bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Children's Personality as a Function of Family Relations within and between Cultures
Authors: Scott William A. , Scott Ruth , Boehnke Klaus , Cheng Shall-Way , Leung Kwok , Sasaki Masamichi
Published: March 2007

Relations of four family characteristics to four personality characteristics were ascertained from 1,686 high school students, their parents, and teachers in 7 communities (Hong Kong, Taipei, Osaka, Berlin, Winnipeg, Phoenix, and Canberra). Analyses based on the composite sample showed generally positive correlations between (each of) member satisfaction, nurturance, and permissiveness and (each of) self-esteem, emotional well-being, and interpersonal competence; and also generally positive correlations between parental punitiveness and children's hostility. The major exceptions were that parent-reported nurturance correlated negatively with the child's self-esteem and interpersonal competence. When sex, age, parents' education, and sample differences were included as additional predictors, the proportions of predicted variance in children's personality characteristics reported by children and parents were increased by 53%, on average, and the proportions of predicted variance in children's personality characteristics reported by teachers were increased 28.7%, on average. An attempt was made to interpret cross-cultural differences in children's personalities by substituting for sample designators in the regression equations mean sample scores on family characteristics that showed significant intrasample correlations with the respective dependent variables. These resulted in elimination of almost two-thirds of the significant intersample mean differences, thus "explaining" such differences in terms of the family characteristics investigated here as intracultural determinants of personality.
The Cultural Context of Academic Motives
Authors: Church A. Timothy , Katigbak Marcia S.
Published: March 2007

In a comparison of Filipino and American college students' self-reported academic motives, approval and self-improvement ranked higher for Filipino students and motives involving performance standards ranked higher for American students. Gender differences - men reported more assertive and competitive achievement modes, women stronger motives regarding performance standards -replicated across the two cultures, suggesting generalizable socialization differences for achievement. Intrinsic task motives-enjoyment of school tasks, persistence, and setting of high performance standards-were closely tied to affiliation and self-improvement motives for Filipino but not American students; achieving and affiliating motives may be less distinct in the Philippine setting than implied by Western theory.
Where's the "Culture" in Cross-Cultural Transition?
Authors: Ward Colleen , Kennedy Antony
Published: March 2007

Research examined psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions in two groups of sojourners. One hundred and forty-five Malaysian and Singaporean students in New Zealand and 156 Malaysian students in Singapore participated in the studies. In line with past sojourner research, results revealed that locus of control, life changes, social difficulty, and social support variables predicted psychological adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. In contrast, length of residence in the host culture, cultural distance, interaction with host nationals and co-nationals, extroversion, acculturation strategies, and mood disturbance predicted sociocultural adaptation. In addition to these general findings, culture-specific results also emerged; high host national contact and cultural integration were associated with mood disturbance in Malaysian sojourners in Singapore. As expected, Malaysian and Singaporean students in New Zealand experienced greater social difficulty than Malaysian students in Singapore although there was no significant difference in mood disturbance. Also consistent with the hypothesis, the magnitude of the correlation between psychological and sociocultural adjustment was significantly greater in the Singapore-based compared to the New Zealand-based sample.
Cooperative and Competitive Behavior of Urban and Rural Children in Kenya
Authors: Friedman Ariella , Todd Judith , Kariuki Priscilla Wanjiru
Published: March 2007

In an attempt to investigate the effect of social change on the development of competition, the present study tested 120 Kenyan children, aged 9 to 13, with a game played in groups of four that required cooperative interaction among them to obtain prizes. The children came from three subcultures: urban middle class, poor seniiurban, and rural. All three subcultures cooperated adaptively under conditions of group reward. With a change from group to individual reward, urban children competed in a nonadaptive manner, whereas the semiurban children cooperated throughout the game and the rural children were influenced by the competitive cues but were able to return to cooperation. These results, which were contrary to prediction, are compared to rural and urban differences in cooperation and competition in other countries and are discussed in terms of the effects of urbanization in Kenya.
Causal Attribution Perception in Sports Achievement
Authors: Si Gangyan , Rethorst Sabine , Willimczik Klaus
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this investigation was to examine culturally based differences in the perceptions of causal attributions for achievement outcomes in sports in a Western and an Asian country. In three studies using a simulational technique, the authors got consistent disparity for the results found in Germany and in China. The Chinese participants perceived the causes for subjective success and failure as more internal and more controllable than their German counterparts. This result is discussed from the perspective of the traditional Chinese culture as well as from today's social conditions in the People's Republic of China.
Mobility and Perception of Socioeconomic Status among Tribal and Caste Group
Authors: Biswas Urmi Nanda , Pandey Janak
Published: March 2007

