Movement Attempts Research Articles

The other side of platform politics. Law‐making and online participatory democracy in the Five Star Movement

AbstractBetween 2013 and 2021, the Italian Five Star Movement implemented an advanced tool, Lex Eletti, to enhance citizens' online participation in law‐making. Elected representatives had to present their draft bills on the party's platform before introducing them in Parliament, allowing ordinary party members to discuss them and suggest modifications. This paper investigates the impact of the Lex Eletti platform on participatory democracy in law‐making using text analysis and sentence embeddings to compare draft bills and their parliamentary counterparts. Our analysis of a comprehensive dataset, also including statistics about MPs' and party members' online interactions and MPs' legislative activity in Parliament, reveals that the platform had minimal impact: only a few MPs engaged with it, and user attention for bills on Lex Eletti decreased over time. Interaction between platform users and MPs was also limited. Most bills reached Parliament with little to no modifications, irrespective of platform engagement levels. The Five Star Movement's attempt to foster democratic participation through this platform did not significantly affect law‐making activity.

Motor-Related EEG Analysis Using a Pole Tracking Approach.

This study introduces an alternative approach to electroencephalography (EEG) time-frequency analysis based on time-varying autoregressive (TV-AR) models in a cascade configuration to independently monitor key EEG spectral components. The method is evaluated for its neurophysiological interpretation and effectiveness in motor-related brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. Specifically, we assess the ability of the tracked EEG poles to discriminate between rest, movement execution (ME) and movement imagination (MI) in healthy subjects, as well as movement attempts (MA) in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Our results show that pole tracking effectively captures broad changes in EEG dynamics, such as transitions between rest and movement-related states. It outperformed traditional EEG-based features, increasing detection accuracy for ME by an average of 4.1% (with individual improvements reaching as high as 15%) and MI by an average of 4.5% (up to 13.8%) compared to time-domain low-frequency EEG features. Similarly, compared to alpha/beta band power, the method improved ME detection by an average of 5.9% (up to 10.4%) and MI by an average of 4.3% (up to 10.2%), with results averaged across 15 healthy participants. In one participant with SCI, pole tracking improved MA detection by 12.9% over low-frequency EEG features and 4.8% over alpha/beta band power. However, its ability to distinguish finer movement details within specific movement types was limited. Additionally, the temporal evolution of the extracted pole tracking features revealed event-related desynchronization phenomena, typically observed during ME, MA and MI, as well as increases in frequency, which are of neurophysiological interest.

Åland, the Swedish People's Party, and the European Union: The Beginning of a Complicated Relationship

Abstract This study provides an analysis of the positioning of Ålandic political leadership vis-à-vis the demands of representation in the European Union (EU) and the corresponding reactions of the Swedish People's Party (SFP) during the referendums on EU membership. By analyzing news articles from 1994, this study shows that the SFP had already sought to establish for itself a mediating role between Ålandic expectations and the political realities on the Finnish mainland during the period leading up to membership in the EU. Founded in 1906, the SFP has traditionally branded itself as the flag bearer of Swedish interests in Finland. On face value, one would assume a lot of common political ground between the Ålandic political context and the Finland Swedish efforts to maintain equal status for Swedish as a national language in an overwhelmingly Finnish-speaking country. However, relations between the SFP and Åland have not always been smooth. Most notably, the party refused to support the Åland Movement's attempts to join Sweden between 1917 and 1921 and was firmly positioned with the other Finnish parties in supporting the claims of the Finnish state during the Åland question. While the rupture between Åland and the SFP never truly healed, they have been able to reestablish new forms of cooperation over the years. All members of parliament (MPs) elected from Åland have sat with the SFP MPs in the Swedish Parliamentary Group. Additionally, Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from the SFP that have been elected since 1995 have consistently hired political assistants from Åland and unlike the other Finnish parties, have been committed to the idea that Åland should get an MEP for itself. This study summarizes the historical modes of cooperation between the SFP and Åland, with particular focus on the SFP's positioning regarding Ålandic demands of representation during the EU membership referendum process. This article shows that EU membership has created a new forum for conflict and cooperation between Åland and the SFP through the struggle for representation in the EU organs, namely the European Parliament. This crucial historical period is analyzed through the lens of “sovereignty games,” which allows for an analysis of the paradiplomacy of an autonomous region within a nation state through a national minority party. As a result, this study highlights the need for a differentiated account of the political interdependence of the SFP and Åland and the importance of avoiding interpreting one side's perspective from the standpoint of the other.

