Abu Ghraib and the War against Terror - a case against Donald Rumsfeld

The pictures of the inhuman and abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison shocked the world. The authors of this contribution will take a criminological approach to the crimes committed and will show—by using an analytical framework used by organizational criminologists—that the abuse and torture at Abu Ghraib was an inevitable outcome of the War on Terror as launched by the U.S. administration in a reaction to the terrorist attack launched against it. The abuse at Abu Ghraib which violated U.S. as well as international human rights law was not caused by a few rotten apples as policymakers tried to make us believe, but was a clear example of a state crime. A state crime for which U.S. leaders within the Bush administration such as the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, might be held criminally responsible if they would be prosecuted by the ICC

Enjoying sunset: successful ageing and the grey nomad community

Grey nomads, an Australian term for older recreation vehicle travellers, are bound together by a set of common characteristics. This chapter initially identifies a number of issues associated with successful ageing; this discussion provides a somewhat novel perspective on the group’s commonalities and mobility. Next, and as a basis for providing insights at a group level, the authors briefly review both social representations theory and social practice theory as ways to explore the value and significance of the grey nomads’ extended holiday journeys. Studies of the behaviours and attitudes of members of the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA), and its magazine, are used as the empirical basis for the commentary. From multiple data sources, the researchers examine the common concerns of grey nomads, and the language and normative behaviours which build in-group belonging. Both social practice theory and social representation theory, with their power to focus on the commonalities and key guiding metaphors of interacting parties, are employed to help finesse the discussion. Findings support the elements of the positive psychology framework known as PERMA –the acronym summarising the psychological elements of ageing successfully