Making mothers: parenting classes in a women’s jail

In the wake of the War on Drugs, more mothers are incarcerated in US prisons and jails than ever before. Parenting classes have become ubiquitous in penal facilities that incarcerate women, but research about mothers’ experience in parenting class is limited to measures of efficacy about things like parenting attitudes and mental-health indicators. This study supplements existing research by adding an ethnographic lens to women’s experiences with parenting classes during incarceration. Drawing on 18 months of participant observation in the women’s unit of a county jail and 83 interviews with incarcerated mothers, I analyze incarcerated mothers’ experiences with parenting classes. Staff and inmates used parenting classes to create ways for women to do mothering during incarceration. Mothering in your head, longing to mother, and guilt as mothering enabled incarcerated mothers to maintain their identities as mothers despite their separation from their children. However, these practices could also be poor substitutes for spending time with children and did not necessarily reflect the reality of women’s lives outside of jail. These ways of doing mothering from afar were also a form of social control for the penal institution, as these mothering behaviors were consistent with being a good inmate.     

两大法系人身保护令制度比较研究

基于对刑事诉讼目的、价值认识的差异及文化传统的不同,两大法系在构建各自的人身保护令制度时存在诸多区别。笔者于文中对这一问题进行了分析、比较,并在此基础上提出构建我国人身保护令制度的具体设想。     

Elite interests and political participation in Botswana, 1966–2014

ABSTRACT

Botswana’s tiny economy is overwhelmingly government-driven and political participation, particularly on the side of the ruling party, is critical for one’s economic survival and prosperity. This has led to enduring intrigue and conflict among the country’s political power elite. Opposition party activists traditionally have embraced leftist policies and claimed to be representing the country’s poor and downtrodden while castigating the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (in power since 1966) of being pro-rich and politically connected business. Ironically, some members of the opposition elite also engage in business ventures with their ruling party counterparts. The scramble for economic opportunities has fuelled debilitating factionalism within both the ruling and opposition parties over the years. In some instances tribalism was mobilised in intra- and inter-party elections for positions of influence even though voters are more interested in service delivery than traditional ethnic issues. Our paper considers the question: ‘Whose interests do Botswana’s politicians represent?’     

新加坡集选区制度初探

集选区制度是新加坡国会大选的独创。1988年新加坡国会大选实行集选区制度与单选区制度并行,这对新加坡整个政治生态产生了重大影响。国内新加坡研究涉及集选区制度的著述甚少,基本未对集选区制度予以系统阐述与分析。本文比较全面地介绍新加坡集选区制度的产生与实践的过程,并围绕新加坡集选区制度的核心争议,即代表性问题和程序公正性问题进行分析。本文认为反对党虽有突破,但选举程序设计对反对党仍然是极大的障碍,由于目前反对党积极性迅速提高,使人民行动党面临极大挑战,因此自主革新的可能性是存在的。     

论网络教学中教师角色的体现

网络教学的发展并不意味着教师角色将淡出历史的舞台。教师作为公共知识的传播者、学习兴趣的激发者、学习态度的培养者、知识价值的赋予者,在教育中具有不可替代的作用。研究如何利用网络技术充分地发挥教师传统的传道授业解惑的角色作用,应该是未来网络教育发展的方向。     

高等学校内部控制制度建设存在的问题及改进

高教改革不断推进,同时也出现了许多新情况、新问题。应从学校重大项目决策程序、会计委派程序、调离任审计程序等重点方面抓起,完善控制环境,健全内部管理控制制度。     

城市社区管理中的居民参与

居民参与在我国城市社区管理中发挥着重要作用,它有助于推动我国的民主化进程,有助于解决政府管理危机,有助于确保公共政策的有效运行。当前,我国城市社区管理中居民参与已经取得了一定的成效,但还存在参与广度与深度有限、参与发展不平衡、参与渠道不畅等问题。完善城市社区管理中的居民参与可以从三方面进行：一是大力培养和增强社区居民的参与意识;二是进一步健全与完善社区居民参与的组织体系;三是在法律中明确社区居民的参与权利与参与程序。     

Are Public-Led Arts Incubating Programs a Double-Edged Sword? A Case Study of the Arts Council Korea’s Performing Arts Grant Program

A nation’s cultural policy is derived from its political and governance history, and its past practices. Taking the genealogical traits of South Korean cultural policies into account, the authors examine the contributions and risks of a public-led arts incubator program. One of the Arts Council Korea’s grant programs in the arts-incubating structure was involved with a public funding scandal of political intervention during the grant review process. Consequently, questions were raised about the current bureaucratic system for cultural policy. This article discusses the legitimacy of state intervention in the arts, and analyzes the case with relevant collected documents and interviews.     

Prison visitation as human ‘right’ or earned ‘privilege’? The differing tales of England/Wales,and Scotland

Prison visitation has been widely recognised as an important feature of a just and humane prison system, providing important benefits for prisoners and their family in maintaining ties. However, emphasis on maintaining prisoner–family ties over the sentence has remained a low priority for the prison service in England and Wales, with prison visits ideologically framed as a ‘privilege’ rather than a ‘right’ for prisoners. This paper contrasts England and Wales with Scotland where a diverging approach to supporting visitation and family contact has been implemented. In Scotland, a strong focus on human rights as a justification for these policies has occurred, in tandem with more palatable historical context of penal welfarism. This paper assesses differences between the two governmental approaches to prison visitation, situated in discussion of some of the broader resettlement outcomes which may be garnered via these policy responses.     

Preferences and agreement in legislative parties: testing the causal chain

This research note focuses on two specific dimensions of legislative cohesion: the homogeneity of preferences within a party and party agreement. Although these two dimensions have often been considered as synonyms, it is argued that these two concepts refer to different realities. The authors therefore develop distinct measurements for these two concepts. The authors then examine their statistical relationship, putting to the test the widespread assumption that heterogeneous preferences increase the probability of disagreement. The authors do so by testing the effect of different measures of a member of parliament’s ideological distance to her/his party on her/his self-reported frequency of disagreement with her/his party. It is demonstrated that the causal chain linking both concepts is only verified in the case of a conscious ideological distance. The results have crucial theoretical and methodological implications for future research on party cohesion and party unity.