Recalled peritraumatic reactions, self-reported PTSD, and the impact of malingering and fantasy proneness in victims of interpersonal violence who have applied for state compensation

The present study explores the associations between three types of peritraumatic reactions (dissociation, distress, and tonic immobility) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a sample of 125 victims of interpersonal violence who had applied for compensation with the Dutch Victim Compensation Fund (DCVF). In addition, the confounding roles of malingering and fantasy proneness are examined. Results indicate that tonic immobility did not predict PTSD symptom levels when adjusting for other forms of peritraumatic reactions, whereas peritraumatic dissociation and distress did. However, after the effects of malingering and fantasy proneness had been controlled for, malingering is the only factor associated with increased PTSD symptomatology. Implications for policy practice as well as study strengths and limitations are discussed.     

Different Surveys,Different Results? A Comparison of Two Surveys on the 2009 European Parliamentary Election

The European Election Survey (EES) is carried out in all member states at the time of each European Parliament election. The mode of data collection (mainly telephone interviews) and the sampling procedure (achieving 1,000 interviews in each country) raise doubts about the data quality. Until now knowledge has been lacking about the extent to which the mode of data collection and the sampling procedure bias the results. In one European country an independently designed election survey is carried out: The Swedish National European Parliament Election Study (SNES). The survey consists of face-to-face interviews of a random net sample of 2,682 individuals (response rate 67 per cent compared to 11.2 in the Swedish EES survey). In addition, SNES includes a large number of variables from official register data (including validated voting) that facilitates analyses without any non-responses generating missing data. This quasi-experimental methodological set up is used to compare the data from the two surveys for voter turnout, left–right placement and party choice. Results show that EES overestimates turnout levels more than SNES. EES also has a large overrepresentation of highly educated respondents, and thus underestimates differences in turnout between highly and less educated citizens. As for left–right placement, respondents in EES place both themselves and the parties on more extreme positions. Regarding party choice, the main difference between the surveys is that the EES largely underestimates the share of Social Democratic voters.     

A tale of culture-bound regime evolution: the centennial democratic trend and its recent reversal

Using a new measure of “comprehensive democracy,” our analysis traces the global democratic trend over the last 116 years, from 1900 until 2016, looking in particular at the centennial trend’s cultural zoning. As it turns out, democracy has been proceeding and continues to differentiate the world’s nations in a strongly culture-bound manner: high levels of democracy remain a distinctive feature of nations in which emancipative values have grown strong over the generations. By the same token, backsliding and autocratization are limited to cultures with under-developed emancipative values. In line with this finding, public support for democracy neither favours democratization, nor does it prevent autocratization in disjunction from emancipative values. On the contrary, public support for democracy shows such pro-democratic effects if – and only if – it co-exists in close association with emancipative values. The reason is that – in disconnect from emancipative values – support for democracy frequently reverts its meaning, indicating the exact opposite of what intuition suggests: namely, support for autocracy. In conclusion, the prospects for democracy are bleak where emancipative values remain weak.     

Growth and Chronic Poverty: Evidence from Rural Communities in Ethiopia

This article employs a computable general equilibrium model for Sandinista Nicaragua to argue that a foreign exchange constrained economy does not necessarily fall prey to the inflation‐devaluation‐inflation vicious cycle characteristic of more mature Keynesian economies. It is seen that when the economy is shocked by a devaluation, prices do not rise proportionately. Output increases and the distribution of income can actually improve. These results support Sandinista policy of raising wages along with devaluation, a policy widely criticised as counterproductive. When the model is structured to account for the combined effects of Sandinista policies, however, including rising government expenditure and multiple effective exchange rates, a host of macroeconomic problems experienced by the regime arise. Stagflation sets in, income distribution deteriorates and the incentives for export production seriously diminish.     

Creating and Maintaining Global Connections: Agro-business and the Precarious Making of Fresh-cut Markets

This article reconstructs the evolution of a multinational fruit processing company from Ghana. Starting from the perspective that firms more generally aim at achieving stability in intra- and extra-organisational relations, the article explores the practical means (organisational forms, resources, technologies, strategies and routines) through which the case study company achieved relational stability in global markets, but also shows how this was eroded in changing market environments. Extending out from this case study, the article also addresses the questions why some agro-business firms in Africa have developed more sophisticated high-value market connections while others have not and whether foreign direct investments can serve as catalysts for agro-industrialisation.     

Income portfolios in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania: Choices and constraints

The article analyses the different income portfolios of households using survey data from rural Ethiopia and rural Tanzania. It suggests that the different portfolios held by households cannot be explained by their behaviour towards risk as is usually suggested. It is better explained by differences in ability, location, and in access to credit. A logit analysis of households with different income portfolios, controlling for the effects of location, suggests that entry into high‐return activities is determined by investment in particular skills or by access to capital.     

Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity,Phantasm, Japan by Marilyn Ivy

Abstract

Discourses of the Vanishing has been anticipated for several years now; it won't disappoint. Despite the rising number of authors who seek to “explain” Japan or attack its essentialism, Ivy is one of the few who have the understanding of modernity and the methodological tools to excavate the celebration (Japanese and American) of Japan's “uniqueness.” Discourses is by far one of the most sophisticated inquiries into what Ivy calls—properly I believe—the “Japanese thing.” The juxtaposition between the singular, thing, and plural, discourses, suggests her overall theme: to discuss the always incomplete reconfigurations of the many pasts that have existed within the archipelago into a singular ideology of Japan.     

Does context matter – The impact of electoral systems,political parties and individual characteristics on voters' perceptions of party positions

This article aims to investigate under which circumstances policy representation can exist in terms of agreement in voters' perceptions of parties' left–right positions. The focal point in the study is on how voters' perceptions are affected not only by individual characteristics but also by various contextual factors related to the political parties and the political systems. With data from the CSES on individual voters and various system characteristics from election surveys in 32 countries, this article shows that what in earlier findings have appeared as national context effects rather are party effects when being decomposed. System related variables have only a small impact on voters' perceptions while the party- followed by the individually related variables exerted the greatest impact.