Mapping the Genome of American Political Subcultures: A Proposed Methodology and Pilot Study

The landmark work of Daniel Elazar spawned a generation of researchsuggesting that regional subcultures produce consequences forpolitical behavior, governance, and representation across theUnited States. However, little attention has been paid to directlymeasuring the degree to which citizens living in particularcommunities actually share particular value orientations thatdiffer markedly from those of citizens living in other communitiesand whether such differences are consistent with Elazar's theory.This article proposes a research program devoted to these questions,offers a methodology designed to address them, and describesa pilot study to that effect. Although Elazar's framework standsup to empirical scrutiny in some important respects, a thoroughreexamination is in order.     

The Relative Importance of Mothers’ and Youths’ Neighborhood Perceptions for Youth Alcohol Use and Delinquency

Prior studies have examined the influence of neighborhood perceptions on youth outcomes, but few studies have examined whose report of neighborhoods, parents’ or youths,’ are most important in predicting youth outcomes. This study addresses the relative associations of youths’ and mothers’ neighborhood perceptions with youth alcohol use and delinquency. The sample includes 499 mother-child dyads (youth age: 10 to 16 [mean=13.3; SD=2]). Structural equation modeling showed that youths’ perceived neighborhood problems were significantly associated with their delinquency but not their alcohol use. However, mothers’ perceived neighborhood problems were not related to either youth alcohol use or delinquency, suggesting that youths’ perceptions are better indicators of youth behavior. Youth reports may reflect their activities in the neighborhood and their exposure to different forms of deviance, so youths’ reports would be better indicators of exposure to neighborhood risk. Challenges for prevention are discussed. NIAAA Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate Research Scientist at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, and the Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Berkeley, CA. Her research interests include psychosocial and environmental factors influencing youth problem behaviors. Interests are interventions for children with substance use or externalizing problems and their families. She is currently conducting alcohol, drug and other risky behavior prevention studies that include a focus on young adults in club settings as well as a variety of different family-based studies in different geographic regions (San Francisco Bay Area, Alaska, Thailand). Her work integrates both quantitative and qualitative research methods and centers on alcohol and other drug use, and related health issues among adolescents and young adults. She is especially interested in applying theoretical models of socially learned behaviors to populations with different cultural and social backgrounds     

Policy Preferences and Political Distrust: A Comparison of Norway, Sweden and the United States

Many modern democracies have experienced a decrease in citizen support for government in recent decades. This article examines attitudes toward public policy as a plausible theoretical explanation for this phenomenon. The connection between public policy and support for the political regime has received considerable academic attention in the United States. Yet very little comparative work has examined whether citizens' policy preferences are related to a decline in diffuse support across different political systems. This article offers a clearer, more concise theoretical specification of the hypothesized relationship between public evaluations of policy outputs and support for the political regime. After specifying the theoretical concerns more succinctly, the article analyzes data from Norway, Sweden and the United States for the quarter century from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The analysis reveals that shifts in evaluations of foreign policy and race-related policies help explain change in political trust for all three countries despite differences in the political systems. Moral issues, such as abortion, however, have no impact on political trust in any of the countries.     

Central Banker Contracts, Incomplete Information, and Monetary Policy Surprises: In Search of a Selfish Central Banker?

Approaching monetary policy as a principal-agent problemprovides a useful framework for interpreting alternativedelegation schemes. In this paper, we consider theeffectiveness of central banker incentive schemes when theprincipal delegates monetary policy through contracts butremains uncertain about the central banker's responsiveness tosuch schemes. We adopt a simple principal-agent model andassume that the central banker's trade-off between socialwelfare and the incentive scheme is private information. Weconsider two types of central bankers; one who responds to theincentive scheme (``selfish'') and one who does not and onlycares about social welfare (``benevolent''). We demonstratethat when a benevolent central banker accepts a contractdesigned for a selfish central banker, positive inflationsurprises occur and output exceeds its natural rate. Wefurther show that a benevolent central banker with aninflation bias has an incentive to masquerade as selfish.Mechanisms exist that solve that problem by achievingpreference revelation. We consider a simple mechanism indominant strategies that induces the benevolent type eithernot to breach or not to accept the appointment (contract) inthe first place. This multi-period mechanism works with eitherinflation targets, or the appointment of a conservativecentral banker. Our results suggest that more complicatedincentive schemes, embedded within broader constitutionalarrangements, are required in the presence of privateinformation for them to work effectively.     

Importing and exporting gametes and embryos under the Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (Vic): an unconstitutional restraint on free trade?

Since the introduction of the Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (Vic), it has been illegal to import into or export from Victoria a gamete or embryo outside the human body without the approval of the Infertility Treatment Authority. But is s 56 unconstitutional and therefore invalid by reason of contravening the freedom of interstate trade guarantee by s 92 of the Commonwealth Constitution? By exploring the nature and effect of s 56 this article demonstrates that s 56 may impose a "discriminatory" and "protectionist" burden that renders s 56 invalid.     

Medical malpractice litigation: do the British have a better remedy?

Medical malpractice claims are filed nearly ten times more frequently in America than they are in Great Britain. British patients generally adopt a less adversarial stance toward medical malpractice than do American patients. This Article examines the British malpractice system, as compared with the American system, and explores the differences between the two, in terms of costs and fees, liability rules, statutory provisions, and judicial attitudes toward malpractice litigation. The Article also discusses British social and institutional factors, such as the "taint" of litigation and the National Health Service, and evaluates how these factors affect British malpractice litigation. The Article presents the alternative forums available to British patients in seeking satisfaction for their medical service complaints. The Article concludes with an evaluation of how these factors achieve the three societal objectives of malpractice litigation: reparation, emotional vindication and deterrence.     

Reviews

Gordon B. Smith, Soviet Politics: Continuity and Contradiction. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Education, 1988. xi + 388 pp. £30.00 h/b, £8.95 p/b.

Daniel Thorniley, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Rural Communist Party. 1927 39. London: Macmillan Press, 1988, xiii + 246 pp., £29.50.

Zenovia A. Sochor, Revolution and Culture: The Bogdanov‐Lenin Controversy, Cornell University Press, 1988, $32.95 ($29.95 USA and Canada.

Robert Edelman, Proletarian Peasants. The Revolution of 1905 in Russia's Southwest. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987, xv + 195 pp., no price.

Robert W. Thurston, Liberal City, Conservative State: Moscow and Russia's Urban Crisis, 1906 1914. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, viii + 266 pp., £27.50.

Douglas R. Weiner, Models of Nature: Ecology, Conservation, and Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1988, xiv + 312 pp., $35.00.

Werner G. Hahn, Democracy in a Communist Party: Poland's experience since 1980. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987, xxv + 368 pp., $42.00.

Jaroslav Bilocerkowycz, Soviet Ukrainian Dissent: a Study of Political Alienation. Boulder: Westview Press, 1988, xii + 242 pp., $27.50 p/b.

Petro R. Sodol, UPA: They fought Hitler and Stalin, New York: Committee for the World Convention and Reunion of Soldiers in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, 1987, 128 pp., $12.00.

Bruce McFarlane, Yugoslavia: Politics, Economics and Society. London and New York: Pinter Publishers, 1988, xxii + 240 pp., £25.00 h/b., £8.95 p/b.