Female Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence: A Comparison between Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel and Israeli-Born Women

This study aimed to understand patterns of physical and psychological violence and the system of social support among female immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel who are suffering from domestic violence. Immigrant women receiving help in Centers for the Treatment and Prevention of Domestic Violence and in shelters for battered women (n?=?74) were compared with Israeli-born women receiving help in the same Centers and shelters (n?=?107). Immigrant and Israeli-born women reported similar levels of physical and psychological violence, and the immigrants’ utilization of formal and informal systems of social support was similar to that among Israeli-born women. However, immigrant women were threatened more frequently with expulsion from Israel, and their partners were alcoholically intoxicated more often than the partners of Israeli-born women. Non-Jewish women were more frequently threatened with expulsion from Israel, and they reported a lower level of social support received from parents and friends.     

Expanding the levels of analysis of fdi for improved understanding of policy issues: the case of mexico

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows are a key component of the restructuring and external integration now underway in many Latin American national economies. This paper suggests that understanding of policy issues concerning FDI can be enriched by two complementary shifts in the levels of analysis of FDI, each of which entails more detailed attention to the strategies and operations of multinational corporations (MNCs). At the macro-level, we show why it is beneficial to expand beyond the normal analytic concern with aggregate total FDI flows to focus instead on the separate, disaggregated components of those flows--that is, equity, reinvested earnings and other long-term and short-term capital flows between parent firms and their affiliates, as recorded in the national balance of payments capital account. The microlevel shift emphasizes the importance of focusing on varieties of types of FDI, not only across different foreign investors but within individual companies as well. It demonstrates the significance of switching from the usual concentration on firms as a whole to instead accentuating examination of individual projects and products--especially the dichotomy between market-access projects producing for the host country domestic market and production-efficiency projects producing for export markets, including the home country market. These two shifts in the level of analysis complement one another, and they interact in the sense that the mix of component flows can depend in part on the type of FDI. These analytic themes are developed using evidence concerning FDI in Mexico, with special reference to the automotive industry. Such improved comprehension of FDI is particularly germane for Latin American countries that are contemplating liberalization of foreign direct investment rules or have already undertaken them and witnessed the ensuing increase of inbound FDI.     

Program analysis of the NYPD container inspection program

In response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the bus and train bombings in England and Spain that followed, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) developed the ‘Container Inspection Program’ which ‘focuses on backpacks and containers large enough to hold explosives, [and to] ideally discourage subway riders from carrying backpacks and large bags in the subway system’. This paper analyzes the NYPD Container Inspection Program.     

Norming “Moderation” in an “Iconic Target”: Public Policy and the Regulation of Religious Anxieties in Singapore

The maintenance of a “moderate mainstream” Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious ethnic relations has become a key governance concern post-September 11. In light of the global concern—and often paranoia—with diasporic Islam, Islamic religious institutions and civil society have been portrayed in the popular media as hotbeds of radicalism, promoters of hatred, and recruiters for a “conflict of civilization” between the Muslim world and the modern world. Having declared itself a terrorist's “iconic target,” Singapore has taken a broad-based community approach in advancing inter-religious tolerance, including a subtle initiative to include the “Muslim civil society” in advancing the understanding and the promotion of a moderate brand of Islam in Singapore. This tacit process of regulation (top-down, intra-community and inter-community), while effective, is constrained by the unique governance context in Singapore.     

The State-Legal Administration and the Politics of Redundancy

The main aim of this study was to investigate whether the competition and cultural theoretical models that have received solid empirical support in the context of Western European societies can explain anti-foreigner sentiment in post-socialist Russia as a society searching for new national identity borders. Data obtained from the third round of the European Social Survey (2006) indicate a high level of anti-foreigner sentiment in contemporary Russia – more than 60% of Russians claimed that immigrants undermine the cultural life of the country, and almost 60% claimed that immigration is bad for the economy of the country. Our multivariate analysis showed that the two sets of individual-level predictors of anti-foreigner sentiment – the socioeconomic position of individuals (as suggested by the competition model) and conservative views and ideologies (as suggested by the cultural model) – are not meaningful in predicting anti-foreigner sentiment in post-socialist Russia. The results are discussed from a comparative sociology perspective and in the context of the Russian society.