Reframe policymaking dysfunction through bipartisan-inclusion leadership

Policy Sciences - Persistent policy failures have been examined in recent years with a focus on the role of political systems. We evaluate the growth of dysfunctional policymaking in the U.S. and...     

Les dockers dakarois. L’organisation du travail dans un port ouest-africain, 1910–1990s

This paper deals with the long-term evolution of dock labor in Dakar. Through the utilization of archival sources and their analysis, this investigation explores the changes that occurred in this sector and primarily the reform plan developed during the world wars but that was never introduced into the labor regulations, mainly due to the colonial regime. In addition, this paper studies the legal changes since the 1970s when the dockers’ statute was settled. Furthermore, this research uses oral testimony from retired Senegalese dockers to study the way these workers observed these structural changes. It is the first time that this topic has been explored for the port of Dakar from a historical long-term perspective.     

Public Perceptions of Income Inequality in Hong Kong: trends,causes and implications

This article examines the patterns and changes in public perceptions of domestic income inequality in Hong Kong in the past two decades and explains individual variations in these perceptions. It found that the perceived seriousness of income disparities had been persistently high, while the perceived unjustness of income disparities showed a fluctuating trend. Our findings lent partial support to the structural position thesis that the privileged groups are less likely than the underprivileged groups to consider existing income disparities to be serious and unjust. Nonetheless, the popular understanding of poverty is still biased towards ‘individual’ explanations, and this perhaps explains why the government is less willing to tackle the economic and political foundations of poverty in Hong Kong.     

Adolescents’ Media-related Cognitions and Substance Use in the Context of Parental and Peer Influences

Two cross-sectional studies investigated media influences on adolescents’ substance use and intentions to use substances in the context of exposure to parental and peer risk and protective factors. A total of 729 middle school students (n = 351, 59% female in Study 1; n = 378, 43% female in Study 2) completed self-report questionnaires. The sample in Study 1 was primarily African-American (52%) and the sample in Study 2 was primarily Caucasian (63%). Across the two studies, blocks of media-related cognitions made unique contributions to the prediction of adolescents’ current substance use and intentions to use substances in the future above and beyond self-reported peer and parental influences. Specifically, identification with and perceived similarity to media messages were positively associated with adolescents’ current substance use and intentions to use substances in the future, and critical thinking about media messages and media message deconstruction skills were negatively associated with adolescents’ intention to use substances in the future. Further, peer influence variables (e.g., peer pressure, social norms, peer substance use) acted as risk factors, and for the most part, parental influence variables (e.g., parental pressure to not use, perceived parental reaction) acted as protective factors. These findings highlight the importance of developing an increased understanding of the role of media messages and media literacy education in the prevention of substance use behaviors in adolescence.     

Influences of Neighborhood Context,Individual History and Parenting Behavior on Recidivism Among Juvenile Offenders

This study examined the effects of neighborhood context on juvenile recidivism to determine if neighborhoods influence the likelihood of reoffending. Although a large body of literature exists regarding the impact of environmental factors on delinquency, very little is known about the effects of these factors on juvenile recidivism. The sample analyzed includes 7,061 delinquent male juveniles committed to community-based programs in Philadelphia, of which 74% are Black, 13% Hispanic, and 11% White. Since sample youths were nested in neighborhoods, a hierarchical generalized linear model was employed to predict recidivism across three general categories of recidivism offenses: drug, violent, and property. Results indicate that predictors vary across the types of offenses and that drug offending differs from property and violent offending. Neighborhood-level factors were found to influence drug offense recidivism, but were not significant predictors of violent offenses, property offenses, or an aggregated recidivism measure, despite contrary expectations. Implications stemming from the finding that neighborhood context influences only juvenile drug recidivism are discussed.     

Regionalisierung und Dezentralisierung in Mittel- und Südosteuropa 1997–2007

The review essay takes stock of the last decade of decentralisation and regionalisation research in Central and South Eastern Europe. Classifying the existing scholarship with regard to its focus of analysis, its explanatory programme, and methodological predilections, we suggest to distinguish three different agendas: system transformation, EU conditionality and subnational governance. We argue that scholarly interest in regionalisation and decentralisation issues from the perspective of state transformation or Europeanisation is vanishing. Instead, we witness the emergence of a subnational governance approach which is rooted in comparative politics and policy analysis. The debate about decentralisation and regionalisation in CEEC is thus in a process of “normalising” and converging with the Western European subnational political discourse.     

Who Is Mobilized to Vote? A Re‐Analysis of 11 Field Experiments

Many political observers view get-out-the-vote (GOTV) mobilization drives as a way to increase turnout among chronic nonvoters. However, such a strategy assumes that GOTV efforts are effective at increasing turnout in this population, and the extant research offers contradictory evidence regarding the empirical validity of this assumption. We propose a model where only those citizens whose propensity to vote is near the indifference threshold are mobilized to vote and the threshold is determined by the general interest in the election. Our three-parameter model reconciles prior inconsistent empirical results and argues that low-propensity voters can be effectively mobilized only in high-turnout elections. The model is tested on 11 randomized face-to-face voter mobilization field experiments in which we specifically analyze whether subjects' baseline propensity to vote conditions the effectiveness of door-to-door GOTV canvassing. The evidence is consistent with the model and suggests that face-to-face mobilization is better at stimulating turnout among low-propensity voters in prominent elections than it is in quiescent ones .     

1989-2029年大转型——可以更好或将会更好吗?

本文对中东欧国家自1989年以来发生的后社会主义制度转型进行了理论和现实的阐释,考察了其历史特性,批驳了该地区已经在制度上成为完全成熟的市场经济体的论点,而认为中东欧国家在转型方面还有很长的路要走.文章强调,后社会主义市场转型进程不会呈直线型发展.在现实社会主义经济体的市场改革与后社会主义市场转型之间存在着巨大差异.只有在更加精确地确定目标,同时不是将制度转型当作是自我实现的目标的前提下,不同国家在不同程度上才会取得更好的转型绩效,否则会朝相反方向发展.     

Anxiety Trajectories and Identity Development in Adolescence: A Five-wave Longitudinal Study

The aim of this five-wave longitudinal study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety and adolescent identity development. Participants were 1,313 adolescents who annually completed measures of anxiety and identity. Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) analyses demonstrated that the adolescent population was best typified by two latent growth trajectory classes: a low anxiety class (n = 1,199) characterized by a low initial level of anxiety that decreased over time and a high anxiety class (n = 114) characterized by a higher initial level of anxiety that increased over time. To answer our research question, we tested a model in which the anxiety classes predicted initial levels and rates of change of three identity dimensions: commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. Findings indicated that the high anxiety adolescents displayed a more troublesome identity development than their low anxiety peers, since their commitments became weaker with age, and they reconsidered them intensively.