Corporate political power and US foreign policy, 1981–2002: the role of the policy-planning network

Theory and Society - Recent empirical work has offered strong support for ‘biased pluralism’ and ‘economic elite’ accounts of political power in the United States, according...     

Disability and climate change: A critical realist model of climate justice

Existing literature on climate change as an issue of environmental justice documents the heightened vulnerability of people with disabilities to the effects of climate change. Additionally, there are numerous studies showing that access to information is a prerequisite for perceiving risk and taking action. Building on this work, our review seeks to understand how physical disability relates to perceptions of climate-related risk and adaptations to climate-related events. We introduce a critical realist model of climate justice to understand the relationships between the environmental features that disable, risk perception and information seeking, and adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change. In understanding the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of people with disabilities to climate change, this review synthesizes research on one of the U.S.’s largest minority communities with the goals of better understanding how vulnerable populations cope with climate change and integrating them into climate action and policy.     

Judicial Decision Making and International Tribunals: Assessing the Impact of Individual,National, and International Factors*

Objective. The objective of this article is to explain judicial decision making at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia by analyzing the impact of individual, national, and international factors. Methods. We use regression and probit analysis of data on the verdicts and sentences handed down by the judges. Results. We find that international factors best explain judicial decision making, especially regarding sentencing. Conclusions. International tribunals and courts are becoming increasingly important and prevalent and it is critical that scholars better understand how their judges make decisions.     

The Impossibility of Naturalism: The Antinomies of Bhaskar's Realism

From the publication of The Possibility of Naturalism, Bhaskar's critical naturalism or realism has argued for a dualistic social ontology of interpreting individuals and objective, 'real' social structures. In arguing for a dualistic ontology, Bhaskar commits himself to two antinomies; he insists that society is dependent on individuals but also independent of them, and that social action is always intentional but it also has non-intentional, material features. These antinomies are apparently resolved by appeals to emergence. In fact, the appeal to emergence is merely a disguised regression into reification and the only genuine path out of these antinomies is the adoption of a fully hermeneutic social theory in line with the positions of Winch and Gadamer.     

Using portfolios to stimulate critical thinking in social work education

Each generation of social work educators has grappled with the best way to teach students to become competent social workers. Critical thinking has become one goal in social work education. This paper is premised on the assumption that social work students can develop critical thinking abilities through portfolios. The theory behind the use of portfolios in social work education is a 'hand-in-glove fit' with critical thinking. In addition, portfolios are consonant with social work values of self-determination and individualisation. Portfolios are compendiums of purposefully selected student work to show that the objectives of a programme have been met. They are also useful as an alternative method of student evaluation. Portfolios and critical thinking are partners in educating students to become competent social workers.     

The Legacy of a Grandparent's Divorce: Consequences for Ties Between Grandparents and Grandchildren

This study assesses the implications of divorce in the grandparent generation for grandparent‐grandchild relationships. The sample of 538 grandparents comes from the Iowa Youth and Families Project. Results indicate that many aspects of grandparenting are negatively associated with ever experiencing a divorce. Some of the negative effects of divorce are explained by ever‐divorced grandparents' greater geographic distance from, and weaker bonds to, their adult children. Negative effects of divorce are stronger for grandfathers and paternal grandparents. Furthermore, a good grandparent‐parent relationship can compensate for the negative effects of a grandparent's divorce on relations with grandchildren. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the increasing percentage of individuals moving into the later years who have experienced a divorce.     

IMPROVING THE NUMERICAL TECHNIQUE FOR COMPUTING THE ACCUMULATED DISTRIBUTION OF A QUADRATIC FORM IN NORMAL VARIABLES

This paper is concerned with the technique of numerically evaluating the cumulative distribution function of a quadratic form in normal variables. The efficiency of two new truncation bounds and all existing truncation bounds are investigated. We also find that the suggestion in the literature for further splitting truncation errors might reduce computational efficiency, and the optimum splitting rate could be different in different situations. A practical solution is provided. The paper also discusses a modified secant algorithm for finding the critical value of the distribution at any given significance level.     

Personal Identity and Civic Responsibility: "Rising to the Occasion" Narratives and Generativity in Community Action Student Interns

Twenty–two students in a community action certificate program supplied "rising to the occasion" narratives during summer–long internships. They also filled out measures of generativity. Twenty–one students in an international studies certificate program that also included a summer internship served as a comparison group. Both groups reported equal personal growth from rising to the occasion experiences and no differences on measures of optimism, self–esteem or generativity. However, the community action students linked their personal growth experiences to future community service; a regression analysis also revealed that the best predictor of their stress–related growth was their level of generative concern. No comparable links emerged for the comparison group. Implications for cultivating connections between personal identity and civic responsibility through service–learning are discussed.