Challenges of (Dis) Connectedness in the "Big Questions" Methodologies in Public Administration

The "big questions" articles previously published in Public Administration Review found a widely divergent set of questions rather than a shared research agenda. This article applies the concept of layers of society to analyzing the author's starting points and developing questions that link the organizational and institutional levels. Connecting these levels offers the potential to overcome the limitations of problem solving on only one level. In addition, this framework explains the diversity of research in public administration as potentially productive and connected, rather than fragmented and in intellectual disarray. This article offers four researchable questions that connect the organizational and institutional levels. The proposed questions build on existing research and address practical problems in public administration. This framework provides a typology that expects diverse research questions and can productively connect researchers with each other and with the complex challenges of democracy.     

China and the Globalisation of IR Theory: Discussion of 'Building International Relations Theory with Chinese Characteristics'

This essay examines current developments in International Relations theory in China. First it comments on Song Xinning's essay, agreeing that IR theory in China is limited by ideology, the dominance of policy-oriented research, and the state. But rather than seeing culture ('IR theory with Chinese characteristics') as a problem that can be solved by a more scientific approach to IR theory, the essay argues that the scientism of realism and IPE has similar problems. Thus the essay switches from the universals of science to the contingency of interpretation to understand global politics, drawing on recent books which combine IPE with historical and cultural studies. The concept of sovereignty is deconstructed to show how it is not universal, but is bound up in knowledge practices in both the West and China. The essay concludes by suggesting that we broaden both the concepts and the resources of IR research to consider the transnational economic‐cultural relations of Greater China. In this way China can be part of the globalization of IR theory, for such concepts exemplify current theoretical debates about the meaning of globalization. This approach moves from territorial notions of sovereignty where power is based on an expansion of economic and political relations—which reify borders—to popular notions of sovereignty where power is measured by movements of people across borders in a qualitative struggle of cultures and knowledge.     

Serving those Who Served: Outcomes from the San Diego Veterans Treatment Review Calendar (SDVTRC) Pilot Program

Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs) are a type of specialty treatment, problem-solving, criminal court. Though the number of VTCs has increased over the past decade, few research studies have examined their effectiveness. This paper examines the data collected concerning a particular VTC experience, the first 82 Veterans enrolled in the Veterans Treatment Review Calendar Pilot Program conducted by the California Superior Court of the county of San Diego from February 2011 until July 2014 (SDVTRC.) The evidence presented herein concerns the nature of this cohort’s population, the SDVTRC program structure in which these Veterans participated, and the outcomes of participation. SDVTRC participants showed a significant decrease in symptoms on 11 of 12 clinical measures from baseline to 12 months. Particular outcomes of the SDVTRC program were related to factors of military service, such as length of service, number of awards, and discharge status. There were also significant relationships between symptom decrease and court process factors, such as length of time in program and sanctions imparted. This court has a 0% recidivism rate, which is believed to be related to its systematic data collection process that was used to inform individualized treatment plans for participants. Implications for other VTCs are provided.     

Mapping Religious Change in Latin America

Using Latinobarometer survey data, we study the evolution of religious identities among the adult populations of 17 Latin American countries between 1996 and 2013. We find several interesting patterns. First, the current religious landscape is highly dynamic and is becoming increasingly pluralist among a majority of countries. Changes derive not only from the growth of Evangelicals, as commonly assumed, but also from the sharp rise in irreligious individuals. Second, religious change cannot be convincingly explained by important theories such as secularization, religious economies, and anomie. However, the predictions derived from anomie theory seem more useful for understanding Evangelical growth. Finally, our cohort analysis indicates that aggregate religious change largely results from individual‐level change across time—religious conversion and apostasy—rather than from generational replacement. Still, there are interesting variations across countries in that respect.     

Fatal and Nonfatal Rip Saw Injuries

This paper deals with a fatal stab wound suffered by a 29-year-old man and nonfatal injuries of 35-year-old and 67-year-old saw operators. Rip saw is a machine that is specially designed for making a rip cut, a cut made parallel to the direction of the wood grain. Rip-saw-related injuries mostly occur when a person is struck by the cutting material, which usually involves splinters of irregular shape and diameter. When the splinter strikes the body diagonally, the injuries may include abrasions, lacerations, and cut wounds; in situations where the victim is struck directly, the most common injuries are oval- or star-shaped stab wounds with a varying width of abrasions around the wounds. Therefore, such injuries may come across as injuries produced by a knife-like instrument, which is an added difficulty in the interpretation of such injuries.