bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Why Anti‐Realism Breaks up Relationships
Authors: Insole Christopher J.
Published: March 2003

Some theologians are inclined to regard realism with hostility or indifference. I do not present an argument for realism, but for why realism matters, and what is at stake.

First of all, I separate the heart of realism from gratuitous doctrines which are too often associated with it. Religious realism is the claim that truth is independent of our beliefs about truth, and that we can in principle hope to have true beliefs about God. Realism is not intrinsically concerned with the existence of ‘objects’, with natural theology or rational justification.

I then show that even thinkers who are hostile or indifferent to religious realism so defined, usually make an implicit appeal to a similar realism in the sphere of ethics.

To establish that realism matters in religion as well as ethics I draw an analogy with realism/anti‐realism about persons, to show that anti‐realism makes mutually risk‐taking and courageous relationships impossible. I go on to argue that far from it being a realist who is obsessed with rational certainty, this is one of the worst vices of the anti‐realist, who cannot bear there to be a gap between her beliefs and reality.

I conclude that the most vital feature of religious realism is not certainty of belief, but the opposite – the acknowledged risk that all our hope could be in vain. In closing the possibility on this risk, the anti‐realist demonstrates an unfaithful and uncourageous movement of thought.
Examining the Assumption
Authors: Haldane John
Published: March 2003

Many believe that at the end of her life Mary was assumed bodily ‘into heaven’ where she remains exalted by her divine son. This claim, magisterially entitled The Doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, strikes some as absurd. Even many traditional Christians are opposed to, or have doubts about this aspect of Catholic doctrine (as they do of its non–defined equivalent among the Eastern Orthodox marked by the feast of the koimesis (dormition) of the Theotokos[the one who ‘gave birth to’ God]).

Typically critics regard the doctrine as being at best a sentimental piety and at worst a neo–Pagan accretion entirely lacking in support from any appropriate quarter. Others go further, however; suggesting that it is not simply without biblical or other evidential warrant but is in some way incoherent. Here I explore some of the sources of difficulties that confront any attempt to present and defend the doctrine.

Ancient and mediaeval accounts often relate narratives of Mary’s final days. Significantly, however, they also reason that given Mary’s unique status the Assumption must have happened because it should have done. I consider this style of deductive theology before examining certain historical presentations, in which I argue that there may be material evidence of the tradition as far back as the end of the persecution of Diocletian around the time of the Edict of Milan.

Thereafter I take up the philosophical problems, exploring various possibilities and suggesting that acknowledging Aquinas’s insistence on the impoverished nature of disembodied human souls, and their need of resurrected embodiment is consistent with Mary’s unique role that the mode of her present existence is of a different order to that of other separated subjects.
Political Propaganda and Royal Proclamations in Late Medieval England*
Authors: Doig James A.
Published: March 2003

The royal proclamation was the main means by which the English Crown communicated news and orders to the mass of its subjects. In a largely illiterate society, the recited proclamation was also a potentially powerful vehicle for disseminating political propaganda. This article examines the effectiveness of the royal proclamation as an instrument for broadcasting propaganda to a large audience. It considers the efforts of the Crown to ensure that its proclamations were carried out by its local officials and heard by a wide and varied audience. It examines the persuasive content of proclamations and it considers the impact that they may have had on public opinion.
Carleton's book: William FitzStephen's ‘Description of London’ in a late fourteenth-century common-place book*
Authors: Kleineke Hannes
Published: March 2003

This article discusses a hitherto unpublished version of William FitzStephen's twelfth-century ‘Description of London’ incorporated in a late fourteenth-century common-place book of London origins, and its variations from other texts. A suggestion as to the book's unnamed owner's identity is put forward and his career examined. The possible significance of the inclusion of the text in a common-place book of the period is discussed in the context of recent writing on London foundation myths.
Voices in court: lawyers' or litigants'?
Authors: Bailey Joanne
Published: March 2003

Written records of litigation lie at the heart of numerous studies of English society and culture. Although some documents appear to demonstrate individuality, historians advise that they be used cautiously since the words of litigants and deponents were filtered through the legal profession. This article uncovers the process of mediation by exploring the interaction between litigants and their legal advisers, using correspondence received by church court proctors. It reveals that some parties had an active role in their litigation and, crucially, that their own motives could obscure the reality underlying their lawsuits as much as the legal process.
The end of Angevin Normandy: the revolt at Alençon (1203)
Authors: Power Daniel
Published: March 2003

