The United Kingdom between Mars and Venus:bridge or Bermuda triangle?

The concept of the United Kingdom acting as a bridge between Europe and the United States has been a key element in British foreign policy for six decades. Under the second Blair Premiership it reached both its apogee and its nadir. This paper analyses these developments focusing both on the transatlantic and European ends. Particular attention is paid to the failure of the Blair government either to establish a secure place for Britain as a co-leader or to make the British people more comfortable in their European skins. This failure occurred at a period when the EU is characterised by leadership transition and confusion. New leaderships will emerge in the EU over the next two years but it seems unlikely that Britain, characterised by a continuing disconnect between a Euro-sceptic public discourse and deep involvement at a governmental level will develop a European policy narrative that is regarded as convincing at either the EU or domestic level. This weakness is compounded by a failure to develop new thinking about the rise of new powers such as China and India.

CEO power, government monitoring, and bank dividends

We investigate the role of CEO power and government monitoring on bank dividend policy for a sample of 109 European listed banks for the period 2005-2013. We employ three main proxies for CEO power: CEO ownership, CEO tenure, and unforced CEO turnover. We show that CEO power has a negative impact on dividend payout ratios and on performance, suggesting that entrenched CEOs do not have the incentive to increase payout ratios to discourage monitoring from minority shareholders. Stronger internal monitoring by board of directors, as proxied by larger ownership stakes of the board members, increases performance but decreases payout ratios. These findings are contrary to those from the entrenchment literature for non-financial firms. Government ownership and the presence of a government official on the board of directors of the bank, also reduces payout ratios, in line with the view that government is incentivized to favor the interest of bank creditors before the interest of minority shareholders. These results show that government regulators are mainly concerned about bank safety and this allows powerful CEOs to distribute low payouts at the expense of minority shareholders.

The American politics of a Jewish Judea and Samaria

This dissertation poses a set of six questions about one of the Israel Lobby's particular components, a Potential Christian Jewish coalition (PCJc) within American politics that advocates for Israeli sovereignty over "Judea and Samaria" ("the West Bank"). The study addresses: the profiles of the individuals of the PCJc; its policy positions, the issues that have divided it, and what has prevented, and continues to prevent, the coalition from being absorbed into one or more of the more formally organized components of the Israel Lobby; the resources and methods this coalition has used to attempt to influence U.S. policy on (a) the Middle East, and (b) the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular; the successes or failures of this coalition's advocacy and why it has not organized; and what this case reveals about interest group politics and social movements in the United States. This dissertation follows the descriptive-analytic case-study tradition that comprises a detailed analysis of a specific interest group and one policy issue, which conforms to my interest in the potential Christian Jewish coalition that supports a Jewish Judea and Samaria. I have employed participant observation, interviewing, content analysis and documentary research. The findings suggest: The PCJc consists of Christian Zionists and mostly Jews of the center religious denominations. Orthodox Jewish traditions of separation from Christians inhibit like-minded Christians and Jews from organizing. The PCJc opposes an Arab state in Judea and Samaria, and is not absorbed into more formally organized interest groups that support that policy. The PCJc's resources consist of support and funding from conservatives. Methods include use of education, debates and media. Members of the PCJc are successful because they persist in their support for a Jewish Judea and Samaria and meet through other organizations around Judeo-Christian values. The PCJc is deterred from advocacy and organization by a mobilization of bias from a subgovernment in Washington, D.C. comprising Congress, the Executive branch and lobby organizations. The study's results raise questions about interest group politics in America and the degree to which the U.S. political system is pluralistic, suggesting that executive power constrains the agenda to "safe" positions it favors.

Resistance Performances: (Re)constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement

On the night of April 20, 2010, a group of students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras campus, met to organize an indefinite strike that quickly broadened into a defense of accessible public higher education of excellence as a fundamental right and not a privilege. Although the history of student activism in the UPR can be traced back to the early 1900s, the 2010-2011 strike will be remembered for the student activists’ use of new media technologies as resources that rapidly prompted and aided the numerous protests. This activist research entailed a critical ethnography and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of traditional and alternative media coverage and treatment during the 2010 -2011 UPR student strike. I examined the use of the 2010-2011 UPR student activists’ resistance performances in constructing local, corporeal, and virtual spaces of resistance and contention during their movement. In particular, I analyzed the different tactics and strategies of resistance or repertoire of collective actions that student activists used (e.g. new media technologies) to frame their collective identities via alternative news media’s (re)presentation of the strike, while juxtaposing the university administration’s counter-resistance performances in counter-framing the student activists’ collective identity via traditional news media representations of the strike. I illustrated how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism developed, maintained, and/or modified students activists’ collective identities. As such, the UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of networks that continue to create resistance and change. These networks add to the debate surrounding Internet activism and its impact on student activism. Ultimately, the results of this study highlight the important role student movements have had in challenging different types of government policies and raising awareness of the importance of an accessible public higher education of excellence.