Cemeteries as representing national identity: trends in Jewish burial in Jerusalem during British rule (1917–1948)

ABSTRACT During the period of British rule in Jerusalem (1917–1948), the “Gemilut Hesed shel Emet” society—or Gahsha—a burial society was founded by Jerusalem's community council. From the perspective of national Zionist activity, Jerusalem’s burial society reflected attempts to firmly establish a general national awareness within the Jewish community. The idea of a cemetery for all Jews with no distinction made based on origin constituted a significant change for Jewish cemeteries in Jerusalem and in the entire land at the time. Establishing this type of cemetery conveyed an important Zionist principle: the national movement aspired to represent all Jews, in their lives and even in their deaths. Zionist activity in the field of burial and cemeteries was one driving force for creating a new sense of space in Jerusalem, the kind that hoped to connect local identity with Zionist identity and used the language of new Jewish nationalism in the land of Israel. The burial activity should be viewed within nation-building efforts and the Zionist movement's attempts to promote a central authority in the land, which ultimately led to the founding of a sovereign Jewish state in May 1948.

حرکة حماس وموقفها من المشروع الوطني الفلسطيني

شهد الحقل السياسي الفلسطيني خلال العقود الثلاثة الأخيرة جدلا وحوارا سياسيا کبيرا مس قضايا استراتيجية تتعلق بالمشروع الوطني الفلسطيني والعلاقات فيما بين مکونات رئيسة ثلاثة للنظام السياسي الفلسطيني: الأول وهو منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية والتي قادت المشروع الوطني، وتعتبر الممثل الشرعي للشعب الفلسطيني، وتعتبر الإطار الموحد للقوي السياسية الفلسطينية، وبمثابة النظام السياسي الفلسطيني، والثاني وهو السلطة الفلسطينية التي تم تأسيسها بقرار من منظمة التحرير لتتعامل مع استحقاقات عملية التسوية السياسية التي التزمت بها منظمة الحرير، والطرف الثالث الذي برز هو حرکة حماس التي وصلت إلى الحکم عبر الانتخابات التشريعية دون أن تکون جزءا من منظمة التحرير. تتسم العلاقة بين هذه المکونات الثلاثة بحالة من الجدل والخلافات الحادة، وهذا الجدل له جذوره منذ نشأة حرکة حماس في المشهد السياسي الفلسطيني قبل إجراء الانتخابات التشريعية عام 2006، وکان من مظاهره محاولة الحرکة تمييز نفسها عن منظمة التحرير وفصائلها والتعبير عن مواقفها السياسية بشکل منفصل. وقد مرت علاقة حماس بمنظمة التحرير وفصائلها بحالات من الشد والجذب خلال محطات عديدة. الأمر الذي انعکس على طبيعة العلاقة بين الحرکة ومنظمة التحرير وعلى موقفها من المشروع الوطني الفلسطيني، والتي اتسمت بنوع من المنافسة والتوتر والشک. لکن التنافس والجدل احتدم بين هذه المکونات بعد فوز الحرکة في تلک الانتخابات، واختلاف البرامج السياسية ومواقفها فيما يتصل بالمرجعية السياسية للشعب الفلسطيني، والرؤية حول منظمة التحرير کإطار تمثيل للشعب الفلسطيني وضرورة إصلاحها، ودور السلطة الفلسطينية، وموقفهما من عملية التسوية السياسية وطبيعة الصراع والمواجهة مع الاحتلال، وکان من انعکاساته حدوث الانقسام الفلسطيني بين هذه المکونات منذ عام 2007 مما ترک تأثيراته السلبية على مشروع التحرر الوطني وعلى طبيعة تماسک النظام السياسي وإضعافه. هذا لا ينفي قيام حرکة حماس تحت وطأة الضغوط وتطورات الأحداث السياسية، من تبني مقاربة ومواقف سياسية جديدة، تتسم بالمرونة والبرجماتية تجاه العديد من القضايا التي تخص موقفها من مشروع التحرر الوطني ومنظمة التحرير، وعلاقاتها الداخلية وتعاطيها مع قضية الصراع مع الاحتلال، وذلک وفقا لحسابات الربح والخسارة من الناحية السياسية وليس من الناحية الفکرية الدينية، خاصة في ظل موقعها الجديد وهي في سدة الحکم. Abstract: In the last three decades, the Palestinian political arena has witnessed a great political debate, touching on strategic issues related to the Palestinian national project and the relations between the three main components of the Palestinian political system: the PLO, which led the national project and is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian political system, and the second The Palestinian Authority, which was established by a decision of the PLO to deal with the merits of the political settlement process committed by the Silk Organization, and the third party, which emerged is Hamas, which came to power through the legislative elections without being part of the PLO. The relationship between these three components is a matter of controversy and sharp disagreements. This controversy has its roots since the emergence of Hamas in the Palestinian political scene before the 2006 legislative elections, and was a manifestation of the movement's attempt to distinguish itself from the PLO and its factions and to express their political positions separately. Hamas's relationship with the PLO and its factions has gone through a number of situations. Which was reflected in the nature of the relationship between the movement and the PLO and its position on the Palestinian national project, which was characterized by a kind of competition and tension and suspicion. However, the competition and controversy raged between these components after the movement won in those elections, the different political programs and positions regarding the political reference of the Palestinian people, the vision of the PLO as a framework for representation of the Palestinian people and the necessity of reforming them, the role of the Palestinian Authority, , And the impact of the Palestinian division between these components since 2007, leaving its negative effects on the national liberation project and on the nature of the cohesion and weakening of the political system. This does not negate the fact that Hamas is under pressure and developments in political events to adopt a new approach and political positions that are flexible and pragmatic towards many issues related to its position on the national liberation project and the PLO and its internal relations and abuse with the issue of the conflict with the occupation. And the loss from the political point of view and not from the point of view of religious ideology, especially in light of its new position, which is in power

