Reliability and validity of the oral interview board in police promotions: A research note

In recent years the validity of personnel systems has come to be more closely examined. This study focuses on one component of the police promotion system, the oral interview board. It examines the oral interview boards of a state police agency in which 161 state police troopers were aspiring for the rank of sergeant. Reliability and validity of the process are evaluated. The findings indicate that although the reliability coefficients were acceptable, significant differences in the ratings of similar types of raters across boards existed. Several statistical procedures were also used to investigate the validity of the procedure, but validity could not be established for this particular case. Several recommendations for improving the procedure are made.     

Escape from Domination: the Concept of Disengagement in Third World Studies

All political systems have their quota of dissidents, cynics and the apathetic who, rather than trying to change the structures of oppression, opt to withdraw from them. The phenomena associated with such withdrawal include political migration, secession, second economy activity, counterculture movements and departicipation from political activity and voting. 'Disengagement' boldly claims to provide a single unifying concept to embrace them all. Following an assessment of its use within different paradigms, common problems of defining the boundaries of disengagement are considered. Finally a tentative typology is offered.     

The Political economy of regulating occupational health: the Ham and Beaudry reports

Abstract. The article examines the content and findings of the report of the Ham Royal Commission on the Health and Safety of Workers in Mines (in Ontario), and the preliminary report of the Beaudry inquiry into health in the Quebec asbestos industry. The reports are analyzed in relation to a case study (on the Matachewan asbestos plant) and in the broader context of the main variables in the political economy of regulating occupational health (and hazardous substances). These variables include the market economy and the production cycle, the role of organized labour, federalism, and the choice of governing instruments, the organizational forms for regulation, the relationships between regulation-making and regulatory compliance, the openness of regulatory processes, and the scientific and laymen's conflicting approaches to evidence and causal knowledge. The analysis suggests that by far the heaviest causal weight in explaining past regulatory inadequacies should be placed on the raw economics of regulating occupational health and on how this has been aided and abetted, by design or by neglect, by interdepartmental jurisdictional conflict. The two reports reinforce the continuing need, intellectually, to link policy with administrative behaviour and to relate both to the Canadian industrial system. Sommaire. L'auteur de cet article examine la teneur et les conclusions du rapport de la Commission royale Ham sur la santé et la sécurité des mineurs (en Ontario) et le rapport préliminaire de l'enquěte Beaudry sur la santé dans l'industrie de l'amiante, au Québec. Il analyse ces rapports en relation avec une étude de cas (une exploitation d'amiante dans la Matachewan) et dans le contexte plus large des différentes variables de l'économie politique régissant la santé au travail (et les produits nocifs). Ces variables comprennent l'économie du marché et les cycles de production, le rǒle de la main d'oeuvre syndiquée, le fédéralisme et le choix des instruments gouvernementaux, les formes institutionnelles de réglementation, les rapports entre l'élaboration des réglements et la façon dont ils sont respectés, l'ouverture du processus de réglementation et les conceptions opposées des scientifiques et des profanes face aux faits et à la connaissance des causes. Il se dégage de cette analyse que les principales causes des carences régle- mentatoires sont les préceptes économiques de la réglementation de la santé au travail et la façon dont, sciemment ou par défaut, les conflits de juridiction départementaux ont joué dans le měme sens. Les deux rapports réitèrent la nécessité constante de relier, intellectuellement, la politique au comportement administratif et d'établir les relations de l'un et de l'autre avec le système industriel canadien.     

A Trojan horse: Anti-communism and the war on drugs

This work argues the U.S. War on Drugs is a misnomer. We suggest, instead, that it is secondary to traditional anti-Communist foreign policy concerns. Thus, the war on drugs serves to mask the U.S. counter-intelligence and paramilitary presence abroad.This paper in slightly different form was originally presented at the meeting of the Drug Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C., October 1988.     

HIV/AIDS,governance and development: the public administration factor

This paper provides an overview of the literature concerned with the impact of HIV on public administration, looking in particular at projections of the impact of HIV/AIDS on public expenditure, the impact of attrition on the health and education sectors and on the civil service as a whole. ‘Success stories’ such as Uganda and Senegal are discussed through their representation in the literature, and ‘political commitment’ is identified as a critical but under‐theorised factor in tackling HIV. Having taken as its starting point the existing work on HIV and governance, the paper then considers the impact of the epidemic in conditions of state vacuum—conflict situations. The paper concludes that governance is both victim of, and part of the solution to, the problems of HIV/AIDS. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using the tax system to collect fines

In this article we consider the possibility that fines could be collected through the tax and social welfare systems in the same way as higher education contributions and child support payments are currently administered. We argue that the existing system of fine collection and enforcement leads to high default rates and reduces the usefulness of fines as a sanction. We consider a range of models for the implementation of an income-related fine collection system, and discuss their possible implications for issues including judicial independence, the time taken to repay fines and aggregate fine revenue.