Changing biases in the operation of the UK's electoral system, 1950–97

The biased outcomes of recent British general elections, whereby the two main parties (Conservative and Labour) would have achieved different percentages of the seats in the House of Commons for the same percentages of the votes cast, are explored, using a method of bias decomposition developed by a New Zealand political scientist. Overall, the situation changed markedly between 1950 and 1997: the biases in the system strongly favoured the Conservatives in the 1950s and early 1960s, but Labour in 1992 and 1997. Examination of the seven components of the bias measure shows that most of these moved in Labour's favour over the 50-year period, with a major shift between 1992 and 1997 because of the greater geographical efficiency of the Labour party's vote at the latter date: reasons for this are suggested.     

Policing disorder: Calgary Transit peace officers and the Alberta law enforcement framework

An analysis of current trends suggests that the delivery of policing services in Canada is fundamentally shifting. In 2011, the Province of Alberta established the Law Enforcement Framework, which includes Calgary Transit peace officers who are responsible for the safety and security needs of transit customers and employees. This article examines the role of Calgary Transit peace officers and makes recommendations for their incorporation into a broader model of nodal governance in order to ensure that the Calgary Police Service maintains a legitimate, coordinating role for the provision of public safety in the City of Calgary.     

Taking Stock: An Analysis of Negotiation Pedagogy across Four Professional Fields

This essay analyzes the results of an informal, though extensive, interview-based survey of how negotiation is taught in four distinct fields — law, business, public policy and planning, and international relations. Beyond their similarities, the author points out key underlying differences among the four areas; suggests ways in which insights might be transferred from one context to another; and speculates on some ideas that lie on the horizon for negotiation courses in the decade ahead.     

China's troubled culture

Abstract

China has spent the twentieth century at repeated efforts, in Ezra Pound's phrase, to “make it new.” But it has repeatedly fallen back on tightly controlled political power and organization as the only means it knows—in the process always discouraging individual initiative and forestalling free expression of ideas, qualities perceived by those in power as twin threats to the order of the state. The use of military force against Chinese citizens on 4 June 1989 is only the most recent example that China has seldom allowed itself to experience the creative chaos that might arise from a true “hundred flowers” era, a protected arena of competing voices. This, at least, is the theme that tugs at the cuff of each of the books grouped here—two cultural studies, three memoirs, and a manifesto.     

Utilising an Ubuntu-Centred Communication Management Framework to Analyse CSR Messages on SNSS

ABSTRACT

This article is the result of qualitative research conducted on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication disseminated by two financial institutions, FNB and Capitec, on their social networking sites (SNSs). The research employed a phenomenological research paradigm to explore the interactions between the financial institutions and their stakeholders on Facebook and Twitter. Collected data were analysed by means of interpretative discourse analysis as well as two computer-aided qualitative data analysis software programmes, Leximancer and Centim. The authors categorised the financial institutions’ CSR communication in themes and coded it according to a newly formulated theoretical framework of Ubuntu-centred communication practices on SNSs. It was found that FNB's CSR communication was based on Ubuntu values whereas Capitec's CSR communication did not exhibit key characteristics, such as the inclusion of narratives and archetypes, sound conflict resolution strategies, and the presentation of mutually beneficial solutions to societal issues. Based on the findings, it is proposed that organisation-stakeholder interactions can be facilitated when organisations disseminate CSR messages and constructively engage with stakeholders on SNSs. Moreover, culturally-specific communication management strategies, such as Ubuntu-centred communication, should be infused in holistic communication models to foster participatory online communities which are characterised by dialogue, mutual trust and reciprocity.     

Sexually abusive behaviour in juveniles: Deviant and non-deviant pathways

Abstract

In this paper a theoretical framework is presented in an attempt to find an answer to the question of why some juveniles display sexually abusive behaviour and others do not. Until recently, this question has been approached mainly in terms of the presence of psychiatric illness, deviant sexual interests and/or impaired psychosocial development. Empirical research has as yet generally failed to demonstrate this approach to be adequate. It is estimated that only about 40% of juvenile sex offenders appear to show some kind of psychological or developmental deviance. The theoretical framework that is presented here approaches sexual abuse committed by juveniles in terms of normal developmental processes, next to deviant processes. It describes this behaviour, and its presence or absence, as a result of the interaction of biological, psychological and situational factors.     

Choice in a World of New School Types

As school choice options have evolved over recent years, it is important to understand what family and school factors are associated with the enrollment decisions families make. Use of restricted‐access data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study allowed us to identify household location from a nationally representative sample of students and to match households to the actual schools attended and other nearby schools. This matching is significant as previous research generally has not been able to link individual households to school enrollment decisions. Using these data, we examined the role that socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity play in school enrollment decisions. One of our more interesting results suggests that the newest public alternative, charter schools, attracts families with higher socioeconomic status than those that traditional public schools attract. The attraction of charter schools, however, unlike traditional public schools, appears to be racially and ethnically neutral. Families do not choose a charter school because of its racial or ethnic composition, nor do race and ethnicity within a household influence its choice of charter schools. Other socioeconomic factors influencing charter school choice are more similar to factors explaining private school choice than to those factors explaining the choice of traditional public schools. The findings suggest that policies governing the design of charter schools should focus on broader socioeconomic diversity rather than race only.     

The mutuality of risk and community: the adjudication of community notification statutes

Although it has drawn significant attention in the legal literature, the adjudication of community notification statutes (often referred to as 'Megan's Law' in the United States) demonstrates a centrality of both risk and community that deserves attention from a governance perspective. In this paper, I focus on the ways in which concepts of risk and community are mutually constitutive, and how the adjudication of community notification statutes relies on particular visions of 'community' to engage particular ways of conceiving of 'risk', much of which relies on a rejection of expertise and a focus on 'common sense'. This focus on 'common sense', opens up new problematics of government: courts adjudicating community notification cases are working to define the particular mechanics of a state-civil society partnership, and thereby operationalize the preventive state without rendering the state redundant or obsolete, and without opening the state to new forms of legal and political accountability. While providing a case study in the move to advanced liberal governance in the area of criminal law, this adjudication also reveals the contingent nature of risk, and the ways in which judicial invocation of 'risk' and its management can constitute liberal subjects who continue to rely on the state, while no longer expecting the state to be accountable for crime or its control.