Divisive Issues Research Articles

Assessing the effectiveness of machine translation in the Chinese EFL writing context: A replication of Lee (2020)

AbstractWith the dramatic improvement in quality, machine translation has emerged as a tool widely adopted by language learners. Its use, however, has been a divisive issue in language education. We conducted an approximate replication of Lee (2020) about the impact of machine translation on EFL writing. This study used a mixed-methods approach with automatic text analyzer Coh-Metrix and human ratings, supplemented with questionnaires, interviews, and screen recordings. The findings obtained support most of the original work, suggesting that machine translation can help language learners improve their EFL writing proficiency, specifically in strengthening lexical expressions. Students generally hold positive attitudes towards machine translation, despite some skeptical views regarding the values of machine translation. Most students express a strong wish to learn how to effectively use machine translation. Machine translation literacy instruction is therefore suggested for incorporation into the curriculum for language students.

The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin

Reviewed by: The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin Benjamin L. Carp (bio) Boston Massacre, American Revolution, Violence The Boston Massacre: A Family History. By Serena Zabin. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. Pp. 296. Cloth, $30.00.) After a demonstration of Jacques Charles's hot air balloon in Paris in 1783, skeptical observers asked Benjamin Franklin what good the invention might do. "Eh!" Franklin supposedly replied. "Of what use is a new-born baby?" We might ask Serena Zabin a similar question about The Boston Massacre: A Family History: of what use is a family history of the Boston Massacre? Zabin takes a refreshing new look at the residents and relationships of late-colonial Boston as British troops arrived in autumn of 1768. With her rich knowledge of Boston's physical and social geography, she sets the scene in a small but tempestuous town of 16,000 people, where the arrival of "roughly 2,000 men, 380 women, and 500 children" made a difference (67). Zabin shows how they became sociable neighbors and amiable coworkers, how they formed young couples and made newborn babies. These stories are new, because we are accustomed to thinking of the years 1768–70 as a time of tension over a hostile troop presence. Then, on March 5, 1770, a brawl turned into a violent tragedy: the redcoats fired into a crowd, killing five civilians. Zabin offers us a different way of looking at the months preceding that night, and a world that was lost. Other historians emphasize colonial protests and parse the evidence about who provoked the shooting. Zabin's book, instead, concisely notes the politics of the Quartering Act or the machinations of higher officials, and then analyzes "Bostonians' ability to socialize across political hostilities" while hinting at the lessons we might learn (39). Samuel Adams, Crispus Attucks, and Christopher Monk recede from the story. Army wives like Jane Chambers and neighbors like Jane Crothers Whitehouse emerge. The clash over enforcing Parliament's customs duties may have been intractable. The violence was certainly shocking. And the mystery of blame may never be solved, however compelling. Regardless, Zabin asks us to set those questions aside and focus on what ought to matter more: the ways that marginalized people and quotidian exchanges offer a vital context for understanding the full tapestry of early-modern urban life. Soldiers often traveled with families. They courted and married local women. They weren't quite strangers, because they made connections with [End Page 168] townspeople, as did the women and children who arrived with them. They encountered not just radical Liberty Boys, but Boston's men, women, children, free and enslaved, many of whom valued sociability or economic exchange over the divisive issues of the day. Zabin uncovers their sympathy for flogged British soldiers, as civilians shielded deserters. Knowing better than to trust newspapers, Paul Revere's cartoon, or John Adams's self-serving memoirs, she uses warning-out records, church records, and court records to map the integration of army families into every neighborhood in town. And so, she argues, "general threats of violence went hand in hand with neighborly concern" (74). Bostonians wondered about the redcoats: "Should they be thought of as invading soldiers or as sons in law?" (101). The traditional narrative of the American Revolution casts them as the former, but Zabin treats them as the latter. Along the way we learn about sex and marriage, civil and military justice, social welfare, and desertion. Evidence of enmity between soldiers and civilians certainly emerges, but rebel propaganda overemphasized these disagreements. The truer world of Boston in the late 1760s was one of personal connections, including loving connections. In Dangerous Economies: Status and Commerce in Imperial New York (Philadelphia, 2009), Zabin similarly argues that the violence of the New York Conspiracy of 1741 (and its subsequent punishments) was less important than the wider Atlantic world of social relations that the trial records reveal. Zabin's focus on Boston necessitates some sacrifices. While she describes the British soldiers' previous experiences in Cork and Halifax, she makes no comparison to the equally controversial army presence in New York City, where family issues also became central. The Golden...

