Consensus Decisions and Similarity Measures in International Organizations

Voting behavior in international organizations, most notably in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), is often used to infer the similarity of foreign policy preferences of member states. Most of these measures ignore, however, that particular covoting patterns may appear simply by chance (Häge 2011) and that these patterns of agreement (or the absence thereof) are only observable if decisions are reached through roll-call votes. As the relative frequency of roll-call votes changes considerably over time in most international organizations, currently used similarity and affinity measures offer a misleading picture. Based on a complete data set of UNGA resolution decisions, we demonstrate how taking different forms of chance agreement and the relative prevalence of consensus decisions into account affects conclusions about the effect of the similarity of member states’ foreign policy positions on foreign aid allocation.     

Offending,drug abuse and life chances—a longitudinal study of a Stockholm birth cohort

There are many factors, both empirical and theoretical, which indicate that drug abuse can play an important role in explaining the links between criminality and life chances when viewed from a life-course perspective. In this article, we examine the links between crime and drug abuse and social inclusion and exclusion in adult life, and look at whether there are gender-specific patterns in these regards. The Stockholm Birth Cohort database allows us to follow a birth cohort born in 1953 to age 56. The results show that drug abuse is central both to processes of continuity in and desistance from crime and to life chances in adulthood. For the adult outcomes that relate to work and health, we also note a tendency towards polarization; the size of both the relative and the absolute differences between the comparison group and offenders with registered drug abuse increases over time. The same general pattern can be seen for males and females.     

Testing the Impact of Political Generations: The Class of 94 and Pro‐feminist Ideas in the Swedish Riksdag

How can one explain the transformation of elected assemblies like national parliaments? In this study it is argued that much can be gained from taking the assumption of political generations more seriously when trying to explain transformations of the political agenda – for example, of themes and topics brought up in the parliamentary process. More specifically, the article expands on previous research in three ways: first, it launches the concept of ‘parliamentary political generation’ where the core element is the combination of an influx of large numbers of newcomers into the elected assembly and an electoral context that is formative – that is, that exhibits characteristics that distinguish the election from other elections. Second, an empirical test is conducted where other factors such as party affiliation and social background characteristics are controlled for. Finally, the test on the impact of parliamentary political generations is conducted in a context – the Swedish Riksdag – where parliamentary party groups are strong. The data used is the Parliamentary Surveys 1985–2010 conducted at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The political generation in focus is the ‘Class of 94’. The results show that the Class of 94 distinguish themselves by being more feminist than their senior colleagues and other groups of newcomers in Swedish elections. This is the feminist generation in Swedish politics.     

Deception among pairs: “Let's say we had lunch and hope they will swallow it!”

Deception research has neglected the fact that legal-workers often have to try to detect deceit on the basis of statements derived from pairs of suspects, each having been interrogated repeatedly. To remedy this shortcoming we conducted a study where each member of 10 truth-telling pairs and 10 lying pairs was interrogated twice about an alibi. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students were enrolled as lie-catchers. The main findings were that (a) overall deception detection accuracy was modest; (b) lie-catchers given access to a large number of statements did not outperform lie-catchers given access to a lesser number of statements; (c) when asked to justify their veracity assessments the most frequently reported cue was ‘consistency within pairs of suspects’; (d) all cues to deception were of low diagnostic value. Psycho-legal aspects of integrating sequential information in deception detection contexts are discussed.     

The effect of odour reinstatement on children's episodic memory

Children's memory reports are often sparse, which increases the need for efficient interview methods. The present study investigated whether odour reinstatement can aid children's memory and increase the amount of information recalled from an experienced event. Children (N = 106, mean age 10 years, 8 months) experienced a magic show where a vanilla odour was present and were interviewed about their memory of the event either one week, or six months, after the magic show. During the interview, half of the children re-experienced the same vanilla odour. In contrast to studies on adult participants, no odour-reinstatement effect was found with the child participants in the present study. On the other hand, odour reinstatement reduced the children's ratings of how strong their emotions were during the event. Thus, odour reinstatement may affect different forensically relevant factors, and this should be considered in future research.     

Establishing the most effective way to deliver the sketch procedure to enhance interviewee free recall

Many prisons across Western countries recently began to paint detention cells in Baker-Miller pink to calm down aggressive inmates. This recent development is based on early findings of more than 30 years ago suggesting that Baker-Miller pink reduces physical strength and thus aggressive behavior. In the present study we question the applied methods of the original studies and run a highly standardized and controlled experiment to test the influence of Baker-Miller pink on aggressive behavior. The results do not replicate the original findings and thus challenge the recent adoption in many prisons. Implications and limitations of the experiment are discussed.     

