Organized crime in Ukraine: Challenge and response

Organized crime in Ukraine has helped to derail the transition to a democratic polity and a free market economy, has generated considerable violence and corruption, and has contributed significantly to the development of a climate that does little to encourage foreign direct investment. Consequently this article explains why Ukraine, along with other states of the Former Soviet Union, developed a major organized crime problem during the 1990s. Having done this, it delineates some of the major contours of organized crime in Ukraine, identifying the major participants in organized crime, the variations in the phenomenon in different cities and regions, and the major activities of organized crime. The article also examines the kinds of initiatives that have been taken by the government of Ukraine in its efforts to combat organized crime, before suggesting some areas in which these efforts could be significantly improved.     

The evolution of a campaign: tracking press coverage and party press releases through the 2001 UK General Election

• This paper builds upon a content analysis of all news articles that appeared in six national daily newspapers and of all national press releases issued by the three main political parties during the UK General Election 2001 campaign. The results were compared with data from two opinion polls conducted at the start and at the end of the campaign. Here, using the same basic data, we track the coverage of issues in party press releases and daily newspapers on a weekly basis to determine how the parties' priorities and press coverage evolved.
• The results show that the Labour and Liberal Democrat campaign strategies, in terms of relative issue priorities, did not change during the campaign. However, the Conservatives shifted their attention to the public priorities of Health and Education towards the end of the campaign. There is evidence that the Conservative emphasis on Europe and taxation earlier in the campaign may have influenced the volume of press coverage but did not appear to have affected relative party standings. The implications of these results for political marketers are considered.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job stress in police work: An exploratory analysis into structural causes

Police stress has received intermittent coverage in the literature for the last decade, and it remains a constant source of discussion today. One of the reoccurring problems with stress studies is that they attempt to examine the phenomenon globally. This almost always leads to generalized findings which may be representative of the overall problem, but certainly fail to adequately micro-examine the intracies of the issue. This article examines perceptions of stress relative to the demographic and assignment characteristics of police officers in a medium sized city. It identifies three specific patterns and suggests directions for additional research.     

The effect of police-probation partnerships on juvenile arrests

San Bernardino’s Operation Nightlight Program paired police officers with probation officers to conduct enhanced supervision of juvenile probationers. The authors conducted an interrupted time series analysis of juvenile arrests in San Bernardino and surrounding cities before and after the implementation of Nightlight. They also explored displacement and diffusion effects using Bowers and Johnson’s (2003) weighted displacement quotient. Results showed (1) city-wide reductions in assault, burglary, and theft arrests; and (2) that burglary reductions in San Bernardino may have been offset by increases in contiguous cities.     

Isolation,identity and Taiwanese stamps as vehicles for regime legitimation

Postage stamps issued by the government of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan provide a useful tool for considering changing elite aspirations and political objectives. Stamps issued on Taiwan while under authoritarian rule frequently sought to demonstrate or bolster the legitimacy of the ruling KMT, typically through demonstrating the ROC's status in international society or through portraying the economic and developmental success of the KMT regime. The on-going democratic transition on Taiwan has seen a move away from stamps as mechanisms for domestic regime legitimation. Since the election of President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party in 2000 stamps have increasingly become a medium for promoting the idea of a ‘Taiwanese’ identity distinct from that of ‘China’.     

Toward reorganization of government services: An analysis of the police role

The lack of consensus regarding the overall role of police in society creates numerous operational and management problems. This article examines the police role from theoretical and applied standpoints in an effort to determine consensus areas. It is postulated that role diffusion has created problems affecting police productivity. Finally, other peripheral government agencies are examined along these same lines and suggestions for the reorganization of public service agencies are proposed in an effort to increase overall government productivity.