Support groups for battered women: Research on their efficacy

An evaluation of 12 support groups for women victims of domestic assault revealed substantial benefits associated with group participation. A total of 76 women responded to an assessment package before, immediately after, and six months following the group. Significant improvements were found in self-esteem, belonging support, locus of control, less traditional attitudes towards marriage and the family, perceived stress, and marital functioning. Unexpectedly, clients currently living with their spouses also reported significant decreases in both physical and nonphysical abuse.     

Congressional Constitutional Interpretation and the Courts: A Preliminary Inquiry into Legislative Attitudes, 1959–2001

Through theoretically informed inquiry into congressional attitudes toward the Constitution and the courts as well as survey research of two modem Congresses, this study considers the prospects and implications of a more salient legislative role in constitutional affairs. By analyzing survey responses from the 86th (1959–61) and 106th (1999–2001) Congresses, and the political context in which these views were formed, this essay explores the legislature's evolving conception of its role and capacities as a constitutional interpreter. Among other findings, Congress demonstrates a persistent and somewhat surprising interest in asserting an independent, distinctive constitutional voice, although it has somewhat conflicted and underdeveloped views about how to achieve this objective. While this essay points to significant barriers to fostering a coherent and forceful congressional presence in constitutional decision making, it also suggests institutional organizations and strategies that may be promising bases for promoting this goal.     

The prospects for democratization in Southeast Asia: Local perspectives and international roles

Southeast Asia’s recent rapid economic development and the continuing growth of the middle class have both encouraged expectations about the inevitability of democratic political development. These expectations follow from considerable theorizing in the United States and Europe, but they may not be well-based on Southeast Asian political, economic, social, or cultural realities. There are serious democratic forces in Southeast Asia, but in most cases they are in a delicate balance with state, business, and class interests which may have only limited tolerance for democratic growth. Moreover, serious and persistent patterns of unequal economic development raise questions about the scope of any political democratization. Finally, the complexity of democratization issues in Southeast Asia means that outsiders, notably aid donors and foundations, must be very careful not to set back democratic development in Southeast Asia through well-intended but ill-conceived intervention.     

Surface-Transportation Funding in a New Century: Assessing One Slice of the Federal Marble Cake

This article examines American federalism through the prismof the surface transportation program, one of the nation's largestgrant-in-aid programs. No matter how pragmatic or intense thedesire to express assessments in simple terms, federalism isa time-sensitive reflection of our collective experiential understanding.Facts, values, hypotheses, and concepts are derived from thiscollective understanding. The experience of the surface transportationprogram under ISTEA and TEA–21 illustrates the challengeof achieving a clear picture of federalism when radical changesoccur. ISTEA and TEA–21 have significantly altered traditionalintergovernmental relationships, particularly as the federalrole in transportation appears to have become more ambiguousthan at any time in the past 45 years. Thus, at the outset ofthe twenty-first century, the federal role in transportationis shifting, becoming far less focused. Other goals are emerging,leading the federal transportation role to become more of ameans to an end than the central focal point.