Book reviews: Art and womanhood: From the female imagination to feminine consciousness

The Female Imagination, by Patricia Meyer Spacks. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975, $10.

Feminine Consciousness in the Modern British Novel, by Sydney Janet Kaplan. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975, $7.95.     

Models of funding and reimbursement in health care: A conceptual framework

Abstract: What is the best way to pay providers to deliver health services? The research evidence strongly suggests that there is no single answer; rather, one must consider the incentives and disincentives inherent in alternative health‐care funding models. This article suggests a conceptual framework for categorizing payment mechanisms that highlights different policy options and their associated tradeoffs. It concentrates on the following: distinctions between need, demand, and utilization as they affect the rationale for government involvement; models of the possible funding flows (two‐way, three‐way, and four‐way) as they affect policy levers; and implications of various approaches to payment. The framework is then used to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of particular approaches to financing health care and to clarify the tradeoffs involved. Sommaire: Quel est le meilleur moyen de payer les fournisseurs pour leur prestation de services de santé? Les données probantes de la recherche laissent fortement entendre qu'il n'existe pas une seule et unique réponse; il faut plutôt tenir compte des incitatifs et des désincitatifs inhérents aux autres modèles de financement des soins de santé. Pour classer par catégories les mécanismes de paiement, le présent article propose un cadre conceptuel qui souligne différentes options de politiques et les compromis qui leur sont associés. Il se concentre sur : les distinctions entre besoin, demande et utilisation qui ont une incidence sur la justification de l'intervention du gouvernement; les modèles des flux de financement possibles (à deux, trois et quatre directions) qui ont une incidence sur les leviers politiques; et les implications de diverses approches à l'égard du paiement. Le cadre est alors utilisé pour préciser les avantages et les inconvénients des approches particulières concernant le financement des soins de santé, et pour clarifier les compromis impliqués.     

Community‐based environmental management in Vietnam: the challenge of sharing power in a politically guided society

The article presents the challenges of introducing a ‘shared‐power’ community‐based management approach in the socialist society of Vietnam. The Portland State University (PSU)'s Oregon Environmental Management Alliance partnered with Vietnamese organisations in a shared‐power pilot project aimed at strengthening stakeholder participation in environmental improvements in two communities along the Tan Hoa‐Lo Gom (THLG) canal in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The Oregon Solutions model, a community‐based environmental management (CBEM) approach, was adapted for the shared‐power project. This article analyses three core ingredients of the shared‐power CBEM approach: multiple stakeholder structure, dispersed authority arrangements and diverse policy instruments. Critical reflections are offered on the meaning and appropriateness of these shared‐power ingredients when they are reinvented in Vietnam's politically guided governance system. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Patterns of political instability: Affiliation patterns of politicians and voters in post-communist Estonia,Latvia, and Lithuania

In contrast to established party systems, the transformation of post-communist party systems is not only shaped by shifts in electoral preferences, but also by the changing organizational loyalties of politicians. Post-communist politicians pursue a wide range of organizational strategies such as party fusions, fissions, start-ups, and interparty switching. By focusing on the interaction between these organizational strategies and voters’ electoral preferences, we argue that the seeming instability of post-communist party systems actually reveals distinct patterns of political change. The article develops an analytical framework, which incorporates politician-driven interparty mobility and voter-induced electoral change. It uses this framework to show that the apparently inchoate party systems of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania actually follow definable modes of transformation. Marcus Kreuzer is assistant professor of political science at Villanova University. His work focuses on how electoral and legislative institutions shape the organizational and electioneering practices of parties in interwar Europe and post-communist democracies. He also is studying the origins of liberal democracy in nineteenth century Europe. He is author ofInstitutions and Innovation—Voters, Politicians and Interest Groups in the Consolidation of Democracy: France and Germany, 1870–1939 (2001). Vello Pettai is lecturer in political science at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He specializes in comparative ethnopolitics and party politics. He has published previously inNations and Nationalism, Post-Soviet Affairs, East European Politics and Society, andJournal of Democracy. We would like to thank for Artis Pabriks and Darius Zeruolis for sharing their knowledge of Latvian and Lithuanian party politics as well as John T. Ishiyama, Scott Desposato, and two anonymous SCID reviewers for commenting on an earlier draft. Funding for this research came from an Estonian Science Foundation grant, nr. 4904. We gratefully acknowledge their support.     

Improving the Implementation and Effectiveness of Out‐of‐School‐Time Tutoring

School districts are spending millions on tutoring outside regular school day hours for economically and academically disadvantaged students in need of extra academic assistance. Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), parents of children in persistently low‐performing schools were allowed to choose their child's tutoring provider, and together with school districts, they were also primarily responsible for holding providers in the private market accountable for performance. We present results from a multisite, mixed‐method longitudinal study of the impact of out‐of‐school time (OST) tutoring on student reading and mathematics achievement that link provider attributes and policy and program administration variables to tutoring program effectiveness. We find that many students are not getting enough hours of high‐quality, differentiated instruction to produce significant gains in their learning, in part because of high hourly rates charged by providers for tutoring. We identify strategies and policy levers that school districts can use to improve OST tutoring policy design and launch improved programs as waivers from NCLB are granted.     

Exploring the Taxometric Status of Psychopathy Among Youthful Offenders: Is There a Juvenile Psychopath Taxon?

Several recent studies have examined the taxometric status of psychopathic and antisocial traits in adult samples, almost all of which have supported a dimensional model. The three studies examining whether psychopathic traits among youths are best conceptualized as a discrete latent class (or taxon) or as a dimensional construct, however, have provided conflicting results. In a sample of 723 delinquent youths who completed two self-report measures of psychopathic traits, results across taxometric procedures provided uniform support for a dimensional model. Additionally, analyses comparing putative dichotomous and dimensional classification models in terms of predicting relevant criterion measures (e.g., delinquent behavior, substance abuse, and hostility) indicated superior validity for the dimensional model. Implications for research, policy, and practice are reviewed.