The surrender of Alençon by the count of Sées to the French in January 1203 was one of the most significant events in the collapse of King John's régime in Normandy, but the sources for the count's rebellion are both meagre and ambiguous. Several less well-known examples are discussed here, and two acts of King John dated by the rebellion are published in full for the first time. Also printed here is a contract between two Norman knights, compiled at Alençon in May 1203 and witnessed by several adherents of Philip Augustus, which sheds important light upon the insurrection at Alençon and the end of Angevin rule in Normandy.
The provincial social survey in Edwardian Britain
Authors: Freeman Mark
Published: March 2003

This article examines three social surveys carried out in English provincial towns after Seebohm Rowntree's study of York and before A. L. Bowley's sample surveys of five towns. The authors emphasized specific local circumstances and suggested local voluntary and municipal remedies for the social problems they described. Their focus was on the community, and although informed by the discourses of ‘national efficiency’ that also lay behind Rowntree's researches, the solutions to the problems of juvenile life and casual labour that compromised national efficiency were to be found in local endeavour. Poverty was viewed in the context of its impact on the community rather than on the individual.
Military pay and the economy of the early Islamic state*
Authors: Kennedy Hugh
Published: March 2003

This article examines the system of military payment in the early Islamic state (c. 650–900 A.D.) and its effect on the economy. It is argued that early Islamic armies were paid in cash salaries, rather than land grants or kind. This meant that a massive amount of coinage was put into circulation and spent by the soldiers in the markets of the developing towns of the Middle East. The system of military payment played an important part in creating the urban, cash based market economy of the early Islamic world which contrasts so sharply with the land and kind based economies of the contemporary Byzantine empire and Latin West.
Historians in ‘the liberal hour’: Lawrence Stone and J. H. Plumb re–visited*
Authors: Cannadine David
Published: March 2003

This articles assesses the careers and impact of Lawrence Stone and J. H. Plumb, examining their formative influences, and the effect which they in turn had on the writing and practice of history, particularly in the nineteen–sixties. It assesses their two most resonant books: Stone's The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529–1642(1972) and Plumb's The Growth of Political Stability in England, 1675–1725(1967). The article traces historiographical debate through the twentieth century and into the new millennium, focusing on the buoyant and heady atmosphere of the sixties, which so affected Stone, Plumb and their contemporaries, and the revisionist response which peaked in the nineteen–eighties, and concludes that no historian could or should claim to be unaffected by the times in which he or she writes.
Compelling but not Controlling?: Palmerston and the Press, 1846–1855
Authors: Brown David
Published: March 2003

The growing importance of the newspaper press in nineteenth‐century politics has long been recognized by historians. It has also been acknowledged that newspapers were not only read by politicians but manipulated by them to achieve particular ends. This is, of course, nothing new in early twenty‐first century Britain, but in the mid‐nineteenth century the practice was less well defined. It was through the pages of the press that Lord Palmerston, foreign secretary, home secretary and ultimately prime minister, contrived to rally the support of middle England in an attempt to compensate for a lack of party and parliamentary support. This article examines in more detail than has been attempted elsewhere the methods Palmerston employed in manipulating different newspapers and their editors in the period immediately preceding his accession to the premiership in 1855. On becoming prime minister, he claimed he was 'l'inëvitable', but in so far as this con‐tained any truth, it was due largely to his ability to cultivate the image of himself through the press as the nation's favourite. To some extent, then, Palmerston was the first media manipulating prime minister, and this article illustrates how and why he paid such careful attention to the press in this period.
Pluralizing Reason
Authors: Pouchepadass Jacques
Published: March 2003

Book reviewed in this article:

Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Prison Regime and Drugs
Authors: Stevens Dennis J.
Published: March 2003

Examining the effects of regime on drug trafficking, 172 offenders in one prison and 229 offenders in a similar custody level prison were surveyed. Data rejected the hypothesis that a restrictive regime with formal inmate‐custodian relations has greater control over drug trafficking in prison than a less restrictive regime with informal inmate‐custodian relations. More authoritative supervision produces more disciplinary actions than a less supervised close inmate‐custodian environment. One reason for these findings is that correctional staff are also affected by regimes. Lastly, convicted drug smugglers implicated correctional staff rather than correctional officers as drug traffickers. More research needs to be conducted on enforcers and nurturing perspectives.
Supported Bail for Mentally Vulnerable Defendants
Authors: Kennedy Michael , Truman Crispin , Keyes Simon , Cameron Angus
Published: March 2003

