Sacrificial lambs,women candidates,and district competitiveness in Canada

Women's continued political underrepresentation suggests that women candidates might be more likely than men to be ‘sacrificial lambs’ – that is, more likely than men to serve as party standard bearers in districts where their party has little chance to win. Using data from the 2004–2011 Canadian federal elections, we find support for the sacrificial lamb hypothesis when district competitiveness is measured dynamically, rather than statically. Our dynamic measurement of district competitiveness further shows that women incumbents' seats are not as safe as are men's. We conclude that these two factors help to explain why women remain underrepresented in Canadian federal politics.     

The parliamentary reforms of the Witte administration (October 19, 1905‐April 23, 1906)

SUMMARY

This article examines mobility across constituencies among members of parliament in eighteenth-century Britain, using quantitative methods. Recent historiography has suggested that more attention should be paid to those members who changed seats during their careers in the House of Commons. The scale and significance of that movement, however, has remained unexplored. The article begins by showing that about half of the 2,217 members examined changed seats at least once during their careers and that the frequency of movement varies with the type of constituency they represented. For example, members sitting for English independent constituencies (counties and open boroughs) tended to change scats rather infrequently. Mobility was more apparent for boroughs under the control of patrons. This article also considers why this occurred, by paying attention to the inclination of members to take office under the crown. Members sitting for independent constituencies were less inclined to take office, because they were usually local men and tended to have closer relations with their electorates, who were suspicious of office-holding members. In contrast, members who owed their seats to patrons could behave more autonomously, for they did not depend upon electorates. Thus they probably changed scats more frequently in order to avoid the constraints of locality and patronage.     

Productivity and fiscal pressure

Under the pressure of fiscal crises, elected officials and their constituents are demanding that productivity improvement be institutionalized in government. Pressured public administration is responding with innovations ranging across measurement and auditing, joint labor-management cooperation, incentives tied to performance, training, information resources, microcomputer applications, and new means of financing productivity investments. Potential progress is limited, however, by bureaupathologies, private sector assumptions, capital underfunding, statutory or procedural obstacles, and labor-management differences. Nevertheless, public sector productivity programs promise to benefit all interested parties.     

Organization theory as ideological battleground in the year 2000

Organization theorists have always been divided among departments of political science, public administration, business, and so on, but they have traditionally shared a common acceptance of the natural science model as the vehicle for building new knowledge. The growth of nontraditional approaches to organization theory has led to conflict between mainstream and dissenting theorists on two levels: First, is the choice of topics to be studied a value-neutral decision, or is it a subtle way of promoting a traditional ideological agenda? Second, is the scientific method itself a vehicle for subtly introducing a bias into organization theory scholarship? The gap between mainstream and nontraditional scholars is wide and becoming wider; sadly, the prospects are bleak for a synthesis of these two approaches.     

Becoming Patani Warriors: Individuals and the Insurgent Collective in Southern Thailand

Focusing on the case of Thailand's ongoing insurgency in its southern Malay Muslim majority region, this article examines the circumstances surrounding individual's choices to engage in violent revolt and their conformity and non-conformity with the norms and disciplines of the movement in which they operate. Insurgent-driven violence in Thailand's southern border provinces has attracted considerable attention, but little has been published about the people who become “Patani Warriors” (juwae). Based on the authors’ direct encounters with current and former insurgents and study of Thai official documentation and captured insurgent propaganda material, this article presents the most detailed information currently available on southern Thailand's shadowy fighters. We argue that there is no single type of Malay Muslim insurgent: this variegated reality defies the normative ideals projected in insurgent's indoctrination material while it also poses a challenge for the Thai authorities to define in simple terms those who oppose the state.     

Financial Intelligence: A Price Worth Paying?

The harvesting of financial intelligence by law enforcement and intelligence services through various forms of surveillance is now so prevalent that it has become a core feature of contemporary security practice. Not surprisingly, concerns have been raised regarding the intrusive nature of financial intelligence collection and the emerging challenges posed to liberty. This article, whilst written primarily from a UK perspective, considers the trade-offs that inevitably emerge when liberty and security collide. Above all it argues that such measures are a necessary consequence of a changing security environment and that effective counter measures inevitably come at a price. The value added from data surveillance by the state, when lawfully sanctioned, audited and regulated are in the interests of public safety and national security, deemed a price worth paying.     

Beyond Identities: Political Determinants of Support for Decentralization in Contemporary Spain

Support for decentralization has generally been considered an outcome derived from the existence of regional or subnational identities. A recent complementary explanation has highlighted the role of politics to create regionally orientated support. We combine these two explanations by studying what determines the support for decentralization in Spain, an almost unique case where these two approaches can be tested. Using a hierarchical model, we show that in those regions without a different subnational identity, some citizens develop regionally orientated support because of their wish to bring the administration closer to the citizens and because their preferred party is pushing for further decentralization. In addition, we highlight the importance of considering decentralization as an outcome derived from party dynamics, which are able to shape political attitudes towards decentralization.