School exclusions: Lessons from Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland there are many fewer permanent exclusion from school than in England and Wales. It has been suggested that this may be linked to differences in the statutory schemes which regulate exclusion. This article compares the legal framework for school exclusions in Northern Ireland and England and Wales; provides a comparative analysis of the statistical data in relation to school exclusions; assesses whether the differences in the legal framework may have an impact on the propensity to permanently exclude; and considers whether there are any other non-legal factors which may explain lower rates of school exclusions. The overall objective is to see whether the legal differences which exist have a meaningful effect on the overall rate of school exclusion and to extrapolate best practice. In particular, the analysis focuses on experience of the statutory pre-expulsion consultation procedure in Northern Ireland, which has no equivalent in England and Wales.     

Parliamentary Democracy Online: Lessons from Europe

The relationship between parliament and new information and communications technologies (ICTs), in particular the Internet, is becoming ever more complicated. By means of conclusion, we highlight the key findings from our comparative study of four parliaments, the British, European, Portuguese and Swedish Parliaments, which have all adopted the Internet as an essential element of their parliamentary communication strategy. It is clear from our research that the Internet is already having a significant impact upon the operation of parliamentary institutions. Parliamentary and parliamentarians' use of the Internet has also raised important issues that ought to be considered cautiously by policy makers, and further academic study is important to the search for solutions.     

The origins of Iran-Contra: Lessons from the Durrani Affair

This essay concentrates on the hitherto unknown origins ofIran-Contra. Through a series of interviews with participantsand access to previously private papers, the essay establishesthe role played by the U.S. and Israel in initiating arms deals with Iran before any hostage taking in Lebanon. Therefore,it corrects the proposition advanced by Special Prosecutor Walsh and others who linked the clandestine sale of weaponsto Iran with the deteriorating situation in Lebanon.     

Moving from the Mainstream to the Margins: Lessons in Culture and Power

This article highlights the ways in which power is conceptualized, activated, and institutionalized in American culture. Drawing from research and the author’s experience within mainstream and culturally-specific organizations in the violence against women field, this article exposes the subtle, yet pervasive mechanisms that lead to the marginalization of culturally specific communities and smaller, typically culturally specific, community-based organizations. By design and unconsciously, researchers, mainstream organization, and leaders often perpetuate a system designed to localize research, evaluation, services and resources for white people, organizations and institutions. This occurs for example, when researchers center and elevate a “gold-standard” of evidence-based practices, research, and evaluation that share no frame of reference to those being “studied” and most effected. It also happens when organizations marginalize culturally specific community members and organizations by seeking their participation at the final stages rather than at the conception of projects. The author provides concrete recommendations that researchers, providers, and leaders can adopt to counteract institutional oppression and help move culturally-specific communities and organizations from the margins to the center.     

Lessons from China: Russian foreign policy and its implications

Both China and Russia have undergone dramatic changes in the last 20 years. The Chinese elite have engaged in the changes with the preservation of the repressive aspects of Communist regime. This ensures stability and lead to the rise of China's economy. Russia dismantled the Communist regime with its repressive/controlling aspect and this lead to Russia's steady decline. At the same time Russia could express revival if it would follow the Chinese way.     

后工业化时代生态治理的理念、方式与组织

全球范围内的社会治理变革是人类从工业社会走向后工业社会这场社会转型的体现。20世纪七八十年代以来,社会治理变革的一个基本框架是从官僚制治理理念向生态治理理念的转变。如果说在官僚制治理中,它所强调的是确定、预测、控制和竞争这样的机械化理念的话,那么在后工业时代,生态治理在其理念上则强调事物之间的相互关联、自组织能力以及复杂系统的进化。这一日益兴起的治理理念产生了诸多有益的见解,并且能够在未来的社会治理中发挥有效的作用,建构起人与人之间、人与自然之间的合作关系。而从其组织方式来看,生态治理是一项具有广阔合作前景的社会治理方式。从本质上来说,人类社会的治理方式从官僚制治理向生态治理的转变,已经超出了量变的过程,而成了整个社会治理体系的重新定位,其结果则是现有制度安排的根本性变革。     

Corruption and organized crime: Lessons from history

The intention of this paper is to serve in part as a warning to the international community concerned about corruption, to keep the focus based on the critical analysis of empirically verifiable information. In ways similar to how theorists spoke about organized crime in the 1960's and 1970's, articles today attempt to refer to corruption as if there were one agreed upon definition. However, like the concept “organized crime”, the term “corruption” involves diverse processes which have different meanings within different societies. Corruption (or a focus on corruption), may be the means toward very diverse ends and each may have a different impact on the society. While in some societies corruption may correctly be seen to be the “cause” of forms of social disorganization, in other situations corruption may be the “result” of larger changes. Understanding the processes within a specific context allows one to understand the nature of the corruption. Corruption rhetoric may too easily become apolitical platform for ranking and evaluating nations as to their worth based on criteria that lose meaning when applied across jurisdictions. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The University and the Start-Up:Lessons from the Past Two Decades

This paper explores one of Edwin Mansfield's enduring interests: the interface between academia and industry. It highlights some key lessons regarding the management of university-based spin-outs, drawing on a variety of sources. I highlight the challenges that the spin-off process poses, the impracticality of directly financing firms through internal venture funds, and the ways in which universities can add value to faculty ventures.     

Defining the Arts and Cultural Universe: Lessons from the Profiles Project

This article discusses state support of artists in the United Kingdom, focusing on the Arts Council England. To understand the present—or the future—support of visual artists, one needs to understand the past. Accordingly, the article begins with a brief history of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1946, discussing Thatcher's reforms after the 1979 election. Tony Blair's New Labour continued many of the same strategies instituted by the Conservatives. At the same time as fiscal constraints and "enterprise culture" were imposed, the mission of the Arts Council was broadened to include both geographical representation and a more populist agenda. A review of the contemporary arrangements for state support of artists in the United Kingdom shows that many of the tensions that exist within today's Arts Council were institutionalized in its early days. The article concludes with a comment on what the current situation may portend for the future.     

Lessons from Cukurova

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. Key points

• The recent decision of the High Court of the BritishVirgin Islands in Alfa v Cukurova has caused a stir among lawyersserving the international financial markets based in London.
• Thedecision concerns the meaning of ‘appropriation’.Appropriation is a new remedy for collateral takers introducedby the Financial Collateral Arrangements (No. 2) Regulations2003, which implement the Financial Collateral Directive.
• Thedecision holds that effective appropriation requires the collateraltaker to take over from the collateral giver the ability todeal with the collateral as its own.
• In Cukurova, where anequitable mortgage was taken over directly held shares, thisrequired that the collateral taker become the registered ownerof the shares.
• The decision was appealed to the BVI Court ofAppeal in late January 2008 and may go further. In the meantime,this article provides an overview of the decision and considersits wider significance.