Leading learning and change from the middle: Reconceptualising strategy's purpose,content, and measures

When implementing a transformational global vision and mission, three problems typically confront international NGOs: aligning different levels of planning and strategy; balancing global analysis and priorities against local realities; and identifying measures that both indicate progress and promote and encourage innovation. This article reports on the efforts of CARE International's Latin America Regional Management Unit to address these problems by introducing 'reversals' to common strategic planning principles and processes. It shows middle managers in NGOs how they can lead 'from the middle', and considers 'the region' to be the nexus enabling an organisation to change and learn across multiple hierarchical levels.     

Racial Residential Segregation and Social Control: A Panel Study of the Variation in Police Strength Across U.S Cities, 1980–2010

Despite a great deal of theoretical and empirical attention given to racial residential segregation and its influence on a number of social problems in the United States, few scholars have examined the role that this persistent form of racial inequality plays in shaping the magnitude of formal social control efforts. Our study examines this relationship by assessing the potential influence that the isolation of minorities may have on efforts to control crime in urban centers across the United States. Using a pooled time-series regression technique well suited for the analysis of aggregate, longitudinal data, we assess the potential influence of racial segregation on the size of municipal police departments in 170 U.S. cities between 1980 and 2010. After accounting for minority group size, economic threat, crime, and disorganization, we find that racial residential segregation has a significant non-linear effect on police force size. Cities with the most racially integrated populations have the smallest police presence but at very high levels of segregation, police strength levels off. This finding is consistent with expectations derived from the contact hypothesis. Under such conditions, majority group members appear to be less inclined to demand greater crime control measures such as increased police protection. Period interactions with residential segregation also suggest that this relationship has grown stronger in each decade since 1980. Overall, our study provides strong support for threat theories and the contact hypothesis but offers necessary refinements.     

Compliance Regimes and Barriers to Behavioral Change

Existing research on compliance failures by individuals and businesses focuses primarily on information and incentive problems. This article develops a comprehensive framework for analyzing barriers to compliance, giving particular attention to resource and autonomy barriers, heterogeneity of the target population, multiple barriers to compliance, and problems that arise when a complex and ongoing set of actions is require to be “in compliance.” How governments react to compliance failures is heavily influenced by the social construction and political power of target populations. The propositions developed in the article are tested against the cases of the Swedish individual account pension system and welfare reform in the United States.     

Beneath the Eagle's Wings? The Political Economy of Northeast Asian Burden-Sharing in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines Japanese and South Korean host-nation support (HNS) policies toward American forces deployed in those two countries from a comparative perspective. It finds that both countries provide substantial support for US forces, contrary to the expectations of collective action theory and the assumptions of many international relations theorists about free-riding. Northeast Asian HNS support tends to be both quantitatively substantial and to involve an unusually elaborate range of common support programs, thus constituting a distinctive Northeast Asian model of “burden-sharing.” The specific programs supporting US forces in these two countries were generally designed by local politicians and bureaucrats, with only minimal input from the US, albeit under American pressure. They were implemented in discontinuous fashion, at critical junctures, as during the Gulf War and the first Korean nuclear crisis. These results thus provide useful elaboration of “reactive state” and “critical juncture” interpretations of how East Asian policymaking relates to domestic and international politics.     

Is sexually abusive behaviour in personality disordered inpatients analogous to sexual offences committed prior to hospitalization?

Abstract

Sexually abusive behaviour by personality disordered patients presents a serious threat to the integrity of staff–patient relationships and the safety of other residents. The occurrence of such behaviour is also problematic for the offending patient, as it may impact on perceived treatment needs and their access to the community. This paper reports on a study of sexually abusive behaviour in a high security psychiatric hospital. It also examines the relationship between these behaviours and patients’ history of sexual offending. The results showed a high frequency of low-severity sexually abusive behaviour and no significant associations between sexually abusive behaviour during hospitalization and sexual offence history. These findings imply that low-severity sexually abusive behaviour within secure settings may be determined, partly, by environmental conditions. This sexual abuse may also be functionally dissimilar to severe sexual abuse perpetrated in the community. The meaning and determinants of sexual abuse within secure settings must be scrutinized carefully and comprehensively before they are considered analogous to previous sexual offences.     

State TANF Spending: Predictors of State Tax Effort to Support Welfare Reform

State spending on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) greatly varies. Combined federal and state spending by the states per TANF family or recipient reflects the historic level of state generosity for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the failure of the federal government to set any minimum spending standard for the states, and the failure of the federal government to adjust federal grants for huge changes in state TANF caseloads. Our multivariate analysis shows that state spending for TANF is greatly influenced by the percentage of the state population that is black, the percentage of the state population that is on TANF (especially if a significant percentage of the rolls consist of black recipients), and the economic conditions within the state. Some states spend as much as their economies will allow, while other states spend far below capacity. Despite the very different goals of TANF, state spending is still heavily influenced by their historic approach to AFDC.     

Intimate partner violence and physical health consequences: policy and practice implications

Extensive research indicates that intimate partner violence (IPV) poses a significant risk to the physical health of women. IPV is associated with increased mortality, injury and disability, worse general health, chronic pain, substance abuse, reproductive disorders, and poorer pregnancy outcomes. IPV is also associated with an overuse of health services and unmet need for services, as well as strained relationships with providers. The body of IPV research has several critical gaps. There are almost no longitudinal studies of IPV and health. Most studies are clustered into a few specialties, with almost no research in the areas of allied health, dentistry, or management. A common definition of IPV is still not used. Finally, with some notable exceptions, there has been little success in moving the health care system to routinely screen women for IPV.