Shouting from the Bottom of the Well The Impact of International Trials for Wartime Rape on Women's Agency

This article critically examines the presumption that international adjudication of wartime rape cases advances the interests of survivors. It argues that just as national women's rights advocates recognize the futility of relying on court testimony alone for the production of a narrative that reflects women's experiences, promotes their agency and addresses their need for closure and healing, international women's rights advocates should explore the limitations of international tribunals and examine complementary and alternative mechanisms. Using the landmark "Foca case' as an illustration, the author explains that although women may still exercise agency in the context of the adversarial process, their ability to do so is stunted. Moreover, I argue that, although witnesses may actively resist the legal meta-narrative of Woman Victim, adversarial processes serve to reinforce gender essentialism and cultural essentialism. This analysis has important implications for women human rights advocates seeking to bring cases before all international courts, including the permanent International Criminal Court.     

Troubled Engagement in Ethnicized Conflict

Feminist cross-community initiatives, which emerged in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine in the 1980s, are frequently lauded in the gender and conflict literature as evidence of the ways in which women can work across ethnonational boundaries. In particular, the theory of ‘transversal dialogue’, developed by Nira Yuval-Davis and adopted by other feminist scholars and activists, suggests that participants have developed a mode of dialogue that enables them to acknowledge differences while developing common goals. In ethicized conflict, transversal politics is understood as an alternative to the essentializing of ‘identity politics’ as well as their undemocratic character. The empirical research, however, suggests that identity politics remains relevant for participants, particularly when cross-community dialogue is limited by external political realities and internal community divisions. In my view, understanding the ways in which identity politics contributes to the development of feminist goals related to women's inclusion in peace processes and post-conflict peace-building is not at odds with transversal politics; rather, women use both modes of politics to build feminist networks and tackle women's marginalization in hyper-masculinized and militarized zones of ethnicized conflict.     

A Stepwise Approach to Evaluating Children for Parental Alienation Syndrome

ABSTRACT

Parental alienation syndrome continues to be a term that is widely used in child custody conflicts but which is also controversial. Previous authors have defined the term but have not established a standardized assessment process for PAS. The author emphasizes the importance of focusing on the child's behavior, then proceeding through a three step process: (1) determining if the refusal of contact with the parent is extreme and the alienation is severe, (2) determining if there is no basis for the extreme fear and anger toward the parent, (3) then determining if the child meets at least 10 of the 15 criteria that are proposed. The assessment process for each of the 15 criteria is outlined in detail with examples of each. Novel strategies and interview questions are suggested. The author includes a supplemental section for interview techniques that might be used with the alienating parent.     

Work–Family Conflict and Perceived Justice as Mediators of Outcomes of Women's Multiple Workload

Negative impacts of work–family conflicts and the imbalanced division of family work on women's relationship satisfaction and well-being have gained substantial attention from the literature over the last years. The current research adds to the literature by testing the experience of work–family conflicts and perceived justice in the division of family work as possible mediators between women's workloads resulting from the familial and professional tasks and women's relationship satisfaction and well-being. The analysis involves both work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts as well as perceptions of procedural and distributive justice in the division of family work. Structural equation modeling analyses of data were performed with a sample of 1,512 women from dual-earner couples with young children taken from seven European countries. Results support the importance of women's family-to-work conflict and perceptions of justice of childcare and household labor as mediator variables between family workloads, relationship satisfaction, and well-being. Time spent on paid work proved to have an effect on women's well-being, via work-to-family conflict.     

Engaging Fathers in the Post-Divorce Family

SUMMARY

Data we collected in longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of divorcing families provide an empirical basis for understanding the dynamics of divorced fathering. Our findings focus on the difficult circumstances of divorced fathers, rather than on their defective characters. We find that fathers continue visiting and paying at high levels when they perceive that they retain some degree of paternal authority. The loss of this sense of paternal authority appears to occur, in part, because fathers perceive that the legal system and their divorce settlements were unfair to them. We also find that the custodial mother, who sometimes sees little value in the father's involvement, limits the father's role within the post-divorce family. These findings formed the theoretical foundation for an intervention we developed for recently divorced fathers called DADS FOR LIFE. This 8-week program focuses on retraining divorced fathers' attitudes and motivations by teaching them skills to manage conflict with the custodial mother, and giving them parenting tools to use during visitation. We are in the process of a randomized trial to evaluate this program.     

Social workers as mediators

Abstract

This paper discusses the significant contribution social workers have to make to the growing field of mediation and alternative dispute resolution. The theories and practice skills of social work have major relevance to mediation. A sound generic social work education, combined with specialist study in mediation and alternative dispute resolution, ensures that social workers are well prepared for practice as mediators.     

Education in times of conflict and the invisibility of disability: a focus on Iraq?

Education has come to be a key focus of the humanitarian response of international agencies in countries affected by conflict, but disabled children tend to be excluded from these education initiatives. Yet the reconstruction process can provide governments with a unique opportunity to reassess the way they educate disabled children, and consider moving towards more inclusive educational approaches. Indeed, crises can be seen as opportunities to ‘build back better’. A review of the limited literature is followed by an account of a disability study in Iraq, and reflections on the way forward for collaborative research on educational reconstruction in post-conflict societies.     

胡塞尔《逻辑研究》中的“自我”理论

自我概念是胡塞尔现象学中的一个核心范畴。在向先验现象学的转向之前,现象学的自我等同于活生生的体验复合本身。从这个意义上说,在《逻辑研究》第一版中胡塞尔坚持的是非自我论。但在对体验复合的反思可能性的分析以及《逻辑研究》第二版的相关论述中,胡塞尔认识到,纯粹自我就是必然的关系中心,从而为先验现象学中关于自我的理论奠立了基础。     

我国跨境侵权责任法律适用的系属公式研究

全球化过程中,侵权行为的行为实施地和损害结果发生地分处不同国家（法域）的情况非常普遍。因这种侵权责任区别于一般侵权责任,应称其为跨境侵权责任。对于跨境侵权责任我国目前尚未从理论层面将其与一般涉外侵权行为加以区分,且包括在2011年4月生效的涉外民事关系法律适用法在内的我国现行国际私法的法规体系中也尚未制定应对上述跨境侵权行为法律适用问题的相应规定。当发生跨境侵权责任时法律适用的总则性系属公式应为：责任适用损害发生地法。按照常理无法预见该损害结果在该地发生的,适用侵权行为实施地法。     

Caregiver Support Groups: Finding Common Ground

SUMMARY

Members of caregiver support groups for the elderly have much in common but also bring to the group different experiences and attitudes. This article explores how group workers knowledgeable about significant caregiver differences and their effects on the group can enrich the group experience for all members. The four caregiver issues examined are: (1) past history between the caregiver and care recipient, (2) ability of caregiver to privately pay for home care, (3) views on long-term care placement in a nursing home, and (4) stage of disease or level of care needed by care recipient. Essential beliefs regarding the value of differences described by Northen and Kurland provide a framework for the group worker.