Terrorism and the Railroads: Redefining Security in the Wake of 9/11

This article examines the impact of the 9/11 attacks on railroad security. Railroad security has been traditionally defined as a problem of trespass and liability for deaths, injuries, and property damage sustained or caused by trespassers. It argues that the private freight railroad industry, not government, has largely directed the efforts to prevent terrorism and share information on suspected terrorist threats, through the prompt formation of a loosely coupled network of organizations coordinated by the industry trade association, the American Association of Railroads. The freight railroad network approach is contrasted with the efforts of Amtrak to gain public funds for its security efforts by connecting its survival with homeland security. Kingdon's model of the policy process is used to explain how 9/11 has presented an opportunity for railroads to use policy windows to gain benefits for the industry while at the same time resisting possible reregulation. It contrasts the network approach with the traditional hierarchical-bureaucratic form of organization used in the design of the Department of Homeland Security, and suggests it poses a valuable case study to see how information can be shared between widely divergent types of organizations, and test how best to prevent future terrorist events.     

Thatcherism and the Conservative Party

Neither spatial models of party competition nor the 'Westminster' model of British politics explain the phenomenon of Thatcherism. One explanation of its success, examined by Crewe and Searing, suggests that Mrs Thatcher sought to convert the Conservative party and the wider electorate to her distinctive brand of liberal Whiggism and traditional Toryism. They found little evidence of the success of this, however, among the British electorate as a whole. In this paper, data from the first national survey of Conservative party members demonstrates that she had little success in converting the Conservative party to these ideas either, although she did have a secure ideological base within the party. The results also suggest that her successor, John Major, has a rather different support base within the party from that of Mrs Thatcher. The implications of these findings for spatial models of party competition and the Westminster model of British politics are discussed.     

Impression management and self-report among violent offenders

Offenders are assumed by many to employ socially desirable responding (SDR) response styles when completing self-report measures. Contrary to expectations, prior research has shown that accounting for SDR in self-report measures of antisocial constructs does not improve the relationship with outcome. Despite this, many self-report measures reliably predict future criminal outcome criteria. The present research examines the relationship of SDR (self-deception and impression management) with self-reported antisocial attitudes and the outcome of criminal recidivism in a sample of violent offenders. Offenders high on impression management reported lower antisocial attitudes. However, when impression management was statistically partialed from antisocial attitudes, the relationship with recidivism tended to diminish, though not to a statistically significant degree. This finding, though hypothesized based on previous empirical findings, is contrary to the theoretical assumption that controlling for SDR should improve the relationship of self-report with outcome. The discussion centers on the implications of routinely removing impression management from self-report.     

DO ideas matter? Policy network configurations and resistance to policy change in the Canadian forest sector

Abstract: Conflict and controversy have been a prominent feature of the politics of the Canadian forest sector for over a decade, but with little apparent effect on Canadian forest policies. To help understand the role of ideas in the policy process, this paper focuses on the configuration of policy subsystems in the sector, arguing that “captured” and “clientelistic” policy networks have been able to resist criticisms emerging from fractious policy communities. Until such time as a coherent and consistent alternative forest policy paradigm emerges to unify the community, it is likely that the present disjuncture between ideas and interests in the forest sector will continue to characterize forest policy development. Sommaire: Depuis plus d'une décennie, le débat politique dans le secteur forestier au Canada a été fortement marqué par le conflit et la controverse, sans toutefois avoir beaucoup d'impact visible sur les politiques forestières du pays. Pour mieux cerner le rôle des idées dans la définition des politiques, cet article examine la configuration des sous-systèmes décisionnels du secteur et soutient que les structures décision-nelles captives et favorisant la clientèle ont résisté aux critiques des groupes antago-nistes. L'actuelle divergence entre les idées et les intérêts dans le secteur forestier caractérisera probablement la définition des politiques forestières jusqu'à ce qu'on leur trouve une solution de rechange cohérente capable de faire l'unanimité au sein des collectivités intéressées.     

Towards resonant places: reflections on the organizing strategy of the International Transport Workers’ Federation

This article explores a geographical dilemma at the heart of union organizing in transnational corporations; namely, how to circulate union power across different spaces when existing labour struggles are generally restricted to single sites. Reflecting on the experience of the International Transport Workers' Federation, this paper argues that single site campaigns have been crucial to its organizing programme. Analysing cases involving dock workers in India and logistics workers in Turkey, it is noted that these struggles are resource intensive but potentially transformational, and should be theorized as ‘resonant places’ in a wider global organizing strategy.