Homosexuality and the Repression of Intellectuals in Fresa y chocolate and Máscaras

Abstract The aim of this article is to examine and compare how the repression of homosexuals and intellectuals is portrayed in two recent Cuban fictional narratives: the film, Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) (Gutierrez Alea et al., 1993) and the detective novel, Mascaras (Masks) (Padura Fuentes Mascaras, Tusquets, Barcelona, 1997). It discusses how these narratives document the history of both these phenomena and evaluates how they might contribute to a better understanding of the process of fundamental social and cultural transformation which the Revolution is experiencing following the collapse of the Soviet Union.     

Siblings and Delinquent Behavior: An Exploratory Study of a Neglected Family Variable

This exploratory article examines the relation between sibling structure (sex of siblings and birth order) and self-reported delinquency. The processes of contrast and imitation, conceptual notions derived from research on sibling structure and sex roles, are used to guide this exploration. Considerable variation in delinquency by sibling status was identified. There are indications that an interaction effect exists between birth order and sex of siblings relative to rates of delinquency.     

BEYOND POLICY NETWORKS: POLICY FRAMING AND THE POLITICS OF EXPERTISE IN THE 2001 FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE CRISIS

For the past decade, the policy community/issue network typology of pressure group interaction has been used to explain policy outcomes and the policy‐making process. To re‐examine the validity of this typology, the paper focuses on the UK government's response to the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) crisis, and in particular the decision to pursue contiguous culling rather than vaccination to overcome the epidemic. Rather than illustrating the emergence of an issue network in agricultural policy, the decision‐making process of the FMD outbreak demonstrates continuity with prior crises. In addition, the politicization of scientific expertise is identified as an emerging trend in crisis management. Policy framing is used to explain the impetus behind the contiguous cull decision, concluding that the legacy of previous policy choices conditioned the crisis response to a far greater degree than contemporaneous pressure group action.     

National territory in European space: Reconfiguring the island of Ireland

Abstract.  The meaning and significance of borders in nation-statehood and European integration are integrally linked in a process of change. Uncovering such connections in a case study notable for its recent transformation, this article explores the way in which the narratives and models of European integration have been used in the discourse of Irish official nationalism. Its central thesis is that participation in the space of European Union has facilitated the conceptualization of a common Irish space in which borders (specifically the Irish border) are not conceived as barriers to be overcome, but rather as bridges to the fulfilment of interests. Thus, the Irish governmental elite have used the language of European integration to reconfigure traditional ideals of latent anti-partitionism for a context of peaceful settlement.     

Impressions of Tibet——Seeing Is Believing

In September 2004, two Americans, Katy Walden and Jon Moggio, made their first trip to Tibet filmed as the documentary Tibet Diary, co-made by U.S Rainbow Network and China Intercontinental Communication Center (CICC). With the consent of CICC, we publish in this issue segments of the two Americans'accounts of their adventure on the plateau.