Individual differences and the pursuit of legal rights

In this article we explore the role of individual differences in the proclivity to pursue legal rights. A series of field surveys and a laboratory experiment indicated that a measure of claim propensity was consistently related to the reporting of “rights” problems, the tendency to make claims in response to these problems, and preferences for styles of conflict resolution. Although the findings leave many unanswered questions that will have to be addressed in future research, the most important contribution of the article, we believe, is that it draws attention to rights, or claims, consciousness as an important phenomenon and demonstrates that it is amenable to empirical investigation.     

Restoring the Federation

The 1999 Sir Robert Garran Oration, delivered at the IPAA National Conference, Darwin 8–10 September 1999.     

Teaching and Learning Politics: a Survey of Practices and Change in UK Universities

The paper presents the results of a survey of practices and change in respect of teaching and learning politics in UK universities for the period 1991/92–1994/95. It begins by contextualizing the survey; summarizing changes that occurred in higher education in the UK in the early 1990s and reviewing key strands in contemporary British literature on teaching and learning in higher education. Following a methods section, the findings of the survey are then presented. These suggest that, in 1994/95, UK politics departments were struggling to cope with increased student numbers and resource constraints whilst retaining a broadly traditionalist approach to teaching and learning. Implications of these findings are then considered in a short concluding discussion.     

Realities and mythologies of rape

He is author of Capitalism and the Welfare State; Clients and Constituents;and co-author of The Enabling State: Modern Welfare Capitalism in America;and Protecting Young Children from Sexual Abuse: Does Preschool Training Work?     

BUREAUCRATIC POLITICS AND THE DEMISE OF THE COMMONWEALTH TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION

Abstract: In the early 1980s the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission functioned as a relatively independent, self-directed policy arena within the commonwealth bureaucracy. Policy outputs tended to be consistent and coherent over time. During the last three or four years, however, a number of federal departments succeeded in gaining control over aspects of tertiary education policy. This development was due partly to a changed economic environment which encouraged the growth of cross-sectoral programs, and partly to administrative reforms introduced by the Hawke government which fostered increased interdepartmental competition. The outcome was the fragmentation of the tertiary education policy process. The removal of CTEC and the creation of the Department of Employment, Education and Training is an attempt to reimpose a greater degree of coordination and integration upon tertiary education policy procedures.     

COMMUNITY COUNCILS IN SCOTLAND: SOME LESSONS FOR NEW SOUTH WALES LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The concept of "community councils" is one which has gained increasing prominence in Scottish local government during the last few years. Their main function is simply to advise local councillors on the views of the local community. Our basic contention is that the local government system in New South Wales (and, probably, other states) could benefit from studying the Scottish experience.     

Rapid determination of carbohydrates in heroin drug seizures using capillary electrophoresis with short-end injection

A simple and rapid method for the analysis of carbohydrates in heroin samples by capillary electrophoresis utilizing a borate complexation method is described. Separations were performed using an uncoated fused silica capillary, 50 cm x 50 micro I.D. x 360 microm O.D. with an effective separation length of 9 cm. The system was run at 60 degrees C with an applied voltage of -8 kilovolts. Injection of each sample was for 1 sec at -50 mbar. UV detection was employed with the wavelength set at 195 nm. The background electrolyte consisted of 65 mM borate, pH 12.0. Samples and standards were prepared in the run buffer containing 2 mg/mL of mannose as an internal standard. Under these conditions a test mixture containing glucose, sucrose, lactose, mannitol and mannose as an internal standard was resolved within 5 min. The method was used to determine the concentration of carbohydrates in heroin seizure samples and synthetic heroin samples. The results were in good agreement with the reported values.     

Optimal Pricing of Court Services

Litigants are generally charged for using court services. The charges involved are usually set to achieve a combination of efficiency, equity and funding goals. This paper presents a simple model, based on regulated monopoly pricing, to address the question of how these charges should be set. We find that fixed fees generally form part of the optimal charging package, despite concerns about their regressive nature. Per-unit fees will also be used though they may be set below cost; in this case, a trade-off emerges and the fixed fee is used to achieve funding goals. Our model is a useful one for developing extensions from the nonlinear pricing literature.JEL K40, L50