A 21st Century Low‐Carbon Transition in U.S. Electric Power: Extent,Contributing Factors,and Implications

The U.S. electric power sector has experienced a substantial shift of the generation mix since the turn of the century, moving from heavy reliance on coal‐powered generation to one drawing more from natural gas and, more recently, renewables. This transition has been forged by a mix of macroeconomic factors (recession and recovery); technological breakthroughs (horizontal drilling coupled with hydraulic fracturing; improvements in natural gas plant efficiency); clean energy policies at federal, state, and local levels of government; and private sector demands for carbon‐free energy sources. These factors have combined to reduce carbon emissions from electric power generation substantially this century. In this article we examine the extent of this transition, its causes, as well as the distinct American institutional factors steering it, including energy and environmental federalism, electoral politics, and the political economy of clean energy policy enactment and resistance.     

Domestic labour,masculinity and social change: insights from working-class young men’s transitions to adulthood

Abstract

Drawing on a seven-year longitudinal qualitative study in England, this paper presents evidence of how engagement with housework and childcare is regular and normalized for contemporary working-class young adult men. I explain this development with reference to inclusive masculinity theory, but supplement this by incorporating Mannheim’s concept of social generation, as recently adopted by scholars of youth sociology. The paper thus further augments other research that has documented considerable change in the construction and performance of contemporary masculinities – such as an opening up of gendered behaviours and a decrease (but not erasure) of homophobia – among young men across multiple contexts in English-speaking countries.     

Zimbabwe’s transition overload: an interpretation

ABSTRACT

The article argues that to understand the troubled history of Zimbabwe we have to pay attention to the multiple and incomplete ‘transitions’ that the country underwent within three decades. Each of these transitions was probably inevitable and the trajectory they followed may be the right one for each of the transitions. However, the transitions in Zimbabwe were intertwined in a not always mutually supportive way. Indeed, we also argue that eventually, Zimbabwe suffered from a ‘transition overload’ as the many transitions undermined or confounded each other. The article is also a caution against the preoccupation of individuals in Zimbabwean history. Finally, there are some lessons for post-conflict countries that are often faced with wide-ranging agenda that often include externally imposed items.     

Zimbabwe: continuities and changes

ABSTRACT

November 2017 will forever be etched in the minds of Zimbabweans, as the moment involving the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule and the beginning of a post-Mugabe ‘era’ under the leadership of Emmerson Mnangagwa. It also might be considered as a watershed moment in Zimbabwean history, or at least as having the potential to be so. However, identifying key moments in Zimbabwe’s history, and continuities and changes over time, involves engaging in historical periodisation. Periodising the past is never straightforward and leads to contestations at an analytical level. Further, periodisation often has a pronounced political dimension, such that Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF is engaged in periodisation in seeking to distance itself from Mugabe’s rule. This opening article addresses these points, and it seeks to show how the following articles (mainly written, unknowingly, at the cusp of Mugabe’s endgame) facilitate reflection on continuities and changes in contemporary Zimbabwe.     

Civil and Uncivil Actors in the Guatemalan Peace Process

Abstract This paper examines the Guatemalan peace process by focusing on different actors in civil society. It considers the peace negotiations between the government/ military and the guerrillas, rather than the realm of electoral procedures, to be the main locus of political transition. Challenging the work of many elite-centred theorists of democratisation who claim that civil society is an ephemeral and largely insignificant actor in transitions, the analysis considers both popular actors and business associations, one of the major‘ uncivil’ actors in Guatemalan civil society, and shows that civil society can have an impact on transitions on multiple levels. In attempting to explain the degree of impact, the paper illustrates the need to examine both the surrounding political opportunity structure and internal factors such as organisation, strategy and leadership.     

Pedagogical changes in curricula in higher education in Central Asia： A case study in psychology

This paper has three goals. First, to introduce a major pedagogical transition and discuss the challenges faced during the transition. Second, to provide a specific example of course changes that were required to meet this pedagogical transition and the challenges faced in adoption of new teaching techniques. The third goal of this paper is to provide faculty and universities with useful information to enhance their programs and meet the challenges faced during pedagogical transitions.     

The strategic determinants of legislative malapportionment in new democracies

When the number of seats to be elected in the districts of an electoral system is not proportional to their population, the cost of seats in raw votes tends to vary across districts. Malapportionment generates partisan bias when some parties do better (worse) in the districts where seats are cheaper (costlier) than in other districts. While existing research has focused on the exogenous determinants of malapportionment, in this article we argue that malapportionment also derives from the strategic decisions of ruling elites to maximize their legislative representation. The degree of malapportionment in newly democratized countries increases when ruling policymakers have reliable ex ante information about the geographical distribution of partisan support, and the authoritarian incumbent, at the moment of democratic transition, is strong. Our arguments are tested with original data from 60 third and fourth-wave democracies at national and district levels.     

THE CASCADING EFFECTS OF ADOLESCENT GANG INVOLVEMENT ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE*

The short‐run deleterious effects of gang involvement during adolescence have been well researched. However, surprisingly little empirical attention has been devoted to understanding how gang involvement in adolescence influences life chances and criminal behavior in adulthood. Drawing on the life‐course perspective, this study argues that gang involvement will lead to precocious transitions that, in turn, will have adverse consequences on the fulfillment of adulthood roles and statuses in the economic and family spheres. Moreover, problems fulfilling these conventional roles are hypothesized then to lead to sustained involvement in criminal behavior in adulthood. Using data from a sample of males from the Rochester Youth Development Study, results from structural equation models support the indirect link between gang membership and noncriminal and criminal outcomes in adulthood. Specifically, gang involvement leads to an increase in the number of precocious transitions experienced that result in both economic hardship and family problems in adulthood. These failures in the economic and family realms, in turn, contribute to involvement in street crime and/or arrest in adulthood. Implications for the criminal desistance process are discussed.     

Assessing the Health Behaviors of African American Emerging Adults

The purpose of this article was to assess the overall health behaviors of African American emerging adults who live in a Midwestern city. Two hundred participants, ages 18–25, completed a 129-item survey. Results indicate that African American emerging adults are engaged in relatively healthy behaviors (i.e., physical activity, low substance use). The results also showed that within the emerging adult developmental period, there are differences in behavior for those who are in the younger (18–20) versus those that are older (21–25) in the developmental period. Limitations, future research, and implications for practice will also be discussed.     

Predatory versus developmental rule in Africa

Political economy predicts that national leaders opt for economic development when institutions encourage them to extend their time horizons. By contrast, leaders turn predatory if they feel at risk. Leaders are most able to bear risk right upon taking office, but this can be offset by a perception of high volatility in office holding or by concern about catastrophic losses. Political institutions can therefore discourage predation by fostering recurrent, predictable replacement of leaders without harsh payback for ex-leaders who acted developmentally. Cataloguing all national leadership transitions in Africa since 1960, the article demonstrates that electoral cycles, term limits and the prospect of judgement before international tribunals have lately led to declines in the volatility of top office holding and in the risk of catastrophic loss to the occupants. These new institutions have yet to establish full credibility, but they show promise of altering African leaders' risk assessments to encourage more developmental rule.