Refugees and Elections: The Effects of Syrians on Voting Behavior in Turkey

In the wake of the Syrian civil war, more than three million people have fled to Turkey, which now hosts the largest refugee population on earth. Making up 4.42 per cent of the total population in Turkey as of February 2018, Syrian refugees are nevertheless spread unevenly within its borders. The ratio of refugees to the local population ranges from as high as 99per cent in the city of Kilis to as low as 0.05per cent in Sinop. This article presents findings from the empirical study of the effect of this geographical variation on election outcomes in Turkey, after the arrival of major refugee populations in 2012. Drawing on a unique subnational dataset and ordinary least squares (OLS), generalized least squares (GLS), and difference‐in‐differences (DiD) regressions, the study compares cities hosting few refugees (control group) with cities with large refugee populations (treatment group) to determine whether significant differences in voting patterns emerged. Our findings show a negative, but insignificant, impact on the incumbent party. The findings have policy implications for Turkey as well as any country that experiences a considerable flow of refugees.     

Sexual orientation and full-time monthly earnings, by public and private sector: evidence from Swedish register data

In this paper we explore annual earnings as well as full-time monthly earnings differentials resulting from sexual orientation. We observe that gay males are at an earnings disadvantage compared to male heterosexuals regardless of which earnings measure we use. This earnings disadvantage is found to be larger when we compare gay and heterosexual males who are working full-time. In addition, the disadvantage is larger in the private than in the public sector. Lesbians, however, earn more than heterosexual females. This earnings advantage is considerably smaller when we study full-time monthly rather than annual earnings but an earnings advantage for lesbians at the top of the earnings distribution is documented regardless of which earnings measure we use. In addition, lesbians are doing better than female heterosexuals in the public sector. To sum up, the results indicate that gay males face obstacles on the labor market that hinder them from reaching top-level positions and high earnings. The earnings advantage observed for lesbians is likely to stem from the fact that lesbians devote more time to market work than heterosexual females do.     

Bayesian Prediction for Progressively Type-II Censored Data from the Rayleigh Model

ABSTRACT

The Rayleigh distribution is proposed to be the underlying model from which observables are to be predicted by using Bayesian approach. Progressively Type-II censored data from the Rayleigh distribution is considered and the two-sample prediction technique is used. Numerical computations and a simulation are given to illustrate the performance of the procedures.     

Education,identity, and ideology: the Islamic movement and Moslem religious education in Israel

The Islamic Movement, which is called in Arabic Al-harakaat al-islamiyya or Al-haraka al-islamiyya, has, since its foundation in the 1970s, placed emphasis on education, especially the dissemination of the Islamic message. After the movement scored significant successes in local authority elections, its influence increased on the ideological guidelines according to which some of the Arab education system is partially or fully shaped. The article discusses the split in the movement within the State of Israel, and the differences between the southern and northern faction. It also compares Islamic education and Arab education within Israel and abroad in Europe, in countries which have large immigrant Moslem populations.

The education system that the Islamic Movement tries to develop symbolizes the complexity of the relations between it and the state authorities. They are aware that the authorities will not help in differentiation and separation and will not cease from the constant supervision of the movement's educational institutions. Therefore, their choice of a synthesis between formal and informal education or of a partition between pedagogic state education and moral study classes, is a rational, calculated choice, taking into consideration the reality of a cultural – ethnic – national minority.     

End of an orthodoxy? The critique of sociology's view of Marx on class *

In this paper I comment critically on the dominant form of appropriation of Marx's theory of class and the state within what one might call the‘conventional’sociology of class in the post-war period. I argue that the typical mode of interpretation and assimilation has been highly selective and has taken a form that has rendered the proposed theory particularly vulnerable to sociological criticism especially in the light of changes in the structure of capitalist social formations in the twentieth century, although there is no suggestion here that the selectivity has been intentional. I contrast the dominant sociological construction and critique of Marx's theory of classes and the state with an interpretation drawn from recent scholarship, arguing that it is possible to document the contention that most theorems hitherto regarded both as central to Marx's analysis and as particularly susceptible to criticism were actually revised by Marx himself in his maturity as part of a more general process of intellectual formation and theoretical development. Many of these revisions have been widely discussed in debates within the world of Marx scholarship and some have undoubtedly been noticed in sociological interpretations of Marx. However, they have not led to the major overall reinterpretation of Marx's theory of class that is now long overdue.     

Crime and the city: Domestic burglary and the built environment in Tehran

Environmental criminologists have correlated crime patterns with the environmental and physical layout of places where crimes occur. This paper reports on some of the findings derived from a major research carried out in Tehran, focusing on the link between built environment and residential burglary. After a brief review of crime prevention approaches in the built environment and their theoretical basis, the paper examines how burglars select their targets, and investigates the significance of geographical distance and target hardening for crime prevention. It shows the limitations of distance and target hardening as deterrents, their potential impact on deepening the city's socio-spatial divide, and their negative implications for the quality of the urban environment.     

People as partners: Facilitating people's participation in public–private partnerships for solid waste management

Cities in developing countries are facing a double dilemma. On one hand, the urban population is growing rapidly, causing a huge increase in demand for waste management services. On the other hand, the traditional public sector is failing to respond to the increased demand for service. The public sector is constrained by resource and institutional limitations. It is often proposed that the solution lies in private sector participation. It is expected that the private sector, with its dynamism and flexibility, may fill in the service delivery gaps by forming partnership with the public sector. However, a third tier—the people—is often overlooked in the service delivery framework. Citizens can contribute significantly to service delivery. They can support the private sector with payment of service charges. But more importantly, they can play an active role in improving accountability and service quality of both public and private sector. This radical shift in people's role, from passive service receivers to active service partners, however, may not occur endogenously. External help from facilitating agencies may enable the public and private sector to form partnership with people for better service delivery. This article examines the role of facilitating agencies in developing tripartite partnership for solid waste management service in Bangladesh. The key lessons learned are: a number of obstacles prevented spontaneous partnership among the public sector, private sector and people; facilitating agencies were able to overcome the obstacles to form partnership of the three; and, the tripartite arrangement resulted in higher accountability and better service delivery.