Predicting motor vehicle crash involvement from a personality measure and a driving knowledge test

Typically, safety‐related driver education programs are aimed at changing knowledge of vehicle operation rules and regulations. However, vehicle crashes are as likely to be related to driver personality variables as they are to the knowledge of vehicle operation and rules and regulations. In a study with 48 licensed drivers, crashes were found to be significantly correlated with conscientiousness, a five‐factor model personality dimension, but not with scores on a driving knowledge test. It would appear that prevention efforts should also be directed at changing conscientiousness‐related behaviors, including an emphasis on goal‐setting, and following rules and regulations.     

The German Federal Constitutional Court and European Judicial Politics

With its decision on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has handed over another landmark ruling on European integration. The ruling made Germany's ratification of the Treaty conditional upon the passage of a new law giving the Bundestag greater oversight of European affairs. This and the consequences of stronger parliamentary oversight for the German government and the way it conducts negotiations at European level have been the focus of most early comments on the decision. No less important, however, are the ruling's potential repercussions on European judicial politics. Coming after a series of highly controversial judgments by the European Court of Justice, the FCC's Lisbon decision is clearly meant as a warning to Brussels and, above all, Luxembourg. The decision could undermine the Court of Justice's authority and encourage non-compliance on the part of national courts, thus bringing about a constitutional crisis at European level. Alternatively, the decision may compel the Court of Justice to reconsider some of the most controversial aspects of its activist jurisprudence and to exert more restraint in the foreseeable future.     

DIFFERING OPINIONS DO NOT SPOIL FRIENDSHIPS: MANAGING PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN JORDAN

This research investigates the approaches, strategies and challenges facing the management of the implementation phase of public–private partnership (PPP) projects in Jordan. Jordan is a newer but common user of PPPs in the Middle Eastern region, where PPPs not only are of economic strategic importance but also entail significant investment risk given resource scarcity. This research involves semi‐structured interviews with senior managers representing different partnering organisations in two case study organisations in Jordan. The research finds that, despite the management difficulties confronting PPP managers, strategies adopted by them limit the impact of these challenges. The research makes an important theoretical contribution in providing a detailed analysis of effective PPP management approaches in response to difficulties at the implementation phase, which had not been systematically explored in extant PPP research, and broadens PPP research to the Jordanian context. Moreover, the research contributes greater understanding of how partnerships should be effectively managed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electoral Violence in Africa Revisited

This article addresses the still unsettled question of the incidence of violent election periods in Africa. It uses two new datasets, which report episodes of social conflict in the region for 1990–2011, and elections worldwide from 1960 to 2010. When combined, these data suggest that onsets of electoral violence peak around major election days in Africa as a whole, but with wide national variability in the volume of new episodes. Depending on the time span and type of social conflict, from one-quarter to three-quarters of the elections for national leadership have been without incident. The article also investigates the timing of electoral violence and the extent to which there is an experience curve effect, whereby subsequent elections have fewer onsets of social conflict. The data indicate that two-thirds to three-quarters of elections are free of onsets of social conflict, but that the proportion does not change much with experience. Overall, there appear to be reasonable grounds for optimism about peaceful elections in many African countries.     

Glasgow: Anatomy of a fiscal crisis

Ostensibly, the reorganisation of Scottish local government in 1996 was intended to create a more local, more efficient and more accountable system of local government. However, simultaneously, through grant abatement, the government intensified its fiscal squeeze on local government, seeking in real terms reductions in local authority expenditure. Contrary to assurances from ministers, both developments occasioned disruption for local authorities, with Glasgow in particular experiencing a severe period of fiscal stress. This paper outlines a research framework for identifying potential causal factors behind the acute nature of Glasgow's fiscal crisis, whilst considering the budgetary constraints within which Scottish (and indeed British) local authorities must operate. Finally, it focuses on the impact and resolution of the crisis and highlights the crucial role that the decisions of central government have played in shaping the response of one major local authority.     

Reviews and commentary

Reflections on come retribution

Tossing wins away

William Colby (with James McCargar): Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America's Sixteen‐Year Involvement In Vietnam Contemporary Books, Chicago, 1989, 438 p., $22.95.

Deception a la Russe

Brian D. Dailey and Patrick J. Parker, eds.: Soviet Strategic Deception Lexington Books, Lexington, Mass., 538 p., $49.00.

On using mirrors to see others

Roy Godson, ed.: Comparing Foreign Intelligence: The U.S., the USSR, the U.K. &; the Third World Pergamon‐Brassey's, Washington, D.C., 1988, 157 pp., $18.95.

Another look at “Moscow Station”

Ronald Kessler: Moscow Station Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1989, 320 p., $19.95.     

Cooperative Study of Sino-Western Universities Report of a Meeting at Sichuan University,March 1988

Abstract

This article examines why and how persistent political fragmentation existed alongside continued centralization in late Qing and early Republican China. By analyzing new archival material and existing scholarship, the piece argues that external intervention helped preserve the viability of a single Chinese state even as the same phenomenon also spurred ongoing fractionalization. Because major powers' governments generally saw China as an area of secondary strategic import, they tried to avoid armed conflict over the polity and seek accommodation. Since outside powers diverged in their objectives, they settled on sponsoring indigenous partners, notably various militarists as well as the Chinese Nationalists, to sustain a degree of central government rule alongside substantial regional autonomy. In re-considering the effects of foreign intervention, this article engages the discussion on political consolidation in the late Qing and early Republic, and suggests that overly stressing integration or division tends to present incomplete accounts of the issue.     

Predatory versus developmental rule in Africa

Political economy predicts that national leaders opt for economic development when institutions encourage them to extend their time horizons. By contrast, leaders turn predatory if they feel at risk. Leaders are most able to bear risk right upon taking office, but this can be offset by a perception of high volatility in office holding or by concern about catastrophic losses. Political institutions can therefore discourage predation by fostering recurrent, predictable replacement of leaders without harsh payback for ex-leaders who acted developmentally. Cataloguing all national leadership transitions in Africa since 1960, the article demonstrates that electoral cycles, term limits and the prospect of judgement before international tribunals have lately led to declines in the volatility of top office holding and in the risk of catastrophic loss to the occupants. These new institutions have yet to establish full credibility, but they show promise of altering African leaders' risk assessments to encourage more developmental rule.     

Semiotics and Society

This essay introduces some of the basic concepts that can be used in applied semiotic analysis and discusses the work of some prominent semioticians, such as Ferdinande de Saussure, Charles Sander Peirce, Umberto Eco, and Roland Barthes. Barthes’ book Mythologies is identified as a seminal text in applied semiotic analysis. Marshall McLuhan’s book The Mechanical Bride is discussed as being semiotic in nature, though he doesn’t use the term. The utility of semiotics utility in studying teeth, facial expression and other aspects of people watching and communication is also dealt with.