‘Can Governments Weather the Storm in the New Communications Climate?’

Government policies of privatisation, contracting-out and de-regulation have been major driving forces of globalisation in and through the communications industry. Ironically, however, globalism makes it increasingly difficult for national and state governments to influence the communications industry at national and state levels respectively. This article argues that globalism challenges governments to manage and develop their own communications systems and activities in ways which counter some of the major features of globalism in the communications industry. The article advocates rolling communications strategies at state and federal levels and outlines ways in which such strategies could develop.     

Concentrated deviance and the “underdass” hypothesis

The “underclass” is perhaps the defining feature of current research in urban distress and of current debates regarding urban policy. The leading measurement strategy (proposed in this journal) is somewhat divorced from the careful specifications of the leading theoretical work (notably that of W. J. Wilson). Several alternative measurement strategies demonstrate that the findings are extremely sensitive to the measurement used. Theory is the only reliable basis for choosing a measurement strategy and for avoiding the empiricist approach taken by other studies. If we cannot identify the best measurement strategy, then there is no basis for further research or for recommending policies.     

Rape and child sexual abuse: what beliefs persist about motives, perpetrators, and survivors?

Rape myths are prejudicial and stereotyped beliefs about rape which persist in society. They may have a significant impact on those affected by rape as well as the performance of legal and public participants in the justice system. Rape myths may differ over time and within different societies and cultural settings. Awareness of contemporary and local rape myths is necessary if they are to be successfully challenged through public campaigns and other means. This study sought to assess the prevalence of myths concerning rape and sexual abuse in a national population survey.     

Partying,Cruising, and Hanging in the Streets: Gangs,Routine Activities,and Delinquency and Violence in Chicago, 1959–1962

Objectives

Examine relationships between routine activities, character contests in the form of “signifying,” and general delinquency and fighting in a street gang context.

Methods

Samejima’s (Estimation of latent ability using a response pattern of graded scores. Psychometrika monograph supplement 17. Psychometric Society, Richmond, VA, Retrieved 10 Aug 2011, from http://www.psychometrika.org/journal/online/MN17.pdf, 1969) graded response models and multilevel ordinal logistic regression models are estimated using data from Short and Strodtbeck (Group process and gang delinquency. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965) study of street gangs in Chicago, 1959–1962. The primary sample consists of 490 boys representing 10 black gangs, 4 white gangs, 9 black lower-class groups, 4 white lower-class groups, 2 black middle-class groups, and 2 white middle-class groups.

Results

Unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers significantly increased the likelihood of delinquency among the boys and explained a significant portion of the group-level gang effect. In addition, the more time the boys spent hanging in the streets and attending parties, the more likely they were to participate in signifying, which, in turn, increased their risk of fighting.

Conclusions

Findings provide evidence that gangs contribute to delinquency partly through their effect on the routine activities of members. Findings also suggest that signifying is an important mechanism by which unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers leads to violence.     

The Sources of Pakistani Attitudes toward Religiously Motivated Terrorism

This study is interested in understanding public opinion in Pakistan toward terror attacks. Specifically, this study explores (1) the general picture of attitudes in Pakistan toward terrorism and (2) which individuals are most likely to support terrorism in Pakistan. The study aims to give insights into how pervasive a support base exists for terrorism as a tactic in Pakistan and it seeks to isolate the individual-level traits that account for the variation we see among Pakistani Muslims regarding their level of acceptance of terrorism against Pakistani and Indian targets. The study finds that a large majority of Pakistanis oppose terrorism but terrorism directed at Indian targets is more tolerated than terrorism against Pakistani targets. The study also finds that those who are most supportive of Talibanization in Pakistan are the most supportive of terrorism.     

How successfully do we measure capital flight? The empirical evidence from five developing countries

Economists have proposed several different techniques for measuring capital flight. Each technique differs significantly in its definition of what constitutes capital flight, principally on the limits to normal capital flows, how to capitalise investment income, and the inclusion of long term capital flight. Consequently estimates of the determinants and remedies for capital flight have been very mixed. Given that capital flight is not observable it is important to examine the information content and consistency between the different measures. This article uses three different techniques over five countries to make that comparison, and finds a limited amount of information in each measure but no obvious agreement between them. Econometric techniques which have been designed for measuring the ‘hidden economy’ of OECD countries is likely to offer a better way of measuring capital flight.     

Shorter notices

The Peoples of Soviet Central Asia. By Geoffrey Wheeler. The Bodley Head, 1966. Pp. 126. 12/6.

The Regional City. Edited by Derek Senior. Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1966. Pp. viii, 192, 42s.

’United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’ A Case Study in U. N. Diplomacy. By Kamal M. Hagras. Frederick Praeger Inc., 1966. Pp. 142. £5 5s.     

Die strafpreussen: Mecklenburg und der bund der deutschen absolutistischen fürsten, 1648–1719

SUMMARY

It is the common opinion of Whig historians, and not a few recent revisionists, that James VII and II undermined the parliamentary cultures of England and Scotland before the revolution of 1688–89. At the extreme end of this approach he is declared to have usurped parliamentary authority in a drive for absolute power. Some of this is now seen as rhetorical exaggeration but James certainly developed a particular understanding of the power of parliaments in relation to monarchy. In some respects this was a return to a late medieval Stewart and Tudor outlook, that of James V of Scotland and Henry VIII of England, which saw parliaments as the personal vehicles of royal authority. The difficulty for James, of course, was that the Scottish and English Parliaments had become ‘modernized’ over the seventeenth century, growing a strong sense of independence and legitimacy as representative institutions. In this essay both the practical engagement James had with Scottish affairs and his philosophical opinions as revealed in his own writings will be explored in an attempt to better define this monarch's view of the Scottish Parliament and its workings. Through this, his reactions to the notions of unionism and nationalism will become more apparent.