No War, No Peace: Northern Ireland after the Agreement

In 1998 a historic agreement, commonly known as the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, formed the basis of a negotiated settlement for the future of Northern Ireland. Since that time the level of violence in Northern Ireland has reduced but many problematic issues related to governance, sectarianism, and community relations remain on the political agenda and have destabilized the post-peace accord environment. Many of these issues can be viewed as either causes or consequences of the protracted conflict in Northern Ireland. This special issue examines some of these issues from a political psychology perspective. Economic, political, social, and psychological factors that have supported and hindered progress towards peace and stability are considered. While the paramilitary ceasefires have remained intact and certain aspects of life in Northern Ireland have been transformed, the road to peace has been hindered by both political and psychological intransigence. This paper offers an opportunity to reevaluate conceptualisations of conflict and its management in chronic situations, where divisions are deeply embedded within societal structures and relationships, and consider factors that may act as barriers to the development of a lasting peace.     

Incompleteness and harm avoidance in OCD symptom dimensions

Incompleteness (INC) and harm avoidance (HA) are motivational core dimensions of OCD. While HA-related concepts (e.g., inflated responsibility, overestimation of threat) are a main focus of current cognitive-behavioural OCD research, there is also a renewed interest in INC feelings and "not just right experiences" with an inability to achieve "closure" concerning actions/perceptions. This study systematically examines the association of OCD symptom dimensions with INC and HA in a large clinical OCD sample (n=202). Hierarchical linear multiple regression analyses controlling for anxiety, depression and symptom severity demonstrated a unique association of symmetry/ordering and checking (but not of contamination/washing and obsessional thoughts) with INC, and of obsessional thoughts and checking with HA. Thus, in contrast with symmetry/ordering (predominantly INC-related) and obsessional thoughts (predominantly HA-related), checking was motivationally heterogeneous, i.e., associated with INC and HA to a comparable and substantial degree. Contamination/washing failed to show a unique association with HA in two of three analyses, and with INC in all three analyses. Symptom severity uniquely contributed to INC in two of three analyses, but not to HA. Clinically, our results indicate that a conceptualization of OCD as an anxiety disorder is too narrow.     

The role of religious beliefs and thoughts of holy defence veterans in accepting the difficulties of imposed war

This study has surveyed the physical, emotional, psychological, educational, vocational, family, social and economic problems of 100 veterans of Iraq's imposed war on Iran. It has examined veterans’ reasons for the acceptance or non acceptance of the difficulties of being a veteran. It has also sought their opinions as to the necessity and usefulness of an active counseling center for facilitating veterans’ problems. One of the most important findings is that 82% of the veterans have easily accepted the problems associated with being a veteran. The most significant factor helping them to accept their various problems has been their religious beliefs. Fifty percent of them did not even know whether the Veterans’ Foundation had a counseling center or not. Sixty four percent of them have considered an active counseling center as necessary and useful, provided that the center (clinic) is independent and not related to the Veterans’ Foundation.     

Still living in a war zone: Perceived health and wellbeing of partners of Vietnam veterans attending partners' support groups in New South Wales,Australia

Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans is well documented, less so the long‐term impact on the health of their partners and families. The perceived health and wellbeing of women partners of Australian Vietnam veterans who were members of partners of veterans support groups is reported. This qualitative study used data from 76 participants in 10 focus groups in metropolitan, regional, and rural and remote areas of New South Wales (NSW). The data were tape‐recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using constant comparison methods. The impact of living with a partner with war‐related PTSD appears to be significant and ongoing with women drawing parallels to living in a war zone. The biggest negative impact was on their mental health. They felt burdened as carers and struggled to find explanations for their husbands' problems. Support groups were very helpful. There are implications for partners of veterans who have returned from active military duty and from peacekeeping in current conflicts.     

The Role of Moral Emotions in Predicting Support for Political Actions in Post-War Iraq

A web-based study of 393 undergraduates at a public university in the United States was conducted to examine the relationship between moral emotions (i.e., emotions that motivate prosocial tendencies) and support for political actions to assist Iraqi citizens after the Second Gulf War (2003–2004). Previous work on emotions and prosocial tendencies has focused on empathy. In the context of post-war Iraq, we found that while empathy predicted support for a number of different political actions that have the potential to advance the welfare of the Iraqi people (humanitarian action in particular), guilt over the U.S. invasion was an important predictor of support for reparative actions (i.e., restoring damage created by the U.S. military), and moral outrage toward Saddam Hussein and his regime was the best predictor of support for political actions to prevent future harm to the Iraqi people and to punish the perpetrators. Our findings demonstrate the utility of an emotion-specific framework for understanding why and what type of political actions individuals will support. And in contrast to the traditional view that emotions are an impediment to rationality, our findings suggest that they can serve as a potentially powerful vehicle for motivating political engagement among the citizenry.     

道德是朴素的

本文结合历史伦理文化资源的分析对道德话语的平实质朴、道德以社会公利为目标的朴素原理等问题进行了探讨,并分析了其借鉴启示意义。