Social dominance orientation,fear of terrorism and support for counter-terrorism policies

Following September 11 and the subsequent heightened fear of terrorism from more recent events, this study examines the role of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) in explaining individuals’ support for counter-terrorism policies that infringe individual liberties in pursuit of defending community security. Three hypotheses are proposed: (1) that SDO positively predicts support for ‘defensive’ counter-terrorism policies such as the maintenance of strong border protection; (2) that SDO positively predicts fear of terrorism and fear of Islamic extremism; (3) that the relationship between SDO and support for defensive policies is mediated by fear. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 1200 Australian adults, with support found for each hypothesis. Counter-terrorism policies commonly encounter trade-offs between community-wide security and individual-level liberties; pursuit of optimal security tends to require infringement of those liberties. This research demonstrates that high SDO citizens will support such policies, particularly as fear increases.     

Greening cultural policy

Abstract

This article focuses on greening cultural policy within a sustainable development context. We examine shortcomings of major public-policy responses to the ecological crisis, linking this to the ambivalent philosophical heritage of anthropocentric worldviews that underpin ideas about the relation of culture to non-human nature. This ambivalence is reflected by weak environmentalism in the cultural policy arena, exemplified by surprisingly non-green cultural platforms espoused by green political parties. Green thinking is further hampered by the widespread adoption of digitisation within cultural organizations, which we contextualise in the broader political economy of digital capitalism and the attendant myth that high-tech culture is a low emissions business. Green cultural policy necessitates intensive self-examination of cultural institutions’ environmental impact, at the same time these institutions deploy art, education, entertainment, sports, and news to raise awareness of ecological crisis and alternative models of economic activity. We cite the efforts of activist artists’ resistance against fossil fuel corporations’ sponsorship of arts and cultural organizations as a welcome provocation for greening cultural policy within cultural organizations and green political parties alike.     

Conservation and Restoration of a Cultural Forest Landscape: Protecting the Forests Created by Moriori on Chatham Island

Moriori agroforestry practices led to the creation of forests dominated by an introduced tree, kōpi (Corynocarpus laevigatus). Kōpi trees produce an edible drupe which was essential to the successful settlement of Rēkohu (Chatham Island). It is also only on kōpi trees that Moriori created a unique art form, called rākau momori, marking the trees with anthropogenic, animal and abstract images. The remaining stands of old growth forest which include kōpi trees and rākau momori are in varying states of decline and until recently were not identified as a cultural landscape. The acknowledgement of the forests as cultural landscapes has resulted in changes to the conservation and management practices of these spaces. The current management practices have been designed following paleo-ethnobotanical research (palynology and anthracology), ethnography and archaeological excavations which suggest Moriori planted and managed the forests until they were abandoned following an invasion in 1835.     

Diehard Conservatism,Mass Democracy,and Indian Constitutional Reform,c.1918–35

This article explores the Conservative Party crisis over India to examine the relationship between diehard Conservatives and Britain's emerging democracy. Far from rejecting democracy outright, diehard rhetoric and mass communication demonstrates how they adapted to it and utilised it in pursuit of their objectives. The accommodation of diehard Conservatism within the Conservative Party was a necessary and mutual embrace. Contrary to popular image, it promoted Conservative unity and contributed to the party's remarkable electoral success. Unable to exact decisive victories, the capacity of diehard Conservatives to generate party crises over imperial questions, among grass‐roots and back‐bench Conservatives, ensured that they had a role in shaping the presentation and content of party policy. This had implications for leadership efforts to liberalise the party, and also popular perceptions of British imperialism and the feasibility of democracy in India.     

Comments on some developments in North European prehistory

The burials of the Nubian A‐Group recorded between the First and the Second Cataracts of the Nile and dated ca. 3200–2900 BC have yielded an important source material of rich and varied funerary offerings. This paper presents a case study aiming to establish a qualitative and quantitative ranking of the burials and to investigate relationships and patterns as regards age, gender and social organization, and also to study chronological implications. The results show that the A‐Group culture displayed a rather elaborate and mature social structure, perhaps organized around a female core with strong matrilineal traditions, and where the men occupied a different social sphere with their own symbolic expressions. One finds a shift from an earlier, uniformly stratified society towards a more complex structure with clear social inequality developed in Lower Nubia simultaneously‐with the emergence of the Firs t Dynasty in Egypt ca. 3000 BC.