The Kurds in Iraq

The following briefs are edited versions of papers presented at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in Anchorage, Alaska, November 8, 2003. The editors were Hakan Yavuz and Michael Gunter, whose papers are included below. Why Kurdish Statehood is Unlikely , Michael M. Gunter, professor of political science, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee Transnational Networks: New Opportunities and Constraints for Kurdish Statehood , Denise Natali, visiting research fellow, Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI); director of WKI's transnational project Turkey and Kurdistan‐Iraq, 2003 , Robert Olson, professor of Middle East and Islamic history, University of Kentucky Could a Kurdish State Be Set Up in Iraq? , Nihat Ali Özcan, author of PKK (Kurdistan ýpçi Partisi) Tarihi, Ideolojisi ve Yönetimi (Ankara: Asam, 1999) Kurdish Reality in an Emerging Iraq , Khaled Salih, University of Southern Denmark Provincial Not Ethnic Federalism in Iraq , M. Hakan Yavuz, associate professor of political science, University of Utah     

Rape Victim Blaming as System Justification: The Role of Gender and Activation of Complementary Stereotypes

This research examined reactions towards female rape victims from a system justification perspective. Study 1 demonstrated that gender-related system justification motivation (Modern Sexism) predicted the propensity to blame a female rape victim among men, but not among women. Modern sexism predicted rape victim blaming among men even when statistically controlling for a general antipathy towards women, and the results were unaffected by social desirability concerns. Consistent with previous study on system justification theory, we demonstrated in Study 2 that system justification motivation can predict victim blaming also among women, provided that complementary stereotypes about women have been activated. By contrast, system justification motivation predicted men’s propensity to blame a rape victim irrespective of whether complementary stereotypes about women had been experimentally activated.     

Justice Judgments of Physical Abuse and Theft: The Importance of Outcome and Procedure

The perceived justice of a situation is frequently a function of both outcome and procedure, but the importance of each may vary when making justice judgments. This study investigated the impact of type and severity of offence, social relationship and status on the perceived importance of the outcome and procedure for justice judgments. The outcome was considered more important than the procedure for judgments of both theft and physical abuse, regardless of offence severity, status of the offender and the victim–perpetrator social relationship. Both outcome and procedure were viewed as more important for judgments of physical abuse than theft. Data obtained for exploratory purposes yielded no correlation between ratings of justice and importance, indicating that the two are not aspects of the same construct. Integrations with work within criminology are discussed.     

“The ‘New’ Malaysian Criminal Procedure: Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act 2006”

This paper explores the reform process surrounding the recent changes to the Malaysian Code of Criminal Procedure concerning statements made to police officers, discovery, body searches, rights to legal advice and detention. The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act 2006 was the first major piece of legislation to reform the criminal process in Malaysia for 20 years and represented an attempt not only to deal with specific problems relating to police practice and the pre-trial process, but also to single out Malaysia as a progressive state within Asia committed to the Rule of Law. The problem which this paper seeks to address, however, is that while many of the reforms appear to be a welcome attempt to protect suspects in police custody from abuse (a startling contrast to the recent legislative measures introduced in the UK as part of the “war on terror”), to better regulate police investigations and to improve the overall quality of justice administered pre-trial, a doubt lingers as to the direction of that reform and of the values guiding the criminal process. It will be argued that, without clear cultural markers, implementation of the new measures is likely to be piecemeal and previous cultural practices will continue to undermine even the best of legislative intentions.     