The article reports the findings of a study related to the perception of social status, economic condition, and relative poverty among the socioeconomically mobile and immobile groups belonging to three different segments of the Hindu society-scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and upper caste. Mobility was assessed using an intergenerational mobility scale. The results suggested that the respondents' perception of economic condition and physical quality of living were significantly affected by their membership in the caste groups. The caste and mobility interaction was significant for perceived economic condition and relative poverty. The findings suggested that the immobile upper caste respondents perceived their social status as higher than did their counterparts in the scheduled tribe and scheduled caste groups. Moreover, perception of status of both scheduled caste and scheduled tribe groups did not improve with their socioeconomic mobility.
Chinese and European American Mothers' Beliefs about the Role of Parenting in Children's School Success
Authors: Chao Ruth K.
Published: March 2007

In a cross-cultural comparison of parental beliefs, this study asked a sample of 48 immigrant Chinese and 50 European American mothers of preschool-aged children their perspectives regarding the role of parenting in their children's school success. In their responses, the Chinese mothers conveyed (a) the great degree of value they place on education, (b) the high investment and sacrifice they feel they need to offer, (c) the more direct intervention approach to their children's schooling and learning, and (d) a belief that they can play a significant role in the school success of their children. On the other hand, European American mothers primarily expressed (a) a negation of the importance of academics or academic skills (instead emphasizing the importance of social skills), (b) a less "directive" approach to learning explained under the "facilitative" model, and (c) a concern for building their children's self-esteem.
Fild-Dependence, Cognitive Ability, and Academic Achievement in Anglo American and Mexican American Students
Authors: Kush Joseph C.
Published: March 2007

This study examined the relatedness of field-dependence to tasks of cognitive ability and academic achievement. Sixty Anglo American and 60 Mexican American 4th-grade students, whose primary home language was English, served as subjects. Students completed a series of associative-memory and reasoning ability tasks. Field-dependence evidenced a strong relationship with a nonverbal test of reasoning ability as well as with measures of reading and math achievement. Ethnic differences in the field-dependence construct were not found, although ethnic differences in academic achievement were evidenced. Achievement differences between Anglo and Mexican American students became nonsignificant, however, when parental level of education was controlled statistically. Finally, the best predictor of academic achievement was found to be a three-variable combination, which consisted of a field-dependence task, a nonverbal test of reasoning ability, and the student's parental level of education. Results of this study support the hypothesis that field-dependence is better considered as a measure of reasoning ability than of cognitive style although it remains of substantial importance as a nonbiased predictor of school achievement for majority and minority students.
It's Not Just Whether You Win Or Lose,It's also Where You Play the Game
Authors: Hallahan Mark , Lee Fiona , Herzog Thaddeus
Published: March 2007

The positivity bias-the tendency to make internal attributions for others' successes and external attributions for others' failures-was examined in newspaper sports articles from the United States and Hong Kong. The positivity bias was observed in both cultures; however, the cultures manifested this bias differently. There was a greater emphasis on enhancing winners (making internal attributions for successes) in the United States and on protecting losers (making external attributions for failures) in Hong Kong. The concept of preserving others' face as a universal social motivation may provide an explanation for the cross-cultural consistency of the positivity bias. East-West differences in attributional tendencies and in the values of independence versus interdependence may explain cross-cultural differences in the expression of this bias.
Cultural Values in Conflict Management
Authors: Ohbuchi Ken-Ichi , Fukushima Osamu , Tedeschi James T.
Published: March 2007

Americans (individualists) and Japanese (collectivists) were asked to rate their conflict experiences in terms of goal orientation, goal attainment, tactics, and outcome satisfaction. Individualists preferred assertive tactics, whereas collectivists preferred avoidance tactics. The results regarding goal orientation showed that individualists were strongly oriented toward achieving justice, but collectivists were more motivated by a concern for relationships with others. The finding that attainment of a justice goal did not strongly satisfy the Americans suggests that justice is an instrumental value and not a terminal value in conflict situations.
The Dual-Focus Approach to Creating Bilingual Measures
Authors: Erkut Sumru , Alarcón Odette , Coll Cynthia García , Tropp Linda R. , García Heidie A. Vázquez
Published: March 2007