Gender and politics in the devolved assemblies

The devolution of powers from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales led to much speculation about the creation of a new political era that would herald new ways of 'doing politics'. It was thought that the new institutions would provide a more inclusive, less combative culture that aimed to include a greater proportion of women members. With the 'new' institutions now over ten years old, linguistic research into the participation of men and women on the debate floor shows that they participate more equally and that improvements have been made in relation to the extent that women feel included. However, the devolved institutions retain some of the adversarial features associated with Westminster, and women are still subject to the burden of gendered stereotypical judgements and expectations that may affect their performance and inclusion within them.

Investigative journalism in Mexico: between ideals and realities. The case of Morelia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of the investigative journalism in Mexico, especially the one that is practiced at the local level in the provinces. That is, this research is based upon a case study conducted in Morelia, the capital city of the state of Michoacán. The empirical evidence will show that there is an evident divergence regarding the practice of the investigative journalism: on the one hand, journalists are aware of what this concept involves and they consider that they practice it on a regular basis; but, on the other, the content analysis prove otherwise. In other words, the account of what is actually printed significantly differs from the news workers’ perceptions, because the former shows a poorly developed journalistic investigation practice.

Between "uxor", "mater" and "concubina". Profile and identity of the Emperor Constantine in Late Roman legislation

We aspire to shape the Constantine’s personality in particular by analyzing his loving relationship, first with Minervina and then with Fausta, and not forgetting the bond with his mother Helena, hence the reference to uxor, mater and concubina in our title. We will analyze if these women exercised any influence on the composition of his production rules and, if so, to what extent they were able to determine the historical development of the following decades. From this point of view we must consider in general the emperor had to combine their political claims and government with these relationships, showing great skill in handling times and ways, always putting the first to the second.

Integrity and public sector governance : a democratic deficit?

Clydebank in the inter-war years: a study in economic and social change

The main theme of this thesis is the social, economic and political response of a single community to economic dislocation in the interwar years. The community under consideration is Clydebank., The thesis is divided into several parts. Part I establishes the development of the burgh and considers the physical framework of the community, mainly in the years before 1919. The town's characteristics are examined in terms of population structure and development between the world wars. In the last part of this section there is a review of the economic structure of the burgh and changes occurring in it between 1919 and 1939. In Part II consideration is given to the actual extent and form of the unemployment affecting Clydebank at this time, and comparison is made with other communities and geographic/economic areas. Attention is then focussed more narrowly on the actual individuals suffering unemployment in the burgh during the 1930s, in an attempt to personalise the experience of the unemployed. Part III reviews central and local government responses to the situation in which Clydebank found itself oetween 1919 and 1939. Central government policies discussed include unemployment insurance, public works, the Special Areas legislation, assistance in the construction of the 534 "Queen Mary" and the direction of financial support to areas of particular need. Amongst local authority actions described are additional local support for the poor, public works, efforts to attract new industry to the town, attempts to deal with the housing problem which was particularly acute at times of high unemployment and measures to maintain health standards in the community. In Part IV the responses of the community to unemployment and government policies are detailed. The burgh's commercial sector is surveyed as are developments in leisure provision, religion, temperance and crime, and local politics. A number of individual responses are also given consideration such as migration, commuting, changes in birth and marriage rates and suicide.

The Demobilized Body: Transgressions of Personal Space and Political Participation

Grounded in the intersection between gender politics and electoral studies, this dissertation examines the demobilizing effects of violations of personal space (in the form of domestic violence, control over mobility, emotional abuse, and sexual harassment) on the propensity to vote. Using quantitative methods across four survey datasets concerning Lebanon, the United States, Morocco, and Yemen, this research concludes that cross-regionally, familial control over mobility reduces the propensity to vote among women. Conversely, mechanisms of empowerment such as education and employment increase the propensity to vote.

PREVALENCE AND PREDICTORS OF VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY AMONG INFANTS IN WESTERN KENYA USING A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS

