Linking past and future: cross-border development and quality of life in the Badakhshans

The 1895 Pamir Convention divided the mountainous region of Badakhshan into separate entities under Russian and British/Afghan influence, leading to a remarkable divergence in the development fortunes of a people once united by kinship. For those in today's Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan, incorporation into the Soviet Union brought investments in education, health, physical infrastructure, and the economy. People living in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province retained more political freedom but lived remotely within a feudal state where development investment was limited. In recent decades, both regions have experienced conflict that has affected their development. In this article, we use findings from quality of life assessments carried out by the Aga Khan Development Network to illustrate the stark differences between the Badakhshans. We discuss ongoing efforts to implement cross-border development programmes to improve quality of life in both Badakhshans, while noting that their success depends on a stable security environment in the region.     

RACIALLY HOMOPHILOUS SOCIAL TIES AND INFORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

Social disorganization theory argues that racial/ethnic heterogeneity is a key neighborhood characteristic leading to social disorganization and, consequently, higher levels of crime. Heterogeneity's effect is argued to be a result of its fragmentation of social ties along racial/ethnic lines, which creates racially homophilous social networks with few ties bridging racial/ethnic groups. Most studies of social ties in social disorganization models, however, have examined their quantity and left unaddressed the extent to which ties are within or across different racial groups. This study goes beyond previous studies by examining the effects of both racially homophilous and interracial friendship networks on informal social control. Using multilevel models and data from 66 neighborhoods with approximately 2,300 respondents, we found that heterogeneity actually increased the average percentage of residents with interracial friendship networks, but the percentage of residents with interracial networks decreased the likelihood of informal social control. In contrast, the percentage of residents with White racially homophilous networks increased the likelihood of informal social control. Examining the microcontext of individuals’ networks, however, we found residents with interracial ties reported higher likelihoods of informal social control and that this effect was enhanced in neighborhoods with higher percentages of non‐White racially homophilous networks.     

Class war-on-terror: counterterrorism,accumulation, crisis

This article discusses US counterterrorism from a class perspective. It sees counterterrorism as a state policy with differential effects on different social classes. In doing so, the article starts to address a lacuna in critical studies of counterterrorism, which tend to be rather structural and formal, thus ignoring the pertinence of counterterrorism to the field of social dynamics. To partly rectify this blind spot by addressing some class implications of counterterrorism, the article examines the effects of counterterrorism policy on capital accumulation and its social conditions. It notes that counterterrorism has different implications along class-lines: for dominant capital, it signifies appropriation of public money and direct participation in political decisions; for everyone else, it means material dispossession and political exclusion. Given that counterterrorism was developed between two crises of neoliberalism, the article distinguishes between economic crises, which tend to benefit capitalism, and political crises, which can be destructive, and suggests that counterterrorism is partly a restructuring of the neoliberal state so that it can manage recurring economic crises, while preventing their evolution into political ones.     

Conclusion: agency,context and emergent post-uprising regimes

This conclusion summarizes the evidence explaining the divergent trajectories taken by post Arab uprising states in terms of multiple variables, each illustrated by an iconic case, namely: State Failure and Competitive governance (Syria), Regime Restoration and Hybrid Governance (Egypt) and Polyarchic Governance (Tunisia). Factors include the starting point: levels of opposition mobilization and regimes' resilience – a function of their patrimonial-bureaucratic balance; whether or not a transition coalition forms is crucial for democratization prospects. Context also matters for democratization, particularly political economic factors, such as a balance of class power and a productive economy; political culture (level of societal identity cleavages) and a minimum of international intervention. Finally, the balance of agency between democracy movements, Islamists, the military and workers shapes democratization prospects.     

