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This paper evaluates the achievement of 'direct democracy' in Community Ownership schemes. Community Ownership is a programme in Scotland to create small, community-based housing associations and cooperatives in areas of former council housing. The paper reviews four different views of direct democracy: as a form of radical politics; as a means of encouraging better or more rational decision making; as a method of rolling back the state, improving competition and consumer choice; and as a way of improving liberal democracy. It concludes that Community Ownership is neither radical politics nor privatisation, but that it has resulted in better service provision and has provided some limited democratic benefits.

ABSTRACTThis paper identifies a number of significant gaps between the principles of good practice in research with children and the practical realities of conducting a research project with children. The context of the discussion is an ongoing research study of children and young people in Scotland with a parent or carer with HIV. The paper argues that conducting research with what is a hidden (and in many ways secret) population throws into sharp relief some difficulties and contradictions that are at the heart of the research process. The paper does not intend to present easy answers to the complex questions that it raises: the research project it describes is ongoing and not yet at the stage of disseminating findings in any definitive way. Moreover, it seems likely that there are no answers to the questions raised, but that the act of posing the questions may contribute to the development of better, more reflexive research with children.

Eine in Schottland durchgeführte Studie mit Kindern und Jugendlichen, die durch ihre Eltern mit HIV infiziert wurden, ist Anlass, uns mit einigen komplexen, im Herzen qualitativer Sozialforschung angesiedelten Themen zu beschäftigen. Das Forschungsteam wollte die Studie so gestalten, dass die daran beteiligten Kinder, Jugendlichen und deren Eltern tatsächlich teilhaben und unterstützt werden sollten. Aber im Verlauf des Forschens über dieses tabuisierte und stigmatisierende Thema fanden wir uns in solchen konkurrierenden Anforderungen verstrickt wie Vertraulichkeit und Offenheit, Schutz und Autonomie, Unterstützung und Unabhängigkeit. Wir meinen, dass unsere Untersuchung – angesichts des Untersuchungsthemas und der beteiligten Subjekte – ein Licht auf Widersprüche wirft, die nicht einfach durch eine Verbesserung methodischer Abläufe zu lösen sind. Diese Dilemmata waren zentral für den Forschungsprozess, und ihre – zumindest teilweise – Lösung erforderte kontinuierliche Aushandlungsprozesse zwischen den Forschenden, den an der Studie Beteiligten und auch mit anderen zentralen Akteuren. In diesem komplexen Geflecht von Bedingungen können Prozesse individueller Reflexion durch einen Teamansatz gestützt und verbessert werden.

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is experienced as a highly stigmatized disease by those with HIV and their families. Moreover, it has been argued that it is the stigmatized nature of HIV that separates it from other chronic illnesses (Bor and Elford, 1998; Geballe and Gruendel, 1995). Drawing from a recently completed qualitative study conducted in Scotland, this article examines the impact of HIV stigma on children and young people with a parent or carer with HIV. The starting point for the research (and for this article) is the perspective of the children and young people themselves. The article gives an account of their understanding of stigma, and explores the different methods that they have adopted to cope with the effects of living with such a stigmatized illness in the family. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study for social work policy and practice with children and young people affected by parental HIV.