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The underlying mechanisms of online political discussions which may involve power dynamics have seldom been explored through a dynamic network approach, even though discussions themselves are inherently relational and dynamic processes. It remains unclear how discussions are shaped over time between egos/alters with different political/sociopsychological/linguistic attributes as well as by the existing discussion ties surrounding them. Based on a stochastic actor-oriented modeling constructed from pre-survey/virtual discussion/post-survey data, we found some evidence that, in the politically heterogeneous context, shared political ideology, alter's political tolerance level, and the extent of negative/strong/assertive language used by alter are associated with the likelihood of discussion tie creation/maintenance. In the homogeneous context, the extent to which ego perceives alter as politically knowledgeable and personally likable was clearly associated with ego's tendency to create or maintain discussion ties with alter over time. This study uncovers alter/dyad-centered variables that are critical, but have been overlooked, for communication research.

Marxist thinking on labor, class society, production relations, materialism, & the problem of content/form are explored in the context of human-nature relations. It is maintained that Karl Marx was both an objectivist & subjectivist, a determinist & voluntarist. Marx the scientist believed he had discovered the secrets of continuity in change in history; however, he was also a historical actor whose ambiguity reflects the uncertainty of life & class society. Marxist scholars have historically ignored ambiguity to take either an objectivist or subjectivist stance. The science of capitalism, emphasizing productive forces, has dominated during periods of capitalist hegemony, while more subjective views on consciousness, political identity, & production relations have dominated in times of social/political turmoil. It is argued that a subjectivist Marxism has been developing in the shadow of scientific Marxism, & the challenge is to develop a third term that is neither, but contains elements of both. J. Lindroth

Though the Persatuan Melayu Selangor (PMS) was not the first association of its kind in the peninsular states, there are several arguments in favour of selecting it for particular attention. To begin with, it is the only Malay political (or quasi-political) organisation of the 1930s for which anything like detailed records exist — a determinant of considerable, if perhaps chance, importance. That these records do exist may well, indeed, be more than a mere accident of time, reflecting rather the relative sophistication of the PMS in organisation and administrative procedure, its fondness for getting everything down on paper, preferably in multiple copies, and its very active life.1 Apart from this, however, the PMS is particularly interesting in other ways, in terms of its leadership (somewhat more variegate than that of other associations), of its close connection with at least one Malay national newspaper, and of the leading role it played not only in bringing about the two national congresses of state Malay associations before the war, but in providing the chairman for these meetings and helping to determine their agenda. This paper will be concerned primarily with the first year of the PMS, from June 1938 to May 1939 (the period covered by the records), but some attempt will be made to set it in context and to outline its later history.

This essay considers the politics and patronage of geography in early-modern France. It examines how the Paris Academy of Sciences, widely acknowledged as the 18th century's pre-eminent scientific society, came to recognise geography as an independent science in 1730, a century before the establishment of the first geographical societies. Although the Academy was centrally concerned with cartography from its inception in 1666, it initially afforded no official status to geography, which was viewed either as a specialised form of historical inquiry or as a minor component within the hegemonic science of astronomy. The rise of Newtonian mathematics and the associated controversy about the shape of the earth challenged the Academy's epistemological foundations and prompted a debate about the educational and political significance of geography as a scientific practice. The death in 1726 of Guillaume Delisle, a prominent Academy astronomer-cartographer and a popular geography tutor to the young Louis XV, led to a spirited campaign to elect Philippe Buache, Delisle's protégé, to a new Academy position as a geographer rather than an astronomer. The campaign emphasised the social and political utility of geography, though the Academy's decision to recognise this new and distinctively modern science was ultimately facilitated by traditional networks of patronage within the French Royal Court. © 2013 The Author. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers © 2013 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).

The complex relationship between globalization and health calls for research from many disciplinary and methodological perspectives. This editorial gives an overview of the content trajectory of the interdisciplinary journal 'Globalization and Health' over the first six years of production, 2005 to 2010. The findings show that bio-medical and population health perspectives have been dominant but that social science perspectives have become more evident in recent years. The types of paper published have also changed, with a growing proportion of empirical studies. A special issue on 'Health systems, health economies and globalization: social science perspectives' is introduced, a collection of contributions written from the vantage points of economics, political science, psychology, sociology, business studies, social policy and research policy. The papers concern a range of issues pertaining to the globalization of healthcare markets and governance and regulation issues. They highlight the important contribution that can be made by the social sciences to this field, and also the practical and methodological challenges implicit in the study of globalization and health.

This note synthesizes the experience of three political economy case studies: the water sector in West Bank and Gaza, the bus sector in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the port sector in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The objective is to describe: the process of conducting these types of studies, and how recommendations which have a higher chance of feeding into reforms or operations can be developed. It is hoped that these insights will be useful for development practitioners and operational teams who are considering conducting political economy studies. It is increasingly accepted that better understanding and management of the political economy of policy reforms can help development agencies, including the World Bank, refine policy advice and operational support in partner countries. Support of reforms which are technically feasible and politically acceptable, while simultaneously promoting a poverty reduction agenda, remain a core challenge for the World Bank. It is anticipated that the additional time and effort put into political economy work will often translate into improved design and implementation of sector reforms and operations, and thus increase their effectiveness. It illustrates lessons for operational teams and development practitioners on conducting political economy work. Finally, it shows that certain obstacles need to be anticipated when translating political economy recommendations into design of operations and illustrates, through the case studies, how they can be addressed.

Studying the driving factors of environmental pollution is of great importance for China. Previous literature mainly focused on the cause of national aggregate emission changes. However, research about the effect of fiscal expenditures on science and technology (FESTs) on environmental pollution is rare. Considering the large gap among cities in China, it is necessary to investigate whether and how FESTs affect environmental pollution among cities. We adopted three kinds of typical environmental pollutants including sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) emissions, wastewater emission, and atmospheric particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM(2.5)). Using the data of 260 prefecture-level cities over ten years in China, we found that FESTs play a significantly positive role in reducing sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) emissions and PM(2.5) concentrations, but fail to alleviate wastewater emissions. Specifically, for every 1% increase in FESTs, SO(2) emissions were reduced by 5.317% and PM(2.5) concentrations were reduced by 5.329%. Furthermore, we found that FESTs reduced environmental pollution by impeding fixed asset investments and by promoting research and development activities (R&D). Moreover, the impacts of FESTs on environmental pollution varied across regions and sub-periods. Our results are robust to a series of additional checks, including alternative econometric specifications, generalized method of moments (GMM) analysis and overcoming potential endogeneity with an instrumental variable. Our findings confirm that government efforts can be effective on pollution control in China. Hence, all governments should pay more attention to FESTs for sustainable development and environmental quality improvements.

With the election of Barack Obama, the environmental policy of the United States is expected to shift away from the approach of George W. Bush. It won't be the first time in U.S. history that a new president has made a break with the previous administration's environmental approach