County impact fee adoptions as policy innovations: a search for theory

This study documents the importance of employing an integrated model to explain innovative policy making among county governments in Florida. Specifically, it suggests that both internal determinants and regional diffusion factors influence the adoption of county impact fees. While rapid growth and impending county commission elections appear to be factors motivating adoption, the tendency to adopt can be offset by a substantial low-income population. Nevertheless, obstacles to adoption can be overcome where cities within the county have previously adopted an impact fee.     

Land Reform in El Salvador and the Chapultepec Peace Accord

The focus of this article is on the land transfer programme (PTT) carried out in El Salvador over the past decade as a result of the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accord. Building on the agrarian reforms of the 1980s, the PTT beneficiaries were smallholders created by the state and drawn from ex-combatants on both sides (the FMLN, the military) in the war. Among the issues considered are the forms of tenure that resulted, and the agrarian debt incurred. Also examined is the socio-economic profile of the PTT beneficiaries, together with their assessment of the positive/negative impact on their lives of the reform programme. Finally, the achievements and failures of the PTT are evaluated in terms of the wider national/international context, and the resulting contradiction between the objectives of the agrarian reform and the determinants of global markets.     

Measuring criminal justice technology outputs: The case of Title III wiretap productivity, 1987-2005

This analysis considers outputs produced by Title III electronic wiretaps. Based on 1987-2005 data, wiretap productivity is assessed by examining the number of wiretaps, places wiretaps are installed, numbers of people whose communications are intercepted, the number of intercepted communications, the number of communications labeled incriminating, the arrests and convictions linked to wiretaps, and the relationships among arrests and convictions. Wiretapping is focused mostly on narcotics violations. The numbers of people, interceptions, and incriminating interceptions increased. One-fifth of intercepted communications were classified as incriminating. Incriminating information is linked to arrests and convictions that unfold over time. The more people intercepted, the more arrests result, but convictions decline over time. Arrests are driven by the number of intercepted persons. Convictions are driven by the number of incriminating interceptions. Two simultaneous but opposing operations were in place by 2005: big increases in the number of intercepted communications in 2003 through 2005; and by 2005, overall declines in the measured productivity of wiretaps.     

Opposition research: some theories and practice

Abstract. An institution unique to parliamentary systems of government oper-ates within the Canadian House of Commons: a set of research offices serving each of the major opposition party caucuses but financed by public funds under the government's control, The writer, who was the organizing director of the largest of these 'counter-bureaucracies, examines the origins of the institution, delineates the competing role definitions considered for adoption, recounts operating difficulties, and tries to analyse some of the traceable conse- quences for the conduct of parliamentary business and party affairs. While the Research Office makes a discernible impact in a number of secondary dimen- sions, the characteristics of the members of the opposition and of their leader are found to be the major determinants of their parliamentary performance. Sommaire. Une institution qui est unique parmi les systèmes parlementaires de gouvernement fonctionne au sein de la chambre des communes. Il s'agit de bureaux de recherche au service des principaux partis en opposition, mais financés par les fonds publics sous le contrôle du gouvernement. L'auteur qui était directeur-organisateur de la plus grande de ces « bureaucraties parallèes » examine les origines de cette institution, expose les définitions du rôle compétitif considérées pour adoption, explique les difficdtés pratiques et essaie d'analyser quelques-unes des conséquences certaines sur la conduite des affaires parlementaires et de celles des partis. Bien que le bureau de recherche ait une influence indéniable sur un certain nombre de décisions secondaires, c'est le caractère particulier des membres de l'opposition et de leurs chefs qui est I'élément détenninant de leur comportement parlementaire.     

JOURNEY FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE

One of the most important journeys that we can take as individuals is the journey from success to significance. Success is what we become and what we achieve when we value ourselves. Significance, however, is what we become and what we achieve when we value others. In this article, based on remarks by Judge David W. Young at the May 2007 “Summit on Unified Family Courts,” Judge Young invites us on a journey, first described by John Maxwell in The Journey from Success to Significance. Judge Young further explores what the journey from success to significance entails and reminds us that any success we have will leave the world with us while our significance will continue to live on in future generations through our service to children, families, and others.