bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Meeting women's needs and priorities for water and sanitation in cities
Authors: Jordan Sara , Wagner Fritz
Published: March 2007

Meeting women's needs and priorities for water and sanitation in cities describes the importance of safe and sufficient water supplies and provision for sanitation and drainage for health, especially for women since they take on most responsibilities for household management and childcare. The authors also describe how women are rarely consulted about their needs and priorities and how new orientations in water and sanitation projects that fully involve women can bring much greater benefits and improve project maintenance.
Evictions in the new South Africa: a narrative report from Durban
Authors: Megebhula Patrick Hunsley
Published: March 2007

Evictions in the new South Africa: a narra tive report from Durban describes how, as the Transitional Executive Council prepares the way for non-racial elections, the suffering of homeless people continues. This paper describes what is currently occurring in Dur ban, one of South Africa's largest cities.
A comparison of symptoms recorded from the same patients by an asylum doctor and 'a Constant Observer' in 1823
Authors: Persaud Rajendra D.
Published: March 2007

The difficulty in finding descriptions of schizophrenic symptoms until after the start of the nineteenth century has led to the suggestion that this disease may not have existed before that time. A writer who described himself as 'a constant observer' and who was in close contact with many of the mentally ill in a large asylum at the beginning of the nineteenth century presents a different picture of prevalent symptoms of mental illness to those descriptions found in the same patients' case notes written by their doctors. This investigation is not an attempt to decide whether schizophrenia did or did not exist during certain periods of history, especially as the material investigated pertains to the eighteen-twenties and not the turn of that century, with which the 'recency hypothesis' is concerned. However, this is intended as a contribution towards our understanding of how accurately 'schizophrenia-like' symptoms were reported by doctors almost two hundred years ago. The validity of these reports will affect inferences about the prevalence of the disorder in history.
Was late-nineteenth-century nervous vomiting an early variant of bulimia nervosa?
Authors: Van Deth Ron , Vandereycken Walter
Published: March 2007

We studied a wide variety of medical publications to find out whether late- nineteenth-century nervous or hysterical vomiting was clinically consistent with modern bulimia nervosa. Since modern diagnostic criteria of bulimia nervosa may be time- and culture-bound, we made use of adapted criteria, focusing on the more overt, physical and behavioural features of the syndrome. In retrospect, it became obvious that only some of these specific diagnostic requirements were met. Indeed, late-nineteenth-century nervous or hysterical vomiters most likely have been non-organically-ill neurotics. However, their disorder was more closely associated with food abstinence in general and anorexia nervosa in particular than with overeating. Only in a few cases doctors made mention of recurrent episodes of binge eating, but there was no convincing evidence of any concern for body shape and weight. Obviously, late-nineteenth-century nervous or hysterical vomiting was still located at the crossing between classic hysteria, the 'new' clinical entity of anorexia nervosa, and forms of psychogenic vomiting.
Théodule Ribot and the reception of evolutionary ideas in France
Authors: Faber D.P.
Published: March 2007

Although the French scientific community was reluctant to honour Darwin for his work, the eminent psychologist Théodule Ribot used an evolutionary framework for his thesis on heredity. The publication of L'Hérédité psychologique in 1873 was intended for lay readers at a period in French history when many scientific topics were popular. As a result French readers were introduced to the Darwinian and Spencerian ideas that Ribot included - as an analysis of L'Hérédité shows. This work was important for French psychology and psychiatry: it extended the domain of the former, and by endorsing degeneracy theory provided alienists with a scientific explanation of mental pathology which a somatic approach had failed to discover. L'Hérédité is a synthesis of biology, evolutionary ideas and the features of heredity, addressed and related to social concerns of the last three decades of nineteenth- century France.
Coping with quantity and quality: computer-based research on case records from the 'Wittenauer Heilstätten' in Berlin (1919-1960
Authors: Dörries Andrea , Beddies Thomas
Published: March 2007

Computer-aided research on hospital records has been used increasingly by historians in recent decades. We reviewed a representative sample of four thousand patient records from the 'Wittenauer Heilstätten' (known as 'Karl- Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik' since 1965) over the period 1919-1960. Special focus was placed on the daily lives of patients, and we attempted to trace continuity and discontinuity through three different political systems. This paper outlines our research methodology by describing the structure of data entries, the use of special computer software and problems encountered with historical sources. It outlines the medical and social information which was obtainable and concludes by discussing the use of additional historical sources, necessitated by the limitations of case records.
Communicative Behavior and Conflict between African-American Customers and Korean Immigrant Retailers in Los Angeles
Authors: BAILEY BENJAMIN
Published: March 2007

