Maternal Separations During the Reentry Years for 100 Infants Raised in a Prison Nursery

Prison nurseries prevent maternal separations related to incarceration for the small subset of children whose pregnant mothers are incarcerated in states with such programs. For a cohort of 100 children accepted by corrections into one prison nursery, subsequent separation patterns are analyzed. The largest numbers are caused by corrections' removal of infants from the nursery and infants reaching a one-year age limit. Criminal recidivism and substance abuse relapse threaten continued mothering during reentry. Focused and coordinated services are needed during prison stay and reentry years to sustain mothering for women and children accepted into prison nursery programs.     

The trust “builders” in the technology transfer relationships: an Italian science park experience

This study proposes and assesses the effectiveness of a solution for disseminating trust in the technology transfer services. Focusing on the original experience of a science park located in Northern Italy, we propose a model focused on interface figures capable of conducting a direct dialogue with an enterprise and gaining its trust thanks to their reputation of reliability and expertise, the informal-personalised nature of the contact and their geographic, social, cultural and professional proximity. These factors stem from the features of this particular “boundary spanner” who identifies in the case-study with retired business owners/managers. This solution has proven to be particularly effective for small and medium-sized enterprises that typically show a preference for local and informal contacts within the networks and the need to refer to guide-figures when interacting with external knowledge sources because often they are not used to such scenarios.     

Challenger Quality and the Incumbency Advantage

Most estimates of the incumbency advantage and the electoral benefits of previous officeholding experience do not account for strategic entry by high‐quality challengers. We address this issue by using term limits as an instrument for challenger quality. Studying US state legislatures, we find strong evidence of strategic behavior by experienced challengers. However, we also find that such behavior does not appear to significantly bias the estimated effect of challenger experience or the estimated incumbency advantage. More tentatively, using our estimates, we find that 30–40% of the incumbency advantage in state legislative races is the result of “scaring off” experienced challengers.     

From the Language of Class to the Rhetoric of Development: discourses of ‘nationality’ and ‘ethnicity’ in China

In the People's Republic of China's (PRC) continuous state-building project since its establishment in 1949, the notion of nation and nationality (minzu) has been uninterruptedly utilised by the leading elite in its political programmes. The notion of the ‘nationality question’ (minzu wenti) was employed especially for addressing the issues of the officially identified minority nationalities at the time when the multinational nature of the state was made fundamental. However, how a multinational character of the Chinese state is interpreted by the state elite and how this interpretation is shaped by their policies have arguably changed along with the political and economic preferences of the regime. This paper aims to explore the meaning of ‘nationality question’ during the period of socialist construction, and traces the shift in its notion during the reform period which started in the 1970s. The essay pays attention to the change in the preferred corresponding English term of minzu wenti. I argue that the substitution of the ‘nationality question’ term, which was dominant during the socialist period, with the concept of the ‘ethnic question’ during the reform period points not only to the changing character of the government policies towards minorities, but also legitimises them as the only suitable and rightful in the context of economic reforms.     

Social Democracy's Muted Revival

After a long malaise, social democracy is making a muted revival. What is the place of social democracy in the political and economic order that is emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the economic crisis that has followed in its wake? Patterns have begun to emerge across the party family that are indicative of how social democracy is defining itself for the period to come. This article briefly surveys the revival of social democracy in three countries that have been historic bastions of the creed: Germany, Britain and Australia. It considers three particularly potent trends in this social democratic moment that reveal the movement's current character and the challenges it faces: building an ongoing coalition amid changing electorates; seeking transformation in an era of constraint; and a lack of ideological coherence. It considers what this muted resurgence suggests about the prospects for the centre-left.