The organization and management of ministries of education in small states

Until recently, the literature on public administration has been almost exclusively based on the concerns and features of medium-sized and large states. Few studies have addressed the special features of public administration in small states. This paper helps to redress this situation by focusing on Ministries of Education in small states. It is mainly based on a Commonwealth survey of 15 countries in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Indian Ocean, Asia and the South Pacific. Among the questions addressed in the paper are ones on the range of functions undertaken by Ministries of Education and on such personnel matters as job definition and recruitment. The paper also examines issues of management in the highly personalized environment found in small states.     

A multinominal logit analysis of the influence of policy variables and board experience on FOMC voting behavior

Previous studies have used probit or logit models to analyze two states of monetary policy (tighter or looser). In this paper we employ multinominal logit to permit Federal Reserve monetary policy to assume one of three alternative states (tighter, looser, or no change) as a function of three independent economic variables (unemployment, real growth, and inflation) and the amount of experience of the Board of Governors. The results indicate that the Federal Reserve reacted differently under Burns, Miller and Volcker and between Volcker's two operating procedures in the formulation of monetary policy.     

Coronial Inquests,Indigenous Suicide and the Colonial Narrative

Critical Criminology - This article explores the over-representation of Indigenous people in suicide statistics internationally as indicative of the broader impacts of colonialism. The purpose of...     

Discolouring Democracy? Policing,Sensitive Evidence,and Contentious Deaths in the United Kingdom

This article examines recent United Kingdom government proposals for secret inquests, which, it is argued, are part of a general push for secrecy discernible across common law jurisdictions, and which include developments such as increased recourse to sensitive evidence in forensic settings and the normalization of intelligence‐led policing. While the push for secrecy is justified by national security claims, the article shows that in cases of contentious death involving police, the issue is less about national security and more about the use of intercept evidence, covert surveillance, and intelligence‐led policing, all of which have implications for police trust, accountability, and reputation management.     

The effect of chilling, freezing, and rewarming on the postmortem chemistry of vitreous humor

The effect of chilling at the time of death on the postmortem chemistry of the vitreous humor was studied by using sheep heads obtained immediately following decapitation. One group of heads was kept at room temperature, while the remainder were chilled on ice or in ice water, then refrigerated or frozen. Vitreous humor specimens were taken at intervals over a 48-h period. Chilling inhibited the fall in the glucose concentration and the total carbon dioxide content and lessened the increase in lactic acid, compared to the room temperature group. Rapid glycolysis resumed when the heads rewarmed to room temperature starting at 6-h postmortem, but did not resume at later points. The rate of rise of the potassium and magnesium concentrations was also diminished in the chilled eyes. Freezing and thawing caused an abrupt increase in the potassium and magnesium levels, but other solutes were unaffected.     

Correction to: Coronial Inquests,Indigenous Suicide and the Colonial Narrative

Critical Criminology -     

Building ‘Community’: New Strategies of Governance in Urban China

Abstract

Under the planned economy China's urban population was largely immobile and governed through the socialist workunit (danwei). Market reforms begun in the 1980s have culminated in the last decade with a dramatic decline of the state-sector and the emergence of a more mobile, heterogeneous and economically independent urban population. In rendering the old system obsolete, these trends have led the Chinese government to rethink its strategies for urban governance. At the turn of the millennium, a new campaign to ‘build communities’ was launched throughout the nation with the objective of establishing the residential ‘community’ as the new basic unit of urban governance. This paper explores the logic behind this policy innovation and analyzes the techniques adopted to operationalize ‘community governance’.