemplify the most extreme example of this symbiosis.     

Gender-Typed Personality Qualities and African American Youth’s School Functioning

Numerous studies document sex differences in African American girls’ and boys’ academic achievement and motivation, but little is known about how the enactment of gender, such as in the forms of gendered behaviors, attitudes, or personal-social qualities, is related to school functioning. To advance understanding of African American adolescents’ academic experiences, this study examined the longitudinal linkages between stereotypically feminine (i.e., expressive) and stereotypically masculine (i.e., instrumental) personality characteristics and school adjustment. The moderating effects of youth’s ethnic identity and school racial composition also were tested. Participants were 352 African American youth (50.1% girls; mean age at Time 1?=?12.04 years; SD=?2.03) who participated in annual home interviews. Net of biological sex, expressive traits (kind, sensitive) were positively related to school self-esteem and school bonding for both girls and boys, but youth with higher levels of instrumentality (independent, competitive) exhibited sharper declines in academic achievement across adolescence. School racial composition moderated the effects of instrumentality at the between-person level, such that instrumentality was positively related to school self-esteem only for youth who attended schools with fewer African American students. These results highlight the importance of incorporating gendered personality traits, rather than biological sex alone, into theoretical accounts of African American youth’s school functioning.

     

Community engagement in Australian local governments: a closer look and strategic implications

Public input into decision-making through participatory and deliberative democratic practices has become a widely accepted and legislated responsibility of Australian local governments. At any one time, councils are leading submission processes, workshops and online surveys on a multitude of projects, ranging from long-term community strategic plans to public art projects. The increase in these practices has been exponential, leaving little time for critical reflection. The lack of empirical data to illustrate how community engagement is understood and practised in different councils has hindered sector-wide reflection. This paper presents the findings of the ‘Local Government Community Engagement Census’, a survey of 175 councils – approximately half – from 4 of Australia’s eastern states. This sectoral snapshot provides a picture of how councils understand, prioritise and practise community engagement, allowing critical reflection, an interpretation of implications and suggesting areas for future research.     

Barack Obama vs Bristol Palin: why the President’s sex education policy wins

The federal government has exponentially increased funding for abstinence‐only sex education over the last few decades, a position supported by former vice‐presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol. Unfortunately, empirical research indicates that abstinence‐only education is ineffective and may have negative consequences for adolescents. Despite encouragement of abstinence, adolescents continue to engage in sexual relationships, indicating that a different approach to sex education should be supported. This situation raises a number of justice issues because it is important for the government to fund sex education curricula that instruct adolescents on how to protect themselves from pregnancy and STDs. The majority of parents also disagree with the federal funding of abstinence‐only education and support more comprehensive education. This indicates that funding abstinence‐only education is diametrically opposed to community sentiment. Federal funding of abstinence‐only sex education is also problematic as such policies violate a number of adolescents’ constitutional rights. Therefore, the federal government must revise its current sex education policies. President Obama’s proposed plan has the potential to overcome many of these issues associated with abstinence‐only education.     

Capitalist Punishment: Ethics and Private Prisons

One of the results of Western capitalism has been the increasing pressure for the privatization of the criminal justice system. Although there has long been private or nonprofit involvement in corrections, a newer response has been to turn entire prisons over to private enterprise, or to pay private prisons to house state or federal inmates. Progressively, then, inmates once completely devalued as social junk are being valued as commodities to be sought after. This paper attempts to discuss a series of issues around private prisons. As we can only look at several issues in one paper, we shall concentrate our attention on construction, operating costs, accountability and broader ethical questions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Urban African American youth exposed to community violence: a school-based anxiety preventive intervention efficacy study

This study evaluated the efficacy of a school-based anxiety prevention program among urban children exposed to community violence. Students who attended Title 1 public elementary schools were screened. Ninety-eight 3rd-5th-grade students (ages 8-12; 48% female; 92% African American) were randomized into preventive intervention versus wait list comparison groups. Students attended 13 biweekly one-hour group sessions of a modified version of FRIENDS, a cognitive-behavioral anxiety intervention program. Results indicated that both intervention and control groups manifested significant reductions in anxiety symptomatology and total exposure to community violence, along with improved standardized reading achievement scores. Additional gains observed only in the intervention group were increased standardized mathematics achievement scores, decreased life stressors, and reduced victimization by community violence. The intervention was equally efficacious for both genders and for children exposed to higher, compared to lower, levels of community violence. Implications for comprehensive, culturally and contextually relevant prevention programs and research are discussed.     

The impact of adult drug courts on crime and incarceration: findings from a multi-site quasi-experimental design

Objectives  

To test the impact of adult drug courts on future criminal behavior and sentence length on the precipitating criminal case; and to examine whether the magnitude of the drug court impact varies based on drug use or criminal history, social ties, mental health, or offender demographics.     

Sudden death caused by coronary artery aneurysms: a late complication of Kawasaki disease

The authors describe three cases (two blacks and one Latin American) of sudden death caused by late complications of Kawasaki disease (mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome). At autopsy each heart contained multiple coronary artery aneurysms with luminal stenosis caused by intimal hyperplasia and thrombi. Although virtually all fatal cases of Kawasaki disease occur within six months of the onset of symptoms, there have been other reported deaths up to 14 years after the acute illness. The coronary artery aneurysms of Kawasaki disease may persist and cause death years after the acute illness.