Elections as Focusing Events: Explaining Attitudes Toward the Police and the Government in Comparative Perspective

Traditional views hold that citizens' attitudes toward the police are driven by local concerns. We contend that public attitudes toward the police are responsive to systematic and periodic national-level political factors. In particular, we show that national elections as a focusing event alter periodically the determinants of attitudes toward the police. Using a logistic regression model and diachronic data from Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States, we find that attitudes toward the police and the national government are linked, and this linkage is responsive to the influence of national election campaigns in varying degrees. In addition, we find that attitudes toward the Mexican police are sensitive to partisan changes in the composition of the national political government. We find no such sensitivity in the police attitudes of Costa Rican and U.S. citizens. This suggests that police attitudes are not only affected by the performance of the national political government but also by the character (consolidated versus unconsolidated) of the national political government. In short, police attitudes in new democracies are an indication of the unconsolidated nature of the state apparatus.     

元明清时期中国西南地区的交通发展

元明清时期,中国西南地区主要存在6条对外通道,虽然各条道路的旅行时间在这一时期变化不大,但元明清政府所投入的巨大人力物力极大地改善了西南水陆交通状况,降低了交通运输成本,使西南地区的贸易量有了显著的增长.     

Psychological Dimensions of the Israeli Settlements Issue: Endowments and Identities

When you have a rational discussion of what to do with the Israeli settlements, how do you factor in the irrational, the deeply held beliefs of people with varying views? As we witnessed at the conference, when people speak about the Israeli settlements, they do so with emotion, using such phrases as “Messianic spirit,”“longing for homeland,”“compassionate revenge,” and “the destruction of dreams.” The land in question is precious to two different groups, who each imbue the land with their own narrative and fervor. In fact, at the very heart of what makes the settlements issue so complex and seemingly intractable is its psychological dimensions — the mental and emotional factors that permeate the discussion at every level.     

Variation in Methods of Cardiac Dissection—A Potential Confounder in Measuring Cardiac Weight at Autopsy

To evaluate whether the weight of the heart measured at autopsy may be affected by the type of dissection, a prospective study was undertaken of the weights of sequential cases of nonpediatric hearts. Four hundred fifty‐eight hearts were examined (age range 17–96 years; mean 55.9 years; M:F = 3:1). The hearts were each weighed fresh, once the apex had been sliced, the auricles of the atria opened and blood drained, and again once the cardiac chambers had been opened completely. The difference in the partially and fully opened heart weights (range 146–1028 g; mean 434.8 g; range 134–1011 g; mean 420.8 g, respectively) (p < 0.05) ranged from 0 to 100 g (mean 14 g). In the most extreme example, the weight of the partially opened heart was 30.3% higher than that of the fully opened specimen. Failure to fully open the heart prior to weighing may result in significant error.     

The framework convention on tobacco control: The politics of global health governance

This paper analyses the particular challenges that tobacco control poses for health governance in an era of accelerating globalisation. Traditionally, health systems have been structured at the national level, and health regulation has focused on the needs of populations within individual countries. However, the increasingly global nature of the tobacco industry, and the risks it poses to public health, require a transnational approach to regulation. This has been the rationale behind negotiations for a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) by the Tobacco Free Initiative of the World Health Organisation (TFI/WHO). In recognition of the need to go beyond national governments, and to create a governance mechanism that can effectively address the transnational nature of the tobacco epidemic, WHO has sought to involve a broad range of interests in negotiations. The contributions of civil society groups in particular in the negotiation process have been unusual. This paper explores the nature and effectiveness of these contributions. It concludes with an assessment of whether the FCTC constitutes a significant shift towards a new form of global health governance, exploring the institutional tensions inherent in attempting to extend participation within a state-centric organisation.     

The Globalization and Re-localization of Material Flows: Four Phases of Food Regulation

Over three phases of regulation, the paper traces a narrow range of regulatory interest in food, focusing largely on food safety and the handling of periodic food crises. We suggest that these crises were early indications of the problems in sustaining increasingly unsustainable modes of food production through global supply chains and that United Kingdom/EU regulation acted in part as a palliative, cloaking the wider systemic disorders. We go on to suggest that, as resource pressures become increasingly apparent in world food systems, a further fourth phase of food regulation will need to pay much greater attention to the resilience, sustainability, and security of food supply.     

The Forgotten Hysteria Over Malpractice

This article explores the origins of the medical “malpractice crisis,” and describes the basic social, economic, and political transformations that led to its emergence and the reasons for its rise. An understanding of these dynamics explains the gap in awareness about what the doctor/patient relationship is and what it should be, and its correlation to the upsurge in medical malpractice lawsuits and patient safety programs. The author recommends managing for and conserving the doctor/patient relationship as the key priority to be tackled in order to put an end to the “crisis” and prevent circumstances that further encourage it.     

Institutionalized Hegemonic Masculinity and Rape by United States Army Personnel in South Korea: A Perspective on Military Subculture

The aims of this study are threefold: (1) to illustrate an institutionalization process of hegemonic masculinity, (2) to show how this process can be applied to rape incidents in South Korea, and (3) to suggest what needs to be done in the future. Based on previous studies of hegemonic masculinity, this study first sets the stage by illustrating how the isomorphism with hegemonic masculinity is achieved and maintained through culturalization and institutionalization among male soldiers. Based on this theoretical framework, this study shows limitations in the traditional approach to military crime, and then applies the current framework to explain higher rate of rape incidents committed by United States Army personnel stationed in South Korea. Finally, this study suggests what needs to be done in terms of empirical investigation of military rape in different countries. This study concludes that the institutionalized hegemonic masculinity and the reproduction of masculine organizations are possible major contributing factors to the higher rate of rape incidents.