Donor Complaints About Fundraising: What Are They and Why Should We Care?

The Fund Raising Standards Board is the body responsible for the self-regulation of fundraising practice in the UK. As a requirement of membership of this body, charities are required to complete an annual return detailing the complaints received about their fundraising practice in the previous year. We conduct through this study an analysis of these data to highlight the percentage of solicitations in a wide variety of media that result in a complaint. We also examine the nature of those complaints and interpret our results in the context of the wider literature exploring the role of complaints in bolstering customer/donor satisfaction and determining subsequent behaviour.     

Foreign Aid Transaction Costs: What Are They and When Are They Minimised?

‘Transaction costs’ are commonly referred to in the recent literature on aid effectiveness. Aid transaction costs, however, have been neither consistently defined nor measured. This article defines aid transaction costs as all the economic costs associated with aid management that add no value to aid delivery. This enables the ‘net’ transaction costs that should be minimised to be identified. An analytical framework is then developed for assessing these costs. This allows the effectiveness of different aid modalities to be compared, according to the characteristics of the aid transaction. The article shows that the choice of aid modality should depend on these characteristics and, therefore, that the minimisation of transaction costs should not be an end in itself.     

Turkish Immigrants in Sweden: Are They Integrated?

Many in Europe believe that large numbers of Turkish immigrants have failed to integrate into their host communities. How is this situation in Sweden? We found that most of the Turkish immigrants felt themselves to be Turkish and Sweden was accepted as a foreign country. Turkish‐originated media was followed frequently and strong ties with relatives in Turkey were maintained. Marriage and friendship with native Swedes were not well accepted. We concluded that despite the multicultural aspects of Swedish integration policies, Turkish immigrants in Sweden were not well integrated and they prefer to live within the boundaries of their segregated, closed, small communities.     

The Forum: Therapeutic Politics—An Oxymoron?

In this essay, I explore the connections between the personal and the political, and what those connections suggest for discourse, action, and meaning.     

Why Do They Start It? Explaining Reported Early-Teen Sexual Activity

This paper seeks an account of why young teens initiate consensual sexual activity. It does so by constructing statistical models aimed at distinguishing those who report having initiated sexual activity from those who have not in four samples of eighth graders from an Upstate New York county. Theoretical selection of the model variables is guided by insights from problem syndrome, control and differential association theories. From our findings we conclude the following: (1) Risk behaviors foreseen by the problem syndrome approach, including having used marijuana and having been drunk, are significant, powerful predictors of early-teen sexual activity. (2) The social setting of consensual sexual activity differs by sex at the eighth grade level. For example, having a boyfriend is a more consistent, powerful predictor variable for girls than is having a girlfriend for boys and there is evidence to support the hypothesis that boys initiate sexual activity in the context of status-seeking while girls are more likely to do so as a way of attaining approval. (3) Our findings do not give clear primacy to parents or peers as an influence on early-teen consensual sexual activity. Both control theory, usually associated with parental-influence variables, and differential association theory, usually associated with peer-influence variables, receive support. (4) The results of the research spanning a 2-year period of intensive community antiteen-pregnancy efforts by a Zero Adolescent Pregnancy (ZAP) campaign are consistent with the conclusion that such a multifaceted approach might help lower early-teen initiation of sexual activity.     

Accountability Agreements in Ontario Hospitals: Are They Fair?

