Community-based exercise interventions during pregnancy are perceived as a satisfactory and motivating form of exercise engagement

This study attempts to illuminate the experiences of participants using closed questions and scaled responses in a self-reporting, 13 item questionnaire. It explores factors relating to drop out and adherence rates, as well as associated motivational factors relating to group exercise during pregnancy, in addition to considering some of the barriers

"Worldwide" - "weltweit": De la vida en mundos transarchipiélicos

En el presente trabajo se pretende ilustrar el islario y la isla desde diversos enfoques —histórico, cultural y lírico— para revelar la complejidad circunstancial de su tratamiento y el intento por descubrir su presencia en las literaturas del mundo, a través de un minucioso estudio de la obra de la escritora alemano-japonesa, Yoko Tawada. Por encima de las diferencias histórico-culturales desveladas en los acercamientos a autores tan disímiles como Benedetto Bordone, Edouard Glissant, José Lezama Lima y Khal Torabully prevalecen las similitudes: la relacionalidad, el movimiento, el imaginario y la resistencia a lo establecido

Book review: waging gendered wars: U.S. military women in Afghanistan and Iraq by Paige Whaley Eager

Waging Gendered Wars aims to examine how US military women have impacted and been affected by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, using the analytical lens of feminist international relations theory. Paige Whaley Eager assesses the ways in which the global world of international politics and warfare has become localized in the life and death narratives of female service personnel impacted by combat experience, homelessness, and PTSD. Mercy Ette feels that the book would have benefited from some tighter editing, but overall it offers fresh insight into the impact of war on women and amplifies personal stories to illustrate the gendered nature of war

An Examination of Spinoza’s Moral Philosophy

Spinoza's moral philosopher represents his most concerted attempt to come to terms with the great philosophical questions of the existence and identity of God, the nature and origin of the human mind concerning God, the origin and nature of emotions, the power of emotions as they restrict freedom of choice. His ethics is derived from his metaphysics and psychology. His belief that everything emanates from a perfect and infinite God made him conclude that evil does not exist. Further, he argues that anything that happens could have happened otherwise since it emanated from the unchangeable laws of nature. The surest part of happiness according to Spinoza is the study of philosophy and meditation. Arising from the foregoing, this discourse views Spinoza's doctrine as running contrary to human nature. For maintaining that everything is fated and determined including human disposition implies that all human actions can, therefore, be said to be amoral. The corollary of the above is that institutions such as law court, police, prisons, and judiciary, Christianity and Islam are superfluous, irrational and serving no purpose. Consequently, his postulates smack of a moral lacun

Carl Schmitt\u27s radical democracy: Schmitt, Hobbes and the return to political identity

Scholarly treatments of the controversial German jurist Carl tend to be bipolar: His writings are either scrutinized for totalitarian leanings or his flirtations with Nazism excused as unfortunately opportunistic. One of the more fruitful points to begin an exploration of Schmitt’s thought is in his interpretation of Thomas Hobbes. Schmitt criticized Hobbes both for ignoring the historical backdrop to the Leviathan myth, and also for prefiguring liberalism with his distinction between conscience and obedience. In recruiting Hobbes, this paper suggests that though Schmitt’s concern about the technologization of politics through liberalism was paramount, it was in support of a radical form of democracy. Schmitt appropriates Hobbes’ state of nature and the initial founding contract to show the ‘people’ are sovereign, and therefore the only entity capable of politically distinguishing between friends and enemies. This critique intends to move beyond Schmitt the anti-liberal, to show him as a democrat, albeit one who retains subtle authoritarian undertones

Book review: gender, war, and conflict by Laura Sjoberg

In conflicts across the world, women continue to play a large and growing role in formal and informal military structures. Laura Sjoberg‘s book questions how useful traditional gendered categories are in understanding the dynamics of war and conflict today. Mercy Ette applauds this book for its potential to inform and influence policy on war and war-making

Migration and Refugee Policies in Germany: New European Limits of Control?

International migration is one of the most controversial political topics today which demands innovative approaches of global and regional governance. The book provides a fresh theoretical framework to understand European responses to the international migration of people and explains the dynamics of Germany’s migration and refugee policy during the last two decades. Against traditional theories and their inherent focus on the national political sphere, the book highlights supranational and multi-level political processes as increasingly important factors to account for national policy changes. Confronted with the most recent developments of international migration, the study offers students and practitioners the necessary background to participate in today's debates.Internationale Migration ist heute eines der kontroversesten politischen Themen, das innovative Ansätze globaler und regionaler Governance erfordert. Das Buch bietet einen neuen theoretischen Rahmen, um europäische Antworten auf die internationale Migration von Menschen zu verstehen und erklärt die Dynamik der deutschen Migrations- und Flüchtlingspolitik in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten. Im Gegensatz zu den traditionellen Theorien und ihrer inhärenten Fokussierung auf die nationale politische Sphäre hebt das Buch supranationale und mehrstufige politische Prozesse als zunehmend wichtige Faktoren für die Berücksichtigung nationaler politischer Veränderungen hervor