Public Opinion and Terrorist Acts

The paper explores the dimensions of public opinion relevant for supporting terrorism and their relationship with terrorist attacks. We link the 2007 PEW survey data on justification of suicide terrorism and opinions in 16 countries of the Middle East, Africa and Asia on nine regional powers to the NCTC data on international terrorist incidents between 2004 and 2008. We find that justification of suicide terrorism and unfavorable opinion on regional powers are correlated with the occurrence of terrorism and the effect of each of these dimensions of public opinion varies with the level of the other. In addition, we find a robust positive relationship between the share of people in a country who at the same time justify suicide bombings and have an unfavorable opinion of a regional power and the occurrence of terrorism originating from that country

Felon Seeks Firearm, No Strings Attached: How Dangerous People Evade Background Checks and Buy Illegal Guns Online

The online marketplace for guns is vast -- and growing. Each year, millions of people connect through online ads to buy and sell firearms. And because many of the transactions are conducted by so-called 'private sellers' who are not required by federal law to conduct background checks, guns routinely change hands with no questions asked. In the digital age, convicted felons, domestic abusers and other dangerous people who are legally barred from buying guns can do so online with little more than a phone number or email address. And they do. Countless tragedies have demonstrated that determined criminals are exploiting this 'private sale loophole' to acquire guns online and murder innocent peopleThe National Rifle Association, which once supported the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), has recently opposed efforts to close this growing loophole. One argument often recurs: criminals won't submit to background checks.This report demonstrates that their claim is both false and true. Criminals undeniably do submit to background checks: in 2010 alone, federal and state checks blocked more than 150,000 gun sales to prohibited buyers. But criminals also undeniably avoid background checks -- by exploiting the private sale loophole. Indeed, one measure of NICS's success is that it appears to have forced a growing number of criminals to seek out private sellers since the system was established in 1998

Education, Poverty, Political Violence and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?

The paper investigates whether there is a causal link between poverty or low education and participation in politically motivated violence and terrorist activities. After presenting a discussion of theoretical issues, we review evidence on the determinants of hate crimes. This literature finds that the occurrence of hate crimes is largely independent of economic conditions. Next we analyze data on support for attacks against Israeli targets from public opinion polls conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These polls indicate that support for violent attacks does not decrease among those with higher education and higher living standards. The core contribution of the paper is a statistical analysis of the determinants of participation in Hezbollah militant activities in Lebanon. The evidence we have assembled suggests that having a living standard above the poverty line or a secondary school or higher education is positively associated with participation in Hezbollah. We also find that Israeli Jewish settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank in the early 1980s were overwhelmingly from high-paying occupations. The conclusion speculates on why economic conditions and education are largely unrelated to participation in, and support for, terrorism.

“Word Made Flesh”: Czech Women’s Writing From Communism to Post-Communism

This article explores the changes in Czech women’s fiction from communism to post- communism, focusing in particular on Czech women writers’ relationship to literary discourse and feminism. It contends that women writers’ rapport to ideological discourse and literary production under communism is a determining factor in women’s relationship to both writing and feminism. It examines this literary legacy in terms of post-communism, surveying the differences between a totalitarian socialist regime and that of a materialist, capitalist economy, as exemplified in Czech women’s literature. The article offers a survey the major post-communist women writers, including Hodrová, Boučková, Kriseová, as well as delving into a comparative close-reading analysis of two representatives of both communist and post-communist women’s writing: Eva Kantůrková’s Přítelkyně z domu smutku (Companions Of The Bleak House) and Iva Pekarková’s Kulatý svet (The World is Round). Both these texts offer a challenging vision of “women’s community” for today’s global order

Public Opinion and Terrorist Acts

The paper explores the dimensions of public opinion relevant for supporting terrorism and their relationship with terrorist attacks. We link the 2007 PEW survey data on justification of suicide terrorism and opinions in 16 countries of the Middle East, Africa and Asia on nine regional powers to the NCTC data on international terrorist incidents between 2004 and 2008. We find that justification of suicide terrorism and unfavorable opinion on regional powers are correlated with the occurrence of terrorism and the effect of each of these dimensions of public opinion varies with the level of the other. In addition, we find a robust positive relationship between the share of people in a country who at the same time justify suicide bombings and have an unfavorable opinion of a regional power and the occurrence of terrorism originating from that country.support for terrorism, public opinion, international terrorism

Foreign Language Learning Experiences of Deaf and Severely Hard-of-Hearing Czech University Students

This paper presents qualitative research on the experiences and opinions of four Czech native speakers learning English as a second language all of whom are either deaf or severely hard-of-hearing and are currently pursuing or have recently finished university studies in the Czech Republic. Within the framework of an international project, the two male and two female respondents were interviewed individually in order to get an insider’s perspective on the needs, difficulties and preferred teaching and learning strategies of students with hearing loss. The descriptive-interpretative analysis of the data followed the principles of qualitative research and yielded four main themes: learning experience, motivation, teaching modality, and learning strategies and learner autonomy. The results highlight the importance of learning experience gained in primary and secondary education and the need for teachers who provide positive motivation for deaf learners and are fluent users of Czech Sign Language. The findings can enrich the knowledge of language teachers, teacher trainers as well as language policy makers and are transferable to similar contextsPředkládaná studie popisuje kvalitativní výzkum, jehož cílem bylo získat vhled do zkušeností a názorů čtyř českých neslyšících či těžce sluchově postižených vysokoškolských studentů či absolventů s učením se anglickému jazyku. V rámci mezinárodního projektu byly se dvěma ženami a dvěma muži provedeny rozhovory, které poskytují osobní pohled na potřeby, problémy a preferované výukové a učební strategie studentů se ztrátou sluchu. Na základě deskriptivně-interpretační analýzy dat provedené dle principů kvalitativního výzkumu byla identifikována čtyři hlavní témata: Zkušenosti s učením, Motivace, Jazyková modalita výuky a Učební strategie a autonomie. Výsledky výzkumu ukazují na význam zkušeností s výukou a učením se získaných na základní a střední škole a potřebnost učitelů, kteří důvěřují schopnostem neslyšících studentů a dokáží používat český znakový jazyk. Zjištěn mohou být přínosná pro učitele jazyků a jejich odbornou přípravu stejně jako pro tvůrce vzdělávací politiky a jsou přenositelná pro podobné kontexty