Global and local models of governance in interaction: configurations of power in Upper Guinea Coast societies

ABSTRACT

This paper studies emerging power configurations in Upper Guinea Coast societies which result from contemporary interactions of global and local models of governance. With empirical data on shifting meanings of chieftaincy and control of land, changing tax regimes and the rising importance of youth in domestic politics, modifications of legitimate authority across time are contrasted with the effects of international interventions and global discourses on socio-political change. Some of these interventions accelerate, others accentuate or counteract processes of change within local power configurations. Only by carefully considering the innate malleability of local concepts of authority, history, and tradition can contemporary processes of change be identified as either mere reconfigurations or genuinely new configurations of power.     

Women,civil society and politics in Pakistan

This article makes the argument that when women have organized themselves into groups with a political purpose, we have witnessed significant advancement in the construction of a civil society in Pakistan. It traces the role women's groups have played as intermediary groups, particularly as they play increasingly important political and social roles in countering the actions and inactions of the state. Importantly, it is in the ongoing effort to develop a National Plan of Action in Pakistan in response to the Beijing Platform for Action that women's groups are contributing in a significant way to a participatory, sensitized and increasingly decentralized national planning process which is encouraging regional and NGO inputs in unprecedented ways.     

Networks of organised black market labour in the building trade

The building industry is a sector characterised by a large number of opportunities to commit economic crime. In Sweden, the level of tax avoidance in the building trade is estimated to be substantial, and the use of black market labour extensive. This article focuses on the organised use of black market labour in the building industry, which may be described as a form of both economic and organised crime. To date only a very small number of criminological studies have examined the use of black market labour in this sector of the economy. The article focuses on two of the central roles found in the context of organised, black market labour: the “fixer” and the “criminal entrepreneur”. The fixer is an individual with expertise in the methods of economic crime. The criminal entrepreneur acts first and foremost as a link between a client and the manpower required by this client. In this paper, fixers and criminal entrepreneurs are studied on the basis of data from the Swedish Register of Suspected Offenders. The analysis shows that the networks of fixers and criminal entrepreneurs overlap one another to some extent. There are nonetheless a number of differences between the two groups and also between their respective networks. The networks of the fixers are larger than those of the criminal entrepreneurs, and the individuals that comprise the fixers’ networks are suspected in connection with much larger numbers of offences. The fixers more often commit offences together with others and also have larger numbers of suspected co-offenders than the criminal entrepreneurs. On the other hand, the criminal entrepreneurs are suspected of having maintained their ties to suspected co-offenders for longer periods of time than the fixers. The fixers appear to specialise in fraud and forgery offences, whereas motoring offences, smuggling and drug offences are more common among the criminal entrepreneurs. The networks are highly male-dominated and on balance they are comprised of much older individuals than those of traditional offenders. Many of the fixers and criminal entrepreneurs are suspected of committing offences with the same co-offender for a long period of time. Further out in the networks, co-offenders are replaced more often. Tax offences are very common in both types of network, both in those parts of the network that are close to the fixers and criminal entrepreneurs, and also in more distant parts of the networks. In the more distant parts of the networks, there is also an increase in the proportion of offences that individual network members are suspected of committing. Judging from the material examined in the current study, violent offences do not appear to be very common among either fixers or criminal entrepreneurs. The networks examined are largely comprised of individuals suspected of economic offences. These individuals are linked together with one another by means of direct and indirect contacts that produce semi-legal networks of individuals with knowledge of organised black market labour.

Studying Illegal Online Trades in Plants: Market Characteristics,Organisational and Behavioural Aspects,and Policing Challenges

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research - Illegal commerce in plants and their derivatives threatens and destroys numerous species and important natural resources, and may cause...     

Concentrations of zolpidem and zopiclone in venous blood samples from impaired drivers compared with femoral blood from forensic autopsies

The concentrations of zolpidem and zopiclone were determined in peripheral blood samples in two forensic materials collected over a 10-year period (2001-2010). The z-hypnotics were determined in venous blood from living subjects (impaired drivers) and in femoral blood from deceased persons (forensic autopsies), with the latter classified as intoxication or other causes of death. The z-hypnotics were determined in blood by capillary column gas chromatography (GC) with a nitrogen-phosphorous (N-P) detector after solvent extraction with n-butyl acetate. The analytical limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 0.02mg/L for zopiclone and 0.05mg/L for zolpidem and these have remained unchanged throughout the study. When death was attributed to drug intoxication (N=918), the median concentration of zopiclone in blood was 0.20mg/L compared with 0.06mg/L for other causes of death (N=1215) and 0.07mg/L in traffic offenders (N=691) (p<0.001). Likewise, a higher median concentration (0.30mg/L) was found in intoxication deaths involving zolpidem (N=357) compared with 0.13mg/L for other causes of death (N=397) or 0.19mg/L in impaired drivers (N=837) (p<0.001). Median concentration in blood of both z-hypnotics were appreciably higher in intoxication deaths when no other substances were identified; 0 70mg/L (N=12) for zopiclone and 1.35mg/L (N=12) for zolpidem. The median concentrations of z-hypnotics in blood decreased as the number of co-ingested substances increased for intoxication deaths but not other causes of death. The most prevalent co-ingested substances were ethanol in autopsy cases and diazepam in the motorists. This large compilation of forensic cases should prove useful when toxicologists are required to interpret concentrations of z-hypnotics in blood samples in relation to cause of death.     

Mitochondrial DNA population data of HVS-I and HVS-II sequences from a northeast German sample

Mitochondrial DNA sequences of the control region's two hypervariable regions HVS-I and HVS-II were determined for 213 unrelated west Eurasian individuals from northeast Germany (Mecklenburg). A total of 174 different mtDNA haplotypes were found, 25 of which were shared by more than 1 individual. The most frequent haplotypes were 263G-309.1C-315.1C, found in seven individuals, 263G-309.1C-309.2C-315.1C, found in six individuals and 263G-315.1C, found in five individuals. These sequences are also the most common haplotypes in other published European data sets. The sequence polymorphisms consisting of 150 polymorphic nucleotide positions were compared with other European databases. The genetic diversity and random match probability were calculated. Our results corroborate certain features which are characteristic for west Eurasian mtDNA population samples.     

Differential characteristics of intimate partner, acquaintance, and stranger rape survivors examined by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)

Relatively little is known about characteristics of sexual assault survivors who present to the emergency room. Examination of differences in survivor, assault, and exam characteristics by type of offender (intimate partner, acquaintance, acquaintance-just-met, and stranger) was conducted using intake data collected from 331 women who presented to an emergency room and were examined by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner between 2001 and 2004. First, the data suggest there is a difference in injury patterns depending on the survivor-offender relationship. Second, there was a high rate of women assaulted by a known offender presenting to the emergency room. Third, there are important differences in survivor substance use among women assaulted by different offenders. Implications for research and practice are discussed.