Civil Society as Ideology in the Middle East: A Critical Perspective

Since the early 1990s support for civil society has constituted the linchpin of international efforts in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) to promote democratisation and democratic values. The rationale for this support lies in an understanding of civil society drawn from a liberal-democratic model, which dominates debates about civil society. This paper highlights the inaccuracies of this model when applied to the MENA and, using Turkey as an example, draws attention to the perils of supporting civil society organisations (CSOs) based on its conjectures. A critical analysis of CSOs and their role in Turkish society, drawing on the theoretical framework laid down by Gramsci, highlights two key issues: (1) contrary to the dominant policy view which equates civil society organisations with democracy, CSOs often assist elites in both democratic and undemocratic states to extend and consolidate their political economic power; (2) the idealisation of civil society by Western policy makers results in a diminished awareness of the factors which weaken civil society and erodes its democratic potential. Overall, the findings support the assertion that CSOs in the MENA facilitate predominantly elite interests over those of ordinary citizens and democracy more broadly.     

Reviews and commentatry

CIAs inspector general — the DCI's independent eye: another view

Misplaced loyalties: the Pollards and “friends”

Wolf Blitzer: Territory of Lies: The Exclusive Story of Jonathan Jay Pollard: The American Who Spied on His Country for Israel and How He Was Betrayed. Harper & Row, New York, 1989, 336 p., $22.50.

Counterintelligence: hazards and goofs

Ronald Kessler: Spy vs. Spy: Stalking Soviet Spies in America Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1988, 308 p., $19.95.

The Lincoln assassination and the confederate secret service

William A. Tidwell, with James O. Hall and David Winfred Gaddy: Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., 510 p., HB $38.50, PB $17.95.

A brief tour of American intelligence

Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allan E. Goodman: Strategic Intelligence for American National Security Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1989, 232 p., $19.95.

Les miserables in modern dress

Peter Maas: Manhunt: The Incredible Pursuit of a CIA Agent Turned Terrorist Random House, New York, 196, 301 p., $18.75.

Yale at war

Robin W. Winks: Cloak & Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939–1961 William Morrow, New York, 1987, 322 p., $22.95.     

Media Framing and Public Attitudes Toward Biofuels

This study investigates the relationship between media framing and public opinion on the issue of biofuels—transportation fuels made from plants, animal products, or organic waste. First, the paper investigates how media framing of biofuels has changed since the issue regained national prominence in the early 2000s. Through a detailed content analysis of newspaper coverage, the paper documents an increase in negative frames between 1999 and 2008, especially frames focusing on the negative economic effects of biofuels on consumers. Second, using data from a 2010 Internet survey of a random sample of the U.S. public, the paper analyzes the relative influence of these new media frames on public attitudes toward biofuels compared with other common predictors of public opinion, such as party ID, regional economic interests, and personal identity as an environmentalist. In general, the results confirm that public attitudes toward biofuels appear to be shaped by these new media frames, especially among those who indicate a high degree of attention to the media, suggesting the relative importance of framing effects on policy attitudes for environmental and energy policies in general.     

Competing Expectations in an Index-Based Livestock Insurance Project

Despite donor enthusiasm for index-based microinsurance, globally, pilots have struggled to realise its promises. This paper considers the Kenyan Index-Based Livestock Insurance pilot, investigating the competing expectations held by actors including (re)insurers, researchers, donors, NGOs, and pastoralists. We explore expectations’ impacts on partner involvement, project outcomes, sales, and the future outlook for Kenyan livestock insurance. Quantitative analysis suggests early demand and subsequent backlash were not results of systematic mis-selling, but rather stemmed from clients’ unfulfilled expectations of patron-like relationships with insurance partners. We caution against exaggerated expectations of profitability and call for reflection and transparency amidst the embrace of insurance tools.     

Envisaging the Post-Brexit Landscape: An Articulation of the Likely Changes to the EU–UK Competition Policy Relationship

