From Broken Families to the Broken Society

This article traces the development of the Conservative party's 'broken society' narrative, from its roots in William Hague's early invocations of 'social justice' to the evidence-based approach adopted by David Cameron. It considers relevant social trends over the period since 1970; summarises the Conservative party's attitude to family policy in government between 1979 and 1997; and shows how the Conservatives in opposition from 1997 onwards have become more focused on support for the marriage-based family, now a central tenet of Conservative social policy under David Cameron's leadership.     

HEART RATE AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF IMPULSIVE SENSATION SEEKING

Although a low resting heart rate is considered the best‐replicated biological correlate of antisocial behavior, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains largely unknown. Sensation‐seeking and fearlessness theories have been proposed to explain this relationship, although little empirical research has been conducted to test these theories. This study addressed this limitation by examining the relationship between heart rate and antisocial behavior in a community sample of 335 adolescent boys. Heart rate was measured during a series of cognitive, stress, and rest tasks. Participants also completed self‐report measures of state fear, impulsive sensation seeking, and both aggressive and nonaggressive forms of antisocial behavior. As expected, increased levels of aggression and nonviolent delinquency were associated with a low heart rate. Impulsive sensation seeking, but not fearlessness, significantly mediated the association between heart rate and aggression. This study is the first to show that impulsive sensation seeking partly underlies the relationship between aggression and heart rate, and it is one of the few to examine the mechanism of action linking heart rate to antisocial behavior. Findings at a theoretical level highlight the role of impulsive sensation seeking in understanding antisocial behavior and at an intervention level suggest it as a potential target for behavioral change.     

The Quango Conundrum

Quangos (or more accurately, arm's length bodies) are the subject of repeated culls by incoming governments, yet individually are seen as useful devices to reassure the public and give confidence in the performance of public functions. We argue that the confused landscape and poor governance has contributed to the view that, as a class, ALBs are inefficient and unaccountable. The government needs to take the opportunity of its review to rationalise the complex landscape of ALBs, and put governance on a more robust long‐term footing based on the degree of freedom an ALB needs to command public confidence.     

The Quango Conundrum Revisited—Why the Government Still Needs a More Coherent Approach to Arm's‐Length Bodies

There has been substantial reform of public bodies since the Coalition government was formed in 2010. But although numbers have been reduced, there has been no attempt to address the confused landscape—indeed, departments have interpreted criteria for what should be put at arm's length in different ways, introducing further complexity. A clearer link between function and form is needed. This would help address some of the blurred lines over accountability that we have seen in the recent rows over Ofsted and the Environment Agency.     

Juvenile Court Judges' Perceptions of What Factors Affect Juvenile Offenders' Likelihood of Rehabilitation

An instrument was developed to measure whether judges perceive the likelihood of rehabilitation to be influenced by extra‐legal factors. A self‐administered questionnaire was sent to 1,040 juvenile court judges across the United States. Two indices‐extra‐legal and legal‐were created to measure the relationship between judges' perceptions and the factors they consider in their transfer decisions. Primary analysis used frequencies, cross‐tabulations, and measures of association. The factors that judges may consider in their transfer decisions are specified and vary according to state statutes. Extra‐legal factors are never included in the statutes as factors that may be considered. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that judges consider extra‐legal factors in determining an offender's likelihood of rehabilitation. The results suggest that both male and non‐minority judges' perceive that extra‐legal characteristics affect an offender's likelihood of rehabilitation. All judges seem to believe that family structure and prior record are almost equally important factors in determining offenders' likelihood of rehabilitation. Thus, although judges consider legal factors in determining an offender's likelihood of rehabilitation, they also include criteria not explicitly permitted by law.     

Neo-conservative regimes and convergence in telecommunications policy

Abstract. Starting from the proposition that neo-conservative governments would wish to increase competition in the telecommunications market and that socialist governments would wish to retain a network monopoly which protects small consumers, this paper explores telecommunications policy in a number of industrialised countries. It argues that there is little convergence between policies adopted by neo-conservative regimes and that socialist governments are as likely to liberalise or privatise the telecommunications monopoly. A number of explanatory variables are explored, including federalism, trade union strength and industrial policy goals. The article concludes that the conjuncture of political and economic interests in any one country is likely to be different from that in any other. These conjunctures determine outcomes in policy terms and no country is likely to follow closely American experience in liberalisation.     

FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE: KEEPING THE SUBJECT ALIVE

One of the main purposes of feminist jurisprudence is to create or find better ways of being and living for women through the analysis, critique, and use of law. Rich work has emerged, and continues to emerge, from feminist theorists exploring conceptions of the self, personhood, identity and subjectivity that could be used to form a basic unit in law and politics. In this article, it is argued that a strong sense of human subjectivity needs to be retained to enable the human potentiality of women and men to flourish. This can be done in a way which is not essentialist, yet does not dissolve the subject out of existence, issues pertinent to feminist jurisprudence in recent years.     

THE SCUNTHORPE ENTERPRIZE ZONE: AN EXAMPLE OF MUDDLED INTERVENTIONISM

The article examines the case of the Scunthorpe Enterprize Zone (EZ) and the extent to which it is consistent with the Conservative Government's emphasis on the market mechanism. It also looks at the likely impact of this EZ on the local and sub-regional economy. The article concludes by observing that Scunthorpe District Council was quick to take advantage of its EZ status, which has already generated a significant number of jobs for the town, but at the possible cost of jobs in other parts of the sub region. Finally the Scunthorpe case would appear to support the view that the implementation of the policy has been in contradiction to the original objectives of central Government.     

Reexamining the Institutional Effects of Term Limits in U.S. State Legislatures

Research on term limits suggests that they have substantial consequences for the power of legislatures vis‐à‐vis the executive and interest groups and for the relationship between leaders and rank‐and‐file members within a chamber. Existing work, however, has not accounted for the actual power of relevant state actors. We contribute to this research by examining the effect of term limits on the influence of institutional actors conditional on the existing political power structure in a state. The inclusion of controls for the direct and moderating effect of actual institutional power suggests some significant extensions of previous findings regarding the institutional effects of term limits.