Social Capital and the Number of Governments within a County: A Potential Problem with Social Capital

Social capital has been demonstrated to be a benefit to a community in a variety of ways. However, researchers have begun to point out that social capital does have a downside. Communities that use bonding social capital to mobilise residents to action have the potential to exclude outsiders from their communities. The number of governments in a county could be used as an indicator of bonding social capital within a region. Residents use their local government to create and pass laws that have the potential to exclude others. The current analysis used the number of governments as a proxy for bonding social capital. Findings demonstrate that as the level of bonding social capital (the number of governments) increased the social capital in the county increased. Residents use their bonding social capital to respond to others, which then increases the level of social capital to be able to mobilise in the future.     

Normative power and organized hypocrisy: European Union member states' arms export to Libya

The 2011 Libyan civil war prompted a reassessment of the normative foundation of the EU's conventional arms export control regime as armaments manufactured in Europe were used by Gaddafi's forces during the war. The EU's foreign policy identity is based, partly, upon a common approach to arms export involving respect for common criteria for export licences. Yet, prior to the civil war, considerable amounts of military equipment had been exported by member states to Libya, notwithstanding grounds for restraint on the basis of several of the criteria. This article traces member states' arms export to Libya during 2005–2010 to explore whether member states favoured restraint or export promotion. It concludes that although aware of the risks of exporting, in a competitive market for military goods, member states sought commercial advantage over restraint, and comprehensively violated export control principles. This casts doubts on assertions of the EU acting as a “normative power”.     

Book reviews

European Democratization since 1800 edited by J. Garrard, V. Tolz and R. White. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.x + 292; index. £45 (hardback). ISBN 0 3337 3894 2

Changing Party Systems in Western Europe edited by David Broughton and Mark Donovan. London: Pinter, 1999. Pp.315; index. £55 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 1 85567 327 4 and 328 2

How France Votes edited by M. Lewis‐Beck. New York and London: Chatham House, 2000. Pp.xi + 292; index. £18.99 (paperback). ISBN 1 56643 069 0

Democracy the Swedish Way: The 1999 SNS Democratic Audit of Sweden by Olof Petersson, Klaus von Beyme, Lauri Karvonen, Birgitta Nedelmann and Eivind Smith (trans. by Frank G. Perry). Stockholm: SNS Forlag, 1999. Pp.165; bibliography. SEK (Swedish crowns) 300 (paperback). ISBN 91 7150 7612

On My Country and the World by M. Gorbachev (trans. by G. Shriver). New York and Chichester: Columbia University Press and John Wiley, 2000. Pp.278; index. £19.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 231 11514 8

The Limits of Empire: The United States and Southeast Asia since World War II by Robert J. McMahon. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 276; index; bibliographic essay; map. £36 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 231 10880 X and 10881 8

China's Political System: Modernization and Tradition by June Teufel Dreyer. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 2000. Pp xvii + 347; index. £16.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 333 91287 X

The Postcommunist Citizen edited by Samuel H. Barnes and Janos Simon. Budapest: Erasmus Foundation and Institute for Political Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1998. Pp.272; index. NP (paperback). ISBN 963 03 5551 5

Federal Practice: Exploring Alternatives for Georgia and Abkhazia edited by Bruno Coppieters, David Darchiashvili and Natella Akaba. Brussels: VUB University Press, 2000. Pp.281. £14.45 (paperback). ISBN 90 5487 2381

Intellectual Politics in Post‐Tiananmen China, Social Text, No.55 edited by Xudong Zhang. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998. Pp.14. US$12 (paperback). ISBN 0 8223 6463 8

Mass Politics and Culture in Democratizing Korea by Doh C. Shin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.Xxxv +335; index. £37.50 (hardback); £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0521 651468 and 67823 2

Towards Mexico's Democratization: Parties, Campaigns, Elections and Public Opinion edited by Jorge Domínguez and Alejandro Poiré. London: Routledge, 1999. Pp.xii + 251; index. £45 (hardback); £14.99 (paperback). ISBN: 0 415 92159 7 and 92158 9

Democratization in Africa edited by L. Diamond and M.F. Plattner. Baltimore, MD and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. Pp.xxvii + 244; index. £32.50 (hardback); £12.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 8018 6272 8 and 6273 6

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountability and Performance by Richard C. Crook and James Manor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp.xvi + 335; index; bibliography. £45 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 521 63157 2 and 63647 7

Predatory Globalization: A Critique by Richard Falk. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999. Pp.x + 217; index. £49.50 (hardback); £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 7456 0935 X and 0936 8

The Myth of Global Chaos by Y. Sadowski. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998. Pp.xv + 267; index. NP (hardback) ISBN 0 8157 7664 0

Political Economy and the Changing Global Order, Second Edition edited by Richard Stubbs and Geoffrey R.D. Underhill. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.x + 422. £18.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 19 541 4640

Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance edited by Pippa Norris. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp.xv + 303; index. £45.00 (hardback); £16.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 19 829479 4 and 829568 5

Democracy's Edges edited by I. Shapiro and C. Hacker‐Cordón. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xiii + 297; index. £35 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 521 64356 and 64389 9

Revitalizing the State: A Menu of Options by Pradip N. Khandwalla. New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 1999. Pp.304; index. £27.50 (hardback). ISBN 0 7619 9316 9

The Self‐Restraining State edited by A. Schedler, L. Diamond and M.F. Plattner. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999. Pp.x + 393; index. US$59.95 (hardback); US$24.95 (paperback). ISBN 1 55587 773 7 and 774 5

