Saving women and bordering Europe: narratives of “Migrants’ Sexual Violence” and geopolitical imaginaries in Russia and Sweden

ABSTRACT

This article maps the specific ways in which gendered and racialized boundary constructs create conditions of possibility for certain bordering practices. Connecting Critical Border Studies with feminist theories of geopolitics, it examines media reporting in Russia and Sweden about “migrants‘ sexual violence” in the wake of the 2015 New Years‘ events in Cologne. Despite contextual differences, in both countries these events were narrated as symbolic in negotiating Europe and its borders. In Russia, the events were connected to a story of a Russian girl in Berlin being raped by migrants (a story later revealed to be fabricated) and a narrative of Europe collapsing because of immigration. In Sweden, the events were connected to reports of sexual violence at festivals, sparking a debate about “Swedish values” of gender equality being endangered by immigration. The article argues, firstly, that narratives of migrants‘ sexual violence performed bordering functions in both the symbolic sense of delineating national identity and Europeanness, and the concrete sense of legitimating a stricter border regime. Secondly, it argues that the narratives performed that function only by tapping into local geopolitical narratives, in the Russian case on the country‘s ambivalent relation to Europe, and in Sweden the idea of gender exceptionalism.     

New Narratives from the EU External Border – Humane Refoulement?

This article discusses changes in the discourse and practice of the EU external border. Findings of a small-scale research project looking at UNHCR’S Border Management and Protection of Refugees (BMPR) programme will discuss developments taking place at the EU external border and will show a new kind of narrative. Institutional cooperation, access to territory and compliance with the principle of non-refoulement seem to have improved. A more empathetic narrative of border security has found its way into institutions of enforcement authorities that primarily follow their mandate of protecting the state’s border and territory. This new narrative is, however, highly politicised and institutionally driven. By taking a more critical view, I introduce the concept of humane refoulement towards the end of the article describing the consequences of this new narrative and denoting it as hypocritical in its nature.     

An econometric analysis of demand for food quantity and quality in urban China

This article offers an analytical framework for studying consumer demand for food quality based on a theory‐consistent demand model, namely, the Exact Affine Stone Index specification. Importantly, it accounts for unobserved consumer and regional heterogeneity, and allows for arbitrary Engel curves. The empirical value of our framework is illustrated in an econometric analysis of demand for food quality in China. Evaluating possible structural changes in consumer food expenditures in China is of paramount importance, given the ever‐increasing global role of China and the implications of the structural food preference changes for the global food system. The major findings emerging from this study indicate that income is an important determinant of demand for food quality and quantity with the relatively more affluent provinces having a higher affinity for food quality.     

The cost of diabetes and obesity in Australia

Aims: To assess and compare the direct healthcare and non-healthcare costs and government subsidies by body weight and diabetes status.

Methods: The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study collected health service utilization and health-related expenditure data at the 2011–2012 follow-up surveys. Costing data were available for 4,409 participants. Unit costs for 2016–2017 were used where available or were otherwise inflated to 2016–2017 dollars. Age- and sex-adjusted costs per person were estimated using generalized linear models.

Results: The annual total direct cost ranged from $1,998 per person with normal weight to $2,501 per person with obesity in participants without diabetes. For those with diabetes, total direct costs were $2,353 per person with normal weight, $3,263 per person with overweight, and $3,131 per person with obesity. Additional expenditure as government subsidies ranged from $5,649 per person with normal weight and no diabetes to $8,085 per person with overweight and diabetes. In general, direct costs and government subsidies were higher for overweight and obesity compared to normal weight, regardless of diabetes status, but were more noticeable in the diabetes sub-group. The annual total excess cost compared with normal weight people without diabetes was 26% for obesity alone and 46% for those with obesity and diabetes.

Limitations: Participants included in this study represented a healthier cohort than the Australian population. The relatively small sample of people with both obesity and diabetes prevented a more detailed analysis by obesity class.

Conclusion: Overweight and obesity are associated with increased costs, which are further increased in individuals who also have diabetes. Interventions to prevent overweight and obesity or reduce weight in people who are overweight or obese, and prevent diabetes, should reduce the financial burden.     

Location of Decision Rights in Catholic Religious Orders

Organizational incentives are an important part of applied economics. Do even organizations like religious orders make the same trade‐offs and substitutions as predicted by economics for firms? It is argued here that religious orders face the problem of controlling the actions of their branch offices to assure the continued value and uniqueness of their trademark. We use the distinction between specific and general knowledge to analyze the optimal colocation of decision rights within the specific knowledge framework of a religious order. Assuming that knowledge is valuable in decision making, then the colocation of the decision authority with the particular knowledge that is beneficial to those decisions is preferable. With a sample of 114 local communities of 20 religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church, we empirically test whether the ratio of search/experience goods, of credence goods and the monitoring costs of the headquarter can explain the colocation of decision rights and authority within an order. Our findings give support for the hypothesis that religious orders at present make the same trade‐offs and substitutions as predicted by economics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Der prognostische Gehalt der Nachrichtenwert-Theorie

In this article, news value theory is reformulated in a way that allows for predicting the length of news stories by the news value of news factors, and by the news factors of single stories. From a part of a sample, the news value of news factors is determined, and the expected length of stories is calculated for another part of the sample. Calculated length is then compared with measured length. There is a correlation of r =.54 between theoretical and empirical values. Theoretical and methodological conclusions are drawn from the results of the various analytic steps.     

Economic stagnation and development aid

The main objectors to a link being established between special drawing rights (SDRs) and the financing of development have in the past been the industrial countries. They have been pointing out that SDRs were created for other purposes — more effective control over international liquidity — and that a link with development finance would have an inflationary effect. If however the present unemployment situation in the industrial countries should become at least partly a permanent feature the idea of such a link would become more attractive than hitherto — to the industrial countries.     

Erwiderung auf den Aufsatz von Friedrich A. Hayek,Wien: „Gibt es einen Widersinn des Sparens?“

Ohne Zusammenfassung