Soft Power,Sports Mega-Events and Emerging States: The Lure of the Politics of Attraction

This article highlights and analyses a hitherto largely neglected dimension to the growing agency of large developing countries in global affairs: their hosting of international sports mega-events. Why are large developing countries hosting sports mega-events and what does this contemporary phenomenon tell us about the significance of, for example, the Olympics and the World Cup in global affairs? We explore these questions through brief examination of the cases of the three most active sports mega-event hosting states in recent times: Brazil, China and South Africa. The 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the upcoming 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil provide interesting examples with which to explore developing country agency in the international system and in particular the discursive basis of that agency. We see the hosting of sports mega-events as the practice of public diplomacy by states to both demonstrate existing soft power capability as well as pursue its further enhancement.     

The Palestinian Refugees

The following is an edited text of the presentations at the December 7, 1999, meeting of the Sadat Forum at Brookings, cohosted by Richard Haass, vice-president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, and Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland.     

Families of Origin,Foster Care Experience,and the Transition to Adulthood

The rising number of young adults transitioning to adulthood from the foster care system has been a focus of prior research. The current study explored foster care youths transitions to adulthood to identify factors that contribute to or inhibit prosocial adult outcomes. Structured data derived from interviews with foster care‐experienced adults and child welfare professionals as well as focus groups with foster care‐experienced adults and foster parents were analyzed using content analysis to examine the transition to adulthood from foster care. Positive or negative life outcomes resulted from two key mechanisms: a) issues related to family of origin (inadequate parenting, abuse); and b) foster care experiences (including a pattern of “drift”). We explore disidentification, a new social psychological concept. Throughout, key players provide policy recommendations for the child welfare system.     

Can APB 2000 Be Used to Discern Sincerity of Effort in Unimpaired Subjects from Maximal Performance in Subjects with Shoulder Pain?

The automated pegboard (APB 2000), which has been found to objectively quantify motor performance, was used to differentiate maximal motor performance among subjects with shoulder pain, healthy unimpaired subjects performing normally and also while feigning shoulder pain. Six participants with shoulder pain and 15 healthy unimpaired individuals participated. Individuals with shoulder pain were tested on the APB 2000 using their affected upper extremity. Unimpaired participants were instructed to perform normally on the test with randomly selected upper extremity and to feign shoulder pain with the other upper extremity. The two tests for the unimpaired participants were conducted 1 week apart. There were significant differences in mean performance time for normal, patient, and feigned performance, with 80, 111, and 149 sec for the three groups respectively (p < 0.0005). There was also considerable overlap in the three distributions of performance times. These preliminary findings suggest that the APB 2000 is able to distinguish performance time between these three groups. Whether it can be used to distinguish between maximal performance and submaximal performance in individuals suspected of submaximal performance requires further study.     

The U.S. Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs: current status and future considerations

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) drug testing standards were published in 1988 and revised in 1994, 1998, and 2004. In 2004, significant revisions defining, standardizing, and requiring specimen validity testing on Federal employee donor urine specimens were included. In a separate notice, HHS proposed to establish scientific and technical guidelines for the Federal Workplace Drug Testing Program to: (1) permit laboratory testing of hair, oral fluid, and sweat patch specimens in addition to urine specimens for marijuana, cocaine, phencyclidine, opiates (with focus on heroin), and amphetamines [including methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), methylenedioxyethamphetamine (MDEA), methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA)]; (2) permit use of on-site point of collection test (POCT) devices to test urine and oral fluid at collection sites; (3) permit use of instrumented initial test (screening only) facilities [IITF] to quickly identify negative specimens; and (4) add training requirement for collectors, on-site testers, and MROs. This proposal was published in the Federal Register on 13 April 2004, with a 90-day public comment period. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS, reviewed those comments and is preparing the Final Notice that will define the requirements for such testing, including: specimen collection procedures, custody and control procedures that ensure donor specimen identity and integrity, testing facility, initial and confirmatory test cutoff concentrations, analytical testing methods, result review and reporting, evaluation of alternative medical explanations for presence of drug or metabolite in the donor's specimen, and laboratory certification issues. Voluntary pilot performance testing (PT) programs for each specimen type are on-going since April 2000 to determine how to prepare PT materials for specimens other than urine to evaluate laboratories' ability to routinely achieve accuracy and precision required. Certification programs will be developed using the current urine drug testing National Laboratory Certification Program model. The addition of accurate and reliable workplace drug testing using hair, oral fluid, and sweat patch specimens will complement urine drug testing, and aid in combating industries devoted to suborning drug testing through adulteration, substitution, and dilution. For example, hair testing may detect chronic drug use for up to 90 days and be useful in pre-employment situations; oral fluid testing may detect drug use in past hours and be useful in post-accident situations; sweat patch testing may be useful in follow-up drug testing and treatment programs; POCTs and IITFs may be most useful for quickly identifying specimens that are negative for drugs and indicate that the specimen is valid.