Modeling violent crime rates: A test of social disorganization in the city of Tshwane, South Africa

Tests of social disorganization theory are commonplace in international criminological literature. Indeed a plethora of studies had emerged over the past seventy years examining and extending the theory throughout much of the developed world. The testing, however, of the landmark theory's key propositions in Africa in general, and South Africa in particular, is in its infancy. This study aimed to address this shortcoming by analyzing associations between various census measures of social disorganization and violent crime rates in the city of Tshwane, South Africa. Overall, marginal support was found for the social disorganization theory: violent crime in Tshwane was associated with certain measures of socioeconomic deprivation, and residential mobility. The study not only demonstrated the applicability of certain elements of Western criminological theory to contemporary urban South Africa, but also revealed important differences in the ecological dynamics of violent crime across differing cultural contexts.     

On the Psychology of the Advantaged: How People React to Being Overpaid

Based on the idea that overpaid people are in conflict between hedonic principles (i.e., what makes them pleased) and what they believe to be right, two studies tested the hypothesis that it should be relatively difficult for people to make satisfaction judgments regarding outcomes in which they are being advantaged. In line with this hypothesis, Study 1 demonstrated that response latencies of satisfaction judgments were longer when participants were being overpaid, compared to when they were underpaid or equally paid. Study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating that people required more time to make satisfaction judgments when they were overpaid in the context of a close relationship (i.e., in which the conflict between hedonic and concerns for the other’s need should be stronger) than when overpaid in the context of a non-close relationship. Theoretical implications regarding the social-cognitive processes underlying reactions to overpayment are discussed.     

New Europeans: Naturalisation and citizenship in Europe

A case is made for a cross‐national analysis of acquisition of citizenship by foreign residents in Europe, frequently regarded as a prime indicator of formal integration. After a brief review of theories and concepts and of legislation and policy, the article evaluates the quality of data on the subject and suggests how they may be improved and harmonised. Analysis of the main patterns and trends for the period from 1980 indicates that Europe has experienced an increasing number of naturalisations while rates have remained stable. There is a trend towards higher rates of acquisition of citizenship by non‐EU nationals, particularly amongst refugees.     

The ideal profile of the PA expert at the EU level

If public affairs management is what public affairs managers do, then there is no stable definition of the ideal profile of such a manager. There is, however, a need for this in practice. If an interest group decides to strengthen its public affairs function and to open a vacancy, what then should be the text of the profile? The question also has much academic relevance, as it invites a selection of the most important characteristics required for effectively handling and influencing a specific playing field. Below is presented the ideal profile of the public affairs expert at the level of the European Union. As the ideal is always above the reality, we suggest in addition specific training of skills and development of talents in order to bridge the gap. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Legal Consequences of EU Accession for Central and Eastern European Health Care Systems

Since the ratification of the Europe agreements, Eastern European accession countries are transposing community law into their national legal framework. The law approximation process in the field of health concerns three themes, viz public health, health–related issues, and the internal market. Although the health acquis has been largely focused on public–health issues, it is increasingly becoming clear that internal market treaty provisions may also affect health–related rights. For candidate member states this means that the common market has important consequences for health and their health–care systems. Therefore, this paper will examine the impact of relevant treaty provisions on acceding countries' (public) health legal framework.     

Organizing cigarette smuggling and policy making, ending up in smoke

The smuggling of taxed goods, like tobacco or alcohol, has always been a lucrative cross-border crime business. The very high excises for tobacco in the United Kingdom since the 1990's has stimulated the already existing cigarette smuggling from the continent, particularly from Eastern Europe. The analysis of the investigations carried out by the Dutch customs showed that the Netherlands function as a gateway from the continent to the United Kingdom. However, part of the contraband remains in the Netherlands and is sold on the black market. The crime-entrepreneurs operating on this market rarely have a criminal background or connections with other contraband markets like drugs. Despite that while trading they developed crime-organisations, which again underlines the dynamic dimension of ``organising crime.' Some international wholesalers developed extensive organised crime-networks. Two criminal trading patterns could be discerned: a Northern European ``trade belt,' stretching from the Baltic to the British isles and a Southern one, in which the Iberian peninsula and Italy are more prominent. This indicates that this form of crosse-border crime should be addressed from the perspective of economic ``crime-regions.'