How the Russian Influence Operation on Twitter Weaponized Military Narratives

Since 2016, Russia has engaged in a dedicated influence operation against the United States to exacerbate existing cleavages in American society and to undermine US national security. Although distinctly modern in its use of social media platforms, the current methods align with old Soviet doctrine using information warfare to gain a strategic edge over competitors. We examine Russia’s use of military-related content and profiles in their influence operation on Twitter and, in particular, the strategic deployment of military narratives. Using data from Twitter’s comprehensive data archive of state-backed information operations, we find that 12.14% of the 1,408,712 tweets in English from 2009 through February 2021 contain military-related content. In addition, of the 2,370 fake accounts on Twitter tied to the IRA and GRU, 148 were from accounts posing as military or military-adjacent, and these accounts posted 12.7% of the influence operation’s tweets. Together, tweets containing military-related content or coming from fake military and military-adjacent profiles account for 22.6% of the tweets identified as part of the Russian influence operation on Twitter. The Russians used narratives related to veterans, particularly sacrifice narratives and post-Vietnam government betrayal of sacrifice narratives. Patriotic sacrifice narratives were used to gather and engage an audience and to legitimize and amplify the content and accounts. In contrast, betrayal of sacrifice narratives were weaponized to amplify and escalate divisive social issues by tying them to veterans’ sacrifices. We conclude the Russians amplified existing military narratives in American culture and used fake American military profiles to wrap anti-government sentiment in patriotic trappings to exacerbate existing social divisions. Turning Americans against their government achieves Russian strategic goals of removing American influence abroad and allowing Russia to have greater impact on the levers of international power that serve Russian interests.

The COVID-19 Vaccines & Beyond: What the Medical Industrial Complex is NOT Telling Us - Part I

The lead author of this 4-part series is a retired attorney, in collaboration with two physicians, presenting evidence from both of their perspectives on one of the most divisive and urgent issues of our day: are the COVID-19 vaccines really safe, effective and necessary? Even if the COVID vaccines have been stopped by the time a person is reading this, the entire series is still highly relevant and important far beyond COVID, for at least a few main reasons stated in Part 1. We should be able to trust our government, the media and the vaccine manufacturers when it comes to matters as important as our health, especially when the stakes are literally life or death.

Until Law Do Us Part: An Explorative Study of Attitudes to Polygamy in Italy

Polygamy – a type of relationship where a person marries more than one partner - is one of the most divisive issues within modern Italian society. Yet, the international literature remains mostly silent on Italian citizens’ reasons against and for it. The present paper fills such a gap by highlighting the narratives of 22 individuals aged between their late-20s and mid-50s. Results show that most participants believe there is a troubling correlation between polygamy and harm to women and children. Slippery slope objections were commonplace in all the discussions. For instance, many respondents asserted that the practice leads to the most radical transformation of the notion of marriage and by consequence, of the family. Others felt it increases the likelihood that unmarried men resort to crime as a means to gain material and symbolic resources such as partners and status. Notably, these perspectives may be expected to mirror those of society at large. Future research should demonstrate whether balance can be struck between the measures required by Italian law to protect people from violence, and preserving the right to marry. However, scholars must avoid playing into the mainstream narrative that polygamy is inherently adversarial to Western values.

The ambivalences of visibility: News consumption and public attitudes to same-sex relationships in the context of illiberalism

Over the past decade, the rights of people whose sexual orientation does not conform to prevailing norms have become a divisive issue in many countries. Despite a long tradition of research on media and sexual minorities, the role of the media in these recent backlashes remains poorly understood. We argue that this is partly because work in this area is often underpinned by a simple, linear narrative that unambiguously links visibility to empowerment. We highlight the ambivalent impact of mediated visibility and argue that in the context of elite-driven polarization, illiberalism and low levels of media freedom, visibility can become a vehicle of control. To explore this proposition, we examine the link between media and public attitudes to same-sex relationships in four east European countries, combining a population survey with semi-structured interviews. The results confirm the need to consider the conditions of mediated visibility in particular socio-political contexts, showing that where control over the conditions of visibility remains in the hands of homophobic elites, specific types of media, which are controlled by ruling elites, including Public Service Media, can contribute to negative attitudes, while digital media play a more ambiguous role.

