Trust in a Time of Increasing Diversity: On the Relationship between Ethnic Heterogeneity and Social Trust in Denmark from 1979 until Today

This article examines the impact of ethnic diversity in Danish municipalities on citizens' social trust over the last three decades. During this period, Danish society has grown increasingly ethnically diverse, and this begs the question whether this has influenced trust in others negatively. Existing evidence from the Anglo‐Saxon countries would suggest that this is the case, whereas evidence from the European continent mainly suggests that no link exists between ethnic diversity and social trust. The empirical analysis uses individual‐level data on social trust from several surveys in Denmark in the period from 1979 to 2009 coupled with diversity at the municipality level. Individual‐level measures of trust over time enable estimation of the impact of changes in ethnic diversity within municipalities on social trust and, it is argued, thereby a more precise estimate of the effect of ethnic diversity on trust. The results suggest that social trust is negatively affected by ethnic diversity. The article concludes by discussing this result and suggest avenues for further research.     

Biology,Ideology, and Epistemology: How Do We Know Political Attitudes Are Inherited and Why Should We Care?

Evidence that political attitudes and behavior are in part biologically and even genetically instantiated is much discussed in political science of late. Yet the classic twin design, a primary source of evidence on this matter, has been criticized for being biased toward finding genetic influence. In this article, we employ a new data source to test empirically the alternative, exclusively environmental, explanations for ideological similarities between twins. We find little support for these explanations and argue that even if we treat them as wholly correct, they provide reasons for political science to pay more rather than less attention to the biological basis of attitudes and behaviors. Our analysis suggests that the mainstream socialization paradigm for explaining attitudes and behaviors is not necessarily incorrect but is substantively incomplete.     

Institutional Foundations of Legislative Speech

Participation in legislative debates is among the most visible activities of members of parliament (MPs), yet debates remain an understudied form of legislative behavior. This study introduces a comparative theory of legislative speech with two major implications. First, party rules for debates are endogenous to strategic considerations and will favor either party leadership control or backbencher MP exposure. Second, in some systems, backbenchers will receive less time on the floor as their ideological distance to the party leadership increases. This leads to speeches that do not reflect true party cohesion. Where party reputation matters less for reelection, leaders allow dissidents to express their views on the floor. We demonstrate the implications of our model for different political systems and present evidence using speech data from Germany and the United Kingdom.     

Validation of a Short Form of the Marlowe-Crowne for Use with Law Enforcement Personnel

This study cross-validates a 13-question version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale proposed by Reynolds (1982), using law enforcement professionals (n?=?241). A rational is offered for the importance of scales of this nature being used to assess honesty, social desirability and self-deception. External validity indicators including concurrent measures of aggression and prejudice as well as prehire MMPI scales K and L on a subset of this sample (n?=?70) are reviewed. Correlations between the 13-question version of the Marlowe-Crowne and external measures demonstrate robust effect sizes and statistical significance. Comparisons are also examined between officer scores and students from another cross-validation study of the 13-question short form of the Marlowe-Crowne (Zook & Sipps, 1984). Conclusions are made in consideration of the importance of honesty in law enforcement testing as well as the need for better means of accounting for variance due to social desirability in testing. Future directions for research are suggested.     

Functioning and Effectiveness of Electronic Control Devices Such as the TASER® M‐ and X‐Series: A Review of the Current Literature

Abstract: Conducted electrical weapons (CEWs) such as the TASER^® M‐ and X‐series deliver short high‐voltage, low‐current energy pulses to temporarily paralyze a person by causing electrical interruption of the body’s normal energy pulses. Despite many scientific publications, which classify the health risks of an appropriate use of the TASER device as minor, there still is a continuous uncertainty about possible side effects with human application. Based on a literature search of the National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE database’s PubMed system of current publications, the following article describes the mechanisms by which the device operates and discusses possible pathophysiological consequences. The majority of current human literature has not found evidence of clinical relevant pathophysiological effects during and after an exposure of professionally applied CEWs. However, to be able to exclude possible health risks, a medical checkup of people who have been exposed to CEWs is essential.     

Digital evidence from mobile telephone applications

In this paper we examine the legal aspects of the forensic investigation of mobile telephone applications. Mobile telephone applications might be involved with a variety of types of computer misuse including fraud, theft, money laundering, dissemination of copyrighted materials or indecent images, or instances where mobile telephone applications have been involved in the transmission of malware for malicious or criminal purposes. In this paper we examine the process of the forensic investigation of mobile telephone applications, and the issues relating to obtaining digital evidence from mobile telephone applications.     

Popular Nationalism and China’s Japan Policy: the Diaoyu Islands protests, 2012–2013

2012–2013 witnessed a renewed flare-up of anti-Japanese sentiment in Mainland China, followed by a toughening of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Diaoyu Islands policy. Did popular nationalism influence the PRC’s military escalation? A lack of transparency in elite Chinese decision-making puts a definitive answer to this question beyond our reach. However, this article utilizes qualitative and quantitative analyses of anti-Japanese discourse and deeds in both cyberspace and on the streets of urban China to argue that the circumstantial evidence is compelling: nationalist opinion is a powerful driver of China’s Japan policy. The demands of nationalist legitimation appear to pressure the elite to respond to popular nationalism. Should one or more Chinese die at the hands of the Japanese navy or air force, therefore, the popular pressure for escalation and war will likely be more than China’s leaders can manage.