Going South: capitalist crisis,systemic crisis,civilisational crisis

This article argues that the current protracted and severe financial and economic crisis is only one aspect of a larger multidimensional set of simultaneous and interacting crises on a global scale. The article constructs an overarching framework of analysis of this unique conjecture of global crises. The three principal crisis aspects are: an economic crisis of (over) accumulation of capital; a world systemic crisis (which includes a global centre-shift in the locus of production, growth and capital accumulation), and a hegemonic transition (which implies long term changes in global governance structures and institutions); and a worldwide civilisational crisis, situated in the sociohistorical structure itself, encompassing a comprehensive environmental crisis and the consequences of a lack of correspondence and coherence in the material and ideational structures of world order. In these ways, the global system is now `going south'. All three main aspects of the global crisis provoke and require commensurate radical social and political responses and self-protective measures, not only to restore systemic stability but to transform the world system.     

Joint boards for police in the Metropolitan areas: A preliminary assessment

Local Government, The Law and the Constitution, Martin Loughlin, Local Government Legal Society Trust, March 1983, pp. 143, £3.50.

Financing Regional Government: International Practices and their Relevance to the Third World, K.J. Davey, John Wiley, 1983, pp. 193, £12.95.

Housing Law, A. Arden and M. Partington, Sweet and Maxwell, 1983, pp. 1184, £55 (hardback).

The Government of Scotland: Patterns of Influence In Public Policy Making, Michael Keating and Arthur Midwinter, Mainstream Publishing, 1983, pp. 214, £9.95.

From Policy to Practice, Martin Rein, Macmillan, 1983, pp. xv + 250, £18.00 hardback, £6.95 paperback.

Comparative Public Policy: The Politics of Social Choice in Europe and America, 2nd ed., A.J. Heidenheimer, H. Heclo and C. T. Adams, Macmillan, 1983, pp. 367, £15.00 hardback, £5.95 paperback.

Policy and Politics in France: Living with Uncertainty, Douglas E. Ashford, Temple University Press, 1982, pp. 345, $29.95 hardback, $12.95 paperback.

Policy Advice and Organizational Survival, Michael J. Prince, Gower, 1983, pp. 256, £13.50.     

Power/Faith: Governmentality, Religion, and Post-Secular Societies

Foucault’s concept of governmentality, and its attending modalities of biopower and disciplinary technologies, provides a useful conceptual schema for the analysis of the role of religious and quasi-religious institutions in contemporary society. This is particularly important in the study of those neoliberal democratic states where religious organizations constitute an important presence in the civil society. As religion is thoroughly involved in the reproduction of social structure in most societies, an appraisal of the social and political importance of religious institutions is needed to understand the articulation and exercise of governmentality. This is not just limited to partnerships between state agencies and faith-based organizations in providing for social services, but also in rituals and other religious group activities of these organizations that play a vital role in shaping and molding the social and political subjectivities of the adherents. We argue that synergy between the scholarship on governmentality, and sociology of religion would allow for a more nuanced understanding of the politics and culture of post-secular societies.     

Reactions to Dating Violence Research: Do Difficulties with Distress Tolerance Increase Negative Reactions?

Recent research has begun to examine whether participants in dating violence studies perceive any benefit from the research and/or experience emotional distress as a result of having participated. Such information is important for Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and researchers in determining ethical and appropriate protections for participants. In the current study, we examined participants’ reactions to answering questions on dating violence victimization and perpetration utilizing a sample of female college students (N?=?282). We also examined whether distress tolerance was associated with research reactions and moderated the relation between reports of victimization/perpetration and negative emotional reactions to the research. Findings demonstrated that negative emotional reactions to the research did not differ between individuals with or without previous dating violence. Further, distress tolerance had a main effect, but not a moderating effect, on negative emotional reactions to research participation. Implications of these findings for future research and IRBs are discussed.