Drivers of Consensus: Responses to Brexit in Germany, France, Ireland and Poland

ABSTRACT Brexit was potentially a highly divisive issue for the EU27 with states having different relationships with the UK. And yet in the period from the UK's referendum in 2016 until the exit of the UK in 2020, the EU27 maintained a remarkable degree of unity. This article examines relative EU27 unity in the face of the Brexit process. The article is based on interviews and other research on four selected EU member states: Germany, France, Poland and Ireland. The article considers four different factors drawn from the theoretical literature that might account for EU27 unity and then examines how they played out in each of the four states. We then compare across the cases and conclude that they all shaped national responses to Brexit, but that how they mattered and the patterns of effects were differentiated among the cases. This points towards the importance of seeing Brexit as a multifaceted phenomenon.

The Formalization of Marx’s Economics

Whether Marx’s economics and Marxist political economy can be formalized using mathematics is a controversial and divisive issue. From studying the text of Capital and its manuscripts, it emerges that Marx’s research on the capitalist mode of production involves the application of mathematical methods. Marx creates a set of symbols related to the social production of capitalism, and on that basis constructs an economic model corresponding to his theoretical analysis. Obviously, the mathematical method is an integral part of Marx’s economic methodology. In a certain sense, using mathematical methods to study and formalize Marx’s economics is in line with Marx’s approach to economic topics. However, the formalization of Marx’s economics must strictly observe the relevant principles; otherwise, it will lead to serious problems.

Laws Relating to Domestic Violence in India – A Sociological Analysis

This paper main objectives are to identify and evaluate What exactly is domestic abuse ? What triggers domestic abuse ? What are the contributing variables that result in domestic violence ? What legislations have been passed so far to limit domestic violence incidents ? Why is domestic violence such a problem in today’s society ? Does domestic violence in society simply affect women ? Why is domestic violence not considered as a serious criminal act in Indian society ? We will also consider reports from various survey which were conducted by different international organizations to analyse the impact of domestic violence in the modern day society ? How does domestic violence pose a serious risk to upsetting family dynamics in today’s society ? Indian domestic violence laws are contrasted with those in western nations . What action is society taking to lessen domestic violence incidents ? What actions are taken by the government to lessen the incidents of domestic violence in the modern day society ? What role has judiciary played in reducing domestic violence incidents ? Has the COVID pandemic contributed to a rise in domestic violence cases in Indian society ? Last but not least , here is what I think about this , the most divisive issue in our culture .

Intervening in the Legal Space without Being a Legal Professional: Interpreters Faced with Lawyers in Asylum Cases

How is it possible to intervene professionally in the legal space without being a legal professional? Based on ethnographic fieldwork focusing on court interpreters, this article examines the relationship between interpreters and lawyers in the context of hearings at the French National Court of Asylum. In order to grasp the relationship between interpreters and lawyers, it is necessary to contextualise the role of orality and interpreting in the asylum adjudication process and defence arguments, while also considering the interpreters’ working conditions. On the one hand, the article focuses on the dynamics, related to both organisational factors and socio-professional trajectories, that may foster closeness between interpreters and lawyers. On the other hand, the article analyses the tensions that mark these relationships during hearings, in a highly codified and institutionalised context. The article contributes to highlighting the issues of legitimacy and division of labour that run through migration intermediation spaces within the asylum ecosystem.

