An Economic Analysis of the American and the Continental Rule for Allocating Legal Costs

A well-known conclusion from the standard model of litigation is that a transition from the American to the Continental rule for the allocation of legal costs will lead to an increase in the number of trials. The standard model, however, neglects the fact that the rule for allocating legal costs may also influence whether or not a potential injurer engages in a harmful activity. When this choice is endogenized, the conclusion derived from the standard model does not appear to be generally valid. A transition from the American to the Continental rule may lead to a decrease in the number of trials. Furthermore, the transition may result in an improvement in efficiency.     

公民参与公共决策:协商民主的视角

晚近西方兴起的协商民主理论通常被看作是一种阐释公共决策合法性的理论,其目的是解决传统公共决策过程中缺乏公民参与和社会公正的弊端。通过对协商民主视角下公民参与公共决策的正当性、方式和困境的分析,可以更好地了解其理论与现实意义。     

The Romanticization of Charismatic Leadership in the Arts

ABSTRACT

This inter-disciplinary article focuses on the role, significance, and impact of charisma in cultural leadership. It brings together fresh empirical data with a critical review of the literature to investigate the role of charisma in the operation, reputation, and strategic success of arts organizations. For the first time, this article synthesizes a diverse range of literature from sociology, psychology, political science, management, and leadership studies and applies it critically to the context of the arts. This comprehensive review is compared against interviews with key stakeholders in the arts, which challenge the neo-charismatic literature on leadership and support a return to aspects of the original formulation of charisma, as envisaged by Max Weber. The article finds that charismatic leaders are seen as extraordinary individuals and are excessively romanticized by arts managers, policymakers, and audiences. It questions this normative bias and concludes that charismatic leaders should be treated with a degree of skepticism, even caution, to temper any negative impacts on "followers" and organizations.     

Planting families: Intent and outcome in the development of colonial Georgia

This article examines the evolution of a plantation society in the British American colony of Georgia. It explores the original intentions of founders and settlers, and how those intentions were discarded or adapted in the face of a volatile demographic environment. It uses information from land grant applications to describe the make-up of late colonial families, and locates the experiences of the Georgia population within the broader context of Atlantic population history. In particular, it argues that familial instability initially catalysed the emergence of a plantation system. The “family” was later accorded real significance in plantation Georgia only when it became serviceable to provincial elites, though it remained important as an organising unit beyond the plantation world, and as a source of shared aspirations.     

Harvest of sustainability: Recent books on environmental management

Sustainable Environmental Management. Edited by Kerry Turner. London: Pinter, 1988. Pp.ix + 292. £27.50. ISBN 1 85293 003 9.

The Theory of Environmental Policy. 2nd ed. By William Baumol and Wallace Oates. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp.x+ 299. £35. ISBN 0 521 32224 3.

Deforestation: Social Dynamics in Watersheds and Mountain Ecosystems. Edited by J. Ives and D. Pitt. London: Routledge, 1988. Pp.xiii + 247. £35. ISBN 0 415 00456 X

Elevage et developpement au Niger. By Brigitte Thébaud. Geneva: ILO, 1988. Pp.xiv + 147. SFr 15. ISBN 92 2 205605 1.

Primary Resources and Energy in the Third World. By John Soussan. London: Routledge, 1988. Pp.vi + 114. £5.95. ISBN 0 415 00672 4.

Ecology and Development in the Third World. By Avijit Gupta. London: Routledge, 1988. Pp.vii + 80. £5.95. ISBN 0 415 00673 2.

International Environmental Diplomacy. Edited by John E. Carroll. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp.299. £35. ISBN 0 521 33437 3.