Digital Commons Network^™

Theorising Political Legitimisation: From Stasis To Processes, Paddy Dolan, Stephen Vertigans, John Connolly

Articles

Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasian perspective, we argue for a more processual concept of legitimisation to encompass the dynamic social networks (figurations) that constitute the more unintentional context for deliberate legitimation claims. As networks expand and intensify, …

Rejoinder To Book Review Of "Rural Transformations And Rural Crime", Matt Bowden, Alistair Harkness

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A review of a book we edited, Rural Transformations and Rural Crime (Bowden & Harkness, 2022) was published in Volume 32, Issue 3 of Rural Society (Scott, 2023) in December 2023. The review makes two key but highly misleading charges. The first is an intimation that rural criminology is dominated by a clique of scholars; and second that the book by and large lacks critical analysis to the reviewer's liking. The reviewer provides a glimpse of a broad analysis of the field and adopts an independently minded position. Indeed, some observations and claims are made that should rightly be part …

Falsely Shouting Fire, Genevieve Lakier, Evelyn Douek

Articles

Research on legal diffusion typically focuses on laws’ initial adoption and ignores their later evolution. We develop a typology of three subsequent diffusion patterns: convergence, when countries revise laws to move closer to leading regulators; customization, when countries revise laws to move away from leading regulators; and stagnation, when countries cease legislating, leaving initially adopted laws in place. We then propose a general theory suggesting that economic size and geographic distance from leading regulators predict which of the three patterns countries follow. We explore this theory with case studies on the dynamic diffusion of antitrust laws in Russia, Colombia, and …

The Role (And Limits) Of Developmental Neuroscience In Determining Adolescents’ Autonomy Rights: The Case For Reproductive And Voting Rights, Emily Buss, Julie Maslowsky, Laura Wray-Lake

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No abstract provided.

Dynamic Diffusion, Adam Chilton, Anu Bradford, Katerina Linos

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Research on legal diffusion typically focuses on laws’ initial adoption and ignores their later evolution. We develop a typology of three subsequent diffusion patterns: convergence, when countries revise laws to move closer to leading regulators; customization, when countries revise laws to move away from leading regulators; and stagnation, when countries cease legislating, leaving initially adopted laws in place. We then propose a general theory suggesting that economic size and geographic distance from leading regulators predict which of the three patterns countries follow. We explore this theory with case studies on the dynamic diffusion of antitrust laws in Russia, Colombia, and …

The North Of Ireland During The Interregnum: A Gramcian Analysis Of Power And Crisis, Chris Ó'Rálaigh

Articles

The North of Ireland was induced in to existence over a century ago, yet the polity lacked societal-wide legitimacy. The outbreak of conflict in 1968 signalled the beginning of an interregnal period in which the old order was substantially challenged. Whilst the Good Friday Agreement was idealised as an end to this interregnum, Brexit has re-opened the battle for politico-ideological supremacy. This paper traces the contours of the hegemony-seeking strategies of the various political actors from 1968-present and assesses whether we are in the crucial and final phase of the organic crisis of the North of Ireland.

Social Care Managers' Perspectives On Statutory Registration Of Social Care Workers In Ireland, Audrey Moore, Kevin Lalor

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The focus of this paper is social care managers' views on the impact of the statutory registration of social care workers in Ireland. The findings suggest that registration is welcomed by social care managers who believe that it will impact positively on societal recognition of social care workers as professionals and that it will improve accountability within the sector. However, the findings also suggest that there is confusion regarding information about registration and issues remain in the sector regarding multiplicity of titles, roles, and duties of social care workers. We conclude that the opening of the register is only a …

Social Sustainability In Event Management: A Critical Commentary, Judith Mair, Emma Wood, Bernadette Quinn

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This critical commentary focuses on the development of research in Event Management on social sustainability in the context of events. Findings suggest that while there has been a plethora of articles published in the journal that touch on elements of what we understand to relate to social sustainability (e.g., resident impacts; sense of community, place, belonging, etc.) there are very few that have explicitly situated their work in the sustainability field. This means that it is somewhat difficult to pull together the various threads of disparate studies to comment on the evolution of research on events and social sustainability as …

The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement And Transformative Change: Promise, Power And Solidarity, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

