Hemp for Sovereignty: Scale,Territory and the Struggle for Native American sovereignty

This paper considers the question of sovereignty in the context of Native American struggles within the US. In this case, residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation sought political and economic autonomy by growing industrial hemp on the reservation. Their efforts illustrate the importance of geographical scale, territoriality and legal geographies in defining both the question of sovereignty and political struggle in the context of Native American political life, as their activities constitute a larger social movement.     

American Indian religion in the iron house: searching for ‘some accommodation’

Religious freedom claims by American Indian prisoners are disfavored in law and policy more than most prisoner civil rights claims. This disfavor reflects the continuing influence of the cultural distance between traditional Indians and Christianity – a distance with an unfortunate history from the Indian point of view. The salutary effects of Christian religion within prisons have been assumed for as long as prisons have existed; this assumption is based upon scant evidence. Treating Indian religious expression as inferior to Christian religious expression within prisons is often allowed by law, but it is insupportable in policy without reference to the historical power relationship between Indians and the dominant culture. Indian spirituality, like Christianity, can engage prisoners in the moral discourse demanded by the tenets of restorative justice. Accommodation of Indian spirituality is as much in the public interest as accommodation of religion within prisons at all.     

Ten years of infitah: class,rent, and policy stasis in Egypt

The Political Economy of Income Distribution in Egypt. Edited by Gouda Abdel‐Khalek and Robert Tignor. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982. $55. ISBN 0 8419 0633 5.

Employment Opportunities and Equity in Egypt: A Labour Market Approach. By Bent Hansen and Samir Radwan. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1982. $25.65 and $19.95. ISBN 92 2 102995 6 and 102996 4.

Egypt: Politics and Society, 1945–1981. By Derek Hopwood. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982. £12.50. ISBN 0 04 956011 5.

An Economic History of the Middle East and North Africa. By Charles Issawi. London: Methuen, 1982. £12.50. ISBN 0 416 34330 9.

Population and Development in Rural Egypt. By Allen C. Kelley, Atef M. Khalifa, and M. Nabil El‐Khorazaty. Durham, NC: Duke Press Policy Studies, 1982. $22.75. ISBN 0 8223 0475 9.     

Editorial: Evaluating the Local Government Modernisation Agenda: Impacts,Obstacles and Outcomes

The Appointed State: Quasi‐Governmental Organizations and Democracy. By Chris Skelcher. Open University Press, 1998. Pp.205. £55 hb; £19.99 pb.

Trust and Contracts: Relationships in Local Government, Health and Public Services. Edited by Andrew Coulson. Policy Press, 1998, Pp.309. £16.99 pb.

Ethical Management for the Public Services. By Alan Lawton. Managing the Public Services Series, Open University Press, 1998. £50 hb; £16.99 pb.

The Ethics Edge. Edited by Evan M. Benman, Jonathan P. West and Stephen J. Bonczek. International City/County Management Association, 1998. Pp.346. $23.95.

The Anonymous Leader: Appointed CEOs in Western Local Government. Edited by Kurt Klaudi Klausen and Annick Magnier. Odense University Press, 1998. 3,000 DKK.

Local Councils’ Use of Section 137: A Financial Review of Parish and Town Councils in England and their discretion to spend under Section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972. By Sheila Ellwood, Mike Tricker and Julie Green. Detr, Oct. 1998. Pp.86. £11.

Whitewash: Racialized Politics and the Media. By John Gabriel. Routledge, 1998. Pp.219. £14.99 pb.

The Chief Constables of England and Wales. The Sociolegal History of a Criminal Justice Elite. By David S. Wall. Ashgate, Dartmouth, 1998. Pp.341. £37.50 hb.

Private Security and Public Policing. By Trevor Jones and Tim Newburn. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Pp.288. £40 hb.

Equality in Managing Service Delivery. By Rohan Collier. Open University Press, 1998. Pp.159. £50 hb; £16.99 pb.

