Liberalism, Democracy and the Ethics of Voting

This article summarises objections to compulsory voting developed in my previous work. It shows that compulsory turnout is harder to justify than compulsory voting and that considerations of democratic legitimacy do not usually justify it either. When abstention is morally wrong, it is unlikely to be because it is unfair to those who voted. So concerns for fairness will not justify compulsory voting. The article shows that democracy is a competitive as well as a co-operative business, and this means that political ethics are more complex than proponents of compulsory voting suppose.     

The drugs-violence nexus among rural felony probationers

Little research has focused on the drugs-violence nexus in rural areas. As such, the purpose of this study is to use Goldstein's tripartite conceptual framework to examine the relationship between drugs and violence among felony probationers in rural Appalachian Kentucky (n = 799). Data on demographics, substance use criminal history, and violence were collected between 2001 and 2004 using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Rural probationers are partitioned into four groups based on lifetime violent victimization/perpetration experiences: (a) neither a perpetrator nor a victim, (b) perpetrator only, (c) victim only, and (d) both a perpetrator and a victim. Chi-square analyses indicate substance use, and criminal history varies across the four groups. Binary logistic regression analyses are used to explore the significant correlates of both perpetration and victimization. Multivariate analyses support both the psychopharmacological model and the economic compulsive models of perpetration and victimization. Further implications of these findings are discussed.     

Evaluation of non-metric variation in the crania of black and white perinates

Reports in the literature suggest that diagnostic differences in craniofacial morphology between blacks and whites arise very early in development. These reports, however, have not been consistent regarding which traits are diagnostic and have failed to provide forensic anthropologists with a reliable method of assessment. In an effort to clarify the situation, 13 non-metric craniofacial traits were scored and analyzed statistically in a sample of 70 black and white perinatal specimens obtained from the Smithsonian's fetal osteology collection. Chi-square analysis revealed significant (p<0.05) differences in the distribution of five of the 13 non-metric traits examined. Compared with black perinates, white perinates more frequently possessed a relatively narrow supraoccipital portion of the occipital bone, a prominent anterior nasal spine, "deep" subnasal margins, an elongated vomer, and semi-circular temporal squamae. When these five traits were entered into a stepwise logistic regression, temporal squamous shape, vomer shape and subnasal margin definition were found to be predictive of race (79.1% overall correct classification). An independent sample of 39 black and white perinates was then used to validate the results; overall, 67.5% of the validation sample could be classified correctly. Reasons for the disparity in correct classification rates between the initial and follow-up sample are provided. Results of the present study may be useful for anthropologists who encounter unidentified cranial material from this age range.     

The role of independent regulators in policy making: Venue‐shopping and framing strategies in the EU regulation of old wives cures

This article addresses debates on the formulation of public policy, building upon a body of literature which has focused on the interconnectedness between the venues of policy action and the way issues are defined. It does so by focusing on the strategic role of policy actors in a policy subfield and their attempts at manipulating either frames or venues in order to shape policy. The novelty here consists in pointing to the involvement of regulators in such strategic action. An emerging body of research has indeed shown that the activity of formally independent regulators is not necessarily limited to the implementation of delegated regulatory competencies and that they are increasingly engaged in policy‐making activities. Thus, by resorting to the agenda‐setting and framing literature, the article sheds light on novel pathways through which regulators intervene in policy‐making activities, making a claim that they have very good ‘tools’ at their disposal in order to shape policy. These dynamics are examined in the case of the last piece of the EU's pharmaceutical framework – the 2004 Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicines – which provoked intense debate among manufacturers of herbals, retailers, consumers, and both EU‐level and domestic‐level regulatory authorities.