Escaping the Regulatory Net: Why Regulatory Reform Can Fail Consumers*

This paper considers the impact of recent reforms to the UK food safety régime and considers whether the reforms have been able to deliver their promised benefits and if not, why not. Empirically, the paper examines the UK Food Standards Agency's (FSA) reforms to the régime managing food allergen risks, and the extent to which those reforms have reflected the FSA's guiding principle of “putting consumers first”. The paper finds that the operationalization of that guiding principle was mitigated by a number of factors, including: interpretative flexibility in representing consumer interests; the institutional structure and character of the régime; the political and cultural environment in which the régime operated; and normative uncertainties about the allocation of rights and responsibilities in managing risks. The paper concludes that risk regulation reforms are likely to fail in prioritizing consumer interests unless such factors are taken into account.     

Protectionism Against China Is No Answer to America's Woes

The world is rapidly evolving on many fronts. Brazil, Turkey and other emerging powers are taking their own initiatives and building their own global links outside the old frameworks of the G‐8, the United Nations Security Council and NATO. The “third way” politics of Tony Blair that embraced globalization from the left of center in Britain has given way to the Tory party once again. Just as recovery from the financial crash seemed on the horizon, Europe's sovereign debt crisis has erupted. The historically unprecedented pace and scale of urbanization in China is transforming the politics of the Communist Party. President Lula of Brazil, former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo and others take stock of these manifold developments.     

TRENDS IN VIOLENT CRIME AMONG EX-MENTAL PATIENTS

A central component of the public's conception of the mentally ill is that they are dangerous. This belief receives support from recent studies of the arrest rates of ex-mental patients which suggest that arrests for violent crimes have increased. In order to investigate this issue, samples were taken at two points in time. Analysis of arrest rates revealed that very few ex-mental patients were subsequently arrested for violent crimes, although these rates were higher and increasing faster than these of the general population. Mast significant were the findings that subsequent arrests were best explained by the number of prior arrests and that the percentage of patients with a history of criminal behavior has increased dramatically over time. The implications of these trends in violent crime among ex-mental patients for the perceived link between mental illness and violence and for the social control functions of society are discussed.     

CONTROL THEORY REEXAMINED: Race and the Use of Neutralizations Among Institutionalized Delinquents

A theoretical challenge to the socio-structural analysis of delinquency was posited by Sykes and Maria over two decades ago. Since then, relatively few studies have addressed the several issues inherent in neutralization theory. The present research explores the association between socialization and neutralization as this relationship pertains to racial differences among institutionalized delinquents. Significant differences for socialization and neutralization scores on the basis of race were noted. Lack of significant differences between races in terms of the hypothesized direction of the socialization/neutralization correlation was interpreted as a function of the nonlinearity of the data.     

Problems in Australian Foreign Policy January-June 1970

Australia's external policy during the first half of 1970 was dominated by three concerns-defence planning and weapons acquisition, Vietnam/Cambodia, and defence commitments in Malaysia/Singapore. Discussion of Australia's approach to these policy concerns should, however, be set in somewhat broader perspective. First, it seems appropriate to indicate the domestic context in which policies were being formulated. Second, a review of the governing principles which provided the rationale for particular policy movements is called for.