Levelling Up?

‘Levelling up’ is the new UK government mantra to describe its ambitions for addressing longstanding local and regional inequalities and, especially, for tackling the problems of ‘left-behind’ places. This article examines the thinking behind this slogan and the associated policy agenda. We identify a danger of misdiagnosis leading to policies that do little to ameliorate conditions in the places that most need help. The government’s agenda appears, so far, to be driven by electoral calculation rather than a real engagement with tackling deep inequalities.     

Global Health Diplomacy as a Tool of Peace

There is no question that peace and health are inextricably linked. War affects human health through the direct violence of military arms and through the structural violence that leads to major interruptions of the socio-economic systems people use to address their health needs. Those disruptions are compounded by natural disasters and manifold vulnerabilities that force countries to divert economic resources from health services. Clearly war and violence are a public health concern. We argue here that not only can health be a bridge to peace, but as well, what the world is witnessing now is the emergence and growth of health diplomacy which can potentially become a robust medium for strengthening that nexus between health and peace.     

Postmodern Professions? The Fragmentation of Legal Education and the Legal Profession

This article considers the institutional dimensions of professionalism and the legal profession's struggle with the challenges of post-modernity. An aspect of this is the Law Society's Training Framework Review (TFR) which promises changes to solicitors' education from 'cradle to grave'. The first part of the article analyses the structure and drivers of the TFR, their origins, and how they will be articulated. Secondly, the TFR is considered in the context of the political economy of higher education and its role in the new capitalism. Finally, we examine the potential effects of the TFR for the legal profession in the context of increasing practice segmentation and the threat of deprofessionalization, and also for the Law Society itself, whether it can retain a key role in the life course of the legal profession.     

The medical investigation of airship accidents

A review of the autopsy reports for 18 of 21 victims in 3 of the 4 nonrigid Navy airship accidents during the period 1955 to 1966 revealed that the patterns of injury, complicated by postcrash entrapment, immersion, or fire, are similar to the injuries observed in the low-speed, low-altitude crashes of rigid airships and of light aircraft. With the renewed interest in the development of airships for military purposes, there is a need for improved design related to crashworthiness and to aircrew habitability, safety, restraint, and egress in order to enhance the chance for survival in the event of an accident.     

Social Context and Campaign Volatility in New Democracies: Networks and Neighborhoods in Brazil's 2002 Elections

In new democracies party systems are often young, so partisan cues and roots in the electorate tend to be weak. The results, in many instances, include volatile campaigns with comparatively high degrees of short-term preference change among voters. We explore the mechanisms of voter volatility and, more broadly, the ways in which citizens learn about issues and candidates in weak-party systems. We claim that citizens in such settings rely heavily upon persuasive information gathered from their immediate social contexts. Utilizing a unique panel survey implemented during Brazil's historic 2002 presidential election, we demonstrate the importance of political discussion within social networks and neighborhood context for explaining preference change during election campaigns. We also demonstrate the concrete political consequences of social context by showing how candidate momentum runs can be driven by waves of discussion.     

Psychopathy among condemned capital murderers

Psychopathy is an important forensic mental health construct. Despite this importance, the research base of psychopathy among individuals convicted of capital murder is limited. Archival data were collected from a sample of 636 persons convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the State of California. Psychopathy was assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) instrument. Data on criminal careers and other behavioral disorders were also extracted. The sample mean PCL-R total score was 23.31 (SD = 9.92) and one-third of individuals in this sample were considered clinically psychopathic with PCL-R total scores of 30 or greater. Factor analytic examination yielded support for four facets: affective, interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial. Criterion validity findings revealed positive correlations of psychopathy scores with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ρ = 0.72), Conduct Disorder (ρ = 0.46), sexual sadism (ρ = 0.24), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ρ = 0.20), ADHD (ρ = 0.15), arrest charges (r = 0.56), prison sentences (r = 0.53), and age of arrest onset (r = −0.57). Individuals convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death reflect heterogeneity in psychopathy with some individuals exhibiting pronounced psychopathic features.     

The World Bank,neo-liberalism,and power: Discourse analysis and implications for campaigners

This article examines why the World Bank adopted neo-liberal economic policies. It argues that neo-liberal discourse favoured the interests of key Northern actors, and, more surprisingly, that it also allowed many Southern state actors to maintain or extend their political power. This is because World Bank discourse offers little or no political analysis of the state, instead focusing on 'technical' issues of economic adjustment. While there may now be a certain shift in World Bank discourse towards somewhat greater acceptance of a role for the state, there is still a widespread absence of political analysis, which means that dominant power relations will still not be fundamentally acknowledged or challenged.