Reviews

Feminisms’ Psychoanalysis

Parveen Adams and Elizabeth Cowie (eds), The Woman in Question: m/f (Verso) London, 1990; Elizabeth Grosz, Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1990; John Lechte, Julia Kristeva (Routledge) London, 1990; Margaret Whitford, Luce Irigaray: Philosophy in the Feminine (Routledge), London, 1991.

Feminist Re‐Readings

Sarah Mills, Lynn Pearce, Sue Spaull and Elaine Millard (eds), Feminist Readings/Feminists Reading (Harvester Wheatsheaf) Hemel Hempstead, 1989.

Oppositional Interests and Women's Health Centres

Dorothy H. Broom, Damned If We Do: Contradictions in Women's Health Care (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1991.

(Re)Claiming Her Own Words: The Return of Michele Wallace

Michele Wallace, Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman (Verso) London and New York, 1990 [first published (Dial Press), New York, 1978]; Invisibility Blues (Verso) London and New York, 1990.

Australian Lesbian Feminist Studies

The Myth of Superwoman and Feminist Fictions

Ann Cranny‐Francis, Feminist Fictions (Polity Press) Cambridge 1990; Resa L. Dudovitz, The Myth of Superwoman (Routledge) London and New York, 1990.     

A Load of Old Garbage: Applying Garbage–Can Theory to Contemporary Housing Policy

This article reviews the applicability of Kingdon's garbage–can model of agenda setting and alternative specification for understanding the complexities of policy–making in the housing policy context. Garbage–can theories reject conventional 'policy cycle' models which envisage policy development processes as rational and underpinned by the logic of problem solving. They posit a loose relationship between problems and the policy solutions offered by national governments. Using an Australian housing policy case study, this article demonstrates the usefulness of Kingdon's garbage–can theory. A modified framework is used to explain how the policy agenda has become narrowed to focus on safety–net assistance for the most disadvantaged, while housing problems have continued to worsen.     

Decentralization and accountability in the health sector from an international perspective: What are the choices?

This article reviews alternative decentralization policies for the health sector. It discusses the forms that decentralization can take, illustrating these with country examples. It then considers the choice of levels in a decentralization policy and the desirability of the creation of health boards or authorities. Decentralized authorities can be given differing levels of responsibility for different tasks: those considered here are revenue raising, policy-making and planning, resource allocation, funding of service provision and interagency and intersec-toral coordination. The article concludes by considering some criteria for evaluating decentralization approaches.     

French Urban Space Management: A Visual Semiotic Approach Behind Power and Control

The paper will discuss the role of the visual in French urban space. It will reveal the close connections between visual and semiotics where the visual dimension is central rather than marginal. We will evaluate altogether the psychological, legal and social impacts of the new shapes of our own environment. Rethinking our public space shapes our identities, unveils the ‘hidden’ powerful discourse behind these new urban models.     

Sources of local government extractive capacity: The role of trust and pre‐colonial legacy in the case of Uganda

Local government extractive capacity, as measured by the amount of graduated personal tax (GPT) collected relative to district wealth and population and, more qualitatively, as reflected in the nature of enforcement, varies considerably in Uganda. This article explores the reasons for this variation, first by investigating aggregate data at the cross‐district level, using data on taxation as well as survey data from the Afrobarometer, second, by a focussed comparison of two districts, one with high‐ and one with low‐extractive capacity. I find that generalised trust can explains some of the variation in extractive capacity across districts. The case studies trace the differences in trust and extractive capacity back to pre‐colonial rule; the better performing district having had centralised rule, a tradition of tax‐payment and a higher degree of social cohesion, while the poorer performing district had a more fragmented and less cohesive history of governance. The article thus points to the importance of understanding institutional path dependencies when assessing the feasibility of reform. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strategien und institutionelle Perspektiven nach der Verfassungskrise: „Funktionalistische” und „institutionalistische” Wege zu einem neuen europäischen Verhandlungspaket

The European Council today is the only institution which has the potential and the possibility to lead the EU out of its current “valley of uncertainty”. Under the leadership of a new generation of heads of state, the conclusion of a European package deal may be expected from 2007 onwards, containing three central elements: 1. a “Europe of projects”, identifying policies and projects of common interest, 2. the “flexibilisation” of the EU in order to facilitate European politics among the member states and 3. institutional or constitutional reforms of the European polity, for which the constitutional treaty will remain the single most important point of reference. However, no simple, “optimal” road for the future development of the EU may be anticipated.