The aim of the Home Office policy of diversion is not simply to steer mentally disordered offenders away from the criminal justice system but, in so doing, to direct them toward services which will assist them. There are a number of key stages in the criminal justice process which provide an opportunity to make an effective diversion. The decision‐making process surrounding the remand of a defendant in the magistrates’ courts is one such key stage. Psychiatric bail provision may facilitate effective diversion in two ways: by giving magistrates a viable alternative to custody and by acting as a link to other services such as housing. Our study aimed to provide a preliminary estimate of the need for psychiatric bail provision in Inner London and to make some suggestions as to how such a facility might be introduced.
Less Crime in the Cities Through Heroin Prescription? Preliminary Results from the Evaluation of the Swiss Heroin Prescription Projects
Authors: Killias Martin , Rabasa Juan
Published: March 2003

During the 1980s and early 1990s Switzerland experienced a serious drug problem, highlighted by the famous needle‐parks in major cities. As a response to this problem and in order to prevent mere displacement of addicts to other urban areas, the Federal Government decided, in 1992, to expand substantially methadone programmes and to try new substitution programmes with opiates. Currently, about 800 seriously addicted persons regularly receive heroin. This research note summarises preliminary results concerning the effects of this programme on delinquency among treated addicts. Interview data on victimisation and self‐reported delinquency suggest substantial drops in criminal involvement. It remains to be seen to what extent this change could reduce the drug‐crime‐link and, indirectly, urban crime rates.
Policing Lower Levels of Organised Crime in England and Wales
Authors: Stelfox Peter
Published: March 2003

The establishment in April 1998 of the National Crime Squad and its focus on those whom the National Criminal Intelligence Service have identified as the ‘top echelon’of criminals, has improved the police service's ability to address organised crime at the national and international level. This article draws on two studies carried out within the police service, one examining travelling criminals and the other gang violence, which illustrate the extent to which organised crime manifests itself at levels lower than these. This lower level organised crime is both more visible and of more immediate concern to chief officers than higher levels. Failure to take account of this lower level has implications for both academics, the police and policy makers.
Community Penalties Warrants: A Gap in the Criminal Justice System?
Authors: Denney David , Ellis Thomas , Nee Claire
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that specialist systems of warrant enforcement are more likely to ensure effective enforcement of community penalties warrants than non‐specialist systems. The study looked at the way these two contrasting approaches affect the priority given to the execution of community penalties warrants, along with the extent to which enquiries are pursued. This is followed by an examination of the adequacy of monitoring and supervision for warrants enforcement, and of the views of the warrants enforcement staff on any possible transfer of their tasks to civil enforcement agencies. The article concludes by suggesting future policy options to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness of community penalties warrants enforcement.
Does and Should a Commodity Medium of Exchange Have Relatively Low Storage Costs?
Authors: Renero Juan‐Manuel
Published: March 2003

I provide new existence and welfare results for a version of the Kiyotaki‐Wright model. I construct an equilibrium where all agents use mixed strategies. Consequently, an object with a higher storage cost must have a higher acceptability. Therefore, the endogenous transaction pattern corresponds to the observation that money is dominated in rate of return by other assets (e.g., bonds), something that is a central issue in monetary economics. Furthermore, at least in a neighborhood of equal storage costs, the equilibrium that I construct Pareto dominates alternative equilibria in which better objects are widely accepted.
Foreign Direct Investment and the Political Economy of Protection
Authors: Ellingsen Tore , Wärneryd Karl
Published: March 2003

This paper makes the point that an import‐competing industry may not want maximal protection. The reason is that a high level of protection encourages inward foreign direct investment, which could be even less desirable than import competition. A government captured by the domestic import‐competing industry consequently will set the level of protection low enough to limit direct foreign entry. This paper also establishes results regarding the form of protection. Voluntary export restraints are shown to be the domestic industry's desired means of protection, because leaving export rents with foreigners inhibits foreign direct investment.
Regional Integration and Lobbying for Tariffs Against Nonmembers
Authors: Cadot Olivier , De Melo Jaime , Olarreaga Marcelo
Published: March 2003

We study the impact of regional trading arrangements (RIAs) on tariff policy toward nonmembers in a three‐good, three‐country political economy model. Comparing free‐trade areas (FTAs) with and without rules of origin and customs unions (CUs) with varying degrees of economic and political integration, we show how increasingly deep integration can lead to rising protection against nonmember imports. Other differences between FTAs and CUs, like the extent of free‐riding in a CU and any component of a CU's tariff designed to improve the members' terms of trade, are not explicitly accounted for. Nevertheless, the results suggest that FTAs are likely to welfare dominate CUs.
Individual and Aggregate Real Balances in a Random‐Matching Model
Authors: Zhou Ruilin
Published: March 2003

