The Gothic scene of international relations: ghosts, monsters, terror and the sublime after September 11

Accepting Furet’s claim that events acquire meaning and significance only in the context of narratives, this article argues that a particular type of international relations narrative has emerged with greater distinction after the traumatic experience of September 11: the gothic narrative. In a sense the political rhetoric of President Bush marks the latest example of America’s fine tradition in the gothic genre that began with Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne and extends through Henry James to Stephen King. His discourse of national security, it will be shown, assumes many of the predicates of gothic narratives. The gothic scenes evoked by Bush as much as Poe involve monsters and ghosts in tenebrous atmospheres that generate fear and anxiety, where terror is a pervasive tormentor of the senses. Poe’s narratives, for example, turn on encounters with dark, perverse, seemingly indomitable, forces often entombed in haunted houses. Similarly, Bush’s post-September 11 narratives play upon fears of terrorists and rogue states who are equally dark, perverse and indomitable forces. In both cases, ineffable and potently violent and cruel forces haunt and terrorise the civilised, human world.

Guilty? An explanation of the Lockerbie trial. (Case notes)

The Lockerbie Trial, concerning the explosion of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, took place in the Netherlands because of the fear that pre-trial publicity would make a fair trial impossible and also fears for the physical safety of the accused - case for the prosecution - application of Scottish law - report of an observer at the trial, Professor Kochler - the International Criminal Court - leave to appeal granted.

Reforming the law of medical negligence: Solutions in search of a problem

The Commonwealth Government's Principles Based Review of the Law of Negligence recently recommended reforms aimed at limiting liability and damages arising from personal injury and death, in response to the growing perception that the current system of compensating personal injury had become financially unsustainable. Recent increases in medical liability and damages have eroded the confidence of doctors and their professional bodies, with fears of unprecedented desertion from and reduced recruitment into high risk areas, and one of the primary foci of the review concerned medical negligence. The article analyses proposals to redefine the principles necessary for the finding of negligence, against the terms of reference of the review. The article assumes that for the foreseeable future, Australia will persist with tort-based compensation for personal injury rather than developing a no-fault scheme. If the suggested changes to the fundamental principles of negligence are unlikely to reduce medical liability, greater attention might be given to the processes which come into play after the finding of negligence, where reform is more likely to benefit both plaintiffs and defendants.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations: Part I: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Masculinity-femininity as a national characteristic and its relationship with national agoraphobic fear levels: Fodor's sex role hypothesis revitalized

Hofstede's dimension of national culture termed Masculinity-Femininity [Hofstede (1991). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [Fodor (1974). In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N = 5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule-III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r = +0.67 (P = 0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale with young adolescents

The psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) were examined with 875 adolescents aged 13 and 14 years. This self-report measure was designed to evaluate symptoms relating to separation anxiety, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic-agoraphobia, generalized anxiety, and fears of physical injury. Results of confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses supported six factors consistent with the hypothesized subtypes of anxiety. There was support also for a model in which the first-order factors loaded significantly on a single second-order factor of anxiety in general. The internal consistency of the total score and sub-scales was high, and 12-week test-retest reliability was satisfactory. The SCAS correlated strongly with a frequently used child self-report measure of anxiety and significantly, albeit at a lower level, with a measure of depression. (C) 2002 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The etiology of social phobia: Empirical evidence and an initial model

Research into the etiology of social phobia has lagged far behind that of descriptive and maintaining factors. The current paper reviews data from a variety of sources that have some bearing on questions of the origins of social fears. Areas examined include genetic factors, temperament, childrearing, negative life events, and adverse social experiences. Epidemiological data are examined in detail and factors associated with social phobia such as cognitive distortions and social skills are also covered. The paper concludes with an initial model that draws together some of the current findings and aims to provide a platform for future research directions. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations: part II. Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures predict national-level variations

Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures termed Masculinity-Femininity (MAS) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) (Hofstede, 2001) are proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed fears. The potential predictive role of national MAS was based on the classical work of Fodor (Fodor, 1974). Following Fodor, it was predicted that masculine (or tough) societies in which clearer differentiations are made between gender roles (high MAS) would report higher national levels of fears than feminine (or soft/modest) societies in which such differentiations are made to a clearly lesser extent (low MAS). In addition, it was anticipated that nervous-stressful-emotionally-expressive nations (high UAI) would report higher national levels of fears than calm-happy and low-emotional countries (low UAI), and that countries high on both MAS and UAI would report the highest national levels of fears. A data set comprising 11 countries (N > 5000) served as the basis for analyses. As anticipated, (a) high MAS predicted higher national levels of Agoraphobic fears and of Bodily Injury-Illness-Death fears; (b) higher scores on both UAI and MAS predicted higher national scores on Bodily Injury-Illness-Death fears, fears of Sexual and Aggressive Scenes, and Harmless Animals fears; (c) higher UAI predicted higher national levels of Harmless Animals, Bodily Injury-Illness-Death, and Agoraphobic fears. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anxiety and social worries in children with Asperger syndrome

Objective: The current study examined anxiety and social worries in a group of children with Asperger syndrome (AS). Method: Sixty-five children with AS were compared with a clinically anxious sample and a normative sample using parent and child reports. Results: Comparisons between clinically anxious children and children with AS showed similar scores on overall anxiety and on six anxiety subscales using child reports. Parent reports revealed higher ratings of overall anxiety and described children with AS experiencing more obsessive-compulsive symptoms and physical injury fears than clinically anxious children. Conclusions: Children with AS without a diagnosis of anxiety, present with more anxiety symptoms than a normal population and with a different profile than a clinically anxious population. Study limitations are identified and considerations for future research presented.

Acculturation and eating disorders in Asian and Caucasian Australian adolescent girls

The present study aimed to compare the attitudes and psychopathology of eating disorders between Asian and Caucasian adolescent girls; and investigate the relationship between acculturation and the attitudes and psychopathology of eating disorders in subgroups of Asian girls. Two groups of non-clinical adolescent girls in Perth, Western Australia, were compared using a survey method. There were 17 Asian and 25 Caucasian adolescent girls, aged 14-17 drawn from private high schools in Perth who were screened using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-2), and an acculturation index. The psychopathology scores for eating disorders of the Asian group were significantly higher than that of the Caucasian group in terms of total EDI-2 score, Interpersonal Distrust, Maturity Fears, Impulse Regulation and Social Insecurity subscales. Eating attitudes measured by Dieting subscale of the EAT-26 was significantly different. Within the Asian group, the less acculturated girls had higher scores on the EAT-26 and the EDI-2 than the more acculturated. Less acculturated Asian girls appeared to have unhealthier attitudes and psychopathology toward eating.