Measuring Polyarchy

The authors have developed a scale based on Robert Dahl’s concept of polyarchy. The scale measures the degree to which national political systems meet the minimum requirements for political democracy, where real-world “democracies” rather than abstract ideals are the, standard. The Polyarchy Scale is constructed from indicators of freedom of expression, freedom of organization, media pluralism, and the holding of fair elections. The scale is (1) well grounded in democratic theory, (2) world-wide in scope., (3) demonstrably valid, (4) solves problems of weighting indicators and (5) is easy to interpret and replicate., Some limitations in the scale's applicability are discussed and suggestions are made for improvements and future research. Michael Coppedge is assistant professor in the Latin American Studies Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), 1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. He is completing a book on party factions and presidential democracy in Venezuela. Wolfgang H. Reinicke is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University and a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. He is currently completing a dissertation on the politics of global integration in banking and finance.     

Witnessing spouse abuse and experiencing physical abuse: A “double whammy”?

Child witnesses to parental violence, both abused (N =40) and nonabused (N =44), who were temporarily residing in a battered women's shelter were compared with children from a similar economic background (N =66) on measures of anxiety, depression, and behavior problems. Mothers of the three groups of children (comparison, witness, abused/witness) across the age range from 4 to 12 years completed a behavior problem inventory; the youngsters responded to paper-and-pencil self-report measures. Results indicated that the abused/witness children were manifesting significantly more distress on the behavior problem measure than the comparison youngsters, with the witness children showing a moderate amount and the comparison children the least. However, these patterns were mediated by the age of the child. Implications of these differential findings are discussed.     

Statutory interpretation and the counterfactual test for legislative intention

In this paper I examine the counterfactual test for legislative intention as used in Riggs v. Palmer. The distinction between the speaker's meaning approach and the constructive interpretation approach to statutory interpretation, as made by Dworkin in Law's Empire, is explained. I argue that Dworkin underestimates the potential of the counterfactual test in making the speaker's meaning approach more plausible. I also argue that Dworkin's reasons for rejecting the counterfactual test, as proposed in Law's Empire, are either too weak or unsound. A deeper reason for rejecting the counterfactual test as a method for the speaker's meaning approach is proposed in this paper. The difference between the counterfactual test and other tests for legislative intention which seem also to make use of counterfactual conditions in explained.     

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND:*ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN AGENCY SETTINGS

The author draws on a variety of long- and short-term experiences in applied anthropology to characterize some of the differences between academic and non-academic research contexts. The differences are illustrated with two examples of consulting on drug projects; one involving Indian drug programs, the other, a four city study of PCP use. The conclusion suggests how anthropology graduate programs might change to train students for this kind of work.