Revolution's Legacy: Residual Effects on Nicaraguan Participation and Attitudes in Comparative Context

A longstanding scholarly debate asks what lasting changes revolution makes in political attitudes and behaviors. Scholars generally regard revolution as transformative, but research on revolution's behavioral and cultural legacies after transfers of state power has been limited. This study explores revolution's residual impact on individuals' electoral participation, civil society engagement, and social capital by comparing postrevolutionary Nicaraguans to their Central American neighbors. Using survey data on comparable samples of urban Central Americans, the research found higher electoral engagement in Nicaragua than in the other nations in the region that experienced major insurgencies but not revolution. It also found among Nicaraguans greater support for civil disobedience, greater school and union activism, and more frequent leftist political identification. Although revolution did leave residual effects in Nicaragua, more significant influence appears to have decayed rapidly.     

The ‘Good’ Attached Mother: An Analysis of Postmaternal and Postracial Thinking in Birth and Breastfeeding Policy in Neoliberal Britain

ABSTRACT

In the last 20 years, a new parenting philosophy has garnered increasing attention and popularity. Coined by William Sears in the early 1980s, attachment parenting (AP) proposes that secure attachment between parent and child is necessary for optimal development and therefore ‘good’ parenting. Simultaneously, neoliberalism, a socio-political context defined by market logic, has emerged as the dominant global trend. In this article, I examine the correspondence between AP, and the broader ideology of intensive mothering it expresses, and the parenting-related policies advanced by the neoliberal state. Specifically, I focus on how birth and breastfeeding policy in Britain aligns with AP, contextualising the emergence of AP and its appearance in contemporary state policy as the result of two features of neoliberalism: postmaternal and post-racial thinking. I draw attention to the experiences of black mothers and, through this lens, reveal the raced, gendered and classed dimensions of ‘good’ parenting. In my examination of these policies, I argue that postmaternal and postracial thinking have enabled the emergence of AP, an approach that individualises child-rearing and relies upon an uncritical appropriation of the so-called traditional practices of racialised women.     

“Mad Agnes” Ebbsmith: Revolutionary Roles and Reconfigured Relationships in A. W. Pinero's the Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith

In The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith, Arthur Pinero's use of the “fallen woman” plot is an unusual one, with implications for the 1890s “New Women's” agenda that have continuing relevance today. Linking gender issues to national, religious, and class issues, Pinero examines the limitations of advocacy rhetoric and personal exemplification in promoting social change, and he uses the often puzzling action of the play to explore the possibility of viable alternatives.     

Rediscovering the Taproot: Is Classical Pragmatism the Route to Renew Public Administration?

The origins of the influential American philosophy classical pragmatism and of American public administration overlap. On the surface, it appears that classical pragmatism had no influence on the emerging field of American public administration. Why were the two never properly wed? This essay first traces the historical connections that link public administration and classical pragmatism. Second, using a framework that is simple to remember, the tenets of classical pragmatism—practical, pluralistic, participatory, and provisional—are explored and applied to public administration. The marriage of classical pragmatism and public administration should prove endlessly fertile.     

Demographic and workplace characteristics which add to the prediction of stress and job satisfaction within the police workplace

Much research has been conducted into aspects of the police workplace that contribute to stress for individual officers. The current paper examines the influence of worksplace and job characteristics on both officers' stress and their job satisfaction. Police officers recruited from two divisions of an Australian state police service (n=749) were surveyed. Results show that there was a positive relationship between organizational support and job satisfaction and a negative relationship between organizational support and job stress. Difficulty in dealing with organizational change led to lower job satisfaction and higher levels of job stress. Working long hours led to increased job stress but it did not lead to lower job satisfaction. In contrast, shiftwork led to lowered job satisfaction but it did not lead to job stress. Of particular interest in this study was the finding that the job content factor of dealing with dangerous and unpredictable duties was not predictive of job stress but in fact led to higher job satisfaction. Authors' Note: Jeremy Davey, DipT, Bed, Med, is Deputy Director, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Beams road, Carseldine, Qld 4034, Australia.     

Deliberative democracy in local governance: the impact of institutional design on legitimacy

Deliberative democracy is expected to increase legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic governance. In recent years, a growing body of research has reported on different instances of participatory innovations across the globe. Nevertheless, quantitative evidence on the determinants of legitimate and effective deliberative procedures is still scarce. Examining parents’ participation in school governance in Switzerland, this article explores the effect of the design of deliberative institutions on perceptions of legitimacy and effectiveness. Based on an original survey of 312 parent councils of public primary schools in Switzerland, the results of our analysis corroborate theoretical expectations about the impact of institutional design on legitimacy and effectiveness of deliberative procedures: More authority granted to parent councils clearly enhances the output-legitimacy of these bodies.