Measuring the impact of law enforcement on organized crime

This article explores the possibility of measuring the impact of law enforcement on organized crime in a reliable and accountable manner, both in general terms and with a practical focus on the Canadian context. In considering measures to combat organized crime, a focus on process measurement has obscured the more substantial question of progress as regards the dependent variable itself: the bottom line of reducing the impact of organized criminal behaviour. While outcome measures are more challenging to identify than process measures, this fact alone does not minimize the need to demonstrate the connection between organized crime enforcement and its presumed outcomes to a greater degree of certainty. To date, this has not been realized to any significant degree, as revealed by a review of existing international approaches to measuring the impact of enforcement activity. The article argues that a multidisciplinary focus on community level indicators of crime, if initially less accessible than process measures of impact on organized crime groups, offers promise as a measurement of absolute and relative impact of state investment in enforcement.

Hong Kong redux

There are surprises ahead for both Hong Kong and the China of which it will become a part. This article focuses on how the reversion of Hong Kong will affect the future of politics in both societies. Even though rule by Beijing will change Hong Kong's commercial and political life, China will also be changed by having to deal with the emerging elite of Hong Kong and those persons from the mainland who have been educated in the West. This will not produce democracy in either Hong Kong or China but it will reduce the likelihood that China will become a hegemonic power in East Asia.     

Tax and Spending Limits in Colorado

In 1992, Colorado voters approved the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), which severely limits the growth of revenues and spending by state and local governments. TABOR was layered over two earlier revenue-restricting measures. Throughout the 1990s, the state enjoyed a robust economy and the effects of these restrictions were largely masked. However, government funding for several basic services in Colorado was rapidly slipping. When Colorado went into recession, the effects of these restrictions were fully felt for the first time, but neither the governor, legislature, nor policy nonprofits have been able to find a way out of the budget bind.     

Recovering the transnational life of Charlotte Maxeke: an interview with Zubeida Jaffer

Abstract

A conversation with Zubeida Jaffer, discussing her recent book Beauty of the Heart: The Life and Times of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke (2016) and Maxeke’s perspectives towards colonialism, women’s rights, and transnational pan-African movements during the twentieth century.     

Breaking boundaries,defying borders: transnational networks of gender and race in South Africa and the United States

Abstract

This special issue examines transnational connections and collaborations among women and People of Color from South Africa and the United States, from the late nineteenth to the beginning of the twenty-first century: it considers how connections were fostered and how ideologies travelled. Key figures include Emily Hobhouse, Charlotte Maxeke, Cecilia Lilian Tshabalala, Maude White Katz, Madie Hall-Xuma, Elizabeth Mafeking, Miriam Makeba, Gloria Steinem, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Actively and symbolically, each of these non-state actors approached the relationship between the two nations differently, through political and religious affiliations, and as individuals and through organizations. Many challenged and transcended the restrictions imposed upon them officially, through state-sanctioned segregation and apartheid, but also socially, on account of their gender. These women fostered intellectual and social connections with each other, as well as for their nations, through interpersonal relationships and in print, but also simply – and perhaps most problematically – through abstracted ideas about humanitarianism, motherhood, apartheid, and nation. Such travels and intellectual journeys could prove both mutually beneficial and hierarchically imbalanced, but nonetheless reiterate the continued transnational relevance and resonances between South Africa and the United States.     

Indicators and policy formation

Abstract. This paper discusses aspects of recent research into the role of indicators in public-policy formation. The first section briefly reviews social-indicator research in terms of its objectives and techniques. Three broad objectives are identified: (1) monitoring the general state of the community; (2) measuring the quality of life; and (3) measuring the outputs of non-market services supplied by governments. Similarly three research techniques are discussed: (1) collecting and organizing social statistics; (2) modifying existing economic accounts; and (3) modelling specific social processes at a micro level. The second section proposes criteria that policy-useful indicators should meet. The most important of these are relevance to individual welfare, disaggregation for purposes of distribution, and reference to public goals rather than poky instruments. The final section of the paper raises two important problems involved in employing indicators for public-sector management. The first is that indicators in themselves do not provide information as to the optimal level of government action in any particular area. The second involves the policy process directly and the way in which indicators come to be used for policy purposes. One possibility is that the available data dictate the choice. Another is that indicators emerge which coincide with the outlook, interests, and commitments of those involved in the policy process. Indicators are non-neutral in that they point towards a particular policy response, make past policies appear more or less successful, and direct public discussion. Examples are provided to illustrate the points raised in the third section. Sommaire. L'auteur de cet exposé considère certains aspects de la recherche récente sur les indicateurs dans l'élaboration de la politique publique, ainsi que sur le rôle qu'ils ont joué. Dans la première partie il passe rapidement en revue la recherche sur les indicateurs sociaux du point de vue de ses objectifs et des techniques utilisées. L'auteur dégage trois objectifs généraux: (1) le contrôle de l'état général de la communauté; (2) la mesure de la qualité de l'existence; et (3) la mesure des apports des services hors-marché fournis par les gouvernements. Il examine également trois techniques de recherche: (1) l'obtention et l'organisation des statistiques sociales; (2) la modification des comptes économiques existants; et (3) l'élaboration des processus sociaux déterminés à un micro-niveau. La deuxième partie propose des critères auxquels doivent se conformer les indicateurs servant àélaborer des politiques. Les plus importants dentre eux sont leur pertinence pour le bien-être individuel, leur désagrégation aux fins de distribution et leur rapport avec les buts nationaux plutôt qu'avec les instruments de la politique. La dernière partie de la communication soulève deux problèmes importants concernant l'emploi d'indicateurs dans la gestion du secteur public. Le premier, c'est que les indicateurs, comme tels, n'indiquent pas le niveau optimal d'action gouvernementale dans un domaine particulier. Le deuxième concerne directement le processus d'éaboration des politiques et les façons d'utiliser les indicateurs à cette fin. Il y a la possibilité que le choix soit dicté par les données existantes. Il se peut aussi que l'orientation suggérée par les indicateurs coïncide avec le point de vue, les intérêts et les engagements de ceux qui participent à la détermination des politiques. Les indicateurs ne sont pas neutres, en ce sens qu'ils suggérent une politique particulière, qu'ils donnent aux anciennes politiques l'apparence d'avoir plus ou moins bien réussi et qu'ils orientent les débats publics. La troisième partie illustre ces différents arguments par des exemples.