The Writer's Refusal and Law's Malady

In this piece I want to (re)pose the relation of writing to law and politics, by interrogating the sense of a writing which is simultaneously an unwriting or undoing of legal and political discourse through Maurice Blanchot's involvement in the movement against the French colonial war in Algeria and, in particular, his framing of the Declaration of the Right to Insubordination in the Algerian War in 1960. The piece analyses how the sense of the event of the Declaration continues to call us to acknowledge a 'disastrous responsibility' to a non-community beyond the time of law and politics.     

Natural Disasters and Political Participation: Evidence from the 2002 and 2013 Floods in Germany

How do natural disasters affect electoral participation? The existing social science literature offers contradictory predictions. A considerable body of research in sociology and psychology suggests that traumatic events can inspire pro-social behaviour, which might increase turnout. Yet, political science has long held that even minor changes to participation costs of low benefit activities can lead to considerable drops in civic engagement. Consequently, natural disasters should reduce electoral participation. We show how these distinct views can be jointly analysed within the Riker–Ordeshook model of voting. This paper then reports results on the impact of the 2002 and 2013 floods in Germany on turnout in federal and state elections in Saxony and Bavaria, conducted few weeks after the floods. Analysing community level turnout data, and drawing on a difference-in-differences framework, we find that flood exposure has a consistent negative effect on turnout. This indicates that the increase in the costs of voting outweighed any increase in political engagement in our case and stands in contrast to findings from developing contexts, where flood management was convincingly linked to electoral participation.     

How to write international history: Reflections on Norsk utenrikspolitikks historie

Norsk utenrikspolitikks historie (The History of Norwegian Foreign Policy), (6 vols., Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1992–97), NOK 298 per volume. Vol.1: Narve Bjørgo, Øystein Rian and Alf Kaartvedt, Selvstendighet og union. Fra middelalderen til 1905 (1995), pp.416. Vol.2: Roald Berg, Norge på egen hånd 1905–1920 (1995), pp.401. Vol.3: Odd‐Bjørn Fure, Mellomkrigstid 1920–1940 (1996), pp.434. Vol.4: Jakob Sverdrup, Inn i storpolitikken 1940–1949 (1996), pp.389. Vol.5: Knut Einar Eriksen and Helge Pharo, Kald krig og internasjonalisering 1949–1965 (autumn 1997), Vol.6: Rolf Tamnes, Oljealder 1965–1995 (autumn 1997).     

Academic potential among African American adolescents in juvenile detention centers: Implications for reentry to school

The study explores Black adolescent detainees academic potential and motivation to return to school to inform best practices and policies for juvenile reentry to educational settings. Adolescent detainees (N = 1,576) who were recruited from one male and one female youth detention facility, responded to surveys that assessed post-detention educational plans, as well as social and emotional characteristics, and criminal history. Multivariate analysis techniques were used to compare factors across race and gender, and plot linear relationships between key indicators of academic potential with associate factors. Findings revealed that youth were more likely to evince academic potential when they had a healthy level of self-esteem, adequate future goal orientation, positive mood, family and community involvement, fewer traumatic events, and less delinquent activity.