An International Perspective on the African Famines

This article examines the practice of male circumcision among the migrant Yao people in Zimbabwe with the goal of showing circumcision's importance as a platform for social mobilisation against HIV and AIDS. The work looks at how the practice has health benefits and creates a new form of identity to fight AIDS. It therefore examines the role of the rite in the creation of a collective Yao identity that facilitates mobilisation against the pandemic within the community. This mobilisation is a complex and contentious process, which involves various levels of negotiation, reconstruction and reconfiguration of Yao identity and the circumcision practice (the surgical act and teachings about it), both within and outside the group. The article argues that the practice can be viewed as a form of an African social movement that is largely driven by a complex but self-conscious collective identity and is also induced by the global donor interest in the circumcision–AIDS debate.     

Book notes

Household Ecology: Economic Change and Domestic Life among the Kekchi Maya in Belize. By Richard R. Wilks. Tucson, AZ; London: The University of Arizona Press, 1991. Pp. xx + 280. $55 (hardback). ISBN 0 8165 1214 0.

Wagering the Land: Ritual, Capital and Environmental Degradation in the Cordillera of Northern Luzon, 1900–1986. By Martin W. Lewis. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992. Pp. 292. $40 (hardback). ISBN 0 520 07272 3.

Sustainable Development; Papers from the 6th EADI General Conference. Edited by Olav Stokke. London: Frank Cass, 1991. Pp. 132. £24. ISBN 07146 3449 2.

Gender and Development: A Practical Guide. Edited by L. Ostergaard. London: Routledge, 1992. Pp. xiv 220. £10.99 (paperback). ISBN 0415 071321.

Historical Dictionary of Mozambique. By Mario Azevedo. Metuchen, NJ and London: Scarecrow Press, 1991. Pp. xxix + 250. £22.15 (hardback). ISBN 0 8108 2413 2.

Understanding Contemporary Africa. Edited by April A. Gordon and Donald L. Gordon. Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner, 1992. Pp. xvi + 343. $45 and $19.95. ISBN 1 55587 265 5 and 55587 299 9.     

The Violence of Aid? Giving,power and active subjects in One World Conservatism

Abstract

Using ?i?ek's theorisation of power, we analyse the UK Conservative Party's Green Paper on international development, ‘One World Conservatism’ (OWC). We argue that by placing the West's giving of development aid as something beyond politics, on the moral high-ground of self-evident certainty, it acts to deflect attention from critical engagement with the nature of globalisation, power and aid itself, hiding both economic and epistemological violences behind the apparently benevolent act of giving. An analysis of the nature of the green paper demonstrates the ways in which it draws in UK citizens as active subjects complicit with this vision of the world.     

Exploring Gender-Based Disparities in Legal Protection,Education, Health,Political Empowerment,and Employment in Failing and Fragile States

Gender inequalities in legal protection, education, health, employment, and political empowerment have been of special interest to researchers for many years. Hausmann, Tyson, and Zahidi (2010 Hausmann , R. , Tyson , L. , & Zahidi , S. ( 2010 ). Gender gap index . Geneva , Switzerland : World Economic Forum . [Google Scholar], p. 3) noted, “Although gender-based inequalities exist in the majority of the world's cultures, religions, nations, and income groups, there are differences in the way these disparities manifest themselves and how they evolve over time.” The degree of governmental stability is a salient aspect of the process through which gender-based disparities manifest. Although all citizens are doubtlessly affected when states fail, women are especially marginalized and experience governmental failure in a fundamentally different way compared to their male counterparts. Thus, the goal of the current study is to analyze the relationship between state failure and gender-based disparities. Findings reveal significant relationships between gender disparities in most areas, however the relationship between legal protections and state failure produces the most robust results.     

The Intelligence Requirement of International Mediation

This article explores the intelligence requirement of international mediation, a topic that is ignored in both the literature on conflict resolution and the literature on intelligence. A mediator's strategies and tactics ought to be informed by a deep understanding of the parties' internal calculations about the conflict and its resolution. Intelligence is needed to gain this understanding because the parties typically do not reveal their sensitive deliberations to outsiders. United Nations mediation teams should have a monitoring and analysis unit that endeavours to meet this need and reduce the ignorance that commonly afflicts international mediation.     

