Proportional versus winner-take-all electoral vote allocations

This paper considers how the welfare of voters is affected under an Electoral College system when some state elects to award electoral votes in proportion to the number of votes received by each candidate rather than awarding all electoral votes to the winner of the state. I show that a majority of voters in that state is made worse off as a result of the change. I also give conditions under which voters in other states are made better or worse off as a result of the change.     

Unvermeidbare Ungleichheiten? Alltagsweltliche Ungleichheitsdeutungen zwischen sozialer Konstruktion und gesellschaftlicher Notwendigkeit

The article sketches a tacit ??enlightened common sense?? within stratification research according to which citizens in modern societies regard inequality as being caused by social factors and therefore in need of legitimation. The paper asks whether this is a plausible assumption about lay interpretations of stratification. Based on qualitative interviews with interviewees in privileged and disadvantaged social positions, the article reconstructs an interpretive scheme of the ??inevitability of inequality?? which regards inequality as an inescapable necessity of every social order and not as a contingent societal construct. Yet, another interpretive scheme exists that emphasizes the influence of social origin and thereby points to the social roots of stratification. Empirically, however, both interpretive schemes coexist within the consciousness of the interviewees. The potential for the criticism of inequality is thus circumscribed.     

Judges and Politics: The Parliamentary Contributions of the Law Lords 1876–2009

There is a common perception that, prior to the exclusion of serving judges from the House of Lords in 2009, a ‘politics convention’ operated which required judges to avoid party‐political controversy and ensured that they contributed to debate only rarely. On this view, the presence of the Law Lords in parliament prior to 2009 presented a judicial independence and separation of powers problem in theory only. An examination of the contributions of serving Law Lords and other judicial peers to debates in the House of Lords from 1876–2009 (and retired judges from 1876–2015) reveals that the convention either did not exist or was frequently ignored. While most judges were infrequent participants in parliamentary debate, some were enthusiastic – a small number among the most active parliamentarians in the Lords. The most active judicial peers were conservative in their politics and the best predictor that a judge would be active in the House was an association with conservative politics or causes.     

Policing persons in behavioral crises: an experimental test of bystander perceptions of procedural justice

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Policing is in the midst of a legitimacy crisis. Procedural justice is a primary avenue for police reform, including when police officers interact with...     

Assessing Latent Level Associations Between PTSD and Dissociative Factors: Is Depersonalization and Derealization Related to PTSD Factors More So than Alternative Dissociative Factors?

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criteria in DSM-5 included a dissociative diagnostic subtype characterized by a depersonalization item and a derealization item. Researchers have queried whether this was too restrictive, as alternative dissociative symptomatology may also be characteristic of the subtype. The current study utilized data from 318 Northern Irish students, of which 165 were trauma exposed. Participants were assessed for PTSD symptomatology based on DSM-5 criteria via a modified version of the PTSD Symptom Scale-Self-Report (PSS-5) and dissociative experiences via the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Confirmatory factor analysis of PTSD and DES models revealed an optimal four-factor DSM-5 PTSD model including reexperiencing, avoidance, negative alterations in mood and cognitions, and alterations in hyperarousal and reactivity factors, and an optimal three-factor DES model including absorption, amnesia, and depersonalization/derealization factors. When comparing the correlations between depersonalization/derealization and the four PTSD factors, significant Wald tests of parameter constraints revealed that depersonalization/derealization is more related to alterations in arousal and reactivity (r?=?.432) compared to avoidance (r?=?.289), χ ² (1, N?=?165)?=?8.352, p?=?.004. We discuss whether the mechanism for comorbid PTSD and dissociation may be related to PTSD’s arousal factor.     

Interparental Aggression and Adolescent Adjustment: The Role of Emotional Insecurity and Adrenocortical Activity

Adolescents exposed to interparental aggression are at increased risk for developing adjustment problems. The present study explored intervening variables in these pathways in a community sample that included 266 adolescents between 12- and 16-years-old (M?=?13.82; 52.5 % boys, 47.5 % girls). A moderated mediation model examined the moderating role of adrenocortical reactivity on the meditational capacity of their emotional insecurity in this context. Information from multiple reporters and adolescents’ adrenocortical response to conflict were obtained during laboratory sessions attended by mothers, fathers and their adolescent child. A direct relationship was found between marital aggression and adolescents’ internalizing behavior problems. Adolescents’ emotional insecurity mediated the relationship between marital aggression and adolescents’ depression and anxiety. Adrenocortical reactivity moderated the pathway between emotional insecurity and adolescent adjustment. The implications for further understanding the psychological and physiological effects of adolescents’ exposure to interparental aggression and violence are discussed.     

Combating Asymmetric Threats: The Interplay of Offense and Defense

The overarching objective of this analysis is to examine the ways and means by which the United States could take the asymmetric battle-space and win against the ever-changing array of threats posed by nation-states and non-state actors. Today's security challenges are predominantly hybrids: offense and defense; symmetric and asymmetric; synchronous and asynchronous; regular and irregular; geographically-focused and globally-ubiquitous. This reality requires multi-dimensional thinking, nuanced approaches, and nimble, decisive execution guided by a new strategic paradigm. Fighting on the enemy's terms, scoring short-term wins at unjustifiably high costs in lives, treasure and lost opportunities is simply unacceptable.     

U.S. Strategy in a Transitioning Middle East: Reviving ‘State Responsibility’

In light of the uncertainty surrounding the Middle East stemming from the Arab Awakening, and the inability of Washington to shape the process of transition, U.S. decision- makers must rethink their strategy for the region in general and for counterterrorism in particular. Reducing U.S. involvement in the region and letting the dust settle will serve American interests better and allow for building healthier relations with Middle Eastern countries. At the same time, since the risk of negative effects on neighboring states that accompany transition must be kept in check, the United States, together with other powers, should lead the international community in reviving the principle of “state responsibility” as a productive way to reduce spillover of conflicts and even provide incentives for actors in the region to limit violence.