Multi-layered justice and security delivery in post-conflict and fragile states

This paper examines the value of an alternative approach to SSR policy, namely a multi-layered one in post-conflict and fragile state environments. It begins by arguing that there is a state-centric bias in current SSR policy and practice. This contradicts development principles of a ‘people-centred, locally owned’ approach in post-conflict and fragile state contexts. The SSR's state-centric approach rests upon two fallacies: that the post-conflict and fragile state is capable of delivering justice and security; and that it is the main actor in security and justice. The paper goes on to present the outline of a multi-layered strategy. This addresses the issue of who is actually providing justice and security in post-conflict and fragile states. The paper continues by describing the accountability mechanisms that could be pursued by SSR programmes in support of this approach. The conclusion is that the advantage of the multi-layered approach is that it is based not on the state's capacity, but on the quality and efficacy of the services received by the end user, regardless of who delivers that service.     

From abusive household to dating violence

Social scientists have theorized about the cycle of domestic violence in family abuse. Little research has addressed dating violence as a consequence to the experience of domestic violence by children. This article deals with the self-reported experience of dating violence by high school students from abusive and nonabusive households. A survey was conducted of 1,353 students in a rural area of North Dakota. Results indicated that students from abusive households showed significantly higher incidence of dating violence than those from homes where no abuse was evident. However, less than one in five of the students from abusive home reported dating violence, providing little support for the cycle of violence hypothesis. Students from abusive homes viewed violence as negatively as students from nonabusive homes. Thus, while there are significant differences between the two groups, there are also important similarities. Although there is apparently a greater risk of dating violence among students who have experienced violence at home, these data do not support the idea of an inescapable pattern of violence among adolescents who have experienced violence themselves.     

Public Scrutiny, Standards and the Planning System: Assessing Professional Values within a Modernized Local Government

Since the 1990s there has been a long-standing concern in government towards public sector accountability, management, efficiency and service delivery. A number of studies have attempted to analyse the multitude of individual changes and their manifestations through analyses based on a variety of institutional, policy and governmental distinctions. This paper attempts to specify the changes with particular reference to planning, and to consider the evolution of the public service ethic in planning towards more openness, scrutiny, transparency and efficiency with particular reference to the changing ethos of the professional employee. We first explore the  main impacts upon local government, the public service ethic and professional planning as a consequence of the Modernization agenda and freedoms and flexibilities initiative. We then look at how such changes have impacted upon the ethos and values in public service and planning. We draw on some evidence of Ombudsman cases to highlight issues of professional values in planning practice over the past decade before finally drawing these strands together in some conclusions. Our principal findings indicate that the much-trumpeted decline of services and standards may not have been as apparent as is sometimes portrayed and that internal professional attitudes and values towards the external changes may not have significantly altered over the same period.     

Protection Against Judicially Compelled Disclosure of the Identity of News Gatherers' Confidential Sources in Common Law Jurisdictions

In many common law liberal democracies today, news gatherers are resisting efforts to use the powers of the courts to compel them to identify their confidential sources. Often the struggles are epic. Often the public interest in effective news gathering fuelling the vitality of a modern liberal democracy is insufficiently recognised. The article uses recent cases to spotlight the shortfalls in the approach and legacy of the common law in dealing with news gatherer/confidential source relationships. Post Human Rights Act English decisions, especially that of Tugendhat J in Ackroyd , combining European style commitment to the public interest in vigorous newsgathering with common law style analysis of evidence, point the way to a more effective approach. US and Hong Kong cases remind news gatherers of their public interest responsibilities.     

Who Wants to Globalize? Consumer Tastes and Labor Markets in a Theory of Trade Policy Beliefs

Although the allure of consumption is the engine of globalization, political economists have tended to ignore varying consumer tastes as a potential source of beliefs about trade policy. This article develops a theory of trade policy preferences that adds the notion of varying consumer tastes to the standard labor-market application of the Heckscher-Ohlin trade model. The theory, which can explain trade preferences both across individuals and countries, is supported by an empirical analysis of survey data from 41 nations. Heavy consumers of exportables are found to be more protectionist than heavy consumers of imports and import-competing goods. Moreover, citizens in countries with expensive tradable goods see trade liberalization as a remedy to the rents they pay for protectionism. Other findings also support the more conventional labor-market side of the Heckscher-Ohlin model.     

