The Northern Ireland crisis in perspective

Abstract

The urban guerrilla warfare that has been taking lives in Northern Ireland for the past sixteen years cannot be regarded as an anachronistic settling of scores between “papists” and “prods” in an inferior remake of Europe's seventeenth‐century wars of religion. It is a conflict of our time and its distinguishing features cannot quite conceal a problem common to most divided countries, especially those—like Cyprus and Lebanon—which are shaken by similar convulsions.     

Cream‐Skimming,Parking and Other Intended and Unintended Effects of High‐Powered,Performance‐Based Contracts

As performance‐based contracting in social welfare services continues to expand, concerns about potential unintended effects are also growing. We analyze the incentive effects of high‐powered, performance‐based contracts and their implications for program outcomes using panel data on Dutch cohorts of unemployed and disabled workers that were assigned to private social welfare providers in 2002 to 2005. We employ a difference‐in‐differences design that takes advantage of the fact that contracts gradually moved from partial performance‐contingent pay to full (100 percent) performance‐contingent contracting schemes. We develop explicit measures of selection into the programs and find evidence of cream skimming and other gaming activities on the part of providers, but little impact of these activities on program outcomes. Moving to a system with contract payments fully contingent on performance appears to increase job placements, but not job duration, for more readily employable workers.     

Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom*

Citizenship tests are arguably intended as moments of hailing, or interpellation, through which norms are internalized and citizen-subjects produced. We analyse the multiple political subjects revealed through migrants’ narratives of the citizenship test process, drawing on 158 interviews with migrants in Leicester and London who are at different stages in the UK citizenship test process. In dialogue with three counter-figures in the critical naturalization literature – the ‘neoliberal citizen’; the ‘anxious citizen’; and the ‘heroic citizen’ – we propose the figure of the ‘citizen-negotiator’, a socially situated actor who attempts to assert control over their life as they navigate the test process and state power. Through the focus on negotiation, we see migrants navigating a process of differentiation founded on pre-existing inequalities rather than a journey toward transformation.     

Does the International Trafficking of Cultural Heritage Really Fuel Military Conflicts?

General media outlets are increasingly arguing that the looting of cultural heritage artifacts contributes to the funding of terrorist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This article reexamines this claim in light of the political science literature on internal conflicts duration. While we do know that armed conflicts contribute to an increase of looting activities in the territories at war, it is still too early to generalize the ISIS case and conclude that these activities contribute to significantly funding armed non-state actors and to prolonging internal armed conflicts. However, establishing this link may add political weight to archeologists' and art historians' efforts to curb the international trafficking of looted objects.     

When Do Good Things Lift You Up? Dampening,Enhancing, and Uplifts in Relation To Depressive and Anhedonic Symptoms in Early Adolescence

Longitudinal studies examining the role of response styles to positive affect (i.e., dampening and enhancing) for depressive symptoms have yielded inconsistent results. We examined concurrent and prospective relations of dampening and enhancing with depressive and anhedonic symptoms, and whether these relations depend on the frequency of uplifts. Early adolescents (N?=?674, 51.6% girls, M_age?=?12.7 years, range 11.3–14.9) completed questionnaires three times (one-year intervals). Dampening interacted with daily uplifts predicting concurrent depressive symptoms. Dampening was unrelated to depressive and anhedonic symptoms one year later. High dampening and low enhancing predicted relative increases in anhedonia over two years. Relationships did not differ for girls and boys. Therapeutic interventions designed to promote adaptive responding to positive affect may, thus, reduce anhedonia in adolescence.     

At the Borderlands of Informal Practices of the State: Negotiability,Porosity and Exceptionality

Abstract

Using local land registration practices in four ‘gray’ settlements in South Africa, I demonstrate a host of local state practices. These can be seen as falling into one of three typologies – negotiability, porosity, and exceptionality – and demonstrate the highly negotiable nature of engagements between the local government and informal communities. Furthermore, the cases speak back to the idea of informal practices of the state, showing its utility and limits at the micro-scale and offering insight into the motivations of the state for engaging in such practices and their potential for offering more progressive forms of engagement.     

An apple a day does not always keep the doctor away...

The authors describe a case of suicide in the workplace. A 45-year-old man employed by a fruit and vegetable packing company was found dead in a room containing a modified atmosphere for the packaging of fruits and vegetables. The rescue team measured the carbon monoxide (CO) concentration of the ambient air with a digital CO tester and found a level higher than 600 particles per million. Analysis of an arterial blood sample taken with an airtight syringe revealed the absence of CO but high levels of carbon dioxide (CO(2)). Autopsy revealed no significant injury and police investigators found a handwritten note of intent, describing a recent personal crisis. The authors concluded that the cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation secondary to CO(2) intoxication and notably oxygen (O(2)) depletion. This manner of suicide is rare and most cases previously described in the literature were accidental intoxications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of suicide by CO(2) intoxication and O(2) depletion in a room with a modified atmosphere.