This article investigates the characteristics of stationary single‐price equilibrium in a monetary random‐matching model where agents can hold an arbitrary amount of divisible money and where production is costly. At such an equilibrium, agents' money holdings are endogenously determined and uniformly bounded. A refinement of weakly undominated strategies is argued to be necessary. It is shown that a continuum of single‐price equilibria indexed by the aggregate real‐money balance exists if one such equilibrium exists. Equilibria with different money‐holdings upper bounds, hence different distributions, but with identical aggregate real‐money balances can coexist.
A Model of Declining Standards
Authors: Sobel Joel
Published: March 2003

This paper presents a model in which relative standing determines standards. There are three kinds of agents in the model: candidates who wish to pass a test, members of the elite who have passed the test, and the judge who decides who passes. In order to pass, a candidate's performance must be at least as good as the performance of a representative member of the elite. Without perturbations in the underlying data, the model predicts that standards will not change. Perturbations in the preferences used to judge candidates lead to a reduction in standards.
Managerial Compensation and the Cost of Moral Hazard
Authors: Margiotta Mary M. , Miller Robert A.
Published: March 2003

This article investigates managerial compensation and its incentive effects. Our econometric framework is derived from a multiperiod principal‐agent model with moral hazard. Longitudinal data on returns to firms and managerial compensation are used to estimate the model. We find that firms would incur large losses from ignoring moral hazard, whereas managers only require moderate additional compensation for accepting a contract that ties their wealth to the value of the firm. Thus the costs of aligning hidden managerial actions to shareholder goals through the compensation schedule are much less than the benefits from the resulting managerial performance.
The Old‐Boy Network and the Young‐Gun Effect
Authors: Taylor Curtis R.
Published: March 2003

A model of an exclusive group or class whose membership is governed by personal contact and interaction is studied. Members of this old‐boy network attempt to shield themselves from transacting with opportunistic or incompetent individuals by dealing only infrequently with unproven nonmembers. This injures the unproven but qualified agents not in the network. Moreover, because recruitment of a new member creates a public good for network members, too little recruiting is performed in equilibrium.
Transplants and Implants: The Economics of Self‐Improvement
Authors: Burdett Ken , Coles Melvyn G.
Published: March 2003

This article examines equilibrium self‐improvement and marriage proposal strategies in a two‐sided search model with nontransferable utility. Singles are vertically differentiated—some make better marriage partners than others. A complete characterization of equilibrium is provided. It is shown there are two externalities to self‐improvement decisions. Further, these externalities may support multiple Pareto rankable equilibria. By encouraging everybody to self‐improve, society can create a situation where everybody is forced to improve to remain “acceptable.” But a preferred equilibrium may exist where there is less (costly) self‐improvement.
The Strategic Effects of Batch Processing
Authors: Gresik Thomas A. , Mansley Edward C.
Published: March 2003

We study a duopoly game in which firms commit to a batch technology before competing in sales quantities. Adopting a batch technology requires the quantity produced to equal an integer number of batches and allows sales to be less than production. When larger batch sizes lower unit production costs (as in the U.S. airline industry with its economies of density), subgame perfect equilibrium sales quantities are unique and more competitive than the Cournot equilibrium quantities of a one‐shot game with continuous total cost functions. When larger batch sizes yield higher unit costs, equilibrium production can exceed equilibrium sales.
A Fiscal Theory of Currency Crises
Authors: Daniel Betty C.
Published: March 2003

An exchange rate crisis is caused when the fiscal authority lets the present value of primary surpluses, inclusive of seigniorage, deviate from the value of government debt at the pegged exchange rate. In the absence of long‐term government bonds, the exchange rate collapse must be instantaneous. With long‐term government bonds, the collapse can be delayed at the discretion of the monetary authority. Fiscal policy is responsible for the inevitability of a crisis, while monetary policy determines its characteristics, that is, the timing of the crisis and the magnitude of exchange rate depreciation.
A MATCHING MODEL WITH ENDOGENOUS SKILL REQUIREMENTS>*
Authors: ALBRECHT JAMES , VROMAN SUSAN
Published: March 2003

We consider a labor market in which workers differ in their abilities and jobs differ in their skill requirements. The distribution of worker abilities is exogenous, but we model the choice of skill requirements by firms. High‐skill jobs produce more output than low‐skill jobs, but high‐skill jobs require high‐skill workers and thus are more difficult to fill. We use a matching model together with a Nash bargaining approach to wage setting to determine the equilibrium mix of job types, along with the equilibrium relationship between worker and job characteristics, wages, and unemployment.
Competition for versus on the Rails: A Laboratory Experiment*
Authors: Cox James C. , Offerman Theo , Olson Mark A. , Schram Arthur J. H. C.
Published: March 2003

