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The present essay discusses how women calypsonians in the English-speaking Caribbean use Calypso performances as a theatrical platform to offer a gendered critique of the nation and engage in a dialogue, which despite exhibiting pride in the nation, questions its various exclusions in ways that seek to redefine dominant constructions of the nation as 'we'. Not only do they offer a vision of the nation and its cultural aspects that is more inclusive, they also speak out against cultural and political oppression. I analyse specific performances by Singing Sandra (Trinidad) and Queen Ivena (Antigua) from my position as an 'indigenous-outsider' and 'outsider within' in order to demonstrate that Calypso performance is a post-colonial form of theatre in the English-speaking Caribbean that is being used by women as a site for feminist action and agency.

On 1 December 2001, North America was officially introduced to John Walker Lindh The American Taliban. Lindh was captured in Afghanistan fighting against the Northern Alliance. The event created a groundswell of news reports concerning the political development of Lindh. In this paper,
I interrogate the ways in which race is reproduced through a popular online magazine and its account of the John Walker Lindh case. There is a series of narratives used to describe Lindh that relies upon a moral panic of sorts to accomplish two critical tasks. First, it polices the boundaries
of whiteness by alternately whitening Lindh and othering Islam. Second, these depictions mobilize support for a metanarrative of national discipline exemplified by the Patriot Act. Both discourses represent a cautionary tale against border crossing and racial transcendence in a so-called post-9/11
era.

Scholarship on African American political participation—like research on political participation generally—has focused largely on the national-level preferences of citizens and policy makers. Considerably less attention has been paid to such dynamics in the American states. This article provides an introduction to Black legislative activity in the State of Arkansas with an eye on descriptive and substantive representation issues. Specifically, the article investigates the presence and role of Black Arkansans in the state's General Assembly in the post-1960s era of civil rights reforms, assessing their acquisition of legislative seats, their ascendancy to committee and chamber leadership positions, and—especially—their attempt to present an influential voting bloc. The article concludes that though African American legislators in Arkansas are disadvantaged by their small numbers, they have found other ways to exercise power in the state legislature.

Background  This study explored 'loneliness' as experienced by adults with intellectual disability, with 'intermittent' to 'limited' support needs.Method  A measure of loneliness was piloted, and qualitative techniques used to develop a greater understanding of the participants' experience.Results  The Loneliness Scale proved valid and reliable and the participants reported loneliness in ways comparable with the general population.Conclusions  The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of combining quantitative and qualitative techniques to enhance understanding of people's perspective when developing support systems to promote their quality of life. Based on participant perspectives, recommendations are made concerning the issues and types of support families and professionals could consider when seeking to assist people with intellectual disability address loneliness. Further investigation of the effects of differing educational and vocational opportunities on people's post‐school social networks appears warranted.

The creation and operation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is an advance in the rule of law and arguably part of a larger process of the globalization of democratic norms. Yet support for the ICTY is increasingly influenced by local processes in which these norms are contested by indigenous parties and forces. We explore this issue with regard to support of Serbs living in and outside of Serbia for the ICTY in comparison to local courts. Serbs in Belgrade are distinctive in insisting that war criminals be tried in their places of origin, while Serbs in Sarajevo and Vukovar agree with other groups in these settings that war criminals should be tried in the locations where their crimes occurred. This is compelling evidence of the localized influence of cultural norms on ethnic and national group members in post-war crime settings.

Research on managerial issues in India in the post-liberalization period has identified several factors that have a significant impact on individual and organizational efficacy. In this connection, one factor that has been identified as critical is the human resource management function of the firm. In this quasi-experimental field study, we examine how human resource practices mediate the relationship between organizational culture and structure on the one hand, and individual and organizational performance on the other. Using data from 357 managerial level employees, we found that HR practices are positively related to employees' in-role and extra-role performance, and to organizational effectiveness. The results indicate that paying attention to cultural and structural ethos that shape human resource practices in Indian organizations is an important requirement for researchers, as well as, practitioners in this area.

The use of merit pay is increasing in public institutions. The prevalence of merit pay has extended to public universities to evaluate faculty performance. A general perception is that faculty scholarship is disproportionably used relative to instructional and service activities in assessing whether merit pay is warranted. Yet, little actual empirical research has been conducted to predict what components of faculty performance lead to merit pay awards. A survey concerning perceptions of faculty performance and subsequent merit pay was distributed to the entire faculty of a large public eastern research university. Logistic regression analysis found faculty research activities were significantly more predictive of merit pay receipt compared to instructional and service performance. Female faculty members were less supportive of merit pay compared to their male colleagues and perceived less improvement in their overall performance post merit pay awards.

The past 20 years have seen a strong emergence of participatory approaches in social research. Such efforts typically include the researched in defining the questions, in data collection and analysis, and in interpreting and taking action based on the research findings. The objective is co-generating knowledge and, potentially, sharing decision-making based on that knowledge. This movement toward participatory research brings new sets of social relations for research and, as such, presents a new set of ethical challenges. The current framework for understanding the ethical issues involved in research is predicated on post-positivist epistemological assumptions of a distanced objectivist research stance, and thus is ill-suited for examining the ethics of participatory research. This article shall address this gap, outlining the potential ethical implications and presenting a framework for considering the ethical questions involved in participatory research partnerships.

