Norway in UN environmental policies: ambitions and influence

This is a study of Norway’s ambitions for influencing UN environmental policies and then on the scope for impact. On the whole, it is clear that Norway has not been particularly successful in its general efforts at strengthening UNEP. These proposals have failed, due mainly to opposition from key states. Norway is after all a minor player in global governance issues, even in those pertaining to the environment. Norway has been more successful in efforts that indirectly strengthen UNEP, by supporting UNEP in initiating new MEAs. We found three main factors that help to explain why Norway has a relatively high level of influence at the international environmental arena compared to its size. First, there is a relatively straightforward domestic decision-making process with little conflict. Second, Norwegian officials and NGOs possess considerable expertise in these issues, adding to the intellectual leadership role of Norway in pushing for new principles and international legislation through UNEP. Third, Norway is sometimes able to join forces in environmental alliances with other like-minded countries. This would seem to carry the widest scope for increasing impact.

Meeting the challenges of globalisation in legal education

The focus of this paper is a critical review of the impact of globalisation on international higher education at my own institution, the University of East London (UEL), where I am Programme Leader for LLB (Hons) Law, an undergraduate qualifying law degree. Globalisation, along with internationalisation, has been one of the forces that have most changed the educational landscape in this country over the last two decades. Although closely related to each other, globalisation and internationalisation are usually regarded as distinct forces – the former being defined as the economic, political, and societal forces pushing twenty-first-century higher education towards greater international involvement, while the latter describes the policies and practices of higher education developed to deal with this. Whilst these phenomena have wide implications for higher education as a whole, they present opportunities and challenges that are very specific both to an institution like UEL, which has a high proportion of students from international backgrounds, and to my own discipline, law, which has an increasingly global profile in terms of both legal education and professional practice.     

Sudden infant death syndrome: diagnostic practices and investigative policies, 2004

Using a 2004 population-based survey of all US medical examiner and coroner offices, we examined the characteristics of offices accepting an infant death case and calculated the percentage of offices that had death scene investigation or autopsy policies for the investigation of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID). We also calculated the percentage of offices that used and did not use sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) as a cause of death, and we compared differences in characteristics among those offices.Of medical examiner and coroner offices, 52% did not report an infant death in 2004. Of the 7957 infant deaths reported, 43% occurred in jurisdictions that experienced 1 or 2 infant deaths. Of the offices that used SIDS as a classification, 34% did not have policies for conducting death scene investigations and autopsies for SUID. At least 5% of offices that reported an infant death did not use SIDS as a cause of death classification. These findings have important implications for understanding recent trends in SIDS and SUID. Supporting the implementation of national standards for investigating and certifying infant deaths could provide guidelines for consistent practices in medical examiner and coroner offices.     

Public policies against criminal assets in mexico: challenges and opportunities from the north border states

Crime, Law and Social Change - Given its vast border with the United States, Mexico is a strategic trade and economic development region, which creates significant challenges in combating crime and...     

A survey of good time policies and practices in American correctional agencies

The results of a national survey reviewing good time policies and practices in correctional agencies are presented, and suggestions offered concerning possible improvements to be made in the system.     

An updated survey of four policies and practices in American adult corrections

Results of recent (1977) national surveys on four policies and practices in American adult corrections are compared with results of similar surveys conducted six years earlier (1971). The home furlough policy was the only one to change noticeably from the 1971 survey. Study release, ex-offender employment, and good-time policies remained relatively unchanged. Brief comments on and recommendations for expansion or modification of the four policies and practices are included.     

Belgian regional parliaments and the European Union: an analysis of parliamentary scrutiny in agricultural and environmental policies

ABSTRACT

Drawing on qualitative case studies of two specific European decision-making processes in the agricultural and environmental sectors, this paper discusses how and why Belgian regional parliaments activated (or not) their control mechanisms to scrutinise their respective regional ministers. The findings show that parliamentary scrutiny of the agricultural and environmental policy fields has undergone a process of institutional and behavioural Europeanisation. Belgian regional parliaments rely mostly on classical parliamentary tools aimed at gathering information and, to a lesser extent, on constraining instruments aimed at influencing their government. Rather than trying to influence the EU negotiations, the MPs try to assess the potential impact of the reforms on their regional policy sectors. The findings also demonstrate that domestic media coverage and political salience of the EU negotiation associated with important implementing powers of regional parliaments have a positive effect on the level of scrutiny conducted by Belgian regional assemblies.     

