The intellectual legacy of J.E. Hodgetts

Abstract: J.E. (Ted) Hodgetts was influenced by both the political economy approach that he learned at the University of Toronto and by the comprehensive historical method developed by Leonard White, under whom he studied at Chicago. His first great project, Pioneer Public Service, convinced him that responsible government was impossible without responsible public administration. The authors examine how his response to management theories and practices evolved following his participation in the Glassco, Lambert and Gomery commissions. Hodgetts consistently refused the complete separation of politics and administration, and he promoted the use of management techniques to strengthen parliamentary supervision of the public service. The two key components of his legacy are thus a commitment to the democratic values of representative government and the comprehensive study of the internal dynamics of public administration in interaction with the relevant environmental factors.     

The United Kingdom: Federalism in Denial?

In May 1999, the United Kingdom took an historic step towardbecoming a regionalized state with the creation of the NationalAssembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament. This articleoutlines the historical background and new government architectureof the UK. This new architecture must be understood within afederal model and as a possible step toward federalism, despiteofficial aversion to the term. Serious questions must be raisedabout whether the new intergovernmental mechanisms, such asthe Joint Ministerial Committee, will be effective, given thesevere asymmetries in the new system. Instead of a multilateralintergovernmental system, such as characterizes most federalsystems, three very different, bilateral intergovernmental arrangementsare developing between each territory and London.     

Correlation of surnames and Y-chromosome in Central-Brazil

In patrilineal societies, surnames and Y-specific haplotypes and haplogroups are expected to be correlated. This characteristic could help defining an initial pool of suspects in forensic genetics analysis. Here we evaluated this correlation in a sample of Central-Brazilian men. Surnames and Y-SNP haplogroup and Y-STR haplotype were analyzed in 55 pairs of Central-Brazilian men sharing surnames (n = 110). Seven haplogroups and thirty-two haplotypes have been observed, none correlated solely to any of the twenty-eight surnames represented here. In this sample, two men with the same surname showed a chance of 0.41 of sharing a Y-specific haplogroup. This chance is higher for surnames of intermediate frequencies, whereas rare surnames show distinct chances as zero and one. Observed results may be over-estimated due to a predominance of a specific haplogroup (P92R7 = 49%) in the sample, what makes it possible for two men with no coancestry to share this haplogroup. Considering STR, only three pairs of men shared haplotypes. The average difference between the haplotypes in each pair was 2.45 mutational steps. This relatively low correlation is due to some historical and cultural peculiarities of the country, what makes it improper for forensic purposes in Brazil.     

Methodological debate in poverty studies: towards ‘participatory qual–quant’?

Compared with the divisive views of the past, integrative thinking has recently come to characterise the methodological debate on poverty. ‘Qualitative vs quantitative’ has given way to ‘qual–quant’; ‘cross-disciplinarity’ has replaced ‘economics vs anthropology’. This article attempts to review this change. It begins with a historical overview of the pure economic approach to poverty and its critique. The critique, both from within economics and from the participatory and anthropological disciplines, is examined, and recent trends are considered. The current ‘qual–quant’ approach is illustrated with examples, and the author concludes that the future may well see the emergence of a ‘participatory qual–quant’ approach.