Positive attributes of state direct order mandates: A case study of planning mandates in California

States closely regulate the policies of their local units of government through the imposition of direct order mandates. The general literature on state as well as federal mandate activities suggests that such regulations seriously constrain local autonomy and add to local financial burdens. A case study of the application of California's planning mandates in a sample of small nonmetropolitan cities suggests that major programmatic mandates are not always restrictive; mandates can be beneficial by empowering local officials.     

Uneven geographical distribution of medical care: A Ghanaian case study

It is well known that the provision of medical care in developing countries is often very unevenly distributed geographically, and one of the most important points made in Maurice King's pioneering Medical Care in Developing Countries, [1967, Oxford University Press: East Africa] was that health facilities such as hospitals have an extremely small effective geographical range. The purpose of this article is to use new statistical data to analyse the problem of uneven distribution of medical care further, and in this way to investigate the social and cultural factors which are indirectly reponsible. The discussion is in terms of Ghana, but much of it may well have a wider relevance.     

Democratization through European integration: The case of minority rights in the Czech Republic and Romania

While scholars have tended to focus on domestic factors as most critical to the consolidation of democracy, the post-communist European Union (EU) candidate states have exhibited a unique confluence of domestic and foreign policies, due to their objective of EU membership. This article assesses and compares the impact of the EU on policy making in two diverse candidate states in their first decade of transition, focusing on minority rights protection as a fundamental requirement of both EU membership and a stable democracy. I find that the EU has played a principal role in the reform process and democratic consolidation of candidate states, even in the controversial field of minority rights. The degree and nature of the EU’s impact, however, has depended in part on the activism of the particular minority, EU interest and pressure, EU Member States’ own domestic policies, and the persistence of racism in society. Dr. Melanie H. Ram is a research associate at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University and Senior Program Officer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency USA Office. She has written extensively on European Union enlargement and democratic consolidation and reform in Central and Southeastern Europe, and is the author most recently of “Harmonizing Laws with the European Union: The Case of Intellectual Property Rights in the Czech Republic” inNorms and Nannies: The Impact of European Organizations on Central and East European States (2002). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, 30 August–2 September 2001, San Francisco, CA and at “Voice or Exit: Comparative Perspectives on Ethnic Minorities in Twentieth Century Europe,” Humboldt University, Berlin, 14–16 June 2001.     

从王洪杰案看大学生宪法权利保护的边界

高校校纪校规的法律性质和效力已成为日渐增多的高校学生管理法律纠纷争论焦点。有必要对学生维权的限度与大学自治的范围进行界定,对高校与学生之间的法律关系进行梳理。     

Child marriage,human rights and international norms: the case of legislative reform in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child entered into force in 1990. It condemns child marriage, violence and discrimination against children and enjoins tutelage for their education and health. Implementing such principles in national legislation sometimes conflicts with local norms relating to respect for cultural and religious traditions. This was the case of Trinidad and Tobago, a multicultural and multi-religious society that legally sanctioned child marriage until 2017. The paper makes two unique contributions to the literature. First, using the literature on child marriage and the obligations under international conventions, the paper creates a child marriage conceptual framework with the main normative positions on child marriage. Second, using the framework, it explores the normative motivations underlying the domestic legal reform debates held in parliament between 2015–2017. The paper uses the conceptual framework to explain the transformations in the traditional positions of local religious and ethnic groups, provides evidence of norm penetration from the international to a local multicultural setting and furthers the literature on international human rights norm penetration and contestation.     

A growth industry. Graduate programs in health care are expanding rapidly

The debate of over health care reform is now front and center on the national stage. So this year, U.S. News has added four surveys of educational programs in health professions--health services administration, pharmacy, nursing and dentistry--to its study of America's Best Graduate Schools (tables, Page 79). Following, a brief report on enrollment trends in each area.     

A case of publication standards: M. Ferro's book in translation

Marc Ferro, La Révolution de 1917. La chute du tsarisme et les origines d'Octobre. Paris: Aubier Editions Montaigne, 1967. 606 pp. 30 F.

Marc Ferro, The Russian Revolution of February J027. Translated by J. L. Richards. Notes and bibliography translated by Nicole Stone. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972. xv + 478 pp. £4.95.     

不幸家庭孩子的权益亟待保护

震惊全国、导致25人死亡的北京“蓝极速网吧”纵火案的,犯罪嫌疑人,竟然是两个年仅13岁和14岁的初中生,而且均来自离异家庭,这似乎又一次印证了“离异或单亲家庭中成长的孩子容易形成不健康的性格心理,犯罪率高”一类说法。但是透过这一事件的表象,我们是否应该做一点更深层次的思考呢?是仅仅归咎于他们个人和各自的家庭,还是必须同时追问社会与有关职能部门的责任?     

Best hospitals. Raising questions of care

What should you do if finances--or geography or health plan rules--put a high-ranked hospital out of reach? Good question. Here are some answers, along with other hypothetical questions related to hospital choice, access and cost. The responses, developed with the help of medical and consumer experts, are real.