Out-group trust, intergroup anxiety, and out-group attitude as mediators of the effect of imagined intergroup contact on intergroup behavioural tendencies.

We investigated whether imagining contact with an out-group member would change behavioral tendencies toward the out-group. In Experiment 1, British high school students who imagined talking to an asylum seeker reported a stronger tendency to approach asylum seekers than did participants in a control condition. Path analysis revealed this relationship was mediated by out-group trust and, marginally, by out-group attitude. In Experiment 2, straight undergraduates who imagined an interaction with a gay individual reported a stronger tendency to approach, and a weaker tendency to avoid, gay people. Path analyses showed that these relationships were mediated by out-group trust, out-group attitude, and less intergroup anxiety. These findings highlight the potential practical importance of imagined contact and important mediators of its effects.

L'Europe et les partis politiques nationaux: Les lecons d'un

European integration remains a 'non-cleavage' in relation to the Lipset-Rokkan model, as it has not produced significant restructurings of national party systems. Yet, while not effecting the terms of interparty competition, Europe has nevertheless come to occupy an increasingly large place in national political debates. Since the early 1990s, Euroscepticisms have taken root, to varying degrees, across the entire continent. This article analyses the rise of these Eurosceptic tendencies, examining the phenomenon in terms of both the Europeanisation of national political life and the wider emergence of forms of protest politics. The analysis demonstrates how European questions have been absorbed into established party structures, while at the same time pointing towards a renewed research agenda which pays greater attention both to the discursive dimension of political life and to the roles played by national parties as European actors.

Anna Magdalena as Bach's Copyist

Among the wives of eighteenth-century composers, no one is perhaps more favourably and affectionately described than Bach's second wife, Anna Magdalena (1701-1760). She has been commonly pictured as her husband's trusted assistant, copying his works in handwriting which closely resembled her husband's beautiful calligraphy. No one appreciates her contributions more than today's musicologists, for her copies are usually 'neat and accurate', and are often among the most important primary sources when Bach's autographs do not survive. Occasionally, however, it is difficult to accommodate this patronising view of her role and its significance. It is well known, for instance, that her copy of Bach's Cello Suites (BWV 1007-1012) contains an unusually large number of inaccuracies and copying errors. One must ask how many of these blunders should be ascribed to her. How would a 'neat and accurate' copyist produce such an error-ridden manuscript if she had made it from a fair copy? In this paper, I shall first discuss Anna's copies of Bach's works, and see if any particular patterns or tendencies in her copying activities emerge when these are placed in this broader chronological context. In an attempt to evaluate her performance as a copyist, I shall look at typical situations in which she worked, while at the same time seeking to discover what additional values her copies may bring to our studies of Bach's life and works.

Studies of switching kinetics in ferroelectric thin films

Experimental studies are reported concerning the importance of interfacial capacitance (including electrode screening, space-charge layers, and/or chemically discrete dead layers). on domain switching behaviour in thin films of ferroelectric lead zirconate-titanate (PZT), strontium bismuth tantalate (SBT), and barium strontium titanate (BST). Emphasis is placed upon studies at applied field values very near the coercive field E, asymmetry in fatigue for positive and negative polarity coercive fields, and in the case of BST, of the coexistence of ferroelectric and paraelectric phases Studies of dielectric loss show important correlations between tan 6 and fatigue (polarization decrease) as a function of bipolar switching cycles N. This is a priori not obvious, since the former is a linear response and the latter, a nonlinear response. Modelling of enlarged interfacial,space-charge layers in PZT films and chemically distinct dead (paraelectric) layers in BST films shows contradictory tendencies of coercive-voltage changes with the growth of passive layers.

Confronting the Settler Legacy: Indigenisation and Transformation in South Africa and Zimbabwe

This article examines attempts to negotiate a perceived residual dominance of settler populations in South Africa and Zimbabwe by means of developmental and cultural policies deemed necessary to restore sovereignty to Africans. Indigenisation has become a preferred strategy for reconstructing post-colonial states in Africa: indigenisation of the economy as part of a Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe and Black Economic Empowerment in the socio-cultural context of Ubuntu in South Africa. These are issues arising from the regional legacy of contested and uneven transitions to majority rule. Identifying how governments frame the ‘settler problem’, and politicise space in doing so, is crucial for understanding post-colonial politics. Indigenisation in Zimbabwe allows the government to maintain a network of patronage and official rhetoric is highly divisive and exclusivist although couched in terms of reclaiming African values and sovereignty. Revival of Ubuntu as a cultural value system in South Africa facilitates a more positive approach to indigenisation, although Black Economic Empowerment displays elitist tendencies and cultural transformation remains controversial and elusive. The perceived need to anchor policy in socially acceptable (i.e., ostensibly indigenous/traditional) contexts has become a prominent feature of post-colonial politics and is indicative of an indigenous turn in Southern African politics.

Sharing Classes between Separate Schools: a mechanism for improving inter-group relations in Northern Ireland?

One manifestation of division and the history of conflict in Northern Ireland is the parallel education system that exists for Protestants and Catholics. Although recent decades have seen some advances in the promotion of integrated education, around 95% of children continue to attend schools separated on ethno-religious lines. In 2007 a programme for sharing education was established. Underpinned by intergroup contact theory, and reflecting educational priorities shared by all school sectors, the programme seeks to offer children from different denominational schools an opportunity to engage with each other on a sustained basis. In this article the authors adopt a quantitative approach to examining the impact of participation in the Sharing Education Programme on a range of outcomes (out-group attitudes, positive action tendencies and out-group trust) via, first, intergroup contact (cross-group friendships) and, second, intergroup anxiety. Their findings confirm the value of contact as a mechanism for promoting more harmonious relationships, and affirm the Sharing Education Programme as an initiative that can help promote social cohesion in a society that remains deeply divided.