TEA-21: Transportation Policy, Pork Barrel Politics, and American Federalism

This article examines ISTEA's impact on intergovernmental relationsin transportation policy over the past six years and providesan overview of the political maneuvering that took place duringits reauthorization. ISTEA had a significant, decentralizingimpact on transportation policy, but its 1997–1998 reauthorizationwas driven by electoral concerns that transcended congressionalviews on American federalism. These electoral concerns helpto explain why ISTEA's reauthorization process took so long,why the decentralization in transportation policy that tookplace in 1991 was not broadened by TEA-21, and why it is unlikelythat transportation policy will ever be fully devolved to thestates and localities.     

The Steering Group as Policy Advice Instrument: A Case of “Consultocracy” in Stadium Subsidy Deliberations

This study considers the use of steering groups and private consultants as sources of policy advice to local governments. More particularly, our research addresses the combined role of a government-appointed working party and consulting firm in the deliberation process precipitating from proposals to renovate/re-build a sports stadium. Through this New Zealand-based case, we explore the political tensions arising from the Working Party's mandates to consult and its role as vehicle to market policy solutions. Data is gleaned from interviews with working party members (and their consultants), observations of public consultations and analysis of documents (e.g., background papers, reports, and press releases). Implications of this institutional arrangement are discussed in light of recurring logics, tensions and paradoxes. We first consider the Carisbrook Working Party as an instrument of policy advice and distinguish its founding logic from other forms such as task forces or commissions of inquiry. We further discuss the paradoxes of the Working Party's procedural and political imperatives including its roles as facilitators of the process, advocates of the “problem,”and as authoritative proclaimers of certainty.     

Corporate criminology: Explaining deviance of business and political organizations

Explanations of criminal behavior historically have focused on the behavior of individuals. The criminality of organizations, or corporate criminology, has only recently received systematic attention from researchers and policy makers. Four existing theories of organizational crime, and subsequent evaluations of their explanatory power, are comparatively assessed with special attention given to their implications for control strategies. It is suggested that strategies based on causal factors will achieve greater success than prevailing approaches to corporate criminality.     

LGBTQ-Affirming Policing: Tactics Generated by Law Enforcement Personnel

Law enforcement personnel (LEP) use a variety of tactics to perform their job duties. Although LEP often receive specialized training to work with ethnocultural minorities and are sometimes trained to work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) citizens, a clear articulation of LGBTQ-affirming police tactics has not yet been established. Using qualitative content analysis and a multiple case study approach, this project identified a variety of tactics generated by LEP in written surveys and group discussion of scenarios involving LGBTQ citizens. Results showed that across all scenarios, LEP were able to generate LGBTQ-affirming tactics, including both typical police procedures, as well as approaches specific to LGBTQ citizens. Non LGBTQ-affirming tactics typically reflected reluctance to adapt general procedures to meet the needs of LGBTQ citizens. The results of this study support the use of group-based scenario training to help LEP identify and adopt LGBTQ-affirming approaches. This study is significant because it represents a first step toward identifying best practices for LGBTQ-affirming police tactics.     

Highway Robbery: Testing the Impact of Interstate Highways on Robbery

Research has shown that the occurrence of crime is based on multiple factors including a variety of geographical characteristics. Previous researchers have suggested that the environmental feature of the interstate system has an influence on crime. For this study, we test for a relationship between interstate presence and robbery at the county-level in Georgia. Additionally, we test whether or not urban/rural differences affect this relationship. Findings are consistent with previous research showing that the number of interstate exits in a county significantly increases crime; in this case the robbery rate.     

Policy Spaces: Applying Lefebvrian Politics in Neo-institutional Spaces

The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of conceptualising policy institutions as neo-institutional spaces. The goal of this paper is to promote a more collaborative policy-making process that recognises the importance of cultivating and articulating shared spatial interests between policy actors. To facilitate a more collaborative process, the paper applies the principles of Lefebvre's triad to understand the internal and external policy geographies that inform government decision-making and promote the stability or instability of policy sub-systems. The utility of the proposed approach is examined within the context of two proposed scenarios. The paper concludes that a new policy geography might be effectively used to promote the overall political viability of policy sub-systems.     

Understanding the Crisis in Sudan

Instances of discontent within colonial military establishments in Africa have largely been ignored by historians of colonial Africa. The heavy focus on the incidence of coups in the historiography has helped to obscure the privations suffered by African soldiers in colonial armies. Using the Sierra Leone experience, this study draws on hitherto untapped archival material to examine the complex causes of the “Gunners' Mutiny” of January 1939. While showing that the causes of mutinies could be significantly nuanced, the study helps to bridge a vital gap in Sierra Leone's history.