American Labor’s Global Ambassadors: The International History of the AFL–CIO during the Cold War, by Robert Anthony Waters Jr. and Geert van Goethem, eds.

Robert Anthony Waters Jr. and Geert van Goethem, eds. American Labor's Global Ambassadors: The International History of the AFL-CIO during the Cold War New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 316 pp., $1 15.00 (cloth) ISBN 9781 137360212The foreign policy of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, particularly with regard to the rebuilding of postwar Western Europe, the Cold War, and the decolonization struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, is often overlooked. Its omission from the historiography on these subjects is surprising given the prominent and often controversial role that the AFL-CIO played. Historians' neglect of the AFL-CIO's international role has been typical of the treatment of many national or international labour organizations. However, the situation is starting to improve. There are now a number of excellent studies that examine the history of international labour organizations, including the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the International Labour Organization.1 Arguably the emergence of these studies is indicative of a broader trend within the historiography of the twentieth century, with historians paying increasing attention to the role of international organizations, the emergence of ideas and discourses relating to global governance and human rights, and the harnessing of technical expertise to development initiatives.2American Labor's Global Ambassadors, a collection of essays edited by Robert Anthony Waters Jr. and Geert van Goethem, is a welcome addition to this literature. Based on a series of papers presented at a workshop in October 2011, the essays are meticulously researched, drawing on a range of archival sources, including the George Meany Memorial Archives, the International Institute for Social History, and the National Archives and Record Administration, College Park. The book is divided into five parts. Three of the parts are geographic in focus, examining the AFL-CIO's involvement in (part II), Latin America and the Caribbean (part III), and Africa and Asia (part IV), while the remaining sections (parts I and V) analyze the AFL-CIO's international role from a more general, global perspective.In part I, Geert van Goetham's article, From dollars to deeds, investigates the origins of the AFL's international activism. According to van Goetham, the AFL's engagement with international affairs was very haphazard during the first half of the twentieth century, veering between short bouts of intense activity and sustained periods of international isolation (10). The 1930s, he argues, marked a turning point in the AFL's international policy, when the United States' decision to join the ILO and fears of being usurped by its erstwhile domestic rival, the CIO, forced the AFL to take greater interest in international affairs (12). As well changing domestic and international factors, van Goetham documents how the most militant US unions, which often included Jewish and Italian immigrants, exploited ethnic networks in both the US and to collect funds in order to support refugees, distribute anti-fascist propaganda, and provide material assistance to those oppressed by authoritarian regimes in (12-13). As subsequent chapters in the volume demonstrate, this desire to fight totalitarianism among US labour leaders is critical to understanding the direction of AFL-CIO foreign policy, with many within the organization regarding postwar efforts to contain the global spread of communism simply an extension of the struggle against fascism during the 1930s and 1940s.In part II, essays by Barrett Dower and Alessandro Brogi examine the American labour movement's attempts to combat communist influence in postwar France and Italy, respectively. In both cases the American labour movement did not serve as a mere corollary to US plans of political and economic stabilization in Europe (Brogi, 60). US trade unions actually acted ahead of the State Department, recognizing that the labour movement would constitute a key Cold War battleground. …

