Did they read Marx? Marx reception and social democratic party members in imperial Germany, 1890-1914

Did rank-and-file members of the German Social Democratic party before 1914 bother to read Marx? A number of studies of borrowing from trade union and other workers' libraries since the 1970s have indicated that workers who read Marx were rare, although this does not mean that workers' reading habits were not influenced by socialist ideas. However, for a broader understanding of the reception of Marx's writings among rank-and-file German socialists, it is necessary to consider not only books, but the pamphlet literature produced by the SPD in huge quantities, serialisations and other treatments in the party press, and oral communication. When the full range of sources is considered, the extent of the reception of Marx's writings, albeit often in very simplified forms, can be more fully appreciated.

Differences in physical activity between black and white girls living in rural and urban areas

This study examined the relationship of race and rural/urban setting to physical, behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental factors associated with physical activity. Subjects included 1,668 eighth-grade girls from 31 middle schools: 933 from urban settings, and 735 from rural settings. Forty-six percent of urban girls and 59% of rural girls were Black. One-way and two-way ANOVAs with school as a covariate were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that most differences were associated with race rather than setting. Black girls were less active than White girls, reporting significantly fewer 30-minute blocks of both vigorous and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Black girls also spent more time watching television, and had higher BMIs and greater prevalence of overweight than White girls. However, enjoyment of physical education and family involvement in physical activity were greater among Black girls titan White girls. Rural White girls and urban Black girls had more favorable attitudes toward physical activity. Access to sports equipment, perceived safety of neighborhood, and physical activity self-efficacy were higher in White girls than Black girls.

Issues in Australian Foreign Policy: January to June 2002

No abstract

ANZUS - Alive and well after fifty years

Marking its fiftieth anniversary in late 2001, the ANZUS alliance remains Australia's primary security relationship and one of the United States' most important defence arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region. It is argued here that ANZUS has defied many common suppositions advanced by international relations theorists on how alliances work. It thus represents an important refutation of arguments that they are short-term instruments of mere policy expediency and are largely interest-dependent. Cultural and normative factors are powerful, if often underrated, determinants for ANZUS's perpetuation. ANZUS may thus constitute an important test case for expanding our understanding of alliance politics beyond the usual preconditions and prerogatives normally associated with such a relationship.

Determinants of physical activity in middle school children

Objective: To evaluate the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and planned behavior (TPB) in predicting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in sixth-grade youth. Methods: One hundred ninety-eight students completed a questionnaire measuring attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to be active. MVPA was measured using the CSA 7,164 accelerometer. Results: Although demonstrating an acceptable fit, the TRA and TPB accounted for only a small percentage of the variance in MVPA. In support of the TPB: the addition: of control perceptions to the reasoned! action model! added to the prediction of intentions and MVPA. Conclusion: Within our sample of sixth graders, the utility of the, TRA or TPB;as a framework for activity interventions appears to be limited.

Commonwealth of Australia: July to December 2001

The six-month period from July to December 2001 was an extraordinary phase in Australia’s political history. Until 26 August, when 460 asylum seekers were rescued from their sinking vessel off the Western Australian coast, there was nothing to suggest that politics in Australia would be any different from the usual round of policy pronouncements, routine attacks by the opposition, and the occasional headlinegrabbing scandal. It seemed, as the Australian’s international editor Paul Kelly wrote, that tax would dominate the 2001 federal election campaign (21-22 July 2001). Once the asylum seekers had been rescued by the Norwegian freighter Tampa and refused entry to Australia, however, tax declined in significance. The ramifications of the Tampa incident and its aftermath were still engaging the Australian polity when, on 11 September, terrorists hijacked four passenger jets in the United States and flew two of them into the World Trade Centre in New York, one into the Pentagon, and crashed another in Pennsylvania, killing, it was estimated, more than 6000 people. Both incidents changed Australian politics. The extent and significance of the changes remain to be fully seen, but one short-term effect was to boost significantly the government’s chances of re-election.