Radical Criminals in the Grey Area: A Comparative Study of Mexican Religious Drug Cartels and Australian Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

This article defines and assesses the ideal-type of the radical criminal as the analytical framework for a comparative qualitative study of Mexican religious drug cartels and Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs and concludes that radical criminals operate in both weak and failed states and stable democracies. The article participates in the wider discussion concerning the existence (and the features) of a grey area between criminal and political violence, through the lens of the radical criminal ideal-type.     

Commodity concentration and export fluctuations: A comment

The method of analysis used in a recent paper on trade diversification and export fluctuations is reviewed. The derivation of certain results is shown to be incorrect, and the validity of the suggested measure of predictability is questioned.     

Presidential Address: the Declining Significance of the Literature Review in Criminal Justice Scholarship: Towards a New Paradigm

Literature reviews in criminological and criminal justice journal articles have long served as an integral component in our empirical backyard. In this address I explore the value of the literature review in peer-reviewed research articles. I begin by evaluating the merits of the literature review section in empirically refereed research articles. I propose abandoning the literature review, due to its overall insignificance and best practices from other disciplines. Based on reasons outlined in this speech, I elaborate on the strengths and weaknesses of this somewhat controversial notion in the criminological/criminal justice discipline.     

Lessons from New York City's Small Schools of Choice about High School Features that Promote Graduation for Disadvantaged Students

The present paper uses a rich dataset based on naturally-occurring lotteries for 68 new small non-selective high schools in New York City, which we refer to as small schools of choice (SSCs), to address two related questions: (1) What high school features are promising levers for increasing graduation rates for disadvantaged students? and (2) What high school features helped to produce SSCs’ positive impacts on graduation rates? Our findings provide suggestive evidence that school leadership quality, teacher empowerment, teacher mutual support, teacher evaluation and feedback, teacher professional development, data-driven instruction, teacher/parent communication, academic rigor, personalized learning, and teacher/student respect are promising levers for increasing graduation rates for disadvantaged students. Our findings also provide suggestive evidence that many of these school features explain part of the total average SSC effect on graduation rates, although most of this average effect remains unexplained. Lastly, our findings indicate that SSCs are clearly distinguishable from their counterfactual counterparts in terms of school features that were emphasized by SSC funders.     

Dominant Party Adaptation to the Catch-All Model: a Comparison of Former Dominant Parties in Japan and South Korea

In the process of democratisation, it is expected that a former dominant party, at least one which abides by the rules of electoral contestation, will transition into a “catch-all” party. A catch-all party aims to attract the votes of all social cleavages and classes of voters outside what would be considered their traditional voter base. As part of the wider debate about democratisation in East Asia, this paper examines how two of East Asia’s liberal democracies—Japan and South Korea, the LDP and GNP/Saenuri, respectively, have adapted to electoral defeat and in what ways they have transitioned into catch-all parties in the Kircheimer mould. This paper finds that while intra-party reforms which could fit a catch-all model have yet to be institutionalised, data from the Comparative Manifesto Database shows that there has been a significant change in which policies both parties promote and that these are designed to appeal to a broad base of voters.     

Australia,New Zealand and the Pacific Islands Forum: a critical review

The relationship between the Pacific islands and the region’s ‘bigger brothers’ – Australia and New Zealand – is often seen in two-dimensional terms with the latter appearing to act in concert and in terms characterised by underlying neo-colonial attitudes and a determination to dominate the regional agenda. Given that both are former colonial powers with considerable political and economic resources and are the major aid donors in the region as well as being members of the powerful geopolitical entity known as ‘the West’, it is not difficult to sustain an image of neo-colonial dominance. But to do so also requires casting Pacific island countries in a certain role, not only lacking agency but also cohering around a common identity and set of interests. This article examines key aspects of regional relations as played out through the region’s premier organisation, the Pacific Islands Forum, and assesses the extent to which a simple political divide between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand, and the island states on the other, can be maintained.