The dual-focus approach to creating bilingual research protocols requires a bilingual/bicultural research team, including indigenous researchers from the cultures being studied. The presence of indigenous researchers as full and equal members of the research team can guard against an unexamined exportation of ideas and methods developed in one culture to other cultural/linguistic communities. The team develops the research plan and a research protocol that express a given concept with equal clarity, affect, and level of usage simultaneously in two languages. The dual-focus method employs a concept-driven rather than a translation-driven approach to attain conceptual and linguistic equivalence. Examples of the application of this approach to creating new measures in Spanish and English, adapting existing measures, revising instructions to research participants, and correcting official translations are provided.
Temperature, Cultural Masculinity, and Domestic Political Violence
Authors: van de Vliert Evert , Schwartz Shalom H. , Huismans Sipke E. , Hofstede Geert , Daan Serge
Published: March 2007

Cross-national data sets were used to examine the association between ambient temperature and internal political violence in 136 countries between 1948 and 1977. Political riots and armed attacks occur more frequently in warm countries than in both cold and hot countries, after controlling for effects of population size and density and levels of socioeconomic development and democracy. National differences on the cultural masculinity dimension, however, do account for this curvilinear temperature-violence association, in a subsample of 53 countries, suggesting that culture mediates the association. An explanation for this mediation in terms of Paternal Investment Theory is proposed.
Acculturation and Adaptation Revisited
Authors: Ward Colleen , Rana-Deuba Arzu
Published: March 2007

The research employed a new and recently developed instrument to examine the two dimensions (host and co-national identification) and four modes (integration, separation, marginalization, and assimilation) of acculturation and their relationship to sojourner adjustment. International aid workers in Nepal completed a questionnaire including the Acculturation Index and the assessments of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Analyses revealed that strong co-national identification predicted enhanced psychological well-being, whereas strong host national identification was associated with better sociocultural adaptation. Acculturation styles were also related to adjustive outcomes. Sojourners who adopted an integrated style fared better psychologically than others, whereas those who assumed an assimilationist perspective experienced fewer social difficulties. The article highlights methodological issues pertaining to the measurement of acculturation and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the use of categorical versus continuous data and mean comparisons versus correlational techniques in the analysis of the relationship among identification, acculturation, and sojourner adjustment.
A Model Consent Form for Psychiatric Drug Treatment
Authors: Cohen David , Jacobs David
Published: March 2007

Given the notorious lack of informed consent in the practice of psychiatry and a tendency to use typical consent forms to protect professionals rather than inform or empower patients, the authors propose a “model consent form” for psychiatric drug treatment. This form seeks to highlight the dubious nature of medical knowledge about psychological problems diagnosed and treated, to describe regulatory processes that result in truncated knowledge about prescribed drugs, and to present realistic and understandable information about somatic and psychological effects of drug use and drug withdrawal.
Old Saybrook I and II: The Visioning and Re-Visioning of Humanistic Psychology
Authors: Elkins David N.
Published: March 2007

This article provides an overview of the process known as Old Saybrook II, which is re-visioning humanistic psychology for the 21st century. In 1964, an eminent group of humanistically oriented psychologists and scholars met at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, to clarify the development of the movement up until then and develop a vision for this new orientation in psychology. Now, 36 years later, Old Saybrook II is an effort to update that original vision. This is a major undertaking that involves several humanistic organizations and dozens of humanistic psychology’s leaders. This article provides information about Old Saybrook II, describing its goals, its organizational structure, its current activities, and some of the issues being addressed.
Psychology as a Human Science Revisited
Authors: Giorgi Amedeo
Published: March 2007

Spurred by a relatively recent article by Smith on the idea of psychology as a human science, I revisited the idea as I expressed it in 1970, and I found it to be still desirable but basically unaccepted by the psychological community at large. However, my idea is different from Smith’s and the differences are highlighted in this article. My vision includes the idea that a complete break from the natural science conception of psychology would be profitable at this time, and only after psychology as a human science has had significant development, should the dialogue with psychology as a natural science be pursued. In addition, unlike Smith, I agree that it is possible, and desirable, for the discipline of psychology to be unified, and I provide a historical example by a brief presentation of the status of chemistry before Lavoisier.
Self-Concept and Perception of Others
Authors: Richmond Bert O. , Mason Robert L. , Padgett Harry G.
Published: March 2007

