Mobilities and peace

This article considers how an increasingly visible set of mobilities has implications for how peace and conflict are imagined and responded to. We are particularly interested in how these mobilities take form in everyday actions and shape new forms of peace and challenge existing ones. The article considers fixed categories associated with orthodox peace such as the international, borders and the state that are predicated on territorialism, centralized governance, and static citizenship. The article can be read as a critique of liberal peacebuilding and a contribution to current debates on migration, space and the everyday. Through conceptual scoping we develop the notion of mobile peace to characterize the fluid ways in which is being constructed through the mobilitiy of people and ideas.     

Ecology of urban lawns under three common management programs

Turfgrass lawns are a central part of urban and suburban landscapes throughout North America and are often managed using repeated applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These inputs are expensive and may negatively affect ecological processes in lawns. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of three most common lawn care programs on ecological characteristics of turfgrass lawns. Twenty-eight home lawns, separated into 3 groups based on the lawn care program (professional, do-it-yourself [DIY], and no-input), were studied. Data on lawn quality, weed and insect infestation, disease incidence, soil nematode community, soil nitrogen pools, microbial biomass (MBN), and soil organic matter (SOM) were collected. Results indicated that professional lawn care resulted in the highest aesthetic lawn quality mainly due to better weed control, compared to DIY and no-input programs. However, professional and DIY programs negatively affected MBN and SOM pools and enhanced disease (rust) severity. No significant differences in soil nematode population and nematode community indices across the three programs were found, indicating no differences in net ecosystem productivity among the three programs. Overall, soil nematode food web in turfgrass lawns represented a disturbed food web compared to natural grasslands and forest ecosystems, irrespective of the lawn care program used.     

Accounting for Social Value in Nonprofits and For‐Profits

The authors argue that social value can serve as a bridge between the nonprofit and for‐profit sectors. They further propose that social value is not simply an abstract concept but can be measured by applying social accounting methods. The authors argue that nonprofits are founded on a social mission but that traditional accounting approaches do not properly assess their social products. They illustrate the centrality of social value, both to nonprofits and for‐profits, in two ways: (1) a discussion of for‐profit firms that behave much like nonprofits and (2) an application of the social accounting model. The authors discuss two types of firms: (1) for‐profits whose shares are held in a trust and therefore operate much like corporations without shareholdersor like nonprofits and (2) for‐profits whose owners do not exercise the rights associated with their property. They then apply a social accounting model to nonprofit employment training programs to illustrate how the inclusion of social variables changes the assessment of an organization's value. They conclude with a discussion of a social accountability framework that embraces both nonprofits and for‐profits.     

Caribbean immigrants in Britain and Canada: socio-economic adjustment

This paper compares the socioeconomic experiences of Caribbean immigration in Britain and Canada and shows how differing immigration trends together with changing economic circumstances influenced the process of integration. Caribbean immigrants in Canada are more recent arrivals than those in Britain and, in 1981, were still experiencing initial adjustment problems aggravated by an economy in which unemployment is still high. Unlike Britain, which has a large population born in that country of West Indian parentage, the "2nd generation" in Canada is small and mostly still in school. Despite higher levels of education and qualifications than their counterparts in Britain, Caribbean immigrants in Canada faced similar problems. Males were relatively more concentrated in manufacturing industries in Canada and in transportation in Britain, sectors which were undergoing significant structural change and experiencing high levels of unemployment. Earned income was below average in both countries but there were interesting gender differences. Caribbean women experienced the same "earnings gap", relative to men, that characterized most women in the labor force. However, Caribbean women were relatively more successful than men, as measured by unemployment rates and earned incomes. This appears to be due to their qualifications in nursing and other service occupations that continued to expand, and to be in demand in the 1970s and 1980s, when other occupations were declining in response to technological change and "post-industrial" developments. In both countries there were residual disadvantages, faced by Caribbean men and women, which cannot be statistically explained by factors such as age, education, period of immigration, or structural changes in the economy. These can be attributed, at least in part, to the institutionalized prejudice and discrimination against racial minorities which is prevalent in both societies. In absolute terms Caribbean immigrants in Canada are clearly better off than their counterparts in Britain. However, relative to other immigrants, and the native-born population with similar demographic characteristics and educational qualifications, those in Canada experience similar disadvantages.     

Remembrance of things not past

Lawrence L. Langer, Holocaust Testimonies: the Ruins of Memory (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1991). Pp.xv + 216. £20 (hardback); £9.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 300 04 96 68 and 05 24 72.

Debórah Dwork, Children With a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1991). Pp.xlvi + 354; illus. £19.95 (hardback); (paperback forthcoming). ISBN 0 300 05 0542 and 05 44 75.

Dalia Ofer, Escaping the Holocaust: Illegal Immigration to Israel (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). Pp.xiii + 408; illus. £30. ISBN 019 506 3406.