Why do only some people who support parties actually join them? Evidence from Britain

What makes people join a political party is one of the most commonly studied questions in research on party members. Nearly all this research, however, is based on talking to people who have actually joined parties. This article simultaneously analyses surveys of members of political parties in Britain and surveys of non-member supporters of those same parties. This uniquely enables us to model the decision to join parties. The results suggest that most of the elements that constitute the influential ‘General Incentives Model’ are significant. But it also reveals that, while party supporters imagine that selective benefits, social norms and opposing rival parties’ policies are key factors in members’ decisions to join a party, those who actually do so are more likely to say they are motivated by attachments to their party’s values, policies and leaders, as well as by an altruistic desire to support democracy more generally.     

Appraising Canada's 1979 Indian Health Policy: Informing co-development of distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation

Aiming to improve the health of First Nations in 1979, the federal government implemented the Indian Health Policy to strengthen community development and the relationship with First Nations peoples, and nurture a trilateral relationship in the healthcare landscape. The Indian Health Policy remains the foundation for First Nations health policy and program development today, even without ever having an implementation plan. We critically appraise the Indian Health Policy to identify gaps and evaluate its impact and progress on subsequent policy evaluations, developments, and recent events in light of the new distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation underway. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations to inform the federal government's efforts to co-develop distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation.     

Ethics for Lawyers or Ethics for Citizens? New Directions for Legal Education

The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education andConduct (ACLEC) has called for the reconstruction of the ethicalfoundations of legal education. However, it has not justified its premisethat teaching legal values at the initial stage will enhance professionallegal ethics. It is argued that the present system of education, given itstechnocratic, individualistic, and authoritarian tendencies, cannot meetACLEC's challenge. A more ethical legal education can be envisagedwithin a neo-Aristotelian framework. This perspective emphasizes thereflexivity between micro and macro ethics, and utilizes the active andparticipatory learning approaches which should enable students to engagein meaningful moral discourse and problem solving.     

Identifying with the Nation: Spain's Left-Wing Citizens in an Age of Crisis

This study analyses the extent, sense, and strategies employed by sympathisers with Spanish state-wide left-wing parties to ‘reconstruct’ their affective ties with the Spanish nation after the ‘monopolisation of patriotism’ by Franco's regime. Such an undertaking is further complicated within the context of economic crisis and intensified peripheral nationalism found in Catalonia and the Basque Country. This article applies qualitative analysis to the discourse of left-wing participants from 11 focus groups held in March 2012 amidst the economic (and political) crisis. As expected, this context of crisis favoured the emergence of explicit discourse on the Spanish nation, providing an opportunity to gain a better understanding of its nature. Findings show that welfare nationalism and social patriotism define the kind of attachment developed by the interviewees towards Spain better than the concept of constitutional patriotism, or any kind of ethnic-cultural feeling of belonging.     

Misclassification probability of dental discrimination functions for sex determination

Misclassification probability of dental discriminant functions for sexing American whites was evaluated using three verification procedures. These validation techniques involved sample resubstitution, jackknife classification, and use of a holdout sample. Resulting discriminant score distributions yielded correct classifications ranging between 65 and 81% depending upon the particular tooth combinations selected. Dental discriminant functions are applicable to forensic science cases if used with caution.