Sacred Sovereigns and Punishable War Crimes: The Ambivalence of the Wilson Administration towards a Trial of Kaiser Wilhelm II*

Conventional wisdom characterises President Woodrow Wilson as a progressive internationalist in the making of foreign policy, sceptical of international practices such as secret diplomacy and balance-of-power theories. An examination of the Wilson Administration's record in quelling Allied attempts to punish Kaiser Wilhelm II after the end of the First World War provides a contrasting view. The White House, leading figures in the State Department and a large grouping of prominent lawyers argued that punishing the German sovereign for waging war in violation of treaties would destabilise international order and lose the peace. Current American reluctance to participate in the International Criminal Court and fears of an undue intrusion of an international judiciary on the merits of foreign policy make an understanding of these reservations timely.     

Apologists for Power: The Yoo Brief,Executive Power and the State of Exception

This paper examines the legal and political arguments of those who support an expansive interpretation of US executive power in the face of threats to the state, taking a comparative historical perspective. It discusses the rationale for this approach by locating its historical origins in international and American jurisprudence, thereby placing them in a modern context. Attention is paid to the points made by various legal representatives of the Bush administration such as John Choon Yoo and Jay S. Bybee. Their views on an expansive response to state emergencies are based on a reading of executive power that informs the Bush administration's approach to law between 2001 and 2008. But this paper goes further in arguing that a common political‐juridical ground exists between various critics of the Bush administration, and those who formulated the policies of torture and rendition. This common ground on the subject of executive power in response to emergency lies primarily in the examination of the state of exception examined by Giorgio Agamben. This approach has various implications as to the general exercise of power by the executive in a democratic system. Legem non habet necessitas. Necessity knows no law. Augustine, Soliloquium, 2.     

Judiciaries as crucial actors in Southern regulatory systems: A case study of Indian telecom regulation

This article addresses regulatory reforms in the Indian telecommunications sector and emphasizes the role of the Indian judiciary. Our claim is that when confronted with a series of disputes relating to the nascent telecom regulatory landscape, the Supreme Court of India sought to make a constructive contribution to both the actual disputes as well as the overall regulatory framework. Our reading of these cases suggests that in the sphere of telecom, the Supreme Court has been less interested in stamping its own authority on issues, and has instead sought to bolster the authority and legitimacy of the recently constituted telecom regulatory institutions. We seek to draw attention to the role of the Indian judiciary as marking an exceptional feature of evolving regulatory systems in the Global South. Conventional wisdom in the regulatory jurisprudence that has evolved in the Global North suggests that judiciaries should have little or no role to play in regulatory systems. We suggest that to overcome the special challenges that regulatory systems in the Global South confront, more established institutions and actors might have to lend credibility and legitimacy to enable nascent regulatory actors to develop over time. At least in the Indian case, this is one way to understand the Indian judiciary's interventionist actions in the sphere of telecom regulation.     

Faces of Pentecostalism in North India Today

Pentecostal revivals in India have been recorded since 1860, and Pentecostalism is flourishing in the subcontinent today. Yet this phenomenon is neither simple nor monolithic. Rather, it interacts with other Christian traditions and with other religious traditions in a number of different ways. Despite its rigid and exclusivistic rhetoric, Pentecostalism functions as a highly malleable and adaptable religious movement.     

Planning for incapacity by people with bipolar disorder under the Mental Capacity Act 2005

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides a variety of legal mechanisms for people to plan for periods of incapacity for decisions relating to personal care, medical treatment, and financial matters. Little research has however been done to determine the degree to which these are actually implemented, and the approach to such advance planning by service users and professionals. This paper looks at the use of advance planning by people with bipolar disorder, using qualitative and quantitative surveys both of people with bipolar disorder and psychiatrists. The study finds that the mechanisms are under-used in this group, despite official policy in support of them, largely because of a lack of knowledge about them among service users, and there is considerable confusion among service users and professionals alike as to how the mechanisms operate. Recording is at best inconsistent, raising questions as to whether the mechanisms will be followed.     

Effects of organizational change on managerial trust in the context of employee buyout in India

Tea gardens face a threat of closure. Due to labour problems and pricing mechanism, Indian tea companies are unable to perform well on the global scene. The case of Tata Tea plantations in South India has been taken for this research study. An employee buyout strategy is introduced in a select number of tea estates. Results prove unfruitful initially. However, employees agree with this idea with a fear of loss of job. The new strategy turns out to be a success. The relationship between organizational change and managerial trust in the context of employee buyout is studied. A questionnaire is administered upon a sample of 100 respondents. Results are shown as a table. The article concludes by citing key issues for a successful buyout programme.