Wayward guerrillas

He is author of a book on the IRA, The Secret Army,and other books on terrorism, among them Transnational Terror; A Time of Terror: How Democratic Societies Respond to Revolutionary Violence; and The Gun in Politics,published by Transaction.     

The Political Significance of Social Media Activity and Social Networks

This paper examines panel data from two waves of the Youth Participatory Politics Survey, a nationally representative sample of young people in the United States. It employs a cross-lagged design to investigate the extent to which common forms of online activity create pathways to online and offline forms of political activity. Specifically, we examine the influence of Friendship-Driven (FD) and Interest-Driven (ID) online activity on online participatory politics and on offline forms of political action. Our findings reveal that FD and ID activity relate to political engagement, but in different ways. In addition, we find that the size of young people’s social networks interacts with both FD and ID online activity to promote political activity. This indicates that having exposure to “weak-ties” (resulting from large social networks) promote higher levels of political engagement. These findings demonstrate the need to specify the kinds of online activities in which youth are engaged and, more broadly, the political significance of social media and social networks     

Career moves: Reflections on the Irish gunman

Abstract

The article, based on a generation of contacts with the militant Irish republican movement in general and the Provisional IRA in particular, focuses on: who becomes a gunman and why; who is chosen as a gunman by the leadership and why; what are the characteristics of an active service volunteer; what and who make a good gunman and why—the virtues, characteristics, and craft of the contemporary Irish gunmen; and the result of a gunman's career for the movement, the opposition, and the individual.     

Book reviews

Michael Waller, Peace, Power and Protest: Eastern Europe in the Gorbachev Era, London: Institute for the Study of Conflict, 1988 (Conflict Study No.209). Pp.27. £5.50.

Paul Leventhal and Yonah Alexander (eds.), Nuclear Terrorism: Defining the Threat. Washington: Pergamon‐Brassey's, 1986. Pp.vii + 218. NP.

Paul Leventhal and Yonah Alexander (eds.), Preventing Nuclear Terrorism. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1987. Pp.xviii + 472. NP.

Paul Wilkinson and Alasdair M. Stewart (eds.), Contemporary Research on Terrorism. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1987. Pp.xx + 634. £45.

Richard E. Rubenstein, Alchemists of Revolution: Terrorism in the Modern World. New York: Basic Books, 1987. Pp.ix + 272. $17.95.

James Adams, Secret Armies. London: Hutchinson, 1988. Pp.440. £14.95.

David C. Martin and John Walcott, Best Laid Plans: The Inside Story of America's War Against Terrorism. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Pp. 392 $22.50.     

Regulatory Threats to the Law Degree: The Solicitors Qualifying Examination and the Purpose of Law Schools

Two major regulatory changes are affecting the provision of undergraduate legal education in England and Wales. On the one hand, the Qualifying Law Degree is being deregulated, meaning law schools are free to make significant changes to how and what they teach. On the other hand, higher education in England has seen a significant overhaul through the creation of the Office for Students, which treats students as consumers. Now more than ever, law schools need to ask themselves existential questions which will not only test their continued relevance or indeed viability within the ‘market’ for higher education, but also the status of the discipline of law as a whole. The regulatory landscape may indeed present a significant threat, but it is also an opportunity to reflect on what law schools are for, and consequently what changes could result from the academic freedom that comes with deregulation. Whilst different law schools will interpret their mission differently, they should caution against either generalised inertia or succumbing to an outcomes-oriented provision that simply prepares students for the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination. Instead, law schools will find their proper purpose in critical reflection and academic self-grounding, providing undergraduate students with a ‘question everything’ mentality, and showing them that law is something to be experienced and not merely learnt.

     

Evaluation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as an interference on commercial breath-alcohol analyzers.

Anecdotal reports suggest that high environmental or occupational exposures to the fuel oxygenate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) may result in breath concentrations that are sufficiently elevated to cause a false positive on commercial breath-alcohol analyzers. We evaluated this possibility in vitro by establishing a response curve for simulated breath containing MTBE in ethanol. Two types of breath-alcohol analyzers were evaluated. One analyzer's principle of operation involves in situ wet chemistry (oxidation of ethanol in a potassium dichromate solution) and absorption of visible light. The second instrument uses a combination of infrared absorption and an electrochemical sensor. Both types of instruments are currently used, although the former method represents older technology while the latter method represents newer technology.The percent blood alcohol response curve was evaluated over a breath concentration range thought to be relevant to high-level environmental or occupational exposure (0-361 microg/l). Results indicate that MTBE positively biases the response of the older technology Breathalyzer when evaluated as a single constituent or in combination with ethanol. We conclude that a false positive is possible on this instrument if the MTBE exposure is very high, recent with respect to testing, and occurs in combination with ethanol consumption. The interference can be identified on the older technology instrument by a time dependent post-reading increase in the instrument response that does not occur for ethanol alone. In contrast, the newer technology instrument using infrared and electrochemical detectors did not respond to MTBE at lower levels (0-36 microg/l), and at higher levels (>72 microg/l) the instrument indicated an "interference" or "error". For this instrument, a false positive does not occur even at high MTBE levels in the presence of ethanol.     

The Irish troubles analyzed

Robert J. Cormack and Robert D. Osborne (eds.), Discrimination and Public Policy in Northern Ireland, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. Pp.288, 37 tables, 8 figures, biblio., index. £27.50. ISBN 0–19–827519–6.

John Fulton, The Tragedy of Belief: Division, Politics, and Religion in Ireland, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991, Pp.260, 6 tables, biblio., index. £30. ISBN 0–19–827316–9.

John E. Finn, Constitutions in Crisis: Political Violence and the Rule of Law, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp.274, biblio., index. £28. ISBN 0–19–505738–4.