It is becoming increasingly urgent that man learn to live with others in a more effective manner in order to combat problems of social, racial, and environmental proportions. There is much speculation but little research to support the notion that one's view of oneself is inextricably interwoven with one's perception of others. This study attempts to clarify some aspects of this issue. The subjects, 150 undergraduate students, weie asked to respond to their feelings about themselves and their beliefs about others. The results indicate small but significant relationships between self-concept scores as measured by the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and scales measured by the Wnghtsman Philosophy of Human Nature Scale. In general, those who view themselves in a more positive fashion tend to have a higher regard for others.
On Spiritual Authority
Authors: Welwood John
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the characteristics of pathology in spiritual groups, and distinguishes how leaders of such groups differ from those of more healthy groups that foster valuable personal and social change. However, external criteria alone are shown to be insufficient for this task. A further criterion is the involvement of the student in a legitimate self-knowledge discipline that sharpens perception and awareness, so that he or she can begin to discern whether the authority of the spiritual teacher is genuine or not. Of special importance in distinguishing genuine from fraudulent spiritual authority is the difference between submission, which is enslaving, and surrender, which can be empowering if it opens the student morefully to the needs of other people and the demands of life as a whole.

Just as a goldsmith gets his gold

First testing by melting, cutting, and rubbing,

Sages accept my teachings after full examination

And not just out of devotion to me.

Sakyamuni Buddha
The Symbolic Growth Experience
Authors: Frick Willard B.
Published: March 2007

The Symbolic Growth Experience (SGE) refers to those significant moments in life when we create personal meaning by symbolizing our immediate experience in the interest of heightened awareness and personal growth. As we perceive the symbolic dimensions of our immediate experience, we become creative agents in our own learning and growth. Using the SGE as a paradigm, the present article explores its significance for the development of a humanistic-existential theory of learning with a major emphasis on the creation of meaning.

Traditional psychology treats learning as change in behavior. Learning from a perceptual orientation is defined as the discovery of meaning.

(Combs, Richards, & Richards, 1976, p. 197)

Genuine learning and growth are self-initiated responses to life, expressions of one's voice, experience, desire, preference, feeling.

(Moustakas, 1974, p. 81)

By significant learning I mean learning which is more than an accumulation of facts. It is learning which makes a difference in the individual's behavior, in the course of action he chooses in the future, in his attitudes and in his personality. It is a pervasive learning which is not just an accretion of knowledge, but which interpenetrates with every portion of his existence.

(Rogers, 1961, p. 280)
Panetics the Study of the Infliction of Suffering
Authors: Siu R. G.H.
Published: March 2007

After analyzing the unceasing mutual inflictions of suffering by practically everyone and the neglect of this pervasive and degenerating human deficiency by the academic community, I urge the immediate creation of a new and vigorous academic discipline, called panetics, to be devoted to the study of the infliction of suffering. The nature, scope, illustrative contents, and social value are outlined. The dukkha is proposed as a semiquantitative unit of suffering to assist in associated analytical operations.
R.D. Laing Remembered
Authors: Schneider Kirk J.
Published: March 2007

This article conveys some of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences with R. D. Laing. Although I met him only briefly and did not know him personally, I sympathize greatly with his concerns.

Once people believed that the world was flat; however, science has proved that the world is round.... Now in spite of that, one still believes that life is flat and goes from birth to death. However, life is probably round and much superior in extension and capacity to the hemisphere known to us at present. Future generations will probably enlighten us on this so interesting subject; and then science itself might arrive-willy-nilly-at conclusions... relating to the other half of existence.

-VINCENT VAN GOGH (quoted in Graetz, 1963, p. 71)

We respect the voyager, the explorer, the climber, the space-man. It makes far more sense to me as a valid project-in-deed, as a desperately and urgently required project for our time-to explore the inner space and time of consciousness.

-R.D. LAING (1967, p. 127)
The Role of Trauma in Spiritual Development
Authors: Decker Larry R.
Published: March 2007

Trauma acts to increase spiritual development if that development is defined as an increase in the search for purpose and meaning. That search may or may not also produce an improvement in psychological functioning. The process of trauma-produced spiritual development may be best conceptualized in terms of alchemy. Social reality in general demands observable change to validate the inner discoveries.

Drinking wine with you, getting warmer and warmer,

I think why not trade in this overcoat

made of leaves and dirt.

Then I look out the window.

For what? Both worlds are here.

