Breaking the Net: Family Structure and Street-Connected Children in Zambia

Drawing on original fieldwork in the slums of Ndola in Northern Zambia we isolate those features of a child's nuclear and extended family that put him most at risk of ending up on the streets. We find that older, male children and particularly orphaned children are more likely to wind up on the street. Families with a male household head who is in poor health are more likely to originate street-connected children. In contrast, households with surviving maternal grandparents or with a male head who has many sisters are significantly less likely to originate street-connected children.     

Gendering moral capital: Morality as a political asset and strategy of top female politicians in Asia

Abstract

In contrast to social capital, moral capital remains an under-researched topic in political science. In Asia, however, moral capital is one of the core assets of women politicians on their way to power. Kane defines moral capital as a specific political value of virtue that inclines others, in particular the political public and followers, to bestow (ethical) prestige, respect, loyalty, and authority on a political actor or the representative of an institution that the actor herself/himself can use as a resource to mobilize for political goals, activities, or support. This article addresses two questions. First, in which circumstances does moral capital become a significant asset for women on the rise to the top echelons of political power in Asia? Second, how do women politicians use moral capital as a political strategy, campaign instrument, and/or asset of public imaging? The authors discuss four case studies of female opposition politicians — Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, Malaysia's Wan Azizah, South Korea's Park Geun-hye, and Japan's Tanaka Makiko — in three types of political systems: democratic, semi-authoritarian, and authoritarian. All four women are descendants of political dynasties and each of them used moral capital to reach top political offices in their countries. But significant differences emerge regarding the importance of moral capital as a prime asset in the development of each of their political careers. These differences originate from (a) the power configurations in the political context in which each woman operates, and (b) the legacies of their fathers or husbands.     

Modifying the cognitive interview: countenancing forensic application by enhancing practicability

The UK investigative interview model advocates police officers use the cognitive interview (CI). However, research has indicated that many officers perceive the CI as too cumbersome, complex, and time consuming for some types of crime. With this in mind we investigate the efficacy of two CI procedures, which have been substantially modified to enhance forensic practicability and retain the empirically demonstrated CI superiority effect. Employing the mock witness paradigm, both are compared to the procedure currently taught to UK police officers. Participant's memorial performance revealed no differences across interview conditions for the amount of correct and incorrect recall. However, those interviewed using the modified procedures confabulated less and were more accurate. Considering type of information recalled (person, action, object, and surrounding), no differences were found across conditions for correct or confabulated type recall. However, the two modified CIs elicited fewer incorrect person and object information items. Further, they were shorter in duration than the current procedure. Hence, for frontline less serious crime, or in time critical situations, the modified procedures may be viable alternatives. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

Mayoral Public Sector Work Experience and Tax Collection Performance in Colombian Local Governments

ABSTRACT

Local governments in Latin America tend to have limited capacity to collect taxes. Existing theory explains tax collection performance as a function of political, socio-economic, and cultural factors. Yet across Latin America, tax collection performance varies greatly between localities that are similar along these dimensions. We suggest that organizational capacity, represented by managers' human capital, explains variation in local tax collection performance. We test this theoretical idea against panel data on most Colombian local governments, where elected mayors are the top managers determining the local tax collection strategy. We examine two indicators of tax collection performance: (1) the per-capita amount of property tax collected and (2) property tax collected as a percentage of total property valuation. Controlling for important confounders, the length of the mayor's prior public sector work experience is positively associated with the per-capita amount of property tax collected but not the percentage of total property valuation collected in property tax. Our results suggest that Colombian mayors gain relevant skills over their career. Our study has implications for other developing countries with a similar property tax collection system.