THE DYNAMICS OF POLICY CHANGE: WBBYING AND WATER PRIVATIZATION

The privatization of the water industry was one of the most controversial and turbulent privatizations of the 1980s. The government undertook the project somewhat reluctantly, then the first plans had to be withdrawn, but eventually, the privatization of the industry was successfully completed in 1989. In this article, we first set out to provide a thorough account of the process of privatizing water, based on primary sources and exhaustive interviews. In doing so, we identity some major problems of established theories of British policy making: the process of water privatization clearly does not conform to any single model of policy making. Instead, individual 'episodes' of the policy process conform to different models. Arguing that existing theories of British policy making may have focused too narrowly on routine decision-making processes, we propose that a theory of the transformation of policy communities is required to understand the dynamics of radical policy change in Britain.     

IN THEIR OWN VOICES: WOMEN COUNCILLORS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Based largely on in-depth interviews with the majority of women local councillors in Northern Ireland, this article addresses two substantive issues: the reasons for the numerical underrepresentation of women and the issue of gender difference. The authors illustrate and explore these questions within the context of both the councillors' own responses and that supplied by a concurrent survey of the general population. While the councillors and the general population favour the increased representation of women in public office, evidence of a gender cleavage - while present - is perceived to be more potential than actual, given the dominance of the mutually reinforcing cleavages of nationality and religion.
This research was financed primarily by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation and secondarily by one from the Lockheed Foundation, administered by Queen's University, Belfast. The results cited from the wider probability survey are derived from an ESRC-funded project ('The Political Participation, Interests and Attitudes of Women in Northern Ireland' - R0O0 23 2726) currently being undertaken by the authors.
The authors benefitted from the comments of members of the 'Gender and Power' workshop at the 1992 session of the European Consortium for Political Research held at the University of herick, at which an earlier version of the paper was first presented, and from the comments of two referees.     

A REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF HOMICIDE RATES IN THE UNITED STATES

Variations in regional homicide rates are examined in order to determine whether or not these areas are homogeneous An analysis of varbnce repeatedly isolates southern regions as having pronounced homicide rates. Intraregional varintions are noted. They indicate a need for a revision of Gastil's “Index of Southernness.” Finally, varktions are interpreted within a subcultural context.     

Determinants of Pay‐as‐You‐Go Financing of Capital Projects: Evidence from the States

Although states have long practiced pay‐as‐you‐go in financing their capital projects as a supplement to debt, academia has paid scarce attention to pay‐go financing. This study fills in the niche by providing empirical evidence on what determines the use of pay‐go in financing capital projects. It develops a model that considers the preferences of both voters and politicians when they make capital financing decisions in a given institutional setting. The empirical results suggest that the use of pay‐go is affected by a state's income level, its economic conditions, the presence of a divided government, as well as its budgetary institutions.