Governments can be accountable for improving the fairness oftheir priority setting through enhanced transparency and stakeholderengagement. A case analysis is conducted of priority settingin a government health care context in Ontario, Canada, assessinghow implementation of hospital accountability agreements meetsthe conditions of a leading international ethical frameworkfor priority setting, "accountability for reasonableness" (A4R).Hospital accountability agreements provide a mechanism for governmentto ensure that public funding achieves desired performance inhospitals. A key goal of priority setting is fairness. A4R linkspriority setting, legitimacy, and fairness to theories of democraticdeliberation, making a claim for fairness if the four conditionsof relevance, publicity, revision/appeals, and enforcement aresatisfied. Regarding the relevance condition, this analysissuggests that government only partially met the relevance conditionproviding limited stakeholder engagement but with evidence ofpolicy learning and movement toward the establishment of inclusivestakeholder arrangements. Evidence suggests that governmenteventually progressed toward meeting the publicity condition.Government only partially met the revision/appeals conditionand did not meet the enforcement condition, as the other conditionswere only partially met. It is our view that regional governancestructures in Ontario (i.e., Local Health Integration Networksor LHINs) provide an opportunity for the province to improvethe fairness of their accountability agreement processes throughenhancing transparency and stakeholder engagement. More broadly,this case study provides a guide for government to enhance accountabilityby focusing on A4R to improve the fairness of its priority setting.     

NGOs’ transnational advocacy networks: from ‘legitimacy’ to ‘political responsibility’?

NGOs that operate as part of transnational advocacy networks face a number of ‘legitimacy challenges’ concerning their rights to participate in the shaping of global governance. Outlining the legitimacy claims that development NGOs make, the article argues that ‘legitimacy’ is a socially constructed quality that may be ascribed to an NGO by actors and stakeholders with different viewpoints. NGOs operating transnationally link disparate communities and conceptions of legitimacy, and undermine the discourse and practice of sovereignty. Therefore such NGOs will find it difficult to be universally regarded as legitimate, especially by states that hold a sovereignty‐based conception of legitimacy. However, relationships are the building blocks of networks, and efforts to improve them should not be abandoned simply because ‘legitimacy’ is too closely connected with sovereignty. In particular, NGOs ought to improve their relationships with the poor and marginalized communities whose interests they claim to promote. To this end, the concept of ‘political responsibility’ is suggested as a pragmatic approach to understanding power relations as they arise in transnational advocacy networks and campaigns.     

Maternal Life Satisfaction and Child Outcomes: Are They Related?

This paper investigates the association between maternal life satisfaction and the developmental functioning of 2-3-year-old children as well as the socio-emotional behavior of 5-6-year-old children. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), which allows us to control for a rich set of child and parental characteristics and to use the mother’s life satisfaction before the birth of her child as an instrument to eliminate potential reverse causality. The results indicate that the more satisfied the mother, the better her child’s verbal skills and the lower his or her socio-emotional problems. The relation is more pronounced for boys than for girls. The results are robust even when mothers’ personality or mothers’ cognitive skills are controlled for.     

Parenting and Family Structure After Divorce: Are They Related?

Children are raised in various family structures after a parental divorce. Currently, research including both repartnering and the custodial arrangement when investigating parenting is scarce and mainly proceeds from a maternal perspective, ignoring potential partner effects. Consequently, we investigate differences in parenting after divorce according to family structure (repartnering and custodial arrangement), analyzing a dyadic subsample of the multiactor Divorce in Flanders data set (616 children and parents) using a structural equation model. We conclude that living with a partner has a positive effect on parenting, whereas not living with the child has a relatively negative effect on parenting, regardless of the parental gender.     

The Africa Commission Report: What About the Politics?

Book reviewed: Our Common Interest: The Report of the Africa Commission. By the Commission for Africa. London: Commission for Africa, 2005. 462pp. £10.00 pb. (forthcoming in June 2005 from Penguin Books Ltd, Our Common Interest: An Argument. 192pp. £5.00 pb.).     

