Mobilizing Law in Latin America: An Evaluation of Black's Theory in Brazil

This research addresses two separate but related questions. First, to what extent are sociological theories proposed to explain legal behavior in Western societies applicable to non‐Western contexts? And second, to what degree is Black's theory of law generalizable, as he contends, “across time and space?” Our research merges these questions by exploring the applicability of Black's theory in a Latin American context. Data collected from a nationally representative survey in Brazil suggest support for Black's propositions regarding the impact of vertical, horizontal, cultural, and normative status on the likelihood of mobilizing the law, as well as the feasibility of using his framework for understanding legal behavior in non‐Western settings. Our discussion considers implications and directions for future analyses in both the Brazilian and cross‐cultural contexts.     

Recent research: The micro-politics of deliberation: Case studies in public participation

The contemporary emphasis on public participation in policy making derives both from concerns to increase the legitimacy of public decision making and to develop more dialogic forms of governance, and from more 'bottom-up' action intended to ensure that the voices of those excluded from policy making are heard. This has resulted in diverse forms of participative practice, including forums in which social movement organizations meet officials, and forums initiated by officials to which 'the public' are invited. This article examines four case studies of participation, studied as part of research conducted in the ESRC Democracy and Participation programme. It focuses on a micro-level analysis of the dynamics of exchanges within such forums to question the capacity of such forums to generate alternative discourses within which policy problems can be defined and addressed.     

THE EVOLUTION OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM IN ROMANIA

Before the adoption of the Constitution, the whole administration was a unidirectional and hyper-centralized State administration, now we see the prospect of delimiting the functional aspect of the administration of the state administration from one of local communities, to transform public administration at all levels in public services constituted in the interest of the population, being in the public interest the establishment of local government autonomy, characterized by the existence of public authorities arising from the will of local communities, to act in order to satisfy their needs, while fulfilling the duties established by law.     

Defending "The Purity of Home Life" Against Socialism: The Founding Years of the Australian Women's National League

The paradigm of maternal citizenship has been variously understood by historians as enabling and restrictive of women's action in the public sphere. This paper considers the use to which the maternal paradigm was put by the founders of the Australian Women's National League, focussing in particular upon their campaign to link the Labor party with socialism and "free love". It observes the ease with which the ideal of the maternal citizen — central to the liberal feminism of the day — could be turned to the conservative class interests of elite women.     

Models of Political Accountability and Concepts of Australian Government

Models of political accountability are drawn from views about the nature of government. Too often, however, these views are flawed and/or not made explicit. In particular, the traditional model of government accountability - which will be outlined below - misunderstands the British 'parent' system of responsible government. One immediate task for those interested in accountability is to map the basic features of the Australian system (best understood as 'executive federalism') in order to provide foundations for new accountability models. As well as delaying the map drawing task, the dominance of the traditional account has also 'crowded out' other concepts of accountability. The 'efficiency' and 'democracy' approaches will be discussed below as basically complementary addition to the current Australian debate over accountability. It is thus argued here that a more eclectic approach drawing from diverse but longstanding strands in the public administration tradition can not only enrich the debate but also help to throw light on new public policy developments such as contracting out.     

Reform and Proposed Reform of Hearsay Law in Australla,New Zealand,Hong Kong,and Canada——with Special Regard to Prior Inconsistent Statements

A.Introduction During the past twenty years,most common-law jurisdictions have attempted to reform their law of criminal