Face-to-face interaction between Korean immigrant retailers and African-American customers in Los Angeles often leaves members of each group feeling as if the other has behaved in insultingly inappropriate ways. Twenty-five service encounters involving both African-American and immigrant Korean customers were video-recorded in a liquor store and transcribed for analysis. These encounters reveal divergent communicative patterns between immigrant Koreans and African-Americans. The contrasting forms of participation that occur in these encounters are used by both storekeepers and customers to explain negative attributions that they make about each other. I argue that the differing forms of participation documented in service encounters - and the ways in which they are interpreted - are simultaneously a result of (1) cultural and linguistic differences between storekeepers and customers in service encounter behavior and expectations; and (2) social inequality in America, which shapes both the local context in which these encounters occur and the social assumptions that storekeepers and customers bring to the stores.
Demanding Respect: The Uses of Reported Speech in Discursive Constructions of Interracial Contact
Authors: BUTTNY RICHARD , WILLIAMS PRINCESS L.
Published: March 2007

This investigation examines discursive uses of respect in talking about interracial contact. In discussing the documentary, Racism 101, the most frequently quoted portion by African-American and Latino participants was a segment on demanding respect from Whites. Our first study analyzes such discourse-reported speech-for what is made relevant from the original documentary segment. The participants' reported speech conveys little of the exact wording of the original, but does capture its spirit through using similar structural features: the repetition of `respect', a contrast between respect and liking, and addressing this to Whites. These uses of reported speech are participants' way of performing the power of another's words, in the sense of being able to articulate a compelling discursive position on an interracial problematic. Our second study employs focus-group interviews to further explore the meanings of respect for African-Americans. We examine narratives of disrespect during interracial contact in public places, such as during service encounters in stores. Participants' narratives told of being disrespected by being overly monitored, not receiving service, or being treated in a derogatory fashion, in short, the perception of being treated differently than Whites. Reported speech was used in these narratives to construct the White service worker's actions, how the narrator responded, what could have happened, or what in-group members say as an aggregate. Reported speech allows narrators to articulate the subtext to what is being said. Also, the evaluation of these incidents told of the emotional costs of being the recipient of disrespect.
Collective Cognition and Collaborative Work: The Effects of Cognitive and Communicative Processes on the Organization of Television Production
Authors: Saferstein Barry
Published: March 2007

Analysis of working discourse in the television production industries of the US and UK shows that, collaborative work processes affect both the organization and practices of television production. The complexities of such work are not merely the result of hierarchical and commercial constraints, but also result from the cognitive and communicative processes related to ongoing design, modification and fabrication of materials. Such interactive processes actually mitigate the effects of hierarchical authority. Participants' occupational expertise, including differing practical knowledge of constraints and administrative practices at various phases of production, affects their respective models of objectives, models of work procedures and interpretations of materials and working discourse. In order to understand materials and each other's comments, participants engage in collective cognition through which they develop, communicate and modify their respective occupationally framed mental models of materials, objectives and work procedures. The organization of production institutionalizes opportunities for such collaborative interaction.
The Chernobyl Accident in the Italian Press: A `Media Story-Line'
Authors: Triandafyllidou Anna
Published: March 2007

This paper proposes the concept of `a media story-line' as a useful analytical tool for the study of media discourse. The Italian press coverage of the explosion at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl in April 1986 is chosen as a suitable case study. A sample of 75 newspaper articles published during 1987-1991 in the Italian daily press is analysed in terms of issues and framing packages. A `media story' told in the newspapers about the accident and its consequences is reconstructed within each year-sample separately. A `media story-line' is thus traced and the transformation of the event of the accident to a social metaphor is examined.
Formalizing Organizational Meaning
Authors: IEDEMA RICK
Published: March 2007

Formality indexes interactional closure: it limits the possibilities for the renegotiation of agreements and decisions. In this article the focus is on how formality is constructed in organizational settings. The article proposes that organizational formalization is achieved on the strength of the recontextualization of meaning from one discourse or practice to another. Importantly, organizational processes of recontextualization tend to increasingly technologize meanings with respect to both what they signify and their materialization. This means that discursive practices will mobilize, aside from human or embodied modes of meaning making, increasingly disembodied or exosomatic modes of meaning making, such as electronic kinds of communication, as well as other kinds of inscription of meaning (infrastructure, architecture, and so on).
Foundations of a Functional Theory of Human Handedness
Authors: Janßen Josef P.
Published: March 2007

