Youth, Sex, and Government

For nearly twenty-five years, the field of youth studies has employed the same conceptual tools to explain the conduct of young people, tools that inexorably lead to the same recurrent conclusions-youth equals resistance, youth equals alienation, youth equals problem. This book offers a way out of this theoretical Groundhog Day. Starting with the familiar notion of youth subcultures, but also addressing topics such as young women's magazines, 'at risk' youth, anorexia nervosa, and HIV/AIDS programs, this book examines the way in which youth is produced as both a governmental object and a set of practices of the self. Employing the ideas of Foucault, Rose and Mauss, this new approach attempts to reinvigorate what is an important-yet slumbering-area of research.

'Anorexia Nervosa' : asceticism, differentiation, government

This paper looks at the severe fasting practices most commonly found among young women. Almost all explanations for this behaviour centre around the notion of the pathological condition 'anorexia nervosa'. However, food asceticism has a well-documented history, particularly when it concerns religious fasting. In ancient Greece, dietary asceticism constituted an important part of the means by which individuals constructed an acceptable 'self'. Ascetic fasting then later resurfaced at various historical moments and in various different places — such as amongst medieval religious women and, in a broader way, amongst contemporary young women. It is argued that these practices have traditionally formed part of the mechanisms by which differentiation by age and sex occurs. Overall, it is hoped that this analysis will permit not only a different focus on 'anorexia nervosa', but also on some of the ways in which young people become gendered.

Asceticism, differentiation, government : 'anorexia nervosa' as an achievement

As with the ancient Greeks, the `self' is not something to be discovered, it is something to be created. Practices such as ascetic fasting are not expressions of the struggle between the authentic self and the external world, they are the very practices by which a `self' is formed.

Value in Social Marketing : A Qualitative exploration within government health services

Value creation is an area with long-standing importance in the marketing field, yet little is known about the value construct itself. In social marketing, value can be regarded as an incentive for consumers to perform desirable behaviours that lead to bother greater social good and individual benefit. An understanding of customer value in the consumption of social products is an important aspect of designing social marketing interventions that can effectively change social behaviours. This paper uses qualitative data, gathered during depth interviews, to explore the value dimensions women experience from using government-provided breast screening services every two years. Thematic analysis was used in discovering that emotional functional, social and altruistic dimensions of value were present in womens’ experiences with these services as well as in the outcomes from using them.

Stakeholder impact analysis of infrastructure project management in developing countries : a study of perception of project managers in state-owned engineering firms in Vietnam

Construction projects can involve a diverse range of stakeholders and the success of the project depends very much on fulfilling their needs and expectations. It is important, therefore, to identify and recognize project stakeholders and develop a rigorous stakeholder management process. However, limited research has investigated the impact of stakeholders on construction projects in developing countries. A stakeholder impact analysis (SIA), based on an approach developed by Olander (2007), was adopted to investigate the stakeholders' impact on state-owned civil engineering projects in Vietnam. This involved the analysis of a questionnaire survey of 57 project managers to determine the relative importance of different stakeholders. The results show the client to have the highest level of impact on the projects, followed by project managers and the senior management of state-owned engineering firms. The SIA also provides suggestions to project managers in developing and evaluating the stakeholder management process.

Selling education through “culture” : responses to the market by new, non-government schools

The move to a market model of schooling has seen a radical restructuring of the ways schooling is “done” in recent times in Western countries. Although there has been a great deal of work to examine the effects of a market model on local school management (LSM), teachers’ work and university systems, relatively little has been done to examine its effect on parents’ choice of school in the non-government sector in Australia. This study examines the reasons parents give for choosing a non-government school in the outer suburbs of one large city in Australia. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu specifically his ideas on “cultural capital” (1977), this study revealed that parents were choosing the non-government school over the government school to ensure that their children would be provided, through the school’s emphasis on cultural capital, access to a perceived “better life” thus enhancing the potential to facilitate “extraordinary children”, one of the school’s marketing claims.