Drawing the Line between State and Society: Social Movements, Participation and Autonomy in Brazil

This article analyses the São Paulo Housing Movement's attempts to influence pro-poor housing policy in Brazil through a range of participatory arenas. Using the concept of ‘created’ and ‘invited’ spaces, it argues that where participants in such spaces are highly organised and politicised social movements, more complex interactions occur that cannot be captured by these labels. Here literature from the anthropology of the state canon can be more helpful. The paper draws on the idea of the invisible but moveable line between state and society, to examine how representatives of both movement and government struggle over where this boundary is best placed.

Mission and the Emerging Church: Pauline Reflections on a New Kind of Missiology

The emerging church movement is best seen as an ecclesiological and missiological response to postmodern culture. Three key themes illustrate the movement's attempt to contextualize the gospel in this setting: an embrace of mystery, a stress on journey, and a commitment to conversation. While these themes can claim some biblical and theological warrants, Paul's missiological approach in Galatians assumes a coherent gospel, a call to conversion, and a commitment to proclamation, a trio of themes that provide a necessary balance to approaches to mission in the emerging church.

The Home, the Veil and the World: Reading Ismat Chughtai towards a ‘Progressive’ History of the Indian Women's Movement

This paper discusses the work of Ismat Chughtai (1911–1991), a controversial writer whose long literary career extending over four decades roughly corresponds to the formative stages of the Indian women's movement. It interprets Chughtai's novella The Heart Breaks Free (1966) to forward an anti-teleological enquiry of the women's movement in India. This progressive teleology often suggested by a discussion of the ‘waves’, ‘stages’ or ‘phases’ of the Euro-American women's movement and adopted to postcolonial women's movements, such as those in India, Jamaica and South Africa, is belied by the piecemeal legislative gains won by activist efforts. Some of the questions governing my enquiry are: What lessons can a questioning of teleology teach us about the gains and losses of postcolonial women's movements? If the alternative to teleology is, as I suggest, a genealogy, then what constitutes a genealogical enquiry into the women's movement in India? In face of apparent and self-acknowledged losses and ineffectiveness in recent times, would the movement's apparent unity across religious differences be a way of initiating such an inquiry or is another mode of analysis required? The paper directs attention to the Indian women's movement's attempts at bringing together women of different religious persuasions, legislative, and religious edicts related to Muslim women's right to co-habitation and divorce, and ‘cases’ that serve as testing points of the movement's struggle against religious and state authority. It also points to the neglected factor of economic security for women as a way in which a genealogical inquiry can proceed so as to strengthen the legislation and the movement itself.

Exile from national identity: memory exclusion as political

Historiography and national memory are not social institutions that formed spontaneously, democratically or pluralistically, but rational projects featuring power relationships, shaped by actors promoting political interests through it and legitimizing their preferential social status and political dominance. The research follows the Israeli Labor Movement's attempts to present the statehood project and the war for independence as achievements owed solely to the Hagana (an underground organization affiliated to the labor movement on the eve of statehood). Insistent efforts distanced from national memory any mention of two other underground movements, affiliated with the rival Revisionist Movement, that after statehood became political Party. The article indicates the memory-screening strategies applied, illuminating the ruling party's conscious attempts to make the public memory and public historiography controllable resources and to exclude political rivals from the national pantheon. Also described is the establishment's meticulousness supervision of national historiography, including history textbooks and commemorative literature. The paper tracks failed attempts by marginalized groups to enter the public memory, and their subsequent launch of an ‘alternative memory arena’ competing with the establishment's memory.