In the light of the outcome of the 23rd June 2016 UK referendum to leave the European Union and the May government’s consequent approach to Brexit, this paper explores the likely changes that these will bring to a key EU–UK relationship, the competition policy relationship. It is suggested that changes are likely not only in public enforcement and private actions but also in the need for a new competition cooperation architecture between the EU and the UK. In order to appreciate how the competition relationship is likely to change after Brexit, an understanding of the current architecture in respect of the said areas is necessary and thus outlined early in the paper. Thereafter, it is argued that, post the implementation period, as the UK will no longer come under the direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice or indeed be a member of the Single European Market, a considerable loosening or separation of the strands that shape the current EU–UK competition relationship will occur. This unwinding of the currently intertwined EU and UK competition regimes will affect both public enforcement and private actions, thereby opening up the possibility of further regulatory divergence, unless consciously checked. Moreover, as the separation will see the Commission’s jurisdictional remit no longer include the UK, the domain will become the sole regulatory concern of UK institutions, particularly the Competition and Markets Authority. This will lead to dual regulatory capture, often of significant and complex antitrust and merger cases, given the overlapping nature of EU and UK markets. Clearly, this necessitates the UK regulator having the appropriate staffing to vet such cases, as it moves from essentially a regional player to one on a par with the Commission and regulators in the USA and China. In fact, the dual capture of such cases reinforces the importance of effective cooperation between the EU and UK regulators. However, given that the current competition cooperation relationship will end at the conclusion of the implementation period, the paper articulates a likely new EU–UK competition cooperation architecture, reflecting the fact that the UK would be outside the EU, but still enabling close, effective cooperation. Of course, and echoing the EU, it is also in the UK’s interest to agree similar competition cooperation bilaterals with key non-EU regulators. Yet, because this will take time, and because cooperation can indeed fail, the UK, like the EU, must ensure its competition instruments have the necessary extra-territorial reach.     

The Sanctions-Perceptions Link in a Model of School-based Deterrence

This paper reports a study examining associations between objective indicators of the level of discipline within schools and students’ perceptions of the strictness of discipline. Data were analyzed from the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS), a nationally representative panel study of eighth grade students attending public and private schools in 1988. We find evidence for an association between objective and perceived risk of discipline in models that examine the covariation of these two constructs at several cross sections, and in models of change in perceptions as a function of change in school sanctioning climate. Moreover, these associations were strongest in small and less disordered schools.

Intergenerational Transmission of Violence: the Influence of Self-Appraisals,Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse

Although research has demonstrated connections between experiencing abuse as a child and being in a violent relationship as an adult, the specific mechanisms through which this transmission occurs are unclear. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between certain personal factors (self-appraisals and mental/substance use disorders) and experiencing violence as an adult. Data from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) 1990–1992 were utilized. Respondents who reported experiencing childhood abuse or victimization and were in a current intimate partnership (N = 590) were selected for analysis. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that low self-esteem, past year PTSD, and past year alcohol dependence were significantly associated with intimate partner violence after controlling for other self-appraisals and mental disorders.     

The Difficulties in Assessing Wounds Created by .410 Bore Ammunition and Weapons

When interpreting firearm injuries, the distinction between gunshot wounds and shotgun wounds is important, and separation of these categories is typically straightforward. However, .410 bore firearms can make the classification difficult. Shotguns and revolvers that can fire the same .410 bore ammunition are readily available. This study investigates the soot and gunpowder deposits and pellet patterning of these two types of weapons using cartridges specially designed for .410 bore revolvers and standard birdshot pellet ammunition. For both ammunition types, the revolver had more prompt pellet dispersion and positive detection of gunpowder at greater distances compared to the shotgun. Additionally, .410 bore slugs are of similar caliber to many common bullets. In comparing the .410 bore slugs to equivalent bullets, some morphologic differences may be imparted on the skin by the slugs, but the greatest insight into the weapon remained with the retained projectiles.     

Twenty years after Gilmore: Who is being executed?

This research profiles the 432 felons executed between 1977, the first execution in the post-Gregg era, and 1997. The 432 death row inmates executed during this period were males (with one exception), convicted of murder under at least one aggravating circumstance, and had extensive criminal histories. Most held low-prestige jobs prior to their last arrest, achieved less than a high school education, and had serious mental or emotional problems. Only a handful of these executions generated any publicity. Those who were executed were lower class individuals unlikely to arouse any public sympathy. The author would like to thank Richard Tewksbury and the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Disproportional Imprisonment of Black and Hispanic Males: Sentencing Discretion,Processing Outcomes,and Policy Structures

Disproportional incarceration of black and Hispanic men has been the subject of much critical commentary and empirical inquiry. Such disproportionality may be due to greater involvement of minority men in serious crime, to discretionary decisions by local justice officials, or to the differential impact of sentencing policies, such as mandatory minimums or sentencing guidelines, that differentially impact minority men. This study investigated the extent to which the disproportional punishment of black and Hispanic men, and local variation in such disproportionality, can be attributed to unexplained disparities in local sentencing decisions, as opposed to the extent to which such differences are mediated by sentencing policies, or case-processing and extralegal factors. We use 2005–2009 federal court and Pennsylvania state court data. Our findings suggest, particularly in Federal courts, that most disproportionality is determined by processes prior to sentencing, especially sentencing policies that differentially impact minority males.