Social Protest and the Absence of Legalistic Discourse: In the Quest for New Language of Dissent

Legalistic discourse, lawyers and lawyering had minor representation during the 2011 summer protest events in Israel. In this paper we explore and analyze this phenomena by employing content analysis on various primary and secondary sources, among them structured personal interviews with leaders and major activists involved in the protest, flyers, video recordings made by demonstrators and songs written by them. Our findings show that participants cumulatively produced a pyramid-like structure of social power that is anchored in the enterprise of organizing the protest. Our findings explicate how the non-legalistic and even anti-legalistic discourse of the protest was formed, shaped and generated within the power relations of the protest, and how a pyramid of power produced a new poetics of protest that rejected the traditional poetics of state law. The power relations that generated the discourse regarding state law were embedded in socioeconomic stratification along the divide of center and periphery in Israel.     

The Preferences of al-Kisāʾī (d. 189/805): Grammar and Meaning in a Canonical Reading of the Qur’an

The Qur’an has been transmitted as both a written text and an oral recital. This has led to the development of a reading tradition that permits numerous different vocalisations to be made upon the basic skeletal text of the established ?Uthmānī codex. Ibn al-Jazarī (d. 833/1429) chose ten early readers whom he felt were most representative of this tradition and whose readings are treated as canonical up until this day. One of these, the Kufan linguist al-Kisā?ī (d. 189/805) has been characterised in the literature as more focused on the grammar of the Qur’an than his reader peers. This article explores al-Kisā?ī’s process of ikhtiyār (preference) when deciding between various possible readings. The sample for analysis consists of Kisā?ī’s tafarrudāt, the approximately fifty cases in which his reading differs from the other nine readers. By comparing his reading with the comments of early scholars of Qur’anic linguistics, especially his near-contemporary al-Farrā? (d. 208/822), it is possible to construct a typology of the suspected principal reasons for al-Kisā?ī’s tafarrudāt. Not only are many of these based on grammatical preferences, but they demonstrate a significant degree of consistency. Furthermore, analysis of a cluster of readings with implications for the interpretation of the sharī?a (divine law and moral code) provides evidence for a subtle exegetical dimension to al-Kisā?ī’s work as a reader-grammarian.     

Citizen involvement in public policy: Does it matter how much is at stake?

Public administrations increasingly try to find new ways to involve citizens in policy-making. However, many democratic innovations draw in only a fraction of the public. Why? I hypothesize that we observe such low participation rates because there is often not enough at stake for citizens. I test this with a preregistered survey experiment on citizens' intentions to participate in participatory budgets in the Netherlands. I fielded the experiment among a sample of citizens that had just experienced a participatory budget (N = 225) and among a population-based sample (N = 1369). I operationalized the stakes as the amount of public money about which citizens can decide. The results show that more money generally does not increase citizens' intention to participate. Supplementary analyses confirm the experimental findings and provide reasons how and why the stakes involved (do not) matter for citizens' involvement.     

A China Divided since the Turnover of Political Power in Taiwan

Since March 2000 the turnover of political power in Taiwan to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and President Chen Shui-bian has been associated with a bitter clash between two visions for Taiwan's future: a vision of Taiwanese nationalism promoted by President Chen and the DPP versus one of engagement with mainland China that aims to create a special relationship while engaging the Western world, as promoted by the KMT and some of its allies. These conflicting visions will continue to interact and influence political life in significant ways.     

Y-chromosome polymorphism data in Majorcan, Minorcan and Valencian populations (eastern Spain).

Frequency data of the six STRs: (1) DYS19; (2) DYS389I; (3) DYS389II; (4) DYS390; (5) DYS391 and (6) DYS393, and the DYS287 polymorphism (YAP) were determined in a sample of 117 unrelated males from three eastern Spanish populations: 53 from Majorca, 40 from Minorca and 24 from Valencia.     

Sarcomeric gene mutations in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

In developed countries, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) represents the most prevalent cause of death in children between 1 month and 1 year of age. SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion, a negative autopsy which requires the absence of structural organ disease. Although investigators have confirmed that a significant percentage of SIDS cases are actually channelopathies, no data have been made available as to whether other sudden cardiac death-associated diseases, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), could be responsible for some cases of SIDS. The presence of a genetic mutation in the sarcomeric protein usually affects the force of contraction of the myocyte, whose weakness is compensated with progressive hypertrophy and disarray. However, it is unclear whether in the most incipient forms, that is, first years of life, the lack of these phenotypes still confers a risk of arrhythmogenesis. The main goal of the present study is to wonder whether genetic defects in the sarcomeric proteins, previously associated with HCM, could be responsible for SIDS. We have analysed 286 SIDS cases for the most common genes implicated in HCM in adults. A total of 680 mutations localised in 16 genes were analysed by semi-automated matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDITOF-MS) using the Sequenom MassARRAY(?) System. Ten subjects with completely normal hearts showed mutated alleles at nine of the genetic variants analysed, and one additional novel mutation was detected by conventional sequencing. Therefore, a genetic mutation associated with HCM may cause sudden cardiac death in the absence of an identifiable phenotype.     

China and Northeast Asia’s Regional Security Architecture: The Six-Party Talks as a Case of Chinese Regime-Building?

China, as host of the six-party talks first convened in August 2003, has been one of the major players in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis that began in October 2002. China??s role in the talks has helped to start shaping a stable regional security architecture in Northeast Asia. Beijing??s leadership in building a new security regime in the region suggests a change on Chinese perspectives regarding its role within the broader East Asia??s regional security architecture. After years of passiveness with regards to involvement in security regime building in the region, China has evolved into an active leader seeking to shape a more institutionalized security. Despite the obstacles to building a functioning regime in Northeast Asia, China seems poised to continue working towards creation of a more stable and institutionalized security architecture.