The Lone Wolf and the Bear: Three Centuries of Chechen Défiance of Russian Rule by Moshe Gammer (review)

REVIEWS 363 NizhniiNovgorodprovincial archivewhichincreasing numbersofWestern scholars(including the writer of thisreview)are exploring to considerable advantage. In allthree partsofthebook,Morrissey explores thelinks (or'nexus'- her preferred term)betweensuicideand manyothersocialphenomena.These includesuchdiversethemesas theduel as ritualized suicide,thegenderof suicides, thepolitics ofsocialorder,the'foreignness' ofsuicideas an 'English disease' (p. 71), churchattitudes, vodka and drunkenness, gamblingand indebtedness, domestic violence, despotism atschoolandsuicideamongschool children, and boredom(skuka). Some consideration ofNicholasFs paternalisticruleunexpectedly highlights thetsar'spersonalinterest in suicideamong armyofficers, sharedalso by his son,AlexanderII. In addition,Morrissey traces andilluminates: thecriminal regulation andlegalcodification ofsuicide; thedevelopment of itsstatistical studywhich,in 1882,revealedthat,while suicidein Russiashowedan upwardtrend, ratesremained amongthelowest inEurope;thegrowth ofmedicalintervention and ofpsychological interest in suicidein the nineteenth century which,fromthe 1880sonward,became firmly established as an objectofmedicalstudy. Somewritten representations of suicide are also fruitfully considered,among them the suicide note, thesentimental suicideofKaramzin'sPoorLiza, Gogol''s Nevskii Prospect as a parody of romanticsuicide,Tostoi's AnnaKarenina, and Ostrovskii'sThe Storm. Here the idea of suicide as a pathwayfromsin to insanity, or from crimeto socialproblemis rejectedin favourofthecultural politicsof selfdestruction . Thisemphasis emerges with particular clarity inPartThreewhere suicideislinked withrevolution through thesuggestion thattheprisonsuicide 'enactedtherevolutionary struggle in microcosm' (p. 276),typically affirming 'dignity in thefaceofrepression' (p. 279),and theprisoners' 'ultimate expressionoftheir ownautonomy and as an indictment ofthepolitics ofautocracy' (p. 281).Morrissey finds thatthesuiciderateincreasedafter1905,especially amongtheyoung;itbecamein theearlytwentieth century a highly political act and bythelate 1920san anti-Soviet act. This eruditeand penetrating studyrepresents an excellentcontribution bothto Russiansocialhistory and to thegrowing literature on thehistory of suicidein Europeas a whole. Department ofRussian Patrick O'Meara Durham University Gammer,Moshe. TheLoneWolf andthe Bear:Three Centuries ofChechen Défiance of Russian Rule.C. Hurst& Company.London.2006.xviii+ 252pp.Map. Glossary. Notes.Bibliography. Index.£16.95(paperback). Moshe Gammer's research on theCaucasus is wellknown.He has authored a numberofbooksand articles on thesubject,each ofwhichhas been pioneering in focusand substance, and thisbook is no lessso. Gammercovers in strongprose the threecenturiesof adversarialrelationsbetweenthe Chechen 'wolf and the Russian 'bear' over the 220 pages herein.From 364 SEER, 87, 2, APRIL 2OO9 gazavat ('holywar') to gazavate theChechenshave struggled againstRussian domination up to thepost-Soviet era,whenagain thesparkofconflict has beenallowedtoflourish. For thosewho findthesubjectinteresting, Gammer'sexploration ofthe roleofweaponsinChechensociety isparticularly stimulating. Partofbecominga man forChechenmales,as Gammeraccounts,is thepersonalization of theirweapons.Taking away an individual's weapons is to destroy the Chechensoul.Yet,throughout history and muchto itsownloss,Russiahas persisted in itsattempts to disarmvarioussections ofChechensociety. Prominently andperhapsthankfully (despite thetitle ofthebook),Gammer does not engage in excessiveromanticism about the Chechen movement, although thequestionofChechnya'severlasting struggle does beg a certain numberof questionswhichare necessaryin examiningthe current postSovietera : What are the Chechens aimingfor?Would theybe happy with an independent state?Wouldthatstatebe peaceful? Strictly accordingto contemporary issues,on thesequestions,Gammer paysverylittleattention. The Chechennationalist movement's attempts to builda secularstate,as envisioned bythefirst President ofChechnya, Johar Dudayev,aregivenonlya fewpages.As itwas,theChechenrebellion ofthe 1990sturned outto be onlya brief blipon theradarofChechen'freedom'. Gammerarguesthatin recentyearstheChechenstruggle has returned to its 'roots', that is, as a rebellionagainst state restrictions on Chechen cultural autonomy, based on Islam,as opposedto a rebellion in favour ofa nationalist state. Gammerdoes notfollowthisup extensively, however.Unfortunately, he fails tooffer anypossible'endgame'diagnosis, orindeedany basisfor finalizing theconflict thathe explainsso well,relevant as itiswithin thecontext ofthis book.As a history, itis excellent; Gammercharts pastrebellions and societal issuescompellingly. Nevertheless, thetopicnecessarily bringsto lightthecurrent warsofthe Caucasus,leavingthereaderto wonderhow,ifat all,thesituation can ever be resolved.Russia facesa dilemma:ifit does notinvade,theproblemof Chechnyaremains right on itsdoor-step, and thelikelihood ofitsforming an unpredictable stateveryreal.IfRussiadoesinvade,as ithas alreadydoneso, thenitrisks publicvilification. Such a policyis likely to result inthecontinuation of a conflict whichis doomed to perpetuate the divergent pathsof Russianand Chechen culturethathave coursedthroughout history. Also, earlyon in thebook,Gammersuggests thatifRussiahad been a little more constructive, or even 'creative', in itsresponseto Chechnya,thenrelations betweenthe two cultureswould have been quite different, and probably better. Neitheroftheseissuesare afforded extensive investigation in lightof current events. The fundamental strength of Gammer'sstudylies,therefore, in itscommentary on thepast(pre-1991) relationship between theRussianand Chechen cultures. Itisan excellent readon thistopic,and demonstrates writing worthy ofa championin hisfield, offering an essential accountofChechensociety's resistance to Russiaoverthecenturies. UCL SSEES J. Vaughn ...

