REFORMING PUBLIC SERVICES IN THE UK: BRINGING IN THE THIRD SECTOR

In the UK, the government continues its project to reform public services. Earlier projects have focused on the modernization of public sector organizations; in the latest round of reform, New Labour has focused on widening choice and the personalization of services. To this end, the government has been working with Third Sector (TS) organizations to expand their role in shaping, commissioning and delivering public services. The government’s vision is predicated on a normative assertion, that, unlike traditional public sector organizations, TS bodies create public value by being more innovative, are inspired by altruistic aims and values, and have greater commitment to their clients. This paper reviews recent policy and questions whether the government’s policy is flawed, contradictory and risks damaging the attributes of the TS admired by New Labour.     

CRIME IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD*

The extent to which local life circumstances influence criminal activity has been the focus of much theoretical debate. Although empirical research has been initiated, it remains limited. Herein, we use data on 524 serious offenders from the California Youth Authority for a seven‐year post‐parole period to examine the relationship between changes in local life circumstances and criminal activity. We extend previous research by employing a statistical model that accounts for the joint distribution of violent and nonviolent crime during the late teens and twenties in order to present information on patterns of criminal activity during a newly recognized developmental period of the life course, “emerging adulthood.”     

The Plurality of Sources of Law*

Abstract. In this paper, the Author contends with the problem of an infra-state differentiation of sources of law. He examines two accounts of a juridical pluralism, that of Walzer (1983) and that of Boltanski and ThCvenot (1991). Both these works reveal a similar inability to account for the political dimension. The Author identifies this inability as the result of the paradox of the political. He goes on to discuss this paradox in terms of a need to reconcile indivisible popular sovereignty with the proliferation of a multitude of sources of legality.     

Real Estate Transactions: Policy Considerations for Law, Technology and Globalization

This essay explores a number of issues related to intellectual property and technology in real estate transactions. It examines these issues with reference to differences in property law concepts in a global context, looking at both civil law and common law ideas, for instance. The essay also discusses the integration of technology into real-estate development projects and the infrastructure requirements for promoting real estate markets in countries with emerging and transitional economies. A key observation of the essay involves the need to think about property law questions in an integrated manner. It is no longer possible to think in a compartmentalized way regarding real property and intellectual property – in modern real estate transactions these areas are fully integrated.     

CENTRAL REGULATION OF ENGLISH LOCAL AUTHORITIES: AN EXAMPLE OF META‐GOVERNANCE?

This paper discusses how the UK government has reconfigured its regulation of English local authorities by moving from direct oversight to using an indirect independent agency as a vehicle of meta‐governance. This theme is discussed through two strands: first, by examining how several factors eroded central government’s capacity to directly regulate councils. The second strand examines the strategies used by the Audit Commission, an independent agency, to assert its authority over councils and how its hegemony is sustained by facilitating and participating in horizontal and vertical networks across government, specialist policy and stakeholders’ communities.