Clientelism and polarized voting: empirical evidence

One must take country-specific institutional features into account when analyzing former communist countries’ transformation process to new political institutions. We do so for post-communist Albania, where the regional and cultural polarization that has existed for centuries has evolved to clientelism in the new democracy. We show how clientelistic parties give rise to very particular voting patterns. These reveal major differences across regions not only in party choice but also in voters’ responses to government policies. These responses depend on the party in government and on the region concerned. This is in sharp contrast with results obtained when applying the same model to a large number of more advanced democracies with similar electoral institutions. A proper evaluation of democratization in Albania thus requires looking beyond the formal institutions governing elections and taking clientelism and its effect on voter behavior into account.     

Cultural Penetration and Punctuated Policy Change: Explaining the Evolution of U.S. Energy Policy

Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) suggests that the policy process is characterized by long periods of incremental change and short periods of punctuated change. The impetus for the latter is usually a focusing event that breaks open policy monopolies, allowing for major changes in legislative decision making. While a burgeoning body of literature, a shortcoming in the PET literature is that it has yet to explain why focusing events and subsequent breakdowns in policy monopolies sometimes fail to result in punctuated policy. We integrate theories on cultural change with punctuated equilibrium to explain why focusing events do not always result in the dramatic policy changes that we might expect. Specifically, we use the context of national energy policy and the lexical database, Google Ngram Viewer, to trace punctuating energy‐related events and the occurrence or lack thereof subsequent policy change from 1952 to 2000.     

Trends in Governance in Further Education

Abstract

The governance of further education colleges has two main phases since the passing of the Education Act 1944 – the period when further education colleges were under local authority control and the period from ‘vesting day’ on 1 April 1993 when colleges became incorporated and further education corporations were formed as charities. This review is primarily concerned with the landscape of college governance since 1 April 1993 and draws upon some of the very limited number of research studies into the practice of further education governance. The experience and contribution of the key governance players – chair of the corporation, governors, the principal, the senior staff, the clerk to the corporation – are discussed. Throughout the period since 1993, college governance has operated within a policy framework provided by government and, to a greater or lesser extent, the implementation of those policies by agencies of government. In simple terms, the pattern may seem to be creativity (in the early years), compliance (following some high profile college governance collapses), micro-management (through the Learning and Skills Council years) and now the most open, imaginative phase as the current government encourages the strong colleges to play a bigger part in local education provision. Perhaps now is the time when the experience of college governance to date is able to draw upon its considerable strengths and show what the accumulation of governance capital can achieve.     

Rethinking Timing of First Sex and Delinquency

The relation between timing of first sex and later delinquency was examined using a genetically informed sample of 534 same-sex twin pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, who were assessed at three time points over a 7-year interval. Genetic and environmental differences between families were found to account for the association between earlier age at first sex and increases in delinquency. After controlling for these genetic and environmental confounds using a quasi-experimental design, earlier age at first sex predicted lower levels of delinquency in early adulthood. The current study is contrasted with previous research with non-genetically informative samples, including Armour and Haynie (2007, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 141–152). Results suggest a more nuanced perspective on the meaning and consequences of adolescent sexuality than is commonly put forth in the literature.

Public Opinion and the Role of Government Arts Funding in Spain

While several studies have probed the determinants of public support for government funding of arts and culture in the United States, little work to date has addressed the question in Europe. Yet as private cultural funding increases in magnitude in most Western European countries, the answer to this question has policy implications. This article formalizes the theory of the determinants of this public support in a model, employs public opinion data from Spain to estimate this model, and compares the results with those from the U.S. I find that support in Spain increases strongly with age, but is insignificant in most other variables. The article's empirical results yield several lessons for cultural policy design.     

An Appraisal of Decomposition Cases Received at the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology Service Medico‐legal Mortuary During 2010–2011

Decomposed bodies pose many questions for researchers regarding environmental effects, cause of death, and patterns. This study aimed to observe the factors associated with decomposed bodies autopsied at the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology Service Medico‐legal Mortuary. A total of 4876 autopsies were conducted from 2010 to 2011, of which 109 were decomposed. Black individuals made up the largest proportion (67%) followed by White (26%). Males comprised 86.2%, while 12.8% were female. The mean age was 42.78 years. Most cases were in the early stages of decomposition (49.5%), with 32.1% bloated, 11.9% in active decay, 2.8% in advanced decay, and 3.7% were skeletal. Insect activity was identified in 25.7% of decomposition cases. Cause of death was determined in 48.6% of cases. Of all the cases, 64% were found indoors and 23% outdoors, while 23% had insufficient information regarding the location. Of considerable interest was the number of cases from hospitals and clinics.     

A retrospective on policy development in Ottawa

Abstract: Policy development in the federal government has been characterized by certain constants such as the prominent role of the Department of Finance, Canada's regionalism, and the perennial issue of national unity. Within this framework, however, it is striking how much policy development processes have varied according to who the prime minister was at a particular time. Lester Pearson's years were characterized by “departmental government”: ministers and their departments had considerable autonomy, and matters were brought to cabinet only when they were ripe for decision. The advantages of this system were to some degree offset by a lack of coherence in government operations during this period. Under Pierre Trudeau, there was a major effort to bring systematic approaches to bear on government decisions, with a concomitant increase in the role of the Privy Council Office (PCO). Collective decision-making took up considerably more of ministers' time and left them less time for the management of their departments. The system was found by many to be cumbersome, although some degree of centralization was undoubtedly a necessary response to the growing complexity of government. Brian Mulroney's years, on the other hand, were characterized by a considerable absence of system, supplemented by frequent direct interventions by the pco in operational matters across government. It is not easy to assess these different systems by examining the quality of the decisions that were made under the different prime ministers. Experience illustrates the difficulty of striking the right balance between central direction and ministerial autonomy. The effort must nevertheless be made under each government, with due regard for the lessons of the past. Sommaire: L'élaboration des politiques au gouvernement fédéral se caractérise par certaines constantes telles que le rôle dominant du ministère des Finances, le régionalisme du Canada et l'étemelle question de l'unité nationale. Or, à l'intérieur de ce cadre, il est frappant de constater combien les méthodes d'élaboration des politiques varient en fonction du premier ministre en poste. Les années Lester Pearson se distinguent par le « gouvernement ministériel «, c'est-à-dire que les ministres et leurs ministères avaient une autonomie considérable et ne présentaient les questions au Cabinet qu'au moment de la prise de décision. Les avantages d'une telle démarcheont été quelque peu neutralisés par le manque de cohésion des activitiés du gouvernement à cette époque. Sous Pierre Trudeau, on s'est efforcé de systématiser la manière de prendre les décisions gouvernementales, le Bureau du Conseil Privé (BCP) voyant son rôle s'accroître simultanément. Les prises de décision selon un mode collectif prenaient aux ministres un temps considérable, ce qui leur en laissait moins pour diriger leurs ministères. Beaucoup trouvaient la démarche difficile bien qu'une certaine centralisation s'imposait à la suite de la complexité croissante du gouvernement. Les années Brian Mulroney se caractérisent, pour leur part, par un manque considérable de méthode ponctué par de fréquentes interventions directes du BCP dans les affaires de tout le gouvernement. II n'est pas simple d'évaluer ces différentes périodes en examinant la qualité des décisions prises sous chaque premier ministre. L'expérience montre combien il est difficile de trouver le juste équilibre entre la direction centrale et l'autonomie des ministères. II faut néanmoins, sous chaque gouvernement, faire un effort en ce sens en tenant compte des leçons du passé.