-Rumi

Open Secret*
Self-Actualization, Openness, and Loosely Coupled Systems
Authors: Tobacyk Jerome J.
Published: March 2007

This article presents a definitional and theoretical critique of Mittelman's notion of openness. An alternative conceptualization of self-actualizers as exemplars of loosely coupled personality systems is introduced. This loosely coupled personality system notion allows for a dialectical model of self-actualizers that might resolve seeming personality dichotomies, such as concurtently high levels of both openness and closedness.
M. Scott Peck's Analysis of Human Evil: a Critical Review
Authors: Klose Donald A.
Published: March 2007

This article brings critical attention to M. Scott Peck's (1983) analy-sis of both individual and collective human evil, as presented in his The People of the Lie. Overlooked by some psychologists and others because of its religious associations, Peck's account stands up well as a psychological analysis that explains evil character structure as both a form of narcissistic personality disorder and a moral break-down, or perversion, of conscience. Concepts of denial, scapegoating, threatened narcissism, lying, self-deception, and cover-up, in Peck's account, illuminate in parallel ways both individual and collective evil. Perennial questions, such as how ordinary persons come to perpetuate extraordinary evil, the genesis of evil character, and whether human evil can be healed, are explored by comparing Peclks views with those of other writers.
Studying Distinguished Practitioners: a Humanistic Approach to Discovering How to Do Psychotherapy
Authors: Mahrer Al R.
Published: March 2007

One laborious, although not especially common, way to learn how to do psychotherapy is to spend nearly four decades studying taped sessions of distinguished psychotherapists. This article explains how one humanistic psychotherapist came to do this, and reports the findings of a long-term series of studies growing out of years of personal tape listening. The findings include a series of steps that occur in therapy sessions to form the cornerstone of an experiential psychotherapy.
The Recovery of Will in Persons with AIDS
Authors: Krycka Kevin C.
Published: March 2007

This article is based on a treatment intervention study teaching Focusing (Gendlin, 1981), a mind-body awareness technique, to four men with AIDS. Philosophical and therapeutic questions regarding the lifeworlds (lebenswelt) of persons with HIV spectrum illness are raised. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis are presented with an emphasis on the phenomenological method suggested by Giorgi (1975) and others. The analysis uses material from the tape recordings of each session addressing the aspects of change reported by each participant. Borrowed from the words of one of the participants, the shift in capacity to listen to oneself over time is called the "recovery of will." This process has three movements, which are characterized by the reduction of judgmental self-beliefs, fresh dialogue with significant processes within the self, and the integration of new knowledge derived from the process of listening and being heard.

It is as though he listened,

and such listening as his enfolds us in a silence

in which at last we begin to hear

what we are meant to be.

Lao-Tse
The UCSB Confluent Education Program:Its Essence and Demise
Authors: Shapiro Stewart B.
Published: March 2007

This article presents historical, political, and empirical perspectives on Confluent Education, a 25-year program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It interprets the program's essence and regards its demise as a result of a clash of academic and professional subcultures. Confluent Education, a humanistic orientation, is seen as a relatively high-context learning community but one surrounded by a hostile and/or indifferent low-context larger academic and community environment.
Necessary Angels: Music and Healing in Psychotherapy
Authors: Nelson David , Weathers Robert
Published: March 2007

The increasing dominance of medically oriented metaphors for contemporary psychotherapy has led to a need for alternative images to sustain and enliven the psyche in its movement toward individuation. The authors present musical images both as psychological content and as guides for clinicalprocess, pointing toward a deeper and broader conception ofthe entire psychotherapeutic enterprise. Clinical applications are provided, including examples of creatively employing music in psychotherapy with individual adolescent and adult clients, couples and groups, and culturally diverse populations.

When an image [italics added] is realized-fully imagined as a living being other than myself-then it becomes a psychopompos, a guide with a soul... pregnant with significance and intention, a necessary angel [italics added] as it appears here and now and which teaches the hand to represent it, the ear to hear [italics added], and the heart how to respond. (Hillman, 1989, p. 56)
Three Existentlal Contributions to a Theory of Lifestyles
Authors: Walters Glenn D.
Published: March 2007

This article explores three potential existential contributions to an evolving theory of human lifestyles. Following a brief review of the impact existential psychology has had on current thinking in the behavioral sciences, the three Cs of lifestyle theory-conditions, choice, and cognition-are discussed with respect to several key existential concepts, most notably, existential fear, intentionality, and the power of nonempirical thought. It is argued that the continued viability of existential psychology and lifestyle theory rests with their ability to generate concepts and hypotheses not readily available from more currently popular behavioral science theories.
Community Attitudes Towards Trade Unions
Authors: Davis Edward
Published: March 2007

