Evolution of presidential news coverage

This study is the second of two reporting on how the American presidency has been rhetorically constructed for the nation's citizens by the mass media between 1945 and 1985. These research papers examined 412 Time magazine articles on the presidency, keying on such matters as how that magazine documented its reportage, which presidential qualities, behaviors, and problems it emphasized, and how Time used language strategies to describe and evaluate the presidency. By using a variety of content analytic methods, the authors detected two general trends in Time’s coverage: (1) the American presidency has been portrayed as an increasingly besieged institution—socially, politically, and psychologically—and (2) Time’s heavy focus on bureaucratic politics has resulted in an increasing institutionalization of the presidency. A variety of data support these two conclusions and suggest, furthermore, the existence of an over‐arching conceptual model in Time’s discussions of the presidency. The implications of this model are explored briefly here.     

The European Commission and fiscal governance reform: a strategic actor?

The intensification of the financial and economic crisis in Europe has added a new impetus to the debate over the possibilities for securing supranational fiscal integration within the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Since the literature on the European Union’s response to the crisis is dominated by the study of intergovernmental politics, this article considers the previously neglected role of the Commission. A framing analysis of the Commission’s crisis discourse is operationalised here, which is supplemented by interviews with senior officials located in the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) during key phases of the crisis. It is found that a supranational reform agenda was never internalised by the Commission. Instead, the Commission acted strategically by framing the crisis around intergovernmental fiscal discipline. These findings suggest that, in line with the ‘new intergovernmentalist’ thesis, supranational institutions themselves may not be as ‘hard-wired’ towards supranationalism as is often assumed.     

Grandparents' legal rights to visitation in the fifty states and the District of Columbia

The parameters of legal visitation rights for grandparents in both biological and adoptive parenting situations are explored. Laws in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are summarized. Suggestions for improvement in the current system are included.     

School vouchers and academic performance: results from three randomized field trials

This article examines the effects of school vouchers on student test scores in New York, New York, Dayton, Ohio, and Washington, DC. The evaluations in all three cities are designed as randomized field trials. The findings, therefore, are not confounded by the self‐selection problems that pervade most observational data. After 2 years, African Americans who switched from public to private school gained, relative to their public‐school peers, an average of 6.3 National Percentile Ranking points in the three cities on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The gains by city were 4.2 points in New York, 6.5 points in Dayton, and 9.2 points in Washington. Effects for African Americans are statistically significant in all three cities. In no city are statistically significant effects observed for other ethnic groups, after either 1 or 2 years. © 2002 by the Association for Policy Analysis and Management.     

The Role of the Broker When Environmental Claims Occur

While environmental incidents tend to occur infrequently, they are often serious enough to disrupt the operations of the entities that experience releases of hazardous materials. The consequences of such events may include third-party claims for bodily injury and property damage, orders to clean up contamination, and regulatory actions against responsible parties. Fortunately, environmental insurance is available to provide protection against the financial consequences of a wide variety of pollution events. This article looks at the role of the broker in assisting clients to identify, analyze, and insure against environmental liability. With properly drafted policies and active participation in the claims management process, the broker can play a significant role in assuring that an environmental insurance policy responds as anticipated when an unexpected incident threatens a client's operations.     

The private security complex and its regulation in Africa: select examples from the continent

ABSTRACT

This article aims to provide an overview of the primary trends and developments of the domestic private security industry in select countries in Africa, while also further reflecting on a selection of operational challenges and obstacles inherent to the industry and its regulation. In particular, field research was conducted in Uganda to explore the nature of the state ownership of private security companies so as to further highlight the regulatory difficulties. Our findings raise a number of questions pertaining to the theorising of private security regulation answers of which, we conclude, may find utility in drawing on the concept of “hybridity” as an alternative heuristic tool to engage with the realities of state regulation in the Global South.     

Husbands who harm: Predicting spousal violence by men

Previous research on spouse abuse has frequently focused on bivariate relationships between theoretically derived variables and marital violence. This study utilizes a multivariate approach in order to explore the independent and combined effects of several variables derived from the social learning and the frustration/strain perspectives on self-reported violence by husbands against wives. Data for married and/or cohabiting males are derived from a national stratified random sample of couples in the United States. Loglinear analysis is used to identify the main and interactive effects of age, occupational status, employment status, subjective economic strain, and observation of parental violence on reports of violence toward one's wife. Results indicate that age, occupational status, parental modeling and employment status affect the likelihood of violence. Employment status more strongly increases the likelihood of violence for younger men, as opposed to older men, which supports the strain perspective. The independent effect of the observation of parental violence lends support to the social learning approach. Social policy implications are discussed.