‘Let's Win this Game Together’: Children's Rights Violations,Macro‐Securitisation and the Transformative Potential of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Sport's transformative potential is known to support marginalised children, to deal with traumatic experiences and instil positive values; yet hosting mega sporting events (MSEs) can have negative impacts. Drawing on participatory research with favela‐based children during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, this article argues that MSEs bring a macro‐securitisation of urban life, which causes considerable harm. This paper also suggests that the inclusion of children's voices in advocacy debates can challenge top‐down securitisation and might allow MSEs to foster further positive social transformation. Therefore, juxtaposed with causing harm, macro‐securitisations can open opportunities for children to take action and have their voices heard.     

SCHOOLS AS COMMUNITIES: THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION,STUDENT BONDING,AND SCHOOL DISORDER*

Research has indicated that school factors such as communal school organization and student bonding are predictive of school disorder, with greater communal organization and greater student bonding leading to less delinquency and victimization. Data from a nationally representative sample of 254 public, nonalternative, secondary schools were used to examine structural equation models representing hypothesized relationships among communal school organization, student bonding, and school disorder. The hypothesis that communally organized schools would have less disorder held true for teacher victimization and student delinquency, but not for student victimization. In addition, the hypothesis that the relationship between communal school organization and school disorder would be mediated by student bonding was supported for student delinquency, but not for teacher victimization.     

THE MWANZA TRIAL AS A SEARCH FOR A USABLE MALAWIAN POLITICAL PAST

The main thesis of this papier is that nations need memoriesand that there is in many contemporary African states a needto create a memory of the period between independence and thereintroduction of multipartyism. That process often takes theform of inquests into human rights abuses which can result intrials. The trial in Malawi of six people—including theformer president Kamuzu Banda and his most loyal follower J.Z.U.Tembo—on the accusation of conspiring to murder four politiciansin 1983 and to destroy relevant evidence is an example. Thisarticle discusses how the reactions of the present ruling party(UDF) and government and the previous ruling party (MCP) andtheir leadership to this trial differ. The trial is seen asa struggle about the interpretation of the past which is putin the context of the actual events in 1983 as these came outin the trial. The fundamental question which arose is whetherresponsibility for whatever happened in Malawi in that periodcan squarely be put in the hands of a trimuvirate which wasin total control of what happened or whether decision making—includingthose concerning human rights abuses—was much more diffusedthroughout society. The first version of events lacks evidenceto substantiate it. The result of the trial was therefore anacquittal which was held up in an appeal by the state. The secondversion portrays Kamuzu Banda as a leader who could be deceivedby his environment, which is at variance with the way many Malawians,not exclusively MCP supporters, saw his role.     

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN VOLUNTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMES: A FUZZY SET QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Voluntary Environmental Programmes (VEPs) have become increasingly popular in addressing environmental risks. While VEPs have attracted much scholarly attention, little is known about how they achieve their outcomes. This article seeks to better understand whether and how the roles of governments in VEPs affect their outcomes in terms of (1) attracting participants, and (2) their contribution to a desired collective end. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this article addresses a series of 31 VEPs in the building sectors of Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States. Of particular interest is a better understanding of what configurations of five specific governmental roles in VEPs are sufficient to attract participants and contribute to a desired collective end. Three ideal type roles for governments in VEPs, that are positively related to the two outcomes under scrutiny, are uncovered, and the article concludes with lessons on how governments may be best involved in VEPs.     

Immigration, Europe and the 'new' cultural dimension

Kriesi et al. announced the birth of a new cleavage in contemporary Western Europe, one dividing the winners and losers of globalisation. Their studies in 2006 and 2008 contain analyses of party positions in six countries, based on the contents of editorial sections of newspapers. This article challenges the main conclusion of Kriesi et al. by demonstrating − on the basis of two expert surveys − that party positions are mainly structured by one dimension. The structure detected by Kriesi et al. in their analysis of parties is not found, except concerning voter positions. A consequence of this article's findings is that large groups of citizens are not represented by any parties, in particular those who are left-wing on socio-economic issues and right-wing on cultural issues. The article in its conclusion discusses possible causes for the differences between these findings and those of Kriesi et al., and the implications of these findings for democratic representation.     

Electoral infidelity: Why party members cast defecting votes

Party politics and electoral research generally assume that party members are loyal voters. This article first assesses the empirical basis for this assumption before providing individual‐level explanations for defection. It combines prominent theories from party politics and electoral behaviour research and argues that internal disagreement and external pressure can each bring about disloyal voting. The hypotheses are motivated with multi‐country European survey data and tested on two sets of party‐level national surveys. The results show, first, that, on average, 8 per cent of European party members cast a defecting vote in the last election, and second, that dissatisfaction with the leadership is the strongest predictor of defection. Additionally, internal ideological disagreement is associated with higher probabilities of defection, whereas the effects of pull factors in the form of contentious policies are rather limited. These findings emphasise the importance of testing scientific assumptions and the potential significance of party leadership contests.