While polls have frequently been conducted on the attitude of the community towards trade unions, there have rarely been any detailed discussions of the results gathered. In addition, and more importantly, there have been few attempts to examine the range of factors which may have influenced the opinions and attitudes expressed. This paper discusses two potential sources of influence on the formation of attitudes towards unions; it examines a range of polls conducted in Great Britain, the United States of America and Australia on attitudes towards unions; and reports on a relevant small scale survey carried out in Melbourne in 1977. The aim of the paper is to identify an area where very little research has been done, and where it is clearly needed. It inquires into the potential influence of socio-economic background and the media on the formation of attitudes towards trade unions. The role of the media, as the primary dispenser of news and information about trade union affairs and activities, is discussed in some detail.
Negotiating a Shorter Working Week in the State Electricity Commission of Victoria
Authors: Devries Graham A.
Published: March 2007

The negotiation and subsequent introduction of a 37½ hour week/9-day fortnight for employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, at the end of 1980, represented a significant change in the practice of industrial relations among the various parties involved. This article examines the context within which the negotiations were undertaken, the process by which the eventual agreement was reached, the implementation and monitoring of the agreement, and the implications of the agreement, particularly for the parties involved. Attention is paid to the factors prompting the apparent reversal in SECV industrial relations policies. It is concluded that those who argued for the change have been vindicated in their belief that it would bring about a long-term improvement in SECV industrial relations.
Assessing Leader Credibility during a Peace Process: Rabin's Private Polls
Authors: Auerbach Yehudith , Greenbaum Charles W.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the role of public opinion surveys in the making of turning-point decisions (TPDs) that lead to peace between enemies. We present hitherto unpublished data from private polls prepared for Yitzhak Rabin in order to gauge public opinion regarding the Oslo peace process. In analyzing these data we suggest a theoretical model that outlines the role of public opinion in policymaking. The model considers Holsti's (1996) four major parameters within the pre-Oslo framework: the issue facing the decisionmaker; the decisionmaker's beliefs in and sensitivity to public opinion; the political and social context of the decision; and the stage of policymaking. We find support for propositions regarding a paradoxical process characterizing Rabin's policy. Rabin used public opinion polls to gauge the public's support for him as a leader and for taking hawkish decisions, termed credibility-building decisions (CBD). These decisions, though seemingly detrimental to the peace process, were perceived as necessary in order to maintain Rabin's image as a tough-minded leader who would bring peace with the Palestinians without sacrificing security. We suggest that public opinion surveys may be important in monitoring the effects of CBDs on the credibility of a leader whose goal is to move a peace process forward in a time of uncertainty and threat.
How Norway Became One of Israel's Best Friends
Authors: Waage Hilde Henriksen
Published: March 2007

After its founding in 1948, Israel was to become much more than just a state that Norway was on friendly terms with. It became one that Norway officially supported in the UN and enjoyed good diplomatic relations with. Enormous admiration was felt towards the little country - not only in Norway's more religious and conservative circles, but notably within the labour and trade movements, within the governing Labour Party and the government itself. This article looks into how this special relationship was established in the decisive formative years during the 1940s and 1950s, asking how close links came to be forged between the social democratic governments and parties in Norway and in Israel. In both countries, these were in a strong position, with the labour and trade movements as their power-base. In Norway, the governing Labour Party even enjoyed firm support from the Christian and Conservative opposition. Which political attitudes were taken towards Israel, what shaped Norway's policy on the Middle East, and how can it be explained? Emphasis will be put on the decisionmaking process and on how Norway's ruling Labour Party interacted with the Foreign Ministry, the `centre of the opposition.' Why were top Foreign Ministry officials opposed to the creation of Israel, and what effect did this tug of war have? And ultimately, why did Norway become one of Israel's best friends?
A Global Analysis of the Effect of Political Regime Changes on Life Integrity Violations, 1977-93
Authors: Zanger Sabine C.
Published: March 2007

This study develops a model of different types of political regime changes and their effect on life integrity violations. The data cover 147 countries from 1977-93. A multivariate pooled cross-sectional time-series research design is used, employing Ordinary Least Squares regression with panel-corrected standard errors. This research focuses on different types of regime change that vary in direction and intensity. It tests the effect of political regime changes on life integrity violations at time t and at time t - 1. The results show that regime change in general does not alter the levels of repression. However, change from autocracy toward democracy decreases repression during the transition period, whereas change from democracy to anocracy increases life integrity violations. It is also shown that the higher the magnitude of democratization, the less state violence occurs during the year of the change, once relevant control variables are considered.
Maintaining the Protection of Non-Combatants
Authors: Johnson James Turner
Published: March 2007

