Ethnonationalism as a Source of Stability in the Party Systems of Bulgaria and Romania: Minority Parties,Nationalism, and EU Membership

Democratization, economic transformation, and EU accession have shaped the Bulgarian and Romanian party systems in ways similar to that seen across the rest of eastern Europe. A quarter century after democratization, the party systems remain unstable. The article demonstrates that nationalism and ethnic identity provide stable voter salience in party systems that remain dominated by fragmentation, personalistic political parties, and a lack of issue differentiation. An analysis of the use of ethnonationalism by political elites in Bulgaria is contrasted with a briefer analysis of Romania.     

Applying Knowledge of Species‐Typical Scavenging Behavior to the Search and Recovery of Mammalian Skeletal Remains

Forensic investigations involving animal scavenging of human remains require a physical search of the scene and surrounding areas. However, there is currently no standard procedure in the U.K. for physical searches of scavenged human remains. The Winthrop and grid search methods used by police specialist searchers for scavenged remains were examined through the use of mock red fox (Vulpes vulpes) scatter scenes. Forty‐two police specialist searchers from two different regions within the U.K. were divided between those briefed and not briefed with fox‐typical scavenging information. Briefing searchers with scavenging information significantly affected the recovery of scattered bones (χ² = 11.45, df = 1, p = 0.001). Searchers briefed with scavenging information were 2.05 times more likely to recover bones. Adaptions to search methods used by searchers were evident on a regional level, such that searchers more accustom to a peri‐urban to rural region recovered a higher percentage of scattered bones (58.33%, n = 84).     

Threats to Perceptions of Fairness in the Termination of Parental Rights

Termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings are among the most important family court activities. This study contributes to knowledge of the TPR process by illustrating practices employed in TPR proceedings and considering ways that certain practices can hinder perceptions of fairness. TPR court records from one state were analyzed using inductive coding procedures. The analysis identified nine categories of threats to perceptions of fairness in the TPR process. Findings have implications for procedural justice and the legitimacy of child welfare practice.     

Staff Quality and Treatment Effectiveness: An Examination of the Relationship between Staff Factors and the Effectiveness of Correctional Programs

Although a growing body of research has focused on identifying the characteristics of effective interventions, relatively little research has looked at the impact that staff factors have on treatment effectiveness. The current research conceptualizes staff quality via three domains: staff characteristics, staff training, and staff supervision. Process and outcome evaluations of 54 community correctional facilities are used to examine the relationship between staff quality and reduced recidivism of program participants. The results suggest that measures of all three domains maintain substantively meaningful relationships with program effectiveness.     

Innovation capacity in the healthcare sector and historical anchors: examples from the UK,Switzerland and the US

Innovation is an integral part of economic development in developed economies. In the post 2008 period, a key policy agenda is that of sustainable development, which calls for innovation in all aspects of value-chains. In this paper, we focus on innovation from the biotech—pharma perspective to see whether or not this will lead to a sustainable future for the regions where there are clusters of firms in this sector. We examine data from a recently completed European Union study of innovation in the Healthcare sector from the UK and Switzerland, countries with an historical base in pharma, to understand how innovation pathways vary at the regional level in the broader life sciences, which incorporate biotech and more. Innovation in the healthcare sector in two regions, Oxfordshire in the UK and Zurich in Switzerland are compared. We contextualize our discussion by drawing on studies that focus on the sector in the US, specifically Boston. The analytical framework comprises three elements: innovation systems and national and regional economic development theories are the first two, followed by approaches which consider organizational or institutional activity. This framework is used to help explain and understand the complexity of how innovation is organized at the sub-national level. The overall context is that it is increasing becoming a condition for government financing of research that it has more immediate application in industry or have the possibility of commercialisation (e.g., translational research).     

‘What to do with the cutters?’ – Best practices for offender self-injurious behaviors

This paper addresses focal concerns regarding self-injurious behavior (SIB) in offenders, provides guidance on current best practices, and explains and challenges myths often held by correctional staff and administration regarding SIB. It is organized along the following thematic areas: (1) Behavior: SIBs within corrections are complex, challenging, and often misunderstood; (2) People: reducing rates of SIB in a correctional facility is a difficult challenge that requires collaboration; and (3) Place: the challenge of providing therapeutic and medical care within a correctional setting. Subsequently, policy implications and best practices recommendations are provided in order to better address this problematic behavior.     

The Varieties of Faith-Related Agencies

Although some recent literature suggests religious social service agencies can help governments reach important social program goals, the true social organization and services of the agencies remain in dispute. This article interviews officials in the wide class of "faith-related" agencies in two cities to consider two aspects of this issue: the ties or "coupling" of agencies to faith, and the impact of coupling on agency structure and service programming. The results suggest that many sampled agencies are loosely tied to faith in terms of resources, more tightly coupled in terms of authority, and moderately coupled with respect to culture; that certain aspects of service-delivery technology are heavily secularized in many agencies; that faith is more influential in such matters as the agencies' choices of services; and that the larger, potentially more secularized agencies that might be least likely to be characterized as faith based balance differing sets of resources and thereby can more fully deliver services that arguably express faith in action. Given this finding and that most agencies profess a focus on protecting the dignity and rights of clients rather than on individual responsibility or other themes that are stressed by some recent policy proposals, governments need to be extremely selective in funding agencies to promote those proposals' themes.     

Development in sub‐Saharan Africa: cultural influences and managers' decision behaviour

We explore the relevance of national differences in values to development in sub‐Saharan Africa using data from two recent global surveys. The evidence indicates a shared black African culture that emphasizes hierarchy, embeddedness and mastery in contrast to egalitarianism, autonomy and harmony, in keeping with the literature on Africa. Further evidence reveals that African managers stress reliance on formal rules and superiors in reaching decisions, as predicted by their cultural profile. Comparisons with Western European samples indicate that these nations have the opposite cultural profile and that their managers stress self‐reliance and consultation with subordinates. Implications of these contrasts for development in Africa and effective collaboration within donor agencies and multinational firms are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.