Violent women: a multicentre study into gender differences in forensic psychiatric patients

To gain insight into the relatively small, but increasing group of women in forensic psychiatry, a retrospective multicentre study was started gathering information from the files of 275 female patients of four Dutch forensic psychiatric hospitals on characteristics and violence risk factors. Overall, a picture emerged of severely traumatized women with complex psychopathology with multiple previous treatment failures and many incidents during treatment. The present study investigates specific psychiatric and criminal characteristics of female patients by comparing their data to those of 275 male forensic psychiatric patients. Various prominent differences were found, for example, women had more complex histories of victimization, were more often diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, were more likely to commit homicide and arson and less likely to commit sexual offenses, and were more often involved in inpatient aggression than their male counterparts. Several recommendations for gender-responsive treatment and directions for future research are provided.     

Brenda Bryant: There Is Nothing More Practical than a Good Theory

Public administration values the relationship between theory and practice. Regrettably, theory and practice are regarded more often than not as separate purviews of two different groups—academics and practitioners—resulting in a perceived gap between the two. The doctorate of public administration program at the University of Southern California's Washington Public Affairs Center sought to span both worlds. This article by Beryl A. Radin of American University profiles one of its graduates, Brenda L. Bryant. The author traces her career development, experience in the doctoral program, as well as subsequent professional activities, ultimately highlighting why “there is nothing more practical than a good theory.”     

Intergovernmental Relationships and the Federal Performance Movement

Although implementation of the federal Government Performanceand Results Act (GPRA) has provided the framework for the federalperformance effort, other efforts have been undertaken withinfederal agencies to balance the two often conflicting imperatives:to provide states with flexibility and yet maintain a commitmentto performance outcomes that acknowledges the expectations ofthose who fund and authorize programs. This analysis seeks todevelop a typology to examine the ways that the federal governmenthas attempted to bridge the goals of funders with the demandsof those who implement programs. This article highlights sixdifferent approaches that have been taken recently within federalagencies: performance partnerships, incentives, negotiated measures,building performance goals into legislation, establishment ofstandards, and waivers.     

The all Russian constituent assembly January 5/18 1918

This study of relations between the Islamic community and the Kingdom of Valencia between the Reconquest and the sixteenth century demonstrates that they were characterized by a substantial degree of tolerance. Much Islamic life continued to be regulated by Islamic law and communal institutions until the latter part of the period. The article considers conditions for the Muslims before the introduction of legal changes to their rights to live in the kingdom and their conversion to Christianity, the establishment of new powers relating to religious belief, the specific issue of the Mudejars, and changes to Valencian penal law in the face of the Muslim community's religious perseverance.     

Institutionalising Chineseness: Legacies of Chinese Commercial Hegemony in the Cambodian Silk Industry

The Cambodian silk weaving industry shows a remarkable pattern of ethnicised positions interlocked in processes of production and trade stretching beyond Cambodia into the Southeast Asian region and into Europe and the United States. Key commercial positions in the Cambodian silk trading networks are dominated by the Chinese, at least so it seems. In contrast to the bulk of literature on Chinese capitalism, the current study addresses a situation in which the commercial positions are identified as Chinese regardless of the ethnic background of the people who occupy them. While subscribing to the institutional perspective on Chinese capitalism, this article aims to take the debate one step further by arguing that – while a particular institutional embedding is conducive to Chinese proliferation in the business sector – Chinese business practices and representations are themselves subject to processes of institutionalisation. The paper explains how they may develop into an institution that is both a model of and for conducting business.     

Women who shared a husband: Polygyny in southern Albania in the early 20th century

In Europe little attention has been paid to polygyny, though it occurred in the Balkans in the recent past. Data from an Austro-Hungarian census of two-thirds of Albania taken in 1918 give a rare opportunity to examine it. As elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, the extent of polygyny was modest, but it was more widespread in rural areas than in towns. This article looks at polygyny in Mallakastër, one area of southern Albania. While not specifically provided for by customary law, polygyny was accommodated within it. Marriages were contracted in the same way as monogamous marriages, and both co-wives lived as part of the family. There is no direct evidence of the reasons why some marriages were polygynous. It may have been a response to childlessness in some cases, but this was neither a universal justification nor a universal explanation. It was probably also a means by which families augmented their labor supply in the absence of an institution of servants. A law enforcing monogamy in 1929 and changes that made polygyny less acceptable and less necessary have resulted in its disappearance.