European countries and Japan are contemplating more competition in passenger rail service. In the Netherlands, the Ministry of Transport was assigned responsibility for making a recommendation to Parliament for choosing between competition for the rails and competition on the rails. The Ministry commissioned the experiments reported here to acquire better understanding of the properties of the alternative policies. Competition on the rails involves allocation of rights to use station and time‐slot routes by price bids in a combinatorial auction. Competition for the rails involves allocation of rights to regional monopolies by fare‐structure bids for supplying a prespecified minimum schedule.
A Model of Procedural Decision Making in the Presence of Risk*
Authors: Dubra Juan , Ok Efe A.
Published: March 2003

We introduce a procedural model of risky choice in which an individual is endowed with a core preference relation that may be highly incomplete. She can, however, derive further rankings of alternatives from her core preferences by means of a procedure based on the independence axiom. We find that the preferences that are generated from an initial set of rankings according to this procedure can be represented by means of a set of von Neumann–Morgenstern utility functions, thereby allowing for incompleteness of preference relations. The proposed theory also yields new characterizations of the stochastic dominance orderings.
What to stabilize in the open economy*
Authors: Bencivenga Valerie R. , Huybens Elisabeth , Smith Bruce D.
Published: March 2003

We consider the question how “best” to maintain price‐level stability in an open economy, and evaluate three possible policy choices: (a) a constant money growth rate rule; (b) a fixed exchange rate; and (c) a policy of explicit commitment to a price‐level target. In each case we assume that policy is conducted by injecting reserves into or withdrawing reserves from the “banking system.” In evaluating the three regimes, we adopt the criterion that the “best” policy should leave the least scope for indeterminacy and “excessive” economic volatility. In a steady‐state equilibrium, the choice of regime is largely irrelevant; any steady‐state equilibrium under one regime can be duplicated by an appropriate choice of the “control” variable under any other regime. However, we show that the sets of equilibria under the three regimes are dramatically different. When all countries follow the policy of fixing a constant rate of money growth, there are no equilibria displaying endogenously arising volatility and there is no indeterminacy of equilibrium. Under a regime of fixed exchange rates, indeterminacies and endogenously arising fluctuations are impossible if and only if the country with the low “reserve‐to‐deposit” ratio is charged with maintaining the fixed rate. Finally, when one country targets the time path of its price level, under very weak conditions, there will be indeterminacy of equilibrium and endogenously arising volatility driven by expectations.
The Eurosystem's Operational Framework in the Context of the ECB's Monetary Policy Strategy
Authors: Manna Michele , Pill Huw , Quirós Gabriel
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses the implications of the European Central Bank's monetary policy strategy for the Eurosystem's operational framework, in the context of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in the euro area. The first part of the paper uses an analytical framework common to many recent analyses of monetary policy to distinguish the operational and strategic elements of monetary policy making. The second part of the paper describes and discusses the choices made by the ECB and the Eurosystem with regard to monetary policy strategy and operational framework. In this respect, the paper highlights that the design of both these aspects of the single monetary policy reflect, in large part, the need for policy makers to retain flexibility in the face of an uncertain environment.
Creating Securities Markets in Developing Countries: A New Approach for the Age of Automated Trading
Authors: Steil Benn
Published: March 2003

The past decade has been one of enormous change in the securities trading industry. Automation of trading systems, led by the continental European exchanges and US ‘electronic communications networks’ (ECNs), has resulted in significant declines in trading costs, massive increases in turnover, internationalization of trading and settlement system operations, and major reforms in exchange governance. Yet the policy advice given to developing country governments looking to create or expand securitized finance in their markets has been largely unaffected by these developments. This is unfortunate, as developing countries now have the opportunity to leapfrog the evolving infrastructure of the mature markets and to define the global efficient frontier in trading technology, exchange governance, investor access and market structure regulation. This paper analyses the technological and economic forces driving change in the securities trading industry, and examines the implications for developing markets.
The Dimensionality of Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire
Authors: Swailes Stephen , Senior Barbara
Published: March 2003

The Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ) developed by Honey and Mumford (1986) is one of several measures of individual learning style. Despite its popularity in the UK there is little published evidence for construct validity. This survey of 329 British managers used cluster and factor analysis to assess the validity of the LSQ. Cluster analysis revealed learning style profiles dominated by Reflector/Theorist traits. The factor structure of the LSQ does not cleanly reflect the four‐stage Learning Cycle relied upon for a theoretical foundation. The observed structure is more indicative of a three‐stage learning cycle of Action, Reflection and Planning.
Integrity and Honesty Testing: What Do We Know? How Do We Use It?
Authors: Wanek James E.
Published: March 2003

