From Participatory Reform to Social Capital: Micro‐Motives and the Macro‐Structure of Civil Society Networks

Although a wide‐ranging literature explores the favorable effects of social capital, it is only relatively recently that systematic attention has been directed to the manner in which social networks emerge and the consequent implications for civic engagement and collaborative governance. This article employs advanced social network statistical models to examine civic network emergence following a participatory reform in Los Angeles. Findings suggest that the reform fostered a number of favorable network attributes supportive of democratic participation. At the same time, subtle but ubiquitous effects of socioeconomic sorting had the unintended and undesirable effect of elevating higher‐status actors within the emergent civic network. These findings suggest that macro‐level policy interventions are required to foster the development of ties that promote cross‐talk among socioeconomically distinct community groups.     

Database rights' subsistence: under starter's orders

Legal context. The criteria for database rights' subsistenceset out in the Directive on the Legal Protection of Databasesare largely undefined. Guidance on their interpretation hasbeen provided by the ECJ and its guidance on qualifying investmentactivities was applied by the Court of Appeal in the BHB case. Key points. The article comments upon the guidance on the subsistencecriteria for database rights provided by the Advocate Generaland the ECJ in the BHB and Fixtures Marketing cases and analysesthe Court of Appeal's application of the production-processingdichotomy in the BHB case. It offers thoughts on thorny issuessuch as the avoidance of a double benefit for database developersin copyright and database right, the role of investments intechnology, and the effect of the production-processing dichotomyon the risk of monopolies over facts. Practical significance. Database developers seeking databaserights' protection should keep the subsistence criteria in mindwhen devising their processing arrangements, designing theirdatabases, and recording their investment activities associatedwith database development.     

Women's self concept and belief: A feminist approach to empowerment symbolism

Because most cultures use the metaphor of Male Godhead to legitimate male control of earthly objects, their women are led to internalise a self-image in which their natural purpose is read as the primary and ultimate bearers and carers of life. This cosmological task is defined as inferior, thus masking the fact that women develop an identity in which their self-evaluation includes the needs and contentment of others. Prevented from operating the same ethical values as their men, their minds and bodies mediate the pain caused to them and others by the limited moral responsibility required of men whose goals must be competitive and instrumental. The effort to articulate symbols to convey the female experience of personal identity as communal identity has involved the international women's movements to provide images unifying materials and spiritual purposes, and simultaneously to force men to see this as superior intersubjective praxis. Empowering women by asserting their interpersonal self-image as the norm is prerequisite for rationalising economic legal and scientific thinking.     

The Reputational Basis of Public Accountability

This article proposes a reputation‐based approach to account for two core puzzles of accountability. The first is the misfit between behavioral predictions of the hegemonic political science framework for talking about accountability, namely, principal–agent, and empirical findings. The second puzzle is the unrivaled popularity of accountability, given evidence that supposedly accountability‐enhancing measures often lead to opposite effects. A “reputation‐informed” theoretical approach to public accountability suggests that accountability is not about reducing informational asymmetries, containing “drift,” or ensuring that agents stay committed to the terms of their mandate. Accountability—in terms of both holding and giving—is about managing and cultivating one's reputation vis‐à‐vis different audiences. It is about being seen as a reputable actor in the eyes of one's audience(s), conveying the impression of competently performing one's (accountability) roles, thereby generating reputational benefits.     

No,prime minister: explaining the House of Commons’ vote on intervention in Syria

On 29 August 2013, the UK House of Commons inflicted the first defeat on a Prime Minister over a matter of war and peace since 1782. Recalled to debate and vote on UK intervention in Syria, the Commons humbled the government and crucially impacted the development of UK foreign policy. This article places that vote, and the developments leading to it, in the context of the role of parliaments in security policy and explores the relationships between parliamentary influence, leadership, intra-party and intra-coalition politics, and public opinion. From an in-depth analysis of leaders’ statements and parliamentary debate, we find a combination of intra-party politics and party leadership were most significant. An additional factor – the role of historical precedent – was also important. Our analysis explores the fluidity and interconnectedness of the various factors for parliamentary influence in foreign policy and offers directions for future theoretical development and empirical research.     

Book reviews

Christian Democracy in Western Germany. By Geoffrey Pridham. London: Croom Helm, 1977. Pp. 371. £9.95.

The Power of the Purse: The Role of European Parliaments in Budgetary Decisions. By David Coombes et al. PEP, Allen &; Unwin, 1976. Pp. 393. £12.00.

Reaching Judgment at Nuremberg. By Bradley F. Smith. London: Andre Deutsch, 1977. Pp. xviii+349. Illus., Index, Biblio. £6.50.

