Local government advocacy in the ‘suburban age’: an institutionalist interpretation of Melbourne’s evolving sub-metropolitan regional structures

ABSTRACT

The ‘suburban age’ has been conceptualised as the dominant global urban spatial reality for the 21^st Century, yet the politics associated with this heightened expansiveness remain underdeveloped. Of relevance is the potential for suburban discontentment across a myriad of spaces centred upon the under provision of infrastructure and employment. With urban regions often highly fragmented by local government boundaries, bottom-up inter-local government responses assume significance, including sub-regional advocacy given enduring hierarchical government dependencies. In consideration of the evolving strength of sub-regional advocacy, three institutionalist themes are introduced: credibility, coherency and coordination. Empirical insights are presented from chief executive officer (CEO)-based interviews conducted across expansive Melbourne, Australia. In Melbourne, a ‘weak mayor/strong CEO’ local government system predominates beneath a state government with extensive metropolitan responsibilities. Melbourne’s sub-metropolitan regional structures have recently looked to strengthen their external presence through actions illustrative of the identified themes, with local government CEOs playing a key role in directing their evolving character. The global ‘suburban age’ must be associated with heightened sub-regional competition across enlarged urban regions, the management of which will present a growing spatial challenge for political leaders.     

The Australian Prisons Census: Estimating remand times

By applying a renewal theory model to data from the Australian Prisons Census, we estimate the number of remand receptions at prisons and the mean and median remand times served by prisoners during the period 1982–1990. We conclude that despite the general increases in court delays, and despite a large increase in the remand reception rate between 1982 and 1990, remand times have been largely unaffected, with the median remand time for 1990 being 1.7 weeks. Comparisons are made with official figures for various states and with figures for Canada and England/Wales.     

Older parents' expectations for filial support

A measure of general filial obligation expectations is presented. With data from a representative sample aged 70 and older, we show that generalized expectations for support from adult children are not patterned systematically by sociodemographic factors or by health needs of the older respondents. A typology is presented which relates expectations for help to judgments of the level received. This typology is meaningfully related to social indicators presumably related to need such as marital status and socioeconomic status. Whether one is dissatisfied, satisfied, or pleasantly surprised by the assistance one receives is associated with evaluative judgments of children. The parent-child bond is affected not only by exchange patterns but by the fit between expectations and exchange patterns.     

新时期高校学生素质教育探讨

在新时期 ,加强和改进高校学生综合素质教育是高校教育工作改革的一项重要而艰巨的任务 ,该文针对新时期的高校学生综合素质教育的背景、做法和途径作简要探讨。     

未成年人刑事责任年龄及其制裁的新理念--《国内法和国际法下的未成年人刑事责任决议》解读

国际刑法学协会第17届国际刑法大会形成了<国内法和国际法下的未成年刑事责任决议>,明确提出了刑事责任年龄的最低限制为14岁,完全刑事责任的年龄低限为18岁,在刑罚处遇方面对犯罪时未成年的人不得判处死刑等,决议反映了新的理念,反映了刑事科学领域最新的研究成果和主流价值取向,可能成为官方改革、修订法案的重要参考.     

相对负刑事责任年龄适用问题研究

已满十四周岁不满十六周岁的人 ,实施何种行为应当负刑事责任 ?法条规定的是具体的罪名还是行为 ?应该重视由于刑法条文特别规定而成立故意杀人罪的转化犯 ,以及故意杀人成为特定罪的结果加重犯 ,对于这一年龄阶段的人所实施的奸淫幼女行为 ,在追究刑事责任时 ,应具体分析。还有关于抢劫罪、贩毒罪的理解与适用     

谈公安院校教师如何迎接信息时代的挑战

信息时代,对公安院校教师提出了新的要求。目前,公安院校师资队伍存在的缺陷:层次较低;结构不合理;普遍性的缺乏计算机的基本操作能力和计算机初、中级技术的应用能力。文章对此论及面对信息时代,公安院校教师应采取的策略:树立现代教育观念;调整教师的角色;不断地加强学习。     

Constancy and change in the U.S. age distribution of crime: A test of the “invariance hypothesis”

The recent controversy over the age relationship with criminal behavior can be traced to Hirschi and Gottfredson's (Am. J. Sociol. 89, 552–584, 1983) failure to define invariance. In this paper, I distinguish two types of invariance—parametric andmathematical form— that explains both the pattern of stability claimed by Hirschi and Gottfredson and the pattern of variability observed in more recent research. I then directly test for each type of invariance using age-specific arrest data for index offenses in the United States from 1952 to 1987. The results are largely consistent with recent research showing variability in the characteristics (i.e., parameters) of the age distribution of crime, but at the same time, the results provide evidence for a persistent, underlying mathematical form to the age distribution of crime, regardless of year or offense type.     

The political psychology of participation in Turkey: civic engagement,basic values,political sophistication and the young

This article aims to understand the recent heightened levels of mobilization and unconventional political participation in Turkey. We use a political psychology model that highlights the impact of civic engagement, political sophistication, and values on conventional and unconventional participation. We argue that these factors will be significant predictors of unconventional participation setting it apart from conventional political behaviour, which will be driven by simpler considerations. We expect these qualitative differences in the drivers of conventional and unconventional participation to go beyond age and gender differences and highlight the complexity of political decision-making in Turkey’s electoral authoritarian system. We use the 2012 World Value Survey to test our hypotheses, with a nationally representative sample of Turkish citizens. We find significant variations in the role of values, sophistication and levels of civic engagement for conventional and unconventional participation when controlling for age, gender and left–right ideological orientations. Our findings confirm the complex considerations that drive citizens’ engagement with politics and can be useful to explaining recent political developments in Turkey involving youth, public mobilization and protests, but also mainstream voting choices.     

Social control theory: The salience of components by age,gender, and type of crime

Most social control theorists do not consider definitions of delinquency problematic. Beginning with the assumption that crime is a unitary concept, researchers have combined a variety of non-normative items to create additive delinquency scales. Rarely is consideration given to whether the causes of crime differ for distinct types of criminal activity. Furthermore, the classic social control model doesnot predict that bonding variables operate differently for distinct age and gender categories. Consistent with the structuring perspective, the present research attempts to refine the social control model by specifying conditions under which the model predicts different forms of delinquency. This study examines social control theory using survey data from middle- and high-school students (N=2926). Logit regression analysis revealed that the model which best explains personal crime differs from the model which best explains property crime. Also, certain components of the model were more powerful predictors of criminal behavior for different age-gender groups. The importance of model specification is demonstrated and the implications for social control theory are discussed.