Responsible participation and housing: restoring democratic theory to the scene

Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of ‘community’ housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated – that, in particular, ‘community’ housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision-making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy

The paradox of tenant empowerment: regulatory and liberatory possibilities

Tenant empowerment has traditionally been regarded as a means of realising democratic ideals: a quantitative increase in influence and control, which thereby enables "subjects" to acquire the fundamental properties of "citizens". By contrast governmentality, as derived from the work of Michel Foucault, offers a more critical appraisal of the concept of empowerment by highlighting how it is itself a mode of subjection and a means of regulating human conduct towards particular ends. Drawing on particular data about how housing governance has changed in Glasgow following its 2003 stock transfer, this paper adopts the insights of governmentality to illustrate how the political ambition of "community ownership" has been realized through the mobilization and shaping of active tenant involvement in the local decision making process. In addition, it also traces the tensions and conflict inherent in the reconfiguration of power relations post-transfer for "subjects" do not necessarily conform to the plans of those that seek to govern them

The road beyond licensing: the impact of a driver licensing support program on employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Background With increasingly tough graduated driver licensing laws in all Australian States and Territories, driver licensing support programs are recognised as being important to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to obtain a driver licence. Such programs appear to improve licensing attainment rates, but few studies have examined the broader impact that these programs can have. This research aims to 1) examine the impact of a New South Wales (NSW) based driver licensing support program (Driving Change) on client employment outcomes; 2) assess the influence of geographical area of program delivery on driver licence attainment. Methods Driving Change was delivered from February 2013 to August 2016 in 4 urban and 7 regional Aboriginal communities of NSW. Clients were followed-up at 6 months or more following contact with the program as part of routine program operations. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used to analyse data. Results From 933 clients contacted 254 agreed to provide feedback, a response rate of 27%. Those that responded were mostly female (57%), aged 24 years and under (72%), unemployed (85%) with secondary education or less (71%) and from a regional area (74%). Adjusted logistic regression indicated that clients who achieved an independent licence were more likely (OR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.22–5.24, p = 0.011) of reporting a new job or change in job than those who did not attain a licence. Clients from regional areas were more likely (OR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.27–2.33, p < 0.001) to gain an independent licence than those from urban areas. There was no difference in employment outcomes (OR: 1.2, 95% CI: 0.53–2.52, p = 0.719) for clients from urban compared to regional areas. Conclusion The Driving Change program appears to be effective in improving employment outcomes for those who gained a licence. Clients from regional areas were more likely to gain a licence compared to those in urban settings, and were predominantly young and unemployed, often a hard to reach cohort. Future licensing programs being delivered in regional areas need integrated pathways into employment opportunities to provide holistic services that address the social and economic challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Distribution of mtDNA haplotypes in North-Atlantic humpback whales:The influence of behavior on population structure

Samples from 136 humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae, representing 5 feeding aggregations in the North Atlantic and 1 in the Antarctic, were analyzed with respect to the sequence variation in the mitochondrial (mt) control region. A total of 288 base pairs was sequenced by direct sequencing of asymmetrically amplified DNA. Thirty-one different haplotypes were identified. The nucleotide diversity for the total sample was estimated to be 2.6 %, which is high relative to other North Atlantic cetaceans. The degree of genetic differentiation in various subsets of the samples was estimated and tested for statistical significance by Monte Carlo simulations. Significant degrees of heterogeneity were found between the Antarctic and all North Atlantic areas, as well as between Iceland and the western North Atlantic samples. A genealogical tree was estimated for the 31 haplotypes and rooted with the homologous sequence from a fin whale Balaenoptera physalus. The branching pattern in the genealogical tree suggests that the North Atlantic Ocean has been populated by 2 independent influxes of humpback whales. The combined results from the homogeneity tests and the genealogical tree indicate that behaviour (in this case maternally directed site fidelity to a foraging area) can influence the population structure of marine cetaceans on an evolutionary time scale

