The Dutch parliamentary election of May 1986

After a rather uneventful election campaign, the results of the May 1986 Dutch parliamentary election were a surprise to virtually all involved. Since the introduction of regular opinion polling in the 1960s, no election has taken place when the polls were ‘wrong’. However, in 1986 last minute shifts that were stronger than had ever occurred in the Netherlands produced results that differed significantly from the predictions based upon the polls published immediately prior to the election.     

Individual and contextual variation in EU issue voting: The role of political information

Increasing politicization in EU member states about European issues can be expected to strengthen the impact of attitudes towards Europe on vote choice in European Parliament (EP) elections. At the same time this impact is likely to vary between voters and contexts as a function of political information. This study explores the role of political information in explaining individual and contextual heterogeneity in the degree of EU issue voting. Using a two-step hierarchical estimation procedure to explore both individual and contextual variation, we show that while EU issue voting in the 2009 EP elections is only slightly more pronounced among the politically sophisticated, it is clearly more extensive in contexts that provide higher levels of political information on European matters.     

Operation ‘Piet’: The Joseph Sidney Petersen Jr. Spy Case,a Dutch ‘Mole’ Inside the National Security Agency

In 1986 it was discovered that Jonathan Jay Pollard, an employee of US Naval Intelligence, had worked as a spy for Israel. Until then the case of Joseph Sidney Petersen was the most important example of espionage against an US intelligence service by an ally. Petersen, who worked for the National Security Agency, was arrested in October 1954 and charged with obtaining top secret documents to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation. According to the International Herald Tribune this represented a case with worldwide implications. During the subsequent trial it emerged that Petersen had forwarded these top secret codeword documents to the Netherlands. For the first time an attempt will be made here to fully reconstruct the Petersen affair based on declassified American and Dutch archival holdings. Special attention will be paid to when Petersen was recruited and by whom, how long his spying lasted, what intelligence he delivered to the Dutch, what led to his arrest and trial and what the impact that had on American–Dutch relations. This article will close with some still remaining and unanswered questions.     

Psychiatric disorders and personality characteristics of prisoners at regular prison wards

BackgroundDutch correctional officers are trained to observe prisoners with severe mental disorder. This ‘behavioural’ approach is assumed to detect psychiatrically disordered prisoners with striking symptoms. On the basis of this screening procedure about 10% of the Dutch prison population is classified as needing special care or control. In the current study, what psychopathology can still be found among the remaining 90% prisoners residing at regular wards is investigated and which personality traits characterize them. When the prevalence of major mental illness would still turn out to be high in this group, the question arises whether the current, rather unstandardized, way of screening prisoners is sufficient.AimsTo assess the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among adult Dutch prisoners on regular wards, and to determine the concurrent and convergent validity of self-report measures and their screening characteristics in such a sample.Method191 randomly selected prisoners admitted to the general wards were administered a number of tests (SCL-90, NEO-PI-R, MINI) during the first weeks of their incarceration.ResultsIncluding substance abuse, 57% of the participants suffered from one or more Axis I disorders. About seven out of ten detainees with psychopathology as assessed with the MINI did not receive professional help. The concurrent and convergent validity of the SCL-90 and the NEO-PI-R turned out to be reasonable. The predictive validity of self-report measures in detecting prisoners with an Axis I disorders or suicide risks was moderate.ConclusionsThe Dutch ‘behavioural approach’ seems to be quite accurate in detecting prisoners with psychotic disorders. Most prisoners with other mental disorders on regular wards, however, did not receive professional help. The current study suggests that self report scales such as the SCL-90 and the NEO-PI-R may be helpful in screening detainees on important DSM-IV disorders.     

Measuring criminal thinking styles: The construct validity and utility of the PICTS in a Dutch prison sample

Purpose. Criminal thinking and thinking styles are important areas in the assessment and treatment of offenders. The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS: Walters, 2005) is designed to assess such criminal thinking styles. In the current study, the associations between criminal thinking styles on the one hand, and criminal histories, personality traits, and mental disorders of Dutch prisoners on the other, were explored. The aim is to test the reliability and construct validity of the PICTS in a population of male Dutch detainees. Methods. A sample of 191 randomly selected male prisoners of a large Dutch correctional institution were assessed by means of the PICTS, NEO‐PI‐R, and the MINI psychiatric interview. Prison inmates with very severe psychiatric symptoms and severe disruptive behaviours were excluded. Results. The psychometric qualities of the PICTS were found to be fair‐to‐good. The construct validity of the PICTS was supported by various convergent results with the criminal antecedents of the offenders, as well as with the scores on the scales measuring personality traits and psychiatric disorders. Conclusions. The associations between criminal thinking styles on the one hand and personality traits, antisocial personality disorder, and mental disorders on the other were rather strong. The current results suggest that the PICTS may be a valid and useful tool for assessing criminal thinking styles.     

Electoral participation in the Netherlands: Individual and contextual influences

Abstract Research into electoral participation has produced two traditions, one focusing mainly on individual level explanations while the second concentrates primarily on aggregate level explanations. By bringing these two research approaches together, we are not only able to explain individual electoral participation more thoroughly, but we also gain additional insight into the influence of aggregate level characteristics on individual behavior. We combine eight National Election Studies held in the Netherlands between 1971 and 1994 enabling us to study variation on the individual and the contextual (aggregate) level, including interactions between these two levels. Findings show that the addition of contextual characteristics form a significant improvement to an individual level model predicting electoral participation. Findings also confirm our expectation that the influence of individual characteristics such as education or political interest is dependent upon contextual characteristics describing for instance the salience of the election.     

Partisan Influence on the Local Tax Burden in the Netherlands

This paper analyses the role of partisan politics in determiningthe local tax burden. Property taxes are the most important revenuesource which municipalities in the Netherlands can decide uponthemselves. Using a new data set on Dutch local property taxes in1996, it is concluded that municipalities with a council dominatedby left wing parties have a higher tax burden. We also find thatlarger coalitions have lower levels of taxation. Finally, taxexporting increases tax rates.     

Beyond the multiple‐choice v. essay questions controversy: Combining the best of both worlds*

The increasingly diverse cohorts of students studying at new generation universities pose new curriculum challenges for disciplines such as law. These challenges are most visible in written assignments and thus interpreted as “writing problems”. As a consequence, much of the advice available to assist students focuses on “elements of good writing”, advising them primarily on expression and grammar and, in some instances, on the different purposes of legal writing. This paper offers, however, a quite different perspective on what underlies the writing problems of these students, arguing that students need to be knowingly inducted into the different positions or identities embodied in these written tasks, as well as instructed in the language required to “realise” these identities. This approach is explored through analysis of a standard problem scenario assessment task and student responses to the task. Finally, the paper suggests that designing a curriculum to assist these students' entry into the disciplinary practices of the law rests on more collaboration and mutual learning between law lecturers and language and learning lecturers.     

Changing Planning by Changing Practice: How Water Managers Innovate Through Action

ABSTRACT

In this study, we show how water managers who were not in strategic decision-making positions strategized in order to innovate water management practice. They undertook actions in order to infuse water management with a pragmatic logic that in their view would be better able to handle complexity. They addressed the requirements of an organizational context dominated by rational comprehensive planning as the model for acceptable action and associated forms of organizing that honor formally regulated responsibilities. Existing organizational practices and the logics grounding these were the counterpoint of their strategy, as well as the source on which they drew. Conventional forms of planning and organization were changed from within, through insider action woven into existing organizational process and form. Although acting from a logic that competed with established practices, these managers avoided confrontation and battle on the level of logic. They rather strategized by harnessing existing practices.