Formal and Informal Institutions Under Codecision: Continuous Constitution-Building in Europe

Current approaches examining the effect of institutions on policy processes have difficulty in explaining the results of the legislative process of codecision between the European Parliament and Council within the European Union. The formal Treaty changes that gave rise to codecision have, in turn, given rise to a plethora of informal institutions, in a process that is difficult to understand using dominant modes of analysis. This article provides a framework for analyzing the relationship between formal and informal institutions, showing how the two may be recursively related. Formal institutional change at a particular moment in time may give rise to informal institutions, which may, in turn, affect the negotiation of future formal institutions. The article applies this framework to the codecision process, showing how the codecision procedure has led to the creation of informal institutions and modes of decision-making, which have affected subsequent Treaty negotiations. Through strategic use of the relationship between formal and informal institutions, the European Parliament has been successful in advancing its interests over time and increasing its role in the legislative process.     

Frances Wright: The other woman of early American feminism

This paper focuses on Frances Wright, the first woman to lecture publicly in the U.S. to “promiscuous” audiences, those audiences composed of both sexes united in a public place. Despite her achievement, Wright has been ignored in historical analyses of nineteenth‐century feminist rhetoric, I argue that historians have avoided Wright because she differs radically from those feminists who directly succeed her. As the Other Woman of the women's movement, Wright practiced a rhetoric imbued with the ideals of the Enlightenment and Owenite socialism. She publicly interrogated the cult of domesticity and demanded equal rights for women at a time when gender anxiety was Intense. Wright caused a furor and provided a negative example for later nineteenth‐century feminists, most of whom developed “womanly” strategies of accommodation. I conclude that it is precisely because of her otherness that Wright is important, historically significant because she was marginalized and silenced within the feminist movement.     

Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Patterns of Aggression and Peer Victimization During Middle School

Peer victimization is a common problem among adolescents that has been linked to a variety of adjustment problems. Youth involved in peer victimization represent a heterogeneous group who may differ not only in their levels of victimization and perpetration, but also in the factors that influence their behavior. The current study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify subgroups of aggressive and victimized youth, and to examine social-cognitive and environmental factors that differ across these subgroups. Participants were a predominantly African-American (i.e., 68 %) sample of 502 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders (45 % male, Mean age = 12.6 years) attending three urban public middle schools, who completed self-report measures of aggression, victimization, and associated individual and contextual factors. LCA identified four classes of adolescents representing non-victimized aggressors, aggressive-victims, predominantly victimized youth, and well-adjusted youth. Class differences were found on measures of beliefs supporting fighting, beliefs against fighting, perceived effectiveness of inept nonviolent responses to conflict, behavioral intentions to engage in aggressive and nonviolent behavior, self-efficacy for nonviolent behavior, and peer and parental support for aggression and nonviolence. For example, within the two classes of victimized youth, aggressive-victims reported greater intentions to engage in physical aggression and inept nonviolent behavior, and were more likely to agree with beliefs supporting the use of instrumental and reactive aggression, and beliefs that fighting is sometimes necessary compared to predominantly victimized youth. These findings emphasize the importance of developing preventive interventions that target the specific needs of distinct subgroups of adolescents.     

‘The salvation of them’: emigration to North America from the nineteenth-century Irish women's convict prison

ABSTRACT

The systematic transportation of criminals from Ireland to the colonies ceased in 1853 and was officially abolished by the Penal Servitude Act of 1857. Yet this did not end the international movement of Irish women from the convict prison. Using the gratuity earned through their industry, and with the assistance of the prison department, religious men and women, philanthropic societies, or family members and friends, women departed Ireland from the convict prison. Assistance took the form of passage tickets, money, clothing or provisions for the trip, accommodation before or after the journey, as well as contacts in the new world. This article, based on the overseas movement of discharged female prisoners in the wake of transportation, argues that emigration from prison was not an attempt to export Ireland's serial offenders. While the Irish authorities might have wished to rid Ireland of women with criminal records, increasingly rigid immigration regulations prevented this practice from developing on a large scale.     

Does it matter if those who matter don't mind? Effects of gang versus delinquent peer group membership on labeling processes

Despite renewed interests in the labeling perspective and the impact of official intervention on individuals’ future outcomes, scant attention has been given to potential conditioning factors for theorized labeling processes. We argue that, when viewed through a symbolic interactionist lens, variations in the nature of primary social groups, through which individuals filter official labels like arrest, may generate patterns for subsequent self-concept and delinquency that are contrary to what labeling theory indicates. To test our rationale, we offer a moderated mediation model in which gang membership is expected to differentially impact the effect of arrest on future delinquency through an intermediary mechanism: self-esteem. We test a gang–nongang dichotomy and then probe further to test whether hypothesized effects are gang specific or occur similarly for nongang youths with highly delinquent peer groups. Analyzed using Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) data (N = 961), comparisons between gang members and nonaffiliated youths with similarly highly delinquent peer groups revealed no significant differences in conditional indirect effects of arrest on self-esteem and future delinquency; the two groups were similarly insulated from any negative impact of arrest on self-esteem. For nongang youths with fewer delinquent peers, however, arrest significantly reduced later self-esteem, which in turn increased their future delinquency.     

Here comes the judge: the influence of judge personal characteristics on federal sexual harassment case outcomes

This study explored the effects of judges' personal characteristics (gender, race, age, and political affiliation) and case characteristics on the outcomes of federal cases of hostile environment sexual harassment. Results revealed that even after controlling for the effects of relevant case characteristics (e.g., severity of the harassment), judges' personal characteristics influenced case outcomes. Specifically, younger judges and Democrat judges were more likely to find for the plaintiff (the alleged victim of harassment). The probability that the decision would favor the plaintiff was only 16% when the case was heard by an older judge but 45% when heard by a younger judge. The probability that the decision would favor the plaintiff was only 18% when the case was heard by a judge who had been appointed by a Republican president but 46% when the judge had been appointed by a Democrat president.