Political Marketing and Propaganda: Uses,Abuses, Misuses

Although previous issues of well-respected marketing journals (e.g., Revue Française du Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing) have focused on political marketing, and although there are now journals which regularly publish papers on political marketing including, of course, this one and the Journal of Public Affairs, none has focused exclusively on how the techniques developed for use in electoral and governmental campaigning, in lobbying and party fundraising campaigns, are now being used more generally in the military, in public diplomacy programs, and by companies, not-for-profit organizations, and even terrorist groups, with a focus on “winning hearts and minds.” The aim of this special issue is to seek to fill in this gap in our knowledge and encourage further research into the political marketing/propaganda interface. In this special issue, we seek to elucidate the meaning of propaganda and political marketing by exploring their parameters, both contemporary and traditional.     

MEASURING NEED IN THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE RESOURCE ALLOCATION FORMULA: STANDARDIZED MORTALITY RATIOS OR SOCIAL DEPRIVATION?

All methods of dividing public expenditure between competing claims become contentious, particularly when they rely on social indicators of need. The Resource Allocation Working Party (RAW) formula devised in 1976 for distributing National Health Service financial resources fairly between different parts of England relies on the size, age/sex structure and mortality rates (in the form of standardized mortality ratios – SMRS) of populations as combined surrogates for their need for health care. This paper aims to demonstrate three things: first, that RAW'S approach in selecting SMRS was sure-footed; second, that no better proxy of health care need which could be used in RAW has been produced since RAW; and third, that the continuing criticism of SMRS has been sustained by political pressures within the NHS. The result has been the application of ever more indirect and complex surrogates for'need in the resource allocation process which are known to be contaminated by the prevailing unequal supply of health service facilities.     

PRIVATISM AND PARTNERSHIP IN URBAN REGENERATION

In 1988, inner city policy took on a distinctly new style. The publication that year of the government brochure Action for Cities heralded the introduction of the 'enterprise culture' as the new instrument for the economic regeneration of the inner cities, the re-moralization into self-reliance of their inhabitants, and the defeat of welfare dependency. Simultaneously, the job of regeneration would be placed more firmly in the hands of Urban Development Corporations that would do the job that inefficient and ineffective local government had so signally failed to achieve. The dynamism of privatism would be harnessed by means of public subsidy to attract (or lever) private investment into the inner cities. The rationale or privatism as a means of abolishing urban deprivation however, rests on untested logic. At its simplest, new jobs would be created by inward investment, unemployment would fall, and there would be 'trickle-down' effects to those not in the labour force. There are other and more fundamental assumptions however, the contestable nature of which throws doubt on the possibility of the privatism strategy ever working. Principal among these are that there are discrete and insulated 'inner city economies' that can be regenerated; that it is even now possible to reverse history in the inner cities, and that to be of benefit to inner city residents, investment must be in the her cities themselves.     

CHINATOWN'S IMMIGRANT GANGS

The rise of Chinese youth gangs in urban centers in North America is a social phenomenon that has gained prominence in the past decade and a half. This study examines the characteristics and processes of four gangs operating in the Chinatown of Vancouver, Canada, over a three-year period (1975-1978). The gangs were composed entirely of teenaged immigrants recently arrived from Hong Kong who were engaged in a wide variety of antisocial and criminal behaviors. Three sociocultural antecendents are identified as important in the development of Chinese youth gangs: (1) the weakening among many Hong Kong immigrants of the traditional Chinese pattern of close parental guidance and supervision; (2) the resultant emergence of youth peer-groups who challenge parental authority and Chinese values; (3) the strong attraction of North American success symbols for gang members, and their perceived inability to achieve success through legitimate means because of difficulties in learning English.     

Exclusion or interests? Why females in elected office reduce petty and grand corruption

Disappointed by the numerous failures of anticorruption reforms, international organisations, scholars and policy makers increasingly place their hopes on measures aimed at enhancing gender equality and in particular increasing the inclusion of female representatives in elected assemblies. Yet most studies to date focus on aggregate measures of corruption and fail to explain why the correlation between women's representation and levels of corruption occurs. Using newly collected regional-level, non-perception-based measures of corruption, this study distinguishes between different forms of corruption and shows that the inclusion of women in local councils is strongly negatively associated with the prevalence of both petty and grand forms of corruption. However, the reduction in corruption is primarily experienced among women. This suggests that female representatives seek to further two separate political agendas once they attain public office: the improvement of public service delivery in sectors that tend to primarily benefit women; and the breakup of male-dominated collusive networks.     

Family Conferencing: A Success for Our Children

Model Courts, assisted by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, employ innovative best practices to better achieve permanency of children in the dependency system as required by the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). Family Group Decision‐Making Conferencing has been used in the Miami Model Court since 1998. The judge chooses cases at the initial detention hearing, and parents must agree to the procedure. A Department of Children and Families social worker facilitates a well‐planned meeting between parents and their families and friends where parents' case plans are developed for the court to approve. In an evaluation of 87 such conferences, the National Council determined that the process has assisted families in identifying strengths and resolving problems. Satisfaction rate of participants was high, and parents became highly motivated. Conferencing produced more timely case processing times and more stable placements. In addition, within Miami's multi‐ethnic and multi‐cultural community, the conferences developed good communication between the generally middle‐class court staff and the primarily poor, immigrant, and native‐born parents.