This article brings moral analysis to bear on the distinctive problem of maintaining the protection of non-combatants in contemporary warfare. While all warfare imposes burdens on non-combatants, moral tradition and the law of armed conflicts distinguish combatants from non-combatants and seek to protect the latter from direct, intended attacks. Much contemporary warfare rejects the two premises on which these efforts are based: that it is right and necessary to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in a society at war, and that it is necessary to distinguish direct, intended harm to non-combatants from `collateral' harm that non-combatants may suffer from properly directed and intended military actions. Indeed, as exemplified by numerous contemporary conflicts (e.g. Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland) inflamed by ethnic, religious, or ideological rivalries, recent warfare often reveals a pattern in which the armed forces of one or both sides directly and intentionally attack non-combatants as a preferred means of making war. The article addresses this problem in five steps, which define the article's five major sections: first, an analysis of the problem of warfare on non-combatants in moral terms drawn from the just war tradition; second, an examination of the historical development of non-combatant protection and the reasons for it in this tradition; third, a summary look at the protection of non-combatants in positive international law, from the law of armed conflicts through the ideas of crimes against humanity and genocide; fourth, an examination of the problem of warfare on non-combatants in two contemporary conflicts, those in Rwanda-Zaire and the former Yugoslavia; and fifth, a concluding section of moral argument for the importance of maintaining the protection of non-combatants in armed conflicts.
Democracies as Intervening States: A Critique of Kegley & Hermann
Authors: TURES JOHN A.
Published: March 2007

The Democratic Peace Proposition, which contends that no two democracies have gone to war with each other, has been challenged by scholars who claim that such an argument does not apply to lower forms of conflict. In a series of articles, Margaret Hermann and Charles Kegley argue that democracies often intervene in the internal affairs of other liberal states. But their criteria for case selection and democracy are problematic. In this study, I retest their arguments over a broader time-span, omitting cases of invited intervention, non-state entities, and occupied territories. I also employ new intervention data and a regime-type dataset which accounts for within-year regime changes. I find that liberal countries are less likely to intervene in the affairs of other free states than is expected given the democratic presence in the interstate system. The statistical rarity of such dyadic democratic intervention increases confidence in the applicability of the Democratic Peace to conflicts falling short of war.
The Challenge of Critical Theories: Peace Research at the Start of the New Century
Authors: Patomäki Heikki
Published: March 2007

Although peace research as a professional institution has lost some of its earlier appeal, the end of the Cold War did not cause any particular identity crisis within the field. Quite the contrary, peace research co-contributed to the end of the Cold War via Gorbachev's `new thinking'. In a world plagued by unnecessary violence, both actual and potential, peace research as an emancipatory conception can readily reorientate to the study of issues relevant in the post-Cold War era. Furthermore, there is plenty of potential to develop the methodological framework from where Galtung and others left off. The article discusses the challenge that critical theories pose for the ontology and epistemology of peace research, and argues that the task of peace research should be related to transformations from politics to violence and vice versa. Informed by critical realism and a pluralistic, republican notion of politics, this argument proposes a direction for both peace research and political praxis. Both should be consistent with realist ontology of open systems and history; with epistemological relativism appropriate for `heterodoxical' discourses; and with critical peace theories concerning violence-prone social processes such as mystification, reification and enemy-construction.
Do Democracies Exhibit Stronger International Environmental Commitment? A Cross-country Analysis
Authors: NEUMAYER ERIC
Published: March 2007

This article tests the hypothesis that democracies exhibit stronger international environmental commitment than non-democracies, using multivariate econometric techniques. A number of proxy variables are used in lieu of environmental commitment, a non-observable variable. Strong evidence is found that democracies sign and ratify more multilateral environmental agreements, participate in more environmental intergovernmental organizations, comply better with reporting requirements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, put a greater percentage of their land area under protections status, are more likely to have a National Council on Sustainable Development in their country and have more environmentally relevant information available than non-democracies. The findings suggest that a spread of democracy around the world will lead to enhanced environmental commitment worldwide. Results are robust with respect to inclusion or exclusion of developed countries in the sample. The use of four different variables for democracy also ensures robustness with respect to the measure of democracy. The strong evidence in favour of a positive link between democracy and environmental commitment stands in contrast to the somewhat weak evidence on such a link between democracy and environmental outcomes. The explanation presumably is that theory predicts a stronger positive link of democracy with environmental commitment than with environmental outcomes.
International Systems, Domestic Structures, and Risk
Authors: WEITSMAN PATRICIA A. , SHAMBAUGH GEORGE E.
Published: March 2007