The Impact of Customer Orientation on Government Employee Performance

ABSTRACT

This article explores the impact of “customer service” orientation on government employee performance. Although public organizations have been encouraged to become customer-centered organizations, concerns exist about the application of such market orientations to the management of government organizations. This article joins in the customer orientation debate by exploring the impact of customer orientation on employee motivation and performance. Using quantitative and qualitative analysis of data from civilian employees at a Department of Defense installation, this study explores the impact of customer orientation on employee performance and motivation, across time and work roles.

Consistent with previous research that suggests that customer orientation is positively associated with public and private employee performance and work attitudes, the results of this study suggest that customer service orientation has a strong positive impact on employee performance and motivation. Employee customer orientation provides a connection to the organization's goals consistent with employees' affective and normative values of public service, and feedback necessarily to improve service delivery. The impact of formal management systems may be enhanced by their ability to strengthen an employee's customer orientation. Ultimately, however, efforts to create a more “market”-based orientation focused on institutional customers who purchase services may have limited impact, or even a deleterious effect on, employee performance and motivation, unless also accompanied by formal linkages to service beneficiaries.     

Place,Time, and Philanthropy: Exploring Geographic Mobility and Philanthropic Engagement

America is a nation of movers, and this has implications for public and nonprofit managers who rely on donations and volunteers to increase the capacity of nonprofits and to strengthen local communities. This article explores the impact of time and place on philanthropic engagement, focusing on how three aspects of community—sense of belonging, social connections, and regional culture—are related to volunteering and giving to local organizations. The authors find that geographic mobility affects philanthropic engagement. Drawing on a survey of active older Americans, the authors find that three community factors —sense of community, social networks, and regional cultures— are related to one or both types of philanthropic behavior. The authors conclude by offering thoughts for future research and practice.     

Risky sexual behavior in college students: Relationships between number of sexual partners,disclosure of previous risky behavior,and alcohol use

To examine relationships between disclosure of previous sexually risky behavior to current sexual partners, multiple sexual partners, condom and alcohol use, and vulnerability to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, an anonymous survey was administered to 427 unmarried undergraduates. Of the 262 sexually active students (66%), one third reported having more than one sexual partner in the prior 11 weeks and three fourths reported inconsistent or no condom use. Failure to disclose having previous sexual partners, not using condoms, and testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) was common among both men and women. Students with multiple sexual partners were less likely to disclose about previous partners and about failure to use condoms, and more likely to use alcohol prior to sexual activity. Although 40.8% of respondents said they did not use or were less likely to use condoms while drinking, no relationship between alcohol and condom use assessed during the last discrete incident was found. College students continue to engage in sexual activity that puts them at risk for contracting HIV and other STDs. Self-disclosure about past risky behavior, when it occurs, does not appear to lead to higher levels of condom use.The authors contributed equally to this study.Received Ph.D. from West Virginia University. Research interests: AIDS prevention, community-based behavior change, and women in higher education.Received Ph.D. from University of California, Davis. Research interests: Cognitive neuroscience, attention, and alternate states of consciousness.     

Perceiving Self-Interest: Power,Ideology, and Maintenance of the Status Quo

We explore the perception of self-interest based on the social position of the person making a persuasive argument, and whether the argument challenges peoples representation of the social world. More self-interest is perceived when it is made on behalf of a small rather than a large group (Experiment 1), comes from a low status rather than a high status group (Experiment 2), and when it benefits an outgroup more than an ingroup (Experiment 3). We show that attempting to change the political status quo, no matter whose interests it may serve, leads to perceptions of self-interest (Experiment 4). We discuss these findings in terms of beliefs, social ideologies, and attitudes, and argue that perceptions of self-interest are often a marker of the defense of the status quo from perceived threats.