Integrated leadership system in the Australian Public Service

On 16 July 2004 the Australian Public Service Commission launched a new approach to leadership capability development for the public service. This approach, the Integrated Leadership System (ILS), is described as innovative and unique by the four speakers who make up this presentation—including Andrew Podger (AO), Public Service Commissioner, Jane Halton, Secretary of Health and Ageing, Anne Simic, Head of People, Qantas, and Dr Peter Shergold, Head of the Public Service and Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.     

The effects of pubertal timing on body image,school behavior,and deviance

Variation in the timing of pubertal maturation may result in behavioral differences among early, mid-, and late maturers. Using data from the National Health Examination Survey, a national probability sample of children and youth aged 12–17, we investigated the relationships between maturational timing and body image, school behavior, and deviance. In terms of body image, the early maturing boys were the group most satisfied with height and weight. The early maturing girls were most dissatisfied with weight, with 69% wishing to be thinner. This great dissatisfaction with weight reported by early maturing girls is probably not an affect of early maturation, but a concomitant of maturation in general. The majority of girls became dissatisfied with their weight as they matured, and females from the higher social groups were more likely to want to be thinner than females from lower groups. Thus, a normal developmental process is being viewed negatively by females and positively by males. Male early maturers more often had deviant behavior, but there were no consistent findings for girls. There was no effect of maturational timing on teacher reports of school absence, adjustment, popularity, need for discipline, or grade repetition.This research was supported by the Stanford Center for the Study of Youth Development and by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.Received M.D. from The Medical College of Pennsylvania.Received Ph.D. in anthropology from Stanford University.Received Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago.Received M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University.     

Regulating lobbying through voluntary transparency clubs: The connoisseurs’ assessment. Evidence from the European Union

Regulating private actors’ participation in policy‐making is key to democratic governance. Across political systems, targeted transparency is used to regulate lobbying activities. We examine the extent to which primary regulatory targets (organizations with frequent access to policy‐makers) support the architecture of lobbying regulation regimes set up as voluntary transparency clubs. Our empirical testing ground is the European Union. We conceptualize the EU Transparency Register as a Voluntary Transparency Club, elaborate on its club goods, and derive a set of theoretical expectations about its members’ evaluations of the club's transparency standards, membership size, and monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. We find significant differences between members’ and non‐members’ assessment regarding the regulatory performance of this transparency club. Members with frequent access to executive policy‐makers criticize the club's transparency standards and do not consider the Register a useful regulatory instrument. Yet, they support expanding its regulatory remit and increasing the club membership.     

The circulation of public officials in a fragmented system: Urban governance networks in Paris

Fragmentation and specialization—two characteristics of governance—have increased the number and variety of actors involved in the governing process, which can influence policy outcomes and legitimacy. To date, studies on governance or policy networks usually focus on one policy field and one moment in time. In this article, we analyse the dynamic aspect, thus how governance networks change over time, and examine whether the fragmentation and specialization of the governance system is mirrored in the circulation of public officials. Our case is the urban governance system of the Paris region, which is characterized by high fragmentation along policy fields and territory. The data show that Paris is governed by three sub‐systems that largely correspond to the different territorial levels of governance, but also to different types of organizations. Generally, territorial fragmentation seems to be stronger than policy field fragmentation. This structure is quite stable across time.     

Problem solving and youth violence: an evaluation of the Boston Gun Project

The Boston Gun Project is a problem-solving policing initiativeaimed at reducing homicide victimization among young peoplein the city of Boston. It represented an innovative partnershipbetween researchers and practitioners to assess the city's youthhomicide problem and implement an intervention intended to havepowerful impacts in the near term. In early 1996, a workinggroup representing a variety of law enforcement and social serviceagencies implemented an intervention that strategically respondedto gang violence, focused enforcement efforts on gun trafficking,and emphasized communication of the strategy to generate deterrence.The intervention is associated with a 60% decline in youth homicidevictimization (i.e., two fewer victims per month). There aresmaller declines in other measures of violence. The declinein youth homicide is sharp and occurs coincident with the introductionof the intervention. Competing hypotheses appear unable to accountfor the decline.     

Book reviews: Rewriting Christine

THE BOOK OF THE CITY OF LADIES by Christine de Pizan. Translated by Earl Jeffrey Richards. Persea Books, 1982.

COMIC WOMEN, TRAGIC MEN: A STUDY OF GENDER AND GENRE IN SHAKESPEARE by Linda Bamber. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982. 211 pp. ($18.50)

THE UNDISCOVERED CONTINENT: EMILY DICKINSON AND THE SPACE OF THE MIND by Suzanne Juhasz. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983.

REGINA by Leslie Epstein. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, New York. 251 pp. ($13.95). Avon Books ($3.95).

MORE WORK FOR MOTHER: THE IRONIES OF HOUSEHOLD TECHNOLOGY FROM THE OPEN HEARTH TO THE MICROWAVE by Ruth Schwartz Cowan. Basic Books, New York, 1983. 219 pp.     

Creating a ‘what works’ translational tool for police: a researcher-city government partnership

ABSTRACT

In recent years, a number of translational tools have been developed in policing to make the growing research evidence base more accessible and useful for practitioners and policymakers. Here we focus on the creation of the ‘What works in policing?’ website, which resulted from a collaboration between a government agency in Seattle, Washington and researchers at George Mason University and Arizona State University. We describe the site in detail and its similarities to and differences from existing translation tools, as well as the rationale for a local government’s involvement in translational work. In particular we focus on efforts to link the site with the work of the Seattle Police Department through a case study approach. We review indicators that suggest the site is being well-utilized and close with thoughts on the future of translational work in policing and efforts to ensure translational tools are useful to practitioners.     

Challenges to prosecutorial discretion

In the ordinary conduct of prosecutions, challenges are faced when, especially, discretionary decisions need to be made. That situation arises at many stages of the process, some of which are identified in this paper. Many legal and factual circumstances will operate to determine the outcome of such situations. In addition, legal challenges may be able to be made to actions taken by prosecutors and that possibility should be anticipated when decisions are being made and action taken.     

Combatting antisemitism in the school playground: an Australian case study

The aim of Gross and Rutland's paper is to analyse the problem of antisemitic bullying in contemporary Australian state schools by investigating the case of Jewish children in those schools. The study is interdisciplinary, drawing on historical data and educational methodology, and employs a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews conducted in Sydney and Melbourne with all the major actors: students (55), teachers (10), principals (4), parents (13) and Jewish communal leaders (10). Gross and Rutland argue that classical anti-Jewish stereotypes are perpetuated in the school playground, transmitted by children from one generation to the next. This finding provides an additional perspective to the general literature, which argues that racial prejudice and stereotypes are acquired primarily through home socialization, religious institutions and the media, and neglects the role of the school playground.