A functional theory of human handedness is introduced based on early childhood experiences and the neural plasticity of the brain. It assumes that very different factors may be involved in the development of an individual left-handedness. Imitation and social learning are major factors in the formation of both right- and left-handedness in normal early childhood development. However, the frequently claimed relation between left-handedness and pathology as well as exceptional giftedness can only be understood by taking into account the function or meaning of left-handedness for personality development. The functional approach conceives left-handedness as a ubiquitous symbolic aid for coping creatively with conflict in early childhood. A childrearing style that clashes with the child's body-mind needs can lead the socioculturally less favored left hand to serve as a symbolic frame of reference for a meaning-making action repertoire that is fundamental in protecting and stabilizing the childhood self and personality development. Suggestions are derived regarding brain lateralization and handedness and for the diagnosis of early childhood disorders.
On the Importance of Considering Investigative Practices in Attempting to Understand Operationism
Authors: Rogers Tim B.
Published: March 2007

Grace (2001), by foregrounding the rhetoric surrounding method rather than examining the practices of psychologists in their labs, has provided an incomplete and possibly misleading picture of the complexities of operationism. His suggestion that adopting multiple measures solved one of the critical problems of the operationist position denies the long history of the use of multiple measures, which predated the introduction of operationism by 40 years. This indicates the need to tell a much more complex story than the one offered by Grace. For example, a more accurate analysis must address reasons why the early operationists chose to ignore extant practices of multiple operations. Further, this has to be considered in the context of the introduction of construct validity and logical empiricism in the mid-1950s. Grace's suggestion that multiple operations somehow salvaged the positivist project is therefore problematic.
Individuality in Cultural Context
Authors: Jenkins Adelbert H.
Published: March 2007

In recent decades social science writing has given renewed attention to the notion of the self in human functioning. One tradition in social science writing has emphasized the importance of sociocultural influences on self-development, and some theorists seem to argue that such factors are primary in understanding the sense of individuality. This paper takes issue with the strong statement of this `social constructionist' view. While it is true that the content of personhood is fashioned in social context and varies across cultures, irreducible processes of individual human psychological agency also contribute to the development and functioning of the person. The universal capacity for `dialectical' thinking is discussed here as one such process. The importance of individual agency is highlighted in an example from a `sociocentrically' organized society. Both social and individual psychological perspectives are necessary to obtain a better grasp of the complexity of individuality.
Rigor is Rigor
Authors: Bernieri Frank J.
Published: March 2007

Chow (1991) has defined the experimental logic and methodology described by Rosnow and Rosenthal (1989) as being incompatible with his notion of `conceptual rigor' and even antithetical to the requirements of internal and external validity. The purpose of this response is to suggest: (a) that the two approaches in question are not, in their entirety, mutually exclusive and differ only at one precise step within the theory-corroboration process; and (b) that to rely exclusively on probability of outcome as the sole decision criteria in theory corroboration without being cognizant of the theoretically irrelevant factors (e.g. sample size of study) which affect them seems, to this author, antithetical to science.
Categories Are for Talking
Authors: Edwards Derek
Published: March 2007

This paper begins by drawing a distinction between cognitive and discursive approaches to linguistic categorization, and it is argued that cognitive approaches have ignored the prime importance of discourse. Rather than attempting to reject or refute the cognitive orientation in favour of a social alternative, it is argued that talk enlists cognition as a powerful element in the rhetoric of description and reality construction. Important features of categorization, such as prototype structures, in-definiteness of membership, indexicality of application and contrastive organization are shown to make sense as features designed for the situated rhetoric of talk, rather than for displaying a person's abstracted understanding of the world. It is argued that cognitive theories, while providing important insights into semantic organization, manage to sustain the explanatory primacy of perception and cognition only through the use of methods that systematically remove from view the flexibilities and action orientation of talk, while using imaginations of situated talk as a basis for semantic analysis.
Reasoning with Bounded Rationality
Authors: Evans Jonathan St B.T.
Published: March 2007

Oaksford and Chater (1992) have criticized an earlier discussion of theories of human reasoning (Evans, 1991) for omission of the concept of `bounded rationality'. They argue that all existing theories of deductive competence would become computationally intractable when applied to complex real-world problems. In reply, it is accepted that we cannot use explicit deductive reasoning based on either inference rules or mental models in the face of complex problems. However, it is suggested first of all that we do engage in explicit reasoning with relatively simple but important real-world problems, and that the mental models theory provides a plausible account of how this is achieved. Complex real-world problem see are knowledge-based and are thus probably dealt with by the induction of schemas or by connectionist mechanisms which we know to be very efficient in the human brain. Thus much real-world reasoning will be implicit and inductive, rather than explicit and deductive.
A Functional Theory of Psychogenic Illness
Authors: Hyland Michael E.
Published: March 2007

