Anti-money laundering by international institutions: a preliminary assessment

This paper presents an evaluation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) program. It briefly discusses why this can be seen as the birth of a “regime for financial integrity”. We find that some areas of the AML/CFT framework are consistently weaker than others in the area of prevention measures. Specifically, we have two findings: the first, positive one, points to a substantial adequacy of the repressive measures; the second, negative one, points to a substantial failure of countries to adopt adequate preventive measures, and calls for renewed efforts to improve implementation of preventive measures across the board, with specific regard to the activity of financial sector regulatory and supervisory authorities. Also, Eurozone countries outperform all other groups in the sample. Finally, the limited availability of country information and the multiplicity of assessors and methodologies make it difficult to evaluate the performance of the program. Therefore, we suggest greater transparency and availability of detailed countries’ information, and follow up assessments of the weak areas of a country’s AML/CFT framework at higher frequency than the established 5 years.

Bioethics from a social perspective: European Biopolitics Conference]

The European Congress on biopolitics entitled "Connecting civil society implementing basic values" was held in March 2006 in Berlin. It was organised by the Heinrich B?ll foundation and the Institut Mensch, Ethik und Wissenschaft. The aim of the Congress was to provide a forum for discussion on the ethical and social aspects derived from biotechnology and genetics on human beings. This work summarises some of the aspects that reveal the international interest and relevance of this meeting.     

The social network of hackers

Social researchers are facing more and more challenges as criminal networks are expanding in size and moving to the Internet. Many efforts are currently under way to enhance the technical capabilities of researchers working in the field of cybercrimes. Rather than focusing on the technical tools that could enhance research performance, this article focuses on a specific field that has demonstrated its use in the study of criminal networks: social network analysis (SNA). This article evaluates the effectiveness of SNA to enhance the value of information on cybercriminals. This includes both the identification of possible targets for follow-up research as well as the removal of subjects who may be wasting the researchers' time. This article shows that SNA can be useful on two levels. First, SNA provides scientific and objective measures of the structure of networks as well as the position of their key players. Second, fragmentation metrics, which measure the impact of the removal of n nodes in a network, help to determine the amount of resources needed to deal with specific organisations. In this case study, a tactical strike against the network could have had the same destabilising impact as a broader approach. The resources saved by limiting the investigation targets could then be used to monitor the criminal network's reaction to the arrests and to limit its ability to adapt to the post-arrest environment.     

The Arms Trade Treaty and international humanitarian law: a Commonwealth perspective

The entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in December 2014 created an historic opportunity to reduce the human cost of the widespread and poorly regulated supply of conventional arms. The treaty establishes common standards for the international trade of conventional weapons and seeks to ensure that weapons are not used in the commission of war crimes, serious violations of international human rights law and other offences. The paper reviews the definitions and the scope of the treaty and highlights the contributions made by Commonwealth member countries. It makes recommendations to Commonwealth member countries regarding effective implementation and their obligations.     

社会建构论视野下的民事法律监督之维

我国的民事法律监督制度自1982年恢复以来经历了一段短暂且复杂的发展过程。随着社会建构过程其结构及社会关系的不断变化,民事法律监督制度逐步恢复并得以巩固和发展,成为我国检察法律监督制度的一个重要组成部分,并不断面临新的博弈。关于民事法律监督的维度问题逐渐取代其存废成为学术界和理论界争论的焦点。从社会建构论的抽象范式角度出发深入分析我国特色的民事法律监督的空间与定位,有助于形成检察机关民事监督的多维运转体系。     

No human cloning: a social ethics perspective

This Essay addresses the negative impact of human cloning on the family, and argues further that market incentives to develop and implement cloning techniques exploit and exacerbate socioeconomic inequities. It suggests that cloning should be prohibited internationally and examines possible routes to that aim. To begin with, it offers some reflections on the nature of moral argument, and on the role of religion in public debate.     

The BALCO scandal: the social structure of a steroid distribution network

The current study revisits the notorious Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) scandal involving the production and distribution of an undetectable anabolic-androgenic steroid to professional athletes from late 1990s until 2003. Multiple sources are reviewed to re-create the social structure of BALCO and examine whether it formed a close-knit community or instead multiple communities defined around a specific sport or discipline. Results from a community fragmentation analysis suggest that six communities could be identified as distinct in the BALCO network of 97 individuals – three structured around athletic interests (baseball, football and boxing), one around BALCO's chemist, another around the eventual whistle-blower, and a ‘broker’ community, labelled the network's core. The network's core functioned as the best intermediate between communities because of the diversity of actors involved and the presence of BALCO's founder (Conte), who was brokering ties all over the network, though such a structure ultimately resulted in complete demise of the BALCO network.     

Violence and abuse in psychiatric in-patient institutions: a South African perspective

Institutionalisation of psychiatric patients was a prevalent treatment approach in the apartheid era of South Africa. Allegations of violence and abuse towards patients frequently arose during this time. The post-apartheid Department of Health prioritised improvements in mental health care by recommending, inter alia, deinstitutionalisation and reintegration of patients into the community. Ten years later, these interventions have proved difficult to institute and many patients are still hospitalised. The present study investigated whether currently hospitalised patients continued to experienced violence and abuse. This was an exploratory naturalistic study in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Of the 127 who completed the study, more than 50% reported experiences of abuse. The main perpetrators were other patients, although violence by staff was reported. Reasons for the tardiness of implementation of deinstitutionalisation and the prevalence of ongoing violence and abuse in psychiatric hospitals are complex. Factors inherited from the pre-democratic system coupled with increased urban violence and financial constraints appear to be some of the major causes of ongoing dependency upon hospitalisation of mental health care users. The present study highlighted the urgency of implementing mental health care improvements.     

Promotion and implementation of international humanitarian law: a Commonwealth perspective

This paper provides an update on some important developments and initiatives relating to international humanitarian law (IHL), with specific reference to the Commonwealth. In particular, the paper considers the promotion and implementation of IHL and highlights the importance of preventing and punishing violations of IHL. It also outlines key humanitarian themes and legal concepts.     

Why black prisoners seldom try to escape from American penal institutions: A humanistic perspective

Black inmates attempt to escape prison much less frequently than do white inmates. Empirical research attempting to delineate reasons for the differential escape rate of blacks to whites is almost nonexistent. The purpose of the present paper is to examine this difference from a humanistic approach by examining another subculture (European Jews who were victims of the Holocaust) where historical incanceration pattenrs and cultural ethos historically anticipates those of black inmates. Thishistorical culture of blacks in America is also explored in order to further understand why black inmates seldom try to escape from prison.     

Global technological collaboration network: network analysis of international co-inventions

Global innovation networks are emerging as a result of the international division of innovation processes through, among others, international technological collaborations. At the aggregate level, the creation of technological collaboration between countries can be considered as mutually beneficial (or detrimental) and their random distribution is unlikely. Consequently, the dynamics and evolution of the technological collaborations can be expected to fulfil the criteria of a complex network. To study the structure and evolution of the global technological collaboration network, we use patent-based data of international co-inventions and apply the network analysis. In addition, extending the gravity model of international technological collaboration by network measures, we show that a country’s position in the network has very strong impact on the intensity of collaboration with other countries.