亨利·列斐伏尔的社会空间理论

社会空间是一种社会性的产品,空间产品相对过剩会产生经济危机。空间实践、空间表述、表述空间构成社会空间的三元辩证组合或者三元辩证法,第三项不是前两项的简单叠加,而是对它们所假定的完整性进行拆解和重构之后,形成的一种开放的选择项。社会空间包含着复杂的符号体系,空间三元组合类似于符号学的能指、所指、意指三项组合。身体是社会空间的生产主体,社会空间的生产从身体开始,处于异化状态的身体受权力、符号、知识三位一体控制。只有生产出社会主义差异空间,身体才能获得完全解放。当前全球经济危机的实质是城市化危机,中国正处于城市化危机的起始阶段。     

论社会资本的社会性——布迪厄社会资本理论的再澄清与再阐释

社会资本研究沿着关系效用的逻辑发展,只关注其经济性,而遮蔽其社会性,这违背了布迪厄提出资本理论以破解结构与能动二元对立的初衷。资本是结构和能动视角的双重蓄能,社会资本不仅仅是人与人的关系问题,更是人与群的互动问题,社会资本不能仅仅被理解为个体层次的关系资本,而是源于占据了一个熟识关系制度化的社会网络,其网络身份让个人可以借用集体共有的资本和信用。社会网络的社会性即在于网络整体的不可化约性,网络整合人,人也同时占据网络。徐福敦另立门户的例子具体阐释了社会资本如何在道德化、制度化和总体化的过程中进行积累即再生产的。     

Comparing Electronic News Media Reports of Potential Bioterrorism-Related Incidents Involving Unknown White Powder to Reports Received by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Bureau of Investigation: U.S.A., 2009–2011

There have been periodic electronic news media reports of potential bioterrorism-related incidents involving unknown substances (often referred to as “white powder”) since the 2001 intentional dissemination of Bacillus anthracis through the U.S. Postal System. This study reviewed the number of unknown “white powder” incidents reported online by the electronic news media and compared them with unknown “white powder” incidents reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during a 2-year period from June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2011. Results identified 297 electronic news media reports, 538 CDC reports, and 384 FBI reports of unknown “white powder.” This study showed different unknown “white powder” incidents captured by each of the three sources. However, the authors could not determine the public health implications of this discordance.     

公益诉讼原告主体范围之扩张

公益诉讼法律化后的宏大法律图景未能在行动中的实践成为可视的制度实在,公益诉讼法律条款基本处于休眠状态。主要原因在于立法者推崇实用主义和渐进式功利主义的改革路线和利益导向机制,严格限定公益诉讼的主体范围,将大量主体阻隔于法院大门之外,割裂协调有序的公益诉权主体链条,致使公益诉讼无法实效发挥制度机能。公益诉讼的制度化或者再制度化可将权利生成和整体正义作为指引公益诉讼精细化发展和长远性发展的基本功能导向,适当开放公益诉讼通道,建构行政机关、检察院、社会组织和公民个人的多元互补的原告主体体系,并在现有法律框架内务实而理性地探求主体扩张的合理路径。     

Timing as a source of regulatory influence: A technical elite network analysis of global finance

Rules governing the international financial system are the subject of some of the most intense distributional battles waged in any area of global governance. Who wins and who loses such battles – and why? I develop a novel analytical framework – technical elite network (TEN) theory – which explains the widely varying levels of influence that stakeholders enjoy over global financial standards. TEN theory draws attention to how issue‐specific characteristics of international finance – in particular, its highly technical and complex nature – shape the distributional consequences of global regulatory processes. It posits that such characteristics influence distributional outcomes by (i) affecting who claims first‐mover position and, thus, sets the agenda in global financial rulemaking, and (ii) ensuring that proposals made by first movers are increasingly difficult to alter at later stages of rulemaking. I provide empirical evidence for the theory by examining two regulatory regimes that are central to the efficiency and stability of the global financial system: the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Accounting Standards Board.     

First‐Hand Experience and Second‐Hand Information: Changing Trust across Three Levels of Government

Little is known about how different sources of information drive citizen trust in government. To address that gap this article compares disaster evacuees to observers, noting how trust differs as attention to media coverage increases. First‐hand experience supplies information to update trust through biological and personal processes and performance assessments, while secondary sources provide information about other people's experiences, filtered through lenses that take an active role in crafting information. These two types of information have varying effects depending on the level of government being trusted. Using surveys administered a year after Hurricane Katrina, I find that Katrina evacuees have the highest trust in federal government, until they start paying attention to media coverage, and that attention to coverage has the most dramatic effect on these evacuees compared to all other groups. I also find that increasing attention to second‐hand information corresponds with higher trust in local officials, and that this effect decreases as the level of government increases. It appears media coverage creates a comparison in the mind of hurricane evacuees, causing them to update their performance assessments based on comparing their own experience to that which they observe, thereby updating their political trust.