Small scale socio-cultural thematic maps for development and administrative planning

Because of the domination of development and administrative planning by economists there has in the past been a concentration on variables that are mostly economic and measurable and a tendency to give insufficient attention to socio-cultural and socio-political variables. Now perspectives are changing and there is an awareness of the need to use more accurate and complete data on social and cultural phenomena. There is as a result a need to appreciate the contribution that geographers and cartographers can make. This article reviews the small scale socio-cultural mapping of third world countries. It considers the available range of such maps and carto-bibliographical guides, and proceeds to consider how socio-cultural mapping could be extended in a way that would be useful for development planners and administrators.     

Identities,Boundaries, and Accounts of Women Methamphetamine Users

Drug users often define themselves as functional users and depict others as dysfunctional (i.e. junkies). Previous research on the social identities of drug users has focused on the symbolic boundaries they create to distance themselves from stigmatized others. Investigators have yet to focus on how users account for their own boundary violations. Here, we examine the narratives of 30 former women methamphetamine (meth) users to determine how they make distinctions between functional and dysfunctional meth users (i.e. “meth heads”). The distinctions they make are based on users’ abilities to maintain control of their lives and to hide their use from outsiders. Those who saw themselves as functional but who engaged in behaviors inconsistent with this image accounted for these behaviors to maintain desired identities. We show the complexity of drug users’ identities and illustrate how anti-drug campaigns that provide grotesque caricatures of drug users may prolong drug using careers.     

Beyond Fukushima: Japan's Emerging Energy and Environmental Challenges

This article considers the political-economic process by which “energy angst” created an embedded nuclear orientation in Japanese energy policymaking, and then how, following Fukushima, Japan initially tried to transform that structural tendency, through a political system poorly suited to reform, before edging back toward its traditional path. Due both to the prevailing systemic bias and the underlying political economy of nuclear power, the process of transformation promises to be a turbulent and extended one, with natural gas and energy efficiency being crucial tools for ameliorating the difficult realities of the domestic status quo.     

加拿大恢复性司法的制度化

加拿大自1996年量刑改革以来,主要在量刑方面积极推进恢复性司法的制度化.尽管已正式确认把补偿和承认对被害人的伤害作为量刑目的,但只有较少证据表明量刑中的恢复性司法手段为犯罪被害人带来了实实在在的利益.主要原因是量刑程序的结构性限制,而不是理论研究不足或是对确认恢复性司法作为犯罪替代措施的可能性认识不足.对原住民罪犯关押比例过高问题的关注,是加拿大恢复性司法制度化的首要推动因素,但已有证据表明,恢复性量刑改革在加拿大并没有降低原住民犯罪的过高比例.此外,试图将原住民社区司法举措塑造成恢复性司法模式的尝试,可能会威胁到这些举措,而且可能难以惠及那些最弱势的犯罪者.