“It's Like Fighting for Survival”: How Rejected Black African Asylum Seekers Experience Living Conditions in an Eastern German State

This article explores how Black African asylum seekers in an eastern German state experienced living conditions and the forms of agency they exhibited to redress the stressful circumstances of everyday life. The article draws on 12 in-depth interviews with rejected Black African asylum seekers and ethnographic research. Participants experienced various socio-environmental stressors and the absence of resources that affected their well-being and were injurious to their human rights. Their responses were embedded in different practices tied to the accumulation of capital that buffered stress and contested repressive asylum laws. The implications of the study for policy and advocacy are discussed.     

The Role of Exposure to Self-Injury Among Peers in Predicting Later Self-Injury

While researchers are beginning to reach consensus around key psychological correlates of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), comparatively less work has been done investigating the role and influence of peers. Given evidence that engagement in this behavior may be susceptible to peer influence, especially during the early stages of its course, the current study prospectively explored whether knowing a friend who self-injures is associated with the onset, severity, and subsequent engagement in NSSI. The moderating roles of adverse life events, substance use and previous suicidal behavior in this relationship also were explored. Self-report data were collected from 1,973 school-based adolescents (aged 12–18 years; 72 % female) at two time points, 1 year apart. Knowing a friend who self-injured, negative life events, psychological distress and thoughts of NSSI differentiated those who self-injured from those who did not, and also predicted the onset of NSSI within the study period. Further, adverse life events and previous thoughts of NSSI moderated the relationship between exposure to NSSI in peers and engaging in NSSI at Time 2. However, the effect of having a friend who self-injures was not related to the severity of NSSI. Having a friend who self-injures appears to be a risk factor for self-injury among youth who are experiencing high levels of distress. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Local Government Procurement of CPA Audit Services: The Role of the States

Recent studies have raised serious concerns about the quality of governmental audits by independent CPAs. Part of the problem is that many governmental units do not use effective audit procurement procedures. This article examines current state guidelines for the procurement of CPA audit services by local governments and recommends an expansion of the states' role in this area.     

From Goddess Spirituality to Irigaray's Angel: The Politics of the Divine

This article argues that the act of conceptualizing a female divine, whether by socalled low-brow Goddess Spiritualists or high-brow French philosophers, rather than being a mere spiritual exercise, has enormous political significance for feminisms. In particular, I demonstrate that Irigaray's concept of the sensible transcendental, by refiguring a god which is both male and female, transcendent and immanent, theorizes a potential dissolution of the binary logic which forms the basis of western philosophy. The second half of the article looks at the complex role of the angel in Irigaray's theory of the divine in order to demonstrate that, as a result of having misinterpreted the angel's position, critics have failed to recognize the significance and relevance of Irigaray's sensible transcendental for feminist politics.     

Where does a man stand on issues of assisted reproduction, surrogacy, artificial insemination within lesbian relationships and posthumous conception?

This article takes issues more commonly associated with women: assisted reproduction, surrogacy, artificial insemination within lesbian relationships and posthumous conception and considers what role a man may play in this domain. To this end the article commences with a short scenario of possible life events then traverses the current legal position to examine the extent that the law either facilitates or frustrates a man's desire and ability to fulfill the role of either father or parent in the above situations. The article considers the issues of assisted reproduction technology in both a regulated and an unregulated environment.     

Mediation in Italy: Exploring the Contradictions

This article sets Italy in the context of three primary approaches to promoting mediation use in Europe: cultural, pragmatic, and legalistic. Despite the fact that Italy could be considered a "front-runner" in the latter category, the actual number of cases going to mediation to date has remained low. Drawing on both data from a recent CPR European Committee survey and aspects of the broader Italian legal and social context, this article explores reasons for this apparent contradiction and concludes by suggesting general principles that can be extrapolated from the Italian experience.     

Utilizing FDI to Stay Ahead: The Case of Singapore

A country of 5 million people in 710?km², Singapore has built itself into an integral part of global markets with living standards that are among the highest in the world. The purpose of this article is to apply a capabilities-based approach to understand how a small, resource-scarce country dependent on global markets has done so well. The core of Singapore??s success has been the continuous updating and expanding of domestic social capabilities to meet the needs of foreign companies. Government policies were hypersensitive to providing conditions for foreign firms to be successful. Foreign firms investing in Singapore by now have helped close the income gap with advanced economies and are on the way to closing the innovation gap. Singapore demonstrates that with deliberate attention to building skills, institutions and infrastructure, it is possible for a small country to upgrade skills and to move up the production-value chain with primary reliance on foreign direct investment (FDI). Cultivation of private Singaporean firms has been secondary but may be the next step needed to sustain progress, both to respond to increased competition from China and others, and to build a knowledge-based economy.