Perceptions of Racism and Depressive Symptoms in African American Adolescents: The Role of Perceived Academic and Social Control

Experiences with racism are a common occurrence for African American youth and may result in negative self perceptions relevant for the experience of depressive symptoms. This study examined the longitudinal association between perceptions of racism and depressive symptoms, and whether perceived academic or social control mediated this association, in a community epidemiologically-defined sample of urban African American adolescents (N = 500; 46.4% female). Structural equation modeling revealed that experiences with racism were associated with low perceived academic control, which in turn was associated with increased depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that experiences with racism can have long lasting effects for African American youth’s depressive symptoms, and highlight the detrimental effects of experiences with racism for perceptions of control in the academic domain. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Atrocities and armed conflict: state consolidation in Israel, 1948–56

This paper contrasts four cases of atrocity in the early years of the Israeli state and contends that, due to ethnic-cleansing incentives, competitive inducements and outbidding, the stated Israeli ideology of self-restraint had little impact on policy. The article further argues that, during the early periods of democratic state consolidation, democratic states act in very similar ways to authoritarian states and that little restraint is exercised in relation to ‘enemy’ civilians located within the territorial boundaries of the new state. In this respect, arguments that democracies are superior to non-democracies with regard to respect for human rights might be called into question during the initial phases of state consolidation. The paper speci?cally questions how con?ict stalemates impact on the use of violence against noncombatants in order to tip the balance of the war and it argues against the assertion that only paramilitaries would ever use terror against unarmed civilians.     

推进新农村建设的几个关键问题

正确认识当前和今后农村形势是启动新农村建设的前提;由于中国国情和具体政治制度架构等因素,中央政府和各级地方政府在新农村建设中的作用是不同的;新农村建设要注重发挥村庄和农民的主体作用;借鉴国外经验要符合各地具体实际情况,切不可搞“一刀切”,机械照搬。     

The Managerial Prerogative and the Employee's Obligation to Work: Comparative Perspectives on Functional Flexibility

The aim of this article is to analyse the legal regulation ofthe managerial prerogative (especially the employer’sright to direct and allocate work) and how it relates to theemployee’s obligation to work in Swedish, English andGerman law in the light of the increasing flexibilisation ofworking life. The ongoing flexibilisation of working life isoften described as an increase in adaptability and allocativeflexibility and as a shift from traditional to atypical employment.The main focus of this article is functional flexibility, whichis a matter of adaptability within permanent employment relationshipsand aims at varying the content of work, and not, as often isthe case, atypical employment and numerical flexibility. Thisarticle presents a legal dogmatic and comparative analysis ofthe employer’s right to direct and allocate work, theemployee’s obligation to work and variation in the employee’sobligation to work in Swedish, English and German law. Furthermore,the material is subjected to a functional flexibility analysis,including a general discussion on the future developments ofthe managerial prerogative.     

Longitudinal investigation of the relationship among maternal victimization, depressive symptoms, social support, and children's behavior and development

This article is a longitudinal investigation of the relationships between maternal victimization, maternal functioning, and children's behavior and development. Participants include 203 mother-child dyads from a low-income population recruited from pediatric primary care clinics. Data are collected when children are 4 and 8 years of age. Child outcomes are evaluated using maternal, teacher, and child self-report and objective measures of cognitive and academic functioning. Maternal victimization history is associated with maternal depressive symptoms, low levels of maternal social support, child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and low levels of child socialization. Child behavior problems identified at age 4 are enduring and persist to age 8. The effects of maternal victimization history on both internalizing behavior problems and socialization are mediated by maternal depressive symptoms. The effects of maternal depressive symptoms on externalizing behavior problems, socialization, and anger are mediated by maternal social support. Clinical implications of findings are discussed.     

The Iron Ring in Dutch Politics Revisited

Representatives of Dutch organizations were traditionally given a chance to defend the interests of their members in the many boards, councils and commissions that together form the corporatist channel in The Netherlands. The harmony and welfare the Dutch population has enjoyed since the Second World War are ascribed in part to the work of these institutions. They helped to bridge political gaps of class and religion by building compromise and consensus. But advisory committees and councils have also been described as somewhat shady and essentially closed institutions, forming an iron ring around the departments that hampered necessary policy changes. In this article, based on case studies on the selection of members of committees and a survey of all members of committees advising the central government, we will explore to what extent committees can still be described as bastions of conservatism. We will briefly describe selection processes, sketch a portrait of committee members and compare some characteristics of committee members and civil servants of individual ministries.