Sub-state diplomacy and the foreign policy-development nexus in South Africa

This article examines the role of sub-state diplomacy, defined as the transnational linkages of sub-national governments, in bridging the gap between foreign policy and the domestic development agenda in South Africa. It argues that, as territorial sub-state actors, provinces and municipalities are strategically positioned to use their international relations to make foreign policy more responsive to domestic socio-economic priorities. In the South African case, however, this potential is yet to be fully realised, mainly because of institutional fragmentation of the foreign policy apparatus, but also owing to enduring challenges in the foreign activities of sub-national governments. The article concludes by making the case for a new diplomatic paradigm in South Africa, one that actively promotes and harnesses the foreign activities and capacities of different national stakeholders, including those of sub-national governments, in the interest of the domestic development agenda.     

The German Berufsgenossenschaften (institutions for statutory accident insurance and prevention): organisation, mandate and activities in the area of mental health

The present article first describes the institution of the German Berufsgenossenschaften (BGs, the institutions for statutory accident insurance and prevention) and their mandate. Besides rehabilitation and compensation, these comprise the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases, and work-related hazards. The main focus within the area of mental health is the prevention work, but rehabilitation and compensation within the German social insurance system in general, and with respect to mental health, will also be explained. Furthermore, the prevention-rehabilitation interface will be illustrated and the cooperation with the health insurance institutions will be described. In the second part, selected results of a survey regarding mental health and stress will be presented.     

Determination of cathinone,cathine and norephedrine in hair of Yemenite khat chewers

A sensitive and reproducible method for the quantitative determination of cathinone (CTN), norpseudoephedrine (NPE, cathine) and norephedrine (NE) from hair was developed. The compounds were extracted for 4 hours with phosphate buffer pH 2.0, followed by a standard solid phase extraction procedure on a mixed phase column, derivatization with heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA) and GC-MS separation and quantification using D(3)-ephedrine (D(3)-E) and alpha-aminoacetophenone (AAP) as the internal standards. The diastereomers NPE and NE were satisfactorily separated. In the validation, the limits of detection and of quantification were determined at 0.03-0.08 ng/mg and 0.10-0.24 ng/mg, respectively and the interday standard deviation was between 10 and 15%. The method was applied to hair samples of 24 Yemenite khat chewers. All three compounds were detected in 23 of these cases. The concentrations ranged from 0.57 to 23.9 ng/mg for NPE, 0.19-25.0 ng/mg for NE and 0.11-22.7ng/mg for CTN. A highly significant correlation was found between the self-reported data about the khat consumption habits of the volunteers (4-56h chewing per week) and the concentrations of norephedrine and norpseudoephedrine in hair.     

Are the social sciences really inferior?

Fritz Machlup, at the time of his death in 1983, was emeritus professor of economics at Princeton University and professor of economics at New York University. A former president of the American Economic Association and the International Economic Association, his many influential publications included A History of Thought on Economic Integration, Methodology of Economics and Other Social Sciences,and The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States.This article, which was a favorite of Machlup’s, is reprinted from The Southern Economic Journalof January 1961, with the permission of that journal.     

Endemic violence in south africa: An od solution applied to two educational settings

This article discusses the endemic nature of violence in South Africa. The authors hypothesize that the culture in South Africa is autocratic in nature. They compare the socialization that occurs between democratic and autocratic families and the relationship this has to later problem-solving and conflict resolution behavior. People raised in an authoritarian culture need to develop skills that will enable them to learn an alternative to violence in conflict and problem-solving situations. The authors describe two educational interventions that followed this model. Available results are presented.

Both historically and today, violence in South Africa is endemic. Examples of South Africans committing violent acts because they feel justified fill today's media. Despite hopes and visions for a new South Africa and examples of goodwill and peaceful common ground between the different political positions, these violent acts emanate from all points of the political compass. Historically, we find examples such as the black tribal wars -- the African/Zulu wars, the Zulu/British wars, and the Anglo/Boer Wars.^(1),(2)

Although some positive processes of change occur in the country, a violent approach to problem-solving still remains. It is evident, both through research and perception, that all major population clusters (including whites, Africans, and other populations in South Africa) are predominantly authoritarian by virtue of their origin, their education, and their creed. This authoritarian culture may contribute toward the resistance against democratic processes and possibly heighten the opportunity for violence. The birth of liberation amplifies this dynamic situation. For all parties involved, liberation heightens the “fear for loss”⁽³⁾ and creates a non-productive power struggle. In this paper, we first explore why we believe that violence is endemic in this country, showing how an authoritarian culture may contribute to this problem. Second, we will describe two OD interventions presented in separate educational settings that were designed to reduce violence.     