The functional theory of psychogenic illness proposes that the human capacity for psychological states to cause physical illness evolved during the Paleolithic as an adaptive mechanism for ensuring mutually interdependent behaviour under conditions when mutual interdependence was essential for survival. This integrative theory is consistent with existing data from several disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology, ecology and health psychology, and leads to two sorts of empirical consequence for health psychology. First, the theory acts as a heuristic for suggesting the most predictive psychological units for use in health psychology: the current weak or inconsistent results may be the consequence of using an inappropriate psychological unit, namely behavioural aggregation. Secondly, the theory provides predictions about how psychological variables should interact with type of disease, age and sex.
Why `Depopulation' Should Not (Necessarily) be Taken Personally: A Commentary on `Repopulating the Depopulated Pages of Social Psychology'
Authors: Spears Russell
Published: March 2007

Whilst the positive political intent behind Michael Billig's project is to be applauded, his analysis can be contested on practical, pragmatic, psychological, epistemological, but also on political grounds. It is argued that privileging individuals and their experience in accounts of research raises the twin spectres of individualism and humanism, and threatens to underprivilege other levels of `reality' and explanation beyond the realm of consciousness and individual identity. Although depersonalization can denote a dehumanizing practice, it can also be used to reference the positive aspects of collective identity, understanding and action. Finally, while it is acknowledged that the experimental method may `depersonalize' and `dehumanize' by subjecting individuals to panoptic power, attempts to free subjects in practice or presentation may respectively undermine the method or deceive us about it. It is argued that honesty about the function of power in experimental research may be a better policy than repopulation per se.
Contract Proposals
Authors: Legrenzi Paolo , Politzer Guy , Girotto Vittorio
Published: March 2007

In this paper we analyse the way in which contract proposals can be expressed in order to be considered as well formed. We limit ourselves to a micro-world containing two parties in interaction (a Speaker and a Hearer), and two utility values (positive and negative) attached to the exchanged goods. A contract is defined as well formed if the exchange would result in an increase in utility for both parties. In that micro-world, 64 forms of contract proposals are formally definable. However, only 32 forms are permissible to express a well-formed contract. These forms convey the same meaning but differ in their conditions of use. Two of them are identified as more basic (canonical) forms to which all the others can be reduced from a semantic point of view. A partition of the 32 well-formed proposals into two subsets of equal size can be made on the basis of these two canonical forms. One subset is made of forms that can degenerate into non-contractual forms (threats) provided a condition on one of the utilities is satisfied, whereas the forms of the other subset cannot degenerate.
Reconciling Discursive and Materialist Perspectives on Health and Illness
Authors: Yardley Lucy
Published: March 2007

This paper examines the feasibility of developing `material-discursive' approaches suitable for studying the reciprocal interactions between the sociolinguistic and physical aspects of health and illness. The term `discursive' is used in the broadest possible sense, to refer to a mode of description characterized by awareness of the socially constructed and linguistically mediated nature of human experience. Similarly, the term `material' is extended to embrace any non-reductionist account of physical being which appears compatible with a discursive outlook. The obstacles to a material-discursive approach are discussed, with particular reference to the debate between researchers who conduct traditional quantitative and experimental research within the `biopsychosocial' framework and those who advocate a radical anti-realist position and qualitative research. A variety of material-discursive perspectives are explored, ranging from consideration of the physical origins and manifestations of linguistic meaning and socio-cultural processes, to analysis of the consonance between social constructionism, phenomenology and James Gibson's ecological psychology.
Mind as Body Moving in Space
Authors: Kempen Harry J.G.
Published: March 2007

Critics of psychology's view on personality and self as western and ethnocentric and those with a growing interest in what is called the cultural self both tend to advocate social constructionism as the better paradigm. In social constructionism, however, the production of cultures and concomitant selves seems to start from an empty human biology. For a corrective to this Cartesian `thinking above the body', I return to Vico's `wholly corporeal imagination' as the starting-point of social constructions. If the human body is universal and if a selfing process is an evolutionary exigency, we may expect to find self-universals or tasks to be undertaken by anybody in any culture. Some five self-universals, each with its multiple options, are sketched. These universal self-variables can be regarded as a common genotypical matrix from which culturally specific, phenotypical selves are derived. A parallel is sought in the hypothesis of linguistic core notions. If the body is the source of universal self-features and if cultures put restrictions on the feature combinations, we can ask ourselves-countering cultural relativism-whether cultures and selves could be judged from what they do to human bodies.
The Categorial Structure of Iconic Languages
Authors: Meuniere Jean-Guy
Published: March 2007

