Definitions and Typologies in Public Administration Research: The Case of Decentralization

The field of public administration knows many concepts. By focusing on one such concept, this research shows how definitions can be deceptive, and how typologies unable to capture all dimensions of a concept can blind policy makers and researchers. We concentrate our attention on decentralization. This has been a core concept in the field of public administration for decades. Definitions and typologies of decentralization have flourished. The present study gives an overview. We categorize definitions and analyse their different emphases. Typologies serve to order and compare items, but have themselves become prone to disorder. We provide a meta-analysis of typologies, exposing the wide variety of policy dimensions. Even after aggregation, typologies ignore—and definitions explicitly exclude—certain aspects of decentralization. One such issue is “silent decentralization.” It is characterized by absence of explicit decentralization reform, and thus distinguishes itself mainly by its potential origins: network changes, initiative shifts, policy emphasis developments, or resource availability alterations. Highlighting this particular aspect might well proof useful for other concepts in the field as well.     

Biomedical Policies in Belgium and Italy: From Regulatory Reluctance to Policy Changes

Belgium and Italy stand out within Western Europe as countries that have shown pronounced reluctance to regulate assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and embryo research in the 1980s and 1990s, while the new millennium brought about major public policy ‘punctuation’. Belgium has changed from a strategy of non-decision to a permissive regulation on embryos and ART practices. Italy has moved from a lack of ART regulation to a relatively restrictive framework. The purpose of this contribution is twofold. First, it aims at explaining Belgium and Italy's reluctance to regulate ART until roughly 2000. The authors rely on three explanatory factors: the deeply divided character of societies, the weight and the divisions of political parties, and the autonomy of physicians. Second, referring in part to the punctuated equilibrium model of Baumgartner and Jones, they explain the policy change in both Belgium and Italy in the first decade of the twenty-first century.     

Playing by Paying: International Aid to Palestine

Decision‐making in the European Community: the Council Presidency and European integration — Emil Joseph Kirchner. — Manchester : Manchester University Press, copyr.1992. ‐ ix, 165 p. ‐ ISBN 0–7190–3173–7

La dodid Europe : i paesi della Comunita di fronte ai cambiamenti del 1989–1990 — a cura di Maurizio Ferrera. — Bologna : il Mulino, copyr. 1991. — 192 p. — (Cronache internazionali. 1991) ‐ ISBN 88–15–03158–8

La nuova Europa : dalla Comunita all'Unione I Pier Virgilio Dastoli, Giancarlo Vilella. — Bologna : il Mulino, copyr. 1992. — 210 p. — (Contemporanea; 52) — ISBN 88–15–03414–5

The State of the European Community: policies, institutions &; debates in the transition years /edited by Leon Hurwitz, Christian Lequesne. — Boulder : Lynne Rienner Publishers; Harlow : Longman, 1991. ‐ xi, 475 p. ‐ ISBN 0–582–08935–2

America Latina : voglia di benessere I a cura di Giacomo Coma Pellegrini. — Bologna : il Mulino, copyr.1992. — 312 p. — (Cronache internazionali. 1992). — ISBN 88–15–03653–9

Intervention or neglect: the United States and Central America beyond the 1980s I Linda Robinson. — New York : Council on Foreign Relations, copyr.1991. — viii, 223 p. ‐ ISBN 0–87609–097–8

l paesi del Rio de la Plata : Argentina, Uruguay e Paraguay in eta contemporanea : 1865–19901 Flavio Fiorani. — Firenze : Giunti, copyr.1992. — 188 p. — (Americana : civilta e storia del continente americano). — ISBN 88–09–20241–4

Exporting conflict : international transfers of conventional arms I edited by Luciano Bozzo. — Firenze : Cultura nuova, stampa 1991. — 261 p.

Die Grunen und Liste Verdi: Sicherheitspolitische Alternativen fur Europa? / Berthold Meyer und Roberto Zadra. / Munster : Lit, 1992. — 155 p. — (Studien zur Friedensfor‐schung; Bd.3) . ‐ ISBN 3–89473–221–0

Iran 1941–1991 : dalla monarchia alia repubblica islamica : material/ esistenti nelle biblioteche di Bologna I a cura di Maria Cristina Pudioli. — Bologna : Centro Amilcar Cabral [via del Baraccano 2, 40124 BO], 1992. — 143 p. — (Ricerche bibliografiche; 8)

Kosovo : Albanesi e Serbi: le radici di un conflitto I Marco Dogo. — Lungro di Cosenza : Marco, copyr.1992. — V, 375 p. ‐ (L'ibis; 6). ‐ ISBN 88–85350–13–5

Le ultime trincee del comunismo nel rnondo : Asia major 1992 I a cura di Giorgio Borsa. — Bologna : il Mulino, copyr.1992. — 305p. — (Cronache internazionali. 1992). ‐ ISBN 88–15–03654–7     

Homicide by unusual‐edged weapons: Forensic considerations of two cases

Homicide by stab wound is common worldwide. However, the use of unusual edged weapons is rarely reported in the forensic literature. Here, we report two cases of homicide involving a Japanese sword, or katana, and a sickle. Both of these weapons can create either stab or incised wounds with some particularities. In our cases, characteristics of the external wounds, internal injuries, and the depth of penetration raised the possibility of an unusual weapon. Meticulous forensic examination of these injuries (morphological characteristics, depth of penetration, trajectories, and cut marks in the bone) may allow the forensic expert to determine the type of weapon used.     