The microfinance promise—can it be kept? A macro perspective

After five decades of rapid expansion of microfinance worldwide, little is known about its aggregate effects and whether the “microfinance promise” of poverty reduction holds at the macro level. Challenging questions have arisen. Here we explore the dynamic response of microfinance on economic growth, financial deepening and income inequality. Countries are grouped into three broad clusters (stable, moderate and poor) based on macro‐institutional variables. Our results show that microfinance has a significant long‐term ability to affect the broader economy. However, the impact and dynamics of microfinance differ substantially across macro‐institutional environments. It grows in weaker environments, reaches its peak in developing economies, and then gradually “dies out” in more stable economies. While there is evidence of a positive impact of microfinance at the aggregate level, the response is different depending on whether countries are poor, moderately developed or economically stable. Once countries climb up the macro‐institutional “ladder,” microfinance can take a different shape and its relationship with other macroeconomic fundamentals can change. Our results indicate that microfinance has the strongest effect when the external environment is supportive and proactive; in weak environments, microfinance cannot grow sufficiently. Therefore, more attention should be given to supporting the socioeconomic dimensions of economies.     

The Concept of Ecological Validity: What Are Its Limitations and Is It Bad to Be Invalid?

The concept of ecological validity has played an important role in research on perceptual development. The limitations of this concept are discussed and illustrated with examples from research on the development of intersensory perception. By itself the concept of ecological validity fails to provide objective criteria for experimental design, but together with more traditional bottom‐up methodological approaches it can be used in a convergent operations manner to enrich our understanding of perceptual development.     

“It must be me” or “It could be them?”: The impact of the social network position of bullies and victims on victims’ adjustment

It was examined in this study whether the association between victimization and psychological adjustment (depression and self-esteem) is moderated by the classroom network position of bullies and victims. Multivariate multilevel regression analysis was used on a large sample representative of grades three to five in Finland (N = 7192 children from 376 classrooms). Consistent with the person-group (dis)similarity model and attributional mechanisms, it was found that victims were better adjusted in classrooms when others shared their plight and when they could attribute the blame to bullies. The results indicate that victimization consequences might be partly generated by person–environment interactions.     

Meta-Analysis on the Roles of Fathers in Parenting: Are They Unique?

ABSTRACT

A meta-analysis was undertaken, including 34 studies, to determine whether fathers play a unique role in parenting that is different from mothers’ roles. Statistical analyses were done to determine the extent to which the effects of fathering children were distinct from that of mothering. In addition to examining this phenomena overall, the meta-analysis also specifically examined social measurements, psychological indicators, and academic achievement. The possible unique effects of fatherhood were also examined in relation to the age and gender of the child. The results indicate consistent statistically significant effects that emerged for the unique role that fathers have. This association between fathering and the outcome variables held across social measurements, psychological indicators, and academic achievement. This relationship also held for both boys and girls and across age groups. The effects of the unique role of fathering yielded effect sizes of about .14 to .23 of a standard deviation unit.     

Between Rhetoric and Action: Do NGOs Go Where They Are Needed?

This research analyzes the factors that determine the placement of development NGOs in Nepal through the examination of the placement data of 39,606 NGOs. Using multivariate ordinary least squares, this investigation demonstrates that the location of an NGO is determined by: level of community needs, resource availability, and the level of political engagement. NGOs are in fact active where their support services are in high demand. However, the other two determinants: ‘resource dependency’ and ‘political engagement’ suggest that development outcomes may be limited due to placement concentration in areas of high human resource availability and high political activity.

     

The Global Middle Class: How Is It Made,What Does It Represent?

One important phenomenon to be observed in the world today is the rapid growth of the middle classes in emerging economies, especially in Asia. This development called for a new concept, the global middle class. The purpose of this paper is twofold: one is to examine the ways this term is currently used and clarify its meaning, and the other is to examine one empirical case of South Korea and highlight important processes involved in the making of a global middle class. The term global middle class has 2 meanings: (1) all the middle classes that exist in the world or (2) the affluent and globally oriented segments of the middle classes in developing countries. These 2 different conceptions serve different purposes and address different aspects of globalization's effect on the affected economy and society. While the expansion of the middle classes around the world is an unquestionably welcome phenomenon, the rise of the affluent global middle classes in developing countries represents a more complex and problematic phenomenon. The Korean case demonstrates that the emergence of the global middle class is associated with growing internal division within the middle class and intense processes of class distinction and educational pursuits in the global education market.