Russian International Relations in War and Revolution, 1914–22 by David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye et al. (review)

Reviewed by: Russian International Relations in War and Revolution, 1914–22 by David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye et al. David Rainbow (bio) David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Oleg Budnitskii, Michael Hughes, and David MacLaren McDonald (Eds.), Russian International Relations in War and Revolution, 1914–22. Book 2: Revolution and Civil War (Bloomington, IN: Slavica, 2021). 416 pp. ISBN: 978-089357-437-6. This is an outstanding collection of essays about international relations during the Russian Revolution and Civil War. It is book 2 of volume 8 (out of ten volumes so far in print) in the series Russia's Great War and Revolution. Book 1 of volume 8 considers international relations during the first three years of World War I, whereas book 2, under review here, considers the time period from the outbreak of war through the end of the Russian Civil War, and, in a few cases, well into the 1920s. The topics covered include diplomacy, the League of Nations, aristocratic culture, refugee crises, major treaties, the creation of the Communist International, and more. As nearly every chapter shows, the collapse in Russia and its consequences are difficult to make sense of without taking stock of myriad connections across time and space, the years of global war, diplomatic negotiations, and the interests of actors and institutions within and beyond the borders of the disintegrating Russian Empire. The book includes an introduction and two chronological sections: "Revolution (1917)," and "Civil War (1918–1922)." The introduction written by the series editors (Anthony Heywood, David MacLaren McDonald, and John W. Steinberg) explains the origins and aims of the series as a whole, which began in 2006. It provides a helpful framing for the present volume, as well as an introduction to readers who might not already know the truly vast thematic and geographical scope of the Russia's Great War and Revolution project. As the editors note, the volumes are not a "comprehensive narrative history" of Russia during the period. Rather, they introduce problems and topics animating much current scholarship, including many that have previously received less attention (e.g., borderlands, religion). This approach has made the series valuable to scholars, teachers, and students alike, particularly when coupled with the supplemental resources available through the project's website. Several contributions to the book explore the "diplomatic dance" (P. 5) between Russia and its allies that followed the collapse of the tsarist empire, then still at war with the Central Powers. Russia's allies of course sought to keep the Provisional Government in the war, [End Page 273] but were reluctant to push too hard having realized the depth of Russians' war-weariness evident in the revolutionary unrest from February on. For its part, Russia still depended greatly on foreign supplies of munitions and much else besides. Soon after the February Revolution, Michael Hughes suggests, "foreign policy had become perhaps the most controversial and divisive political issue facing Russia" (P. 8). There were conflicts within the Provisional Government, and between the government and the Soviet. Allies were also afraid to push the Bolsheviks too hard once they were in power. They did not want to provoke the new revolutionary government, as one Russian diplomat reported, "to take irreparable actions, such as pulling out of the war" (P. 170). Bolsheviks were united in their opposition to the war, but once in power faced the complicated task of negotiating the peace without much leverage. Everyone danced to one extent or another. A significant complication of Bolshevik policies was that diplomats who refused to follow directives from Trotsky, the new commissar of foreign affairs after October 1917, were effectively left representing a state that no longer recognized them, or one that no longer existed, depending on one's point of view. The activities of "Russia abroad" and its ambassadors are the subjects of several chapters in the book. Within days of the Bolshevik takeover, Trotsky fired a majority of the diplomatic corps and proceeded to implement a policy of publishing previously secret documents related to foreign governments (Pp. 32–33). Most Provisional Government or tsarist diplomats remained in their posts and continued their advocacy on behalf of "the Russian state." Once the Russian Civil War broke...

Between Two Crises: News Framing of Migration during the Greek-Turkish Border Crisis and COVID-19 in Greece

ABSTRACT Migration has been one of the most divisive issues in global politics and media has played a significant role in how people perceive and respond to it. This study employs peace journalism and framing theory to examine how Greek media portrayed migration to Greece during a dual crisis in early 2020: a Greek-Turkish border crisis and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It contributes to previous literature in two important ways. First, by offering insights of news coverage of migration in the aftermath of the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe. Second, by examining the less-researched topic of media representations of migration during the pandemic. Results indicate that refugees and migrants are dehumanized in media discourse, portrayed as “enemies at the gate” of Europe and as carriers of the virus. The content analysis finds variations between different media outlets including language, approach, problem/threat definition and stereotypes. The article also identifies important similarities in news coverage; most notably, the dominance of political elites as sources across all media content, the absence of refugee/migrant voice and the focus on policies of border control and enforcement. We suggest that these patterns ultimately function to obscure the complexity of the refugee and migration issue.

