The limits of local economic intervention: The case of the French and Italian chambers of commerce

Chambers of commerce in France and Italy are powerful organisations with a unique potential for local economic growth. As public‐law organisations, they are vested with extensive formal powers and resources, far surpassing those of their British counterparts. Yet despite this potential, chambers in these states do not tend to play a dynamic role within the local economy. In recent years, they have undergone progressive decline and become confined to an increasingly marginal and residual role. This article examines the performance of the French and Italian chambers and considers some of the factors which have prevented them from assuming a more prominent economic role.     

Watchdogs or attack dogs? The role of the Russian courts and the central election commission in the resolution of electoral disputes

Do Russian courts constrain the state? Or do they facilitate arbitrary state action by favouring state agents over other litigants where such bias is not built into the written laws? Are Russian elections fair? The answers to these questions would help us assess Russia's progress towards establishing the rule of law and a democratic regime. The evidence presented in this article suggests that in electoral registration cases where incumbent politicians have a stake, the Russian courts and the Central Election Commission (CEC) are responsive to pressure from them. More specifically, the systematic analysis of all denials of registration by a District Election Commission (DEC) associated with the 1999 parliamentary election suggests that the Russian judiciary was subject to pressure from the regional authorities. Regional oppositionists tended to seek redress at the CEC, rather than at the local courts. Protégés of the regional administration, on the other hand, preferred to take their appeal to the local courts. A further indicator of the weakness of rule of law in Russia is that previous experience with the legal system made a candidate less rather than more likely to pursue an appeal. At the same time, however, scathing journalistic accounts of judicial corruption, inefficiency, and total subservience to politicians seem to be exaggerated. In 1999, both the courts and the CEC were acceptable appeal venues, since opposition candidates used them to defend their electoral rights more often than all other groups of candidates.     

Talking about death: patterns of lay and professional change

For the past thirty years, researchers have surveyed attitudes of providers and patients to the disclosure of the diagnosis and prognosis to the dying cancer patient. Though the lay population has expressed the wish to know over time, a change in provider attitudes is apparent: physicians are now more likely to inform their dying patients of the truth than before. This trend is viewed against a number of precipitating factors: changes in perception of the impact of disclosure and changes in the basic ethical norms related to disclosure with new cohorts of younger physicians reflecting these changes. These correlate with changes in underlying social structure brought about in part by the shift to chronic disease as the paradigm for medical care. With increasingly bureaucratized health care delivery, the physician must collaborate with others who may hold different judgments about what ought to be disclosed. Some nurses not only find it right to disclose, but also in their professional interest. In such settings, honesty may be necessary to avoid conflicting messages to the patient. These shifts may signal underlying shifts in the sick role and in the medical professional role with the patient more active and more knowledgeable in medical decisions and the physician serving as a source of information and counsel.     

韩国城市生活垃圾管理制度探析

韩国国土面积狭小,人口密度高,自然资源匮乏。20世纪60年代,韩国经济开始起步,并且持续了近三十年的快速增长。1995年,韩国人均收入首超一万美元,跻身中等发达国家的行列。经济的高速发展和国民生活水平的提高,给韩国本来就短缺的资源带来了更大的压力,对环境保护也带来了更大的挑战。加强生活垃圾管理、积极开展垃圾分类、充分再利用垃圾资源,是韩国减轻资源压力和保护国土环境的一个重要举措。     

阿拉法特逝世与中东局势

阿拉法特的病逝对中东时局的发展具有举足轻重的影响,他的去世使巴方内部和本已动荡不定的中东时局面临诸多变数.阿拉法特的去世,标志着一个时代的光荣和梦想走向终结,一个新的时期,也可以说是巴勒斯坦和中东地区的后阿拉法特时代来临.     

Level of living and fertility among a rural population of the Philippines

This study examines the issue of whether the relationship of fertility to measures of economic resources is different at lower income levels than at higher levels. Testing was done in a rural Philippine setting in 1978-79. 3 measures of economic resources were utilized -- income, quality of housing, and provision of schooling for children. The data were drawn from a survey of rural families residing in 5 muncipalities of Iloilo province, on Panay Island in the central Philippines. In the study design, villages (or barangays) were selected from the 5 municipalities to obtain equal numbers of 3 agricultural types -- upland, rainfed lowland, and irrigated lowland farms. Interviews were conducted during a 4-month period in late 1978 and early 1979. Completed interviews of 1077 married women were obtained from 1066 households in 46 villages. These women were under age 50. The number of children ever born was used as the measure of fertility. To derive household income for the families in the survey both farm production and nonfarm income were converted into Philippine pesos. For a measure of housing quality, an index was formed based on 7 household items which could be considered amenities for the family and on the reported construction materials for 5 parts of the dwelling. This sample of households in the rural villages of Iloilo Province exhibited evidence of a threshold in the relationship between housing quality and fertility and between per capita income and fertility. For those families with per capita income less than 200 pesos per year, there was a strong positive relationship between 2 of the economic resource measures and fertility. This threshold for families of very low income showed support for the presence of limiting factors other than contraception. When the contracepting women of low income were removed from the analysis, the slope below the threshold became steeper. The poor nutrition and poor health that are associated with very low income can result in lower fecundity, thus biologically or nonvolitionally limiting fertility from what it could be with conditions of good health and nutrition. Among the families with higher per capita income, there was a negative relationship between per capita income and fertility. Housing quality yielded the strongest evidence of the threshold effect. Education of the children was not related to fertility in this model. Study findings indicate that for about 1/3 of this rural population initial increases in their economic level or living standard could result in increasing fertility up to a threshold level.