Of ‘Strong’ Leadership,Crisis Communication,and Pooper Scoopers: Change in the Queensland Public Service Under Newman

Governments have historically offered their workforce a public service bargain founded on stable pay and conditions and job security. However, while the Westminster system aims for public service employment to be protected from the whims of government, public servants are nonetheless affected by the political environment in which they operate and changes to this bargain can occur with a new government. This paper focuses on a Queensland public service change process that resulted in large‐scale forced redundancies, non‐renewal of temporary contracts, and legislative changes that nullified the provisions in job security, organisational change, and redundancy policies. Using communication as a lens through which to understand leadership, it examines how the government communicated with the public service about this organisational change, immediately before and after the 2012 election. In particular, through analysis of public and media commentary, speeches and Hansard records, it examines Premier Newman's change leadership and communication by contrasting pre‐election messages to the public service with post‐election messages about the public service and the justifications for change during this period of downsizing. This analysis is used to reflect on political leadership, communication, fair treatment, and trust in public service change.     

Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage related to methamphetamine abuse: autopsy findings and clinical correlation

A healthy 31-year-old male abstinent from drug abuse during his recent incarceration developed slurred speech, a severe headache, and left-sided hemiparesis prior to his eventual death 9.5 hours after inhalation of methamphetamine. On postmortem examination, inspection of the brain revealed bilateral subarachnoid hemorrhage, with a prominent intralobar hemorrhage centered within the right frontal cerebral hemisphere. No evidence of vasculitis, infarction, intraventricular hemorrhage, or ruptured aneurysm could be observed. While this is not the first report of a methamphetamine-related stroke, this report describes the autopsy findings of an intracerebral hemorrhage secondary to methamphetamine abuse on autopsy and compares the findings and antemortem history to previously reported methamphetamine cerebral vascular deaths.     

The micropolitics of border struggles: migrants’ squats and inhabitance as alternatives to citizenship

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the struggles of the We Are Here movement in Amsterdam as resistance to both securitarian and humanitarian border regimes. It explores the tensions between everyday forms of commoning emerging in migrants’ squats and technologies of enclosure and capture. In the first place, the paper contends that the creation of housing squats marked an important shift in migrants’ struggles that went from acts of protest to the performance of resistance at the level of the micropolitics of borders. By squatting buildings and creating common living spaces, current struggles mobilize material, affective and political solidarities and constitute a politics of inhabitance beyond and against dependency on the state and humanitarian practices. The second part of the paper discusses the government’s attempts to repress, govern and enclose the We Are Here movement within confined fields of action. With negotiations and humanitarian concessions through the provision of emergency shelters, local authorities attempted to re-direct the movement into politics of rights and recognitions. However, these tactics did not succeed to contain the struggle in its entirety: many migrants rejected humanitarian solutions, continued to create radical home spaces through squatting, enacting a politics of inhabitance beyond citizenship.     

Gender and general strain theory: A replication and exploration of Broidy and Agnew's gender/strain hypothesis among a sample of southwestern Mexican American adolescents

Based on recent theoretical and empirical advancements in general strain theory (GST) research, this study explored the possible extension of GST to explain both interpersonal aggression and property offending among Hispanic adolescents. More specifically, this study attempted to replicate the work of Piquero and Sealock (2004) by examining gender differences in GST-related processes that affect criminal behavior using self-report data from a large sample of southwestern Mexican American adolescents. Results from a series of multivariate models incorporating several measures of strain, negative affect, and coping resources provided partial support for Broidy and Agnew's (1997) gender/general strain hypotheses and produced relatively similar findings in terms of gender similarities/differences as reported by Piquero and Sealock (2004). Additional results also identified several significant three-way interaction effects once gender x negative emotion x conditioning factor interaction terms were simultaneously estimated. Possible theoretical modifications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The Association between Intimate Partner Violence and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and Symptoms among Adult Women: Systematic Review

Journal of Family Violence - Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and symptoms have been identified as possible health consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, whether...     

Resource Dependence,Alternative Supply Sources,and the Design of Formal Contracts

Employing a resource dependence theoretical framework, the authors analyze a set of recently awarded contracts between the Environmental Protection Agency and its suppliers to determine how joint dependence, supplier dependence, and government dependence affect contract design—specifically, the decision to use a cost‐plus (flexible) contract. Findings provide evidence that organizations choose contract designs that will reduce uncertainty related to securing critical resources. However, different dimensions of dependence have different effects: (1) higher levels of joint dependence lead to more flexible governance forms; (2) the lack of alternative suppliers is a more important factor than high levels of financial dependence; and (3) the parties involved in government procurement are likely to perceive government as a unique type of organization, which, in turn, has implications for contract design choices. The authors conclude with managerial strategies for restructuring power/dependence relationships to achieve the contract design most likely to yield a surplus in the exchange.     

The rhetoric of personal loyalty to superiors in criminal justice agencies

Nowhere in public law is the idea of personal loyalty to superiors mentioned, yet criminal justice practitioners suffer from a “personal loyalty syndrome.” This syndrome holds them responsible to an altogether different set of loyalty expectations. They are often compelled to offer personal loyalty to unworthy superiors and, as a result, violate constitutional provisions, legal requirements, or the public good. While no organizational rules require any such loyalty, criminal justice practitioners are invariably taught that issues of loyalty at the workplace are so important that one cannot survive without personal loyalty to superiors. They are also reminded that violating such a “commandment” is a cardinal sin that can destroy one's career. This article discusses the arguments for and against personal loyalty to superiors and the dangers inherent in such relationships. It explains the grammar of loyalty at the workplace, explores the paradoxes of personal loyalty to superiors, and suggests a duty-based model as an alternative to the current model.     

Responding to Child Sex Trafficking: Transnational Advocacy Networks in the Greater Mekong Subregion

The rapidly expanding market in enslaved children bought and sold for sex is one of the most inhumane transnational crimes that appears to have been facilitated by globalization and its many effects, such as a growing disparity in wealth between north and south. Child sex trafficking has become one of the most highly publicized social issues of this time, and, because of its global nature, transnational advocacy networks are well placed and central to leading campaigns against it. Transnational advocacy network anti-trafficking efforts have led to significant progress in the Mekong Subregion by bringing the child trafficking issue onto the global social policy agenda, resulting in new child protection legislation and improved interagency collaboration in the region.