Multinational Corporations,Democracy and Child Mortality: A Quantitative,Cross-National Analysis of Developing Countries

This study presents quantitative, sociological models designed to account for cross-national variation in child mortality. We consider variables linked to five different theoretical perspectives that include the economic modernization, social modernization, political modernization, ecological-evolutionary, and dependency perspectives. The study is based on a cross-lagged effects regression analysis of a sample of 59 developing countries. Our preliminary analysis based on additive models replicates prior studies to the extent that we find that indicators linked to economic and social modernization have beneficial effects on child mortality. We also find support for hypotheses derived from the dependency perspective suggesting that multinational corporate penetration fosters higher levels of child mortality. Subsequent analysis incorporating interaction effects suggest that the level of political democracy conditions the effects of dependency relationships based upon multinational corporations. Transnational economic linkages associated with multinational corporations adversely affect child mortality more strongly at lower levels of democracy than at higher levels of democracy–that is intranational, political factors interact with the international, economic forces to affect child mortality. We conclude with some brief policy recommendations and suggestions for the direction of future research.     

International Nongovernmental Organizations and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Developing World: A Quantitative, Cross-National Analysis

This quantitative, cross-national study is designed to test hypotheses linking the activities of international nongovernmental organizations to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in the developing world. While many quantitative studies of variation in carbon dioxide emissions have been published, none have included a control for the presence of international nongovernmental organizations. We review the literature that discusses the many ways that international nongovernmental organizations work to reduce environmental degradation in developing nations. We then conduct a panel regression analysis in which we include a variable to estimate the effects of international nongovernmental organizations on carbon dioxide emissions while including variables suggested by other relevant theoretical perspectives. Our findings are quite clear in that nations with high levels of international nongovernmental organization presence have lower levels of carbon dioxide emissions than nations with low levels of international nongovernmental organization presence. We also find support for the ecological modernization hypothesis pertaining to the existence of an environmental Kuznet's curve between the level of economic development and level of carbon dioxide emissions.     

Africa or old Rome? Jamaican slave naming revisited

The article argues that a detailed reading of plantation inventories, supplementing statistical analyses, can provide new perspectives on who (re-)named the enslaved in eighteenth century Jamaica, and what the new names meant. Produced by slaveholders, inventories are strongly biased toward representing owners and managers as responsible for the names they record; yet they can also provide glimpses of slave self-naming. The uneven and sometimes contradictory ways in which the names’ meanings evolved precludes any single generalization about who gave them. The ubiquitous Akan-derived day-names, rapidly domesticated and widely adopted, must be considered separately from other names originating in Africa.     

The Magic of Multiple Emotions: An Examination of Shifts in Emotional Intensity During the Reclaiming Movement’s Recruiting/Training Events and Event Reattendance1

This article examines whether emotional fluctuations predict the likelihood of future attendance at a movement’s week‐long recruitment and training events. I present a statistical analysis of longitudinal survey data, and then examine qualitative data on multiple emotions and “chains” of emotions over time. Qualitative and quantitative data together generate a multifaceted understanding of emotions’ interactions over time and their independent and combined ability to predict who returns to the events a year later. Previous work on emotions and movement recruitment has confined itself to whether emotional experiences were positive or negative or focused in depth on one particular emotion. This article’s findings show that confusion, courage, fear, and hope have a substantial and sometimes interactive impact on attendance at subsequent events.     

Similar or Different? Downward Accountability Across Civil Society Organisational Forms

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This research explores accountability to beneficiaries within Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Conceptualised as...     

Successive difference tests—theory and interpretation

A summary of historical development of successive difference tests is given, and graphs and tables of percentage points are presented. A new ratio is described and evaluated, and the validity of Normal approximations (for this and the original ratio) are examined. Practical applications are described, with both simulated and real examples.     

New Life at the Graveyard: A Method of Therapy for Individuation from a Dead Former Parent

First, the usual form of family-of-origin work with living parents toward the individuation of adult children is briefly illustrated. This is done in order then to compare and contrast this procedure with a method of therapy, presented here, for structuring family-of-origin work towards individuation from a dead parent. Several case illustrations follow. The paper concludes that under certain conditions, it is possible successfully to engage in and to complete individuation work with a parent who is already dead.