Health Care Versus Border Care: Justification and Hypocrisy in the Multilevel Negotiation of Irregular Migrants’ Access to Fundamental Rights and Services

Abstract

Providing—and also not providing—public services to unlawful residents implies a certain cost for host societies, and both inclusion and exclusion involve localized renegotiations of fundamental rights, legitimate needs, and social membership. Based on original qualitative research data, this article compares how, why, and under which conditions irregular migrants are granted or denied access to healthcare services provided in London and Barcelona. From a multi-level perspective and by drawing on organization theory, I highlight key differences in how the responsible governments deal with the underlying contradictions and thereby either help or hinder effective policy implementation.     

Structural injustice and the legitimacy of the state-centric system

ABSTRACT

Catherine Lu’s seminal Justice and Reconciliation in World Politics is right to stress the enduring nature of some colonialist structural indignities. It is less clear, however, if structural injustices justify Lu’s demand for revolutionary changes of the global order. Before transforming the pluralist state-centric system, we need transparent criteria that help us agree on the severity of structural injustices. Considering Lu’s strong focus on the colonialist origins of contemporary injustices, one would also like to know if and how their historical background affects their present moral status. The essay concludes that, in a multicultural global society with diverse moral values, we should focus on tackling the most glaring injustices and on rectifying those where accountabilities are least controversial.     

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN PUBLIC POLICY

In comparison with the other social and behavioral sciences, there has been a general lack of anthropological input or interest in public policy.
This absence from the public policy arena has been the result of both historical developments and theoretical biases within the field. Nevertheless, there have been certain periods when significant numbers of anthropologists have worked in policy areas-the 1930s. World War Il-but even then their influence was not great. However, in recent years we have witnessed a rapidly growing emphasis on public policy in applied anthropology which promises to give the discipline the opportunity to become atruly holistic policy science.
In addition to the discussion of the factors which have impeded and, more recently, contributed to anthropological involvement with public policy, each of the symposium papers is briefly introduced.     

The symbolic use of cohort studies: Redefining crime between diversion and “selective incapacitation”

The societal definition of crime is eroding. As a consequence of this secular process the focus of interest among criminologists and the agents of the criminal justice system is widening towards the whole of society. A new definition of crime is emerging, based on the difference between dangerous career criminals and spontaneous one time offenders. This difference is determined in terms of personality and character types based on criminological ideas about the typical hard core criminal. Cohort studies provide the data and information to construct this ideal type.     

"Overkill" in a case of neonaticide

A 14-year-old girl was found unconscious in a pool of blood by her mother in the family bathroom. A gynecological emergency operation revealed a state after spontaneous delivery. A few days later the corpse of a newborn, smeared with blood, was found by the father of the girl in a laundry basket in the bathroom. The autopsy revealed signs of blunt force against the cranium as well as multiple lesions caused by sharp force in the area of the neck and the thorax. The newborn died of hemorrhagic shock due to severance of the left subclavian artery. The pattern of injuries is presented. In addition, the girl's statement with respect to the course of events is discussed. Finally, this rare manner of committing neonaticide is compared with former reports in the literature.     

College-student abstainers,moderate drinkers,and heavy drinkers: A comparative analysis

Comparison of college freshman male and female abstainers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers indicated that male and female heavy drinkers were more likely than their abstinent counterparts to engage in social, cultural, and impulsive-deviant activities, to describe themselves as dominant and rebellious, and to experience exuberance, negative affect, and physical complaints. Female and especially male heavy drinkers also performed more poorly academically than did abstainers. College health and academic counseling services may benefit from knowledge of individuals at high risk for poor physical health, academic dropout, and alcohol abuse.This research was supported in part by NIAAA Grant AA02863 and by NIMH Grant MH16026.Major interests are personality and environmental assessment.Major interests are personality theory and multivariate statistical procedures.Major interests are personality theory and social psychology.     

Sexualization and lifestyle impulsivity: clinically valid discriminators in sexual offenders

Following clinical observations in this study a comparison was undertaken between nonsexualized rapists, sexualized rapists, and pedophilic child molesters in terms of psychometric measures, criminological data, and DSM-IV diagnoses following the authors' hypotheses that nonsexualized and sexualized rapists differ in respect of psychiatric comorbidity and criminal history and sexualized rapists and pedophilic child molesters are more similar as regards to psychiatric comorbidity (anxiety, depression, and aggression) and criminal history variables than nonsexualized and sexualized rapists are. Preliminary findings confirmed the hypotheses: the authors found significant differences between paraphilic and sexualized sex offenders on one hand--regardless whether they had offended against minors or adults--and a group of sex offenders exhibiting a history of high lifestyle impulsivity on the other hand. From a psychiatric clinical point of view, paraphilic or sexualized rapists could be shown to resemble more the pedophilic child molesters. Therapeutic approaches should take these findings into account.