Children's truthful and deceptive testimonies: How camera perspective affects adult observers’ perception and assessment

Abstract

This experimental study investigates adults’ perception and assessments of children's testimonies as a function of camera shot (close-up shot vs medium shot vs long shot) and camera focus (child only vs child and interviewer). Truth-telling and lying children were interviewed and videotaped simultaneously by four cameras, each taking a different visual perspective (‘close-up shot/child only’, ‘medium shot/child only’, ‘medium shot/child and interviewer’, ‘long shot/child and interviewer’). Mock jurors (N=256) watched the videotaped testimonies and rated their perception of the children's statement and appearance, and assessed the children's veracity. Children seen in long shot were perceived as more neutral and relaxed, and children seen in close-up were perceived as having to think harder. The adult's deception detection accuracy was at chance level. The results suggest that legal policy-makers should consider the outcome of psycho-legal research on camera perspective when establishing and/or reforming standards for police interviews and courtroom procedures.     

Right‐wing extremism and racist violence in Germany

Rechtsradikale Gewalt im vereinigten Deutschland: Jugend im gesellschaft‐lichen Umbruch. Edited by HANS‐UWE OTTO and ROLAND MERTEN. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 1993. Pp.470, biblio, index. DM 29.80 (paperback). ISBN 3–8100–1193–2.

Brandstifter: Deutschland zwischen Dcmokratie und völkischem Nationalismus. By HAJO FUNKE. Göttingen: Lamuv, 1993. Pp.208, 12 illus., 1 table, 4 figures, biblio. DM 24 (paperback). ISBN 3–88977–324–9.

Fremdenfeindliche Gewalt: Einstellungen, Tater, Konflikteskalation. By HELMUT WILLEMS with ROLAND ECKERT, STEFANIE WÜRTZ, LINDA STEINMETZ, with a contribution by PAUL B. HILL. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 1993. Pp.293, 52 tables and figures, biblio. DM 24.80 (paperback). ISBN 3–8100–1196–7.

The Republikaner Party in Germany: Right‐Wing Menace or Protest Catchall? By HANS‐JOACHIM VEEN, NORBERT LEPSZY, PETER MNICH, foreword by KARL H. CERNY. (The Washington Papers; 162) Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993. Pp.xx + 83, 14 tables, 6 figures, £11.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–275–94580–4.

Die Bielefelder Rechtsextremismusstudie: Erste Langzeituntersuchung zur poli‐tischen Sozialisafion männlicher Jugendlicher. By WILHELM HEITMEYER, HEIKE BUHSE, JOACHIM LIEBEFREUND, KURT MÖLLER, JOACHIM MÜLLER, HELMUT RITZ, GERTRUD SILLER, JOHANNES VOSSEN. Weinheim and München: Juventa, 2nd ed. 1993. Pp.612, 2 tables, 38 figures, biblio. DM 68 (paperback). ISBN 3–7799–0422–5.

Politics Against Democracy: Right‐Wing Extremism in West Germany. By RICHARD STÖSS. Translated from the German by Linsay Batson, New York/Oxford: Berg, 1991. Pp.272, 2 maps, 30 tables, 17 figures, biblio, index. £32. ISBN 0–85496–190–9.     

War and other insecurities in East Asia: what the security studies field does and does not tell us

Abstract

Terrorism has become a challenge to which Southeast Asian studies need to respond. This article scrutinizes political and economic developments in regard to democracy and poverty in Southeast Asia, in particular the degree of change, and studies their influence on terrorism. The main question being asked here is whether external support for political and economic development could contribute to the Southeast Asian battle against terrorism. At the same time, this article seeks ways in which the international community, especially Europe, could support and participate in Southeast Asian efforts to address the root causes of terrorism. Finally, a global quantitative analysis of relevant factors is undertaken, and global conclusions are related to the developments and processes observed in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. On the basis of the analysis, it can be established that some of the root causes of terrorism are indeed related to poverty and the lack of democracy. While it is clear that terrorist strategies to address these grievances by targeting innocent civilians are unacceptable, grievances related to poverty and the lack of democracy are perfectly legitimate. It seems that in order to inhibit individual terrorist motivations, democratization of political systems would do some good. However, the main economic and political grievances that are associated with the growth of terrorism are related to transnational communities. Thus, while Southeast Asian countries should continue to develop and democratize, they should also work together with the international community to democratize the international structures of governance.