Teaching international relations in Southeast Asia: historical memory, academic context, and politics - an introduction

The teaching of international relations (IR) at universitiesin Southeast Asia plays a role in the production of knowledgeabout the IR of Southeast Asia. As a complement to the scrutinyof published research output, a focus on teaching offers onepathway toward comprehending the constitution of meaning inboth the IR of Southeast Asia and the broader IR discipline.This introduction to a collection of essays on the teachingof IR in Southeast Asia also discusses the potential ways bywhich attention to teaching may uncover the socializing roleof pedagogy. An inquiry into the discipline as it is taughtin the region throws light on how particular national legitimatingmyths are reproduced, the transmission of collective historicalmemories, the dominance of certain schools of internationalthought, and the role of civil society in Southeast Asian knowledgeproduction. Received for publication August 28, 2008. Accepted for publication October 7, 2008.     

Emotional Distress Among LGBT Youth: The Influence of Perceived Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

The authors evaluated emotional distress among 9th–12th grade students, and examined whether the association between being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgendered (i.e., “LGBT”) and emotional distress was mediated by perceptions of having been treated badly or discriminated against because others thought they were gay or lesbian. Data come from a school-based survey in Boston, Massachusetts (n = 1,032); 10% were LGBT, 58% were female, and ages ranged from 13 to 19 years. About 45% were Black, 31% were Hispanic, and 14% were White. LGBT youth scored significantly higher on the scale of depressive symptomatology. They were also more likely than heterosexual, non-transgendered youth to report suicidal ideation (30% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001) and self-harm (21% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001). Mediation analyses showed that perceived discrimination accounted for increased depressive symptomatology among LGBT males and females, and accounted for an elevated risk of self-harm and suicidal ideation among LGBT males. Perceived discrimination is a likely contributor to emotional distress among LGBT youth.     

Financialisation, Financial Literacy and Asset-Based Welfare

This article examines New Labour's policies of asset-based welfare in the broader context of financialisation. It argues that these are indicative of a mode of government concerned to alter individual outlooks and aspirations, and that asset-based welfare, as developed by New Labour, is primarily a strategy for enhancing financial literacy. Exploring and identifying the general contours of New Labour's reform of welfare provision (particularly the rise of conditionality and personalisation), the article presents a case study of the Child Trust Fund, its development and marketing. The article closes with reflections on the fate of such policies after the sub-prime mortgage crisis.     

A candidate for relegation? Corruption,governance approaches and the (re)construction of post‐war states

The article discusses the place of anti‐corruption in the post‐war donor agendas. It uses examples from a set of country reports to demonstrate the divergence between the rhetoric and reality of donor‐led initiatives, and the delivery of reform through the governance approach of which addressing corruption has been a part. It suggests that dealing with corruption has often been diluted or downplayed within the wider approach. Within the debate to revise that approach, corruption may be relegated further down the agenda. While recognising the complexity of the post‐war reform process, and the demands from the multiple tasks and volume of funding being addressed by a range of domestic and external actors, the article suggests that failure to address corruption within any new approach in favour of what are considered more pressing reform issues may well cause problems for the future. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Empirical versus Theoretical Claims about Extreme Counterfactuals: A Response

Langche Zeng Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 e-mail: lazeng{at}ucsd.edu In response to the data-based measures of model dependence proposedin King and Zeng (2006), Sambanis and Michaelides (2008) proposealternative measures that rely upon assumptions untestable inobservational data. If these assumptions are correct, then theirmeasures are appropriate and ours, based solely on the empiricaldata, may be too conservative. If instead, and as is usuallythe case, the researcher is not certain of the precise functionalform of the data generating process, the distribution from whichthe data are drawn, and the applicability of these modelingassumptions to new counterfactuals, then the data-based measuresproposed in King and Zeng (2006) are much preferred. After all,the point of model dependence checks is to verify empirically,rather than to stipulate by assumption, the effects of modelingassumptions on counterfactual inferences. Author’s note: Easy-to-use software to implement the methodsdiscussed here, called "WhatIf: Software for Evaluating Counterfactuals,"is available at http://gking.harvard.edu/whatif. All informationnecessary to replicate the analyses herein can be found in King and Zeng (2008).Conflict of interest statement. None declared.     

Not again! Public perception,regulation, and nanotechnology

It is often argued that immediate government action regarding nanotechnology is needed to ensure that public opinion does not mistakenly view nanotechnology as dangerous, to restore public trust in government, and to increase the legitimacy of government action through increased public participation. This article questions whether governments can achieve these goals. As the world lurches toward regulation of nanotechnology, we should ask Why the rush? Can anticipatory action, perceived as the government doing something, fulfill the competing hopes to “restore trust,”“pave the way” for nanotechnology, “increase awareness,” and “satisfy democratic notions of accountability”? Or is government action more likely to increase existing divisions over nanotechnology's future?     

Activity Involvement as an Ecological Asset: Profiles of Participation and Youth Outcomes

Prior research has demonstrated that participation in out-of-school time activities is associated with positive and healthy development among adolescents. However, fewer studies have examined how trajectories of participation across multiple activities can impact developmental outcomes. Using data from Wave 3 (approximately Grade 7) through Wave 8 (approximately Grade 12) of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, this study examined patterns of breadth in out-of-school time participation in activities and associated outcomes in positive youth development (PYD), Contribution to self and community, risk behaviors, and depressive symptoms. We assessed 927 students (on average across waves, 65.4 % female) from a relatively racially and ethnically homogeneous sample (about 74 % European American, across waves) with a mean age in Wave 3 of 12.98 years (SD = 0.52). The results indicated that high likelihood of participation in activities was consistently associated with fewer negative outcomes and higher scores on PYD and Contribution, as compared to low likelihood of participation in activities. Changes in the breadth of participation (in particular, moving from a high to a low likelihood of participation) were associated with increased substance use, depressive symptoms, and risk behaviors. Limitations of the current study, implications for future research, and applications to youth programs are discussed.     

Hard Heads and Soft Hearts

Abstract

Various Australian politicians have argued for the need to combine ‘hard heads and soft hearts’ in politics. Unfortunately, this article argues that that recognition is not yet fully accepted in Australian political science. While there has been a significant progress, both in terms of the number of senior women in the discipline and the gender content of Australian political science, problems still remain. Unfortunately, some of the issues are still those identified by Carole Pateman in her famous 1981 address as President of the Australian Political Studies Association when she noted both the underrepresentation of women in political science and that there was a tendency to define ‘the political’ in narrow ways that excluded the study of women and issues that were of concern to them. This article will explore why political science has been less open to incorporating feminist insights than some other related disciplines. It will analyse a number of issues regarding the gendering of Australian political science. These include narrow definitions of the ‘political’; a continuing implicit (gendered) prioritising of various fields and approaches as ‘hard’ political science and the denigration of other fields as ‘soft’; and the impact of neo-liberalism and the importance of the ‘political’ as a site for constructions of gender identity. It argues that the continuing resistance to ‘reinventing’ political science to take account of gender is particularly concerning given the potential impact on definitions of research ‘excellence’. The article also identifies some areas where more research needs to be done.