This selective review of integrity and honesty testing addresses two primary questions: ‘What do we know about honesty testing?’ and ‘How do we use what we know?’ Up‐to‐date information about test reliability, validity, and construct definition from recent reviews of the research literature in the USA is presented and interpreted. Relationships to other selection devices and personality measures are discussed, as well as how integrity tests fit into a multiple assessment selection system.
Personality, Gender, Age and Logical Overlap in Multi‐Source Ratings
Authors: Warr Peter , Hoare Simon
Published: March 2003

Variations in conceptual alignment between predictors and criteria have previously been studied in respect of criterion‐related validity, but not in settings of multi‐source rating. The differential conceptual alignment perspective was applied here to account for gender and age differences in the rating of behaviour. Personality traits of sales staff were found to predict logically overlapping customer‐contact behaviours, rated either by themselves or by their supervisor. Personality traits were also associated with employees' greater over‐rating of a behaviour relative to supervisors' judgements when personality–behaviour logical overlap was stronger. Significant differences in some work behaviours were observed between men and women and between older and younger employees, and those behavioural differences were accompanied by gender or age differences in personality traits that overlapped logically with the behaviour in question. Gender or age differences in ratings of specific behaviours are thus a reflection of gender or age differences in logically associated personality features.
Prediction of Job Retention Using a Brief Projective Test Battery: a Preliminary Report
Authors: Raphael Alan J. , Golden Charles J.
Published: March 2003

The use of objectively validated projective tests in personnel decisions has been limited in recent years because of the perception that such tests are highly subjective, difficult to administer, and difficult to score in a reliable manner. The present paper demonstrates the use of a brief (½ hour) projective test battery consisting of the Bender–Gestalt, House–Tree–Person, and a free drawing test which can be administered in a personnel office and scored blindly using an objective scoring system. The study showed that such a battery could predict six month retention rates in a sample of recently hired corrections officers at statistically significant rates (2 = 6.25, p < 0.05) despite the fact that the individuals had already been thoroughly prescreened using the company's comprehensive normal procedures. The possible uses and advantages of a language‐free projective battery are discussed along with future research directions.
Discourses of Decision Making in Child Protection: Condusting Comprehensive Assessments in Britain
Authors: Holland S.
Published: March 2003

Findings from a qualitative study of comprehensive assessments in child protection social work in the UK are discussed. The accounts of social workers in formal interviews, informal interactions and case files are analysed, examining their explanations and understandings of the process of decision making. Two discourses of decision making are discerned: scientific observation and reflective evaluation. Whilst most social workers understand their work, at different times, through both discourses, it is argued that the discourse of scientific observation becomes the dominant one when communicating with other agencies such as the court. The findings are discussed in relation to wider issues in contemporary social work including the bureaucratisation of social work and the nature of assessment.
Childhood maltreatment among Norwegian drug abusers in treatment
Authors: Ravndal Edle , Lauritzen Grethe , Frank Ove , Jansson Ingegerd , Larsson Jonas
Published: March 2003

This article reports on the investigation of the correlation between the European Addiction Severity Index (EuropASI) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) among 102 Norwegian drug abusers admitted to treatment. The aim of the study is to explore how different types and levels of childhood trauma and social and psychiatric factors, medical situation and experienced family history are interrelated. The study addresses three main questions: 1) What is the prevalence of different kinds of childhood trauma among drug abusers in treatment? 2) Does type or level of maltreatment in childhood predict specific substance abuse problems as adults and/or specific social, psychiatric and medical problems as adults? 3) Do substance abuse problems and mental health problems in the primary family predict different types and levels of childhood maltreatment? Twenty‐five per cent of the total sample was included in the high‐level trauma group and 54% in the intermediate‐level group. Females had significantly higher scores than males in all types of childhood trauma. The strongest correlations were found between childhood trauma and lifetime psychiatric problems and psychiatric status during the last 30 days before admission for treatment. More research, and especially prospective studies, is needed to clarify the importance of parents' substance abuse and psychiatric problems in childhood/adolescent compared with trauma in the client's childhood and the client's current psychiatric status.
South Africa: the challenge of social development
Authors: Midgley James
Published: March 2003

Following South Africa's transition from apartheid to majority rule, the country's new government declared its intention to implement a macro‐development approach, known as the Reconstruction and Development Programme, which would promote economic growth and, at the same time, raise the standards of living of the country's impoverished majority. This programme was accompanied by the publication of a White Paper on developmental social welfare. Both give expression to social development ideas which had previously been popular in international circles and which were being resurrected by the 1995 United Nations World Summit. This article discusses South Africa's engagement with social development and examines the challenges facing its attempts to implement this approach. The lessons learned from South Africa's experience of formulating and implementing social development policies and programmes can inform similar efforts elsewhere
Self‐reported health, self‐esteem and social support among young unemployed people: a population‐based study
Authors: Axelsson Lars , Ejlertsson Göran
Published: March 2003