Regulating the retirement age—Lessons from Nordic pension policy approaches

The likelihood that longevity will continue to increase has generated a search for regulation that make people work longer as they live longer, and thus not just containing pension expenditure but also enlarging labor supply, economic growth, and tax revenue. In public pension policy, Nordic countries have led the world with three types of approaches aimed at making people retire later. The first came when Sweden, followed by Finland and Norway, installed life expectancy coefficients in benefit calculation formulas. The second followed as Finland introduced age-related accrual rates and the third when Denmark indexed the pensionable age to developments in life expectancy. Since economic incentive-based regulations failed to raise exit ages sufficiently, Finland and Sweden subsequently linked pensionable ages to life expectancy like Denmark. While this policy brings out inequalities in health and workability, the fact that countries found it necessary to index the pensionable age to longevity instead of just relying on economic incentives in regulating retirement behavior may hold lessons for other countries.     

欧洲货币联盟、财政危机和民主问责失效

在欧洲货币联盟,一些最重要的宏观经济管理工具已经让渡到了货币联盟的层面,各成员国难以用本国尚存的政策工具来应对宏观经济失衡.因此,尽管国际金融危机并非发源自欧洲,但货币联盟却大大增加了其成员国在面对危机时的脆弱性,并有可能使经济危机转变成一场民主合法性的危机.本文回顾了民主合法性和宏观经济管理之间的关系,简述了凯恩斯主义和货币主义政策模型的基本要素及其特定的政治影响,并揭示出欧洲货币联盟的创立如何改变了现有的国家制度,以及欧洲货币政策中的不稳定力量又是如何将某些成员国置于危险境地,使其在国际金融危机面前不堪一击.在结论部分,笔者分析了试图拯救欧元并改革货币联盟机制的方案会带来哪些可能的政治经济影响.     

Antisocial process screening device: validation on a Russian sample of juvenile delinquents with the emphasis on the role of personality and parental rearing

The objectives of the present study were 1) to validate the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) in a sample of Russian juvenile delinquents; 2) to examine subgroups of delinquents with higher versus lower levels of childhood problem behaviors with respect to the APSD subscales, personality traits, and parental rearing; and 3) to attempt to replicate the previous finding that the APSD subscale measuring callous/unemotional traits can differentiate subgroups of delinquents with different precursors for problem behaviors (predominantly biological versus predominantly social). A group of 250 Russian juvenile inmates (mean age=16.4) was examined by means of the APSD completed by the staff at the correctional institution. The inmates completed several self-reports assessing their current and childhood behavior problems, personality traits and experienced parental rearing practices. A factor structure of the APSD was obtained that is similar, albeit not identical, to that from the original studies by Frick and colleagues [Frick, P.J., O'Brien, B.S., Wootton, J.M., McBurnett, K., (1994). Psychopathy and conduct problems in children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 700-707]; [Frick, P.J., Barry, C.T., Bodin, S.D., (1999). Applying the concept of psychopathy to children: Implications for the Assessment of antisocial youth. In Gacono, C.B. (Ed), The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy: A practitioners guide. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum]; [Frick, P.J., Lilienfeld, S.O., Ellis, M., Loney, B., Silverthorn, P., (1999). The association between anxiety and psychopathy dimensions in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 383-392]; callous unemotional traits in the present sample were expressed in manipulative behavior. Results further disclosed higher levels of antisocial and aggressive activities, higher levels of personality attributes such as narcissism and novelty seeking, as well as lower cooperativeness, and negatively perceived parental rearing in a subgroup with higher (versus lower) number of childhood symptoms of conduct disorder and oppositional disorder. The juvenile delinquents with higher levels as compared to lower levels of callous unemotional traits also perceived their parents as using more negative rearing strategies. The findings are discussed in terms of interactional processes between personality of the juvenile delinquents and parental rearing in the development of antisocial behavior.     

Interpretation problems in a forensic case of abstinence determination using alcohol markers in hair

In a child custody case a mother with a longstanding history of alcohol misuse had to show absolute abstinence for one year. She entered a residential rehabilitation for six months and was tested two months later by way of a hair test for ethyl glucuronide (EtG) with the result of 22 pg/mg in the proximal 0-1cm segment and the segments 1-2 cm and 2-3 cm being negative. This was interpreted as a minimum alcohol intake of 20-50 units per week in the month before sampling. Since the mother denied any alcohol intake a second hair sample was collected seven weeks after the first and analyzed for fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) by a second laboratory. A low concentration of 0.03 ng/mg was measured within the 0-6 cm segment of recently bleached hair and was interpreted as showing no evidence of alcohol use during the last six months. Three further hair samples were analyzed during the next nine months with low EtG values (<2.4-3.3 pg/mg, 0-3 cm segment) and low FAEE values (0.27-0.53 ng/mg, 0-6 cm segment). These findings were summarized as indicating continued low alcohol consumption over the past one year period. As a consequence of the conflicting results, the case was dealt with in a hearing before the Family Division of the High Court of London. It was concluded in the judgment that the evidence did not indicate that the mother had consumed alcohol in the period tested by the hair samples. It was stated that the evidence in this case highlighted the need for the exercise of considerable caution when hair tests for alcohol are being interpreted and relied upon, both generally and particularly in isolation, and that this case is a proper reminder of the need for expert evidence to be given in a manner according to the Practice Direction.