Social change, political elections, and the middle class in Korea

The primary purpose of this study is to analyze the political orientations of the Korean middle classes as they were manifested in their voting behavior in the general and presidential elections. In addition, the present study examines the nature of the involvement of the middle classes in the context of each of the major historical events since the liberation from the Japanese colonial rule. The event-specific analysis of the middle class participation made it possible to test the fitness of different hypotheses about the political orientation of the Korean middle classes. With few notable exceptions, the middle classes had not been actively involved in protest movements. Rather, they rely on the democratic political systems to passively promote their own agenda and political transformation. Overall, the middle classes have remained a substantial and silent force, with the potential to be backbone of stability or the engine for change. Their force has been felt strongest in the general and presidential elections, where their support for or opposition to, the ruling party has consistently determined the outcomes. With the growth of voluntary associations representing a wide variety of causes, the middle classes' strength may be diluted somewhat by the number of issues for protest. A cause that finds support across the middle class An earlier version this article was presented at the Conference on “The Republic of Korea After 50 Years: Continuity and Convergence,” Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., October 2–3, 1998.     

Fishing for status: Impact of development on goa''s fisherwomen

An ignored but significant group in the local economy, female vendors of the traditional Kharvi fishing community in Goa, India have, in many ways, benefited from recent fisheries development. Their success in the markets has reinforced more egalitarian gender relations within fishing households, as well as affecting their class mobility and caste status in Goan society. Rather than being “victims” of technological development that has focused on fishermen, many Goan Catholic fisherwomen, in contrast to their Hindu counterparts, have made an economically successful transition from “barefoot, headload peddlers” in the villages to market entrepreneurs, working in small cooperative groups. The more complementary and egalitarian gender relations of fishing groups represent a reversal of the dominant patriarchal norms of Indian society. Ironically, the effects of economic success, education for the younger generation, and the withdrawal of Kharvi daughters from marketing activities may alter their economic and domestic independence and undermine more egalitarian gender relations in the future.     

The sources of European Union legitimacy: Political theories old and new

David Beetham and Christopher Lord, Legitimacy and the European Union (Longman, Harlow, 1998), 144 pp., ISBN 0–582–30489‐X (pb)

Thomas Banchoff and Mitchell P. Smith (eds), Legitimacy and the European Union: the Contested Polity (Routledge, London, 1999), 225 pp., ISBN 0–415–18189–5 (pb)

Albert Weale and Michael Nentwich (eds), Political Theory and the European Union: Legitimacy, Constitutional Choice and Citizenship (Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science, London, 1998), 205 pp., ISBN 0–415–17313–2 (hb)     

Violent victimization among males and economic conditions

Research Summary In this article, we use data from the 1973 to 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to estimate previously unknown trends in serious nonfatal violent victimization for Latino, non-Latino Black, and non-Latino White males in the United States. Past research has shown that Blacks and Latinos have been more susceptible than Whites to financial hardship during economic downturns and that economic disadvantage is an important correlate of violence in cross-sectional analyses. If significant declines in the national economy contribute to increases in violence, then crime trends disaggregated by race and ethnicity should show greater changes among minorities during periods of economic downturn. Although rates of violence have declined for all groups, we find that trends for Latino and Black males are similar and closely follow changes in consumer sentiment. In contrast, trends for White males display fewer fluctuations coinciding with changes in economic conditions. Continued disaggregation shows that these patterns appear primarily in stranger violence and not in violence by known offenders. The patterns also suggest that the association between changing economic conditions and male victimization trends might have weakened in recent years. Policy Implications The findings raise concerns about the potential impact of recent economic changes on the risk for serious victimization, particularly among Blacks and Latinos. In light of the possible recent weakening of the relationship between economic changes and crime, future research should assess whether criminal justice policies and other factors moderate the relationship between economic conditions and victimization and use group-specific measures of violence so that important variability across race and ethnicity is not masked. These analyses also should be expanded to consider the potential effects on violence of government policies designed to alleviate poverty and unemployment.     

What matters to citizens in crisis recovery? Being listened to,action, and confidence in government

Policy Sciences - The policy decision-making process in the aftermath of a crisis is a dynamic and iterative process involving circumstances that are emotionally convoluted rather than stable and...