Association Between State-Level Access to Reproductive Care and Suicide Rates Among Women of Reproductive Age in the United States

Many states in the United States enforce restrictions to reproductive care, with access to abortion remaining a highly divisive issue. Denial of abortion is linked with heightened stress and anxiety among reproductive-aged women. However, no studies have tested whether access to reproductive care is linked to suicide. To evaluate whether state-level restrictions in access to reproductive care in the United States were associated with suicide rates among reproductive-aged women from 1974 to 2016. A longitudinal ecologic study with a difference-in-differences analysis assessed whether annual changes in the enforcement of state-level restrictions to reproductive care were related to annual state-level suicide rates vs rates of death due to motor vehicle crashes. Duration of follow-up varied between different states (range, 4-40 years), contingent on the first year that restrictions were implemented. Models controlled for year and state fixed effects and other relevant demographic and economic factors. Analyses were conducted between December 2021 and January 2022. Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws index measuring state-year-level restrictions to reproductive care. Annual state-level suicide rates and motor vehicle crash death rates among reproductive-aged women (ages 20-34 years; target group) vs women of postreproductive age (ages 45-64 years; control group). Twenty-one US states enforced at least 1 TRAP law between 1974 and 2016. Annual rates of death by suicide ranged from 1.4 to 25.6 per 100 000 women of reproductive age to 2.7 to 33.2 per 100 000 women of postreproductive age during the study period (1974-2016). Annual motor vehicle crash death rates among women of reproductive age ranged from 2.4 to 42.9 per 100 000. Enforcement of TRAP laws was associated with higher suicide rates among reproductive-aged women (β = 0.17; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.32; P = .02) but not women of postreproductive age (β = 0.06; 95% CI, -0.11 to 0.24; P = .47) nor to deaths due to motor vehicle crashes (β = 0.03, 95% CI, -0.04 to 0.11; P = .36). Among reproductive-aged women, the weighted average annual-state level suicide death rate when no TRAP laws were enforced was 5.5 per 100 000. Enforcement of a TRAP law was associated with a 5.81% higher annual rate of suicide than in pre-enforcement years. Findings remained significant when using alternative, broader indices of reproductive care access and different age categorizations. In this study with a difference-in-differences analysis of US women, restrictions on access to reproductive care from 1974 to 2016 were associated with suicide rates among reproductive-aged women. Given the limitations of the ecologic design of this study, further research is needed to assess whether current factors affecting access to reproductive care services are related to suicide risk among women of reproductive age and to inform suicide prevention strategies.

New Nationalism, Social Democracy, and Development: A Commentary on Contemporary India

As in the most parts of the world, India of today also is governed and determined by a socioeconomic order where the profit is privatized, while the cost is socialized. The world has been witnessing a vulgar polarization of wealth in favor of a few privileged with a vast majority of the populace getting pushed into the deeper ends of poverty and destitution. India is traversing this trajectory, more aggressively in the last couple of decades, since she opened up her economy to the forces of neo-liberalization. The worsening economic conditions would obviously trigger unrest and anger against those in power, and the ruling class in turn pre-empt the possibility of any such upraising by preoccupying the mass with emotionally charged divisive issues that pit them against one another. “Nationalism” has always been one of the most effective “emotional tools” in the hands of the rightist forces world over in the past in their efforts to ward off mass resistance, and now it is India’s turn to endure the enactment of the same. While capitalism is tightly preserving the economic structure that enables amassment of wealth for a few, fascism in the hands of the ultra-nationalists is acting as its gatekeeper to ensure that dispossessed do not gatecrash, revolt, and thrash the capitalist castle. The privileged work overtime to divide the very forces that could form a threat to their economic fortunes and system of loot. This paper is a detailed commentary on how the above said process is currently operating and how it is weakening the democracy, diversity, and sustainable development in India.

