Great Expectations: Understanding Bali and the Climate Change Negotiations Process

This article reviews the December 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. It considers expectations for the meeting and whether the event delivered on these expectations. It also evaluates the long-term context of the meeting and examines the discussions in Bali on the post-2012 period (when the Kyoto Protocol's first 'commitment period' expires). The article finds that the Bali meeting did not necessarily meet public expectations or respond directly to the latest scientific assessments calling for urgent action. However, the article also finds that Bali was successful in the context of the prevailing political and diplomatic realities and the immense complexity of the climate change challenge – a problem that does not lend itself to a 'quick fix' solution. The article concludes that Bali produced a solid outcome that gives direction to future talks and sets a clear deadline for their completion. Finally, it argues that, contrary to some experts' opinion, the lack of detail in the Bali outcome may prove to be a strength rather than a weakness, since it provides flexibility to negotiators as they try to craft a consensus by the end of 2009.     

Experimental design for acquiring relevant data to address the issue of comparing consecutively manufactured tools and firearms

The comparison of consecutively manufactured tools and firearms has provided much, but not all, of the basis for the profession of firearm and toolmark examination. The authors accept the fundamental soundness of this approach but appeal to the experimental community to close two minor gaps in the experimental procedure. We suggest that “blinding” and attention to appropriateness of other experimental conditions that would consolidate the foundations of our profession. We do not suggest that previous work is unsound.     

Police Prosecution Service Relationship within Criminal Investigation

The article concentrates on the police role in the investigative stage in various criminal justice systems and the relationship with each national prosecution service. It is shown that in this respect the police function varies significantly from country to country. According to its legal competencies and factual procedural possibilities, the article will give a short overview of the national differences but also show that similar mechanisms are developed.     

The Invisible Hand: Financial Pressures and Organisational Convergence in Multilateral Development Banks

This paper investigates how the unique financial model of multilateral development banks – dependent largely on issuing bonds in private capital markets to raise lending resources – came about in the early history of three different MDBs, and how this in turn shaped their operational characteristics. Historical research demonstrates that the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and Andean Development Corporation (CAF) converged on organisational and operational arrangements very different to what their founders had intended, and much closer to one another, as a direct result of the need to secure sufficient resources to function as viable development lenders. The findings indicate that in the absence of governments willing or able to provide significant financing out of their budgets, MDBs tend to converge towards a single organisational model in order to maintain access to international capital markets. All three MDBs examined here modified their lending and financial policies in unexpected ways and, in the case of the IADB and CAF, even restructured their original membership, specifically for the purpose of securing adequate financial resources.     

The Networked Polity: Regional Development in Western Europe

Books Reviewed:
Unmasking Administrativem Evil . Guy B. Adams and Danny L. Balfour.
The Responsible Administrator: An Approach to Ethics for the Administrative Role . Terry L. Cooper.
Public Service and Democracy: Ethical Imperatives for the 21st Century . Louis C. Gawthrop.
Parliaments and Pressure Groups in Western Europe Philip Norton, ed.
It Takes a Nation: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty Rebecca Blank.
The Quest for Responsibility: Accountability and Citizenship in Complex Organizations Mark Bovens
In Pursuit of Good Administration: Ministers, Civil Servants, andJudges Diana Wood-house.     

Does Intimate Partner Violence Epidemiology Differ Between Homes With and Without Children? A Population-Based Study of Annual Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors

We sought to determine whether intimate partner violence (IPV) risk factors differed depending upon the presence of children in the home, and to estimate the annual prevalence of IPV first in the general population and then in homes with and without children. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional random sample of 6,836 women in southeastern Pennsylvania interviewed by telephone in 2004. The magnitude of association between IPV and risk factors varied between homes with and without children for women’s alcohol problems (with children, odds ratio (OR) 7.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9, 20.9; without children, OR 2.4; 95% CI 0.9, 6.0), and mental health problems (with children, OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.8, 8.9; without children, OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.6, 5.7). Poverty was significantly associated with IPV only in homes without children (OR 3.6; 95% CI 1.9, 7.2). Annual IPV prevalence was 1.2% overall, 1.4% in homes with children, and 1.1% in homes without children. One in 63 children lived in a home with IPV. Differences in IPV risk factors in homes with and without children suggest distinct underlying IPV mechanisms or consequences in these contexts.