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Purpose We examined the intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and societal correlates of a structural indicator of social connectedness (ie, social isolation) among a sample of young adult U.S. males Design Cross-sectional. Setting: Online survey. Subjects Males (n = 495) aged 18-25 years residing in the U.S. Measures Social isolation was assessed as an index measure of social integration (inverse scored). The correlates consisted of the following variables: 1) intrapersonal (eg, social-demographic characteristics), 2) interpersonal (eg, adverse childhood experiences; marital status), 3) community (eg, county-level mental distress rates), and 4) societal (eg, how powerful is society's image of the 'masculine man'). Analysis Four-block hierarchical regression. Results The intra- and interpersonal variables significantly shared 17% and an incremental 5%, respectively, of the explained variance in social isolation. Several intra- (eg, financial vulnerability β = -2.76, [95% CI: -4.40, -1.13]) and inter-personal (ie, childhood household dysfunction β = -.66, [95% CI: -1.18, -.14]) factors were significantly associated with greater social isolation. Four intrapersonal factors (eg, gay or bisexual β = 2.31, [95% CI: .29, 4.33]) were significantly associated with lower social isolation. Conclusions The current study's findings have important implications for understanding and shaping social connectedness in young adult U.S. males, with micro-level influences potentially being most important in predicting social isolation in this population.

Conventional wisdom has it that the EU is unable to promote viable social integration, which contrasts with its commitments to improving working and living conditions and to social values and goals such as solidarity, social protection and social inclusion. This article challenges two different standpoints: on the one hand, competitive neoliberalism demands that the EU focuses on economic integration through legally binding internal market and competition rules even if Member States can only maintain a limited commitment to social inclusion, while authors defending the social models unique to the continent of Europe demand that the EU rescinds some of its established legal principles in order to make breathing space for Member States to maintain market correcting social policies. Both positions convene that there should be no genuine social policy at EU level. This article uses scenarios of widely discussed rulings by the Court of Justice to illustrate that legally enforceable economic integration would prevent most Member States from achieving sustainable health services, labour relations and free university education on the basis of national closure. Since the EU has limited legislative competences to create EU level institutions to balance inequalities, it derives a Constitution of Social Governance from the EU's values, proposing that the Court of Justice develops its jurisprudence into an instrument for challenging European disunion induced by new EU economic governance.

Mittels der Kriterien Organisation, Ideologie, Mitgliedschaft und Wählerschaft wird ein idealtypisches Modell entwickelt zur Unterscheidung zwischen grünen Parteien 'neuer' (alternativer) Politik und solchen mit konservativer oder zentristischer Tendenz. Modell und Auswirkung der Entwicklung alternativer Politiken auf die Parteiensysteme werden am Beispiel Schwedens, der Bundesrepublik und Österreichs überprüft. Zentrale Merkmale von 'new politics' sind Individualismus, Gleichberechtigung, partizipatorische Demokratie, Ökologie, einseitige Abrüstung, linke Orientierung. Partizipatorische Parteiorganisation, unkonventioneller politischer Stil, ein klares Mitglieder- und Wählerprofil (jung, gebildet) kennzeichnen ferner die alternativen Parteien. (AuD-Hng)

THE CRISIS THAT IS NOW OCCURRING IN SOUTH AFRICA AROUND THE APARTHEID SYSTEM IS DISCUSSED IN THIS PAPER. FACTORS PRESENTLY AFFECTING THE RULING CLASS AND THE MANNER OF DEALING WITH THESE FACTORS IS DISCUSSED AND ANALYZED.

We examine co-movements of nine Asian equity markets with both the US and Japan with special interest in distinguishing co-movements during periods of positive returns from those during periods of negative returns. A discrete asymmetric piecewise linear conditional mean returns specification is adopted to generate asymmetric co-movement parameters for periods of positive and negative returns. Conditional heteroskedasticity is modeled using GARCH and EGARCH specifications. Predicted conditional volatilities are used to generate alternative estimates of asymmetric and time-varying co-movement parameters. Conditional mean returns from asymmetric and symmetric conditional mean return models along with GARCH and EGARCH volatilities are used to generate estimates of asymmetric and symmetric conditional (ex-ante) Sharpe ratios. Asian markets returns and volatilities show a clear tendency to move more with the US than with Japan; and their co-movements with negative US returns far exceed their co-movements with positive US returns, thereby suggesting that any diversification benefits into Asian equities are likely to manifest themselves more during periods of positive than negative US returns. Conditional asymmetric Sharpe ratios exceed conditional symmetric Sharpe ratios; however, and more importantly, performance-ranking differs depending on whether asymmetric versus symmetric conditional Sharpe ratios are used. Asymmetric conditional Sharpe ratios suggest that India (followed by Malaysia) offers the best return/risk tradeoff, with the least favorable market is South Korea (using GARCH) and Philippines (using EGARCH).

The Article analyses whether and how integration considerations are encapsulated into EU secondary legislation establishing the conditions under which EU citizens and third country nationals can reside in a Member State (acts relating to immigration policy, to asylum policy, and to free movement of citizens of the Union), taking due account of the case-law of the Court of Justice. The aim is to compare the different legal regimes under this particular perspective, in order to evaluate whether the regime applicable to EU citizens can be understood as ontologically different from the regime established for third country nationals or rather as a variation of the same regime

The increasing participation of lesbians and gay men in municipal politics is a product of the convergence of several processes: the creation of a movement among individuals, most of whom previously accepted collective invisibility; the mobilization of political resources by members of the community; and the opening of opportunities for participation by local political regimes. Here, the author examines how gay and lesbian community-building and political-mobilization processes in four New York cities (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse) meshed with opportunities provided by local political regimes to encourage a greater voice for lesbians and gay men in municipal politics.

"Women of all ages, races, and nations share their hopes, fears, desires, advice, and support with the new Vice President. As the first woman of color elected as the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris broke through many barriers and made history, energizing a host of women who have a lot to say. Seeing a model of themselves filling the second-most-powerful office in the Free World, women from Africa to California, Canada to Florida began writing to the new Vice President. Dear Kamala: Women Write to the New Vice President showcases a selection of these heartfelt and moving letters. Girl Scouts confide their fears for a future ravaged by climate change; a business owner in Harlem offers unflinching advice about the need for real investment in inner cities; civil rights activists share their stories, struggles, and successes over the decades. Filled with moving personal stories and heartbreaking tales of racial injustices suffered, Dear Kamala offers much more than kind words. They represent an offer of support and a call to action for all those who will be at Vice President Harris's side throughout the next four years"--

This paper analyzes contemporary Russian family policy, focusing on the state's ideological orientation and the political measures it has taken with regard to the family as a social institution. Documents representing official and normative discourse of family policy in contemporary Russia serve here as data for the study. The paper identifies stages of the formation and realization of Russian family policy. Analysis of these stages shows that neither at the level of ideology nor in terms of specific tools of implementation is this policy coherent. A pronatalist strategy ensures that many real problems faced by families stay on the periphery of family policy. This paper maintains that Russian family policy should take into account the diversity of modern forms of family relationships and increase societal support for citizens with family responsibilities, not limited only to family financial support.