Is Britain's two-party system really about to crumble?: The social democratic-liberal alliance and the prospects for realignment

In 1981 British party politics were transformed by an explosion of support for the newly-formed Social Democratic Party. The two aims of this paper are to summarize the limited poll-based evidence available about the partisan, social and ideological nature of SDP support and to assess the prospects of an enduring partisan realignment of the British electorate. The nature of Britain's dealigning period from 1950 to 1980 is explored and the failure of Liberal surges to be sustained is explained. Analysis of SDP support shows it to be so similar in most respects to Liberal support in the past that some scepticism about the likelihood of a partisan realignment towards the Centre is expressed; which is not to deny the possibility of a a one-off Liberal/SDP ‘breakthrough’.     

Discipline, Assault, and Justice: Violent Parents and the Law

This article calls attention to an unacceptable double standard in American law: the lenient treatment of parental violence against children when compared to other forms of physical assault. Parts II and III critique the generous privilege of physical discipline extended to parents and the differential state response to violence when the victim is a child in the assailant's family. Appeals to family privacy and parental autonomy to justify the current double standard are examined and found wanting. Clearer and much stricter limits on corporal punishment are recommended and defended as constitutional. We further recommend that parental violence which falls outside these limits should be treated no differently than other misdemeanor and felony assaults. These two proposals give children the protection against domestic violence to which they are entitled as a matter of right and prudence.     

Russia and Ukraine: Transition or tragedy?

Conclusion The political-criminal nexus that emerged in the post-Soviet period represents a transformation of the relationships which existed in the Soviet period. The division of the property of the Soviet state gave ample possibilities for the political-criminal nexus to obtain significant political assets. They were able to transform their power from one that was rooted in the managerial apparatus of the Soviet state and the consumer economy into one with international dimensions and control of very large shares of the domestic economy. The rise of the political-criminal nexus, while hardly surprising in light of the structure of power relations in the final decades of the Soviet period, precludes full democratization or the rise of a real market economy. In the initial years of the transformation process from a socialist to a post-socialist economy, insufficient attention was paid to the containment of the political-criminal nexus in both Russia and Ukraine. Most Western politicians and international organizations focused on the collapse of communism rather than the rise of these pernicious alternative power relationships. The prognosis for the containment of the political-criminal nexus in either country is rather limited at the moment. Ukraine, however, is at a comparative disadvantage because it has failed to sufficiently acknowledge the high costs of organized crime and its political links. This has been done at the highest levels of Russian government although precious little has been done to address the problem. The Ukraine situation is more difficult because its institutional resources are much more limited than Russia which inherited a disproportionate share of the Soviet Union's financial and institutional resources. With limited civil society and the economic precariousness of much of the population, little can be done to control the problem at its roots. The political-criminal nexus in Russia and Ukraine will remain a serious problem in coming decades. It cannot be ignored in appraising the development of the domestic political situation in either country or determining foreign policy in relation to these two newly independent states.     

Public safety in private hands: A Study of Ontario's Technical Standards and Safety Authority

Abstract: This article examines the experience of Ontario's Technical Standards and Safety Authority (tssa), a not‐for‐profit corporation to which the public‐safety regulation functions of the province's Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations (now the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services) were transferred in 1997. The authors place the tssa in the larger context of the restructuring of government functions and responsibilities and the transferring of these activities to non‐governmental actors, as part of what has become known around the world as the “new public management.” The history, rationale, mandate, structure and functions of the tssa are described. In addition, an assessment of the tssa as a model for the delivery of public services against criteria related to governance, political and legal accountability and performance relative to its predecessor is provided. The article concludes that significant gaps remain in the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services' capacity to adequately oversee the tssa and in the accountability framework for the tssa relative to that applicable to a conventionally structured government agency. Improvements in public safety outcomes in Ontario over the past decade are noted, although many of these trends pre‐date the creation of the tssa and may be attributable to factors other than the mccr/tssa transition. Sommaire: Le présent article passe en revue I'expérience de la Technical Standards and Safety Authority (tssa) de I'Ontario, organisme à but non lucratif auquel furent transférées en 1997 les fonctions relatives à la réglementation de la sécurité publique du ministère de la Consommation et du Commerce de la province (devenu le ministère des Services aux consommateurs et aux entreprises). Les auteurs placent la Esa dans le contexte plus vaste de la restructuration des fonctions et responsabilités gouvernementales et du transfert de ces activités à des organismes non gouvemementaux, dans le cadre de ce qui est maintenant connu mondialement sous le nom de « nouvelle gestion publique ». 11s décrivent l'historique, la justification, le mandat, la structure et les fonctions de la tssa. Ils foumissent en outre me évaluation de la Esa en tant que modèle de prestation de services publics selon des critères de gouvemance, d'imputabilité politique et légale et de rendement par rapport à son prédécesseur. L'article conclut qu'il existe encore d'importantes lacunes en ce qui concerne la capacité du ministère des Services aux consommateurs et aux entreprises à superviser adéquatement la tssa et en ce qui concerne le cadre de responsabilité de la tssa par rapport à ce qui s'applique à un organisme gouvernemental de structure conventionnelle. L'article mentionne les améliorations concernant la sécurité publique survenues en Ontario au cours de la dernière décennie, quoique nombre de ces tendances datent d'avant la création de la tssa et pourraient tre attribuables à des facteurs autres que la transition du mcc à la tssa.     

Reproductive responsibilities: Rethinking the fetal rights debate

The fetal rights debate has grown increasingly vitriolic in recent years. The animosity between those who attribute rights to the fetus from the moment of conception and those who argue that the rights of citizens can bestowed only upon those who have been born has created an impasse in a range of important public policy arenas. This article attempts to demonstrate that neither side of this debate provides a satisfactory answer to the question of what limits the state may legitimately place on the medical and behavioral choices of pregnant women. To move beyond the impasse created by the intransigent rhetoric of competing rights, this essay explores the related responsibilities of the expectant mother, the emergent family, and a liberal democratic state. It also applies this conception of reproductive responsibilities to policy issues pertaining to privacy, abortion, regulation of fertile women, and state intervention into parental decision-making.     

Physically violent mothers are a reason for young people's leaving home

In a qualitative study, 302 homeless young people (aged 12 to 20 years) were asked to discuss their reasons for leaving home. Some 103 youth cited physical violence by a parent or stepparent, and of these, 39 cited their mother's or stepmother's violence as the reason for leaving home. Females were more likely than males to report being the target of violence by their mother; however, the converse was true for stepmothers. Several discrete reasons for maternal violence were identified, including maternal personal characteristics and behaviors, issues associated with blended families, or young people's own behavior. In some cases, young people reported violence by both parents. Their attributions of maternal violence centered on a single dimension of the mother/stepmother or her relationship with a partner. They rarely discussed the contribution that they had made to the conflict or acknowledged the social context that may have been a catalyst for violence.