Two Protestants, Three Churches: Croatian Protestantism: Churches, Denominations, and Theological Institutions

Using the existing data from the national census (2011 and 2021) and other available data sources, the authors present Croatian Protestantism on the national level as a fragmented minority. In search for possible historic reasons for this fragmentized mode of existence, they proceed with an overview of Protestant presence in the Croatian lands, starting from the early adoption of Protestant ideas, eradicated by the Catholic Counter-Reformation up to the ghettoization of the Protestant congregations during the Communist era (late 20th century). The establishment of an independent Croatian state and the subsequent war proved to be a significant turning point for the Croatian Protestants, although most of them had no tradition of socio-political engagement and were therefore ill-prepared for the profound changes that followed. The fostering of a common Protestant identity was to a certain extent, as the authors argue, encouraged by the signing of contracts with the Croatian government that provided a legislative framework for the existence of various Protestant denominations. The contracts also secured minimal financial support and allowed their access to the public arena. Apart from that, impulses towards a clearer articulation of their own confessional identity usually did not result in pro-active investment in the contextual expression of individual denominational identities as part of a broader Protestant identity. Furthermore, the relationship with the majority Church – the Roman Catholic Church – still presents a major challenge for many Protestant churches. Although there are examples of earnest cooperation, this ecumenical communion remains a serious challenge, especially in the light of the fact that some groups continue to maintain a very exclusivist attitude towards the majority Church. As for the divisive issues in the contemporary Croatian society, the Protestant churches either ignore them or comply uncritically with the stance of one of the polarized parties. Finally, the present condition of Protestant theological institutions shows that a non-systematic approach to their development needs to be adjusted if the existing theological potential is to be unlocked for the benefit of Protestant churches and their integration into the Croatian society.

Special and Differential Treatment as If It Could Be Reformed

The central question posed by the longstanding debate among World Trade Organization (WTO) Members over special and differential treatment (S&DT) is how best to address legitimate demands for differentiation. Should this be done by replacing the self-designation of development status by a set of objective metrics distinguishing different categories of WTO Members? Or should Members alternatively focus their efforts on addressing objectively assessed capacities and needs in a more customized manner and on a case by case and agreement-specific basis? This note’s review of the S&DT debate suggests that rather than focusing on the divisive issue of development status, where prospects for consensus appear non-existent, WTO Members should design S&DT support focusing on objectively assessed negotiating and implementation needs to which targeted Aid for Trade would respond. A forward-looking approach to differentiation within the WTO requires that an altogether different narrative on trade and development take root in the organization, one that ascribes to trade (and to trade policy) a key supportive role in development trajectories. All too often, S&DT demands are formulated as if multilateral rules are inherently inimical to the development needs and aspirations of the world’s poorest nations. The note advances several reform options in charting a forward-looking S&DT agenda. Trade and development, trade governance, developing countries, least developed countries, special and differential treatment, World Trade Organization

Did COVID-19 change the political communication of polarizing leaders? The case of Salvini's campaigning before and after the pandemic.

In recent years, political polarization saw a significant rise in many political systems. This revamped a scientific debate sparked decades ago, with different schools of thought debating on dynamics, factors, and causes of polarization itself. By looking at political elites' polarizing strategy-one of the factors on which various theories seem to converge-this article tackles the question concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of political communication. More specifically, we look at the case of a highly polarizing leader in Italy-Matteo Salvini, leader of Lega-in two campaigns held in 2020 before and after the first wave of the pandemic. By analyzing his messages on Facebook and Twitter, we build on the literature on the causes of affective polarization to study Salvini's use of partisan identity and divisive issues, also considering other crucial elements, such as the attacks against others, and followers' engagement. The results highlight some changes between the two phases, but also a strong continuity in the polarizing strategy of Salvini's political communication.

