MACRO-MICRO INTEGRATION IN THE STUDY OF VICTIMIZATION: A HIERARCHICAL LOGISTIC MODEL ANALYSIS ACROSS SEATTLE NEIGHBORHOODS*

Recent contextual analyses of victimization survey data are extended by application of hierarchical logistic model techniques. Using a multi-stage sample of 5,090 Seattle residents, we estimate models for individuals' risks of violent crime and burglary victimization as a function of both individual crime opportunity factors (routine activity and personal lifestyle) and contextual indicators of neighborhood social disorganization (neighborhood incivilities on conditions of disorder, ethnic heterogeneity, and neighborhood density in terms of both residents and strangers). Strong contextual direct effects of density, disorder, and heterogeneity are observed for violent and or burglary risks. Further, the hierarchical method used here provides a richer type of contextual analysis, indicating that neighborhood factors also “condition” the impact of crime opportunity factors for risk of both violent and burglary victimization. Implications for theoretical integration, victimization prevention strategies, and crime control policies are discussed.     

THE FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE: A Policy Evaluation

The success rate of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is evaluated in the light of 42 years of experience under them and of alternative modes of adjucating civil disputes. The intentions of the rules' framers are explored as are hypotheses as to why they have been only partially successful. On the basis of this analysis, the author argues that adversary presentation and prosecution must be modified in the direction of a system of direct inquiry by the court and of active judicial management of disputes to settlement or trial.     

Legislative Victory, Electoral Uncertainty: Explaining Outcomes in the Battles over Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights

Previous studies indicate that in cases of relatively low issue salience, the interest group model best explains lesbian and gay antidiscrimination policy in the American states. The analysis of state and local public policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation concludes that for cases of high issue salience, the morality politics model best describes outcomes. The interest group politics model is used here in a case study of Wisconsin's passage of a comprehensive antidiscrimination policy, while the morality politics model is used to investigate the electoral outcomes of anti‐gay ballot initiatives in several states. The results of this analysis conform with prior research—when lesbian and gay issues are not salient, the interest group politics model best explains resulting policy, however, under salient conditions, the morality politics model best describes outcomes. Finally, the implications of this research for social scientists and activists are discussed.     

The Government of Health Care and the Politics of Patient Empowerment: New Labour and the NHS Reform Agenda in England

This article considers the issue of patient empowerment in the context of New Labour's proposed reforms to the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Through an exploration of some of the key measures in the government's white paper High Quality Care for All, the article argues for a conceptualization of patient empowerment as a political technique of governing. Patient empowerment, it is contended, can no longer be understood solely as a quantitative phenomenon to be balanced within the doctor‐patient relationship. Rather, its deployment by the government as a way of governing health and health care more broadly demands that we consider what political functions—including, importantly, it is argued here, managing the problem of the increasing cost of illness and health care—patient empowerment may be involved in performing. In order to assist in this enquiry, the article draws on some of Michel Foucault's work on the art of governing. It is suggested that his understanding of the neoliberal mode of governing best captures the proposed changes to the NHS and the role patient empowerment plays in their implementation.     

BEWARE OF MANAGERS NOT BEARING GIFTS: HOW MANAGEMENT CAPACITY AUGMENTS THE IMPACT OF MANAGERIAL NETWORKING

Networks and managing in the network have been central concerns of public management scholars for years ( Provan and Milward 1991 ; O’Toole 1997 ; Agranoff and McGuire 2003 ; Herranz 2008 ). The literature has investigated the extent of networks ( Hall and O’Toole 2004 ), the appropriate way to measure networks and networking behaviour ( McGuire 2002 ; Meier and O’Toole 2005 ), and the role that networking plays in improving organizational performance ( O’Toole and Meier 2003 ). Although there are qualifications in the literature to the rosy scenario that managing in the network is always a good thing ( O’Toole and Meier 2004 ), and although the benefits of managerial networking show diminishing returns ( Hicklin et al. 2008 ), there has not been much investigation of the factors that enhance or detract from networking's impact on performance. This study examines the interactive relationship between management capacity and managerial networking using a panel of several hundred public organizations over an 8‐year period. The empirical results show that managerial capacity does interact with networking and enhances the positive impact of networking over an array of performance indicators. At the same time, building managerial capacity is a central management choice, and that decision has ramifications for organizations that are not always positive. The paper concludes with the managerial implications of the strategic choice to build management capacity.