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In 2023 the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement marks its twenty-fifth anniversary. For many the Agreement projects a global image of a successfully concluded end to conflict. However, key aspects of the agreement remain under-enforced or simply undelivered: in particular, provisions related to significant and wide-ranging guarantees addressing human rights and equality of opportunity. As a result, socio-economic and cultural deficits persist, undermining the capacity to achieve a ‘positive peace’. In this article we address the question of how transformative the Agreement and associated reforms have been in addressing the root causes of the conflict and the structures that underpinned it. …

Second, But Not Last: Competition With Positive Spillovers, Francesco Parisi

Articles

This paper extends the traditional rent-seeking model to consider contests in which the effects of the contestants’ efforts are externally unproductive (i.e., redistributive) but internally productive (i.e., with positive spillover effects on other contestants). Our results show that when players act sequentially, the presence of positive spillovers on other contestants may reduce, or even reverse, the first-mover’s advantage. A second-mover advantage is very likely to arise. Notably, in contests with multiple players, the second-mover advantage does not unravel into a last-mover advantage. Players want to be second, but not last. The comparative statics analysis shows how the strength of positive …

Legal Endearment: An Unmarked Barrier To Transforming Policing, Public Safety, And Security, Emmanuel Mauleón

Articles

The problems of racialized policing have come into renewed focus over the past decade. The advent of viral bystander videos has not only forced a popular confrontation with moments of both routine and extraordinary policing violence but also sparked protests, uprisings, and grassroots movements to challenge current practices in policing and determine what must be done to transform it. And yet, even after the mobilization of one of the largest racial justice movements in American history, transformative change remains elusive. This Article offers an answer to this puzzle by foregrounding White people’s collective relationship with policing and describing how this …

Institutional Flexibility In Tax Law And Enforcement, Claire Hill, Francesco Parisi, Emanuela Carbonara, Philip A. Curry

Articles

This paper examines how governments can optimally audit to discourage tax avoidance. We assume that an accounting firm designs and promotes strategies for tax avoidance. This firm adapts the quality and diversity of these strategies in response to shifts in government policies. We investigate when it is more effective to approve some methods while cracking down on others, rather than targeting all tax-avoidance activities uniformly. We find that selectively enforcing against specific methods can be optimal. This approach not only reduces the quality but also limits the variety of tax avoidance activities in the market and positively impacts the government’s …

Fatherhood, Family Law, And The Crisis Of Boys And Men, June Carbone, Clare Huntington

Articles

Boys and men in all racial and ethnic groups and across most socioeconomic groups are struggling on many fronts, including education, employment, physical and mental health, and social integration. In these areas and more, boys and men are much worse off than they were only a few decades ago. The crisis—which is concentrated among men without college degrees—is rooted in large-scale structural changes to the economy that have decimated jobs for this group and policy choices that emphasize incarceration while doing little to address economic inequality.

The decline in male well-being is not just a problem for boys and men. …

Bureaucratic Autonomy And The Policymaking Capacity Of United States Agencies, 1998-2021, Nicholas Bednar

Articles

Despite a renewed interest in the health of the US administrative state, the absence of meaningful time-series measures of bureaucratic capacity hinders the testing of core theories of bureaucratic and executive politics. Using over 190 million personnel records, I estimate 5590 yearly policymaking-capacity scores for 261 unique agencies from 1998 to 2021. These measures provide an invaluable tool as either an independent or dependent variable in studies of administrative policymaking. To illustrate the value of these measures, I test longstanding theories about the relationship between bureaucratic autonomy and capacity. In contrast with emerging survey research, this study demonstrates that agencies …

Race, Racial Bias, And Imputed Liability Murder, Perry Moriearty, Kat Albrecht, Caitlin Glass

Articles

Even within the sordid annals of American crime and punishment, the doctrines of felony murder and accomplice liability murder stand out. Because they allow states to impose their harshest punishments on defendants who never intended, anticipated, or even caused death, legal scholars have long questioned their legitimacy. What surprisingly few scholars have addressed, however, is who bears the brunt.

