Sex-Selective Abortion: A Matter of Choice

This paper argues that, if we are committed to a Pro-choice stance with regard to selective abortion for disability, we will be unable to justify the prohibition of sex-selective abortion (SSA), for two reasons. First, familiar Pro-choice arguments in favour of a woman’s right to select against fetal impairment also support, by parity of reasoning, a right to choose SSA. Second, rejection of the criticisms of selective abortion for disability levelled by disability theorists also disposes, by implication, of the key objections to SSA, as developed, most notably, by feminists. The paper, then, consists of a conditional defence of SSA, under which SSA should be available, and protected by a right, if selective abortion for disability is. Opponents of SSA might respond by conceding additional restrictions on selection against disabled fetuses. It should become clear throughout the paper, however, that any such new restrictions would be unacceptably onerous for women.     

Ulysses Contracts in Medicine

Ulysses contracts are a method by which one person binds himself by agreeing to be bound by others. In medicine such contracts have primarily been discussed as ways of treating people with episodic mental illnesses, where the features of the illness are such that they now judge that they will refuse treatment at the time it is needed. Enforcing Ulysses contracts in these circumstances would require medical professionals to override the express refusal of the patient at the time treatment is required, something that is generally problematic both ethically and legally. In this paper I will argue that despite appearances Ulysses contracts can make it the case that treating a patient in such circumstances is an instance of treating him with his consent, although safeguards are needed to ensure that this is the case. Given the potential benefits to patients I further argue that modified Ulysses contracts should be made legally enforceable.     

Living in the Past? Change and Continuity in the Norwegian Central Civil Service

In this article, the authors describe the changes that have taken place in the Norwegian civil service over the past 30 years, focusing on demographic changes in education and gender and on changes in civil servants' tasks, attitudes, and contact patterns. The changes are analyzed using tenure, structural, and demographic perspectives. The unique empirical database is provided by surveys conducted every 10 years of civil servants in the ministries since 1976. The main empirical findings are that there has been a combination of robustness and change. The findings show little support for the generational version of a tenure perspective, meaning that civil servants are not living in the past. The structural perspective, illustrated by the importance of formal position, best explains the variations in civil servants' contact patterns and attitudes, followed by the career version of a tenure perspective. Demography, as represented by different educational backgrounds and gender, also has an effect.     

Legitimacy and Deterrence Effects in Counterterrorism Policing: A Study of Muslim Americans

This study considers the circumstances under which members of the Muslim American community voluntarily cooperate with police efforts to combat terrorism. Cooperation is defined to include both a general receptivity toward helping the police in antiterror work and the specific willingness to alert police to terror‐related risks in a community. We compare two perspectives on why people cooperate with law enforcement, both developed with reference to general policing, in the context of antiterror policing and specifically among members of the Muslim American community. The first is instrumental. It suggests that people cooperate because they see tangible benefits that outweigh any costs. The second perspective is normative. It posits that people respond to their belief that police are a legitimate authority. On this view we link legitimacy to the fairness and procedural justice of police behavior. Data from a study involving interviews with Muslim Americans in New York City between March and June 2009 strongly support the normative model by finding that the procedural justice of police activities is the primary factor shaping legitimacy and cooperation with the police.     

Institutional Change and Legislative Vote Consensus in New Zealand

In this research note, I discuss results from a recent study assessing the impact that New Zealand's electoral and legislative system reforms had on levels of vote consensus achieved in the House of Representatives. Using a new legislative vote data set spanning from 1987 to 2007, I find evidence that the institutional changes fostered an increase in consensual legislative vote outcomes. I also provide a brief theoretical explanation of the developments and address a few issues concerning the measure of consensus used and the interpretation of the data.     

Goodbye to Revolution: The Portuguese Election of July 1987

State, Economy and Society in Western Europe 1815–1975: A Data Handbook in Two Volumes. By Peter Flora et al. Frankfurt/London/Chicago: Campus Verlag; Macmillan Press and St James Press, 1983. Volume I, Pp.633. £40.00.