Marten and Janney, eds., Buying and Selling Civil War Memory in Gilded Age America

Reviewed by: Buying and Selling Civil War Memory in Gilded Age America ed. by James Marten and Caroline E. Janney Gaines M. Foster Buying and Selling Civil War Memory in Gilded Age America Edited by James Marten and Caroline E. Janney (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2021. Pp. 312. Notes, bibliography, index. Clothbound, $114.95; paperback, $36.95.) Anyone interested in how Americans thought about the Civil War in the late nineteenth century, even those familiar with the vast scholarship on Civil War memory, will find much that they did not know in Buying and Selling Civil War Memory in Gilded Age America. Edited by James Martin and Caroline E. Janney, the collection explores how America's emerging commercial culture portrayed the war. Its fifteen essays discuss the move of Richmond's Libby Prison to Chicago to become a museum; opiate addiction cures; veterans' publications, such as the Military Annals of Tennessee and the National Tribune; clocks, and other items offered as premiums to Tribune subscribers; United Confederate Veteran uniforms manufactured for and worn by Confederate veterans, which were different than their wartime uniforms; tobacco and other types of advertising that featured Civil War generals or battle scenes; illustrations of the Monitor and Merrimac; images of reunion and reconciliation; the greater popularity of Civil War photographs over stereoviews; the unpopularity of Oliver Optic's books for young readers; public lectures on the war; Milton Bradley's Myriopticon: A Historical Panorama of the Rebellion, which presented the war in a roll of illustrations; and Civil War cycloramas. In addition to the discussions of all these "products and services," there is also an essay [End Page 342] on attitudes toward both the Union and Confederate war debt, although it seems a little out of place. From what the editors term their "ground level view," the essays interpreting these and other commercial enterprises expand an understanding of society's memory of the Civil War on the eve of the twentieth century. They stress the important role that profit seeking and a growing commercial and industrial economy played in making references to the war common in postwar culture. In the process, as several of the essays show, commercial products not only kept the memory of the war alive, they also promoted the values of a modern industrial economy, particularly in presenting a model of behavior for young males. Demonstrating how the modernizing economy shaped Civil War memory, and how that memory supported the emerging society, is an important contribution. So, too, are the essays' observations on how many non-veterans sought to experience the war, although most of them had reservations about experiences that were too intense or realistic. Several essays also emphasize the veterans' need to have society understand the traumas of battle and acknowledge their heroism and honor. While earlier studies have stressed a common need among Confederate veterans to be recognized, these essays show that northern veterans shared that desire. Most of the essays, in fact, focus on the North rather than on the South, which reinforces the growing appreciation that the war's memory remained important above as well as below the Mason-Dixon line. Although a few essays provide evidence of northerners' criticism of southern society, and lingering hostilities toward their former enemies, most argue or assume that by 1900, both sections had embraced reconciliation. Those that stress reconciliation find it in stories or images of the period that portray common heroism and sacrifice and avoid potentially divisive issues. Slavery and the role of African Americans in the war were featured in a few northern writings or pictures, as some authors show; more often, popular culture ignored or demeaned Blacks, which facilitated white reconciliation. The collective insights of these diverse essays make a significant contribution to understanding Civil War memory, and the individual essays provide intriguing analyses of a host of things ignored in earlier studies. [End Page 343] Gaines M. Foster Louisiana State University Copyright © 2022 Trustees of Indiana University

Arming Teachers as a Response to School Violence: Using a Risk Assessment Model to Understand Student Perceptions

ABSTRACT Arming teachers remains a divisive issue in the United States. Since one goal of this policy is to improve perceptions of safety, it is important to understand how arming teachers impacts students. Using survey data from six Midwestern school districts, we apply Ferraro’s risk assessment model to explore how individual and school conditions impact feelings of safety if teachers carry guns in school. We find perceived risk of victimization decreases feelings of safety if teachers are armed, which is driven by self-reported and vicarious victimization. Self-reported delinquency, in contrast, is directly related to feeling safer if teachers are armed. We conclude that arming teachers may mitigate efforts to help students feel safe in school by increasing fear among those with victimization experiences.

Military Burden-Sharing Within the Alliance

Abstract Fair burden-sharing within the Alliance has always been a divisive issue and disagreements between the allies over this problem have been regular occurrences. The paper presents various ways in which the allies approach burden-sharing in NATO, stressing the differences between »input« and »output« measures, and the fact that it is very difficult to establish an appropriate formula and method for fair burden-sharing between the states. Too much emphasis is still being placed on »investment parameters« or input measures, while other forms of contributions by allies are not given enough weight. The paper focuses on the presentation of national military contributions as output.