Conceptions of learning held by upper primary children in government schools in Brunei Darussalam

The current study examined the conceptions of learning held by upper primary children in government schools in Brunei. Previous studies have shown that the conceptions of learning held by students influence the ways in which they approach learning tasks and, in turn, impact on their learning outcomes. However, the majority of these studies were carried out with university and secondary school students, with little research involving primary school children. A phenomenographic research approach was used to describe the qualitatively different ways in which a group of sixteen upper primary children experienced learning in two government schools in Brunei. Data were gathered using scenariobased semi]structured interviews. Iterative cycles of analysis revealed three categories of description depicting three qualitatively different ways in which the children experienced the phenomenon. The three categories of description were: learning as acquiring information (Category 1), learning as remembering information (Category 2) and learning as doing hands]on activities (Category 3). These categories indicate a variation in the ways in which upper primary children experience learning in government schools in Brunei. The conceptions of learning held by the children provide a platform from which educators and policy]makers can consider possibilities for meaningful learning in government schools in Brunei.

Optimal monitoring in family-owned companies? Evidence from Asia

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Issue: We propose that high levels of monitoring are not always in the best interests of minority shareholders. In family-owned companies the optimal level of board monitoring required by minority shareholders is expected to be lower than that of other companies. This is because the relative benefits and costs of monitoring are different in family-owned companies. Research Findings: At moderate levels of board monitoring, we find concave relationships between board monitoring variables and firm performance for family-owned companies but not for other companies. The optimal level of board monitoring for our sample of Asian family-owned companies equates to board independence of 38%, separation of the Chairman and CEO positions and establishment of audit and remuneration committees. Additional testing shows that the optimal level of board monitoring is sensitive to the magnitude of the agency conflict between the family group and minority shareholders and the presence of substitute monitoring. Practitioner/Policy Implications: For policymakers, the results show that more monitoring is not always in the best interests of minority shareholders. Therefore, it may be inappropriate for regulators to advise all companies to follow the same set of corporate governance guidelines. However, our results also indicate that the board governance practices of family-owned companies are still well below the identified optimal levels. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Board Independence, Board of Directors, Family Firms, Monitoring.

Freedom of information implications of information sharing networks for critical infrastructure protection

Protection of “critical infrastructure” has become a major issue for govern- ments worldwide. Yet in Australia, as in many other countries, including the United States, an estimated 90% of critical infrastructure is privately owned or operated commercially – in other words, critical infrastructure protection is not the exclusive domain of government. As a result, information sharing between government and the private sector has become a vitally important component of effective risk management. However, establishing effective arrangements of this kind between the public and private sector needs to take account of existing regimes of access and public disclosure which relate to government-held documents; in particular, that which is established by freedom of information (FOI) legislation. This article examines the extent to which the current Commonwealth FOI regime is likely to act as an impediment to the private sector operators of critical infrastructure participat- ing in government-operated information sharing arrangements. By examining developments in other jurisdictions, principally the United States, the article considers whether amendments to the current Australian FOI regime are necessary to ensure effective participation, consistent with the underlying object and purpose of FOI.

Defining the public interests in airport development decision-making

Residents, businesses, local, state and national government stakeholders all want to have their say when airports expand or develop. While stakeholder engagement is increasingly a strategy employed for managing the tensions attracted to airport development, different stakeholders have different expectations and demands of airports. This requires different approaches to stakeholder engagement. Identifying the public interests that are at stake in developing airports provides an initial step towards building a platform for selecting and applying stakeholder engagement strategies in airport and more general infrastructure contexts. This paper uses the existing literature of public interests and values to build a general typology of public values for the stakeholders of airport development. A range of semi-privatised and state owned airport case studies from Europe have been used to demonstrate the universal nature of the identified values. The result is a framework that identifies both the substantive and procedural values, separated into local, state/regional and national levels of interest. The typology provides a generalised view of public interests in airport development; however, the public interests identified may be limited to more western oriented societies due to the skew of airport cases reviewed. Contributions are made to the literature with a typology of public values derived from existing knowledge and explored using empirical case examples. The provided typology enables research of airport development decision-making to delineate public interests both within and between stakeholder groups, and helps to explain the different perspectives that stakeholders have towards airport development. Future research may focus on refining the typology for different types of airport governance structures, such as differences between public values in state and market-led airport development; include more airport cases from eastern societies to draw parallels or differences between western and eastern societies; or utilise the typology as a framework for analysing changes in public interests of airports over time.

