Environmental Policy and the Bush Era: The Collision Between the Administrative Presidency and State Experimentation

The Bush administration entered office in 2001 pledging to supportactive collaboration with states in environmental protectionand pursued this approach in some early initiatives and appointments.This emphasis was rapidly abandoned, however, in favor of aneffort to recentralize oversight in a manner consistent withhistoric attempts to establish an administrative presidencymodel. In response, states have demonstrated that they are notprepared to take a back seat to the federal government, probingfor areas to pursue innovative opportunities at the same timethat they challenge any instances of federal overreach or disengagementthat they deem problematic. The result has been a steady increasein intergovernmental conflict from the previous decade.     

New Security Dimensions in the Asia–Pacific

The rise of China provides a major challenge to the United States, the undisputed hegemon in the Asia-Pacific region since the second world war. This development provides regional states with an opportunity to shape the regional security architecture by adopting an inclusive approach to China. The role of the Association of Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) tends to be under-estimated by Western scholars who often see the European model as the only approach to regional integration. This paper discusses the significant achievements of ASEAN in serving as a catalyst for the establishment of regional institutions. Such institutions could serve as instruments for the management of China's relations with Japan and India. It is contended that the emergence of Asian powers, especially China, will result in a challenge to the Washington Consensus of Western norms and values focusing on individual rights which have governed international institutions. The rise of China is likely to see the application of a Beijing Consensus emphasising the balance between individual rights and social obligations, which would resonate positively in the region. In the twenty-first century, global institutions will need to reflect the norms, values and practices of global society and not just Atlantic perspectives.     

Measuring community social organization: Sense of community as a mediator in social disorganization theory

The current study utilized an updated systemic model of social disorganization to investigate neighborhood effects on both positive and negative youth outcomes. Although empirical support for updated social disorganization models has increased in recent years, the field continues to rely too heavily on behavioral indicators of community social organization. Unfortunately, these measures do not assess the truly important social processes and dynamics that result in cohesive and supportive neighborhoods. It was proposed that sense of community (SOC) was a more valid, comprehensive, and applicable measure for the mediating variables in social disorganization theory. Results supported the hypothesis that SOC mediates the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on youth outcomes and implications for the field are discussed.     

Project intercept: The Los Angeles experience

A program for the diversion of arrested juveniles from the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles County is described. The interagency program involving eight law enforcement agencies and the probation department was developed without requiring additional funds. Juvenile processing has been expedited with apparent favorable impact, and interagency cooperation in others has increased.     

Some fundamental properties of governmental expenditure patterns — Theory and evidence based on military expenditures

This paper shows that governmental defense expenditure patterns can be accurately modeled by the use of graph curves. This modeling is applicable to both individual weapon systems and entire military treasury code cost categories. The application of this model to the complete Air Force expenditure process suggests a fundamental theory of expenditures which should allow the forecasting of aggregate military defense expenditures in the presence of very sparse data.