Moderates and Conservatives in Western Europe: Political Parties, the European Community, and the Atlantic Alliance. Edited by Roger Morgan and Stefano Silvestri. Policy Studies Institute. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1982. Pp.266. £14.50.

Conservative Politics in Western Europe. Edited by Zig Layton‐Henry. London: Macmillan, 1982. Pp.346. £25.00.

The Mediterranean Basin: Its Political Economy and Changing International Relations. by Glenda G. Rosenthal. London: Butterworth, 1982. Pp. 140. £18.00.

Political Forces in Spain, Greece, and Portugal. By Beate Kohler. London: Butterworth, 1982. Pp.270. £27.50.

The Impact of Parties: Politics and Policies in Democratic Capitalist States. Edited by Francis G. Castles. London: Sage Publications, 1982. Pp.370. £17.95.

National Separatism. Edited by Colin H. Williams. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1982. Pp.317. £9.95.

The Successor Generation: International Perspectives of Postwar Europeans. Edited by Stephen F. Szabo. London: Butterworths, 1983. £20.00.

The Political System of the Federal Republic of Germany. By Klaus von Beyme. Aldershot: Gower, 1983. Pp.xiii + 224. £15.00.

Les nouvelles idéologies. By P. Bacot, C. Journés et AL. Lyons: Presses Universi‐taires, 1982. Pp.228. Ff.49.

Policy and Politics in France: Living with Uncertainty. By Douglas E. Ashford. Philadelphia: Temple, 1982. Pp.xx + 345. $29.95 (hardback), $12.95 (paper).

French Planning in Theory and Practice. By Saul Estrin and Peter Holmes. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983. Pp.viii + 215. £15.00 (hardback).

The Corsican Time Bomb. By Robert Ramsay. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983. Pp.xii + 245. £21.00 (hardback).

Britain Against Itself: The Political Contradictions of Collectivism. By Samuel H. Beer. London: Faber &; Faber, 1982. Pp.xvi + 231. £9.50.

Modern British Politics: Parties and Pressure Groups in the Collectivist Age. By Samuel H. Beer. London: Faber &; Faber, 3rd edition, 1982. Pp.xiv + 434. £4.95.

Crosses on the Ballot: Patterns of British Voter Alignment Since 1885. By Kenneth D. Wald. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp.xvi + 263. £21.60.

Nation, Class and Creed in Northern Ireland. By Edward Moxon‐Browne. Alder‐shot: Gower, 1983. Pp.xv + 205. £14.50 (hardback).

Socialism with a Human Face. By Michael Meacher. London: Allen &; Unwin, 1982. Pp.295. £15.00.

Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development. By Alexander De Grand. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Pp. 174. £14.10 (hardback), £6.80 (paperback).

Zwischen Koalition und Konkurrenz. Österreichs Parteien seit 1945. Edited by Peter Gerlich and Wolfgang C. Müller. Vienna: Braumüller, 1983. Pp. 378. DM36.     

Feeding finance: a critical account of the shifting relationships between finance,food and farming

Abstract

Whether in the form of commodity index funds, farmland investment funds or commodities trading by agri-food companies, there is evidence of an increasingly close relationship between finance, food and agriculture. While these developments have received some critical attention of late, existing accounts of the ‘financialization of food’ are limited to the extent that they view finance as an external force with emphasis placed on the unnaturalness of its relationship with agriculture and its distortive effects on agricultural markets. Recognizing that finance and agriculture have a long history, this paper offers a more nuanced account of the place of financialization in the agricultural sector. Specifically, it examines how agriculture's emergence as an investment opportunity has reconfigured the terrain of agricultural interests and logics while creating new knowledge demands and agricultural visibilities. These dynamics are explored through a case study of the role of finance and processes of financialization in the recent demise of the Canadian Wheat Board as a state marketing agency. Through this discussion, the paper offers valuable insights into not only the reworking of agriculture as a particular type of financial space, but also the nature and limits of financialization itself as a way of engaging with the world beyond urban financial centres.