British intelligence and counter‐insurgency in the era of decolonisation: The example of Malaya

This article uses two approaches to show the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and intelligence were reaching a turning point before the 1952 appointment of a single commander; and to show the reason for this success was a counter‐insurgency technique which placed population control at its core. First, the article outlines the development of intelligence, in order to identify when and why it became effective. Second, it re‐examines intelligence on the Malayan Communist Party's (MCP) so‐called ‘October’ 1951 Directives. It argues these confirm the MCP was virtually forced to change its tactics by late 1951. Together, these approaches challenge existing historiography, which makes Sir Gerald Templer's era of 1952–54, when he was both High Commissioner and Director of Operations, the turning point.     

Q Methodology as a Tool for Committee Governance Research

The allegiance of national bureaucratic elites to European, national, institutional and policy-specific identities or associations is the subject of a growing body of European integration literature. Reviewing the methods employed by committee governance research, Q methodology is suggested as an alternative mechanism for measuring bureaucrat norms, beliefs and values. Its application to research on European committee governance could therefore increase the robustness of the qualitative element of existing mixed methods approaches. This would provide further insight into policy-making processes at the international level.     

The Al Saud family and the future of Saudi Arabia

Summary

We have started by asking the question: why are there international income inequalities? We have ascribed them to differences in applied productive knowledge. This raised the question: why can productive knowledge be communicated and diffused within an advanced nation, but not between nations or within underdeveloped nations? What are the obstacles to the international diffusion of benefits ?

We have found these in two areas: obstacles to communication and absence of suitable technologies. The obstacles to communication can again be divided into those due to costs of transfer and those due to intentional restrictions or the exercise of monopoly power. But even perfect communication would not meet the need for quite different technologies from those developed in high‐income countries.

Measures that reduce the Communications Gap might make the Suitability Gap wider and vice versa, but a set of integrated actions attacking both gaps has a chance of success. Technical knowledge cannot be marketed like other products or factors because it possesses peculiar features: (i) indivisibility, (ii) inappropriability, (iii) embodiment in other factors, (iv) uncertainty and (v) impossibility to know its full value until bought. Policies for closing the two gaps are interdependent, so that the pursuit of any one in isolation might make matters worse. What is needed is a set of integrated actions, attacking both the Communications Gap and the Suitability Gap. Transfer must be supplemented by indigenous capability; adaptation by invention and innovation.     

Attitudes about rehabilitating sex offenders: Demographic, victimization, and community-level influences

In this study, attention was given to how demographic, victimization, and community-level factors contribute to the belief that sex offenders can be rehabilitated. A survey was conducted with 746 residents of Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia. A vast majority of the sample thought it was impossible to rehabilitate sex offenders, and a sizeable proportion of respondents indicated that they did not know whether sex offenders could be rehabilitated. Results showed that very few factors predicted attitudes about rehabilitating sex offenders. The implications call for expanded efforts to educate the public about sex offenders, as well as strategies for strengthening support for rehabilitation. In particular, it is argued that more attention should be given to identifying the punitive aspects of rehabilitation and increasing awareness about treatment strategies among policymakers. The authors also call for reconceptualizing rehabilitation so the concept is driven by practical matters rather than politics.