Approaches to low-income groups' sexuality: a comparative study of women in three low-income contexts in Peru

"This work...examines the cultural dimension of sexuality and fertility of women from [low-income] sectors in Peru. It intends to explain the cultural processes that fall into the intermediate variables of fertility, such as marriage rate, contraception, breastfeeding and...abortion. These dimensions of sexual and reproductive life are analyzed according to two explanatory dimensions: generation and cultural context of socialization. The general hypothesis is that a cultural process of homogenization of the values and behaviors has been taking place over sexuality, in such a way that the younger generations will show similar standard behaviors and values no matter their context of socialization; in the meantime, in the older groups there will exist contextual differences in these dimensions." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Ethos,ideology, and partisanship: Exploring the paradox of conservative democrats

Despite the increasingly liberal cast of the national Democratic Party, self-identified conservatives continue to represent a significant segment of the party. At least 25 percent of Democratic identifiers considered themselves to be conservatives during the 1972–1988 period. This paper explores the puzzle of why significant numbers of political conservatives continue to identify with the Democratic Party. We argue that conservative Democrats relate to their party not because of political ideology, as do Republicans and to a lesser extent, liberal/moderate Democrats, but because of the symbolic values associated with the main groups in the party—what we refer to as party ethos. This proposition is examined by analyzing a new set of open-ended questions included in the 1988 American National Election Study probing citizens' images and assessments of the Republican and Democratic parties.The data utilized in this paper were made available by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The data forAmerican National Election Study 1988: Pre- and Post-Election Survey were originally collected by Warren E. Miller and the National Election Studies. Neither the collector of the original data nor the Consortium bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.     

How stable is party identification?

This essay refines and extends our argument (Green and Palmquist, 1990) that net of the distorting effects of measurement error, Americans' partisanship tends to be highly stable over time. Three challenges to this thesis are addressed. In response to doubts about the generalizability of our earlier findings to panel studies of longer duration or from other eras, we show that nine multi-wave panel studies yield similar results. Next, we take up the question of whether our model can account for observed patterns of partisan conversion. The rate of party-switching forces some modifications in the statistical assumptions used to model party identification over time, but a revised model which can account for inter-party change reproduces earlier findings of partisan stability. Third, we grapple with the question of how our findings square with fluctuations in what has been termed macropartisanship. We suggest that aggregate shifts in party identification need not be incompatible with strong over-time correlations at the individual level. Finally, we develop a simulation of micropartisanship to illustrate that over long stretches of time very gradual changes in partisanship can accumulate to produce appreciable levels of micropartisan change.Donald Philip Green, Yale University.Bradley Palmquist, Harvard University.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, September 3–6, 1992.     

The DutchAlgemene Rekenkamer and its role in light of practical experience

TheAlgemene Rekenkamer functions in the area around government and parliament. This chapter focuses on two questions: How does theRekenkamer ascertain loss of efficiency and effectiveness within government, and how does theRekenkamer restrict loss of efficiency and effectiveness within its own organization?

The goal of theRekenkamer is to provide parliament with reasonable assurances of the validity of expenses incurred and to promote the efficiency of the ministries and the effective spending of state funds. TheRekenkamer pursues a policy aimed at achieving these goals. Some central elements in this active policy are

• ? An independent position,

• ? Optimum reliability,

• ? Strategic planning,

• ? Both regularity and performance audits.

• ? The political and social relevance of research subjects, and

• ? Dialogue between parliament and theRekenkamer.

With regard to the audit theory of W.J. Van Braband, some suggestions for improvement are given.