National styles of regulation: Child care in three countries

An analysis of child care regulations in Germany, Sweden, and the United States reveals distinctive national policy styles. A ‘social constructionist’ perspective, with its emphasis on variable problem definitions, helps to explain such differences. However, a full understanding of regulatory differences requires attention to regulatory solutions as well. By disaggregating the concept of regulation, we are able to demonstrate rather different rank-orderings of our three countries in their regulatory solutions. We attribute these differences to cultural, institutional, and political characteristics of the three countries.     

Do policies develop like scientific paradigms? On occupational safety and health legislation in Finland

Abstract. The article adds to the attempts to describe and explain legislation as an extended process. The case of Finnish labour protection policy is used as an illustration. It is argued that the labour protection policy is pursued in accordance with an established labour protection paradigm, which consists of the way of cognitively structuring the safety and health problem, of the accepted methods to deal with the problem and of the values underlying the policy. It is argued that the Finnish labour protection paradigm does not correspond with the real function of labour protection. Generally, the paper suggests that the paradigm-nature of public policies implies an inherent conservatism, allowing only partial adaption to social and political change.     

Buttery Guns and Welfare Hawks: The Politics of Defense Spending in Advanced Industrial Democracies

In this article, we present a new theory that, given the economic consequences of military spending, some governments may use military spending as a means of advancing their domestic non‐military objectives. Based on evidence that governments can use military spending as welfare policy in disguise, we argue that the role of ideology in shaping military spending is more complicated than simple left‐right politics. We also present a theory that strategic elites take advantage of opportunities presented by international events, leading us to expect governments that favor more hawkish foreign policy policies to use low‐level international conflicts as opportunities for increasing military spending. Using pooled time‐series data from 19 advanced democracies in the post–World War II period, we find that government ideology, measured as welfare and international positions, interacts with the international security environment to affect defense spending.     

"No Soft Touch": Romani Migration to the U.K. at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century

This paper discusses Romani migration to the U.K. from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the closing years of the twentieth century, with particular reference to the Czech and Slovak Republics. These case studies were chosen to illustrate wider points because they are the best documented, particularly with regard to illuminating sociological research on motivations for migration. Comparisons with similar migration to Canada shed further light on the situation. Refugees from these CEE countries have met a hostile reception in the U.K. It is argued here, however, that popular ignorance alone does not provide a sufficient explanation for this hostility: rather, the condemnation of Romani asylum seekers is seen as an expression of a deep-rooted and long-standing anxiety in the U.K. about immigration and its potential consequences. In spite of their relatively insignificant numbers, Roma have acted as convenient motifs in this ongoing discourse, being assigned a prominent symbolic role at a time of heightened political sensitivity.     

Semi-peripheral countries and the invention of the ‘Third World’, 1955–65

Revisiting the events leading to the collapse of Third World summitry in 1965, this article proposes that the rise and fall of Third World unity efforts in the years 1955–65 originated from the unsuccessful attempt by industrialised Afro-Asian (aa) countries to turn unindustrialised aa states into their export markets. As a case study, this article explores Egypt’s economic foreign policy towards other aa countries and its activity within the aa and the Non-aligned movements, and compares Egyptian strategy in this field with that of China and Ghana.     

Third Molar Development: Evaluation of Nine Tooth Development Registration Techniques for Age Estimations

Multiple third molar development registration techniques exist. Therefore the aim of this study was to detect which third molar development registration technique was most promising to use as a tool for subadult age estimation. On a collection of 1199 panoramic radiographs the development of all present third molars was registered following nine different registration techniques [Gleiser, Hunt (GH); Haavikko (HV); Demirjian (DM); Raungpaka (RA); Gustafson, Koch (GK); Harris, Nortje (HN); Kullman (KU); Moorrees (MO); Cameriere (CA)]. Regression models with age as response and the third molar registration as predictor were developed for each registration technique separately. The MO technique disclosed highest R² (F 51%, M 45%) and lowest root mean squared error (F 3.42 years; M 3.67 years) values, but differences with other techniques were small in magnitude. The amount of stages utilized in the explored staging techniques slightly influenced the age predictions.     

From france to new france

The history of family names is directly linked to the history of populations. In the French-Canadian case, this history has two main features: a small number of founding members of a population, and a rapid increase due to a high reproduction rate, without any significant new influx of immigrants. Other factors intervened in the success of certain names: differential reproduction rates between regions, how early the name was established; and the use of surnames, which in some cases replaced the original name. With respect to names, France and New France were very different. Research in France on the names of a sample of pioneers going to the New World shows little expansion of several names, particularly in the immigrants' region of origin.