The Revitalization of a Popular Movement: Case Study Research from Sweden

This article tries to enhance knowledge about organizational characteristics and processes that are important for mitigating oligarchic tendencies in the governance of CSOs, and to discuss the factors that condition the operation of these characteristics and processes. Civil society is frequently seen as an important part of societal governance and discussed as the intermediary link between the individual and society. This connection is often made through the aggregate function of civil society organizations (CSOs). Currently there are discussions regarding the decline of traditional cross-class federative CSOs and the possible effect of this on democracy in society. This article presents a longitudinal case study of the governance within a large, membership-based federative CSO and illustrates the revitalization of a CSO and its mission through the influx of a new group of members from the surrounding environment. The author argues that this revitalization process was possible partly because the proposed changes were in keeping with the organization’s original ideological core and partly because of the organization’s open democratic governance system. This permeability is found at two levels: first, the borders are open for individuals to enter the organization as members, and second, the borders of the internal governance system are open for members to take part in the decision-making process. This enabled ideas to percolate up from the members through the democratic decision-making system to the top of the organization, and some ideas are translated into statutes and policies, which then trickle down to the members again through the executive structure. The conclusion is that a functioning democratic governance system, which is able to stay true to the organization’s ideological core at the same time as it is able to modify it in light of societal change, seems imperative for this kind of organization. By doing this, the organization is not just staying true to its original mission but also actively contributing to democracy in society by including new groups into the decision-making process.     

Micro‐Situational Antecedents of Violent Atrocity1

This article presents an analysis of video recordings showing micro‐situational events that preceded the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which more than 7,000 Bosnian‐Muslim men were killed by troops of the Bosnian Serb Army. The article focuses on the sequential unfolding of micro interactions and emotional dynamics that preceded the atrocity. Micro interactions constitute situational turning points toward, or away from, atrocities. Even if there are preplanned plots or macro‐structural background conditions that lead particular persons to be motivated to commit violence, a micro‐situational, emotional momentum is needed for atrocities to occur. The article brings together the analysis of video material of violent situations with Ekman’s research tools for emotional cues and Collins’s micro‐sociological theory of violence.     

Ist Authentizität möglich?

From my observation the term authenticity is usually linked to high expectations on the interaction partner’s cognitive and expressive abilities. Analysis shows: clear messages about one’s cognitive process do not allow the conclusion that such processes proceed in straight forward, linear ways. In fact, inner cognitive processes have proved to be a dynamic liaison of the orderly and disorderly, the complete and the fragmented, continuity and discontinuity. Therefore it is recommandable to redefine the term authenticity and to draw educational consequences accordingly.     

A Hausman test for Brownian motion

New tests are proposed for the specification of the intraday price process of a risky asset, based on open, high, low, and close prices. Under the null of a Brownian process we derive two stochastically independent, unbiased volatility estimators. For a Hausman specification test we prove its equivalence with an F-test, consider its robustness against variation in drift and volatility, and analyze the power against an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, as well as a random walk with alternative distributions.     

An L1-type estimator of multivariate location and shape

The main goal of the paper is to specify a suitable multivariate multilevel model for polytomous responses with a non-ignorable missing data mechanism in order to determine the factors which influence the way of acquisition of the skills of the graduates and to evaluate the degree programmes on the basis of the adequacy of the skills they give to their graduates. The application is based on data gathered by a telephone survey conducted, about two years after the degree, on the graduates of year 2000 of the University of Florence. A multilevel multinomial logit model for the response of interest is fitted simultaneously with a multilevel logit model for the selection mechanism by means of maximum likelihood with adaptive Gaussian quadrature. In the application the multilevel structure has a crucial role, while selection bias results negligible. The analysis of the empirical Bayes residuals allows to detect some extreme degree programmes to be further inspected.