Drug Testing in the Public Sector: An Interpretation Grounded in Rosenbloom's Competing-Perspectives Model

In the last few decades, drug testing has become a major policy issue in the workplace, with a host of actors competing to promote their own needs and interests. Employers, for example, seek ways to combat the use and abuse of illegal substances by employees. At the same time, unions and their employees legitimately seek to limit overly intrusive or unfair methods of testing. The courts have also been major players in the policy arena of drug testing, as witnessed by the surfeit of case law setting parameters around what is and is not legal and constitutional in terms of drug testing.
In an effort to move the drug-testing debate forward, this article examines the competing interests in drug testing, interests that ultimately frustrate the courts, policy makers, employees, and their unions from reaching a consensus on the use of drug tests in the public sector. To systematically examine this issue, Rosenbloom's competing-perspectives model of public administration is applied. The article concludes with policy recommendations for public managers.     

Low-income preschoolers' behavior with anatomically detailed dolls

The present study examined nonabused children's responses to anatomically detailed (AD) dolls among diverse populations. Thirty six low-income, predominantly African-American preschoolers from a Head Start center participated in an AD interview. Interviews were videotaped and coded for the presence of eight behaviors and eight parallel verbalizations. Results indicated that the children spent the majority of the interview without engaging in any behaviors which are often associated with sexual abuse. Sexual interaction between the dolls was seldom demonstrated, particularly when compared to exploration of the dolls' genitalia. Some differences were noted in the way low-income, predominantly African-American preschoolers responded to the dolls, when contrasted with the results of studies using predominantly middle-income, White preschoolers. The need for the consideration of environmental factors in interpreting children's responses to AD dolls is discussed.     

ZANU(PF) strategies in general elections, 1980-2000: Discourse and coercion

For many analysts, the general election campaign in 2000 showeda new face of the ruling party, ZANU(PF). Against the new oppositionparty, the Movement for Democratic Change, ZANU(PF) engagedin violence and intimidation, often relying on youth and warveterans, even as it accused its opponents of subversive violence.Moreover, ZANU(PF) appealed to its liberation war credentials,while dismissing its chief opponents as puppets of British imperialismand reactionary white settlers. After the election, PresidentMugabe appealed for reconciliation between winners and losers,only to permit violence against those who had voted againstthe ruling party. For ruling party perpetrators of violence,there was impunity and later a presidential pardon. The purposeof this article is to demonstrate how the ruling party usedremarkably similar strategies in every general election since1980, notwithstanding striking differences in the contexts,issues, and nature of the chief opposition party. Given thiswell established pattern of ruling party violence and intimidationand characterization of opposition parties as illegitimate,the article seeks to understand why analysts repeatedly sawin the regular multiparty elections either a democratic systemor one that was amenable to democratization.     

Book reviews

Electronic Contracting, Publishing, and EDI Law Michael S Baum and Henry H Perritt, Jr Wiley Law Publications 1991. ISBN Q 471 53135 9

The Law of Electronic Commerce: EDI, Fax and E‐Mail Technology, Proof and Liability Benjamin Wright Little, Brown and Company 1991. ISBN Q 316 95632 5 $95

Crime and the Computer Martin Wasik Oxford University Press 1991. ISBN 0 19 825621 3 £35

Broadcasting: the New Law Nicholas Reville Butterworths ISBN 0 406 001375 £16

Regulating the Media Thomas Gibbons Sweet and Maxwell ISBN 0 421 37450 0 £27.50

Legal Protection of Computer Software Ranald Robertson Longman 1991. ISBN 0 851 21684 6 £35

The Computerised Lawyer: a Guide to the Use of Computers in the Legal Profession Philip Leith Springer‐Verlag 1991.

Winning with Computers: Trial Practice in the 21st Century John C Tredennick Jr, Editor ABA Section on Law Practice Management 1991. ISBN 0 89707 658 3 $90

The Age of Information Stephen Saxby Macmillan 1990. ISBN 0 333 54832 9 £25

Computer Security: Hackers Penetrate DOD Computer Systems: Testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Information and Regulation, Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate (A General Accounting Office Report) James Brock, Jr 1991. GAO/T‐IMTEC‐92–5

Computer Contracts Morgan and Stedman (4th Edition) Longman Commercial Series 1991. ISBN 0–85121–6854 £60     

Utility of HLA and six erythrocyte antigen systems in excluding paternity among 500 disputed cases

Six erythrocyte antigen systems and the HLA system were evaluated to establish their practical value in 500 cases of disputed paternity. The actual results were very close to predicted values. HLA testing is expected to detect 92% and red cell testing is expected to detect 67% of men falsely accused in paternity suits. The findings of this study show that HLA detected 94% and red cell testing detected 69% of 107 men falsely accused in 500 paternity cases. In order of sensitivity, Rh, MNSs, and ABO were the most useful erythrocyte marker systems. There were six out of 107 cases in which exclusions would have been undetected if red cell typing had not been performed. Five of the six cases involved "common" HLA haplotypes.