Discolouring Democracy? Policing,Sensitive Evidence,and Contentious Deaths in the United Kingdom

This article examines recent United Kingdom government proposals for secret inquests, which, it is argued, are part of a general push for secrecy discernible across common law jurisdictions, and which include developments such as increased recourse to sensitive evidence in forensic settings and the normalization of intelligence‐led policing. While the push for secrecy is justified by national security claims, the article shows that in cases of contentious death involving police, the issue is less about national security and more about the use of intercept evidence, covert surveillance, and intelligence‐led policing, all of which have implications for police trust, accountability, and reputation management.     

A short journey through North‐Western Kansu and the Tibetan border country

Kashmir, at present, is not being treated as a priority by politicians or policy makers. The author argues that this is a grave mistake. The ground realities which have continued to blight the lives of millions in the region for decades have not been resolved. Not only do they demand resolution, but leave the region fragile and unstable, a danger exacerbated by the nuclear capabilities of India and Pakistan. The domestic narratives within India and Pakistan which lead to heightened hostility have been exacerbated by recent events such as the Mumbai Hotel attacks and cross-border skirmishes. A resolution of Kashmir would reverse these inherent tensions. The unresolved situation also undermines the human rights of the inhabitants of Kashmir. Likewise, it leads to an unconscionable waste of the natural resources of the region, as well as needless restrictions in Indo-Pakistani trade and money being tied up in military conflict. A resolution of the conflict would also have wide-scale benefits in the region, reaching to Afghanistan and China. In conclusion, the author surveys what might be practical ways of resolving the Kashmir problem.     

Review article

Social Relations in a Philippine Market: Self‐interest and Subjectivity by William G. Davis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1973. Pp. xiii+315, maps, tables; $12.50.     

Net social profitability,domestic resource costs,and effective rate of protection

Net social profitability (NSP) and domestic resource costs of foreign exchange earned or saved (DRC) are conceptually related, since each can be derived from the other. The effective rate of protection on value added (ERP) is algebraically identical to DRC if all importable inputs are actually imported or are zero, NSP is zero, and (ERP+1) is multiplied by the shadow price of foreign exchange. A decision rule for allocation of resources is to approve all projects with a positive NSP and a DRC ratio less than the shadow price of foreign exchange. No comparable rule can be stated for ERP, except under special assumptions.     

Explaining geographic concentrations of discrimination in Germany: small group interaction,youth and spatial context

Eastern Germans are often stereotyped as racist, and some empirical data as well as periodic incidences of violent hate crime seem to confirm the stereotype. This article offers a partial explanation of geographic concentrations of discrimination in Germany that centres on processes of boundary drawing in real contexts between small groups of youths. This is a meso-level approach that contrasts with macro- and micro-level sociological explanations of discrimination. We consider it more correct to say that conditions in much of eastern Germany – as well as in many parts of western Germany – are such that discrimination is more likely to occur within small groups in those places. Data are presented from 29 cities participating in an anti-racism programme that provide some insight into how boundaries are drawn and how some cities are currently attempting to reduce discriminatory behaviour within small groups. Knowledge about how group dynamics leads to discriminatory behaviour is particularly useful for those trying to prevent racism at the local level; intervention is more feasible at the small-group level due to their inherent visibility and accessibility for youth guidance counsellors.     

The Dynamics of Self-Esteem: A Growth-Curve Analysis

Research on adolescent self-esteem has been inconsistent regarding development patterns and processes, with some scholars concluding that self-esteem is a static construct and others concluding that it is a dynamic construct. A potential source of this inconsistency is the lack of attention to intraindividual changes in self-esteem across adolescence and to gender-specific developmental patterns. Building on previous research, we use a growth-curve analysis to examine intraindividual self-esteem changes from early adolescence to early adulthood. Using 7 years of sequential data from the Family Health Study (762 subjects ages 11–16 in Year 1), we estimated a hierarchical growth-curve model that emphasized the effects of age, life events, gender, and family cohesion on self-esteem. The results indicated that age had a curvilinear relationship with self-esteem suggesting that during adolescence self-esteem is a dynamic rather than a static construct. Furthermore, changes in self-esteem during adolescence were influenced by shifts in life events and family cohesion. These processes were different for males and females, particularly during early adolescence.     

Why the revolution doesn't solve everything: What we can learn from the economics of ‘real’ socialism

In this paper I shall review some of the theoretical obstacles which the classical Marxist analysis of women's subordination placed in the path of the socialist movement when it attempted to solve the question of women's inequality in practice. I will also show how the particular path of socialist construction that the Eastern European countries chose helped to perpetuate the traditional division of roles between men and women and to create a chain reaction which appears to be impervious to the demands of ideology.