Political Sociology of International Interventions: Peacebuilders and the Ground

ABSTRACT

This special issue, instead of questioning what effect peacebuilding interventions have on post-conflict societies, analyses what the ground of intervention does to peacebuilders. It demonstrates that everyday interactions on the ground shape the interveners and even the scope of their missions. We delineate how a political sociology approach might break away from binaries (‘internationals/locals’) and, instead, illuminate processes (of internationalization and localization). We intend to offer a political sociology of the ‘intervention encounter’, that is, to scrutinize the everyday interactions among peacebuilders and between peacebuilders and domestic actors, and to investigate effects of the ground on peacebuilding organizations, doctrines and decision-making processes, as well as on peacebuilders’ trajectories, positions, professional practices and representations. In fine, we explore how peacebuilders’ relations to the ground structure the socio-professional field of peacebuilding.     

To Serve and Survey: French Gendarmes as International Police in Peacebuilding Missions in Bosnia and Kosovo

ABSTRACT

This article scrutinises everyday practices of French gendarmes who were sent as international police in UN and NATO missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. Drawing on qualitative material, it argues that their encounters on the ground largely shaped their practices. Rather than melting into the internationalised peacebuilding milieu, gendarmes endeavoured to serve and survey, that is, to establish relationships with civilian populations as a means to collect security-related intelligence for their national government. The sociology of peacebuilding encounters on the ground thus unveils Peaceland’s social divides and invites to take into account the historicity of the peacebuilders’ societies.     

Examination of the effect of dose-death interval on detection of meperidine exposure in decomposed skeletal tissues using microwave-assisted extraction

The effect of dose-death interval and tissue distribution on the detection of meperidine in selected skeletal tissues was examined using a rapid microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) methodology. Rats (n=14) were dosed with 0 (n=2) or 30 mg/kg (n=12) meperidine (i.p.). Drug-positive rats were sacrificed with CO(2) after 20, 30, 90 and 150 min (n=3 per group). Heart blood was collected immediately after death. Tibiae were excised and frozen for further analysis. The remaining carcasses were allowed to decompose outside in secured cages to the point of complete skeletonization in a rural Northern Ontario location during the late summer months. Vertebrae and pelvi were collected for each animal. Tibial marrow was homogenized in 3 mL PB6 (phosphate buffer, 0.1M, pH 6). Fresh tibiae, and decomposed vertebrae and pelvi were cleaned in PB8.5 (phosphate buffer, 0.1M, pH 8.5) and sonicated to remove remaining soft tissue. Samples of dried, ground bone (0.5-1g) suspended in 2 mL PB6 were then irradiated in a domestic microwave oven (1100 W) at atmospheric pressure for 15 min. Samples of vertebral bone (1g) were also extracted by passive incubation in methanol (3 mL, 50°C, 72 h). All supernatants then underwent solid-phase extraction and analysis by GC/MS, using electron impact ionization in the Selected Ion Monitoring (SIM) mode. Mean GC/MS responses for each tissue type were negatively correlated with dose-death interval, with correlation coefficients ranging from -0.32 to -0.87. Analysis of variance showed dose-death interval to be a main effect (p<0.05) with respect to GC/MS response for blood, marrow, tibial epiphyses prepared by MAE, and vertebral bone prepared by passive extraction, but not for tibial diaphyses, pelvi or vertebrae prepared by MAE. Overall, MAE is advantageous as a rapid extraction tool for screening purposes in skeletal tissues, but assignment of significance to quantitative expressions of skeletal drug concentrations is complex and should be approached with caution.     

Measuring New Public Management and Governance in Political Debate

New Public Management (NPM) recently has been compared and contrasted with public governance (PG) to illustrate shifts in conceptions of public administrations and in reform agendas. The authors develop measures to capture the relevance of NPM and PG in textual discourse and investigate the extent to which they have entered the political debate. Content analysis of electoral programs for the 2005 Italian regional elections reveals that even in this legalistic country, considerable attention was paid to both NPM and PG issues. An important explanatory variable in preference for NPM or PG is party ideology, highlighting often‐ignored within‐country dynamics. Furthermore, the authors show how a methodological approach adapted from mainly political science and business research can be exploited in the field of public administration.     

The effect of a judicial declaration of competence on the perceived credibility of children and defendants

Purpose. Three studies were conducted to determine the effect of a judicial declaration of competence on perceptions of credibility towards a child witness and an adult defendant. Methods. Undergraduates read vignettes about a 5‐ or a 13‐year‐old child witness or an adult involved in either a sexual assault case or a motor vehicle accident case. In the child conditions, the case was either preceded by a declaration of the child's competence to testify (either specific or general declaration) or there was no mention of the competence of the child. Participants then rated the perceived credibility of both the complainant/witness and the defendant. Results. A judicial declaration of competence that was targeted at the particular child sometimes increased the credibility ratings of the child and decreased those of the defendant, sometimes to levels beyond those observed in the adult conditions. These effects on credibility were not replicated when a general declaration of all children's competence was used. In fact, the general declaration sometimes resulted in more positive ratings of the defendant. Conclusions. These results are discussed in the context of recommendations for the use of competence evaluations and declarations of competence in court.     

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