Classical theories of cognitive processing have defended a propositional approach to mental information processing. Because not all cognitive processes offer the systematicity proper to these types of languages, other theories have proposed a more iconic or associative approach. These types of representational systems do not seem to possess such a systematic structure. But this is debatable. In a semiotic perspective, it can be shown that these systems can be modelled in a categorial approach and hence render more explicit their underlying systematicity. It then follows that a propositional language is not the only language that offers the systematicity required for coherent information processing.
Short-Time Work in Structural Adjustment: European Experience
Authors: Mosley Hugh , Kruppe Thomas
Published: March 2007

Short-time work programmes, which were originally introduced as an exceptional measure to maintain employment in enterprises experiencing temporary difficulties, are now increasingly used as a routine instrument in firms undergoing long-term structural change. This trend is strongest in Italy and Spain but has also been significant in Germany since the mid-1970s. While temporary or cyclical use represents an efficient coordination mechanism of labour-market policy, prolonged use of short-time work in structural adjustment is problematical. The same goals could be better achieved through other labour-market measures.
Structure, Politics and the Diffusion of Employment Practices in Multinationals
Authors: Edwards Tony , Rees Chris , Coller Xavier
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the diffusion of employment practices across borders in multinational companies (MNCs). Case study data are used to address two central questions: whether all MNCs attempt to engage in diffusion, and how this process occurs. We argue that diffusion is not a universal tendency but is promoted or retarded by such factors as the country of origin, the degree of production integration, the extent to which companies are structured along global lines and the nature of product markets. Where diffusion occurs, we suggest that it commonly involves a process which we term `networking within hierarchy'. Diffusion should be seen as the interaction of structural factors and political processes, which we call the `bi-directional' relationship between structure and politics.
The Role of Event Time in Attending
Authors: Jones Mari R. , Skelly June J.
Published: March 2007

Two broad categories of dynamic events are introduced: motionlike events and rhythmic events. Of special interest are rhythmic events, the temporal relationships which characterize them and the way people respond to them. The idea of reciprocity as it applies to complementary temporal relationships in events (the perceived) and to a rhythmically sensitive attender (the perceiver) is discussed. It is argued that environmental events in which temporal relationships form simply nested binary time hierarchies (or ones based on smallinteger time ratios) manifest rhythmic properties which allow attenders/perceivers ready attentional entrainment. Findings from an illustrative experiment which considers the way people selectively attend to different kinds of visual event sequences support this argument.
On Waiting
Authors: Gasparini Giovanni
Published: March 2007

This article argues that waiting, a typical `inter-stitial time', deserves specific analysis because of the wealth of meanings which can be attributed to it from the actor's point of view. After considering the links between `waiting' and `expectation', three types of waiting are considered: namely, waiting as blockage of action; as an experience filled with substitute meanings; and as a meaningful experience. Special attention is paid to the causes underlying waiting in service activities. Finally, the author tries to show how various kinds of waiting are interrelated in everyday life.
Social Time and Modernity in Japan: An Exploration of Concepts and a Cultural Comparison
Authors: Shimada Shingo
Published: March 2007

The assertion that time and space are not easily exchangeable between cultures is explored with reference to the nineteenth-century processes by which the Western system of time regulation became adopted by Japanese society. Particular attention is paid to the role this transformation played in the construction of cultural identity.
Environmental Sustainability, Time and Uncertainty
Authors: Grove-White Robin
Published: March 2007

The ways in which issues of differential times and time-scales make themselves felt in environmental politics are explored. Official and industrial `control' of time-scales within environmental regulatory processes is seen to be an important determinant of the forms such politics take in countries like the UK. It is argued that the opening up of `time' debates carries far-reaching and positive implications for `sustainability' aspirations in the industrial world.
Time for a Holiday?
Authors: Richards Greg
Published: March 2007

