Effects of urban infrastructure on aquatic invertebrate diversity

Urban Ecosystems - Wetlands are one of the world’s most important, economically valuable, and diverse ecosystems. A major proportion of wetland biodiversity is composed of aquatic...     

Bombshells: Women and Terror

Terrorism is considered the ultimate “weapon of the weak”. Groups that could not possibly succeed using conventional tactics on the battlefield employ unconventional means to strike terror behind the battle lines. Increasingly, however, the “weakest” members of society, notably women and children, have been drawn into the fray as operatives. Once an occasional occurrence, the use of women is growing at an alarming rate. Using female recruits provides the terrorist organizations with a comparative advantage, particularly the element of surprise. At the same time, this strategy damages the psychological well being and morale of the soldiers opposing them. Soldiers have been trained to protect the civilian population. US Army doctrine specifies that, “preserving noncombatant lives and dignity is central to mission accomplishment in counterinsurgency” (Lt. Col. Perez in The embedded morality in FM 3-24 Counterinsurgency, Military Review, 32) The requirement to shoot people that soldiers are ordinarily trained to protect can have deep psychological impact disproportionate to killing adult men. This often results in higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and battle fatigue. The upsurge in female suicide bombers has occurred across a variety of nationalistic and secular groups but has also spread to the conservative religious terror networks. This article assesses the growing phenomenon of female terrorists and looks at the different roles that women play in terrorist organizations. It also analyzes the different mechanisms for women’s mobilization and briefly discusses whether women are coerced or are willing participants in terrorist violence.     

Rescaling the Sanctuary City: Police and Non‐Status Migrants in Ontario,Canada

Canadian cities pledge to provide access to municipal services to non‐status migrants and withhold information identifying non‐status migrants from federal immigration authorities. Despite these promises, local police continue to cooperate with the Canada Border Services Agency, which raises questions about the capacity of cities to honour their promises. An empirical study involved interviews with high‐ranking police officers in eight local jurisdictions in Ontario about police perceptions regarding their role in the enforcement of federal immigration law and their obligations to honour sanctuary‐city policies. The results show that many police officers believe they possess legal authority to report non‐status migrants to federal authorities. We suggest that this belief rests on misconceptions about the relationship between criminal law and immigration law, claims of jurisdictional immunity from municipal government, and distortions of the principles of policing in Canada. Rescaling of sanctuary policies to the provincial level may offer solutions.     

THE EXPERIMENTS OF REDUCED WORKING HOURS IN FINLAND

This paper examines experiments of shorter working hours in Finnish municipalities between 1996 and 1998 in terms of the effects of the experiments on work–family interaction and which of the ways of reducing working time had the most positive effect. We analyse the experiment in respect of the Finnish working time regime, and in addition, from the perspective of community time. The analysis combines questionnaire and interview data. The results indicated that the experiment had a positive effect on work–family interaction. Six-hour shifts, in comparison to other forms of working time reductions, had the strongest impact on the decrease in conflict arising from work and affecting family. The interviews demonstrated various effects of the working time experiment on family, including the negative effects caused by unsocial working hours and the loss of time autonomy at work among the highly educated. Furthermore, reduced working hours in a culture based on the principle of full-time work caused some negative effects, such as feelings of guilt. The impact of the experiment on community time depended on the way the experiment was implemented.     

Politics gone cancerous: why the Marikana massacre should be prosecuted as an international crime

What makes the Marikana massacre particularly chilling and poignant is the fact that the use of lethal force on a mass scale was sanctioned by South Africa’s democratically elected government. It also makes the massacre relevant to international law. It will be established in this article that the killing of 34 striking miners by the South African police is a crime that transcends the limits and boundaries of domestic justice. This article will explore an approach to the legal aftermath of Marikana that has not yet received academic attention: the question of whether the Marikana massacre should be prosecuted as an international crime. The article will further consider the factors that will have to be taken into account in classifying the massacre as an international crime. It will be argued that even though instinctively a crime of this scale might seem to reach the gravity of an international crime, the application of the strict legal requirements for international crimes, the policy requirement in the definition of a crime against humanity, the doctrine of complementarity as well as the gravity threshold applied by the International Criminal Court render it complicated but not unlikely that the massacre will be considered an international crime in the sense of meeting the jurisdictional requirements set out for such crimes.     

