The Impact of a High-Tech Spy

Air Force colonel Stig Wennerström was the most dangerous spy to Sweden in the Cold War era. His espionage was found to have been especially crippling to the Swedish air defence and its high-tech systems. That is where repair work was seen to be most urgent. As the politicians turned down appeals for extra funding, it was up to the military system itself to handle the situation. In spite of this, the Supreme Commander appears not to have pressed for Air Force priority to repair resources. The service's proportion of the defence budget did not increase, and other quantitative and qualitative evidence points to a similar lack of Air Force priority. Three theoretical approaches are used to explain how this failure to act could have come about. A rationality model is discussed and compared to an organizational competition approach and to an approach based on the character of key individuals.     

Ideologies of Jihad in Europe

The article explores ideological fault lines among Sunni Muslim militants (jihadists) in Europe since the mid-1990s. It argues there have been disputes among the militants about whether to prioritize local struggles or Al Qaeda's global war, and about the legitimacy of launching terrorist attacks in European states offering political asylum to Muslims. It concludes that Europe's militants have become more ideologically unified in conjunction with the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Mohammed drawings, seeing European countries as legitimate and prioritized targets, and identifying with Al Qaeda.     

The Violence of Persuasive Argument: Using Durkheim to Outline a Latent Barrier to a Nonviolent Criminology

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of a form of violence that represents a potential barrier to the development of a nonviolent criminology. Using several contentions drawn from Emile Durkheim’s theory of crime and punishment, it is proposed that persuasive arguments entail a component of violence where they contradict strong collective sentiments. The general nature and normality of this form of violence are outlined. In addition, it is suggested that although neglect of this violence may allow progressive researchers to maintain nonviolent self-conceptions, such neglect also may serve the interests of “intellectuals” while undermining the power of “nonintellectuals.” The violence of persuasive argument thus constitutes a problematic paradox for scholars who embrace nonviolence and equitable distributions of power.

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Strategic Knowledge Networks: The Case of IT Support for Eurojuris Law Firms in Norway

Law firms are knowledge intensive, and the use of advanced technology may well transform these organizations in the future. To examine knowledge management in Norwegian law firms, a study involving four phases of data collection and analysis was designed. The third phase comprised a survey of Norwegian law firms on the use of information technology to support inter-organizational knowledge management. Two predictors, firm co-operation and knowledge co-operation, were significant. The fourth phase was a survey of Norwegian law firms belonging to the Eurojuris network. The Eurojuris law firms had significantly higher IT use, firm co-operation and knowledge co-operation than the other law firms. There was no significant difference in inter-organizational trust, both Eurojuris firms and non-network firms reported that they trusted other law firms.     

Consensual Coalitions? Coalition Formation in Norwegian Municipalities

While widely applied to political coalitions in national assemblies and cabinets, theories of coalition formation have seldom been tested at the local level of government. This article presents a model of coalition formation in connection with mayoral elections in Norwegian local councils and tests it on the basis of the first systematic collection of data on the election of mayors from a large number of municipalities. It finds small significant effects on the probability that oversized coalitions will be formed. Contrary to "common" knowledge, the size of a municipality has a positive influence on the conflictual climate, and thus on the size of the coalitions formed, which implies that the probability that an oversized coalition will form is higher in a large than in a small municipality. It also finds that the possibility that an oversized coalition will form increases if one party controls a majority of the councilors on its own, and if the majority is non-socialistically controlled. The assumption of a strong norm for reaching consensus-based decisions, reinforced by the design of the local political institutions, is supported.     

Civil service reform in Uganda: Lessons learned

This article presents the Civil Service Reform Programme (CSRP) in Uganda. It outlines the context in which the CSRP is being implemented and establishes the link between the CSRP and other reform programmes, particularly constitutional decentralization, liberalization/privatization and army demobilization. It also analyses the progress made so far, given certain obstacles, and attempts to assess and make some suggestions for the road ahead. The issues of civil service reform go beyond addressing the need for pay reform and improving organizational structure. While these are important pieces of the puzzle, they cannot stand alone. Issues of greater participation, transparency and accountability in decision making—all of which strangthen democratization—are also at stake. The aim of these reforms is to enable the state to function more rationally and effectively, as the duties it performs—as well as the country's needs—become more complex and varied. The overarching theme is to develop the state's own capacity in order to create sustainable reforms in the quest for long-term development. The close of the cold war has brought many changes. In recent years, for example, the international donor community has paid increasing attention to reform issues. It has called on recipient governments to participate in the design and implementation of these programmes. In recipient countries, the movement toward decentralization, privatization and commercialization of many government functions has increased the range of opportunities available to citizens. It has also brought demands for greater responsiveness on the part of the government and parastatal agencies. Moreover, in an era of dwindling aid budgets, donors are now seeking better value for their money, and they are less willing to excuse widespread graft and corruption on geopolitical grounds.     

Organizational convenience for white-collar crime: opportunity expansion by offender behavior

The theory of convenience suggests that the extent of white-collar crime is dependent on financial motive, organizational opportunity, and willingness for deviant behavior. Organizational opportunity is at the core of convenience theory, where privileged and powerful offenders have legitimate access to resources in their professions to commit and conceal financial crime. This article introduces a dynamic perspective of organizational opportunity where a white-collar offender can cause opportunity expansion over time. Based on agency theory, social disorganization theory, and blame game theory, a case study is presented. The case study is concerned with a chief financial officer (CFO) who applied several opportunity expansion techniques before he conveniently was able to commit and conceal embezzlement in the business where he was employed.