Holidays are widely viewed as a special time, devoted to personal development and recreation. As tourism consumption becomes more widespread in developed countries, however, holidays are becoming subsumed into everyday life. The extent to which people are able to devote time to holidays is strongly influenced by economic, social and cultural structures. An international comparison of holiday time entitlement and consumption indicates that holidays are accepted as a social right in the `holiday time surplus' nations of Europe, but are not so firmly grounded in the liberal `holiday time deficit' societies such as the USA and Japan.
Time in Women's Everyday Lives
Authors: Jurczyk Karin
Published: March 2007

Carrying the `double burden' of juggling a family and a job with different schedules, how can women achieve a favourable life situtation in the face of such conflicting demands? Battles for time arise through the complexities and expectations of everyday life, which is why it is important to find a way of consciously and effectively managing one's time. Working from an empirical investigation into the `conduct of everyday life' of women and men in different systems of work time, the author highlights differences between the social construct `feminine time' as `time for others' and the empirical time experiences of women. She considers to what extent it is justifiable to speak of `women's' experiences of time when these differ greatly according to age, profession, class, family status and cultural background. In conclusion, some patterns of dealing with time are outlined and some `conditions for success' identified.
Legislating for the Monstrous: Access To Reproductive Services and the Monstrous Feminine
Authors: Thomson Michael
Published: March 2007

I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my fore head, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shut ters, I beheld the wretch - the miserable monster whom I had created. (Shelley, 1992: 57)
Conflicts Between Minority Women and Traditional Structures: International Law, Rights and Culture
Authors: Berry David S.
Published: March 2007

International feminists are divided over how to deal with discrimination perpetuated against women by traditional cultures and systems of governance. These spheres cannot be viewed as simple tools of patriarchy. In order to confront such issues, inno vative strategies are needed, and this article offers a new 'expanded integrationist' approach. It applies this approach to the conflicts between the rights of aboriginal women and the suggested forms of aboriginal self-government in Canada. These con flicts reveal the deeper tensions of different visions of culture and society, and require both creative, multifaceted solutions, and difficult reinterpretations of the meanings of 'rights' and 'culture'.
Greek-turkish Dilemmas and the Cyprus EU Accession Process
Authors: LOIZIDES NEOPHYTOS G.
Published: March 2007

This article compares the processes of foreign policymaking in Greece and Turkey in order to examine why the incentives and pressures of the enlargement process have failed until now to initiate a settlement in the Cyprus bicommunal negotiations. While most studies on the Cyprus problem have focused on the two communities of the island, little attention has been paid to the policies of the two `motherlands', namely Greece and Turkey. Yet their leverage on the two Cypriot communities and their conflicting expectations with regard to an enlarged Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean constitute a complex security puzzle. The Republic of Cyprus stands as a champion candidate member for the next enlargement, amid fears of Turkish reprisals and hopes for a political settlement on the island. With the benefits of settlement overwhelming the benefits of any other alternative, it is paradoxical that the parties seem to be about to fail to reach a last-minute, mutually beneficial compromise. I try to resolve this paradox by supplementing rational choice theory with cognitivist theories of international relations. While rational choice predicts a direct relationship between external environment and foreign policy shifts, the case of Cyprus suggests that this relationship is actually indirect. Without understanding how the external environment is framed in the domestic political discourse of Greece and Turkey, it is impossible to demonstrate how outside pressure and incentives affect foreign policy shifts.
Bringing Putnam to the European Regions
Authors: Schneider Gerald , Plümper Thomas , Baumann Steffen
Published: March 2007

One of the most influential contributions to the study of political culture of the 1990s was Robert D. Putnam’s book on the positive impact that interpersonal trust supposedly has on economic welfare and the effectiveness of political institutions in Italy. Making Democracy Work showed in bivariate correlations that progress depends largely on the social capital manifest in the Italian regions. We evaluate this hypothesis in a wider sample of regions by analysing quantitatively the role that political culture has on economic growth in the regions of the European Union (EU). We first develop a neoclassical growth model and incorporate political culture variables into this framework. Our cross-sectional regression results cast some doubts on the generalizability of Putnam’s bold claims. The analysis particularly shows, in accordance with standard models of economic growth, that economic rather than cultural factors are the most forceful determinants of growth in the European regions. Only one dimension of political culture, the intensity of social communication, has the expected positive impact.
In Search of a European Edge Urban Identity
Authors: Phelps N. A. , McNeill D. , Parsons N.
Published: March 2007

