The Impact of Procedural Information Costs on Voting: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Chile

This paper uses a natural experiment to identify the effect of a procedural information cost on the electoral registration of young first-time voters. We exploit the fact that information about when the minimum age eligibility requirement is due, either at registration or election-day, is only meaningful for those turning 18 after registration closing day. Using a national dataset on Chilean registration over four elections, we provide evidence of a sharp discontinuity in the registration rate of those youngsters turning 18 at closing date. The effect is both sizable and robust, persists over time, and is similar across income groups.     

Evaluation of a treatment program for battered wives

Research shows that of the abused wives who remained in a women's protective agency for a period of at least 2 weeks, 50% return to their abusive situation. Several theorists have advocated that battered women remain in their abusive situation because they lack skills necessary to extricate themselves. A program was developed to provide personal and vocational counseling for abused women. Over a 2-week period, abused women who volunteered for the experiment were given the opportunity to participate in group counseling which provided cognitive restructuring therapy, self-assertiveness and communication skills training, problem solving training, body awareness, and vocational counseling. Three groups participated in the experiment: a control group, a group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory and the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire, and a group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory without the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire. The group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory administration and interpretation showed significant improvement within group measures from pre- to post-treatment in anxiety, depression, hostility, assertiveness, and self-esteem. The group with the COPSystem Interest Inventory and the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire utilization showed no significant improvement in any of the measures. It can be concluded that the women in the experimental group with the administration of the COPSystem Interest Inventory benefited from the therapy provided more than the women in the experimental group with both the COPSystem Interest Inventory and the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire administration and interpretation. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Beyond the Cold War in Europe: A review article

Vilho Harle & Jyrki Iivonen, ed., Gorbachev and Europe. Pinter Publishers, London, 1990, xi+213 pp., £28.50.

Richard Davy, ed., European Detente: A Reappraisal. The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Sage Publications, London, 1992, viii+277 pp., £35.00.

Richard H. Ullman, Securing Europe. Adamantine Press, Twickenham, 1991, xv+183 pp., £13.50.     

The Personal Concerns Inventory (Offender Adaptation): measuring and enhancing motivation to change

Measuring offenders' motivation for treatment is important for selection and monitoring treatment engagement, yet few psychometrically robust measures of motivation exist. The Personal Concerns Inventory (PCI) was developed to assess motivation to change in people with addictive behaviours. It focuses on identifying goals in a wide variety of life areas, and two profiles have consistently been identified--adaptive and maladaptive. This study aimed to adapt the PCI for use with offenders and assess its suitability. Following amendment, 11 men serving prison sentences were interviewed using the PCI (Offender Adaptation, OA). Personal concerns related to self-change, and partner, family, and relationships were most commonly identified. Scores suggested that offenders show adaptive and maladaptive profiles, similar to those previously identified. The PCI (OA) has promise for use with offenders, although the issue of whether the PCI (OA) is better viewed as a measure of motivation or a motivational enhancer remains for further research.     

The Federal State and the Breakup of Czechoslovakia: An Institutional Analysis

This article examines the breakup of Czechoslovakia from aninstitutionalist perspective. The federal state adopted afterWorld War I failed to accommodate tensions in society and heightenedethnic conflict. After World War II, an "asymmetrical" federationwas created that, while designed to provide a degree of homerule to Slovakia, further alienated Slovaksfrom national politics.Each effort to reform the federal order unintentionally promptednew concerns over the balance of political power. The inabilityto construct an enduring federal state helps explain why thetransition from communism proved fatal for the union that wasCzechoslovakia.     

Peacekeepers Fighting a Counterinsurgency Campaign: A Net Assessment of the African Union Mission in Somalia

In response to Somalia's decades-long political and humanitarian crises, the African Union has deployed a peace support operation known as the African Union Mission in Somalia. Tasked to help eliminate an ongoing insurgency, the mission has seen heavy combat as it fights to reclaim territory held by the al-Shabaab militant organization. This article applies the techniques of open source campaign analysis to assess the mission's prospects for long-term success. The prognosis is not good. Analysis reveals a range of vulnerabilities that threaten the deployment's core security objectives, suggesting that the optimism many have expressed for the mission is misplaced.     

Ethics and Government: Preliminary Considerations

This symposium reproduces several of the papers presented during the international conference sponsored by the Queensland University of Technology Centre for the Study of Ethics, at Parliament House, Brisbane, 11-13 February, 1999. The theme of the conference was 'Government and Business: Integrity and Accountability'. The papers have been revised following discussions within a research colloquium associated with the conference. They were initially presented within a strand entitled 'Competition, Marketisation, Public Services and Public Ethics' which explored ethical issues for contemporary government within different national contexts (New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Australia) around the impact of economic policies that have reframed the role of government primarily as a servant of the international market.