The endorsement of cognitive distortions: comparing child pornography offenders and contact sex offenders

This study examined the endorsement of cognitive distortions in child pornography offenders (CPOs), using an established assessment tool, the Abel and Becker Cognition Scale. The scale was expanded to include cognitions specific to child pornography offending, extracted from Howitt and Sheldon's Children and Sexual Activities Inventory (C&SA). Three samples of CPOs, child sex offenders and offenders with both offence types responded to the cognition items. An exploratory Principal Component Analysis suggested six main components of the scale. CPOs were significantly less likely to endorse these statements in general, and this was more pronounced on items that project blame onto the child or other people, describe a need for power and consider children as sexually active. The statements extracted from C&SA did not differentiate between the groups. These findings are discussed under consideration of the relationship between cognitive distortions and contact sex offending, and in reference to the general criticism concerning the definition and appropriate measurement of cognitive distortions.     

Creating Direct Incentives for Wildlife Conservation in Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programmes in Botswana

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programmes in Botswana were intended to create a wildlife conservation incentive by providing rural communities with tourism rights to wildlife—with limited effect. The 2007 CBNRM policy, increasing central control of CBNRM, is likely to further undermine communities' incentive to conserve wildlife. A complementary conservation corps is needed to create direct incentives to conserve wildlife and to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Responses to contingent behaviour questions indicate broad community support for such a programme and the availability of a suitable labour force willing to work at costs that can be financed from existing CBNRM revenues.     

Reviews and commentary

Running From Sin to Sainthood

Philip Agee: On The Run Lyle Stuart, Inc., Secaucus, NJ., 1987, 400 p., $19.95.

Industrial Intelligence, Once Over Lightly

Norman R. Bottom, Jr. and Robert R. J. Gallati: Industrial Espionage: Intelligence Techniques and Countermeasures Butterworth Publishers, Boston, 1984, 322 p. $25.95.

Deep Black and Shades of Gray

William E. Burrows: Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security Random House, New York, 1987, 401 p., $19.95.

The Affair Behind the Affair

Phillip Knightley and Caroline Kennedy: An Affair of State: The Profumo Case and the Framing of Stephen Ward Atheneum, New York, 1987, 268 p., $18.95.

Double the Agent Double the Pleasure

Juan Pujol, with Nigel West: Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Double Agent in World War II Random House, New York, 1986,205 p., $17.95.

How Sweet Revenge

Peter Wright with Paul Greengrass: Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer Viking, New York, 1987, 345 p., $18.95.

A Fresh Look at Bulgarian Intelligence

Vladimir Rostov: Le Parapluie Bulgare Editions Stock, Paris, 1986, 236 p., 85 Fr. fr.

French Intelligence Services: A View from the Top

Christine Ockrent and Alexandre de Marenches (Comte de Marenches): Dans le secret des princes Stock, Paris, 1986, 342 p., 98 Fr. fr.     

Japanese corporate groupings (keiretsu): A reconnaissance of implications for the future

Four trends presage a possibly somber scenario for the United States at the dawn of the 21st century. American business managers face growing shares of global markets held by foreign business, diminishing U.S. industrial capabilities, and pressure to compete in Japan for Japanese markets. And U.S. policymakers are experiencing operational difficulties, simultaneously influencing and influenced by U.S. industry performance. Thus, the U.S. political business system appears out of alignment with the emerging global competitive environment.

Many explanations and antidotes have been offered, each with its element of truth. The aim is not to deny them, rather it is to explore the significance of corporate grouping structures for Japanese and by implication world business. Long practiced habits of cooperation, mutually sustained competitive advantage, and interlocking ownership appear to be the major ingredients in the glue holding corporate groupings together.

If corporate groupings are as important as some Japanese scholars suggest then a new paradigm may be necessary for understanding their implications for the global political business environment. Thus, significant changes --in philosophies, perspectives, approaches and strategies-- may loom ahead for U.S. managers and policy makers who want to compete successfully in the 21st century.

Arguably, the most competitively potent and successful enterprises in the world are Japanese. Less visible, but of critical importance to this success, are inter-organizational support networks -- Japanese corporate groupings -- which bolster group members with capital, expertise and markets. This article is a reconnaissance for managers, scholars and policy makers detailing future implications of Japanese corporate grouping structures. The first and second sections establish four important trends and summarize popular and scholarly understandings of the corporate grouping phenomenon. If corporate groupings are as important as some Japanese scholars maintain, then perhaps we need a new paradigm which clearly identifies "strategic coupling" as a critical success factor in the new global political business environment. The third and final sections develop a framework for understanding some of the economic, institutional, organizational and strategic implications of Japanese corporate groupings.     