Queensland government agency libraries review : literature review

Dr Gillian Hallam is project leader for the Queensland Government Agency Libraries Review. As an initial step in the project, a literature review was commissioned to guide the research activities and inform the development of options for potential future service delivery models for the Government agency libraries. The review presents an environmental scan and review of the professional and academic literature to consider a range of current perspectives on library and information services. Significant in this review is the focus on the specific issues and challenges impacting on contemporary government libraries and their staff. The review incorporates four key areas: current directions in government administration; trends in government library services; issues in contemporary special libraries; and the skills and competencies of special librarians. Rather than representing an exhaustive review, the research has primarily centred on recent journal articles, conference papers, reports and web resources. Commentary prepared by national and international library associations has also played a role informing this review, as does the relevant State and Federal government documentation and reporting.

The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism:Globalization, Identity, Culture and Government

The dream of a cosmopolitical utopia has been around for thousands of years. Yet the promise of being locally situated and at the same time globally connected and mobile has never seemed more possible than it is today. The question remains as to whether it is positive and realistic for us to have multiple loyalties. Can we sustain community and solidarity with our neighbours while we look beyond our nation? And if we can't - or won't – consider distant strangers as part of our own world, are there increasingly dire consequences? This book reconnects classical sociological theory and contemporary ideas on mobility, otherness, material assemblages, consumption and surveillance to render the idea of a global cosmopolitan utopia amenable to sociological investigation. The book takes a realistic approach to the development of cosmopolitical arrangements. It embraces the imaginative impulses the cosmopolitan dream provides, but takes into account the political, ethical and cultural dimensions of such cosmopolitan developments. In revisiting the relevance of classical sociological approaches in the context of contemporary theoretical challenges, the distinctive approach this book takes to understanding cosmopolitanism will be of use to scholars and students alike.

A summary view of government cost recovery policies in Australia and New Zealand relating to the supply of public sector information

Researching administrative history is problematical. A trail of authoritative documents is often hard to find; and useful summaries can be difficult to organise, especially if source material is in paper formats in geographically dispersed locations. In the absence of documents, the reasons for particular decisions and the rationale underpinning particular policies can be confounded as key personnel advance in their professions and retire. The rationale for past decisions may be lost for practical purposes; and if an organisation’s memory of events is diminished, its learning through experience is also diminished. Publishing this document tries to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort by other researchers that need to venture into how policies of charging for public sector information have been justified. The author compiled this work within a somewhat limited time period and the work does not pretend to be a complete or comprehensive analysis of the issues.----- A significant part of the role of government is to provide a framework of legally-enforceable rights and obligations that can support individuals and non-government organisations in their lawful activities. Accordingly, claims that governments should be more ‘business-like’ need careful scrutiny. A significant supply of goods and services occurs as non-market activity where neither benefits nor costs are quantified within conventional accounting systems or in terms of money. Where a government decides to provide information as a service; and information from land registries is archetypical, the transactions occur as a political decision made under a direct or a clearly delegated authority of a parliament with the requisite constitutional powers. This is not a market transaction and the language of the market confuses attempts to describe a number of aspects of how governments allocate resources.----- Cost recovery can be construed as an aspect of taxation that is a sole prerogative of a parliament. The issues are fundamental to political constitutions; but they become more complicated where states cede some taxing powers to a central government as part of a federal system. Nor should the absence of markets be construed necessarily as ‘market failure’ or even ‘government failure’. The absence is often attributable to particular technical, economic and political constraints that preclude the operation of markets. Arguably, greater care is needed in distinguishing between the polity and markets in raising revenues and allocating resources; and that needs to start by removing unhelpful references to ‘business’ in the context of government decision-making.