Vitamin A (VA) deficiency (VAD) is a major nutritional public health problem among children under-5-years-old in the developing world including Kenya. A community-based cross-sectional survey among 1,630 children (aged 6-23 mos) was undertaken in Western Kenya. A questionnaire was administered to collect demographic, socio-economic and dietary intake information. Prevalence of low retinol-binding protein (RBP) concentrations was assessed using Dried Blood Spot (DBS) methodology. Analysis of RBP was carried out using rapid enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) was carried out using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to estimate VA and sub-clinical inflammation statuses, respectively. Values were adjusted for influence of inflammation using CRP (CRP >5 mg/L) and population prevalence of VAD (RBP <0.825 μmol/L, biologically equivalent to 0.70 μmol/L retinol) estimated. Anthropometric data gave three indices: stunting, wasting and underweight—all of which took age and sex into consideration. Mean (geometric± SD) concentration of RBP was adequate (1.56±0.79μmol/L) but the inflammation-adjusted mean (±SE) prevalence of VAD was high (20.1±1.1%) in this population. The level of CRP was within normal range (1.06±4.95 mg/L) whilst 18.4±0.9% of the children had subclinical inflammation (CRP>5 mg/L). Intake of VA capsule (VAC) by a child was a predictor of VAD with children who have not taken VA during the past 1 year prior to the survey having a 30% increased risk of VAD (OR (CI): 1.3 (1.1-1.7); p=0.025. Additionally, age of the child was a predictor with older children (18-23 mos) having a 30 % increased risk of VAD (OR (CI): 1.3 (1.1-1.9); p=0.035); the caretaker’s knowledge on VA and nutrition was also a predictor of VAD with children whose caretaker’s had poor knowledge having a 40 % increased risk of VAD (OR (CI): 1.4 (1.0-1.9); p=0.027. A child’s district of residence was also a significant predictor of VAD. Prevalence of VAD in this sample of infants was high. Predictors of VAD included child intake of VAC in the last 1 year before the survey, older children, children whose caretakers had poor VA and nutritional knowledge and a child’s district of residence. There is a need to improve knowledge on nutrition and VA of caretakers; undertake a targeted VAC distribution, particularly in children older than 1 year and above and use a sustainable food-based intervention in the areas with severe VAD.

Mediatisation, marginalisation and disruption in Australian Indigenous affairs

This article considers how changing media practices of minority groups and political and media elites impact on demo-cratic participation in national debates. Taking as its case study the state-sponsored campaign to formally recognise In-digenous people in the Australian constitution, the article examines the interrelationships between political media and Indigenous participatory media—both of which we argue are undergoing seismic transformation. Discussion of constitutional reform has tended to focus on debates occurring in forums of influence such as party politics and news media that privilege the voices of only a few high-profile Indigenous media ‘stars’. Debate has progressed on the assumption that constitutional change needs to be settled by political elites and then explained and ‘sold’ to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Our research on the mediatisation of policymaking has found that in an increasingly media-saturated environment, political leaders and their policy bureaucrats attend to a narrow range of highly publicised voices. But the rapidly changing media environment has disrupted the media-driven Recognise campaign. Vigorous pub-lic discussion is increasingly taking place outside the mainstream institutions of media and politics, while social media campaigns emerge in rapid response to government decisions. Drawing on a long tradition in citizens’ media scholar-ship we argue that the vibrant, diverse and growing Indigenous media sphere in Australia has increased the accessibility of Indigenous voices challenging the scope and substance of the recognition debate. The article concludes on a cau-tionary note by considering some tensions in the promise of the changing media for Indigenous participation in the national policy conversation.

‘There isn’t kind of a White History Month or anything like that for them’: equity, schooling and the problematics of group identity politics

This paper explores issues of equity and group identity at ‘Hamilton Court’, a large comprehensive multi-faith and multi-cultural school located in England. The exploration draws on data gathered from a study that examined the conditions, structures and practices associated with productively addressing issues of justice and cultural diversity. The paper focuses, in particular, on the voices of two learning mentors, ‘Rosanna’ and ‘Yasmeen’. With reference to a cultural event at the school based around an Asian-inspired Bollywood Dance Festival, the school’s approach to absence requests on the basis of religious observance, and the disadvantage experienced by a particular White British working class boy, the paper highlights tensions and problematics associated with issues of equity, schooling and group identity. The paper makes a theoretical contribution to debates in this area. Further illustrating the limitations of distributive understandings of equity that begin with group identity politics and fail to consider matters of context in struggles against cultural oppressions, it examines the possibilities of an equity approach that instead begins with a focus on overcoming these relations of oppression.

National gender equity and schooling policy in Australia: struggles for a non-identitarian feminist politics

This paper tracks the development of gender equity and schooling policy in Australia from theNational Policy on the Education of Girls in 1987, to current policy concerns with boys’ educational underperformance. The paper’s key focus is on the ways in which feminist informed equity policy has been undermined by broader imperatives of economic rationalism and anti-feminist discourses. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s understandings of distributive and cultural gender justice and her notion of a nonidentitarian feminist politics, the paper critically examines the ways in which such imperatives have re-articulated equity and schooling concerns. Through these lenses, the limitations of the affirmative gender binary politics and remedies that have dominated gender and schooling reform in Australia are highlighted. The paper concludes with an illumination of the gender justice spaces currently being mobilised in Australian schools. Such spaces, it is argued, fostered within a context of increasing autonomy and self-management for schools, are providing avenues for creative and disruptive (pro)feminist activism.