Who is willing to participate? Dissatisfied democrats,stealth democrats and populists in the United Kingdom

This article demonstrates that two quite distinctive types of political disaffection – ‘dissatisfied democratic’ and ‘stealth democratic’ – exist among British citizens, with the former being more prevalent. While both types manifest low trust in political elites, the dissatisfied democrat is politically interested, efficacious and desires greater political participation, while the contrary is generally true of the stealth democrat. However, stealth democrats are favourably disposed towards direct democracy, which can be attributed to the populist nature of stealth democratic attitudes. Even so, when given the opportunity to take part in a national referendum, neither stealth democrats nor dissatisfied democrats showed much inclination to vote.     

Politics Can Limit Policy Opportunism in Fiscal Institutions: Evidence from Official General Fund Revenue Forecasts in the American States

Governments make policy decisions in the same areas in quite different institutions. Some assign policymaking responsibility to institutions designed to be insulated from myopic partisan and electoral pressures and others do not. In this study, we claim that differences in political context and institutional design constrain the policy choices governments make. Testable propositions based on an analysis of varying electoral incentives and time horizons created by these different contexts are empirically tested using panel data on official general fund revenue forecasts in the American states, 1987 to 2008. The empirical evidence reveals that executive branch agencies and independent commissions produce more conservative forecasts than legislatures with one important exception. Executive branch revenue forecasts in states with gubernatorial term limits are indistinguishable from legislative branch forecasts. Further, we find that legislative branch forecasts are more conservative in the presence of divided partisan legislatures than unified party government. In turn, this implies that entrusting policymaking authority to either the executive branch or an independent commission may only be consequential when the political system itself fails to check legislative excesses or executive myopia.     

Book notes

Jeffrey Mourssaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy: When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals. New York: Doubleday, 1995.

Val Plumwood: Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. London: Routledge, 1993.

Karen J. Warren, ed.: Ecological Feminism. London: Routledge, 1994.

John Brinckerhoff Jackson: A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

Wendy Harcourt, editor: Feminist Perspectives on Sustainable Development. New Jersey: Zed Books Limited and the Society for International Development, 1994.     

The Bitter Product of Defeat? Reflections on Winstanley's Law of Freedom

The Law of Freedom in a Platform was Gerrard Winstanley's final published work. It appeared in February 1652, nearly two years after the dissolution of the 'Digger' commune in Surrey of which he had been the principal spokesperson. The book is said to differ markedly from his previous writings. In particular, his depiction of a disciplinary state apparatus is contrasted to his earlier rejection of state authority, and his appeal to a utopian legislator (Cromwell) is contrasted to his earlier emphasis on the self-emancipation of the poor. In accounting for this shift of position, commentators often refer to the 'bitter' experience of the Diggers' defeat. Confronted everywhere by ignorance and persecution, Winstanley came to realise that institutionalised discipline was required to counter human imperfection and that emancipation could only come from the top down. This paper questions such an argument. It suggests that in almost every respect The Law of Freedom remained consistent with Winstanley's other writings and that no transformation in his thought took place. What apparent differences there were stemmed from the challenges presented by the utopian genre, and the paper concludes by arguing that Winstanley's achievement lies in his having risen to these challenges.     

Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace

What factors influence the likelihood that a federal worker will receive unwanted sexual attention? Who is most likely to be accused of sexual harassment? What factors influence federal workers' perceptions of the effectiveness of agency sexual harassment training? Using the raw data file of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board's most recent survey on sexual harassment, the authors find that worker characteristics are the principal influence on the likelihood that a worker will receive unwanted sexual attention and whether an agency's sexual harassment training is perceived favorably. Contextual factors demonstrate lesser influence. Their conclusions lead the authors to believe that a reevaluation of training programs is in order. A one‐size‐fits‐all training approach may no longer be tenable, if it ever was.     

Critical incident reactions: A comparison of two studies ten years apart in the same police department

Conclusions The results of the 1993 survey can be interpreted as a validation of the findings of the 1983 study. Most of the common reactions to critical incidents that were documented in the earlier study were also reported in the later survey. It is certainly of interest to note that not only were most of the same reactions reported 10 years later, they were also reported in roughly the same frequency. This supports the idea that although what constitutes a critical incident varies from person to person, the reactions to critical incidents are fairly predictable. The number of surveys completed and returned in this study was over twice as great as the number returned in the 1983 study (a 49% return rate as compared to a 22% retum rate in 1983). This significant increase in the number of surveys returned suggests a greater awareness by officers regarding critical incidents. It may also suggest an increased willingness on the part of officers to identify reactions to critical incidents as predictable and “normal”. This shift in perception compared to perceptions in 1983 may be a result of the educational efforts of the Critical Incident Response Team members in Apprentice Police Officer Training, In-Service Training, and other informal training over the last 10 years. The core of that training has been to communicate the concept that reactions to critical incidents are normal, temporary, and treatable. It is hoped that training can continue to provide this “inoculation effect” which seems to reduce the possible negative, long-term impact of critical incidents on police officers who have been exposed to such situations.