Associative Issue Ownership as a Determinant of Voters’ Campaign Attention

Campaigns raise public interest in politics and allow parties to convey their messages to voters. However, voters’ exposure and attention during campaigns are biased towards parties and candidates they like. This hinders parties’ ability to reach new voters. This paper theorises and empirically tests a simple way in which parties can break partisan selective attention: owning an issue. When parties own issues that are important for a voter, that voter is more likely to notice them. Using survey data collected prior to the 2009 Belgian regional elections it is shown that this effect exists independent of partisan preferences and while controlling for the absolute visibility of a party in the media. This indicates that issue ownership has an independent impact on voters’ attention to campaigns. This finding shows that owning salient issues yields (potential) advantages for parties, since getting noticed is a prerequisite for conveying electoral messages and increasing electoral success.     

Digoxin-like immunoreactive substance in postmortem blood of infants and children

A digoxin-like immunoreactive substance (DLIS) has been reported in the serum of infants not receiving digoxin. This study was undertaken to determine if DLIS is present in the postmortem blood and tissues of infants or children and whether the endogenous substance could interfere with forensic toxicological analysis in suspected overdose. Ninety blood specimens taken from the heart at autopsy of children or infants were screened for DLIS using commercial radioimmunoassay kits. The average age at death in these cases was 8.6 months, the median age was 2 months. DLIS equivalent to 0.25 to 2.0 ng/mL digoxin was found in one third of the cases. The incidence of positive findings was 5/6 stillborns, 10/45 Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), 10/15 deaths as a result of infection, 4/7 homicides, 1/8 deaths caused by congenital defects, and 0/9 accidental deaths. The body distribution of DLIS was investigated and highest levels were found in the liver. Findings of DLIS in blood were correlated with renal failure, (elevated vitreous urea nitrogen), electrolyte imbalance, and liver trauma. Apparent concentrations were in the equivalent therapeutic range of digoxin and would not be confused with accidental or intentional overdose with digoxin.     

The Reception of Magna Carta in Early Modern Germany,c. 1650–1800

The article examines how far the reinvigoration of Magna Carta in seventeenth-century British legal thought was received into German discourses between c. 1650 and 1800. An analysis of early modern German works on feudal law and ius publicum, of historical writings as well as of political literature reveals a formal, but no substantive reception: early modern German scholarship betrays no signs of an effort to discuss or describe the actual contents, provisions and meaning of Magna Carta. Rather, from the mid-eighteenth century onwards, the Great Charter enters political debate as a trope for a constitutional guarantee of unnamed personal liberties.     

Mediating Effects of Existential and Religious Well-Being Among Abused,Suicidal African American Women

Intimate partner violence (IPV), an international public health matter, is linked to psychological distress including suicidal behavior. Despite the noted sequelae associated with IPV, many individuals display resilience in the face of IPV exposure. This study examines two potential protective factors in the IPV-suicidal ideation link, namely existential and religious well-being, in a sample of African American women. Low-income, African American, female suicide attempters who were abused by a partner within the previous year (N?=?111) were administered the Conflicts Tactics Scale-2, Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Mediational models testing indirect effects through the bootstrapping method revealed that the total effect of IPV on suicidal ideation was positive and significant, confirming suicidal ideation as a consequential outcome of IPV among African American women. This effect was mediated by existential well-being; however, religious well-being was not a significant mediator, suggesting that existential well-being serves a unique protective role in the IPV-suicidal ideation relation. The results provide additional support for the well-known positive effects of existential well-being on mental health among African American samples. Culturally-informed, meaning-making interventions to enhance existential well-being appear to be effective in reducing suicidal ideation in this population.     

Wege der Korruptionspolitik

Ohne Zusammenfassung Rezension Aktuell zu: Jens Borchert/Sigrid Leitner/Klaus Stolz (Red.): Politische Korruption, hg. v. Zentrum für Europa- und Nordamerika-Studien (Jahrbuch für Europa- und Nordamerika-Studien 3, 1999), Opladen: Leske + Budrich 2000, 251 S., DM 48,-.     

Sozialpolitik im Finanzföderalismus – Hartz IV als Antwort auf die Krise der Kommunalfinanzen

In the literature on welfare state reforms, continental welfare states like Germany have been considered to be resistant to reform. However, recently scholars started to argue that new reform coalitions and policy learning have led to a major restructuring of the German welfare state. In this article we introduce a third argument into the debate and claim that the recent reforms can only be understood by taking into account the specific structure of welfare state financing in Germany. Focusing on the reform of unemployment benefits we show that the crisis of the widespread cost-shifting practice between the federal budget, the social insurance and local authority budgets contributed to fiscal problems which could ultimately only be resolved by engaging in a fundamental restructuring of the financing architecture of welfare provisions for the long-term unemployed.     

Female recidivists speak about their experience in drug court while engaging in appreciative inquiry

Eleven female drug-court participants looked at current and past experiences to assess their program and envision future program innovations. From these women's perspective, the strongest component of drug court was being surrounded by staff dedicated to their progress and recovery. Graduated supervision and accurate drug testing were appreciated rather than resented when the participants were not humiliated and were treated with respect. Wraparound services, resources, and referral; treatment facilities that accepted children; and individualized treatment plans and therapy with offenders who are ex-addicts, and preferably females, allowed for greater involvement and active participation in recovery. Progressing through three phases, acquiring skills, a job, and visitation rights to see their children or regaining custody, increased these women's sense of self-efficacy perception and confidence in their ability to lead a drug-free, meaningful life. Findings show the importance of qualitative criteria in evaluating drug-court participants' progress and the process of recovery.