Business Representation in the UK Since 1979: the Case of Trade Associations

The article explores the impact of Conservative governments since 1979 on business representation. It concentrates on the trade association—the most common form of business organization in the UK but one which has been largely neglected in the discussion of business representation. The results of a major survey of trade associations conducted in 1994 are reported and their significance assessed in the light of three general propositions about the direction of business representation since 1979.     

One percent bikers clubs: A description

This paper, through an extensive literature review of biker websites, newspaper articles, popular books, the limited scholarly research, and court cases, as well as interviews and associations with law enforcement officers and 1% bikers, identifies and describes the major 1% biker clubs. The Big 5 clubs—Hell’s Angels, Bandidos, Outlaws, Pagans, and Sons of Silence— are discussed. Their history, number of chapters in the United States and overseas, and a “best guess estimate” of membership numbers are also provided. Similar information is provided on the major independent 1% biker clubs—Warlocks, Mongols and Iron Horsemen. There is also a brief discussion of the role of puppet (support) clubs and the four black or interracial 1% biker clubs. This research, describing the clubs, is the first step needed to stimulate research on this under researched topic.     

Complex Social Organization: Multiple Organizing Modes, Structural Incongruence, and Mechanisms of Integration

This article conceptualizes and analyses a type of complex social organization consisting of heterogeneous organizing modes and social relationships, combining, for instance, relationships making up markets and hierarchies as well as various types of informal networks. Each mode is constituted and regulated on the basis of a system of social rules making up a particular normative order and operates in terms of its own particular rationality or social logic. When modes are combined or integrated into multi-institutional complexes or organizations, the resultant structure entails zones of incongruence and tension at the junctures or interfaces of the different organizing modes and social relationships. The article identifies a number of such incongruent organizing modes that are common in complex social organizations or inter- institutional complexes. It goes on to identify several of the institutional strategies and arrangements including rituals, non-task-oriented discourses, and mediating roles that actors develop and institutionalize in dealing effectively with incongruences and potential conflicts in complex, heterogeneous organizations. The article suggests that problems of structural incongruence - and the tensions and conflicts that arise in connection with it as well as responses to these - are major features of complex organizational and inter-institutional arrangements. Moreover, it suggests that social order - the shaping of congruent, meaningful experiences - in these complex organizations as in most social life builds on non-rational foundations such as rituals and non-instrumental discourses. These contribute to maintaining social order and to providing a stable context, even for rational decision-making and action.     

Competing for father's love? The politics of central government agency termination in China

It is well known that public agencies are nearly immortal, but what explains their termination? This article argues that apart from conventional antecedents, political salience defined by top leaders largely shapes government agencies' life cycle. In one of the first large‐N analyses of agency termination in a non‐Western authoritarian regime, we used longitudinal data for the central apparatus in China from 1949 to 1976 to test this hypothesis. We specifically used Chairman Mao's written directives to measure political salience and found that agencies that received more directives were less likely to be terminated. In contrast, agencies less attended to the boss were less likely to survive major restructurings. We also found that peripheral agencies (e.g., smaller, lower‐ranking agencies with noncore functions) benefited more from leaders' attention. We compare the results with the existing literature and suggest some theoretical and policy implications.     

Offending the One Percent: Seven Arguments Against Distributive Desert

The belief that people morally deserve the income they acquire in the market is both powerful and deep-rooted. Nevertheless, most political philosophers are skeptical of the idea that market income is morally deserved. There is thus a large and uncomfortable chasm between the philosophical mainstream and the actual public. The purpose of this article was to inject new intellectual effort in closing this gap. The goal is the ambitious one of a comprehensive demolition of the notion of distributive desert. To this end, I put forward seven critical arguments. Four of them are common in the literature. Since these have been adequately discussed elsewhere, I mention them here briefly and only for completeness. The core of the article focuses on three original arguments. Overall, my aim is to show that, taking these arguments together, the case against distributive desert is conclusive.     

Human Rigghts: A Culture of Controversy

Many arguments in favour of constitutionally entrenched Bills of Rights are undermined by the inherently controversial nature of human rights with respect to their content, their form, and their valence. Even in the case of civil and political rights, the concretization of rights at the level of specificity required to decide particular cases must always be politically and morally controversial. There is no accepted moral or legal method that can be utilized to give the requisite objectivity to the value choices inherent in human rights jurisprudence. Positivization of human rights increases their utility but compromises their moral status. It follows that legitimate articulation of human rights requires ongoing democratic dialogue and decision-making. Although perceived as a stop-gap measure, the Human Rights Act 1998 could facilitate an enduring partnership between courts and parliaments, placing human rights more firmly on the political agenda and establishing a proper balance between the inputs of courts and parliaments which recognizes that the development of positivized human rights must be primarily located in electorally-based politics.     

Constitutional Rights in the Irish Home Rule Bill of 1893

In 1893, Prime Minister Gladstone introduced the second Irish home rule bill in parliament. The bill broke with tradition in Britain and the empire, as it included provisions from the bill of rights of the United States. Its significance was clear at the time: it was debated for nine days in the committee stage and, with one minor amendment, it remained part of the bill that passed the Commons. However, the bill was defeated in the Lords and, at least in the United Kingdom, bills of rights were dismissed as unnecessary or detrimental to sound governance until well after the second world war. This article therefore tries to understand how this early bill of rights was regarded at the time. Who suggested, or demanded, its inclusion? How did they expect it to be applied? And how did the debate reflect and influence thinking about constitutional law in Britain and the empire?