Has the medium (roast) become the message?

PurposeThis paper examines the ethics of marketing both fair trade products and the movement's message of change, as fair trade shifts from a distribution system that relied on alternative distribution channels to one that is increasingly reliant on the commercial mainstream. The marketing of fair trade through mainstream commercial distribution channels has been the major success and the major challenge for the fair trade movement over the past decade.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual approach and discussion are taken.FindingsFirst, we introduce the term “Clean‐wash” to describe a range of ways in which marketing fair trade through mainstream distribution channels creates opportunities for commercial businesses to appropriate and regulate the terrain. Second, the paper illustrates how mainstream marketing of fair trade has shifted the message of fair trade from participation in an international programme of trade reform to one about “shopping for a better world”. Finally, the paper explores a number of innovations the movement is using that protects the integrity of the principles of fair trade and sells both products and the message of change.Research limitations/implicationsInnovations discussed in the paper termed “the Alternative High Street”, see the merging of consumption with social action, and counter‐pose them with the mainstream idea of ethical consumerism. The concept of an Alternative High Street describes the fair trade movement's attempts to address the challenges and dangers of mainstreaming, and presents a way of thinking about the co‐creation of value between producers, retailers and consumers.Originality/valueThis paper will be of interest to marketing professionals and “values‐driven organisations”, providing a case study of how a seemingly highly successful brand marketing strategy may actually undermine the original ethical interest of a venture.

Helping New Organizers Survive and Thrive in the Field: The Essential Role of Training and Mentoring

The labor movement's attempt to reinvigorate its organizing pro gram has resulted in the recruitment of hundreds of new organiz ers. Despite this renewed dedication of resources to organizing, the turnover rate of entry level organizers remains high. This paper examines the organizing training and retention efforts of local unions affiliated with five internationals. Through interviews with organizing directors, lead organizers and new field organizers, we explore the training needs and expectations of new organizers. We identify how their initial training in the field and ongoing support relate to their success and retention. We recommend a much higher level of support of new organizers, including ongoing educational opportunities and the establishment of personalized mentoring relationships with experienced staff.

