Anti-Americanism and Public Attitudes toward Transatlantic Trade

The recent debate about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has triggered widespread opposition to the trade agreement in Germany. It is not clear, however, what factors drive public attitudes toward transatlantic trade. This article explores the role of anti-Americanism in predicting attitudes toward TTIP among the German public. It argues that the impact of anti-Americanism depends on the extent to which political elites frame the TTIP proposal as a basic conflict between American and European values. Using data from two national representative surveys, it is found that attitudes toward America strongly predict support for the TTIP agreement. The results further demonstrate that the effect of national resentment is moderated by issue awareness, with citizens with a strong anti-American sentiment being significantly more likely to oppose the agreement if they follow the elite debate more closely. Taken together, the results suggest that national resentments are more important for the explanation of TTIP preferences than traditional factors such as partisanship, ideology and material concerns.     

Perceived attachments to parents and peers and psychological well-being in adolescence

This paper reports the findings from a study of 935 adolescents' perceived attachments to their parents and peers, and their psychological health and well-being. Perceived attachment to parents did not significantly differ between males and females. However, females scored significantly higher than males on a measure of attachment to peers. Also, relative to males, they had higher anxiety and depression scores, suggesting poorer psychological well-being. Overall, a lower perceived attachment to parents was significantly associated with lower scores on the measures of well-being. Adolescents who perceived high attachments to both their parents and peers had the highest scores on a measure of self-perceived strengths. In this study, adolescents' perceived attachment to peers did not appear to compensate for a low attachment to parents in regard to their mental ill-health. These findings suggest that high perceived attachment to parents may be a critical variable associated with psychological well-being in adolescence.Received M.Sc. in psychology from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Research interests include adolescent menial health.Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Research interests include issues in behavioral medicine.Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Research interests include child health and development, and adolescent smoking behavior.     

Public sector think tanks in interagency policy-making: designing enhanced governance capacity

Abstract: Since World War Two, the role of non profit think tanks in the United States has grown and diversified. Today, the United States' government and Congress is advised on many matters of policy-making and implementation by such think tanks. The Westminster system of parliament, as practised in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, has rarely provided a fertile ground for the creation and sustained existence of such privately operated institutions. Despite limited links with similar United States' organizations, the seeds have never really flourished outside the United States of America. Australian Commonwealth governments have been most antagonistic in this regard. On the other hand, management consulting companies, many of which have headquarters in the United States, lobbyists, and corporate representation flourish in the quasi-corporatist political environment carefully constructed by the Australian Labor party (ALP) government since 1983. Policy-related research divisions and statutory authorities have likewise grown in size and importance within the departmental agencies of government itself. Energy, agriculture, immigration, and social service research “arms” have been encouraged within the ministerial arena of policy analysis and advice. Especially important has been micro and macro-economic research, urban and infrastructural planning, the Industry Commission, and the Bureau of Industry Economics, respectively. This paper will analyse the growth of these specialized forms of government think tanks, study the range of their ministerial advice, and speculate about their changing role in an increasingly “managerialist” type of Westminster-style parliamentary setting. Sommaire: Aux États-Unis, depuis la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le rôle des groupes de réflexion à but non lucratif, ou think tanks, a pris de l'ampleur et s'est diversifié. Aujourd'hui, ces groupes prodiguent des conseils au gouvernement et au Congrès des États-Unis sur de nombreuses questions de définition et de mise en oeuvre de politiques. Le système parlementaire de Westminster, tel que pratiqué au Royaume-Uni, au Canada, en Nouvelle-Zélande et en Australie, a rarement favorisé la création et l'existence de telles institutions exploitées par le secteur privé. Malgré certains liens limités avec des organisations américaines similaires, elles ne se sont jamais vraiement épanouies à l'extérieur des États-Unis.     

Books in review

He is the co-author, with William G. Scott, of Organizational Values in America.     

Political Violence in Late Colonial Cyprus: The Balance of Risk

Based on reflections on his 1998 book Britain and the Revolt in Cyprus, 1954–59, the author now offers the view that more attention should be given to Greek-Cypriot missteps as well as British ones. The article looks at the roles of Archbishop Makarios and Governors Harding and Foot. The outcome of the 1950s struggle, it argues, cannot be understood in narrowly Cypriot terms but only in its regional context. The author is of the view that a window of opportunity for enosis was lost in miscalculations and confusion between the aims of ousting the British and securing a union with Greece.