This paper addresses the politics of color-blindness in comparative perspective as its meaning has changed over the past half-century. Drawing on the cases of South Africa and the United States, I focus in particular on the socio-political and psychological functions that color-blind ideology performs for whites in defending white advantage in the present context. Although in the past color-blindness served as an effective rallying cry for the abolition of Jim Crow and the demise of apartheid, the very same principle serves in the post-segregation context to stall transformation of the racial order in the direction of greater equality. It is an irony that the principle of color-blindness that so effectively mobilized opposition to the institutionally racist order in both national contexts mutates at the very moment of apparent victory into one that radically limits the anti-racist imagination.

This paper investigates the relative impact of regional energy production on the legislative choices of Russian Duma deputies on energy regulation between 1994 and 2003. We apply Poole's optimal classification method of roll call votes using an ordered probit model to explain energy law reform in the first decade of Russia's democratic transition. Our goal is to analyze the relative importance of home energy on deputies' behavior, controlling for other factors such as party affiliation, electoral mandate, committee membership and socio-demographic parameters. We observe that energy resource factors have a considerable effect on deputies' voting behavior. On the other hand, we concurrently find that regional economic preferences are constrained by the public policy priorities of the federal center that continue to set the tone in energy law reform in post-Soviet Russia.

Many projects based on field research or "site-intensive methods" in political science incorporate sensitive components that can hinder the researcher's capacity to gain and maintain access to sources and informants. But doing field research arguably presents particularly acute challenges in deeply divided societies, where religious, ethnic, regional, or other types of cleavages are highly politicized and may even constitute the ostensible basis of political violence. I encountered these challenges firsthand while carrying out field research on the relationship between faith-based social service provision and the formation of sectarian identities in Lebanon. A textbook case of a deeply divided society, Lebanon has eighteen officially recognized religious groups, and the political system institutionalizes divisions within and across the Muslim and Christian communities by allocating top leadership posts (and even civil service positions) according to sect.

The accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union (EU) is assessed from the perspective of market integration in key agricultural sectors. An empirical investigation is conducted using monthly data for two periods: from 1975:01-1994:12 (the pre-EU period) and 1995:01-2004:12 (post-EU period). The existence of market integration both within the countries and within the EU is tested using time-series methods. A long-run equilibrium between prices for the same good in different markets does not exclude the possibility of short-run deviations in the individual data, so part of this analysis consists of estimating an econometric model (error correction) to uncover long-run effects of price deviations. Only a subset of agricultural prices moves together after EU integration. Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i1.164

The expansion of China's middle class since the late 1970s has inspired some political scientists to speculate that rapid economic growth and the ensuing rise of the middle class could constitute the basis for a democratic transition. This article analyzes the political implications of the emergence of the Chinese middle class and discusses how the Chinese Communist Party copes with the rising middle class. This article concludes that at present, the Chinese middle class quietly endorses the leadership in Beijing. Nevertheless, as economic growth continues, the middle class will not only grow in size but also may change its political attitude. Following the footpaths of its counterparts in the West and other Asian countries, the Chinese middle class may develop not only post-material lifestyle and values, hut also play an important role in the struggle for democracy. (Asian Aff/GIGA)

"Ulrike Niedner-Kalthoff untersucht in Bezug auf die beiden Aspekte 'Rotation und Objektivität' Diplomaten als transnationale Migranten. Klassische Berufsdiplomaten können als eine besondere Gruppe transnationaler Migranten gelten, denn konstitutiv für die Gestaltung ihrer (professionellen) Lebenswelt ist ein bereits in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts etabliertes spezifisches System der staatlich organisierten und kodifizierten Pendelmigration. Dieses "Rotation" genannte System beinhaltet differenzierte Verfahren der Klassifikation von sowie der Bewerbung um und Versetzung auf definierte Kombinationen von Orten und Aufgaben ('Posten'). Durch eine bestimmte Frequenz und Sequenzierung der Auslandsaufenthalte, so die dem Rotationssystem zugrunde liegende Überzeugung, können Diplomaten ein genau ausbalanciertes Maß der Identifikation mit einer kulturell fremden Umgebung einhalten und so das Ideal der 'Objektivität' erfüllen. Die hier vorgenommenen Untersuchungen beruhen auf qualitativer empirischer Forschung in Form von biographischen und Experteninterviews mit einem guten Dutzend deutscher und auswärtiger Diplomaten sowie teilnehmender Beobachtung während eines Praktikums im Auswärtigen Amt in Berlin. Es wird dargestellt, wie das Alltagsleben von Diplomaten, ihre Identität und ihre Beziehung zu einer kulturell fremden Umgebung durch das System der Rotation und das Gebot der Objektivität geprägt werden. Ferner wird erörtert, auf welch unterschiedliche Weisen Diplomaten ihre ständige Rotation gestalten und sich im Kontext einer Akkulturation im Ausland mit dem Idealbild der Objektivität auseinander setzen. Abschließend wird ein Vorschlag skizziert, wie die Analyse diplomatischer Migration sinnvoll im größeren Rahmen der Transnationalismusforschung verortet werden kann." (Autorenreferat)

This study focuses on the varying effectiveness of three mediation styles—facilitation, formulation, and manipulation—on international crises. Effectiveness is assessed in terms of three outcome variables: formal agreement, post-crisis tension reduction, and contribution to crisis abatement. The authors analyze new data on the mediation process from the International Crisis Behavior project (1918-2001). Manipulation has the strongest effect on the likelihood of both reaching a formal agreement and contributing to crisis abatement. Facilitation has the greatest influence on increasing the prospects for lasting tension reduction. The authors explore how the different styles affect the strategic bargaining environment to explain these differences in impact. The findings suggest that mediators should use a balance of styles if they are to maximize their overall effectiveness.