This Article is one of the first to explore the racialized impact of the two most controversial and ubiquitous forms of what we call “imputed liability murder.” An analysis of ten years of murder prosecutions in the state of Minnesota reveals …

The Right To Fail, Alexander Boni-Saenz

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In 2013, the Department of Justice entered into a consent decree with the state of New York concerning the lives of 4,000 people with mental illness who had been segregated into group homes in the state. These group homes were overcrowded and dangerous, and New York agreed to move all but the most severely mentally ill people into supportive housing, if they desired it. This outcome was seen as vindicating the dignity of risk, a foundational value of disability rights scholarship and politics. This principle holds that it is normatively desirable for individuals to be able to make their own …

Moves & Rules: Addressing The Puzzle Of Social Rule-Following, Alma Diamond

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I explore a puzzle at the heart of the so-called ‘practice theory of rules’: how can rules, operating as normative standards, be determined by the very actions they govern? I demonstrate how this puzzle has shaped criticism of the practice theory and limited its ability to account for mistake and disagreement within social practices. I identify the reason for these difficulties: an exclusive focus on individual deliberative attitudes which ignores the dynamic interaction between plural and individual deliberation within social practices. Drawing on recent work in social ontology, I construct a framework to capture this dynamism. I distinguish between two …

‘Les Noirs Ne Sont Pas Des Cuisiniers, C'Est Des Plongeurs!': Exploring The Lived Experience Of Migrant Cooks In Paris, Siobhán Gough, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

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A global shortage of chefs and cooks currently exists within the hospitality industry, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Migrant cooks are essential to the culinary industry, yet remain relatively anonymous within the academic literature, a research gap which this original paper seeks to address. Using a phenomenological epistemology, combined with the theoretical framework of hospitality and practice theory, this qualitative research focused on investigating the lived experience of the professional lives and identities of immigrant cooks working in Paris, France, the birthplace of the restaurant. Extant literature was reviewed, and a focus group with migrant cooks explored themes within and …

Assemblages And Actor Networks In The Borderlands - The Apposition Of Reproductive Rights Along The Mexican-American Border, Madeleine M. Plasencia

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In 1971, Sarah Weddington argued Roe v. Wade as a class action on behalf of pregnant women living in Texas, many of whom, including herself had to flee the State to obtain an abortion in Mexico. In 2021, Texas enacted S. B. 8, otherwise known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, which created a private cause of action for injunctive relief and statutory damages awards against any person assisting in and any physician accused of performing an abortion, thus reigniting the cross-border flows that historically have made Mexico a haven for runaway enslaved people and pregnant persons heading south to freedom. …

The Role Of Interpersonal Conflict As A Cause Of Work-Related Stress In Construction Managers In Ireland, Patrick J. Bruce, Victor Hrymak, Carol M. Bruce Dr, Joseph Byrne

Articles

Construction is a project-driven industry that places a high premium on product delivery on time, within budget and to required standards. Modern construction projects have become more complex in nature, the complex relational and lengthy process of designing and building makes construction a process in which conflict is virtually ensured (Jaffar et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2023). These characteristics of the industry contribute to workplace stress. Therefore, it is not surprising that research has confirmed a strong presence of workplace stress within the industry, (Lingard and Francis, 2004; Vaux and Dority, 2020). Many construction managers experience excessive levels of …

Politicizing Antisemitism Amidst Today's Educational Culture Wars, Lili Levi

Articles

The traditional narrative of American Jewry emphasizes American exceptionalism with respect to antisemitism. But there have been clear signs of a resurgence of public antisemitism in the United States even before the massive rise in antisemitic expression and incidents associated with the Israel-Hamas war of fall 2023.

One of the notable aspects of the rise and normalization of antisemitic expression is the deployment of antisemitism as a political tool. For example, in addition to Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of complicity in antisemitism, both federal policy since the Trump era and state anti-antisemitism legislation have targeted campus antisemitism in …

A Critical Race Theory Analysis Of Critical Race Theory Bans, Caroline Mala Corbin

Articles

A majority of state legislatures have introduced bills prohibiting public schools from teaching certain "divisive concepts" attributed to critical race theory (CRT), with at least fifteen states successfully enacting them. This Article applies a critical race theory analysis to these critical race theory bans, finding that the bans embody white privilege and especially its companion, white fragility.

After providing a primer on critical race theory, Part I explains how the state bans profoundly misunderstand critical race theory, which focuses on how systems and institutions reproduce racial inequality. These bans, however, assume that racism is individual, intentional, and rare, and that …

Valuing Social Data, Amanda Parsons, Salome Viljoen

Articles

Social data production—accumulating, processing, and using large volumes of data about people—is a unique form of value creation that characterizes the digital economy. Social data production also presents critical challenges for the legal regimes that encounter it. This Article provides scholars and policymakers with the tools to comprehend this new form of value creation through two descriptive contributions. First, it presents a theoretical account of social data, a mode of production that is cultivated and exploited for two distinct (albeit related) forms of value: prediction value and exchange value. Second, it creates and defends a taxonomy of three “scripts” that …