Gender Issues in Jewish Law: Essays and Responsa (review)

New York: Berghahn Books, 2001. 230 pp. $19.95.This book contains eight essays and eight responsa on various issues associated with Judaism and gender. While several of the essays contain historical overviews of specific topics or types of decision-making, the focus of the volume is modern responses to gender issues within Jewish law.One issue explored in many of the essays is the extent to which extra-legal concerns influence legal decision-making. This argument is set forth in Elliot Dorff's essay Custom Drives Jewish Law on Women. Dorff's essay serves as a critique of the Conservative Movement's attempts to transform the legal role of women. For the past thirty years, this effort has focused on responsa that analyzed legal texts; the underlying assumption was that the status of women vis-a-vis Jewish ritual could be changed only if there was sufficient textual support. Dorff argues that earlier legal opinions and their textual justifications were, in fact, post facto reflections of what was determined by custom in the first place (p. 82). Dorff reviews ways in which he believes custom influenced legal rulings about women in ancient and medieval Judaism before turning to contemporary Conservative Judaism.The claim set forth in Dorff's essay is strengthened by the work of other contributors to this volume. Rachel Adler's essay Innovation and Authority explores a 1985 responsum by Zvi Schachter on the subject of women's prayer groups. Adler notes two points of in the responsum. First, the author seeks to render a halakhic decision on a phenomenon...which involves behaviors in which classical halakhah had no interest (p. 4); the respondent must fashion from silence arguments to forbid a practice he finds objectionable. Second, because we have many writings on women's prayer groups from the participants themselves as well as their rabbinic supporters and detractors, we can more fully appreciate the social milieu in which the responsum was formulated. Finally, Adler's piece underscores a feature common to all halakhic decision-making, whether Orthodox or liberal, the tendency of decisors to talk to and with each other while ignoring the voices of the outsiders whose acts provide the content for the elite conversation (p. 5). In her analysis of Schachter's responsum, Adler demonstrates that custom, rather than legal precedent, shapes a Jewish community's notions of the proper sphere of women.This idea is also evident in and Women's Suffrage, David Ellenson and Michael Rosen's essay on rabbinic responsa about the political role of women in the Jewish State. three responsa reach different conclusions, but all three indicate the influence of social custom on decision-making. While one respondent argued against women's suffrage while the others supported it, all three responsa indicate a lack of legal precedent for extending or denying women the right to vote. Each decisor's opinion reflects his vision of women's status in Judaism and the extent to which suffrage might impact that status.The role of custom in Jewish law is also the theme of Halakhah, Women and Gender, Richard Rosenthal's consideration of the evolution of the prohibition against women wearing men's clothing.The collection also offers the reader a window into the evolution of law and custom in Reform Judaism. In his essay The Woman in Reform Judaism, Walter Jacob reviews the Reform Movement's treatment of women from the early nineteenth century to the present. responsa, most of which were written in the 1980's and 1990's, deal with concerns surrounding divorce, homosexuality, and women's observance of Jewish rituals previously observed only by men. …

The need for educational reform in teaching about alternative therapies.

Advocacy and non-critical assessment are the approaches currently taken by most U.S. medical schools in their courses covering what is commonly called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM). CAM therapies are anomalous practices for which claims of efficacy are either unproved or disproved. The author's research indicates that most medical schools do not present CAM material in a form that encourages critiques and analyses of these claims. He presents the reasons for the unwarranted acceptance of CAM. These include the CAM movement's attempt to alter standards of evaluating therapies. A survey of CAM curricula in U.S. medical schools in 1995-1997 showed that of 56 course offerings related to CAM, only four were oriented to criticism. The author's course at Stanford University School of Medicine approaches CAM with the skepticism and critical thinking appropriate for unproven therapies. The author concludes by calling on all medical schools to include in their curricula methods to analyze and assess critically the content validity of CAM claims.