Nemesis at Potsdam: The Anglo‐Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans. Background, Execution, Consequences. By Alfred de Zayas. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977. Pp. xxvii+268. £5.95.

Innen‐ und Aussenpolitik unter nationalsozialistischer Bedrohung: Deter‐minanten internationaler Beziehungen in historischen Fallstudien. Edited by Erhard Forndran, Frank Golczewski and Dieter Riesenberger. Opladen: West Deutscher Verlag, 1977. Pp. 361, DM 49.

The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1918–1933. By Sally Marks. London: Macmillan, 1976. Pp. 184; £5.95, £2.95 paper.

French Society 1789–1970. By Georges Dupeux. London: Methuen &; Co, 1976. Pp. ix+294. £7.50, Paperback £3.90.

Strategic de la grève. By Bertrand Badie. Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1977. Pp. xi+263. Fr. 78.

A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962. By Alistair Horne. Mac‐millan 1977. Pp. 604. £8.95.

Les Politiques Extérieures Européenes dans la Crise. Edited by Alfred Grosser. Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1976. Pp. 198. Fr. 85.

L'Avenir est Notre Affaire. By Denis de Rougemont. Paris: Editions Stock, 1977. Pp. 375.

Les Sommets de l'Etat: Essai sur l'élite du pouvoir en France. By Pierre Birnbaum. Paris: Editions due Seuil, 1977. Pp. 188.

Planning and Politics: The British Experience 1970–76. By Michael Shanks. PEP, George Allen and Unwin, 1977. Pp. 142. £6.50 hardback, £2.95 paperback.

Politische Planungssyteme. Edited by Frieder Naschold and Werner Vath. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1973. Pp. 478. DM. 19,80.

Einführung in das politische System der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. By Frank Pilz. Munich: Beck'sche Elementarbücher, Verlag C.H. Beck, 1977. Pp. 366. DM. 28,—.

Soziologie und Sozialpolitik. Edited by Christian von Ferber and Franz Xaver Kaufmann. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1977. Pp. 649. DM. 64,—

The British Cabinet. By John P. Mackintosh. Stevens, 1977 (Third Edition). Pp. xv+656. £5.75.

The History of Political Thought: A Short Introduction. By R. N. Berki. London: J. M. Dent and Son, 1977. Bibliography and Index. Pp. vi+216. £2.95.

France Today: Introductory Studies. Edited by J. E. Flower. London: Methuen, 1977 (Third edition rev.). Pp. vi+190. £2.75 paperback.

Det utrolige dognet (The incredible day). By Bjorn Bjornsen. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1977. Pp. 304.     

Regulation,the Regulatory State and European Politics

For the past 15 years or so, the claim of a rise of the regulatory state in Europe has been a dominant theme in public policy research. This paper critically reflects on this claim and the associated scholarship by considering four key questions. First, what is the significance of the supposed rise of the regulatory state for the state in Europe and how can this trend be explained? Second, what insights have been gained from the study of phenomena associated with the regulatory state, both in terms of EU and national levels of government as well as in terms of process and organisational understandings of policy analysis? Third, does the regulatory state represent a stable arrangement or does it suffer from its own peculiar dilemmas that fundamentally affect the nature of European states? Fourth, and finally, this article develops three scenarios – those of withering away, plodding along, and rejuvenation – for the future of the (study of the) regulatory state in Europe.     

Democratic legitimacy and direct elections to the European parliament

The theme of ‘democratic legitimacy’ and the way it affects the institutions and development of the European Community is a recurrent one both in the literature on Western European integration and especially in debates amongst European politicians and parliamentarians. This article examines the theme within the context of the direct elections to be held to the European Parliament in 1979. It is argued that the European Parliament has certain legitimacy problems which stem from the nature of its authority, intelligibility, visibility, and the way in which it acts as the European Community's ‘grand forum’. The holding of European elections will not in themselves overcome these problems, and a number of suggestions are offered as to how the European Parliament and the European Community can achieve democratic legitimacy.¹     

Immigration and Refugees: Punctuations in the Commonwealth Policy Agenda

In April 2013, Australia's population reached 23 million. Up to 60 percent of population growth in Australia comes from immigration and 40 percent of population growth comes from natural increase. It is therefore not too surprising that the issue of immigration receives a considerable amount of attention in the overall Commonwealth policy agenda. However, immigration policy is a complex policy area that is vulnerable to sudden increases in policy attention. Such increases in policy attention may be related to external shocks, wars or changing global economic conditions. This article charts some of the contextual factors, which result in high‐salience punctuations and intense policy activity in the area of immigration.