The partial turn to politics in plural policing studies

White, Adam (2010), The politics of private security (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan) Abrahamsen, Rita and Williams, Michael C. (2011), Security beyond the state: Private security in international politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Albrecht, Peter and Kyed, Helene M. (Eds.) (2015), Policing and the politics of order-making (Abingdon: Routledge) Policing is an essentially contested term. At its simplest, it involves organized order maintenance, peace keeping, rule or law enforcement, crime investigation and prevention, and other forms of investigation and associated information brokering, which may involve the conscious exercise of coercive power (Newburn, 2008, p. 217). But policing is also highly political and it entails practices, discourses, arrangements and modes of governance that define the very nature of state-society relations and affect how power is exercised, by whom, and for whose benefit. Critical criminologists have long engaged with the politics of policing and explained, for example, how the state, the police or a social class frame understandings of crime to sustain power relations skewed in regards to class, gender and race (Crowther, 2000; DeKeseredy, 2010; Grover, 2008; Neocleous, 2000). The attention to the politics of policing, however, has not been fully replicated by the scholars that, in the last decades, have left behind a state-centred

What Makes Entrepreneurs Happy? Determinants of Satisfaction Among Founders

This study empirically investigates factors influencing satisfaction levels of founders of new ventures, using a representative sample of 1,107 Dutch founders. We relate entrepreneurial satisfaction (with income, psychological burden and leisure time) to firm performance, motivation and human capital. Founders with high levels of specific human capital are more satisfied with income than those with high levels of general human capital. Intrinsic motivation and that of combining responsibilities lowers stress and leads to more satisfaction with leisure time. Women are more satisfied with their income than men, even though they have a lower average monthly turnover

Metformin and the gastrointestinal tract

Metformin is an effective agent with a good safety profile that is widely used as a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes, yet its mechanisms of action and variability in terms of efficacy and side effects remain poorly understood. Although the liver is recognised as a major site of metformin pharmacodynamics, recent evidence also implicates the gut as an important site of action. Metformin has a number of actions within the gut. It increases intestinal glucose uptake and lactate production, increases GLP-1 concentrations and the bile acid pool within the intestine, and alters the microbiome. A novel delayed-release preparation of metformin has recently been shown to improve glycaemic control to a similar extent to immediate-release metformin, but with less systemic exposure. We believe that metformin response and tolerance is intrinsically linked with the gut. This review examines the passage of metformin through the gut, and how this can affect the efficacy of metformin treatment in the individual, and contribute to the side effects associated with metformin intolerance

Representational predicaments for employees: Their impact on perceptions of supervisors\u27 individualized consideration and on employee job satisfaction

A representational predicament for a subordinate vis-à-vis his or her immediate superior involves perceptual incongruence with the superior about the subordinate\u27s work or work context, with unfavourable implications for the employee. An instrument to measure the incidence of two types of representational predicament, being neglected and negative slanting, was developed and then validated through an initial survey of 327 employees. A subsequent substantive survey with a fresh sample of 330 employees largely supported a conceptual model linking being neglected and negative slanting to perceptions of low individualized consideration by superiors and to low overall job satisfaction. The respondents in both surveys were all Hong Kong Chinese. Two case examples drawn from qualitative interviews illustrate and support the conceptual model. Based on the research findings, we recommend some practical exercises to use in training interventions with leaders and subordinates. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Toward the political economy of plural policing: Taking stock of a burgeoning literature

In the past two decades, a burgeoning plural policing literature has refocused the attention on the plurality of sponsors and providers that populate policing landscapes throughout the world. This article coheres and advances this research agenda in two ways. It provides the first critical examination of its conceptual and theoretical achievements, while also highlighting important gaps that remain in explaining how struggles over the political economy affect plural policing and vice versa. This requires applying political economy questions about power and resources to policing—“how,” by “whom,” and especially for “whose” benefit policing is delivered—and conceptualizing policing as one aspect of state–society relations. The article further elucidates strengths and weaknesses of the plural policing literature in a case study of Indonesia’s contemporary plural policing landscape. The importance of plural policing goes beyond academic endeavor. Indeed, plural policing is ubiquitous throughout the world and affects how security is provided, and power exercised, in most social realms whether at local, national or international level. It is thus a phenomenon difficult to ignore for comparative politics, IR scholars, and policymakers alike

Beyond Copenhagen: The political economy of securitising “Outside Influences” in Bali

Securitisation theory has contributed greatly to critical security studies. However, the Copenhagen School’s focus on discursive analysis fails to answer the “so what” question of why issues are securitised and for whose benefit. This article contends that more nuanced explanations can be provided by taking seriously the political economy context within which the process of securitisation is embedded. The article has two aims. First, it contributes to further refining securitisation theory by embedding Balzacq’s pragmatic act – which implies that securitising actors gain the assent of an audience based on a shared view of vulnerabilities – within a broad social conflict analysis. This latter can explain the socio-political struggles that create popular support for securitisation, and what social groups benefit from it. Second, it contributes to explanations of Bali’s contemporary political economy by operationalising the refined approach to explain how struggles over the spoils of tourism have created a receptive audience among a cross-class section of Balinese for the securitisation of “outside influences” – a euphemism for migrants, non-local investors and Western cultural influences. Securitisation has resulted in conservative elite groups marginalising progressive voices; “traditional” institutions being favoured in accessing state resources; and in a policing landscape in which migrants are harassed and exploited

Why Justice Matters In Compensation Decision Making

Using agency theory and the stakeholder fairness concept as the conceptual base, this study confirmed three agency theory hypotheses about differential relationships between four sets of pay procedures and evaluations of pay, supervision and the employing organization. Education and seniority related variables were also found to moderate the relationships between procedural justice perceptions and evaluations of supervision and the employing organization. The study used a stratified random sample of 612 occupationally heterogeneous employees of a large County government in South Eastern United States. Results suggest that agency theory provides a parsimonious explanation for why justice matters in compensation decision making

International Intervention and Local Politics

NoInternational peace- and state-building interventions have become ubiquitous in international politics since the 1990s, aiming to tackle the security problems stemming from the instability afflicting many developing states. Their frequent failures have prompted a shift towards analysing how the interaction between interveners and recipients shapes outcomes. This book critically assesses the rapidly growing literature in international relations and development studies on international intervention and local politics. It advances an innovative approach, placing the politics of scale at the core of the conflicts and compromises shaping the outcomes of international intervention. Different scales - local, national, international - privilege different interests, unevenly allocating power, resources and political opportunity structures. Interveners and recipients thus pursue scalar strategies and socio-political alliances that reinforce their power and marginalise rivals. This approach is harnessed towards examining three prominent case studies of international intervention - Aceh, Cambodia and Solomon Islands - with a focus on public administration reform