Truth, Reconciliation and Settler Denial: Specifying the Canada–South Africa Analogy

Canada??s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is tasked with facing the hundred-year history of Indian Residential Schools. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission is frequently invoked in relation to the Canadian TRC, perhaps because this is one of the few TRCs worldwide that Canadians know. Whilst the South African TRC is mainly applauded as an international success, I argue that loose analogizing is often more emotive than concise. Whilst much indeed can be drawn from the South African experience, it is important to specify the Canada?CSouth Africa analogy. In this article, I do so by focussing on the institutional approach to truth and how this relates to issues of settler/White denial. The South African experience teaches that narrow approaches to truth collude with superficial views of reconciliation that deny continuities of violence. Consequently, I argue that Indigenous?Csettler reconciliation requires a broad truth that locates residential schools on a continuum of violence, linking extraordinary abuses with structural injustices and historic colonization with lived relationships.     

Parental Kidnapping: A Survey of Left-Behind Parents

Parental kidnapping is examined through a survey instrument developed by Rosemary Farley Janvier. The survey was tested and mailed to 283 left-behind parent victims nationwide; 65 parents elected to participate (a 23% return rate). The survey results yielded a statistical profile of parental kidnappings, with distinct differences between domestic and international cases. The differences were both in gender of the perpetrator and the victims, marital, and custodial status. The circumstances surrounding the kidnappings, use and effectiveness of existing legal remedies as preventive measures, law enforcement, attorneys, and the court?s responses, both pre-kidnapping and post-kidnapping and the emotional and financial costs to the parent victims were assessed. Recommendations by the left-behind parents for prevention of parental kidnappings are offered for legislative changes and procedural changes for the law enforcement community, attorneys, and the judiciary in decisions to be made to ultimately protect children from this trauma through prevention. Special recognition to the staff of the Ocean County Advisory Commission on the Status of Women, Ann Finnegan, Project Coordinator, and Lynn Ross, clerical support.     

A Cross-cultural Comparison of Social Reform: The Growing Pains of the Battered Women's Movements in Washington, D.C. and Madrid, Spain

In this exploratory cross-cultural study, we use interview data from representatives of social service, criminal justice, and policy-making agencies in two capital cities (Washington, D.C.) and Madrid, Spain) to compare responses to domestic violence within each country's sociolegal and cultural context. While both countries have patriarchal structures, there is great difference in the history, funding, development, and participants of the battered women's movement. For instance, in Spain the government determined the appropriate response to domestic violence from the onset, whereas in the United States the power to frame, find, and respond to the issue operated through a more insidious process of state cooptation. In both countries, wider social changes did not result; rather, services were provided as the movements became tied to finding requirements and to satisfying bureaucratic exigencies. Within this context, we analyze respondents'perceptions and interpretations of domestic violence as well as the institutional practices and future strategies proposed for continued social action.     

Routes to Scholarly Success in Public Administration: Is There a Right Path?

The Successful Scholars Project examined the determinants of successful public administration scholars. We surveyed the top 89 public administration scholars alive today (nominated by leaders of five national organizations) and asked them to rank a set of characteristics and behaviors that may have helped them achieve their success. We then analyzed the curricula vitae of 63 of the scholars. This article reports our study's findings and the recommendations of our successful scholars. Scholars heralded good methodological training and quality mentoring as significant. For research, choosing important, cutting-edge issues to write about, not following fads, being oneself, and publishing quality works were touted as important. Presenting research at national conferences also was highly recommended (while chairing committees and serving as discussants were not). Most scholars recommended steering away from administrative positions and university politics. We conclude with lessons for budding public administration scholars as well as lessons for designing public administration doctoral programs.