CONTRACTING IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE: SOME EVIDENCE FROM THE NHS

The contract is the main mechanism for governing transactions within public sector'quasi markets'. This article explores the nature of the contracting process in the light of new empirical data from a qualitative study of the development of contracting for hiv / aids services within the National Health Service. These data are compared with four possible models of the contracting process emerging from the academic literature, classical, relational, regulated and pseudo contracting.
The White Paper on the nhs reforms uses a classical concept of contracting, in which purchasers are represented as making well informed and unrestricted choices between competing options. This bore little relation to the process observed within the four purchasing organizations studied. Instead, elements of all the models were observed, with the dominance of any one model varying with different situations, times and localities. Competition was only patchily evident, with purchasers more commonly encouraging co-operative relationships between providers to preserve stability. Attempts to utilize the contract process to mould and reconfigure services were often hampered by restrictions imposed by regulations and slow implementation of new mechanisms. Contracting was also adversely affected by rapid organizational change and lack of adequate information. It is concluded that contracting in the nhs is an evolving process and has yet to achieve its full potential as a management mechanism.     

An Analytical Review of EU Strategy for a New Partnership with Central Asia

On June 22,2007,the Council of the European Union ratified its strategy paper for Central Asia drafted by the rotating presidency Germany. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented the document to the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian states in Berlin on June 30. This     

Safeguarding the Independence and Impartiality of the Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers

The article focuses on one limited but vexed issue — howto safeguard judicial independence and impartiality in the CambodianExtraordinary Chambers (CEC). The author addresses some of themost problematic issues that she anticipates could diminishor hamper the possibility for judicial independence and impartialityat the CEC. To the extent possible, she offers workable andrealistic suggestions for dealing with the situation.     

Taking fundamental rights seriously in the Digital Services Act's platform liability regime

This article highlights how the EU fundamental rights framework should inform the liability regime of platforms foreseen in secondary EU law, in particular with regard to the reform of the E-commerce directive by the Digital Services Act. In order to identify all possible tensions between the liability regime of platforms on the one hand, and fundamental rights on the other hand, and in order to contribute to a well-balanced and proportionate European legal instrument, this article addresses these potential conflicts from the standpoint of users (those who share content and those who access it), platforms, regulators and other stakeholders involved. Section 2 delves into the intricate landscape of online intermediary liability, interrogating how the E-Commerce Directive and the emerging Digital Services Act grapple with the delicate equilibrium between shielding intermediaries and upholding the competing rights of other stakeholders. The article then navigates in Section 3 the fraught terrain of fundamental rights as articulated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) under the aegis of the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter. This section poses an urgent inquiry: can the DSA's foundational principles reconcile these legal frameworks in a manner that fuels democracy rather than stifles it through inadvertent censorship? Section 4 then delves into the intricate relationship between fundamental rights and the DSA reform. This section conducts a comprehensive analysis of the key provisions of the DSA, emphasising how they underscore the importance of fundamental rights. In addition to mapping out the strengths of the framework the section also identifies existing limitations within the DSA and suggests potential pathways for further refinement and improvement. This article concludes by outlining key avenues for achieving a balanced and fundamental rights-compliant regulatory framework for platform liability within the EU.     

Economic Development,Foreign Aid and Neoclassical Growth: A Comment

The Democratic Process in a Developing Society. By A. H. Somjee. London: Macmillan, 1979. Pp. vi + 161. £12.

Pastoral Production and Society/Production Pastorale et Société. Edited by Équipe Écologie et Anthropologie des Sociétés Pastorales. Cambridge and Paris: Cambridge University Press/Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 1979. Pp. 493. Hardback £15.50, paperback £5.95.

Rural Women at Work: Strategies for Development in South Asia. By Ruth Dixon. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978. £10.50.

Agricultural Modernisation, Poverty and Inequality: the Distributional Impact of the Green Revolution in Regions of Malaysia and Indonesia. By David S. Gibbons, Rodolphe De Koninck and Ibrahim Hasan. Farnborough, England: Saxon House, 1980. Pp. lx + 225. £12.50.

Agrarian Structures and Agrarian Reform. By S. I. Cohen. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979. Pp. xiv + 136. Dfl. 28.50.

The Political Economy of Collectivised Agriculture: A Comparative Study of Communist and Non‐Communist Systems. Edited by Ronald A. Francisco, Betty A. Laird and Roy D. Laird. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1979. Pp. 251. £13.75.

Agrarian Systems and Rural Development. By Dharam Ghai, Azizur Rahman Khan, Eddy Lee and Samir Radwan. London: Macmillan for the ILO, 1979. Pp. xv + 375. £20.

Food Aid and the Developing World: Four African Case Studies. By Christopher Stevens. London: Croom Helm, 1979. Pp. 224. Hardback £9.95, paperback £4.95.

Population and Economic Development. By Yves Bizien. New York: Praeger, 1979. Pp. vi + 186. £12.25.

Short‐Term Macroeconomic Policy in Latin America. Edited by Jere Behrman and James A. Hanson. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger for NBER, 1979.

Inflation and Stabilisation in Latin America. Edited by Rosemary Thorp and Lawrence Whitehead. London: Macmillan, 1979. Pp. xl + 285. £20.     

Donald Davidson and section 2.01 of the model penal code

Abstract

In a 1967 article that is considered a classic of criminal justice scholarship, Abraham Blumberg portrayed defense attorneys for accused offenders as more responsive to the demands of the court entourage for smooth and expeditious functioning than to the needs of their clients for a stalwart representation. The article suggests that Blumberg's view, while provocative and with a considerable element of accuracy, may have reflected a somewhat jaundiced and overstated perspective when he was on the verge of leaving law practice for academia. The article also speculates about the current accuracy of Blumberg's observations.     

The Supremacy of Techno-Governance: Privatization of Digital Content and Consumer Protection in the Globalized Information Society

The article aims to describe the role of technology and contractin regulating access to digital content deregulating intellectualproperty law monopoly. In particular it argues that the anti-circumventionprovisions for technological protection measures and digitalrights management systems enacted in the United States and inEurope compromise the consumer’s capacity to exerciselegitimate rights, such as the private use exemption, by givingcontent owners extralegal protection for their works. It alsoanalyses how these acts have caused an inappropriate delegationof governmental decision making to a non-governmental entitywith a consequent privatization of the government’s rolein protecting intellectual property and in setting technicalstandards for digital infrastructure and interoperability.     

援助安全：一个基于援助载体的新议题

对外援助是国际政治学与国际政治经济学研究中的重要议题。一方面,作为一种由援助国提供的特殊性国际公共物品,它是全球治理和国际发展领域的重要变量;另一方面,作为国家的一种对外政策工具,对外援助在国际竞争舞台上发挥着战略性功能。在国际政治中,有志于发展的对外援助都与安全问题息息相关。援助与安全之间的联结经历了从一般关联到深入互嵌再到"安全化"的演变历程,安全思维越来越多地影响对外援助过程,冲击着连接援助国和受援国的援助资源载体。面对嵌入对外援助过程的"安全化"趋势,通过聚焦援助与安全之间的复杂关系和发展趋势,试图诉诸安全视角来审视援助载体,并因此提出了"援助安全"概念框架。该框架致力于从国际结构转型、援助国和受援国关系及相关国家国内政治等不同角度探寻援助过程中财力资源、人力资源与制度资源分别面临的多元安全威胁和风险来源。援助安全可以从技术条件性、透明性、实施预算管理、提供援助安保人员训练和改革全球援助体系等举措得以保障。