Lessons in suffering: Greek tragedy’s teachings on disability through Sophocles’ Philoctetes

Political theory often sees disability through the negative language of abnormality and inability, which perceives disability as a deficiency that deviates from the able-bodied. However, critical disability studies strives to transform the disabling language of political theory into an enabling project that sees the ability, unique perspectives, capacities, and contributions of people with disabilities. Through Sophocles’ Philoctetes, this article examines the negative ways in which disability is conceptualized, socially constructed, and (dis)valued, as well as the possibilities for a positive and enabling theory of disability. The character of Philoctetes exposes the negative social construction of disability as well as the extraordinary ability of those who live with chronic impairments. The Philoctetes meditates on the status of the disabled who are unfairly isolated from human community and who are often unfairly seen in an instrumental fashion that fails to recognize their fundamental status as human beings who are capable, valuable, and essential for the success of human endeavors and community. For political theory, the Philoctetes demonstrates the ability in disability, and shines brightly on the essential contributions that people with disabilities make in our societies. Philoctetes shows that the lives of people who live daily with chronic impairments need not be seen as necessarily tragic. Instead, these modes of being speak to human diversity, ingenuity, and triumph.     

The Responsibility to Protect at Ten: Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Abstract

Far from having faded away, ten years after its formal adoption, the responsibility to protect (R2P), is arguably more relevant than ever. In the current overall context of protection crises, heightened in severity by the emergence of violent extremists, R2P has changed the way in which the international community characterises situations that involve protection failures, and has raised expectations about what should occur when atrocity crimes have been committed or are imminent. UN member states now agree that prevention is at the core of R2P, that international action should employ the full range of diplomatic, political and humanitarian measures, and that military force should only be considered as a measure of last resort. While there is continued contestation about particular aspects of R2P – as there is over much older normative advancements, such as human rights – R2P has helped to forge political consensus and build new institutional capacity to prevent and respond to atrocity crimes.     

The Role of Interface Shape on the Impact Characteristics and Cranial Fracture Patterns Using the Immature Porcine Head Model, ,

The forensic literature suggests that when adolescents fall onto edged and pointed surfaces, depressed fractures can occur at low energy levels. This study documents impact biomechanics and fracture characteristics of infant porcine skulls dropped onto flat, curved, edged, and focal surfaces. Results showed that the energy needed for fracture initiation was nearly four times higher against a flat surface than against the other surfaces. While characteristic measures of fracture such as number and length of fractures did not vary with impact surface shape, the fracture patterns did depend on impact surface shape. While experimental impacts against the flat surface produced linear fractures initiating at sutural boundaries peripheral to the point of impact (POI), more focal impacts produced depressed fractures initiating at the POI. The study supported case‐based forensic literature suggesting cranial fracture patterns depend on impact surface shape and that fracture initiation energy is lower for more focal impacts.     

Understanding the Roles of Context,Frequency, and Quantity of Alcohol Consumption in Child Physical Abuse: Risks for Mothers and Fathers

Alcohol use is related to child physical abuse, although little is known about gender-specific risks factors. This study examines the relationships between alcohol outlets, context-specific drinking, dose–response drinking and child physical abuse for mothers and fathers. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1973 female and 1050 male respondents in 50 California cities. Weighted negative binomial models were used to calculate the frequency of physical abuse in the past year. Drinking more often at restaurants was related to higher frequency of physical abuse for fathers, while mothers who drank more frequently at bars and parties used physical abuse more often. There were no significant dose–response drinking relationships for fathers. Drinking higher amounts at bars, parties, and restaurants was associated with less frequent physical abuse for mothers. Our findings suggest that a focus on drinking contexts may reveal heightened risk for many mothers who do not consume large amounts of alcohol.     

Perceptions of Gender Bias in the Promotional Process of a Detention Staff

With growing numbers of female staff in correctional settings, issues relating to promotional fairness are certain to occur. Historically, female detention staff held perceptions of being discriminated against in the promotional process due to gender biases. However, there is almost no recent examination of these perceptions. The current study addresses this shortcoming in the literature by using a sample of 362 sworn detention deputies ranked Sergeant and below at a large southern-central United States jail. Contrary to the data from a generation ago, more male detention staff perceive gender biases in the promotional process than females, and report that promotional decisions are based on arbitrary and informal factors. Women are more likely to perceive promotions to be fair and based on merit. Results are discussed in relation to two theoretical perspectives: the importation-differential experiences model, and the work-role prisonization model.     

Dual-System Families: Cash Assistance Sequences of Households Involved With Child Welfare

Dual-system families, those involved with the child welfare system and receiving public cash assistance, may be more vulnerable than families connected to only one of the two systems. This study advances our understanding of the heterogeneous and dynamic cash-assistance histories of dual-system families in the post–welfare reform era. With merged administrative data from Washington over the period 1998–2009, we use cluster analysis to group month-to-month sequences of cash-assistance use among households over the 37-month period surrounding child removal. Close to two thirds of families who received any assistance either had a short spell with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or lost TANF. Smaller percentages had steady support. Families who lose assistance are less likely than average to reunify while those who connect to benefits are more likely, suggesting that coordination between systems may serve dual-system families well.     

Democracy and dictatorship revisited

We address the strengths and weaknesses of the main available measures of political regime and extend the dichotomous regime classification first introduced in Alvarez et al. (Stud. Comp. Int. Dev. 31(2):3–36, 1996). This extension focuses on how incumbents are removed from office. We argue that differences across regime measures must be taken seriously and that they should be evaluated in terms of whether they (1) serve to address important research questions, (2) can be interpreted meaningfully, and (3) are reproducible. We argue that existing measures of democracy are not interchangeable and that the choice of measure should be guided by its theoretical and empirical underpinnings. We show that the choice of regime measure matters by replicating studies published in leading journals.