Jamaica's Decision to Pursue a Neoliberal Development Strategy

Although under Michael Manley in the 1970s Jamaica was in the forefront of the Non-Aligned Movement's attempt to establish a New International Economic Order (NIEO), the Edward Seaga government in the 1980s adopted neoliberalism as the lodestar for its domestic and foreign development strategies. This decision has paid off in some sectors of the economy, but the larger picture remains rather discouraging. The depth and scope of the current social and economic crisis in Jamaica raise the question of the political viability of the coalition between the state, the private sector, and various social classes that has embarked upon these neoliberal economic reforms. The Jamaican case is particularly interesting in that it may be seen as an indicator of the way in which the Caribbean region was used strategically by representatives of international finance capital in this period as a test case for the global deployment of new neoliberal strategies and policy initiatives (cf. Dietz and Pantojas-Garcia, 1994; see also Ranney, 1993). This case study examines the process of political coalition building surrounding Jamaican economic reform and the consequences for the country's foreign economic policy priorities. Specifically, it aims to trace the political attitudes and situational conditions that facilitated the emergence and consolidation of a free market coalition between the state, various social classes, and particular sectors of the business class. It is in this shift from the 1970s to the 1980s that one

Adult Education and Union Education: Aspects of English Canadian Cultural History in the 20th Century

THE UNION MOVEMENT IN CANADA is under siege in the 1990s, according to its leaders. The attitude of the community toward unions is said to be negative. Understanding of the purposes served by unions, let alone sympathy for or even interest in the broader social goals of the movement is said to be at an all-tune low. How did Canada reach such a state? This paper addresses such questions within the context of the adult education movement and of union-sponsored educational and communication activities. In doing so, it defines adult education as the study of intentional forms of education (rather than the education of adults, which would encompass all of life itself), and, thus, examines formal attempts to transmit knowledge and skills and attitudes in a variety of sites. It also examines union-run activities in education as well as a few of the movement's attempts to establish a communications and public relations program. By sketching three identifiable aspects of recent Canadian labour history,

Marxism and communism in twentieth-century Mexico

In spite of the significance of the Mexican political left, which has surged in recent years, little information has been available to English-language readers. In this important book Barry Carr describes the Mexican leftist movement's attempts to come to grips with the Mexican Revolution of 1910-20 and the ruling party that resulted, and its own efforts to radicalize and organize Mexican workers. Carr offers intriguing new material on the Mexican Communist party's international relations, especially with its counterpart in the United States, and on the Mexican background to the assassination of Leon Trotsky in 1940. He also examines the non-Communist left as it has emerged since 1960. Based on archival sources, Marxism and Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico is the first study of the entire spectrum of the Mexican left to appear in any language.

Effect of the Human Genome Initiative on women's rights and reproductive decisions.

The Human Genome Project is likely to exacerbate historic tendencies to balance demographic concerns on the backs of women. This kind of policy is unjustified in law and violates classic theories of justice. Reproductive decision making, which affects women personally, is not the legitimate domain of community concern or manipulation.

The cultural articulation of patriarchy: legal systems, Islam and women.

Patriarchy in Pakistan results in inequalities to women. Issues emphasized include Islamic customary laws, the movement to Islamize penal and social behavioral codes, the mislabeling of Islamic beliefs as "westernization", and the rising women's movement's attempt to oppose present trends. Many practices thought to reflect Muslim culture are really the infliction of Islamic religious principles on pre-existing behavioral codes in Pakistan; thus, such practices are not actually Islamic teachings and are used to control social behavior. It is necessary to separate Islamic institution and actual Pakistanian practices in order to identify Islamic ideology's role in sustaining and vindicating patriachary. 3 roots of shaping jurisprudence are customary law, religious law, and British civil and criminal law. Further investigation of customary and religious laws currently employed indicates acceptance of Muslim practices promoting superiority of men and rejection of Islamic teachings promoting women's rights. Such Islamic teachings include a marriage settlement requiring men to give money to their wives, acknowledgement of marriages as an agreement between consenting adults, and a woman's right to divorce. Customs contradicting Islamic teachings and leading to inequalities for women include denial of a woman's access to economic resources, the annulment of the marriage settlement, and the relative ease of Muslim men to divorce their wives. Some communities practice purdah in which women are secluded from men and excluded in economic and political decisions. Such social restrictions minimize women's involvement in political decision making and in the judiciary. Exercising their right to vote and participating in trade unions, women would influence decision making. Resistance to current practices has been trade unions, women could influence decision making. resistance to current practices has been primarily from upper and middle class women; but to be effective all classes of women must unite. PRoblems confronting the women's movement are the need for a common language to communicate feminist messages to other developing countries and the movement being labelled westernized. To challenge Islamic ideology, the inequalities faced by women must be exposed and consensus and reasoning must be employed to establish equality. Furthermore, women must be ensured access and control over their economics resources and allowed to freely marry and divorce.