Exploring USAID's democracy promotion in Bosnia and Afghanistan: a ‘cookie-cutter approach’?

US democracy promotion is integral to the pursuit of the grand project of the American Mission. By promoting democracy America makes its role one of international engagement as opposed to one of isolation. The first part of this paper examines the political and cultural aspects of US democracy promotion in the post-Cold War era through the bi-polar framework of the case-specific versus one-size-fits-all. To better understand USAID's democracy promotion policy, the second part takes this framework and applies it to its political reform strategy in Bosnia under the Clinton administration from 1995 to 2000 and Afghanistan under the Bush administration from 2001 to 2008. This paper confirms that America's democracy promotion simultaneously employed both the case-specific and one-size-fits-all approaches. USAID programmes and projects did at times respond to local conditions but nevertheless appear to employ a blueprint design.     

Voting Attitudes and Behaviour Among Aboriginal Peoples: Reports from Anangu Women*

At state and particularly in federal (or national) elections, Aboriginal Peoples in remote regions turn out to vote in low numbers. A number of hypotheses have been offered to explain the low voting participation of such constituencies. Some have asserted that Aboriginal Peoples do not wish to vote; others have suggested that “first order” elections have low salience for Aboriginal Peoples, thereby depressing turnout. The low political efficacy thesis has also been proposed, as well as cultural and mechanical factors. We consider whether any of these hypotheses are plausible using data obtained in group interviews with twenty‐nine Anangu Women in remote South Australia. On the basis of this fieldwork we consider means for stimulating turnout within this, and in similar, constituencies.     

The role of confirmation bias in suspect interviews: A systematic evaluation

Purpose. The three studies presented in this paper systematically examined the effect of expectations of guilt on interviewer questioning style, confession, denial rates, and suspects' verbal behaviour during interview. Method. Undergraduate students were recruited to participate in the three studies. In Study 1, 61 participants formulated questions that they wanted to ask a suspect to determine whether or not they cheated on a task. Prior to formulating their questions, participants were led to believe that the suspect was likely to be guilty or innocent. In Study 2, 45 ‘innocent’ and ‘guilty’ participants were accused of cheating on a task and were interviewed with either guilt‐presumptive questions or neutral questions. In the final study, 58 participants listened to a selection of audiotaped interviews from Study 2. They then rated various aspects of the suspects' verbal behaviour. Results. As hypothesized expectations of guilt resulted in the formulation of more guilt‐presumptive questions even when participants were free to generate their own questions (Study 1). A significant association was found between suspect guilt/innocence and whether they confessed or denied, although there was no association between questioning style and confession or denial rates (Study 2). However, as expected, ratings of independent observers who listened to tape recordings of the suspect interviews indicated an influence of questioning style on the suspects' verbal behaviour whereby a self‐fulfilling prophecy effect occurred (Study 3). Conclusions. These results indicate that expectations of guilt can indeed have an effect on questioning style and that this in‐turn can lead to a self‐fulfilling prophecy effect.     

The Ombudsman Revisited: Thirty Years of Hawaiian Experience

This article examines the classical, or real, ombudsman. Unlike quasi ombudsmen, which are bureaucratic control mechanisms subject to executive leaders or agency administrators, real ombudsmen are operationally independent officials of the legislative branch. In 1969, the state of Hawaii was the first to create a real ombudsman. Although Iowa, Nebraska, Alaska, and Arizona have since followed Hawaii's lead, no intensive, long-term study of American ombudsmen has yet been published. This article examines the ombudsman as a monitor of Hawaii's bureaucracies and considers the extent to which the office has become institutionalized over the past 30 years. Nearly 75,000 citizens have had their complaints investigated by the ombudsman, and more than one-fifth of them were rectified, that is, the agency reversed its original action. This study indicates that the classical ombudsman can become institutionalized in the United States. The findings have policy implications as jurisdictions at the federal, state, and local levels consider the creation of ombudsmen or quasi ombudsmen.     

Rapid Quantitative Analysis of Multiple Explosive Compound Classes on a Single Instrument via Flow‐Injection Analysis Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A flow‐injection analysis tandem mass spectrometry (FIA MSMS) method was developed for rapid quantitative analysis of 10 different inorganic and organic explosives. Performance is optimized by tailoring the ionization method (APCI/ESI), de‐clustering potentials, and collision energies for each specific analyte. In doing so, a single instrument can be used to detect urea nitrate, potassium chlorate, 2,4,6‐trinitrotoluene, 2,4,6‐trinitrophenylmethylnitramine, triacetone triperoxide, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, 1,3,5‐trinitroperhydro‐1,3,5‐triazine, nitroglycerin, and octohy‐dro‐1,3,5,7‐tetranitro‐1,3,5,7‐tetrazocine with sensitivities all in the picogram per milliliter range. In conclusion, FIA APCI/ESI MSMS is a fast (<1 min/sample), sensitive (~pg/mL LOQ), and precise (intraday RSD < 10%) method for trace explosive detection that can play an important role in criminal and attributional forensics, counterterrorism, and environmental protection areas, and has the potential to augment or replace several of the existing explosive detection methods.