The limits to balancing

This article explores the major contribution of Brooks and Wohlforth's World out of balance to debate about the role of American primacy and power in contemporary international affairs. It argues that these authors make a major contribution to our understanding of the present international order but that some key questions about the effectiveness of US primacy remain unaddressed and require different questions and considerations to be debated.     

Connecting smallholders with dynamic markets: a market information service in Zambia

Commodity markets have changed significantly in the past two decades, with smallholders increasingly requiring robust market intelligence to understand and secure benefit from the new environment. This article explores the approach to, and lessons stemming from, an IFAD-financed market information service in Zambia. It finds that by locating the service within a pre-existing institution with legitimacy and credibility, the service has secured the interest of a wide range of actors, and has better enabled smallholders and traders to access and utilise relevant, up-to-date, and actionable information to shape decision-making. The article concludes by discussing the key considerations that shaped the institutional analysis, and the issues that will influence the financial sustainability of the service.     

Techniques of Knowing in Administration: Co‐production,Models, and Conservation Law

Law frequently demands the production, sometimes effortful, of adequate knowledge for decision making. This article explores the challenging epistemic demands made by nature conservation law during planning law approval processes for major offshore wind farms. It explores this area through the prism of co‐production: not only are ‘science’ and ‘facts’ socially and legally constructed, but in addition, scientific and factual findings shape society, and law and governance. Models are used in planning law to assess whether bird deaths associated with a proposed wind farm will have an adverse effect on the integrity of a protected site. As much as providing an accurate factual representation of the impact of a wind farm on biodiversity, the models contribute to the very possibility of governing the impact of these novel infrastructure developments on biodiversity.     

Weighing the parody factor in a trade mark infringement and dilution case

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court'sdecision that Haute Diggity Dog's (HDD) parody pet toys of famousbrands was not likely to cause confusion with those of LouisVuitton Malletier's (LVM) products. LVM's copyright, trade markdilution, and other claims were also rejected.     

Cross-Border cooperation in the Rhine-Meuse region: Aachen (D) and Heerlen (NLs)

This article considers the role of land in (regional) development and the financing of such development. Specifically the article reflects on the application of legal provisions relating to the use of land and development, including considering how fiscal instruments can be used to promote economic development in a cross-border legal entity. The article concludes with recommendations as to how cross-border economic development can be improved. The article takes as its starting point the intention of the regions of Parkstad Limburg (NLs) and Aachen (GER) to establish a European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), with a view to promoting cross-border economic and spatial development.     

Contrast and Foundation of the Public Oversight Roles of the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.K. National Audit Office

This paper examines and compares, according to the New Public Management approach, the U.S. watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, in its ability to oversee and call to account the executive branch of government, and its U.K. counterpart, the National Audit Office. Results of this examination indicate that the Government Accountability Office is more effective than its U.K. counterpart. Its greater effectiveness is attributable to the fact that it derives its powers and legitimacy from a written constitution; in contrast, in the United Kingdom there is no equivalent document defining the relationship between the state and the citizenry. As a consequence, the powers, duties, and self-perception of the National Audit Office are significantly weaker and more mutable than those of the Government Accountability Office.     

Beyond anxiety and fantasy: The coital experiences of college youth

Counting virgins is described as social bookkeeping, a necessary but not sufficient task for social scientists. More important is the development of an understanding of the social processes which encourage or inhibit coital behavior. The analysis in this paper uses the socialbookkeeping approach to document the relatively stable rates of early and premarital coitus since the Kinsey report. The data are drawn from a 1972 study of 14–18-year-olds and a 1967 study of college students. When appropriate controls for educational attainment and age are introduced, it is shown that, in comparison to the change in rates at the beginning of the century, the rates since the 1940's have increased only a fourth as much. More importantly, coital behavior is shown to be still strongly linked to traditional patterns of restraint and facilitation. Traditional factors, such as relationships with parents and religious attendance, are shown to restrain early coital experience (defined as coitus before age 18), while factors linked to the courtship process such as dating frequency, facilitated this early behavior. During college both restraining and facilitating factors were operative, but levels of coital behavior in most cases stayed surprisingly low. Rates of frequent coitus rarely reached 40% among female college seniors and the proportion of college female seniors with three or more partners never reached 20%. The factors which encourage sexual activity during college are the courtship factorsdating behavior and being in love. In terms of initial coitus, women overwhelmingly report that they were in love with their partner. Given the relative stability of rates of early and premarital coitus and continuity of the role of courtship factors in facilitating this behavior, popular discussions of the contemporary sexual revolution are seen as being out of touch with reality and possibly inducing anxiety among young people when they do not experience the sexual revolution.Data analysis for this paper was carried out under NICHD grant HD 04156 and Illinois Law Enforcement Commission grant 2-09-25-0410-02, and also General Support Grant 5-SO1-RRO-5666-05.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Research interests include post childhood socialization, social change and deviance, and urban social studies.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Main research interests include adolescence, urban social studies, and adult socialization.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Main research interest is social change and deviance.