Voting Islamist or voting secular? An empirical analysis of voting outcomes in Egypt’s “Arab Spring”

This paper studies empirically the voting outcomes of Egypt’s first parliamentary elections after the Arab Spring. In light of the strong Islamist success at the polls, we explore the main determinants of Islamist versus secular voting. We identify two dimensions that affect voting outcomes at the constituency level: socioeconomic profile and the electoral institutional framework. Our results show that education is negatively associated with Islamist voting. Interestingly, we find significant evidence suggesting that higher poverty levels are associated with a lower vote share for Islamist parties. Exploiting the sequential voting setup, we show that later voting stages have not resulted in stronger support for the already winning Islamist parties (i.e., there is no bandwagon effect).     

Detecting deception in second‐language speakers

Purpose. We examined whether language proficiency had an impact on lie detection. Methods. We collected video footage of 30 targets who spoke English as their native or second language and who lied or told the truth about a transgression. Undergraduate students (N = 51) then judged the veracity of these 30 clips and indicated how confident they were in their ratings. Results. Participants were more confident when judging native‐language truth‐tellers than second‐language truth‐tellers. In addition, participants were more likely to exhibit a truth‐bias when observing native‐language speakers, whereas they were more likely to exhibit a lie‐bias when viewing second‐language speakers. Conclusions. Given the difficulties and biases associated with second‐language lie detection, further research is needed.     

Aboriginal youth with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and enmeshment in the Australian justice system: can an intercultural form of restorative justice make a difference?

Aboriginal youth with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) are overrepresented in the justice system. FASD results from prenatal alcohol exposure, and may lead to cognitive, social and behavioural difficulties that increase susceptibility to contact with the justice system. This paper explores the potential contribution of restorative justice in creating diversionary options for Aboriginal youth with FASD, and related cognitive impairments, to prevent enmeshment in the justice system. The lesson from work in Australia and New Zealand is that restorative justice and Indigenous justice are different, but not irreconcilable, projects. We suggest that there is the potential for creating rich intercultural engagement spaces ‘in between’ restorative practices and Indigenous processes: provided that restorative justice – as an essentially Eurocentric paradigm of the Global North – does not attempt to colonise Indigenous justice. An appropriate model would have Aboriginal people engaged in the planning and management of diversionary options, with greater focus on diversion into place-based, Aboriginal owned and managed services. Restorative justice needs to engage with the historical demands of Indigenous peoples for their land and their way of life; though constantly imperilled by forces of neo-liberalism and colonialism, Indigenous peoples remain resilient and provide a vision of an alternative to Euro-modernity.     

Terror and triage: prioritizing access to mass smallpox vaccination

In response to the threat of a smallpox attack on the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") recommended the establishment of smallpox clinics designed to distribute a vaccine to the entire U.S. population in a ten day period. However, a number of potential obstacles raise questions about the feasibility of this plan. What is needed is a plan that applies principles of triage to smallpox vaccine distribution following a bioterrorism attack. Only in this way can those most vulnerable--the previously unvaccinated--be protected from a significantly increased risk due to delays that might arise in executing the CDC plan.     

State Environmental Policies: Analyzing Green Building Mandates

This research addresses state requirements that public facilities be constructed as “green buildings” that promote environmental friendly, energy efficient, and healthy workplaces. We consider state choices to adopt green building mandates and the form of their policy enactment. In considering the way that low salience issues like green buildings get on state agendas and the circumstances under which governors decide to engage the issue, we extend William Gormley's (1986) depiction of “board room” regulatory politics. State energy agencies provide an attention‐focusing role while governors behave strategically in deciding whether to issue executive orders about green buildings. This research adds to the growing understanding of states as innovators in aspects of environmental policy not normally subject to state regulation.     

Parental Cultural Affiliation and Youth Mental Health Service Use

Studies indicate that African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Latino youth have higher rates of unmet mental health needs and lower rates of mental health service utilization compared to non-Hispanic White youth, suggesting that obstacles may exist in the help-seeking and service utilization pathway for minority youth. Parental cultural factors may significantly impact youth service use, and acculturation is one way to measure adherence to culture specific values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. In this study, parental acculturation level, conceptualized as cultural affinity to 1) mainstream American culture and 2) an alternative culture, were examined as potential mediators of the relationship between race/ethnicity and youth service use. The current subsample (n=1364) was drawn from the Patterns of Care study, a larger study of at-risk youth who were active to at least one of five public sectors of care. Our subsample included all youth aged 6–17 who were African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, or Non-Hispanic Whites (66.6% male). The results indicate that parental acculturation level as measured by affinity to an Alternative Culture was a partial mediator in the relationship between race/ethnicity and mental health service use for Asian/Pacific Islander and Latino youth. Doctoral student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, 6363 Alvarado Court, Suite 100, San Diego CA, graduate research assistant, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Children’s Hospital, San Diego, 3020 Children’s Way (MC 5033), San Diego, CA 92123 Assistant Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University; Assistant Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Research Scientist, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, 3020 Children’s Way (MC 5033), San Diego, CA 92123 Research Scientist, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Children’s Hospital, San Diego, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of San Diego; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 3020 Children’s Way (MC 5033), San Diego, CA 92123 Research Professor of Psychiatry and Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego; Emeritus Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University; Senior Research Scientist at the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, Children’s Hospital, San Diego, 3020 Children’s Way (MC 5033), San Diego, CA 92123     

Formulating disaster relief when needs are unknown.

As in most cases of natural disasters, relief needs arising out of the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruptions in May 1980 were greatly overestimated. Technical, bureaucratic, and political considerations all contribute to the upward bias in such cases. The errors in early estimates of relief needs can be reduced by systematic means. But more important than obtaining good early estimates is maintaining an effective control over actual disaster relief expenditures. As it turns out, the more effective systems of control usually go hand in hand with poorer early estimates, creating a dilemma for the management for disaster relief.