Making a Crisis out of a Drama: The Political Analysis of BSE Policy-Making in the UK

Political analysis presents the episode of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) as a crisis, a policy failure and a policy disaster, revealing fundamental problems with the political and administrative system in the UK. Associated with this finding is the view that trust in government has been damaged by the failure to communicate fully the potential risks to the public of eating beef. These conventional judgements are challenged here, on the basis of an exploration of the episode, the findings of the official inquiry into BSE, and the relationship between risk and trust. I conclude that the drama over BSE and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease does not amount to a crisis, a failure or a disaster, and cannot serve as a critique of the UK political system. Instead, the complexity of the case suggests that it is an intractable policy problem.     

Explaining “Market Authority” and Liberal Stability: Toward a Sociological–Constructivist Synthesis

Irrespective of the occasionally destructive financial consequences for individuals and the global economy, and warnings of its imminent collapse by critics, a globalising regime of capital mobility and neoliberal domestic policies appears in no danger of imminent collapse. This article explores the sources of the erstwhile stability of a liberal global economic order. The social mechanisms whereby people in many of the most capable states give their consent to “market authority” are explored with reference to Max Weber's sociology of legitimacy and Anthony Giddens' sociology of modernity. A constructivist theoretical construct of the changing “structure of intersubjective public belief” is developed as an explanatory heuristic. Liberalism is criticised for its conflation of choice with consent regarding its treatment of market processes, and vulnerabilities resulting from inconsistencies among liberal treatments of these are discussed.     

Drugs in oral fluid in randomly selected drivers

There were 13,176 roadside drug tests performed in the first year of the random drug-testing program conducted in the state of Victoria. Drugs targeted in the testing were methamphetamines and Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). On-site screening was conducted by the police using DrugWipe^®, while the driver was still in the vehicle and if positive, a second test on collected oral fluid, using the Rapiscan^®, was performed in a specially outfitted “drug bus” located adjacent to the testing area. Oral fluid on presumptive positive cases was sent to the laboratory for confirmation with limits of quantification of 5, 5, and 2 ng/mL for methamphetamine (MA), methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), and THC, respectively. Recovery experiments conducted in the laboratory showed quantitative recovery of analytes from the collector. When oral fluid could not be collected, blood was taken from the driver and sent to the laboratory for confirmation. These roadside tests gave 313 positive cases following GC–MS confirmation. These comprised 269, 118, and 87 cases positive to MA, MDMA, and THC, respectively. The median oral concentrations (undiluted) of MA, MDMA, and THC was 1136, 2724, and 81 ng/mL. The overall drug positive rate was 2.4% of the screened population. This rate was highest in drivers of cars (2.8%). The average age of drivers detected with a positive drug reading was 28 years. Large vehicle (trucks over 4.5 t) drivers were older; on average at 38 years. Females accounted for 19% of all positives, although none of the positive truck drivers were female. There was one false positive to cannabis when the results of both on-site devices were considered and four to methamphetamines.     

A Decade of Europe? Some Reflections on an Aspiration

This article suggests that Europe faces four primary challenges today. The first relates to democracy, as all the anxieties about the ‘democratic deficit’ in Community are writ even larger in the Union. A second issue is that of liberal legalism. Lawyers have long presumed that the ‘new’ Europe has been integrated ‘through’ law. This article suggests that the role of law is of far less importance to the future of the Union. A third problem, perhaps the most pressing, relates to enlargement. Is the ‘new’ Europe fully prepared for the inevitable shock that will follow the much‐vaunted ‘big bang’? Finally, there is the overarching problem of a continuing lack of ethos, or public philosophy, underpinning public life in the ‘new’ Europe.     

Political party formation by former armed opposition groups after civil war

ABSTRACT

Under what conditions are rebel groups successfully incorporated into democratic politics when civil war ends? Using an original cross-national, longitudinal dataset, we examine political party formation by armed opposition groups over a 20-year period, from 1990 to 2009. We find that former armed opposition groups form parties in more than half of our observations. A rebel group’s pre-war political experience, characteristics of the war and how it ended outweigh factors such as the country’s political and economic traits and history. We advance a theoretical framework based on rebel leaders’ expectations of success in post-war politics, and we argue that high rates of party formation by former armed opposition groups are likely a reflection of democratic weakness rather than democratic robustness in countries emerging from conflict.     

Pig Organ Energy Loss Comparison Experiments Using BBs

Torso models for ballistics research require that the mechanical properties of simulant materials must match the heterogeneous nature of tissues/organs within the human thorax/abdomen. A series of energy loss experiments were conducted on fresh porcine organs/tissues at room temperature and 37°C, using steel 4.5 mm BBs fired from a Daisy^® brand air rifle. They were compared to FBI and NATO specification ordnance gelatin and a candidate surrogate material called Simulant “A”. Two CED M2 chronographs measured BB velocity. The resulting energy loss was established using KE = 1/2 mv² before and after target perforation. The combined results at room temperature and 37°C were as follows: FBI specification gelatin was similar (p > 0.05) to heart and lung, spleen was similar to NATO specification gelatin, Simulant “A” was similar to hindquarter muscle, and hindquarter muscle, kidney, and spleen were similar to each other regarding energy retardation. These results can be used as a basis for the development of simulant materials to create an anatomically correct heterogeneous model.     

Convict Criminology and the Struggle for Inclusion

Convict Criminology (CC) began in the early 1990s as a reaction to the then current state of academic criminology that did not adequately reflect the voices of convicted felons. Since its beginnings, CC has attempted to draw attention to a range of problems created by the criminal justice apparatus and defenders of the status quo. Dr. Joanne Belknap’s 2014 ASC presidential address and subsequent article presented an argument that stressed the importance of activism to be considered as part of criminological research. In the process, she reviewed her career and then criticized the field of Critical Criminology, in particular Convict Criminology. The article, however, ignored the numerous efforts that CC has engaged in to build an inclusive group school, movement, organization and network that includes the diverse voices of Ph.D. educated convicts and excons, and overall reflected a superficial understanding of the history and intent of Convict Criminology. This article attempts to explain the shortcomings of Belknap’s article and clarifies misunderstandings.