The political economy of subsidiarity in labour market reforms: the United Kingdom and Italy in times of crises

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to contribute to the literature centred on the principle of subsidiarity by highlighting the way in which political actors apply different dimensions of subsidiarity, horizontal versus vertical, in the field of labour market policy. It compares labour market reforms in Britain and Italy in the wake of international economic crises, shedding light on the role of subsidiarity dimensions. It shows that Britain applied the principle of horizontal subsidiarity in quasi-market mechanisms while Italy chiefly resorted to the vertical dimension that helped shifting labour market policies from income replacement to welfare-to-work. Additionally, the article explores how the principle of subsidiarity may affect the relationships between the European Union on one side and Britain and Italy on the other in the field of labour market policies.     

Chilean women and the UN decade for women

This article analyses two aspects of the reality of Chilean women during the United Nations Decade of Women: political participation and labour force participation. This analysis takes into account some of the proposals of the Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin American Economic and Social Development as well as the consequences of the political, cultural and economic model established by the Chilean military government. The effects of the Decade of Women on Chilean women is not analysed primarily because the specific proposals contained in the Plan of Action are based on the prerequisites of development and participation—which are not applicable to the Chilean case during this period.Notwithstanding the fact that all forms of popular participation have been effectively eliminated, there have emerged women's organizations whose concerns include calling into question the oppression of women on the basis of sex. With respect to labour, women's participation in the labour force has increased. However, this increase is not a response to improved opportunities or a more equalitarian treatment of women workers, but rather as the consequence of elevated unemployment rates especially in lower class families where women have greater access to certain kinds of marginal employment.On a final note, the article also includes a discussion of recent trends in research on women, trends which provide a challenge to the more traditional forms of research.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue. Daniela Campello, The Politics of Market Discipline in Latin America: Globalization and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Figures, tables, notes, bibliography, index, 239 pp.; hardcover $78.42, paperback $29.99, Kindle $98.40. Eduardo Dargent, Technocracy and Democracy in Latin America: The Experts Running Government. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Tables, figures, bibliography, index. 216 pp.; hardcover $90, ebook $72. Ana Lorena De La O, Crafting Policies to End Poverty in Latin America: The Quiet Transformation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Figures, tables, bibliography, index, 194 pp.; hardcover $84.99, ebook $68. Jorge Heine and Brigitte Weiffen, 21st Century Democracy Promotion in the Americas: Standing Up for the Polity. New York: Routledge, 2015. Abbreviations, tables, bibliography, index, 196 pp.; hardcover $130, paperback $47. Juan Pablo Luna, Segmented Representation: Political Party Strategies in Unequal Democracies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Tables, maps, figures, bibliography, indexes, 374 pp.; hardcover $115, ebook. Stephen Offutt, New Centers of Global Evangelicalism in Latin America and Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Map, tables, abbreviations, appendixes, bibliography, index, 192 pp.; hardcover $90, ebook $72. Mariela Szwarcberg, Mobilizing Poor Voters: Machine Politics, Clientelism, and Social Networks in Argentina. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2015. Figures, tables, maps, notes, bibliography, index, 185 pp.; hardcover $89.99, paperback $32.99, ebook $26. Brian Wampler, Activating Democracy in Brazil: Popular Participation, Social Justice, and Interlocking Institutions. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2015. Tables, figures, abbreviations, notes, bibliography, index, 312 pp.; paperback $39, pdf $39. Graham Denyer Willis, The Killing Consensus: Police, Organized Crime, and the Regulation of Life and Death in Urban Brazil. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014. Tables, figures, notes, bibliography, index, 216 pp.; hardcover $70, paperback $29.95, ebook $29.95. Morris Morley and Chris McGillion, Reagan and Pinochet: The Struggle over U.S. Policy Toward Chile. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Abbreviations, acronyms, bibliography, index, 354 pp.; hardcover $95, paperback $34.99, ebook $28.     

Attempted Serial Neonaticides: Case Report and a Brief Review of the Literature

Neonaticide is an infant murder occurring on the day of birth. The case reports found in the literature are often focused on the mother as the agent in the context of pregnancy denial, dissociative symptoms, or psychosis. However, this report describes a rare case of attempted serial neonaticides, in which the acts were committed by a nurse at the nursery of a referral hospital in Brazil. The authors describe a forensic psychiatric evaluation for criminal responsibility and correlate the information from this particular case with relevant forensic themes, namely neonaticide, Munchausen by proxy syndrome, and serial healthcare killers.     