Transnational networking has come to the fore as a strategy for coping with the increasingly stringent fiscal climate in which European municipalities have had to operate in the last two to three decades. New funding streams for policy development and implementation have emerged with the Commission’s financing of trans-European local authority networks. In this paper we consider the formation of a shared European identity and the nature and content of interauthority networking activities, drawing upon the example of one newly formed network - the edge cities network. Here we make use of original empirical material drawn from three case-study edge city municipalities - Croydon, Getafe and Noisy-le-Grand. We find that a weak form of shared European edge urban identity has developed to date, and that the direct and indirect benefits of networking are not all that they might be. There is some evidence that longstanding national traditions of interorganizational working and administrative arrangements have exerted an influence on the networking activities of at least one of these edge urban municipalities. In this respect, transnational networking meshes with aspects of local entrepreneurial coalition building which are often imbued with a sense of interlocality competition for private and public investment.
Spatializing Quality: Regional Protection and the Alternative Geography of Food
Authors: Parrott Nicholas , Wilson Natasha , Murdoch Jonathan
Published: March 2007

The globalization of trade in foodstuffs is now a firmly established feature on the landscape of economic geography, although its impacts and desirability remain the source of controversy. Yet, while the liberalization of trade in food continues apace we are simultaneously witnessing a reassertion of foods with local and regional identities. This ‘counter-trend’ has led some economic and agricultural geographers to propose that an ‘alternative geography of food’ may be coming into view. If this contention is correct, it would seem to be implicated in new forms of food governance, notably European legislation that has provided legal protection to designated regional foods, through the ‘PDO’ and ‘PGI’ labels. In this paper we explore the background to the development of these protective devices, which, we argue, illustrates profound differences between ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ food cultures and agricultural systems within Europe. In stylized terms, we argue that the former places great emphasis on ‘efficient’ production of commodities while the latter retains strong affiliations to ‘ terroir’, tradition and artisanal production. Analysis of the spatial distribution of registered regional foodstuffs reflects this north-south divide, with more than 75 percent of the products registered in five southern EU states (France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain). Our analysis, which compares the two ‘cultures of food’ using conventions theory, shows that spatial differentiation also exists at a regional level and that a similar proportion of PDO products originates from Less Favoured Areas (LFAs). This implies that the new geography of ‘alternative’ foods is becoming increasingly complex. We explore the obstacles and opportunities, arising within the two distinct food cultures of ‘north’ and ‘south’.
The Place of 'Europe' in Contemporary Spatial Strategy Making
Authors: Healey Patsy
Published: March 2007

Within Western Europe, there is currently a reemergence of strategic spatial planning at the urban region scale. These new exercises in making strategic plans are characterized by vigorous efforts to build cohesive alliances including new stakeholders, often accompanied by well developed spatial images which express the position of urban regions. Within the policy discourses surrounding these processes, the metaphor of 'Europe' is frequently called into play. This has been interpreted by many commentators as a sign of a 'marketing style' in spatial planning, a form of newly emerging 'entrepreneurial' governance practices. In this article, drawing on a study of innovation in spatial strategy making in Europe, it is argued that the metaphor reflects different conceptions of space, place and territory, and is being used to perform different kinds of organizational work.
Restructuring of the European Fertilizer Industry
Authors: Chapman Keith
Published: March 2007

Studies of recent changes in the structure of the European production system have focused upon relatively few sectors. The experience of the EU fertilizer industry since the early 1980s is reviewed. It demonstrates a combination of organizational and spatial concentration consistent with the anticipated effects of economic integration upon a mature, declining industry with a history of serving fragmented national markets. This interpretation is, however, superficial. Observed changes are the outcomes of multiple processes and agencies. Many of these have operated at national, rather than European scales. Government intervention, reflecting the strategic significance of the fertilizer industry for agricultural policy, has been an important influence in several countries. This strategic dimension has also influenced the commercial evolution of the industry. Although fertilizers have played an important role in the business histories of some of Europe's largest multinational corporations (MNCs) such as BASF and IC, this role has been largely restricted to domestic production facilities. The assumption that the configuration of the evolving European production system will be determined by the continental vision of large MNCs is, therefore, not appropriate. Only two, Scandinanvian-based companies have, as a result of essentially opportunistic expansion by cross-bor-der acquisitions, moved in the direction of a pan-European strategy.
Prospecting for New Jobs to Combat Social Exclusion
Authors: Young Ruth
Published: March 2007

