Building relationships across the Timor Sea: an evaluation of the Australian/Timorese friendship agreements

This article explores the concept and dynamics of the newly formed, and increasingly popular, Friendship Agreements, between local councils in Australia, and their counterpart district administrations in Timor Leste. The history and purpose of international municipal links are explored and contrasted with current Friendship Agreement policy and practice. The key elements of making international municipal links a success are examined and the main impediments to forging and maintaining sustainable partnerships are discussed and contrasted with the Australian/Timorese experience. The article offers suggestions for creating sustainable, vibrant links. It argues that those Agreements built on notions of paternalism are less likely to succeed than those that are committed to relationship and trust building between and within communities in Australia and Timor Leste. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crime Generators in Context: Examining ‘Place in Neighborhood’ Propositions

Journal of Quantitative Criminology - The present study tests hypotheses regarding the moderating influence of neighborhood-level criminal opportunity on the relationship between crime generators...     

Pregnancy as a Stimulus for Domestic Violence

Data collected from a domestic violence prevention and treatment program were analyzed to determine the relationship between female reproductive status and violent incidents. Both the frequency and severity of male initiated violence against women were twice as high when they were pregnant. These results are discussed in the context of an evolutionary perspective on domestic violence.     

Social policy from the bottom up: Abandoning FGC in sub-Saharan Africa

The authors analyse the experience of Tostan, a Senegalese NGO, with the abandonment of female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal, the Sudan, and Mali. Tostan uses non-formal, participatory methodologies to support village-based social change, especially in the areas of human rights and women's health. Following Tostan's educational programme, some communities have declared a moratorium on the practice of FGC and have mobilised their families and villages to discontinue its use. This article describes the process used, considers issues that have arisen as the concept is marketed and disseminated beyond Senegal, and reviews implications for grassroots policy initiatives.     

The Impact of Earnings Disregards on the Behavior of Low‐Income Families

This paper investigates the impact of changes in earnings disregards for welfare assistance received by single mothers following welfare reform in 1996. Some states adopted much higher earnings disregards (women could work full‐time and still receive substantial welfare benefits), while other states did not. We explore the effect of these changes on women's labor supply and income using several data sources and multiple estimation strategies. Our results indicate these changes had little effect on labor supply or income. We show this is because surprisingly few women used the earnings disregards. We discuss several explanations for why this might occur.