Sociable Cities: The Legacy of Ebenezer Howard. By Peter Hall and Colin Ward. Wiley, 1998. Pp.229. £45 hb; £15.99 pb.

Transport Networks in Europe — Concepts, Analysis and Policies. Edited by Kenneth Button, Peter Nijkamp and Hugo Priemus. Edward Elgar. Pp.362 (many taken up by (obscure) diagrams and by referencss and other notes). £59.95 hb.

The New Regionalism in Western Europe, Territorial Restructuring and Political Change. By Michael Keating. Edward Elgar, 1998. Pp.242 + xi. £49.95 hb.

Remaking the Union: Devolution and British Politics in the 1990s, edited by Howard Elcock and Michael Keating. Frank Cass, 1998. Pp.216. £32.50 hb; £16.50 pb.     

The Audit Commission's View of Politics: A Critical Evaluation of the CPA Process

The Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) process introduced in the wake of the Local Government Act 2000 was in essence a managerial tool applied to a political environment. An analysis of the Commission's first tranche of CPA reports reveals a particular perspective on the role of politics and parties in local authorities which raises issues about the Commission's competence and legitimacy to make such judgements. Composite pictures of the ‘good political authority’ and the ‘poor political authority’ can be drawn up, which display a degree of political naivety and a failure to recognise the differences between political and managerial logic. It is concluded that the CPA process should have taken the political culture of an authority as a ‘given’ (at least in the short term), and evaluated the performance of the authority's management in the political circumstances in which they had to operate. Finally the role of the CPA process in contributing to the government-led pressures for depoliticisation of local decision-making is examined, with a particular concern about the substitution of the concept of ‘the good of the area’ for the different priorities and visions of different parties.     

EU–Russia Security Relations and the Survey of Russian Federation Foreign Policy: One Year On

Abstract

The Kremlin's change of leadership on 7 May 2008 and growing international fears of Russia's resurgence, especially in the aftermath of the Georgian conflict, make this an interesting time to reflect upon EU–Russia security relations. This article does so by examining closely the Survey of Russian Federation Foreign Policy and, one year on from its approval, drawing upon subsequent developments as preliminary corollary or otherwise of its bearing on policy. On balance, it seems that the Kremlin's evolving perception of Russia and international relations has encouraged revised priorities and objectives and a more forceful foreign policy that not only slow progress in filling the Common Spaces, but also increase the likelihood of Russia–EU competition especially in their shared neighbourhood.     

The public service ethos and the role of the British civil service

The last Conservative administration invested much time and effort in reforming the structure and organisation of the Civil Service. Yet it left untouched the core principles which underpinned Whitehall, often referred to as the public service ethos. In this article, we argue that this ethos has been defended by both conservative and liberal opinion as something fundamentally good. Yet, in reality, the public service ethos is a power/knowledge system which legitimises the rule of a particular elite by presenting public service as a worthy occupation and, thereby, authorising a system of power which is relatively closed and secretive. This accounts for why it has been in the interests of both the last Conservative administration and the present Labour government to ensure the ethos remains intact.     

France's last sociologist

Abstract

The publication of Michael Grenfell's Pierre Bourdieu: Agent Provocateur provides an ideal opportunity for a career retrospective of the academic sociologist who, in recent times, has taken most seriously his role as a public intellectual, indeed, one who gradually warmed to the status of ‘universal intellectual’ with increasing postmodernist disapproval. The French context of Bourdieu's development and reception is highlighted.     

Lobbying in the 21st century

This paper suggests that the nature of activism is changing to take account of the shifts in political and economic conditions. It further goes on to consider that as a result of these emerging trends we have witnessed a generational shift in how governments, businesses, interest groups and citizens will interact. It is possible to place the issues and questions that this new environment raises under a number of broad headings—Democracy and Dissent, Government and Parliament, Media, and Lobbying –each of which the paper deals with in turn. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.