In its White Papers on European Social Policy and Growth, Competitiveness and Employment the European Commission (1994a; 1994b) highlighted the need to create alternative employment opportunities through the promotion of new fields of economic activity. The provision of services by non-statutory providers to older and disabled people in their own homes was one of the 19 employment fields identified (European Commission, 1998a). In the UK, considerable impetus has been given to the development of independent-sector domiciliary services by recent policies which combine care in the community with the introduction of competition to publicly funded social care. The responsibility for enabling social-care markets has been given to local authorities not in the capacity as main service provider, as historically was the case, but as the purchaser of services on behalf of individual users. This article explores the labour-market outcomes of local-authority contracting arrangements with independent-sector providers. It outlines providers’ arguments that current purchasing practices exacerbate the difficulties of recruiting, developing and retaining workers which arise from the highly fragmented nature of home-care itself. Importantly, existing outcomes appear counterproductive to the aim of achieving social and economic inclusion through the promotion of high-quality jobs in the independent sector. The article concludes that, in order to achieve the sector’s potential to recruit from the long-term unemployed, local authorities must approach their enabling role from the emerging EU policy perspective of Community Economic Development (CED) (European Commission, 1996a). Specifically, by employing ‘the community’ as the platform for service delivery, the problems of matching labour demand and supply in the sector could more effectively be addressed. Although immediately relevant in the UK context, these arguments have important implications for the development of home care as an employment field across the EU in general.
Reimagining Berlin
Authors: Cochrane Allan , Jonas Andrew
Published: March 2007

Globalization has had a dramatic effect on the way in which we understand the operation of urban systems. Cities - or their elites - have increasingly sought to redefine and reimagine themselves through place marketing in ways which allow them to compete in the global marketplace. The ‘exceptional’ case of Berlin is explored in the context of regional and global restructuring. Berlin has been at the centre of dramatic changes over the last decade and has been forced to reimagine itself in quite a different set of global understandings. A series of different - competing and sometimes complementary - imaginary Berlins are being constructed in the process of reinsertion into ‘normal’ capitalist urbanization. The relationships between property-led visions with Berlin at the heart of a wider Europe, visions of Berlin as a revived capital of a united Germany and the redefinition of Berlin as an ordinary place are considered. Each of these visions offers a different interpretation of Berlin. The paper critically assesses the extent to which it is possible to escape from pro-growth agendas in developing an urban future for the city and explores some of the implications of Berlin’s current development trajectory.
Test Anxiety Research in India: Twentieth Century in Retrospect
Authors: Sud Anup
Published: March 2007

The twentieth century has been called "the age of anxiety". However, the concern with anxiety phenomena is as old as the history of humanity. For many years, theories of anxiety were rooted primarily in the experiences of clinical workers and the insight of the sensitive observers of the West The nebulous character of the phenomena, prompted many researchers to focus their attention on the sperific sources of anxiety in social, public speaking and test situations. The 1950s saw the spawning of test anxiety research in earnest, which began at Yale University in 1952. Almost two decades after this initiation, the first attempt to understand the antecedent of test anxiety of schoolchildren was made by Nijbawan (1972). Almost 12 years after this, a first comprehensive review of research on test anxiety was reported by Sharma and Rao (1984). This article is another attempt, scanning the brief overview of research on test anxiety in India during the twentieth century. Implications for future research in the twenty-first century have also been put forth.
Indigenous Psychology in the Post- Colonial Context: An Historical Perspective
Authors: Paranjpe Anand C.
Published: March 2007

Many psychologists in India today have accepted the characterisation of India as a "develop ing" country that must emulate the "advanced" countries. This position implies that tech nological advance is the epitome of "progress". As noted by Bury, the "idea of progress" is a product of the intellectual history of Europe. It is not only Eurocentric, but is deeply coloured by Hegel's notions of the irreversible nature of history, and of the inevitable superiority of the European civilisation in the march of history. Hegel's understanding of India was the dialectical opposite of Schopenhauer's rather naive idealisation of ancient Indian culture, and both need a corrective. Influenced by Comtean positivism, presentism, and scientism, most psychologists in India today have developed an amnesia for the long history of the exchange of ideas between India and Europe. In contemporary Western thought, positivism has been declared dead; the idea of perpetual progress through technology is questioned due to the fear of a nuclear holocaust and impending ecological disaster; and the philosophy of science has taken a hermeneutic turn. The rise of interpretive social science and hermeneutic psychology signals the prospect of a holistic understanding of alien cultures. With its own rich tradition of textual interpretation and its practical use in personal edification, India has much to offer to enrich hermeneutic and existential psychologies. With the gradual fading of the colonial mentality in both the so-called "developing" and "developed" countries, the time is ripe for psychological insights of the hermeneutic traditions of India and Europe to converge.