The impact of agency context, policies, and practices on violence against police

This study examined agency-level factors that impact the level of violence against police. The independent variables represented both agency context (e.g., violent crime rate, population characteristics) and agency policies and practices (e.g., backup and body armor policies) and were linked to constructs within routine activities theory. Information on agency policies and practices came from an agency survey. Data for the dependent variable―agency counts of officer killings and assaults over a three-year period―came from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Negative binomial regression was used to assess the impact of the independent variables on the dependent measure. Three of the independent variables—measuring body armor policies, agency accountability, and violent crime—had statistically significant relationships with violence against police.     

Technology transfer in the Americas: common and divergent practices among major research universities and public sector institutions

The present article presents the results of a qualitative study whose purpose was to compare the structure and operation of the programs for intellectual property management and technology transfer, and the mechanisms through which to foster entrepreneurship, in five high-profile research institutions across the Americas. The institutions of focus included Stanford University and the University of California, Davis in the United States; the Universidad Católica and the Universidad de Concepción in Chile; and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina. The purpose of the study was to elucidate commonalities and differences among these institutions with respect to their technology transfer practices, and to distill methodologies that could be used to establish or refine technology transfer offices in American regions. Research revealed common goals and core activities, shared and implemented in similar ways among all five institutions. However, the analysis also identified divergent areas within the structure and operation of the various technology transfer programs, representing significant differences between the five institutions.     

The role of technology transfer offices in building the South African biotechnology sector: an assessment of policies,practices and impact

While South Africa appears to have many of the building blocks in place to support a vibrant biotechnology sector, the potential which exists has not yet been realised. Several policies and programmes have therefore been introduced by government in recent years in order to address some of the barriers. The poor flow of technologies from research laboratories to industry has been identified as an area of particular concern, with the role of institutional technology transfer offices (TTOs) as facilitators of improved technology transfer being highlighted. This paper describes the status quo of biotechnology in South Africa, discusses relevant policy developments and against this background, examines the status of TTOs, the constraints which are faced and how these might be overcome.

Start-EU-up! Lessons from international incubation practices to address the challenges faced by Western European start-ups

Despite the continued efforts of policy makers, Western European start-ups are still struggling. Further, as questions are being raised about the effectiveness of incubators, there is a growing call for incubators around the world to learn from each other and improve themselves. Our paper enables Western European incubators to learn from their foreign peers by qualitatively exploring the challenges faced by Western European start-ups and the practices that incubators around the world use to address these challenges. Our study thereby takes a two-step approach. First, using the components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem to structure data coming from 90 qualitative interviews with Western European entrepreneurs and incubator managers, we explore five interrelated challenges that constrain the ability of Western European start-ups to grow into high-impact businesses. In the second part of our study, we conduct a total of 191 interviews in Silicon Valley, the greater Boston area, Israel and Australia to identify practices that incubators in these regions use to address the five challenges identified in the first study. Our findings suggest that, rather than addressing the underlying institutions that cause challenges in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, incubators provide symptomatic solutions by creating an environment that protects start-ups from unfavorable institutions. Accordingly, we conclude that existing incubators have only limited potential to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems, and we end our paper with a call for a new generation of ‘systemic incubators’ that aim to transform or create institutions to address the institutional challenges that constrain start-up activity.     

Energy and the Anthropocene: security challenges and solutions

This paper explores the role that energy regimes, and the search for energy security, has had in shaping humans and their societies, and the effects thereof. Energy enrolments through the domestication of plants and animals and the extraction and burning of increasingly energy- rich fuels enabled humans to build ever more productive and formidable societies, but also more complex and divided ones. Social stratification, combined with the new risks caused by the more intense interactions and entanglements that emerged between humans and nature, has culminated in the global environmental crises that humans are now facing. We conclude by arguing that an escape route from the destructive consequences that fossil fuel energy regimes have had for humans and their ecological security is provided by the emergence of electrical civilizations and the potential this provides for integrating energy and ecological securities.