An Examination of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and New Political Participation

The mobilisation of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) on New Years Day 1994 in Mexico attracted considerable attention from those concerned with the democratic deficits of neoliberal globalisation and the increasing sense of individual powerlessness as states synchronise economic and public policy with the ideas and institutions of global capital. The paper argues that as a critical social movement the EZLN explores the meaning and practice of economic, political and social democracy. The EZLN practises a politics of radical democracy that incorporates a variety of strategies for enriching the democratic project. However, the EZLN's democratic project has little in common with the inclusive democracy project and yet the EZLN's project of radical democracy does cultivate a useful way of rethinking the site and nature of democracy in an age of globalisation when such institutions seem so increasingly inept.     

Decentralizing Community Development Decisions: A Study of Oklahoma's Small Cities Program

Decentralization of the CDBG Small Cities program in 1981 gavestates great latitude in deciding how to allocate grant funds.Consequently, scholars expressed concern that, understate control,fewer CDBG funds would be expended for low- and moderate-incomebenefits via housing rehabilitation. Research on the Small Citiesprogram in Oklahoma indicates a definite shift in spending priorities.Since 1982, Oklahoma localities diverted CDBG funds primarilyto infrastructure andeconomic development instead of housing-relatedactivities, and channeled a larger amount of dollars into moderate-and median-income areas. As a result, the Small Cities programin Oklahoma, under state control, was found to provide lessdirect and immediate housing aid to lower income citizens.     

Apportionment and the boundary commission for England

Political apportionment is the allocation of an integer number of seats to each of a number of subunits into which a legislature is divided. This paper introduces the theoretical issues, and then applies the theory to the apportionment of parliamentary seats in the United Kingdom. It shows that the outcome is defective by comparison with desirable and achievable standards, and that the defects lead to predictable biases of representation in favour of certain parts of the country. The defects have arisen partly through manipulation for party advantage, but largely because of a failure of all concerned to understand the theory of apportionment.     

The impact of sex offender’s interpersonal style,treatment readiness and the therapeutic alliance on treatment gain

The impact of internal responsivity factors and therapeutic process variables on intra-individual within-treatment gain in sex offenders has received little empirical attention. This study examined how (1) internal responsivity factors, including treatment readiness and interpersonal style, and (2) therapy process variables, including the therapeutic alliance and the presence of ruptures in the therapeutic relationship, impacted intra-individual within-treatment gain. Participants comprised 71 sex offenders who participated in group-based sex offender treatment programmes in prison or the community. Results showed that offender hostile-dominance and the affective and interpersonal characteristics of psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version Factor 1 score, negatively impacted treatment gain. Pre-treatment readiness, client ratings of the therapeutic alliance and whether or not there were ruptures in the therapeutic relationship had no association with within-treatment gain. The strength of the therapeutic alliance later in treatment did not moderate the relationship between offender interpersonal style, or psychopathy, and treatment gain.     

The interface between exercise of state power and personal powerlessness: a study of police perceptions of factors impacting professional practices

Police legitimacy is crucial to the maintenance of law and order in any society. In communities marred by high instances of societal manifestations of dysfunction, tenuous legislative frameworks, poradic implementation, and dismantling of crime fighting strategies, there is greater emphasis placed on quick-fix crime fighting solutions and policing initiatives. The focus is placed primarily on what police officers are mandated to do as opposed to practical applications underscored by systematic hindrances to professional practice. Examining interview data from a pilot study on police fear of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, this study is intended to explore connections between police perceptions about personal powerlessness and the exercise of state power. Here we examine the discourses of N = 12 senior police officers with an average of 22.83 years of service to attain a preliminary understanding of instances presenting a conflict between professional practice and perceptions of self-preservation. The findings suggest a need for officers’ constant consideration of the repercussions of professional competence and the need for continued navigation of blurred constructions of police legitimacy and subjective determinants of criminality against a backdrop of acknowledged personal powerlessness.     

A Range of Postmortem Assault Experiments Conducted on a Variety of Denture Labels Used for the Purpose of Identification of Edentulous Individuals

Abstract:  Forensic organizations worldwide have recommended that dental prostheses should be labeled with at least the patient's name and preferably with further unique identifiers such as social security number, etc. The practice of denture marking has been conducted over many years and several denture marking systems have been reported in the dental literature. However, very little is known about the resilience of such systems to conditions experienced in the majority of post- and perimortem assaults. The purpose of this investigation therefore, was to expose a selection of 10 denture labels to a series of hostile environments. Results of the study indicate that the majority of the denture labeling systems appear capable of withstanding a range of common, and not so common postmortem assaults. With regard to thermal insult, however, most performed badly with the exception of a label constructed from stainless steel orthodontic band. However, another label in the form of an electronic RFID-tag performed above expectations in the majority of experiments. Furthermore, its cosmetic appearance has proven most popular with many patients.     

After Dark and Out in the Cold: Part-time Law Students and the Myth of 'Equivalency'

This paper presents the findings of the first major research study of part-time law students. It argues that many face multiple disadvantages, largely unrecognized by universities, whose emphasis on the formal equivalency of part-time and full-time law degrees ignores the distinctive backgrounds and needs of part-time students. As a result, many are marginalized, impacting on their retention, overall performance, and work prospects. It is also argued that the context within which part-time law students experience legal education contributes to a collective habitus which may structure what is 'thinkable' for their futures. Such concerns are of particular importance given the strong vocational drive amongst part-time law students. An effective response requires action by both universities and the legal profession. Without this, part-time legal education will remain a fundamentally paradoxical experience, offering broader access to legal practice for non-traditional entrants, while continuing to inhibit their chances of success by entrenching their difference in the eyes of the profession.     

The citizen of empire

In this paper, the authors imagine a Citizen of Empire. This is a conceptualization of global citizenship as it might appear in Hardt and Negri's global social order of Empire. The article draws on Hardt and Negri's Empire as the model of global society to imagine what citizenship might look like on a global scale. Hardt and Negri's conceptualization of Empire offers a palette of new and emerging social relationships from which a vibrant conceptualization of citizen and citizenship can be imagined and new democratic politics practiced. First, the authors examine the concept of Empire to unearth foundational concepts upon which a notion of Citizen of Empire can be built. Second, the authors imagine a citizen who ‘calls Empire into being' rather than participating in the ready-made political, cultural, and economic institutions of the nation-state. Without institutional support, citizenship in Empire must be highly generative and creative, and it will operate on a virtual and poetic terrain by enacting mechanisms of deterritorialization, networking, and communication.