Books in review

He is author of Polls and the Awareness of Public Opinion;and recently of Preserving the Press.     

Finding energy in strategic project management: an essay in honour of Dean Fang

A development project is an intervention that is designed to makes things better in a particular context or situation. It is always a problem to know what to do for the best. The Logical Framework, evaluated in this journal last year (Gasper, 2000 ), is a project‐planning and management technique widely applied by multilateral as well as bilateral donor agencies in international development work. It was designed to prevent project managers from simply offering to do what they had always done before and instead to think strategically about cause and effect in context. The present article respects this logical approach but focuses attention upon context. Context is considered in the right‐hand column of a Log Frame. The article seeks inspiration in ancient Chinese concepts of energy: Yin–Yang and Wu–Wei. The search is for a form of project management that minimizes energy consumption in its own internal processes and maximizes energy release in the context that the project seeks to transform. Context has to be examined for opportunities rather than constraints. The article advocates management by being a still presence, as against management by rushing about. It borrows the old‐fashioned idea about being a catalyst and validates the now fashionable concepts of enabling and empowering. It also rediscovers at least some virtue in the Blueprint Project. The article seeks to be practical. A management development project in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa provides some illustrations and an incomplete example of what might be entailed if energy is brought into the equations of project management. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Concurrent detection of heroin, fentanyl, and xylazine in seven drug-related deaths reported from the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office

Recreational drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, are often adulterated with other pharmacological agents to either enhance or diminish the drug effects. Between April 21, 2006 and August 8, 2006, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office detected xylazine (a veterinary sedative) and fentanyl (a synthetic opioid) in specimens taken from seven cases. Initial immunoassay screening was performed on urine and blood for fentanyl, opiate, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), and benzodiazepines. All tests reported positive were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. All seven xylazine positive cases tested positive for fentanyl and six cases tested positive for 6-acetylmorphine (a metabolite and definitive marker for heroin). The seventh case was positive for morphine and had a history of heroin abuse. Xylazine was present in urine in all seven cases and blood levels were detected in three cases. The blood concentrations ranged from trace to 130 ng/mL. Fentanyl was present in the blood and urine in each case and blood concentrations ranged from 4.7 to 47 ng/mL. Adulteration of illicit drugs has become an epidemic health concern for drug users. Healthcare professionals need to be aware of this issue, so the patients can be treated in an effective, timely manner.     

Social Immobility,Ethno-politics,and Sectarian Violence: Obstacles to Post-conflict Reconstruction in Northern Ireland

Through analysis of interviews with community leaders and newspaper reports and police data on sectarian violence, this study identifies dynamics and conditions which underscore fluctuations in ethno-political tensions and violence in Northern Ireland. Findings suggest that political provocations which promote such tensions are facilitated by the economic marginalization of communities historically susceptible to violence, ongoing community influence of paramilitary factions and disjuncture between the political priorities of upper- and lower-classes within each ethno-political community. More generally, the research highlights how a lack of investment in social and economic modes of reconstruction undermines the development of new political forms of cross-community cooperation and contributes to the reconstitution of intergroup division.     

‘Whether you are gay or straight,I don’t like to see effeminate dancing’: effeminophobia in performance-level ballroom dance

This article discusses recent responses to performances of same-sex male ballroom dancing in order to consider the subtle difference which can exist between homophobia and effeminophobia. Given that the world of performance-level ballroom dancing is a gay-friendly environment, in which many participants are openly gay identified, this article will argue that a discourse of effeminophobia, rather than homophobia, underpins the world of performance-level ballroom dance. Performance-level ballroom dance is often read as camp not only because it represents exaggerated gender roles but because its official technique requires that the male dancer synthesise codes of masculinity and femininity in his dancing. What protects the gender-dissident male ballroom dancer from being read as effeminate is that he is paired with a female body performing excessive femininity. Without the foil of the hyper-feminine female partner, the same-sex couple draws attention to the fact that the male ballroom dancer is not dancing as a man but in accordance with ballroom’s queer construction of masculinity. Given that performance-level dance has struggled for so many years to be viewed as masculine sport, practitioners may, quite understandably, be anxious about any representation which suggests that ballroom dance may be an effeminate activity.     

Government, Interest Groups and Policy Change

Much of the British and European literature on the role of interest groups in the policy process focuses on their participation in policy networks of various types. Possibly reflecting the original development of the policy community and policy network 'models' in the late 1970s, these approaches tend to emphasize stability and continuity – of both networks and policies. However, the 1980s and 1990s have witnessed much policy change and instability in most Western European states. In particular, some governments have adopted a more impositional policy style, and interest groups have learned to exploit the opportunities presented by a policy process which is increasingly characterized by multiple opportunity structures. This is especially the case following Europeanization of many policy sectors within the fifteen EU member states. The article focuses on the possible causes of policy change, including the importance of state power; changes in the behaviour of interest groups as they adjust to and exploit the opportunities presented by multi-arena policy-making; the impact of new policy fashions, reflecting knowledge and ideas which can act as a virus-like threat to existing policy communities.     

Lesbian,Gay and Bisexual Populations: The Role of English Local Government

Abstract

The role of local government has recently come under debate, in the context of state retrenchment, public sector cuts and the marketisation of welfare. Recent discussions have centred on local authorities as leaders, on enterprise and on democracy, but there has been little discussion of local authorities in relation to equalities issues and minority groups. This article examines the role of local government in relation to one minority grouping, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) people, drawing on empirical material gathered from 2007 to 2010 as part of a large Economic and Social Research Council research project. It describes the importance of equalities legislation and related implementation mechanisms in driving forward the LGB equalities agenda, explores aspects of welfare delivery to LGB people and addresses democratic processes. The article suggests that a collision of different forces is currently taking place: the legislation supports the protection of the LGB communities, but this support is undermined by the recession-related and ideologically driven public sector cuts. In addition, aggregate approaches to local democracy may override the interests of minority groups such as LGB people.     

Poems: The swimmer; Aphrodite,your curly hair; Wedding dress; The frog prince

On or About December 1910: Early Bloomsbury and Its Intimate World, by Peter Stansky. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Beyond the Homefront: Women's Autobiographical Writing of the Two World Wars, edited by Yvonne M. Klein. London: Macmillan Press, 1997.

From Acting to Performance: Essays in Modernism and Postmodernism, by Philip Auslander. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Writing as Resistance: Four Women Confronting the Holocaust, by Rachel Feldhay Brenner. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.

The Culture of Wilderness: Agriculture as Colonization in the American West, by Frieda Knobloch. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Postmodern Fairy Tales: Gender and Narrative Strategies, by Cristina Bacchilega. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

Sex, Nation, and Dissent in Irish Writing, edited by Eibhear Walshe. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Beauty's Body: Femininity and Representation in British Aestheticism, by Kathy Alexis Psomiades. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.

Sexualities in Victorian Britain, edited by Andrew H. Miller and James Eli Adams. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.

The Literary Biography: Problems and Solutions, edited by Dale Salwak. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1996.