The road beyond licensing: the impact of a driver licensing support program on employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Background: With increasingly tough graduated driver licensing laws in all Australian States and Territories, driver licensing support programs are recognised as being important to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to obtain a driver licence. Such programs appear to improve licensing attainment rates, but few studies have examined the broader impact that these programs can have. This research aims to 1) examine the impact of a New South Wales (NSW) based driver licensing support program (Driving Change) on client employment outcomes; 2) assess the influence of geographical area of program delivery on driver licence attainment. Methods: Driving Change was delivered from February 2013 to August 2016 in 4 urban and 7 regional Aboriginal communities of NSW. Clients were followed-up at 6 months or more following contact with the program as part of routine program operations. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used to analyse data. Results: From 933 clients contacted 254 agreed to provide feedback, a response rate of 27%. Those that responded were mostly female (57%), aged 24 years and under (72%), unemployed (85%) with secondary education or less (71%) and from a regional area (74%). Adjusted logistic regression indicated that clients who achieved an independent licence were more likely (OR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.22–5.24, p = 0.011) of reporting a new job or change in job than those who did not attain a licence. Clients from regional areas were more likely (OR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.27–2.33, p < 0.001) to gain an independent licence than those from urban areas. There was no difference in employment outcomes (OR: 1.2, 95% CI: 0.53–2.52, p = 0.719) for clients from urban compared to regional areas. Conclusion: The Driving Change program appears to be effective in improving employment outcomes for those who gained a licence. Clients from regional areas were more likely to gain a licence compared to those in urban settings, and were predominantly young and unemployed, often a hard to reach cohort. Future licensing programs being delivered in regional areas need integrated pathways into employment opportunities to provide holistic services that address the social and economic challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Determining spatial and temporal scales for management: lessons from whaling

Selection of the appropriate management unit is critical to the conservation of animal populations. Defining such units depends upon knowledge of population structure and upon the timescale being considered. Here, we examine the trajectory of eleven subpopulations of five species of baleen whales to investigate temporal and spatial scales in management. These subpopulations were all extirpated by commercial whaling, and no recovery or repopulation has occurred since. In these cases, time elapsed since commercial extinction ranges from four decades to almost four centuries. We propose that these subpopulations did not recover either because cultural memory of the habitat has been lost, because widespread whaling among adjacent stocks eliminated these as sources for repopulation, and/or because segregation following exploitation produced the abandonment of certain areas. Spatial scales associated with the extirpated subpopulations are frequently smaller than those typically employed in management. Overall, the evidence indicates that: (1) the time frame for management should be at most decadal in scope (i.e., \u3c100 yr) and based on both genetic and nongenetic evidence of population substructure, and (2) at least some stocks should be defined on a smaller spatial scale than they currently are

Performativity, fabrication and trust: exploring computer-mediated moderation

Based on research conducted in an English secondary school, this paper explores computer mediated moderation as a performative tool. The Module Assessment Meeting (MAM) was the moderation approach under investigation. I mobilise ethnographic data generated by a key informant, and triangulated with that from other actors in the setting, in order to examine some of the meanings underpinning moderation within a performative environment. Drawing on the work of Ball (2003), Lyotard (1979) and Foucault (1977, 1979), I argue that in this particular case performativity has become entrenched in teachers’ day-to-day practices, and not only affects those practices but also teachers’ sense of self. I suggest that MAM represented performative and fabricated conditions and (re)defined what the key participant experienced as a vital constituent of her educational identities - trust. From examining the case in point, I hope to have illustrated for those interested in teachers’ work some of the implications of the interface between technology and performativity

Banking from Leeds, not London: regional strategy and structure at the Yorkshire Bank, 1859–1952

Industrial philanthropist Edward Akroyd created the Yorkshire Penny Savings Bank in 1859. Despite competition from the Post Office Savings Bank after 1861 and a serious reserve problem in 1911, it sustained his overall strategy to become a successful regional bank. Using archival and contemporary sources to build on recent scholarship illustrating how savings banks were integrated into local economies and the complementary roles of philanthropy and paternalism, we analyse an English regional bank's strategy, including an assessment of strategic innovation, ownership changes and management structure. This will demonstrate that the founder's vision continued, even though the 1911 crisis radically altered both strategy and structure