Policy implications of private sector involvement in correctional services and programs

The movement toward private sector involvement in our correctional services and programs is growing. Before our focus is turned completely to privatization of these services, it would be prudent to analyze the "policy impact of such change. It is evident that the diverse and incompatible policies guiding the government approach to corrections and the absence of any rational planning to answer public interest goals is costly. Moreover, despite the increasing complexity of problems now confronting public authorities, little change has been made in their approach to resolving them. However, is it realistic to assume that the profit/loss barometer of the private sector can be applied in an area of social problems that are so pluralistic and ill defined? What of the many areas of potential legal concern, that is, vicarious litigation, First Amendment right of prisoners, and so forth? These are all areas that need to be researched so that any judgements or decisions made will be sound.     

Spymaster Richard Helms: an interview with the former US Director of Central Intelligence

In this previously unpublished interview with Richard Helms in 1990, the former US Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) offered his views on a wide range of intelligence issues. Contrary to conventional wisdom, he argued that members of Congress had maintained rigorous accountability over the secret agencies in the years before the major spy scandal of 1975, when the Central Intelligence Agency was found to have spied on American citizens. He emphasized, too, the vital importance of human (as opposed to technical) intelligence, and expressed cynicism about the effectiveness of large-scale covert actions. For Helms, the DCI's most important job was to bring the facts to the table at high policy meetings.     

Law as the articulation of the state in Western Germany: A German tradition seen from a British perspective

The main purpose of this paper is to consider why in the Federal Republic of Germany legal categories are still so important in expressing what is understood by ‘the State’. This discussion is not, however, pursued solely in terms of concepts and traditions derived from German legal and political experience. Nor is the matter looked at just within the German context. There is in addition an attempt to look at the problem of law and the state in the Federal Republic against the background both of English legal theories and of contemporary arguments in Britain about constitutional issues. Thus what is offered is also a modest exercise in comparative political analysis.     

The Church Committee Investigation of 1975 and the Evolution of Modern Intelligence Accountability

Since 1975, lawmakers have displayed four responses to the call for greater intelligence accountability on Capitol Hill. Some have taken the approach of ‘ostriches’, content to bury their heads in the sand and continue the earlier era of trust when members of Congress deferred to the decisions of the executive branch within the domains of intelligence. Others – indeed, a majority – have chosen to become unalloyed boosters for intelligence –‘ cheerleaders’ who view their job primarily as one of explaining the value of intelligence to the American people and supporting intelligence missions with robust funding and encouragement. Taking the opposite approach, another set of lawmakers – the ‘lemon-suckers’ – have consistently found fault with America's attempts to spy on adversaries or overthrow regimes that fail to accommodate US interests. Finally, some lawmakers have been ‘guardians’, striking a balance between serving as partners of the intelligence agencies on Capitol Hill and, through a persistent examination of budgets and operations, demanding competence and law-abiding behavior from these agencies. The guardian model fits best into the framework of democratic theory.     

The Global Demographics of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal

The demographics of the Renewal are best understood by its constituent parts, namely, the three waves: Pentecostals, Charismatics, and neocharismatics. Each of these waves has different strengths in various countries around the world. Thus one finds that while Renewalists are numerous in China, Brazil and the USA, there are relatively few Pentecostals in China; Charismatics dominate in Brazil; and Independent Charismatics (neocharismatics) are most numerous in China and the USA.