An evolving policy network in action: The case of construction aggregate policy in Ontario

Abstract: The history of legislation to control aggregate mining reflects a power struggle between provincial and municipal interests. A content analysis of 140 Ontario Municipal Board (omb) hearings was assessed for a twenty‐five‐year period to evaluate the conflict between provincial and municipal governments and to document the role of legislation and policy in the resolution of the disputes. This article discusses the trend of successive Ontario governments to move the municipalities out of the core of the policy network dedicated to aggregate extraction. This is a result of the province's need to assure its greater autonomy in the industry in order to guarantee adequate stocks for future development. The province's autonomy allows a greater consideration to the industry and somewhat less consideration to the environmental impacts of aggregate mining. The article shows that there has been an evolution in the policy network from a “captured network” to a more “pluralist network.” Pushing the municipalities to the periphery through strong legislation has allowed the province to undermine the strength of the municipality to protect local interests primarily concerned with reducing the amount and impact of mining taking place near residential developments. Sommaire: L'histoire de l'élaboration de lois dans le but de contrôler l'extraction d'agrégats reflète une lutte de pouvoir entre les intérêts provinciaux et municipaux. Une analyse de 140 audiences de la Commission des affaires municipales de I'Ontario (camo) couvrant plus de vingt‐cinq ans a été réalisée afin d'évaluer le con‐flit survenu entre les gouvemements provincial et municipaux et de documenter le rô1e des lois et des politiques dans la résolution de conflits. Le présent article examine comment les gouvemements qui se sont succédés en Ontario ont eu tendance àéloigner les municipalités du ceur du réseau de politiques en matière d'extraction d'agrégats. Cela vient du fait que la province doive faire preuve d'une plus grande autonomie à 1'égard du rô1e de I'industrie afin que la province puisse garantir la disponibilité de stocks adéquats pour la mise en valeur future. L'autonomie de la province a permis d'accorder un plus grand rô1e à l'industrie et quelque peu moins d'importance aux incidences environnementales de l'exploitation des agrégats. Toutefois, l'article montre qu'il y a eu me évolution dans le réseau des responsables de politiques, celui‐ci étant passé d'un réseau de la capture à un réseau plus pluraliste. En repoussant les municipalités à la périphérie par le biais de lois puis‐santes, la province a pu réduire leur capacité de protéger les intérêts locaux qui visent principalement à réduire l'importance et l'incidence dc I'cxploitation minière a proximité des lotissements résidentiels.     

Reciprocal Prospective Relationships Between Loneliness and Weight Status in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

Adolescents who do not conform to weight ideals are vulnerable to disapproval and victimization from peers in school. But, missing from the literature is a prospective examination of weight status and feelings of loneliness that might come from those experiences. Using data from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, we filled that gap by examining the prospective associations between loneliness and weight status when the sample was aged 10–13 years. At ages 10, 12, and 13 years, 1042 youth (572 females; 92% from French speaking homes) reported on their loneliness and were weighed and measured. Family income sufficiency was included in our analyses given its relationship with weight status, but also its possible link with loneliness during early adolescence. The findings showed that (1) weight status and loneliness were not associated concurrently; (2) weight status predicted increases in loneliness from ages 12 to 13 years; and (3) loneliness predicted increases in weight from ages 12 to 13 years among female adolescents, but weight loss among male adolescents. The fact that loneliness was involved in weight gain for females suggests that interventions focused on reducing loneliness and increasing connection with peers during early adolescence could help in reducing obesity.     

What Levels of Racial Diversity Can Be Achieved with Socioeconomic‐Based Affirmative Action? Evidence from a Simulation Model

This paper investigates to what extent socioeconomic status (SES)‐based affirmative action in college admissions can produce racial diversity. Using simulation models, we investigate the racial and socioeconomic distribution of students among colleges under the use of race‐ or SES‐based affirmative action policies, or targeted, race‐based recruitment policies. We find, first, that neither SES‐based affirmative action nor race‐targeted recruiting on their own produce levels of racial diversity achieved by race‐based affirmative action. However, the two policies in combination, although likely expensive, may yield racial diversity comparable to race‐based affirmative action. Second, the use of affirmative action policies by some colleges reduces the diversity of similar‐quality colleges without such policies. Third, the combination of SES‐based affirmative action and race recruiting results in fewer academically‐overmatched Black and Hispanic students than under race‐based affirmative action, but the schools that use both also see a reduction in the academic achievement of enrolled students.