A population‐based study was performed in southern Sweden in the autumn of 1998. The aim was to study connections between self‐reported health, self‐esteem and social support among unemployed (≥ three months) young people. The sample consisted of 264 unemployed individuals aged 20–25 years, and 528 individuals of the same age, randomly selected from the population register and not registered as unemployed. The response rate was 72%. Defined by means of factor analysis, mental health consisted of the symptoms tearfulness, dysphoria, sleeping disturbance, restlessness, general fatigue and irritability. The unemployed had more mental health problems than young people who were working or studying. Restlessness and dysphoria were significantly over‐represented in the unemployed among both sexes. However, good social support seemed to predict mental health. Support from parents was most important, particularly in males. Those with low self‐esteem and poor parental support were especially vulnerable.
Youth, unemployment and political marginalisation
Authors: Bay Ann‐Helén , Blekesaune Morten
Published: March 2003

The article investigates the impact of being unemployed on political marginalisation among young people. Are unemployed youth politically marginalised compared with employed youth? Is the impact of unemployment on political marginalisation related to the development of the welfare state? Based on Marshall’s concept of social citizenry, and Esping‐Andersen’s theory of decommodification politics, the impact of unemployment on political marginalisation was expected to be least in the most‐developed welfare states. In these countries, welfare policies were expected to counteract marginalisation among the unemployed. The analyses were based on the Eurobarometer survey Young Europeans from 1990. Three aspects of political marginalisation were investigated: political confidence, political interest and political extremism. Unemployed youth express less confidence in politics, they talk less about politics and they more frequently support revolutionary political ideas, compared with employed youth. The greatest difference in political confidence between unemployed and employed is found in Great Britain, while Italy represents a deviant case where the unemployed have more confidence than the employed. The development of the welfare state does not appear to be a crucial factor for political confidence among the unemployed.
Role Profiles of HRD Practitioners in the Netherlands
Authors: Van Ginkel K. , Mulder M. , Nijhof W.J.
Published: March 2003

This study of HRD practitioners and experts in the Netherlands was executed in 1993 and based on an earlier US role profile study. Two types of profiles were identified for eleven different roles that an HRD practitioner might perform within her or his job. Both profiles consist of core outputs of the different roles and the core competencies required for achievement of the outputs. Comparisons were drawn between current and future profiles and between the results of the expert study and the outcomes of the US study. The American role profiles appeared to be largely valid for the Dutch context.
Organising Work‐Related Learning Projects
Authors: Poell Rob F. , Van der Krogt Ferd J.
Published: March 2003

This study demonstrates that work‐related learning can be organised in different (group) learning projects. Learning projects can expand the action repertoire of participants. In a descriptive evaluation of four cases, the learning‐network theory was used to produce descriptive categories for the analysis of learning projects. Data were collected using semi‐structured interviews with fifteen participants. Each category was compared with theoretical types of learning projects for characterisation. Two empirical types emerged: a liberal‐vertical one in which individual learning and training activities were gathered and an external‐horizontal one in which group reflection and the development of professional norms were stressed. The results offer employees, managers, and trainers alternative options to organise work‐related learning.
Designing Training Interventions: Human or Technical Skills Training?
Authors: Petridou Eugenia N , Spathis Charalambos T
Published: March 2003

Training is seen as the key instrument in the implementation of Human Resource Management policies and practices in both the private and public sector. The choice of the type of training, focused on human or technical skills, is crucial in designing the training process. This field study investigates the personal and occupational characteristics of 444 public managers, candidates for human and technical skills training. A classification model is proposed which allows the selection and weighting of the candidate trainees' personal and occupational differences in order to participate in one of the two types of training. By means of the stepwise logistic regression method, gender, age, education, attitudes towards training, managerial level and job tenure have been identified as the significant variables associated with type of training.
Exploring the mismatch between skills and jobs for women in Saudi Arabia in technical and vocational areas: the views of Saudi Arabian private sector business managers
Authors: Calvert John R. , Al‐Shetaiwi A. S.
Published: March 2003

Saudi Arabia’s rapid development has highlighted the shortage of national technical manpower and the subsequent need to recruit non‐Saudi technical workers, on the one hand, and the difficulty of replacing these workers with qualified Saudis, on the other. Therefore successive Development Plans have tried to raise the quality and quantity of technical and vocational education for both men and women. In 1995/96 only 5 per cent of Technical and Vocational Education (TEVT) enrolled students were female. This compares with an average of 29 per cent in other Islamic countries and 45 per cent in Japan (UNESCO, 1997, 1999). Part of this may be due to the preferences of female students in education, part due to the structure of TEVT in Saudi Arabia, part due to the availability of technical and vocational jobs available for women after completing their training and part due to the natural place of women in Saudi society. The Seventh Development Plan (2000–2004) assumes that the private sector will play a very significant role in employing a Saudi labour force including both men and women.

