A Comparison of uninformed and informed death penalty opinions: A replication and expansion

This study examines the influence on death penalty opinions of participating in a college class on the death penalty. Students in the class (the experimental group) and in another class offered at the same time (the control group) were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their attitudes toward capital punishment at the beginning and at the end of the semester. They were also asked factual questions that measured their knowledge about capital punishment. Overall, the results of the study suggest that both groups were not well informed during the pretest measure. However, at the end of the semester, the group enrolled in the death penalty class were more knowledgable, less supportive of the death penalty based on general/absrtact questions, and more likely to favor alternatives to capital punishment than were the students in the control group.     

“Who Does What” in Ontario: The process of provincial-municipal disentanglement

Abstract: Since the election of the Mike Harris Conservative government in 1995, Ontario has been the site of some of the most turbulent provincial-local relations ever experienced in a Canadian province. The province's agenda has included restructuring and realigning the responsibilities and resources of municipal governments and asserting control over the financing and governance of Ontario's education system. The sheer size of this agenda and the interconnections between its two main elements have made the quest to simplify or disentangle provincial-local relations impossible to achieve. This article documents events as the Conservatives moved from their “Common Sense Revolution” election manifesto to develop and implement a plan for disentanglement of provincial and local government services. It also identifies themes and potential lessons that emerge for government agenda setting and intergovernmental relations. Sommaire: Depuis que le gouvernment conservateur de Mike Harris fut élu au pouvoir en 1995, 1'Ontario a été aux prises avec des relations provinciales-locales qui sont parmi les plus turbulentes qu'une province canadienne n'ait jamais subies. La province a entrepris de restructurer et réaligner les responsabilités et les ressources des gouvernements municipaux et d'établir son contrôle sur le financement et la gérance du système d'éducation de l'Ontario. L'envergure même de cet agenda et les liens qui relient ses deux principaux éléments ont rendu impossible l'idée de simplifier ou de démêler les relations provinciales-locales. Cet article examine le déroulement des événements, lorsque les Conservateurs, partant de leur déclaration électorale concemant la eAvolution du bon sens, ont élaborté et mis en oeuvre un plan visant à démêler les services gouvemementaux provinciaux et locaux. II définit également des thèmes et des lecons qui pourraient être utiles lorsqu'un gouvernement veut formuler un plan d'action, ou lorsqu'il s'agit de relations intergouvernementales.     

The Glass Ceiling Revisited: Determinants of Federal Job Advancement

Using the results of a recent survey of federal employees and focus groups of the same population, this article extends previous research on the existence of a glass ceiling in the federal bureaucracy. Even when controlling for differences between the sexes in human capital factors, work habits, work opportunities, and personal circumstances, women who have been in the federal bureaucracy from zero to 10 years and from 20 to 30 years have not advanced in their professions as successfully as have men. In contrast to and departing from previous research, there is little evidence that a glass ceiling has been experienced among women who have worked in the bureaucracy between 10 and 20 years. Additional findings consistent with past literature include the fact that among women who have faced gender-based barriers, those who chose to have children during their careers have been especially disadvantaged. We conclude that the glass ceiling on the federal level, where apparent, has been multidimensional and quite subtle.     

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Whatever happened to regionalization? The curious case of Nova Scotia

Abstract: The case of Nova Scotia well illustrates the complexities involved in implementing a strategy of regionalization in health care. In 1996, under the leadership of Liberal Premier John Savage, thirty‐six local hospital boards were amalgamated into four regional health boards. By 2001, however, Conservative Premier John Hamm had expanded the four regions into nine district health authorities. Both measures were justified by explicit references to cost containment and greater accountability, even though the first took numerous units and amalgamated them, while the second took the few units and multiplied them. How can this seeming contradiction be explained, and what does it say about the nature of regionalization as a policy tool for health care? The authors find that neither cost containment nor citizen engagement can explain the system of regionalization which currently informs the health care system in Nova Scotia. Rather, the present form of regionalization exists because it is useful politically in two ways: it maintains the centralization of power that existed previous to the formal decentralization of health care; and it restores the system of representation that existed prior to the implementation of regionalization. The authors conclude that, to understand how regionalization has been implemented in any given jurisdiction, one must pay close attention to the political context in which strategies of regionalization have been executed. Sommaire: Le cas de la Nouvelle‐Écosse illustre bien les complexités inhérentes à la mise en œuvre d'une stratégie de régionalisation dans les soins de santé. En 1996, sous le leadership du Premier ministre libéral John Savage, 36 conseils d'hôpitaux locaux ont fusionné pour former quatre conseils de sante régionaux. En 2001, cependant, le Premier ministre conservateur John Hamm a élargi les quatre régions pour les transformer en neuf conseils de santé de district. Ces deux mesures ont été justifiées par des références explicites à la compression des coûts et à une plus grande imputabilité, même si la première a consistéà prendre de nombreuses unités et à les fusionner, tandis que la seconde a consistéà prendre quelques rares unités et à les multiplier. Comment peut‐on expliquer cette apparente contradiction, et qu'est‐ce que cela nous dit sur la nature de la régionalisation en tant qu'outil de politique en matière de soins de santé? Les auteurs trouvent que ni la compression des coûts, ni la participation des citoyens ne peuvent expliquer le système de régionalisation qui caractérise actuellement le système de soins de santé en Nouvelle‐Écosse. Au contraire, la forme actuelle de régionalisation existe parce qu'elle est politiquement utile de deux manières: elle maintient la centralisation du pouvoir qui existait avant la décentralisation officielle des soins de santé; et elle restaure, jusqu'à un certain point, le système de représentation qui existait avant la mise en œuvre de la régionalisation. Les auteurs concluent que, pour comprendre la manière dont la régionalisation a été mise en œuvre, il faut prêter une grande attention au contexte politique dans lequel ces stratégies de régionalisation ont étéélaborées.