Why do some states embark on risky policies that appear certain to lead to disastrous outcomes while others seem more cautious as they interact with others in the international system? This is a central question that faces policymakers and one that has remained largely unexplored by scholars of international relations. This article argues that democratic peace theory speaks to the central factors that affect the risk preferences of states. Countries involved in Europe from 1816 to 1992 are analyzed to determine if levels of democracy and its constitutive elements affect risk-taking. Since critics argue that the strategic context affects the mechanisms underpinning explanations of the democratic peace, the effects of strategic variables on the relationships between regime type and risk-taking propensity are evaluated. Competing propositions are evaluated empirically using Bueno de Mesquita's indicator of risk with the EUGene dataset, which combines the Correlates of War and the Polity III data regarding regime type developed by Jaggers & Gurr. The results support the central hypothesis of the article - democracy is indeed associated with risk aversion regardless of the strategic context. However, the findings also suggest that states undergoing the transition to democracy from autocracy are more willing to take risks than are states with more stable forms of government. Further, the constitutive components of democracy have divergent effects on risk preferences.
Divided yet United: Israeli-jewish Attitudes Toward the Oslo Process
Authors: HERMANN TAMAR , YUCHTMAN-YAAR EPHRAIM
Published: March 2007

This article examines Israeli-Jewish attitudes toward the Oslo process, as it has been unfolding in the years 1994-2001. We found that despite the turbulence and frequent crises associated with it, the aggregated attitudes toward the Oslo process have been remarkably stable during most of this period. We explain this stability by the persistent division of Israeli society into two entrenched publics - pro-Oslo and anti-Oslo - each of which displays distinct sociopolitical and demographic attributes. However, we have also found that, along with its bifurcated structure, Israeli-Jewish public opinion consists of yet another, unifying layer. The latter was manifested in the largely consensual reactions to critical internal and external events related to the Oslo process, as well as in common views about the existential threat posed by the Palestinians to Israel's security and its continuation as a Jewish state. We discuss these results in the context of recent debate about the relevance of public opinion to foreign policymaking in general, and consider their bearing on Israeli policies regarding the Oslo process in particular.
Thinking Globally in Post-Mao China
Authors: Kim Samuel S.
Published: March 2007

For the first time in modern history, China has become an active, if somewhat still elusive, member of the global system. With this momentous transformation comes myriads of new linkages, new contexts, new demands, new opportunities and new costs and consequences for China/global interaction. Proceeding from the premise that what China does or does not do becomes part of the global problem or part of the global solution, the article seeks to situate post-Mao China in the global/local problematique. The article advances the concept of global learning as a way of exploring diachronic changes and shifts in Chinese global thinking. Global learning is conceptualized as a two-way interactive linkage process in which domestic actors' restructuring of their cognitive maps and the changing global reality mediated by positive participatory experience in the global system become reciprocal in terms of cause and effect, constituting mutually essential parts of the same global/local process. Global learning is applied as a guide to examining Chinese global policy in three issue areas - global peace; global development; and global human rights. Global learning is also suggested as a possible bridge linking Chinese global policy and global policy studies. The paper concludes that some changes and shifts in Chinese global thinking have occurred and explains them as interest-driven adaptive readjustments to the dual logic of modernization imperative and of the world situation. From a post-Tiananmen perspective, the paper also critically evaluates the nature and scope of Chinese global learning as well as its new possibilities and old limitations.
The Assumptions of British Nuclear Weapons Decision-Makers
Authors: Hamwee John , Miall Hugh , Elworthy Scilla
Published: March 2007

Particular decisions about nuclear weapons are made by individuals on the basis of a set of assumptions. These assumptions are rarely revealed in official publications which explain or support those decisions. But without knowing what these assumptions are it is impossible to test the validity of the decision-makers' arguments, or to know what kind of debate with them is likely to be fruitful or effective. This paper describes the assumptions made by a small group of influential British nuclear weapons decision-makers. The research on which it was based was carried out in four stages. First each decision-maker was interviewed at length. Next, the statements made in the interview were assembled into a cognitive map in order to find those assumptions which were not articulated or which were hidden in chains of reasoning, the use of analogies or the structure of the whole system of thought. Next the maps were compared to find the commonalities shared by all decision-makers and to isolate the critical assumptions. Finally, the identification of these assumptions as critical was tested by interviews with knowledgeable critics of nuclear defence policy. The most important assumptions are as follows. Nuclear weapons are not qualitatively different from conventional weapons. Decision-makers in all the nuclear nations are rational and in control of the weapons. Because they are rational it is assumed that the system of deterrence as a whole works rationally and is stable. Indeed, it is so stable that any change is dangerous and it should remain unaffected, in particular, by any reduction in the perceived threat. The paper does not discuss the validity of these assumptions, but considers their implications for change.