Health awareness of rural households towards COVID-19 pandemic in India: Evidence from Rural Impact Survey of the World Bank

This paper aims at analysing the level of awareness of the symptoms and the methods of protection from COVID-19 based on the Rural Impact Survey of the World Bank, collected from 5200 households belonging to six states in India that is, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Data has been analysed using chi-square test and regression analysis. Results of the analysis indicate that about 70.8% rural households are aware of the symptom of coronavirus, and 81.9% are aware of the preventive measures for controlling the spread of COVID-19. Analysis indicates a significant association between awareness level on symptoms and prevention of COVID-19 and socio-demographics and location. The study further analyses the key determinants of awareness of COVID-19 symptoms and preventive measures using the logistics regression model, indicating that age, gender, education, income, poverty status, access to information, cash relief and medical services are the determining factors of health awareness on COVID-19 pandemic among rural households in India. Considering the importance of self-protecting measures in fighting the pandemic, this paper highlights the importance of strengthening public awareness for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Institutional quality and economic growth: Evidence from South-Asian countries

The current study investigates the relationship between institutional quality and economic growth, focusing on South-Asian countries entailing Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, from 2002 to 2018. The data are analysed using the dynamic heterogeneous panel (panel autoregressive distributed lag [ARDL] model) approach, specifically the dynamic fixed effect (DFE), mean group (MG), and pooled mean group (PMG). Based on the findings, the three governance indicators, namely corruption control, accountability, and the rule of law, positively and significantly affect economic growth. All the nations have consistent long-run estimates but varied short-run estimates and adjustment speed for the long-term equilibrium. This is due to governance volatility that is evident in all the nations. This article offers both practical and theoretical contributions. This article contributes to the institutional quality and economic growth literature from a theoretical perspective from the South-Asian perspective. From a practical perspective, the study findings are significant for policymakers, particularly those from the countries that demonstrate major fiscal and external imbalance due to war and terrorism, low oil prices and weak trade. Hence, there is a pressing need to address economic growth issues instigated by the policymakers' negligence to ensure appropriate governance and macroeconomic management. Regulators can improve economic growth through national and regional image building by developing a stable economic and political landscape and maintaining macroeconomic stability by improving the institutional quality indicators. There is evidence that institutional quality improvement leads to better economic growth.     

Federal Employees’ Job Satisfaction: Does Transformational Leadership Matter? The Case of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Morale among U.S. federal employees has increased but remains low compared to the private sector and in certain agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has experienced scandal and management challenges, including a crisis of leadership. Using data from the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, this article examines the influence of transformational leadership (TFL) on job satisfaction/commitment among VA employees. Regression analysis reveals a positive association between satisfaction/commitment and each of the four TFL dimensions, controlling for the other dimensions and sociodemographic characteristics. Employees who perceive leaders as fostering creativity, empowerment, trust/respect, and clear goals/expectations are more satisfied/committed.     

Party competition in the Middle East: spatial competition in the post-Arab Spring era

This paper charts the nature of political cleavage between major parties in post-Arab Spring elections in five Mediterranean region countries, with data from online opt-in surveys. We compare the Moroccan elections, held under a consolidated authoritarian regime, with the transitional cases of Tunisia and Egypt as well as the more mature democracies of Turkey and Israel. Voter opinions are obtained on 30 salient issues, and parties and voters are aligned along two dimensions. We trace country-specific cleavage patterns and reflections of party system maturity in these five countries. The cases of Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco reveal that in less settled cleavage structures there is little congruence between vote propensities for parties and agreement levels with policy positions compared to the more institutionalized democracies of Israel and Turkey where voters exhibit a higher likelihood to vote for a party as the distance between the voter and the party in the policy space gets smaller.     

Mobilising faith-based and lay leaders to address antenatal care outcomes in northern Ghana

ABSTRACT

Despite the benefits of antenatal care, evidence from sub-Saharan Africa suggests that women often initiate these services after the first trimester of pregnancy and do not complete the recommended number of visits. This study examines the impact of mobilising faith-based and lay leaders to address the socio-cultural barriers to antenatal care uptake in northern Ghana in the context of a broader child survival project. A quasi-experimental design was used, and data were analysed using a difference-in-differences approach. The results presented in this article indicate the potential for faith-based and lay leaders to promote uptake of maternal and child health behaviours.