Finding fresh evidence

Fresh Evidence, New Witnesses: Finding Women's History, edited by Margaret Allen, Mary Hutchinson, Alison Mackinnon. (South Australian Government Printer), Adelaide, 1989.     

Bridging the gap between town and gown: Local government expertise and the role of the university

This paper challenges the claim of the public administration community that universities are playing an important role in transferring public sector technology to local governments. We provide data from the Lower Mississippi Delta to show that graduate programs in public management and planning are not filling the severe expertise gap facing nonrnetropolitan counties and municipalities. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations on how universities can better fulfill their promise of technology transfer.     

Donor-conceived people's views and experiences of their genetic origins: a critical analysis of the research evidence

This article reports on a systematic review of English language, peer-reviewed publications from 13 empirical studies with donor-conceived children and adults regarding their experiences and perceptions of donor conception. A total of 19 articles that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. These were identified by means of a bibliographic search of four electronic databases for the period 1990-2011 and supplemented by the authors' personal knowledge of work in this field. No reports from such studies appeared prior to 2000, and more than half have been published since 2008, demonstrating the relative novelty of research in this field. Much of the reviewed research evidence concerns individuals conceived through sperm donation conducted under a regime promoting both anonymity and nondisclosure. Consequently, there is little research that pertains to individuals conceived through other forms of collaborative reproduction, nor to those conceived under arrangements and regimes in which early parental disclosure is both advocated and practised and the identity of the donor and of other genetic relatives may be accessible to donor-conceived individuals. The studies consistently report that most donor-conceived people have an interest in securing information about their genetic and biographical heritage - more information than most of them have been able to obtain. Although a number of methodological limitations in the research base are identified, the authors conclude that the evidence is sufficiently robust to promote the implementation of policies and practices that promote transparency and openness in collaborative reproduction, thus reflecting the importance of maximising future choices and opportunities for donor-conceived people.     

Imperialism in China: An Exchange

Abstract

From the viewpoint of those in control of state power, few things can be more frustrating than the relative autonomy of the populace in whose name political power is exercised. However, when a large number, preferably the majority, of those who cherish this autonomy are in need, an unquestionable reason for intervention is provided. When this state of need can be linked, if only in formal terms, to the low productivity of labor, a specific field of intervention is clearly defined. Finally, when relative autonomy, low labor productivity, and need can be shown to coincide in specific groups or social classes, the State and its allies are provided with the social, economic, and political legitimacy to intervene. It is then that their solicitude knows no bounds. Getting people to work more efficiently, more productively, becomes the major goal of society. While this preoccupation has always been present whatever the form of State power, it stands as the raison d’être of all contemporary authoritarian regimes, whether of the left or the right.