NGO Structural Adaptation to Funding Requirements and Prospects for Democracy: The Case of the European Union

Most studies on voluntary organisations and advocacy groups focus on their contribution to democracy through participation in the policy-making process. The uniqueness of this study consists in shifting the emphasis to participatory democracy at the implementation stage of the policy process. We argue that public donors may affect the democratic potential of voluntary organisations at this stage. To this purpose, we explore the European Union's structuring effects. Firstly, the European Union manufactures a non-governmental organisation (NGO) landscape through a top-down process of redistribution of resources. Secondly, our attention is drawn to NGOs' adaptations of EU requirements, which entails a transformation process often at odds with participatory practices. In order to grasp the European Union's differential impact, we include in our analysis two sectors (humanitarian NGOs and social voluntary organisations) and two Member States (France and Spain).     

The Leader–Follower Dyad: The Link Between Leader and Follower Perceptions of Transformational Leadership and Its Impact on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Performance

This study seeks to establish and test the relationships between both leaders’ and followers’ perceptions of leaders’ transformational leadership behavior and its relationship with job satisfaction and organizational performance. We aim to represent the managerial and psychosocial outcomes in the leader–follower dyad. The study also determines the relative contribution of the two constructs of the leader–follower dyad and their relationship with organizational performance. Since both leaders and followers estimated the leaders’ transformational leadership behavior, two models were tested: first, a leader-perception model examining the relationships among transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and organizational performance using data on transformational leadership from the leaders’ perspective; and second, a follower-perception model examining the relationships among the same three constructs using transformational leadership estimates from the followers. We then explore the corresponding parameters in the two models to determine if there are significant differences in the relationships among the constructs, thereby determining the impact of leader vs. follower perceptions. Structural equation modelling based on a sample of 372 leader–follower matched responses identified how transformational leadership has a significant, positive relationship with employee job satisfaction and organizational performance. Although the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance was similar in the two models, in the follower-perception model the effect was almost entirely mediated by employee job satisfaction, whereas there were both mediated and direct effect in the leader-perception model.     

Border Problems: Mapping the Third Border

The Internet has become the site of economically relevant objects, events and actions, as well as the source of potential risks to the financial systems. This article builds on a metaphor of ‘border problems’ in financial regulation, exploring a ‘third border’ between the ‘real world’ and ‘cyberspace’—a virtual domain of human interaction facilitated and conditioned by digital communications systems. Reviewing the ‘cyber-sovereignty’ debate and surveying the divergent approaches now emerging along geo-political faultlines, we argue that sovereign states still have a unique and irreplaceable role in guarding financial stability which must be reflected in the law of Internet jurisdiction: an emerging lex cryptographica financiera. We conclude with a few observations on how this could affect the design of financial regulation in the coming decade.     

Perceptions of the criminal justice system by minority and majority group university students: The role of ethnic identity

Minorities are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, and prior research has indicated ethnic minorities and Whites have different opinions of and different experiences within the system. While differences have been shown, the influence of ethnic identity on perceptions of the legal system has been overlooked. The purpose of the present research was to determine if there were differences in perceptions of the legal system by ethnic identity levels for ethnic minorities and Whites. Results indicated differences do exist and ethnic identity is a crucial issue in understanding resonance with the legal system. Future directions for incorporating ethnic identity in research on the criminal justice system are discussed.     

Analysis of Dental Case Reports in the Context of Court Decisions: Causal Nexus and Aspects of Fault

The purpose of expert reports is to support the judge in his decisions, by providing technical information. However, it remains uncertain as to what extent the content of these reports is used, and if they are effectively associated with judicial decisions. The aim of this study was to perform a qualitative analysis of case reports in relation to the judicial decisions rendered in association with these reports, by determining the connection between causal nexus and aspects of fault. The case reports included lawsuits against dentists, issued by the Medical Justice Department of the State Court of Appeals of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, between 2010 and 2013. Comparing the percentage of agreement between case report and judicial decision, causal nexus was 79.9% and fault was 86.7%. The high percentages of agreement found in relation to fault and causal nexus highlight the relevance of expert reports in weighing the judge's decision.