A specialist on regional politics and center-periphery relations in the Russian Federation examines the process of devolution of authority from Moscow to the regions in the 1990s. A discussion of the process by which federal treaties were negotiated is followed by an examination of types of de facto policy autonomy that have emerged at the regional level by default. Research sources include Russianlanguage documents and interviews with a range of central and regional officials. There follows a discussion of the impact on the devolution process of the institutional structure of the Russian state. 相似文献
An older, divorcing couple rarely has assets worth more than their Social Security rights. After a house and pension/retirement plans, Social Security is their largest "asset." Yet, it is rarely considered by lawyers, mediators, or the parties themselves. A key point, often missed, is that the working spouse receives twice as much Social Security as the nonworking spouse. For many retiring women, getting half as much Social Security as their ex-husbands is just one more insult from a sexist society. Although a nonworking husband will get the same half, the problem is largely one affecting older women, who earned less on average while they worked and who usually took time off to be with the children while the children were growing up. This article looks at Social Security regulations that make this so and how to avoid this unjust result. 相似文献
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive public health problem impacting millions of women, families, and employers each year. Abusive partners purposively sabotage survivors’ employment to maintain control over them. While previous scales have been developed to measure the impact of IPV on work and economic stability, the current study creates and pilot tests a technology-inclusive measurement of workplace disruptions for survivors of IPV. It was hypothesized that statistical analysis would produce subscales of poor workplace performance and employment instability. The 34-item Intimate Partner Violence and Workplace Disruptions Assessment (IPV-WDA) developed for this study is based on individual interviews with IPV survivors, consultations with expert scholars and advocates, and comparisons of items with existing measurements. The current study used item response theory (IRT-Rasch model) to develop and pilot test the IPV-WDA with a sample of intimate partner violence survivors (N?=?41) who had been employed while experiencing abuse. The IPV-WDA showed unidimensionality, high reliability, and validity, as well as items that ranged from common to severe experiences. All items provided unique information on survivors’ experiences of workplace disruptions indicating they should be retained. Based on findings of overall reliable and valid performance, the technology inclusive and comprehensive IPV-WDA should be used in future research. Specifically, researchers should prioritize using it with larger samples so that individual item findings can shape the conceptualization of abusive workplace disruptions and be the target of future intervention research.
In an attempt to discover the major predictors of parole decision-making in one southeastern state, this study examined the cases of 762 inmates under the supervision of the Alabama Department of Corrections who were eligible for parole from June 1, 1993 through May 31, 1994. Of the 762 eligible inmates, only 138 (18 percent) were granted parole. Using parole disposition (granted or denied) as the dependent variable, this study investigated the offense, offender, and general parole variables and their impact on parole decisions. Logistic regression findings indicated that the strongest predictors of parole release decisions were the length of the original sentence assessed for the offense, the total number of felonies for which the inmate was serving time, and the warden and senior officers' recommendations. These variables, which were also significant at the bivariate level of analysis, explained approximately 47 percent of the variation in the dependent variable. A major concern of the study was the generalizability of the findings. 相似文献