Land reform and the Portuguese revolution∗

In spite of the fact that the Portuguese Land Reform has been a radical and far‐reaching one, it has received very little attention from British social scientists. This review article looks at three books published in Portugal since April 1974 which are essential reading for anyone interested in this subject. In understanding the development of the Land Reform and the Revolution as a whole it is important to recognise the different types of regional agrarian structure which exist in Portugal. This review pays particular attention to those parts of the three books which deal with these regional questions. The cleavage between those areas in which rural wage‐labourers predominate and those in which peasant farmers are in the majority goes a long way towards explaining both the advances and the defeats of the Portuguese Revolution.     

Pragmatist and Neo‐Classical Policy Paradigms in Public Services: Which is the Better Template for Program Design?

Principal-agent theory alerts principals to their problematic relationship with agents. The former are encouraged to take deliberate action to counter asymmetries in knowledge, moral hazard etc. To avoid this, principals should determine outcomes and contracts and incentives should be designed to achieve them. This approach has influenced the form of purchaser-provider arrangements, including the Job Network. This article reviews impacts, which include incentives for gaming and increased transaction costs. Another survey highlighted the extent to which innovation in the disability employment sector had depended on collaboration, which competition would end. The article then sketches an alternative pragmatic or experimental approach, which assumes that the centre can never establish outcomes that are other than provisional and corrigible. Program design needs to be built around this fundamental fact. Learning not 'carrots and sticks' is the appropriate form of relationship. The article explores the feasibility of this approach in a Job Network context .     

Forensic investigations in cyberspace for civil proceedings

This article considers some of the legal issues raised when private entities are seeking forensic data from Internet‐based activities for the purpose of civil proceedings. It focuses on the identification of potential defendants and the obtaining of evidence in the course of its transmission. Existing law, legislative proposals and case law are examined in terms of appropriately balancing the rights of the claimant, defendant and third‐party communication providers.     

First Russian biographies of Trotsky: A review article

N. A. Vasetsky, Trotskii. Opyt politicheskoi biografii. Moscow: Respublika, 1992, 351 pp. D. Volkogonov, Trotskii. Politicheskii portret. II Vols. Moscow: Novosti, 1992, 412 & 412 pp.