Making sense of reablement within different institutional contexts. Collaborative service ideals in Norwegian and Danish home care

With population ageing, many countries are setting up reablement—short-term rehabilitative eldercare interventions—aimed at helping older adults to regain independence and thereby curb their need for long-term care. Reablement is premised on a citizen-centred and collaborative service ideal intended to challenge the fragmented thinking associated with professionalism and a dispersed service delivery field. Drawing on contextualist sensemaking theory and cross-national qualitative case study data, we explore how historical and institutional conditions influence the way reablement is made sense of on the ground. In Danish settings, characterised by legal regulations and institutional arrangements rooted in previous New Public Management reforms, new service ideals were constrained by vertical levers of control. The Norwegian bureau–professional settings opened up for user involvement but also gave rise to tensions between reablement teams working to prevent ill health and agencies expected to respond to the urgent needs of the frailest elderly.     

Seeking a Mexicana/Mestiza1 Ethic of Care: Rosa’s Revolución of carrying alongside

Abstract

This Chicana Critical Feminist Testimonio reveals a Mexican/Mexican-American Ethic of Care particular to the needs and strengths of Mexicana/o students and Testimonios of struggle, survival informing one Mexican/Mexican-American female educator of predominantly Mexican/Mexican-American students. This work, theoretically framed within Chicana and Black Feminisms, is part of a larger ethnographic study conducted through multiple methods. Findings reveal Rosa’s Mexicana/Mestiza Ethic of Care, a (re)incarnated social justice revolution carrying education as ethical imperative toward uplift. Findings have implications for all educators to protect and sustain ongoing struggles for equity and dignity for Mexicana/o youth and all those on the margins of schooling.     

#Free_CeCe: the material convergence of social media activism

In 2011 CeCe McDonald, an African-American transgender woman, was charged with murder for killing her attacker during a racist and transphobic assault in Minneapolis. After McDonald’s arrest, local queer communities organized an astounding level of support. This article examines the CeCe Support Committee as a case study for effective grassroots organizing that is fueled by and increasingly reliant upon social media for advancing social justice. An ethnographic approach reveals how the success of the Committee’s social media activism largely depended on traditional activist strategies. Because the group’s activism was based on unpaid labor and supported by numerous physical protests, the use of social media platforms enabled the Support Committee to challenge news media’s racialized framing of McDonald’s gender non-conformity as deceiving and threatening and exposed the state-sanctioned violence enacted against her. Therefore, I contend that the transformative political potential of social media activism is only possible when sustained by coordinated, “on-the-ground” activism offline. Moreover, this case study illustrates that intersecting oppressions do not simply disappear in online activism, but that those oppressions—particularly the centrality of whiteness in organizing—continue to constrain the actual material achievements of social media activism. For the CeCe Support Committee the convergence of on- and offline activism resulted in a raised public consciousness about the disposability of transgender lives, turning a national spotlight on the violence transgender people face.     

Familial relational experiences of a child born into the midst of parental drug misuse and its longevity impact

This paper details a study that listened and empowered an adult (Beth, a pseudonym), through the use of a life story methodology, to reflect on her childhood experiences of parental drug misuse. Voice Relational Analysis was applied to Beth's life story to assist the researcher to unravel and cipher, through the complexities and nuances of her voice, Beth's familial relational experiences and the lengthy lineage these have had on her ability to relate with others. This paper highlights the somewhat complex composition of her interpersonal relationships and reveals how she related both positively and negatively within them.     

La liberté syndicale dans l’industrie de la confection au Bangladesh,ou la schizophrénie de la réglementation du travail

La liberté syndicale est indispensable à l'institution syndicale. Au Bangladesh, les dispositions qui protègent déjà ce principe restent inopérantes dans la confection. Les autorités doivent pouvoir s'appuyer sur un cadre législatif capable de promouvoir la syndicalisation dans le secteur. Pour les auteurs, ce cadre devrait mobiliser les compétences et ressources complémentaires des différents acteurs en présence (État, industriels locaux, syndicats et marques internationales) et les amener à s'engager et agir sur le long terme pour améliorer la situation des relations professionnelles dans l'industrie de la confection au Bangladesh, à la fois sous l'angle socio-économique et sous l'angle politique.