A reply to Anne Jenichen on the link between immigration and sexual violence

In a recent EUROPP article, Anne Jenichen argued that establishing tougher migration policies in response to the cases of sexual violence that took place in German cities on New Year’s Eve is unlikely to be successful. In a reply to the article, Daniel Falkiner argues that while restricting immigration will not solve the issue of sexual abuse in Germany, the possibility for high levels of immigration to exacerbate the problem should not be ignored

Book review: Islamic State: the digital caliphate by Abdel Bari Atwan

Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate provides detailed answers to a number of pressing questions: What exactly is ISIS? Where did it come from? Who is behind it? How does it function? What are the reasons for its success? Daniel Falkiner welcomes the rich description and analysis and finds Abdel Bari Atwan does an admirable job of explaining the ways Islamic State exploits 21st century technology and cultural trends to attract, groom and direct new members across the globe

Trump’s Warsaw speech was a shot in the arm for Poland in its stand-off with Brussels over migration

US President Donald Trump spoke in Warsaw on 6 July before travelling to the G20 summit in Hamburg. Daniel Falkiner writes that Trump’s apparent support for Poland in its dispute with Brussels over the migration crisis risks fostering division among EU member states at a time when talk of a ‘multi-speed Europe’ is already gaining momentum in Paris and Berlin

Book review: The cultural defense of nations: a liberal theory of majority rights by Liav Orgad

In The Cultural Defense of Nations: A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights, Liav Orgad directly addresses the notion of ‘majority rights’ through the prism of liberal theory. He explores the parameters of claims made on behalf of ‘majority groups’, with particular attention paid to the capacity of liberal states to restrict immigration. Daniel Falkiner finds this a timely, provocative and perceptive work that should be read by policy makers attending to the challenges facing liberal democracies today

Dual Care in Australia: The predictors and impacts of combining informal care with other child care responsibilities

Due to the ageing of the Australian population, increased female labour force participation, delayed childbearing and the obesity epidemic, Australia’s caring needs will likely increase significantly in the near future. Those who provide informal care and child care offer an invaluable service to Australian society in meeting those needs. Although there is significant research available regarding the provision of these types of care separately, there is a stark absence of research that addresses those who provide both types of care at the same time. This thesis examines the experiences of dual carers in Australia, who combine informal caring responsibilities with other child caring responsibilities. Dual carers will constitute an integral part of our ability to meet Australia’s increased caring needs, and we currently know very little about what characteristics make people more likely to become dual carers. We also know little about how dual caring impacts upon those providing it. This thesis addresses this lack of knowledge by examining and analysing the predictors and impacts of providing dual care. It finds that dual carers are unique from other Australians who have no caring responsibilities, and those who provide only informal care or child care separately. To identify the predictors and impacts of dual caring, this research performs quantitative, longitudinal analysis of a nationally representative data set, the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Cross-sectional analysis is also performed on data from the 2011 Australian Census. Event-history analysis is used to identify and analyse the predictors of dual care, and the impacts of dual care are examined through the use of multilevel modelling. This thesis finds that being female, living with a partner (particularly being a partnered women), being aged 35 to 44, not being employed full-time (especially being unemployed), not having a bachelor’s degree or higher and having a higher disposable income all significantly increase the risk of becoming a dual carer. The characteristics that increase the hazard of dual caring are unique from those which increase the hazard of informal care or child care on their own. This research also shows that the provision of dual care has unique impacts that are different to the impacts of informal care or child care. The key impacts of the provision of dual care identified by this thesis are; lowering of life satisfaction, reductions in physical and mental health and wellbeing, decreases in labour force participation and employment, and increases in relationship breakdown. The impacts of dual care are significantly different from the impacts of informal care or child care in that dual care is frequently associated with the poorest outcomes across nearly all measures analysed. This thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge by comprehensively examining dual caring in Australia, and analysing the predictors and impacts of providing dual care

Book review: the battle for Syria: international rivalry in the new Middle East by Christopher Phillips

In The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East, Christopher Phillips looks at the Syrian conflict as part of a wider geopolitical puzzle, focusing on the role played by six key external protagonists: the USA, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Daniel Falkiner recommends its valuable insight into the dynamics of what Phillips describes as ‘the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of the twenty-first century’

The quest for certainty: A perilous journey in mandatory reporting by teachers

This dissertation examined mandatory reporting of child maltreatment by teachers in Victoria, Australia. The findings pointed to an absence of evidenced-based training as a key issue in teachers lacking the confidence to detect and appropriately report child maltreatment. Importantly, teachers are inclined to question a child they suspect is being maltreated in an effort to feel certain a report is warranted. Their questioning practices are likely to contaminate the evidentiary value of the child’s statement, negatively affecting prosecution of the perpetrator

Book review: enemy of the state by Tommy Robinson

This autobiography by Tommy Robinson, Enemy of the State, is a seriously flawed book in many respects, not least in its handling of the topic of Islam, writes Daniel Falkiner. Nevertheless, the book constitutes a valuable primary resource on one influential strand of working-class street politics and raises curious, if disconcerting, questions about how the ethnicity known as ‘White British’ may be fracturing into more unstable elements. Whatever one thinks of its author, this book should be on the reading list of anyone who is concerned about social cohesion in Britain

Addressing the burden of obesity among disadvantaged families

The different ways in which the issue of childhood obesity can be addressed among disadvantaged families and how staff of human service organisations can support families are discussed. Efforts to improve the physical and mental health and social integration of disadvantaged families through supporting healthy lifestyles should be organisational priorities

'It Was to Have Been my Best Book': Dorothy Green and E. L. Grant Watson

When literary critic Dorothy Green died in 1991, those in her immediate circle were mystified to learn that little trace of the  biography of English writer E. L. Grant Watson, which she was known to have been researching for some twenty years, had been found among her papers. This article examines the reasons why