As part of a comprehensive study concerning the factors affecting women’s employment in the Saudi private sector private sector business managers in four large cities were surveyed to see what factors they felt were important. The main factors affecting employment of women in technical and vocational education were seen by the managers as those relating to the structure of TEVT education in Saudi Arabia rather than preferences of women or pressures from society.
International briefing 11: Training and development in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alzalabani Abdulmonem H.
Published: March 2003

The people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are, just like the citizens of any other country, the most valuable resource potential it possesses (Al‐Dogether, 1993). Thus, in its development plans the Kingdom makes all possible efforts to spend its wealth on preparing the citizen for his expected role in modern development (GOTEVOT, 1996). The current government policy thrust is to expand technical education and industrial training to meet the labour market requirements. This article explores the training and development strategies and practices in Saudi Arabia.
Canberra: a sheep in wolf’s clothing
Authors: Colombijn Freek
Published: March 2003

Canberra, the capital of the Commonwealth of Australia, was built as a symbol of a new nation. The city’s symbolism is dominated by an optic axis, provided by the masterplan of Walter Burley Griffin. The dominant message of the objects at the poles of this axis, the Parliament House and the War Memorial, is nationalism. The Parliament House brings the nation together at one point and the War Memorial specifies that the Australian national is tough, resourceful, and comradely. By its reference to heroic deeds in wartime, the War Memorial gives a belligerent message in an otherwise peaceful landscape. Women and spiritual religions are conspicuously absent from Canberra. There is a remarkable tolerance towards other nations leaving their symbolic footprint in Canberra.

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Canberra, la capitale du Commonwealth d’Australie, fut construite comme symbole de la nation. Le symbolisme de la ville est dominé par un axe optique, d’après le plan d’ensemble détaillé de Walter Burley Griffin. Le message dominant des objets aux extrémités de cet axe, le Parlement et le monument aux morts, est le nationalisme. Le Parlement rassemble la nation à un point donné, et le monument aux morts spécifie que l’australien est tenace, ingénieux, et amical. Le monument aux morts rappelle des actes de guerre héroïıques et envoie un message belligérant dans un paysage autrement tranquille. Les femmes et les religions spirituelles sont très manifestement absentes de Canberra. Il y a une tolérance remarquable envers les autres nations qui ont laissé leur empreinte symbolique sur Canberra.
Characteristics and Origins of the Comecon Open‐air Market in Hungary
Authors: Czakó Ágnes , Sik Endre
Published: March 2003

This paper looks at the evolution of the open‐air marketplace in Hungary in terms of the theory of path‐dependent development. The current post‐communist open‐air market has its origins in the economic peculiarities of the former communist distribution and production system and still bears many of these characteristics. The paper traces the distinctive ways in which this shaped open‐air trading in Hungary. Drawing upon historical and anthropological evidence, the paper also shows how open‐air markets had their roots in an even earlier pre‐communist period which shaped the path of development which they subsequently took. The second half of the paper draws upon a unique empirical study of four markets in four towns in Hungary in the post‐communist period to look in more detail at what are the characteristics of these open‐air markets. The paper considers to what extent open‐air markets have characteristics which can be found anywhere in the world and to what extent they are specific to the post‐communist situation.

Cet article explore le développement des marchés en plein air en Hongrie à partir de la théorie du sentier de dépendance. Le marché en plein air post‐communiste actuel a ses origines dans les particularités économiques de l’ancien système communiste de distribution et de production et en garde de nombreuses caractéristiques. Cet article retrace comment ceci a modelé de façon distinctive le commerce en plein air en Hongrie. Utilisant des données historiques et anthropologiques, cet article montre aussi que les marchés en plein air avaient leurs origines dans une période pré‐communiste antérieure qui a façonné la voie de développement qu’ils ont prise postérieurement. La seconde partie de l’article utilise une étude empirique unique sur quatre marchés dans quatre villes de Hongrie durant la période post‐communiste afin d’explorer en détail les caractéristiques de ces marchés en plein air. Cet article demande jusqu’à quel point les marchés en plein air ont les caractéristiques que l’on peut trouver partout dans le monde et jusqu’à quel point elles sont spécifiques de la situation post‐communiste.