Heterosexuality and Race in the Australian Same-Sex Marriage Postal Survey

ABSTRACT

This article argues that race and class are central aspects of sexual citizenship in a Australia. It does so by investigating representations of heterosexuality that were produced and circulated during the 2017 same-sex marriage postal survey. Engaging with feminist and critical race theorists, we position same-sex marriage as not exceptional but part of a wider distribution of sexual citizenship within Australia's ongoing settler colonial history. We do so by introducing a number of illustrative examples of representations of heterosexuality produced during the survey. These representations reveal how same-sex marriage perpetuated heterosexual authority by asserting claims to authenticity and the occupation of space. We observe how heterosexuality in the survey material reproduced fantasies linking these three themes, for example, in an authentic white heterosexual family who speaks from their suburban backyard. It reveals that ceding to a bifurcated view of either progressive or conservative voices forestalls rather than advances other visions which may exceed the limited imaginings of sexual citizenship offered by the white liberal settler colonial state.     

Beyond the media's explanation: Examining the determinants of attitudes toward torture

The question of what constitutes torture has perhaps never held as prominent a place in US political discourse as it has since the attacks on 9/11. This has fueled a national conversation that causes us to consider to what extent do our actions as a nation reflect our values as a nation? In a post 9/11 world in which the country will confront terrorism at home and abroad and our values will be tested we should strive for a better understanding of citizens' attitudes towards the practices that are (and have been) used to counter terrorism. To the extent that democratic theory is correct in necessitating public policy and public opinions to be reasonably congruent, understanding the distribution and formation of citizen attitudes towards torture is an important endeavor.     

The Impact of Advertising and Media on the Arab Culture: The Case of the Arab Spring,Public Spheres,and Social Media

The Arab world has experienced some unprecedented social movements, labeled by the media as the Arab Spring. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of public policy, advertising, media, and public spheres on the Arab Spring. The media and economic policies enacted in the Arab world in the 1990s played a significant role in changing consumer culture in the Arab region, resulting in significant changes in public policy. Two studies were conducted to test how the change in consumer culture along with new public polices in the region contributed to the uprisings.     

Town twinning and political support

Does town twinning foster citizens’ political support of the European Union? This study investigates the relation, which is maintained in politics and academics but still calls for empirical evidence. We distinguish between two levels of analysis, namely individual and context level, and differentiate in accordance with David Easton’s modes of political support specific from diffuse support. The corresponding hypotheses are tested with a unique dataset, which embraces survey findings of more than 12,000 respondents from 28 randomly selected municipalities in Germany. The main conclusions that emerge from the analysis are: First, town twinning does promote political support of the European Union on the individual level. Second, there are positive effects on specific and diffuse support. Thirdly, there is no relationship between local activity in twinning affairs and political support.     

“一带一路”倡议下的中非海上安全合作

随着中国"一带一路"倡议的提出与推进,其涉及范围逐步向非洲大陆扩展,特别是习近平主席最终确定将"21世纪海上丝绸之路"穿越非洲大陆。在此背景下,中国政府有必要借助"2l世纪海上丝绸之路"扩展到非洲的机遇,在现有中非经贸、政治及安全合作的基础上把中非关系扩展到海洋领域。鉴于非洲多国政局并不稳定、非传统安全威胁加重,其中来自海上的非传统安全问题日渐突出等局面,在依托"2l世纪海上丝绸之路"扩展中非合作关系的过程中,中国需要与非洲相关国家加强各领域特别是海上的安全合作,并争取其他域外大国的良性参与,避免恶性竞争,共同创建一个"中非海上安全共同体",为包括中国、其他域外国家在内的各国在非洲经贸领域的合作及发展保驾护航。这样既能巩固和加强中非传统合作关系,推动其发展到新的层次,更好地保护中国在非洲的海外利益,也能避免与其他域外大国在非洲走向"零和博弈"。     

转型期员工心理健康服务研究：工会模式- 以辽宁省为例

转型期员工面临较大的压力,心理健康问题比较突出。工会在提供心理健康服务方面兼备效率和效果的双重优势,采用分段购买方式与专业机构建立"委托—代理—共建"关系,以"心理健康服务共享中心"(PHSSC)为核心,将会费作为服务经费的主要来源,由专业人员提供服务并收集相关数据进行分析和趋势预测,制定相应的管理与监督机制,通过专业服务保障并提升员工心理健康水平。     

民族地区少数民族就业促进制度建设研究

各自治区及其他民族地区自成立后,特别是改革开放以来,全面贯彻党的民族政策,坚持民族区域自治制度,采取多种措施促进少数民族就业,不断完善就业服务机制,积极制定和实施相应的民族政策法规,少数民族就业数量质量明显提高。受到诸多因素综合影响,民族地区经济总体发展水平与发达地区有较大差距,影响着民族地区经济的发展和少数民族就业的实现。提升少数民族就业竞争能力,离不开就业促进制度建设和路径规划,这涉及我国作为多民族国家劳动就业制度设计的重大问题,更离不开民族地区有效转化国家立法政策,不断创新民族地区就业促进制度和实践。     

Seal the Deal: Bargaining Positions,Institutional Design,and the Duration of Preferential Trade Negotiations

Multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organization have stalled. This has contributed to a steep rise in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). At the same time, negotiations for PTAs have not always proven quick and painless: While some treaties are sealed within a few months or days only, other agreements are preceded by protracted bargaining processes in trade and trade-related issue areas. In this article, we provide a theoretical explanation for this empirical variation. More specifically, we argue that PTA negotiations take longer the greater the distance between the prospective partners’ initial bargaining positions. Moreover, we contend that negotiation processes become more protracted the higher the relative ambition of the prospective PTA. Due to the limited links to the domestic political arena in autocracies, we expect this latter effect to play out for groups of democratic bargaining partners only. We test these two hypotheses for 198 preferential trade negotiations using novel measures for bargaining templates and the ambition of PTA clauses. In our two-stage survival models, we find support for our argument. In line with qualitative evidence from recent preferential trade initiatives, our models indicate that services, investment and intellectual property rights are particularly sticky agenda items for democratic leaders at the international bargaining table.