Issue Attitudes and Survey Continuity across Interview Mode in the 2000 NES

Nathan J. Kelly Department of Political Science, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260-4120 e-mail: nkelly{at}buffalo.edu H. Whitt Kilburn Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3265 e-mail: wkilburn{at}email.unc.edu Can researchers draw consistent inferences about the U.S. public'sissue attitudes when studying survey results from both the in-personand telephone interview modes of the 2000 National ElectionStudies (NES) survey? We address this question through an analysiscontrasting the distribution of issue attitudes across modesin the dual sample design of the 2000 NES. We find clear differencesacross mode even when applying a method devised by the NES toimprove comparability by recoding issue attitude scales fromthe in-person mode. We present an alternative method of recodingthese scales, which substantially improves comparability betweenmodes. Through an analysis of the covariance structure of theissues and simple models of vote choice, we discuss the implicationsof the results for the study of issue attitudes in the 2000NES.     

Democratic Survival, Peace, and War in the International System

Post-World War II Western foreign policies are often based on the claim that the spread of democracy will result in global peace. Our understanding of how this propagation can bring about peace is limited, and we have little reason to believe that the causal arrow points only in one direction. We tackle these issues by modeling the linkages between states' regime types, interstate conflict, and the strength of the democratic community relative to the autocratic community. Analysis of our model suggests initial increases in the strength of the democratic community increase the level of conflict in a system. Beyond a threshold of democratic strength, however, conflict wanes as the democratic community waxes. Our model also suggests that the survival rate of democracies increases as the material strength of the democratic community increases and decreases as systemic conflict rises. Empirical analyses offer support for the survival propositions.     

Gunshot fatalities in children and adolescents in New York City

We reviewed the case records of all fatalities due to gunshot wounds in children and adolescents under 19 years of age in New York City from 1996 to 2000. The epidemiological profile, circumstances, toxicology results, location, and injuries were examined. There were 263 deaths: 242 homicides, 17 suicides, and 4 accidents. Among the homicides, 96% involved Black or Hispanic and 68% involved 17 and 18-year-old decedents. There were 11 times as many male as female homicides. The detection of ethanol and/or illicit drugs was 56% in the homicide and 53% in the suicide groups. Suicide notes were found in 18% of suicides, and an additional 35% verbally expressed a plan to commit suicide. Most suicides (77%) were in the home and half of the homicides occurred on the street.     

Do Mothers and Teens Disagree About Sexual Communication? A Methodological Reappraisal

This study investigated whether parent–teen disagreement in reports of sexual discussions is due to methodological factors. Forty-four mothers and their 12- to 15-year-old daughters (n = 18) and sons (n = 26) completed parallel questionnaires including measures of communication about 18 different sexual topics during the teen's entire life and during the past year. Analyses examined whether congruence rates were influenced by the use of global as compared to specific items, assessment of conversations during the teen's entire life as compared to the past year, and use of forced-choice as opposed to continuous-response categories. Taken as a whole, results support the notion that methodological limitations are partly responsible for lack of congruence in parent–teen reports. Suggestions for methodological improvements in future research are discussed.     

Bureaucratic activism and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the Department of Justice and its entry into the centre of government

Abstract: Scholarly works on the impact of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms have largely focused on judicial activism and its effect on the political executive's ability to advance its policy agenda. As such, these works have suggested that a vertical transfer of decision-making authority from the parliamentary arena to the judicial arena has been the primary outcome of Charter review. This article considers the emergence of an alternative form of activism that is a by-product of judicial review on Charter grounds. Specifically, this article suggests that politically generated bureaucratic activism, a process whereby the development of policy within the administrative state has been restructured to incorporate an extensive Charter review of policy proposals, has ensured that the political executive has retained control over its policy agenda and continues to govern from the centre. More importantly, this bureaucratic activism has been under the direction of the Department of Justice and has seen a transformation within both the conceptualization of the centre of government in Canada and our understanding of executive-support agencies. Specifically, because the Department of Justice monopolizes Charter advice within the federal bureaucracy, it has been deployed by the political executive to act as a countervailing source of Charter advice to that of the judiciary and, thus, Justice has entered the centre of government in Canada. This development is largely because the Department of Justice is an important actor that generates policy space for the political executive in the new policy environment by offsetting judicial power. Second, because the Department of Justice has assumed new roles and responsibilities that allow it to control and coordinate the policy activities of line departments, Justice has emerged as an executive-support agency. This latter development is the result of bureaucratic activism, which exists in two distinct forms, reactive and proactive bureaucratic activism, but it is only in the latter phase that Justice has entered the centre of government and emerged as an executive-support agency. Sommaire: Les études sur l'effet de la Charte des droits et libertés ont visé avant tout l'activisme judiciaire et son effet sur la capacité des autorités politiques à poursuivre leur agenda de politiques. Selon ces études, le transfert vertical d'autorité déisionnelle de l'arène du parlement à l'arène judiciaire serait le principal résultat de la révision de la Charte. Cet article examine la naissance d'une autre forme d'activisme qui découle de la révision judiciaire à la lumière de la Charte. Plus précisément, cet article suggère que l'activisme bureaucratique d'origine politique, dans le cadre duquel chaque politique proposée par l'État se voit examinée à la lumière de la Charte, a fait que les autorités politiques tiennent bien en main leur agenda et continuent à gouverner à partir du centre. Ce qui plus est, cet activisme du fonctionnariat, sous la direction du ministère de la Justice, a vu se transformer à la fois le concept de centre de gouvemement au Canada et notre perception des organismes de soutien exécutif. Puisque le ministère de la Justice a le monopole des avis sur la Charte au sein de l'administration fédérale, les autorités politiques en ont fait une source-contrepoids en matière d'avis concemant la Charte pour contrebalancer les avis judiciaires, et ainsi le ministère de la Justice est entré au centre du gouvernement au Canada parce qu'il s'agit là d'un acteur important pour équilibrer le pouvoir judiciaire dans ce domaine. Deuxièmement, le ministère de la Justice est devenu un organisme de soutien du pouvoir exécutif parce qu'il assume de nouveaux rôles et responsabilités lui permettant de contrôler et de coordonner l'élaboration des politiques des autres ministères. Ceci résulte de l'activisme du fonctionnariat qui a deux formes distinctes, la forme réactive et la forme proactive, mais ce n'est que cette dernière qui a permis au ministère de la Justice de rejoindre le centre du gouvemement et d'agir en organisme de soutien de l'exécutif.