Pathways to the Enabling State: Changing Modes of Social Provision in Western Australian Community Services

This investigation of reform of Western Australian community services problematises assumptions about the enabling state. The investigation is distinctive by virtue of its attention to the departure points as well as the destinations in pathways of policy change and its unpacking of three modes of public provision into their three constituent policy elements (funder-provider mix; the nature of agreements between policy actors; and the type of funding relationships). We find first that government had long adopted some aspects of the model of governance associated with the enabling state. Second, we find some path dependency in policy change towards marketisation. Third, we find highly nuanced policy outcomes combining government exploitation of its authority, market innovations and the maintenance of basic network features of the programs.     

The Declining Appeal of Diasporic Connections: African American Organising for South Africa,Haiti and Rwanda*

Throughout the 20th century, African Americans challenged US foreign policies towards Africa and the Caribbean. In the first half of the century diasporic connections, particularly shared oppression and ancestral ties, triggered responses. When the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), an informal organisation of African American congressional representatives, became the key architects of African American foreign policy in the early 1970s, civil rights tactics were wedded to diasporic appeals to motivate African Americans to help shift US foreign policy towards South Africa and Haiti. Diasporic ties, however, worked against a campaign on behalf of Rwanda. This article argues that black globality, a broader framework that encompasses diasporic connections as only one of many possible ties between African Americans and Africa and African diasporic communities, will better serve the CBC in its goal to move African Americans to act on foreign policy issues concerning Africa and African diasporic communities in the 21st century.     

New Dreams of China: The China Novels of Anne Duffield

This article examines the work of a forgotten novelist, Anne Duffield, whose early novels set in China merit re-examination. Utilizing but also subverting the romance novel formula and alert to the utopian appeal of entertainment, Duffield’s The Lacquer Couch and Lantern-Light create a dream of China that invites intercultural connection, friendship and understanding. As China in the 1920s was rocked by anti-foreigner violence, the vision of these two novels was an appealing and hopeful alternative to the resurgent fears of malevolent fiends reminiscent of an earlier ‘Yellow Peril’ discourse. In addition, Duffield’s China, though romanticized, is also a modern and cosmopolitan one—an important counter to a tendency to imagine China as antiquated and entombed in the past.     

Same law–same rights? Analyzing why Sweden's disability legislation failed to create equal rights in mental health

This article analyzed the apparent paradox of disability rights in Sweden. Despite strong welfare state traditions and stated Government ambitions to create generous statutory entitlements for all disabled people using a single, comprehensive Disability Act, psychiatric disabilities were principally excluded from the Disability Act's rights and provisions. The study focused on Sweden's Mental Health Reform and Disability Reform using governance perspectives that traced and analyzed the policy-processes of both reforms. Theoretically guided analytical frameworks were developed to help understand the divergent reform outcomes. The first focused on legislative arguments of regulatory specificity and legal enforcement mechanisms to consider whether the Disability Act was formulated in a manner that was easier to apply to certain disabilities. The second analyzed ideological arguments and the influence of Government political beliefs that signaled specific reform ‘visions’ to implementers and thereby influenced policy implementation. The main findings are that both perspectives matter as the dual influences of legislative and ideological differences tended to exclude mental health service users from the Act's generous disability rights. The overall conclusion was that while legislation was an important regulatory mechanism, the Government's underlying ideological reform vision was also an essential governance instrument that signaled Government intentions to implementing agencies and thus influenced the creation of enduring disability rights.     

Determination of blood/serum ratios of different forensically relevant analytes in authentic samples

For forensic toxicological investigations only whole blood, but no serum is often available. Pharmacokinetic data are helpful for interpreting the results, but most of these studies indicate serum or plasma concentrations. In order to obtain reliable conversion factors which also take intersubject variability into account, the blood/serum ratios (B/S) of oxycodone, morphine, fentanyl, hydromorphone, zopiclone, MDMA, dexamphetamine, alprazolam, risperidone and 9-hydroxyrisperidone were determined by LC-MS/MS using authentic samples. Blood and corresponding serum samples were obtained from driving studies performed with controlled or known dosages of the above drugs. The analytes were analysed in blood and serum and the following mean B/S ratios (relative standard deviations) were determined: oxycodone 1.48 (8.19 %); morphine 1.03 (3.59 %); fentanyl 0.87 (13.9 %); hydromorphone 1.04 (8.11 %); zopiclone 0.89 (16.1 %); MDMA 1.19 (8.04 %); dexamphetamine 0.89 (10.9 %); alprazolam 0.81 (5.84 %); risperidone 0.65 (7.52 %); 9-hydroxyrisperidone 0.73 (12.3 %). These mean values are largely in line with those reported in the literature. The B/S ratios did not appear to depend on partition coefficients, whereas there was strong evidence that B/S ratios decreased with increasing plasma protein binding.     

Racially conditional donation: the example of umbilical cord blood

While direction of donated tissue to family members has long been accepted, direction to members of specific racial groups has been opposed, on the basis that it is discriminatory and contrary to the ethos the institution of organ donation seeks to promote. It has, however, recently been proposed that racially conditional donation may provide a useful--and ethically acceptable--way to address the social inequalities and injustices experienced by certain cultural groups. This article examines the ethical, legal and cultural arguments for and against racially conditional donation, concluding that the practice is more likely to undermine the values of equity and justice than to promote them and that it may also lead to other unfavourable personal and social outcomes.     

Sexual abuse in childhood and interpersonal violence in adulthood: a cumulative impact on depressive symptoms in women

This study investigates the cumulative impact of sexual abuse in childhood and adult interpersonal violence in the past year on depressive symptoms in a nonclinical sample of 265 primarily African American (74%) women. The frequency of depressive symptoms, measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), was highest for women who experienced both forms of victimization. Women who reported greater stress over life's daily hassles reported more depressive symptoms. Women with higher levels of family support and a sense of personal mastery reported fewer depressive symptoms. The final model explained 42% of the variance in CES-D scores. Implications for practitioners are discussed.