A Failed Refutation and an Insufficiently Developed Insight in Hart’s Law, Liberty, and Morality

H. L. A. Hart, in his classic book Law, Liberty, and Morality, is unsuccessful in arguing that James Fitzjames Stephen’s observations about the role of vice in criminal sentencing have no relevance to a more general defense of legal moralism. He does, however, have a very important insight about the special significance of sexual liberty.     

Contrast and Foundation of the Public Oversight Roles of the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.K. National Audit Office

This paper examines and compares, according to the New Public Management approach, the U.S. watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, in its ability to oversee and call to account the executive branch of government, and its U.K. counterpart, the National Audit Office. Results of this examination indicate that the Government Accountability Office is more effective than its U.K. counterpart. Its greater effectiveness is attributable to the fact that it derives its powers and legitimacy from a written constitution; in contrast, in the United Kingdom there is no equivalent document defining the relationship between the state and the citizenry. As a consequence, the powers, duties, and self-perception of the National Audit Office are significantly weaker and more mutable than those of the Government Accountability Office.     

Poverty and prosperity among migrant settlers in the Amazon rainforest frontier of Ecuador

Household‐level interview data from a probability sample survey conducted in the northeastern Ecuadorian Amazon in 1990 are used to examine the determinants of income and assets among migrant farmers in the agricultural frontier. Multivariate analysis indicates that size of plot owned, proximity to markets, duration of residence, quality of soil, receipt of technical assistance, off‐farm employment and initial wealth positively influence current household income and wealth. More land in cattle pasture is also associated with higher status. Some settlers are prospering relative to others despite variable soil quality, unsustainable land uses, geographic isolation, apparent scarcity of labor, and lack of supportive infrastructure. The article closes with a discussion of implications for policies to assist small farmers, with some consideration of the potential ecological consequences of farmers’ activities.     

The Paradox of the State-Run Media Promoting Poor Governance in China: Case Studies of a Party Newspaper and an Anticorruption Film

ABSTRACT

This essay draws on the analysis of media texts and ethnographic fieldwork to present case studies of the production, distribution, and consumption of two kinds of media products in China that are used for educating cadres about official policies, law and morality, namely, a Party-produced prefectural newspaper and an anticorruption film. Such pedagogic media products merit study because they are consumed by a huge audience of cadres who are entrusted with interpreting and implementing state policy and with carrying out the daily work of the different institutions that make up the Party-state. The case studies show that the internal circulation of pedagogic media products within the Party-state apparatus works in two ways to reinforce “organizational involution,” which causes poor governance. First, the content of the media products and their methods of distribution buttress the norms and institutional practices that entrench unchallenged power, corruption, and official malfeasance within the system. Examples include the role of top-down administrative fiat in determining the content of the media products and the ways in which individuals and institutions are compelled to purchase materials and participate in pedagogic activities to secure their positions. Second, state pedagogy deflects attention away from the structural failings of the Party-state system. The pedagogic products enable the Party-state to portray itself as the leading crusader in the fight against corruption, despite the corrupting consequences of its continuing unsupervised monopoly on power. Meanwhile, self-improvement exhortations in the media texts sidestep the question of systemic political reform.     

The determinants of time off work after childbirth

Relatively little is known about the role that leave policies--family, parental, or maternity-leave policies--play in facilitating time off work after childbirth. Yet time off is a critical element of leave policies, as it facilitates the mother's recovery from childbirth and promotes maternal-infant attachment. Using data from Minnesota, the state with the highest rate of female labor force participation, we examine the extent to which policies, relative to personal, job, and workplace characteristics, determine the duration of women's childbirth-related leaves from work. A random sample of women identified from vital statistics records is used to estimate the relationship between leave policies and time off work after childbirth. Of our sample 85 percent had access to some paid leave benefits, although only 46 percent had paid maternity leave benefits. The difference in duration of leave between women with and without paid leave policies was approximately four weeks, a substantial difference for most women and their infants. Paid leave policies and spousal earnings as primary determinants of maternal time off work, suggest problems in the use of unpaid leave for economically vulnerable women.     

Sex differences in the causes of adolescent suicide ideation

A model that incorporates both socioenvironmental and psychological factors was developed in an attempt to explain adolescent suicide ideation. A sample of 407 high school students was used to test the model. Most of the previous research on the causes of adolescent suicidal behavior has not used multivariate data analysis techniques and has failed to explore sex differences. Results of the present study suggest that these are important omissions. Although significant at the zero-order level, factors such as self-esteem and interpersonal problems at school were not related to suicide ideation when the effects of the other explanatory variables were controlled. The incidence of suicide ideation was higher for females. Emotional problems and involvement in delinquent behavior were important predictors of ideation for females, while employment problems were the most potent predictor for males.Received his Ph.D. from Florida State University. Current interest is the etiology of various forms of deviant behavior, especially among adolescents.Therapist, Story County Center for Personal Development. Received her M.A. in clinical sociology from Iowa State University.