New Event Data in Conflict Research

This paper first presents an overview of data on 390 international crises, which incorporate 826 foreign policy crises, from the end of 1918 to the end of 1988.

A set of crisis profiles is then constructed for the two superpowers of the post‐World War II era, and for three regional systems, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The data on international crises are presented in terms of a common format for the regional profiles, with slight modifications for the superpowers, in order to facilitate comparisons: time and space; duration; onset; threat; behavior; severity of violence; US/USSR activity; global organization involvement; and outcome. Within these categories, distributions are noted for each of the polarity structures—multipolarity (1918–39), bipolarity (1945–62), and polycentrism (1963–1988). Thereafter, comparisons are made between US and USSR crises (after World War II), and among the three regional profiles.

The central thrust of the findings from these profiles is clear: they focus attention on the dual characteristics of twentieth century crises, their pervasiveness and diversity. These traits, in turn, make much more difficult the task of constructing a theory that provides a systematic explanation of interstate crisis from onset to termination. Complex reality imposes an intolerable burden on the search for necessary and sufficient conditions of crisis. In positive terms, it leads to a shift in focus, from ‘necessary and sufficient’ to the “most likely” conditions as the most credible path to theory.     

征地拆迁中的利益博弈与法律秩序

在加快经济发展过程中,土地资源溢价带来了暴利,利益重组中强者势力失控、弱者利益保护不足。利益争夺以法权模糊化为掩盖,政府角色错位为分利一方,商业利益披上公共利益的外衣,住户暴利心理绑架了生存利益,国家所有权吞没了其他物权,正式程序游戏化运用。政府与开发商结盟,开发商滥用私暴力,住户回归自力救济,各方利益行动选择共同虚置了法律制度。只有回归法治理性,明晰利益关系,完善制度规则,才能重建法律秩序。     

校园暴力与学校社会工作

校园暴力的发生原因可从学生个人特质、家庭背景和学校有关教育缺失等几个因素去寻找。而在诸多应对校园暴力问题的思路中,学校社会工作有着不可替代的专业优势。因此,学校社会工作应该积极介入学生、家庭和学校,以缓解校园暴力。     

美国反家庭暴力立法的三波浪潮及其可能走向

女权主义理论在美国的反家庭暴力立法过程中一直发挥着推波助澜的作用。第一次女权主义运动揭露了妇女保护的不足,第二次女权主义运动后,美国通过消除立法歧视,加强公权力干预和民事权利救济,以及拓展社会服务,建立起一套相对成熟的防治家庭暴力的理论和制度。但随着立法的发展以及后现代女权主义对现有制度的质疑,反家庭暴力立法存在的问题也渐渐凸显。只有坚持反家庭暴力的国际人权标准,消除性别歧视以达致社会性别结构的平等,才能拔除家庭暴力的根源。     

FIGHTING OVER TRIVIAL THINGS: EXPLAINING THE ISSUE OF CONTENTION IN VIOLENT ALTERCATIONS*

Violent altercations can lead to serious injury and death, and yet some interpersonal disputes that prompt physical violence originate over what are seemingly trivial issues. This study evaluates the theoretical premise that violence stemming from what typically are defined as trivial altercations can be explained by what is at stake in these conflicts; trivial altercations, or fights about “nothing,” actually represent symbolic contests of dominance and deference. These status contests are necessary primarily when the social relationship between opponents is symmetrical—when a dominance hierarchy is not clearly established. Data from interviews with incarcerated women in Ontario, Canada, show that relationship symmetry strongly predicts the issue of contention in their physically violent altercations. These findings suggest that, when violence erupts over trivial issues, both parties to the altercation essentially are locked in a battle for social rank.     

A Whole of Government Strategy for Family Violence Reform

The Family Violence Reform strategy in Victoria is one of a number of contemporary government initiatives that have been framed within a whole of government model of policy reform. This article shows how the principles and processes of the whole of government approach were applied to the social problem of family violence. We examine the reasoning behind the adoption of this approach, what it was intended to achieve, the processes and activities that took place and stakeholders’ views about the outcomes and impact of this approach. The choice of a whole of government strategy reflected the need to address philosophical and organisational cultural differences about family violence and responses to it. Key elements were: the demonstrated commitment to reform and leadership provided by ministers, agency heads and senior managers; the involvement of community sector representatives; and the role of the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD).     

青少年暴力行为的预测和评估

青少年暴力行为是全球广泛关注的公共卫生和社会问题,了解青少年暴力行为的风险因素和预测方法有助于减少青少年暴力行为的发生.本文对青少年暴力的个体因素、社会心理因素、生物学因素进行了总结,对预测和评估研究的现状进行了复习,以期对青少年暴力行为发生的减少和进一步深入研究有所帮助.     

A female mass murder

A case study of a 44-year-old woman who committed a mass murder is presented. Following a chronic course of psychotic deterioration, and a likely diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia that remained untreated, she returned to her workplace after 3 years from her termination and killed seven people and herself. Her history is reconstructed through investigation of primary and secondary source materials. Although there are very few female mass murderers in recorded criminal history, this case is quite similar to the known research on mass murderers in general. Such individuals often have a psychotic disorder evident in violent and paranoid delusions, show a deteriorating life course before the mass murder, intentionally plan and prepare for their assault, and methodically kill as many individuals as possible before taking their own lives. They typically do not directly threaten the target beforehand, but do leak their intent to third parties--however, in this case, leakage and other obvious warning behaviors did not occur. Such acts are impossible to predict but depend on threat management and target security for risk mitigation.     

FACTORS AFFECTING THE OUTCOME OF DIVORCE AND PATERNITY MEDIATIONS

Divorce mediation, an alternative to litigation when resolving disputes raised by the dissolution of a marriage or the separation of unmarried parents, has gained popularity over the past few decades. Yet, research is needed to better understand what processes make family mediation successful and for whom family mediation is successful. To study predictors of reaching agreement in family mediation, we gathered data from divorce and paternity cases at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Viola J. Taliaferro Family and Children Mediation Clinic. Numerous factors, including history of intimate partner violence, father's reported concerns about participating in mediation, higher levels of father's income, number of mediation sessions, and attorney representation, were associated with lower rates of agreement. Associations between significant predictors are presented, as well as the combined impact of attorney representation and a history of relationship violence, which together significantly predicted lower agreement rates. The implications of these findings for understanding family mediation processes are considered.     

Race,the Economic Maturity Gap,and Criminal Offending in Young Adulthood

While research has documented that racial and ethnic groups are differentially involved in juvenile and adult crime, little research has examined whether economic and employment well‐being can explain Black and White adolescents' persistence in criminal activity into young adulthood. One potential explanation emerges from Moffitt, who posits an economic maturity gap to explain Blacks' greater persistence in offending in young adulthood. To evaluate this hypothesis, we draw on three waves of data available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health to examine whether economic and employment well‐being in young adulthood can account for the racial gap, and persistence in offending. Findings are consistent with Moffitt's hypothesis and indicate that economic and employment well‐being in young adulthood explain Blacks' greater involvement in criminal and violent offending in young adulthood. In addition, results indicate that the greater tendency of Blacks, compared to Whites, to persist in violent offending is also driven by the reduced economic and employment well‐being that Blacks face in young adulthood.