Assessing the Abu Sayyaf Group's Strategic and Learning Capacities

It remains unclear whether the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is a well-structured terror organization that poses a strategic threat, or a loosely organized collection of bandits that poses limited risk. Efforts to assess the nature of the organization are complicated by flaws in existing datasets on Violent Non-State Actors (VNSAs). ASG's role in kidnappings serves as a test-case to estimate incongruities among four major datasets on VNSAs. Original data collected at the agent level provides an additional point of comparison and also serves to test the efficacy of ASG's knowledge-dissemination structures, which are key in determining VNSAs' strategic capacities.     

Between Cold War Imperatives and State-Sponsored Terrorism: The United States and “Operation Condor”

Operation Condor was a transnational network of organized state-sponsored terrorism that targeted Communist “subversion.” It was operational in the second half of the 1970s. The key member countries were Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil (Peru and Equador joined the network later on, with a more marginal role). Based on declassified documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and on U.S. documents of various origin, this article will assess the development of the Condor network and the U.S. reaction to such manifest acts of state-sponsored terrorism.     

Designing and Implementing Cross‐Sector Collaborations: Needed and Challenging

Theoretical and empirical work on collaboration has proliferated in the last decade. The authors’ 2006 article on designing and implementing cross‐sector collaborations was a part of, and helped stimulate, this growth. This article reviews the authors’ and others’ important theoretical frameworks from the last decade, along with key empirical results. Research indicates how complicated and challenging collaboration can be, even though it may be needed now more than ever. The article concludes with a summary of areas in which scholarship offers reasonably settled conclusions and an extensive list of recommendations for future research. The authors favor research that takes a dynamic, multilevel systems view and makes use of both quantitative and qualitative methods, especially using longitudinal comparative case studies.     

Notes on contributors

Robyn Eckersley: Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

Arne Naess: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle. Translated and revised by David Rothenberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

M. Annette Jaimes, ed.: The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance. Race and Resistance Series, Boston, South End Press, 1992.

Alexander Wilson: The Culture of Nature: North American Landscape from Disney to the Exxon Valdez. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992.     

Comment on William G. Grigsby and Steven C. Bourassa's “Section 8: The time for fundamental program change?”

Abstract

Grigsby and Bourassa claim that the major problems with the housing voucher program are that most families with affordability problems are not served and that housing assistance is not part of the federal safety net. They propose replacing the program with a housing entitlement for most very low‐income renters, with eligibility linked to receipt of safety‐net benefits. Resources to serve additional families would be generated in part by changes like those found in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's recent block grant proposals.

The Grigsby‐Bourassa proposal lacks a clear assessment of likely costs. Also, there is a risk that the means the authors propose will be heard, but that their call for expansion will not. Finally, their proposal does not intersect with other ideas to modify a basically successful program to better achieve its goals, and questions about rental markets and family and landlord behavior also must be answered.     

Privatizing Urban Services Through Homeowners Associations: The Potential and Practice in Phoenix

Homeowners associations (HOAs) are private nonprofit corporations that regulate, “tax,” and provide urban services to growing numbers of U.S. residents. As such, HOAs may affect cities' public service delivery. Interviews with department heads in Phoenix, Arizona reveal how enclaves of private services influence the city's planning and provision of public services. The findings suggest that HOAs do not substitute private for public services in Phoenix. Instead, qualitative differences in the services themselves (particularly concerning their purpose and scale) and in the legal powers of their providers create a more nuanced pattern of public-private service delivery.     

Stakeholders,natural resource management and Australian rural local governments: A Q methodological study

This paper reports on a Q methodological study of stakeholder perceptions of rural local government management of natural resources. Data analysis of the Q sorts revealed that there are five distinct stakeholder perspectives relating to rural local government and natural resource management. In terms of natural resource management at the local level rural stakeholders perceive local government as an unwilling participant, an inconsequential participant, as a problematic participant, as a potential participant, and, most positively, a participatory partner. The paper describes each of these five stakeholder perspectives in detail before examining the implications of these findings for greater natural resource management at the local level in non-metropolitan Australia.     

Forensic Identification of Indian Snakeroot (Rauvolfia serpentina Benth. ex Kurz) Using DNA Barcoding

Indian snakeroot (Rauvolfia serpentina) is a valuable forest product, root extracts of which are used as an antihypertensive drug. Increasing demand led to overharvesting in the wild. Control of international trade is hampered by the inability to identify root samples to the species level. We therefore evaluated the potential of molecular identification by searching for species‐specific DNA polymorphisms. We found two species‐specific indels in the rps16 intron region for R. serpentina. Our DNA barcoding method was tested for its specificity, reproducibility, sensitivity and stability. We included samples of various tissues and ages, which had been treated differently for preservation. DNA extractions were tested in a range of amplification settings and dilutions. Species‐specific rps16 intron sequences were obtained from 79 herbarium accessions and one confiscated root, encompassing 39 different species. Our results demonstrate that molecular analysis provides new perspectives for forensic identification of Indian snakeroot.     

Forensic Identification of CITES Protected Slimming Cactus (Hoodia) Using DNA Barcoding

Slimming cactus (Hoodia), found only in southwestern Africa, is a well‐known herbal product for losing weight. Consequently, Hoodia extracts are sought‐after worldwide despite a CITES Appendix II status. The failure to eradicate illegal trade is due to problems with detecting and identifying Hoodia using morphological and chemical characters. Our aim was to evaluate the potential of molecular identification of Hoodia based on DNA barcoding. Screening of nrITS1 and psbA‐trnH DNA sequences from 26 accessions of Ceropegieae resulted in successful identification, while conventional chemical profiling using DLI‐MS led to inaccurate detection and identification of Hoodia. The presence of Hoodia in herbal products was also successfully established using DNA sequences. A validation procedure of our DNA barcoding protocol demonstrated its robustness to changes in PCR conditions. We conclude that DNA barcoding is an effective tool for Hoodia detection and identification which can contribute to preventing illegal trade.