Research Access To Social Media Data: Lessons From Clinical Trial Data Sharing, Christopher J. Morten, Gabriel Nicholas, Salomé Vilgoen

Articles

For years, social media companies have sparred with lawmakers over how much independent access to platform data they should provide researchers. Sharing data with researchers allows the public to better understand the risks and harms associated with social media, including areas such as misinformation, child safety, and political polarization. Yet researcher access is controversial. Privacy advocates and companies raise the potential privacy threats of researchers using such data irresponsibly. In addition, social media companies raise concerns over trade secrecy: the data these companies hold and the algorithms powered by that data are secretive sources of competitive advantage. This Article shows …

Sails Symposium Launch On International Law Scholarship: What We Write, Where We Publish, And Why It Matters, Kathleen Claussen, Melissa J. Durkee, Rebecca Ingber, Steven Arrigg Koh

Articles

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Food Insecurity Among Caregivers Of Young Children During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Ireland, Elizabeth J. O'Sullivan, Caoimhe Daly, Aileen Kennedy

Articles

Our objectives were to explore the prevalence of food insecurity in primary caregivers of young children in Ireland and to compare two tools for measuring food insecurity during the COVID-19 crisis. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among caregivers of children aged <2 years in Ireland in May/June 2020. Relevant survey questions were closed-ended using two established tools for measuring food poverty/insecurity; the Irish Food Poverty Indicator and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the prevalence of food poverty/insecurity. To explore agreement in the classification of food insecurity by the Food Poverty Indicator and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, Cohen's κ was used. Analyses are based on 716 participants; most had a 3rd-level education and were married or in a partnership. Per the food poverty index, Ireland's national measure of food poverty, 3.9% (n = 28) of our sample were experiencing food poverty. This rose to 10.5% (n = 75) experiencing food insecurity when using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, which also measures worry/anxiety around access to food. There was low agreement between the tools, with 11.3% of the sample classified as food secure by one tool and food insecure by the other. Our current measure of food poverty in Ireland may not be sufficient to describe the food-access struggles or worry/anxiety about food access, experienced by the population, particularly during an emergency like COVID-19.

Outcomes Of The Leap Feasibility Trial—A Low-Threshold, Exercise Programme With Protein Supplementation To Target Frailty And Poor Physical Functioning In People Experiencing Homelessness And Addiction Issues, Fiona Kennedy, Clíona Ní Cheallaigh, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Suzanne L. Doyle, Julie Broderick

Articles

Background People experiencing homelessness are more likely to experience poor health with physical functioning deficits and frailty commonly reported. It is not well known how strategies to target physical functioning deficits and frailty work in practice in this group. The primary aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of an exercise intervention with protein supplementation to target physical functioning and frailty in people experiencing homelessness evaluated by recruitment and retention rates, adherence to the exercise sessions and protein supplement, adverse effects, programme feedback and characteristics of non-returners, sporadic and frequent attenders. The secondary aim was to evaluate changes …

The Motherhood Penalty In The United Kingdom: An Unconditional Quantile Regression Analysis, Abhijit Sharma, Stefano Grillini, Richard Woodward

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No abstract provided.

The Forthcoming General Election In The Republic Of Ireland: Winds Of (Left-Wing) Change Or Plus Ça Change?, Chris O'Ralaigh

Articles

The forthcoming general election will be the most consequential electoral contest for the Republic of Ireland in a century. The polity is situated in truly novel territory with the potential for an historic first: the incoming of a Sinn Féin-led, left-wing government. Any such government would portend change in the North of Ireland, symbolising a critical juncture on the path towards the ending of partition. Analysing electoral and ideological shifts across the post-2008 period, this article examines the immediate prospects for the coming to power of a left-wing government and an historic first in Irish politics.

Data Justice In Education: Toward A Research Agenda, Luci Pangrazio, Glenn Auld, Julianne Lynch, Carly Sawatzki, Gavin Duffy, Shelley Hannigan, Jo O'Mara

Articles

Educational institutions increasingly rely on digital platforms to deliver content and learning, monitor attendance, communicate with stakeholders, and evaluate institutional performance. Despite the efficiency and accessibility gains they offer, digital platforms are powered by personal data which, through a process of datafication, can be used to track, monitor, and profile staff and students. The insights drawn from this data can be used to shape educational and professional futures. This article examines how datafication has become a social justice issue in education, discussing the implications for well-being, decision-making, governance, and power in education. Using Hintz and colleagues framework for data justice, …