Big is different from little: on taking size seriously in the analysis of Canadian governmental institutions

Abstract: An institution's size is one of its most obvious and important features. This paper suggests that although analysts and practitioners are certainly aware that scale does matter, the consequences of size for comparative analysis of Canadian governmental institutions have been seriously under-appreciated. To be sure, size is only one of a host of factors shaping our political institutions, but this should not discount its importance, which is both pronounced and widespread. The paper also raises the question of whether the great variations in size evident in Canada's governmental institutions — legislatures, cabinets, and bureaucracies — may not amount to differences in kind rather than degree. In short, the size of our governmental institutions matters, and it matters more than we usually imagine. Size may be relative or absolute. In this paper both dimensions are important. Both the ratio of the cabinet to the legislature and the number of elected members relative to the population have significant implications. So too, the absolute size of the cabinet and the number of bureaucrats are of substantial consequence. Sommaire: Les effets de la taille sur les institutions gouvernementales du Canada (parlements, cabinets et bureaucraties) sont reconnus sans être véritablement étudiés. Cet article analyse les structures des gouvernements fédéral et provinciaux pour identifier et explorer ces effets. On y affirme que les variations dans la taille des institutions gouvernementales du Canada revdent souvent une différence de nature plutôt que de degré. En ce qui concerne les Parlements, la taille affecte les procédures, la formation des comités, les rapports entre les députés et ceux avec I'exécutif. Dans les cabinets, elle influence le processus décisionnel, le rôle du premier ministre et les rernanie-ments ministériels. Quant aux bureaucraties, la taille y exerce un effet sur les rapports entre les ministres et les fonctionnaires, sur la capacité de gérer avec souplesse et sur I'efficacité d'ensemble. Cet article ne constitue pas un plaidoyer favorable ou défavorable des institutions gouvernementales de taille plus petite; il rnontre qu'elles sont différentes, souvent fondamentalement. Entre autres, cela jette le doute sur I'idée que I'on se fait souvent des structures gouvernernentales des provinces, qui ne seraient que des versions réduites de celles du fédéral.     

Behavioral response to safety regulation

The effectiveness of safety regulation can be enhanced or offset by various forms of behavioral feedback. This study provides estimates of the effectiveness of motorcycle helmet laws in reducing fatalities based on pooled time-series and cross-sectional data for the United States during the years 1975 to 1984. Estimates from the model suggest that the presence of a helmet-wearing law induces a 12 to 22 percent decline in the motorcycle mortality problem. The results are consistent with the view that helmet laws are an effective public health policy, at least in the short run. However, there is also some evidence of gradual risk-compensation behavior: The immediate rise in fatalities following repeal of helmet laws appears to dissipate gradually at a rate of roughly 2.5 percent per year. This result suggests that future studies of safety regulation should consider longrun as well shortrun behavioral responses.     

Pearson and Responsibility: (Mis‐)Understanding the Capabilities Approach

Aboriginal Australian public intellectual Noel Pearson has gained prominence and influence for his brand of policy reform in Indigenous affairs by drawing upon the capabilities approach. This article challenges the coherence of Pearson's position, arguing that his unrelenting focus on personal responsibility leads him to conflate different elements within capabilities thinking. Pearson 1) mistakes social capabilities (to which people are entitled) for human potential to be unfolded, and 2) casts and prescribes personal responsibility as a type of latent capability. The latter a) inverts the capabilities approach wherein phenomena such as personal responsibility arise as an effect of the realization of latent capabilities rather than serving as latent capabilities themselves, and b) is at odds with the liberal basis of the capabilities approach that rejects imposing “good” ways of life on people. This is illustrated through reference to Pearson's advocacy of Direct Instruction teaching and engagement with the “real economy”. The paper recognizes Pearson's contribution to the policy debate and that the problems he highlights are real, but argues that the remedial approaches adopted are problematic, including in terms of Pearson's stated stance against assimilationist policy agendas.     

DNA Profiling Success Rates from Degraded Skeletal Remains in Guatemala

No data are available regarding the success of DNA Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiling from degraded skeletal remains in Guatemala. Therefore, DNA profiling success rates relating to 2595 skeletons from eleven cases at the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) are presented. The typical postmortem interval was 30 years. DNA was extracted from bone powder and amplified using Identifiler and Minifler. DNA profiling success rates differed between cases, ranging from 50.8% to 7.0%, the overall success rate for samples was 36.3%. The best DNA profiling success rates were obtained from femur (36.2%) and tooth (33.7%) samples. DNA profiles were significantly better from lower body bones than upper body bones (p = <0.0001). Bone samples from males gave significantly better profiles than samples from females (p = <0.0001). These results are believed to be related to bone density. The findings are important for designing forensic DNA sampling strategies in future victim recovery investigations.     

The World Bank, Governance and Theories of Political Action in Africa

This article considers the World Bank as a political thinker. This involves an interpretation of the values, methodologies, and theoretical references contained within the Bank's governance documentation. Generally, the Bank steers away from a serious engagement with the nature of states, or the dynamics of reform execution, even in its more detailed policy documents in reform areas such as administrative reform. But, by looking at the World Bank's involvement in African states, we can understand the ways in which the World Bank works with certain expectations concerning how reforms will work. The article critically analyses the Bank's 'political vision' by comparing it with prominent theories of African politics. The article concludes that the World Bank's governance agenda misses three pivotal aspects of African politics: the unity of political and economic power, the extreme openness of African states to external pressures, and the salience of historically-embedded cultural and political relations. These three points directly raise important questions about the prospects of good governance reforms in Africa, and the involvement of the Bank therein.