Food Brexit and Chlorinated Chicken: A Microcosm of Wider Food Problems

This paper situates food safety concerns raised in the Brexit debate since the referendum and suggests that, although the issue of chlorinated chicken entered public discourse, it represents wider concerns about food safety standards. Food safety has had high resonance in the UK since the 1980s, but Brexit shows how it connects to wider concerns also raised about Brexit, such as impacts on healthcare, the effects of austerity on food poverty, the limitations of low waged employment, concerns about migration and labour markets, and regional economic disparities. Brexit’s impact on the UK food system is immense because food has been highly integrated into EU governance. While food standards can be portrayed as a single narrow issue, the paper suggests it provides a useful lens with which to examine, interrogate and comprehend these wider Brexit politics. The complex realities of food politics and wider food system dynamics undermine any simplistic political narrative of ‘taking back control’.     

Commentary on Foubert, Godin, & Tatum (2010): the evolution of sexual violence prevention and the urgency for effectiveness

Foubert, Godin, and Tatum describe qualitative effects among college men of The Men's Program, a one-session sexual violence prevention program. This article and the program it describes are representative of many sexual violence prevention programs that are in practice and provide an opportunity for a brief discussion of the development and evaluation of sexual violence prevention approaches. In this commentary, we will focus on two considerations for an evolving field: the adherence to the principles of prevention and the use of rigorous evaluation methods to demonstrate effectiveness. We argue that the problem of sexual violence has created urgency for effective prevention programs and that scientific and prevention standards provide the best foundation to meet this need.     

How to benefit from publicly funded pre-competitive research: an empirical investigation for Germany’s ICR program

This paper contributes to the debate on the systemic effects of technology policy by investigating spillovers of pre-competitive publicly funded Industrial Collective Research (ICR) in Germany which is carried out by non-profit research institutes. Using data for 911 firms surveyed in 2006, the results show that non-actively involved firms in ICR projects use ICR results to a large extent. Almost all of these firms are engaged in collaborative research projects with non-profit research institutes. We conclude that company–scientists linkages are an important pre-requisite to absorb ICR results by non-actively involved firms in ICR projects.     

土地的集体所有制与农村安全

土地集体所有制具有重要的社会功能,它为农户尤其是弱势农户提供了规避市场风险的手段,从而保持了中国农村的稳定和安全。然而,由于物权化的承包关系、政治权力对土地权利的干预以及基层组织自身的不作为,土地集体所有制的优势正在丧失。在这种条件下,土地制度必须从中国现代化实现的战略高度进行重新统筹和安排,避免制度本身的单一与僵硬,以给不同地区农户的土地承包留下一定的自主选择权和决定权。     

Reconstructing Embedded Liberalism: John Gerard Ruggie and Constructivist Approaches to the Study of the International Trade Regime

In 1982, John Gerard Ruggie published a study of the postwarinternational trade and monetary regimes in which he introducedthe concept of ‘embedded liberalism’. A large andgrowing number of international trade scholars are finding Ruggie’sconcept of embedded liberalism an appealing one, and it nowoccupies a significant place on our conceptual horizon. In thisarticle, the author returns to Ruggie’s original articleto excavate lessons which are peculiarly relevant for currenttrade law scholarship. He argues that Ruggie’s accountof embedded liberalism usefully serves to destabilize commonassumptions about the objectives and normative underpinningsof the trade regime and thereby to expand our conceptions ofwhat a liberal trade regime might plausibly look like. On theother hand, he explains why he does not share the enthusiasmof those who see in embedded liberalism an attractive normativevision to guide WTO reform. In addition, and most importantly,the author draws attention to the constructivist theoreticalframework of Ruggie’s piece. He suggests that Ruggie’sarticle provides a useful introduction to the central elementsof constructivist thinking about international institutionsand shows how attention to constructivist insights has the potentialto significantly enrich and expand our understanding of thetrade regime and of trade law.     

Adult psychopathology and intimate partner violence among survivors of childhood maltreatment

Childhood maltreatment is associated with psychopathology and revictimization in adulthood. Whether different types of childhood maltreatment have different long-term consequences, however, is largely unknown. The participants in this study included 42 female victims of intimate partner violence and 30 women with no history of serious trauma. These women completed measures of their trauma history, current psychological symptoms, and severity of current abuse. Regression-based techniques were used to assess the relationships among these constructs. Childhood maltreatment was associated with current distress and current conflict in relationships. There was a positive relationship between number of types of childhood traumatization and psychopathology. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were negatively associated with current relationships involving physical assault. This work underscores the importance of assessing multiple types of childhood maltreatment and of considering the cumulative effects of such experiences.