Southern African social movements at the 2007 Nairobi World Social Forum

How relevant is the anti‐globalization movement to the ideas and activities of social movements seeking to achieve economic justice and greater democratic accountability in southern Africa? Case study research in four southern African countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland) indicates that, while aspects of the anti‐globalization approach resonate with civil society and social movement actors (for example, an emphasis on mass participation and the internationalization of campaigning), the global social justice movement frequently displays the characteristics of globalization. These include: unaccountable decision‐making; profound (yet largely unacknowledged) inequality of access to resources; and an imposed and uniform organizational form that fails to consider local conditions. The World Social Forum (WSF) held in Nairobi in January 2007 provided many southern African social movement actors with their first opportunity to participate in the global manifestation of the anti‐globalization movement. The authors interviewed social movement activists across southern Africa before and during the Nairobi WSF about their experiences of the anti‐globalization movement and the Social Forum. An assessment of the effectiveness of this participation leads to the conclusion that the WSF is severely limited in its capacity to provide an effective forum for these actors to express their grievances and aspirations. However, hosting national social forums, their precise form adapted to reflect widely varied conditions in southern African states that are affected by globalization in diverse ways, appears to provide an important new form of mobilization that draws on particular elements of anti‐globalization praxis.     

Vague Quantifiers

The responses to many survey questions are often made in termsof vague quantifiers such as "very," "pretty," or "not too."We know little about the characteristics of such quantifyingterms. This article reviews several theoretical approaches tothe problem of quantifying meaning based on studies from experimentalpsychology. It also reports data from a pilot study that triesto make more precise quantitative estimates for three commonvague quantifiers.     

Law and Discipline in Nineteenth Century English State Formation: The Contagious Diseases Acts of 1864, 1866 and 1869

Abstract It is argued that a consideration of the relationship between 'discipline'(discourses and practices of normalisation) and 'law'(discourses of abstract, universal rights and duties and their application in concrete situations) is necessary to an understanding of nineteenth century state formation. A discussion of this relationship in relation to the public health movement concludes that it is a fundamentally ambiguous one: their articulation is productive of interventionist programmes but it also introduces irreducible and irresolvable tensions. This understanding of the relationship is then used to consider the Contagious Diseases Acts (1864, 1866 and 1869), showing how it shaped the construction of an arena for intervention, the Acts' apparatus, and the conflicts to which the Acts were subject.     

Unrealistic Expectations? Zambia's Mineworkers from Independence to the One‐Party State, 1964–1972

Abstract  Political scientists have neglected the extent of opposition and resistance to the policies of African states amongst civil society organisations in the immediate post-colonial period. Unionised Zambian mineworkers expected Independence to bring about a transformation in their work and living conditions, a demand that brought them into conflict with the new Zambian Government and its dependency on mine revenue. Government attempts to control the behaviour of mineworkers through legislation and the union bureaucracy proved unsuccessful, and popular grassroots challenges to the union leadership, and the Government itself, were only ended by state suppression, and the establishment of a one-party state.     

Shared Learning for Doctors and Social Workers: Evaluation of a Programme

Correspondence to John Carpenter, Tizard Centre, Institute of Social and Applied Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7LZ Summary This paper reports a shared learning programme for final yearsocial work and medical students which was designed in the lightof social psychological studies of intergroup behaviour (theContact Hypothesis). Key features included institutional supportfor the programme and opportunities to work as equals in pairsand small groups on shared tasks in a cooperative atmosphere.Topics included alcohol abuse, dealing with psychiatric emergencies,deliberate self-harm and community senices for people with learningdisabilities. A comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the programme onone cohort of 85 participants revealed that overall attitudestowards the other profession had improved and that each sawthe other as more professionally competent at the end of theprogramme. Participants reported increased knowledge of theattitudes, skills, roles and duties of the other professionand of how to work together more effectively.     

The Background of Children who enter Local Authority Care

Andrew Bebbington, PSSRU, Cornwallis Building, The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF. Summary The family backgrounds of 2500 children admitted to care inEngland were investigated, to quantify the association betweenindicators of material and social deprivation and entry to care.These indicators are more closely associated than in Packman'snational survey of 1962. Broken family is the most significantfactor, though there are several alternative explanations forthis, which have quite different policy implications. When allowanceis made for other social factors, children from particular ethnicminorities do not seem specially vulnerable, though childrenof mixed race are. The study confirms that many children whocome into care after an offence have experienced similar deprivationsto non-offenders. There remain great variations between authoritiesin children's routes into care, but less so in the circumstancesof the children themselves.     

The medical implications of Cleveland

SUMMARY. This article sets the ‘discovery’ of child sexual abuse in context and reviews the key issues for doctors now that the Inquiry Report has been published. In particular the author focuses on the controversy over diagnosis and ‘screening’ Not only is there a need for clarity on these issues, but also a need to restore basic trust between doctors, parents and children. She also urges development of multi-disciplinary training and working and explores the proposed ‘special assessment teams’, hut concludes that resources will he a major constraint