Olson Triumphant? Recruitment Strategies and the Growth of a Small Business Organisation

This article looks at the emergence and maintenance of interest groups. We systematically identify a range of membership incentives that underpin mobilisation and apply them to a case study, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), focusing on the recruitment literature rather than the special niche literature on trade associations. The FSB was created in 1974 and membership was 'flat' at about 40,000 until recruiting method changes were introduced in the early 1990s. The total now approaches 200,000. This account of FSB recruitment argues unsurprisingly that the group resulted from a combination of diverse influences rather than the Truman type of 'automatic' mobilisation. More surprisingly, it notes that while early membership is accounted for by the perspectives of Truman, Salisbury, Wilson, Moe, Opp and Sabatier, the major increases of the past decade requires attention to the contribution of face-to-face marketing and Olsonian incentives. The FSB is an unusually good example of group entrepreneur activity that illustrates how entrepreneur incentives are different from those salient to members. Groups can experience different phases and forms as they grow. We exploit a 'natural experiment' by illustrating how the FSB addressed membership stagnation by changing the recruitment package in a broadly Olsonian direction. The 'before and after' patterns of recruitment allow a 'test' of these techniques. It also raises the issue of how different recruitment efforts produce a membership with different political characteristics.     

Dignity,discrimination, and context: New directions in South African and Canadian human rights law

Conclusion The current approaches to equality law in South Africa and Canada place these jurisdictions at the forefront of serious and comprehensive judicial at tempts to give effect to substantive equality. These attempts to overcome formalism are processes, judicially acknowledged as such, and as yet far from complete. At the conceptual center of the development of substantive equality is the legal realization of human dignity: not an abstract, individualistic notion, but a concept about the relation between the individual and state, and individual and group, which is circumscribed by concern, respect and consideration. But substantive equality is not possible only through the case law. The current issues surrounding intersectional discrimination and the contextual appreciation of a claimant’s circumstances are urgent reminders that the methods and remedies afforded by the structure of litigation of equality rights claims simply cannot accommodate many instances which call for relief. The fact that these inadequacies of court enforced claims are beginning to be laid bare by some of the problems being faced by the Courts in equality claims is perhaps not a failing of equality law and the concept of dignity, but its strength. The methodology of human rights litigation in countries like Canada and South Africa supports a dialogue between court and legislature. As substantive equality develops in these jurisdictions, the limits of judicial development will be challenged. That is ultimately to be welcomed, if the legislatures are responsive to the definition of human dignity and substantive equality in development judicially, and respond with efforts to support and promote these developments.     

The Rise of 'New' Policy Instruments in Comparative Perspective: Has Governance Eclipsed Government?

Governance is a term in good currency, but there are still too few detailed empirical analyses of the precise extent to which it has or has not eclipsed government. This article explores the temporal and spatial characteristics of the governance transition by charting the deployment of new policy instruments in eight industrialised states and the European Union. The adoption and implementation of ('old' and 'new') policy instruments offer a useful analytical touchstone because governance theory argues that regulation is the quintessence of government. Although there are many 'new' environmental policy instruments in these nine jurisdictions, this article finds that the change from government to governance is highly differentiated across political jurisdictions, policy sectors and even the main instrument types. Crucially, many of the new policy instruments used require some state involvement (that is, 'government'), and very few are entirely devoid of state involvement (that is, pure 'governance'). Far from eclipsing government, governance therefore often complements and, on some occasions, even competes with it, although there are some cases of fusion. Future research should thus explore the many complex and varied ways in which government and governance interact in public policy-making.     

Punctuations and agendas: A new look at local government budget expenditures

Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) is an agenda‐based theory that offers a theoretical foundation for large budget shifts. PET emphasizes that the static, incremental nature of agendas is occasionally interrupted by punctuations. These punctuations indicate shifts in priority among the agenda items, and with those agenda shifts come trade‐offs. This article expands the discussion of punctuated budgets to the level of local government by determining that local government expenditures have the characteristics espoused by the punctuated equilibrium theory. The article also determines the frequency of punctuations and the probability for future punctuations. The findings show that some budget functions and policy types are more prone to punctuations and, therefore, have a less stable agenda. The practical significance of extending PET to local government budgeting is the implication on planning, forecasting, and the agenda‐setting process. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Trepidation among the “keepers”: Gendered Perceptions of Fear and Risk of Victimization among Corrections Officers

Determining the attitudes of correctional officers relative to their level of fear and risk of victimization is important to investigate due to the relationship of the conditions of confinement and the care and custody of offenders. Furthermore, consideration of such attitudes by gender may uncover differences because of the unique obstacles female corrections officers face. This study examines the level of fear and risk of both inmate and staff related victimization by gender through administering a survey to all corrections officers employed in the adult prisons within one-state. The overall analysis indicated some level of apprehension among officers regarding their fear and risk of victimization for inmate-precipitated victimization more than staff-to-staff victimization. Female officers were also more likely to demonstrate a higher level of perceived fear and risk of inmate-precipitated and staff-precipitated victimization. In addition, race and security level were shown to be significant as predictors of both fear and perceived risk of victimization among officers.     

Prison-based chemical dependency treatment in Minnesota: An outcome evaluation

Using a retrospective quasi-experimental design, this study evaluated the effectiveness of prison-based chemical dependency (CD) treatment by examining recidivism outcomes among 1,852 offenders released from Minnesota correctional facilities during 2005. Because recidivism data were collected on the 1,852 offenders through the end of 2008, the average follow-up period was 42 months. To minimize the threat of selection bias, propensity score matching was used to create a comparison group of 926 untreated offenders who were not, for the most part, significantly different from the 926 treated offenders. Results from the Cox regression analyses revealed that participating in prison-based CD treatment significantly reduced the hazard ratio for recidivism by 17–25%. Although dropping out of treatment did not increase the risk of recidivism, completing treatment significantly lowered it by 20–27%. The findings also suggest that long-term treatment programs were not as effective as short- or medium-term programs in reducing the risk of recidivism. The study concludes by discussing the implications of these findings.