Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Current Concepts and Controversies

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sometimes is raised in compensation claims, in tort settings, and in other medical–legal settings. Accordingly, health-care and legal professionals working in these areas need to be familiar with the current findings and controversies concerning the disorder. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we review the most important findings concerning the clinical features, etiology, and treatment of PTSD. Second, we examine six major controversies concerning the disorder that are relevant to psychologists and other medical–legal practitioners: (a) the issue of what qualifies as a traumatic stressor, (b) the question of whether traumatic stress causes brain damage, (c) the validity of the concept of delayed-onset PTSD, (d) the recovered memory controversy, (e) the question of whether PTSD can arise when the person has no memory of the trauma (e.g., due to concussion), and (f) issues concerning PTSD malingering. Throughout this article we offer recommendations for psychological and other medical–legal practice in relation to the evaluation of PTSD claims.     

The Political Fate of Market Reform in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe

Why did political leaders adopt drastic, costly neoliberal policies in a number of countries, but not in others? Why did these painful measures elicit popular support in some nations, while triggering rejection and protest elsewhere? To complement extant explanations for these puzzling developments, the article draws on the core finding of prospect theory, a psychological theory of decision making under risk: people tend toward bold, risky choices when facing prospects of losses, but opt for caution when anticipating gains. Accordingly, leaders enact and citizens support drastic reforms only when they face deep crises, such as hyperinflation. This argument yields predictions about the different stages of the reform process, which the article assesses through a wide-ranging examination of reform politics in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Boolean analysis corroborates most of the predictions derived from prospect theory, but also suggests the importance of economic andpolitical-institutional context factors.     

Business Representation in the UK Since 1979: the Case of Trade Associations

The article explores the impact of Conservative governments since 1979 on business representation. It concentrates on the trade association—the most common form of business organization in the UK but one which has been largely neglected in the discussion of business representation. The results of a major survey of trade associations conducted in 1994 are reported and their significance assessed in the light of three general propositions about the direction of business representation since 1979.     

Gesellschaftsordnungen und öffentliche Kommunikation Forschungsbericht

Dieser Forschungsbericht stellt die bald 10jährige interdisziplinäre Forschungslinie “Krise und sozialer Wandel. Untersuchung von Me-dienereignissen in der Schweiz” vor. Das erkenntnisleitende Interesse bezieht sich auf den Versuch, den sozialen Wandel moderner Gesellschaften durch die systematische Erfassung öffentlicher politischer Kommunikation zu erschliessen. Zu diesem Zweck werden quantitative und qualitative Methoden der Inhaltsanalyse von massenmedialen Quellen erarbeitet und weiterentwickelt. Dieser Forschungsbericht vermittelt einen Einblick in die theoretische Perspektive, die Methodo-logie, die Datensätze und einen Ausblick auf gegenwärtige und künfti-ge Forschungsfragen.     

Norms versus Action: Why Voters Fail to Sanction Malfeasance in Brazil

We show that Brazilian voters strongly sanction malfeasant mayors when presented with hypothetical scenarios but take no action when given the same information about their own mayor. Partnering with the State Accounts Court of Pernambuco, we conducted a field experiment during the 2016 municipal elections in which the treatment group received information about official wrongdoing by their mayor. The treatment has no effect on self‐reported voting behavior after the election, yet when informing about malfeasance in the context of a vignette experiment, we are able to replicate the strong negative effect found in prior studies. We argue that voters' behavior in the abstract reflects the comparatively strong norm against corruption in Brazil. Yet on Election Day, their behavior is constrained by factors such as attitudes toward local political dynasties and the greater salience of more pressing concerns like employment and health services.