Transnational Protest: Australia and the 1960s

Transnational Protest: Australia and the 1960s . By Jon Piccini (London: Palgrave, 2016), pp.251, £72.00 (hb).     

Social control theory: The salience of components by age,gender, and type of crime

Most social control theorists do not consider definitions of delinquency problematic. Beginning with the assumption that crime is a unitary concept, researchers have combined a variety of non-normative items to create additive delinquency scales. Rarely is consideration given to whether the causes of crime differ for distinct types of criminal activity. Furthermore, the classic social control model doesnot predict that bonding variables operate differently for distinct age and gender categories. Consistent with the structuring perspective, the present research attempts to refine the social control model by specifying conditions under which the model predicts different forms of delinquency. This study examines social control theory using survey data from middle- and high-school students (N=2926). Logit regression analysis revealed that the model which best explains personal crime differs from the model which best explains property crime. Also, certain components of the model were more powerful predictors of criminal behavior for different age-gender groups. The importance of model specification is demonstrated and the implications for social control theory are discussed.     

Issues in population pressure,land resettlement,and development: The case of Nepal

This analysis considers the question of whether resettlement schemes really relieve population pressure or help achieve a better regional balance between population and resource distribution in a manner consistent with Nepal's national objective of agricultural growth with social justice. The 1st part of the analysis discusses population pressure, followed by the conceptualization of ecodemographic relations and sociodemographic relations. The 2nd part of the analysis considers Nepal's agrarian economy along with a case-study examination of its contemporary resettlement project in Chitwan district. Finally, information is presented from a field survey conducted in Chitwan in 1979, which support the assertions that: the sociodemographic relations -- not population pressure as such -- are the primary roots of agrarian development problems in a country like Nepal; and resettlement schemes, when implemented without due consideration of the pervasive sociodemographic relations, are a deficient technical fix to imbalances in ecodemographic relations. Nepal provides a typical example of ecodemographic imbalances in the regional distribution of population and resources. Although the Hill and Mountain regions make up almost 60% of Nepal's total population, they share less than 30% of the total land under cultivation. The Tarai region, which is the northern extension of the Gangetic Plain in India, occupies over 70% of the cultivated land and supports only slightly over 40% of the population. As the case study illustrates, development strategies such as land resettlement are invariably formulated and implemented as a technical solution within the framework of ecodemographic relations. Little attention is directed to addressing the social dimension of these programs, i.e., the structual problems directly associated with the existing sociodemographic relations. Development, or land resettlement in the present case, is not simply a technical issue concerned with land reclamation and its management. It is also a social issue, because the sociodemographic relations determine significantly the direction (or directions) that resettlement programs take. When development policies make little effort to tackle the underlying forces of these relations, resettlement schemes result in the reconstitution of class divisions and disparity in the ownership of resources in newly resettled areas.     

Canadian federalism and the challenge of North American integration

Abstract: Canada's growing economic integration within North America has not resulted in parallel trends towards greater political integration or in the general harmonization of policies and regulations, as was hoped by some observers and feared by others. This article explains the incremental adaptation of Canadian federalism to market‐driven economic integration and assesses the factors that contribute to and constrain federal leadership and guidance of these processes. It outlines formal and informal processes for managing and reconciling overlapping jurisdictions ‐described as “complementary federalism” ‐ that balance the pursuit of policy coherence and pressures for policy harmonization with the recognition and accommodation of regional interests. The author examines the development and limits of complementary federalism in three major policy fields ‐ trade policy, taxation and the regulation of financial services and capital markets ‐ affected by trends towards North American economic integration. Sommaire: L'intégration politique et I'harmonisation générale des politiques et des règlements n'ont pas suivi la même courbe ascendante que celle de l'intégration économique du Canada au sein de l'Amérique du Nord, selon I'espoir de certains observateurs et la crainte de certains autres. Cet article explique I'adaptation graduelle du fééeralisme canadien à I'intégration economique axée sur les forces du marché et se penche sur les facteurs contribuant ou freinant le leadership fédéral et son orientation de ces processus. Il expose les processus officiels et officieux permettant de gérer et de concilier les compétences qui se chevauchent ‐ décrits comme une forme de fédéralisme complémentaire ‐ afin d'équilibrer la recherche de cohérence en matiére de politiques, et les pressions exercées pour les harmoniser tout en reconnaissant et en ménageant les intérêts régionaux. L'article examine le déeloppement et les limites du fédéralisme complémentaire dans trois grands domaines de politiques ‐ la politique commerciale, la politique fiscale et la réglementation des services et des marchés financiers ‐ ces domaines étant affectés par les tendances vers une intégration économique nord‐américaine.     

The temptation of provincial criminal law

Under s.91 (27) of the BNA Act, 1867, the Federal Parliament has the exclusive authority to legislate “criminal law.” This has not stopped the provinces from passing “quasi‐criminal” laws that are difficult to distinguish from criminal law. Recent legislation regarding “public fighting” and civil remedies for criminal acts suggest there are few legal obstacles to enacting provincial criminal law. This article identifies such provincial criminal laws, explains how the modern doctrines of federalism might invite and allow for their enactment, and discusses impacts on criminal justice policy and administration. It highlights the discretion afforded the Crown and police in charging individuals under the federal Criminal Code or similar provincial laws (or municipal by‐laws). While provincial or local laws may allow for more efficient law enforcement, they do so at the expense of the procedural guarantees associated with the criminal law.     

Social change and social conflict in nineteenth‐century England: The use of the open‐closed village model

Following earlier articles on social change and conflict in rural England 1780–1850, we assert the relevance of the open‐closed model of social structure, particularly to the study of Burwash by Wells [1981]. This paper demonstrates that no parish was insulated from economic and other influences exerted in and by neighbouring parishes. More especially, although open parishes challenged the upper Establishment, they were not devoid of internal strife, since different interests were not subject to the overriding influence of the large landowners who dominated the populations of closed parishes.