Technology and Popular Participation edited by Brian Martin. Wollongong: University of Wollongong, Science and Technology Studies, 1999. Pp.263. Gratis (paperback). ISBN 0 86418 559 6

Contemporary Social and Political Theory: An Introduction by F. Ashe et al. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999. Pp.xi + 209; glossary; bibliography; index. £45 (hardback); £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 335 19625 X and 19624 1

The New Political Culture edited by Terry Nichols Clark and Vincent Hoffman‐Martinot. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1998. Pp.298; index. $65 (hardback); $26.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 8133 2814 4 and 6694 1     

An examination of implicit theories among francophone child molesters

Abstract

According to Ward (2000), cognitive distortions emerge from “implicit theories” (ITs). Ward and Keenan (1999) established a typology of the ITs of child molesters in which they classified existing knowledge on their cognitive distortions into five categories: “entitlement”, “nature of harm”, “uncontrollability”, “child as sexual being” and “dangerous world”. The purpose of this research was to examine whether the cognitive distortions of child molesters are encapsulated fully by these five categories of ITs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 convicted francophone child molesters and their cognitive distortions were analysed. Results indicate that six ITs were present in this sample. “Entitlement”, “nature of harm” and “uncontrollability” were identical to those of Ward and Keenan. “Child as sexual being” and “dangerous world” were present, but varied from their original versions. A new IT emerged, which we called “child as partner”. We discuss these findings in comparison to their original versions.     

Love is a Battlefield: Post-Political Control in an Era of Financial Crisis

This paper criticizes the ideology of deontological liberalism from the perspective of Marxist thought and employs the idea of temporality as an example of this critique. Deontological liberals like John Rawls argue that the liberal political order should be indifferent to ultimate ends. Consequently, Rawls constructs an "abstract" self that is defined apart from the concrete totality of a real human life. This paper argues, through Marx's essay "On the Jewish Question" that the liberal, bourgeois self is not "abstract" but exists in an instrumentalized society in which individuals treat themselves and others as means, not ends. Following this line of thought, the paper shows that the purportedly "abstract" or "empty" linear temporality of modern thought is actually commodified or instrumentalized time. The paper concludes with suggestions how "leisure" understood as non-instrumental or self-sufficient time could be an alternative to the commodified temporality of bourgeois culture.     

Entering the Lists: MI5's great spy round-up of August 1914

One of the most famous successes of the British Security Service, popularly known as MI5, was its great spy round-up of August 1914. According to all previous histories, official and unofficial, Vernon Kell, the first head of MI5, masterminded the arrest of 21 out of the 22 German agents working in Britain, crippling the German intelligence network within hours of the outbreak of the First World War. The event is still celebrated by MI5, but a careful study of the recently-opened records shows it to be a complete fabrication. This article examines the six surviving lists of suspects to show how and why MI5 created and perpetuated this remarkable lie.     

Indigenous societies and contemporary politics

Developments in Polynesian Ethnology, edited by Alan Howard and Robert Borofsky. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1990. ix + 374 pp. £26.60. ISBN 0–8248–1181‐X. Melanesia and the Western Polynesian Fringe: Vol. III of Russia and the South Pacific, 1696–1840, by Glynn Barratt. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1990. xvii+257 pp., 8 pp. plates, 12 maps. £34.15. ISBN 0–7748–0338‐X. Naga: Cultural Origins in Siam and the West Pacific, by Sumet Jumsai. Oxford University Press, Singapore and Oxford, 1989. 216 pp., 5 tables, 183 figs., 20 col. illus. £23.50 paperback. ISBN 0–19–588949–5. The Hawaiian Calabash, by Irving Jenkins, with photographs by Hugh de Vries. xii + 269 pp., col. and half‐tone plates, illus. £95. ISBN 0–7103–0339–4. New Caledonia: Anti‐colonialism in a Pacific territory (revised edition), by Helen Fraser. Peace Research Centre, ANU, Canberra, 1988. viii+88 pp. ISBN 0–7315–0484–4. Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific, by David Robie. Zed Books, London and New Jersey, 1990. 313 pp. £29.95 hardback, £8.95 paperback. ISBN 0–86232–864–0 and 0–86232–865–9. Australian Studies: A Survey, edited by James Walter. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, Toronto, viii + 326 pp. £16. ISBN0–19–554773‐X. Australian Society, edited by Keith Hancock. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990. xiii+258 pp. £25. ISBN 0–521–36161–3.     

Incidental findings in CT colonography: literature review and survey of current research practice

Incidental findings (IFs) of potential medical significance are seen in approximately 5-8 percent of asymptomatic subjects and 16 percent of symptomatic subjects participating in large computed tomography (CT) colonography (CTC) studies, with the incidence varying further by CT acquisition technique. While most CTC research programs have a well-defined plan to detect and disclose IFs, such plans are largely communicated only verbally. Written consent documents should also inform subjects of how IFs of potential medical significance will be detected and reported in CTC research studies.     

More than Floods and Wind,Louisiana Courts Continue to Get It Right on the So-Called “Pollution Exclusion”

The buzz out of Louisiana of late has been mostly related to insurance for losses arising from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But Louisiana continues to be a critical jurisdiction for insurance claims of companies in the energy and chemical industries. And for such claims, Louisiana has correctly held that claims involving negligent exposure to a potentially dangerous substance do not always fall within the ambit of so-called pollution exclusions, just because the substance could be characterized as a “contaminant” or “pollutant.”