Judicial politics in Belgium

The judiciary in Belgium is an independent branch of government and has succeeded in maintaining its independence against many odds. Not being bound by any particular method of inter‐pretion and able to control to a certain extent the machinery of government, the judges have been, whenever needed, cautiously innovative. The public is certainly not hostile, as far as such innovations are concerned. Constitutional law, morals, human rights and particularly economic law have been the areas in which judges have been most willing or compelled to take creative steps. Because these individual decisions are drafted as applications of existing general principles and statutes and largely reflect the prevailing views of society, very little criticism has been voiced about this hidden and cautious legal activism.     

More than wishful thinking: Causes and consequences of voters’ electoral expectations about parties and coalitions

Accurate expectations about the outcome of elections play a central role in psychological and economic theories of voting. In the paper, three questions about voters’ expectations are investigated. First, we identify and test several factors that influence the overall accuracy or quality of voters’ expectations. Second, the phenomenon of “wishful thinking” is tested and confirmed for expectations about the electoral performance of individual parties and coalitions. Finally, two mechanisms how expectations might influence voting behavior are identified and tested. Based on surveys from Austria and Germany, the results suggest that voters not only rely on expectations to avoid casting “wasted” votes for parties without electoral chances, but that they are able to engage in fairly sophisticated strategic coalition voting.     

A Cross-National Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Economic Deprivation on Crime

This study develops and tests a model of economic deprivation and crime using data from 52 nations for the years 1995–1999. The model, centering on the role of absolute and relative economic deprivation in mediating crime, predicts that social change causes variation in economic deprivation, which, in turn, leads to variation in crime rates. The results show that the relative deprivation variable, income inequality, mediates a large portion of the effects of two social change variables, population growth and urbanization, on homicide, while one of the absolute deprivation variables, GDP, transmits a great part of the effects of social change variables on theft. Both social change variables were found to have a weak direct connection to homicide and theft rates. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Preferences for Police Response to Domestic Violence: A Comparison of College Students in Three Chinese Societies

While a large amount of research has been conducted in the West on domestic violence related issues, only a small number of studies have focused specifically on Chinese societies. Using survey data collected from Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei, this study compares college students’ preferences for traditional and proactive police intervention into domestic violence and assesses the determinants of such preferences in the three Chinese societies. The findings indicate that Hong Kong students showed the highest level of support for traditional police response, followed by students in Beijing and Taipei, while students in Taipei displayed the strongest preference for proactive police response, followed by students in Hong Kong and Beijing. College students’ preferences for traditional police response were shaped mainly by their locality, whereas their preferences for proactive police intervention were influenced chiefly by their attitudes toward violence and gender roles. Directions for future research are discussed.     

The draw a person test and young state hospital patients

Because of the increasing number of adolescents being admitted to state hospitals, because of the continuing need for appropriate testing materials for these patients, and because of the frequent criticism leveled against the DAP's validity, this study was undertaken in order to provide normative data for the DAP with this particular clinical population. The subjects were 84 male and 66 female psychiatric patients from the Adolescent Unit (AU) at Rusk State Hospital. As each patient was admitted to the AU, he was scheduled for psychological testing, with the DAP, the Revised Beta, and the MMPI being part of this testing. The results of this study indicate that the social factors of Ethnicity and Work Habits are significantly related to DAP test performance by male subjects, while Diagnosis is significantly related to DAP test performance by female subjects. A subject's performance on the MMPI and the Revised Beta Examination was not found to be significantly related to his performance on the DAP.Received B.S. in psychology from North Texas State University in 1967 and M.S. in psychology from North Texas State University in 1968. Research interest is child and adolescent psychology and etiology of deviant behavior.Received B.S. in psychoogy from Stephen F. Austin University in 1965, M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin University in 1967, and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Alabama in 1971. Research interest is applied research in mental health and mental retardation with emphasis on learning theory and cognitive development.Received B.A. in education and psychology from Baylor University in 1963, M.A. in education from Baylor University in 1967, and Ed.D. in educational psychology from Baylor University in 1970. Research interest is applied research in mental health and mental retardation.Received B. S. in mathematics from William and Mary University in 1960, M.S. in mathematical statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1962, and Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1967. Research interest is statistical methodologies in the field of mental health and mental retardation.Received A.S. in data processing from Date Junior College, Miami, Florida, in 1966, B.A. in mathematics from the University of South Florida in 1968, and M.S. in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. Research interest is statistcal methodolgies in the field of mental health and mental retardation.Received B.S. in psychology from Texas A & M University in 1970 and M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin University in 1971. Research interest is child and adolescent psychology and etiology of deviant behavior.     

Fighting for the Soviet Union 2.0: Digital nostalgia and national belonging in the context of the Ukrainian crisis

This paper focuses on the use of Soviet-era symbols, myths, and narratives within groups on VKontakte social media site over the initial stage of the Ukraine crisis (2014–2015). The study is based on qualitative content analysis of online discussions, visual materials, and entries by group administrators and commentators. It also applies link-analysis in order to see how groups on social media are interrelated and positioned online. It reveals that these online groups are driven primarily by neo-Soviet myths and hopes for a new version of the USSR to emerge. Over time, the main memory work in these groups shifted from Soviet nostalgia and “pragmatic” discourse to the use of re-constructed World War II memories in order to justify Russian aggression and to undermine national belonging in Ukraine. Reliance on the wartime mythology allowed for the labelling of Euromaidan supporters as “fascists” that should be eliminated “once again.” This powerful swirl of re-created Soviet memories allowed effective mobilization on the ground and further escalation of the conflict from street protests to the armed struggle.