Breaking the mold: a new type of multilateral sustainable development negotiation

Participants in the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were reminded time and again that there is no model for the process to develop the SDGs. They resolved to not repeat the closed process used to develop the Millennium Development Goals, but the OWG began work when failures to reach consensus and fatigue with multilateral environmental negotiations dominated delegates’ minds, rather than examples of successfully negotiated outcomes. The OWG Co-Chairs were faced with the daunting task of guiding delegates’ efforts to develop a proposed set of crisp SDGs and targets that all could agree to, and thus, had to accomplish the following goals: (1) reduce delegation rigidity, both of individual Member States and within coalitions; (2) maximize the sense of participation, transparency, and ownership to get the most buy-in at the end; and (3) develop a sense of trust that would change the relationship between Member States. To do this, the OWG Co-Chairs broke the mold of UN multilateral negotiations that Member States and observers had become familiar with and created a different approach. This article examines how the OWG accomplished these goals and overcame the shortcomings of other multilateral negotiating processes on sustainable development to produce a widely supported consensus outcome at a time when governments have struggled to achieve agreement in many multilateral negotiation tracks.     

Quality awards as a public sector benchmarking concept in OECD member countries: some guidelines for quality award organizers

In many OECD member countries, quality awards have become an important benchmarking instrument for public and especially private sector organizations. Quality awards pursue two main goals: one is to introduce elements of competition in areas of the public and the private sectors that lack of market competition; the other is to encourage organizational learning. The problem is that in a public sector context these aims seem to be mutually exclusive. The aim of the article is to show quality award organizers how to realize the full potential of quality awards by making the appropriate choices in the design of a public sector quality award. The conclusion is that the stage of public sector quality management and the degree of ‘publicness’ of the public sector in a given country will influence the competition‐inducing and learning effect of a national quality award in an adverse way. Nevertheless, the negative effects on one or the other element of quality awards can be counterbalanced by the appropriate choice of the scope of the quality award, the area to be evaluated, the evaluation criteria as well as the benchmarking concept. Last but not least, quality award organizers should keep in mind that quality awards are not a benchmarking instrument for all seasons. Copyright © John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The factor structure of the Reckless Behavior Questionnaire

In this study, the relative fits of three different factor-structure models of adolescent reckless behavior were examined using the Reckless Behavior Questionnaire (RBQ) with individual samples of college and high school students. Both one- and two-factor models were found to be satisfactory representations of the RBQ with both samples. In order to test the construct validity of the one- and two-factor models, relations between instruments generally associated with reckless behavior were examined by gender. Using the two-factor model, gender differences were found for both the college and high school samples; thus, it was determined to be the more parsimonious fit of the data given previous research supporting gender differences. Findings are discussed in terms of current conceptualizations of factor patterns of adolescent problem behavior and implications for future investigations.B.A. from Oberlin College, and M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Virginia. Research interests are development of aggression and correlates of reckless behavior.B.A. from University of Akron and M.S. from University of Pittsburgh. Research interests are addictive behaviors and psychopathology in adolescence.Formerly Assistant Professor at Ogelthorpe University (1985–1988). Received B.S. from Michigan State University, and M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Virginia. Research interest is development of reckless behavior.Received B.A. from Yale University, and M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Virginia. Research interests are developmental psychopathology and adolescence.     

Anforderungen an die Erfassung, Bewertung und Sanierung von Biodiversitätsschäden nach dem Umweltschadensgesetz

Zusammenfassung  Durch das Umweltschadensgesetz wurde eine ?ffentlich-rechtliche Verpflichtung zur Kompensation für gesch?digte natürliche Ressourcen und Funktionen implementiert, die unabh?ngig von der Vorhabenzulassung oder dem Vorliegen eines Eingriffs ist und damit deutlich über die Verpflichtungen aus der naturschutzrechtlichen Eingriffsregelung hinausgeht. Bisher herrscht eine gewisse Unsicherheit im Umgang mit dem neuen Instrument. Vollzugshinweise in den L?ndern fehlen weitgehend. Auch sind F?lle, in denen das Umweltschadensgesetz zur Anwendung gelangte, bisher nicht systematisch erfasst, Rechtsprechung liegt noch nicht vor. Der Beitrag gibt daher Hinweise zur rechtlichen wie naturschutzfachlichen Operationalisierung der zentralen Regelungen zur Erfassung, Bewertung und Sanierung von Biodiversit?tssch?den und bietet Unterstützung für die Umsetzung und den Vollzug des Instrumentariums in den L?ndern.     

Contagious COVID-19 policies: Policy diffusion during times of crisis

The COVID-19 crisis demanded rapid, widespread policy action. In response, nations turned to different forms of social distancing policies to reduce the spread of the virus. These policies were implemented globally, proving as contagious as the virus they are meant to prevent. Yet, variation in their implementation invites questions as to how and why countries adopt social distancing policies, and whether the causal mechanisms driving these policy adoptions are based on internal resources and problem conditions or other external factors such as conditions in other countries. We leverage daily changes in international social distancing policies to understand the impacts of problem characteristics, institutional and economic context, and peer effects on social distancing policy adoption. Using fixed-effects models on an international panel of daily data from 2020, we find that peer effects, particularly mimicry of geographic neighbors, political peers, and language agnates drive policy diffusion and shape countries' policy choices.     

Digital Election Observation: Regulatory Challenges around Legal Online Content

Between public debates about ‘hacking’ elections, so-called ‘fake news’ and online disinformation campaigns, it has become hard to imagine what free and fair elections in a digital environment could look like. This challenge is particularly pronounced for election observers who monitor free and fair elections. How should election observers fulfil this task when reliable data in online media campaigns are often not even available to media regulators? The following article provides a brief overview of existing challenges around online content regulation and how these apply to elections and election observation. It then considers where resources for digital electoral observation exist and how most effectively to build on these before, in conclusion, discussing next steps and potential opportunities to develop digital election observation further.     

Loyalty and competence in public agencies

Competent public agencies are associated with better economic outcomes. Beyond competence, political leaders need to secure the loyalty of their agencies. Unfortunately, several theories predict a tradeoff between these two valued features. This paper finds that recruitment into agencies is meritocratic where (1) agency officials have poor outside options, (2) careers in agencies are long-lasting, and (3) agency loyalty is important. Moreover, agency competence is lower when (4) loyalty is important but the time horizon is short, and (5) outside opportunities improve but the time horizon is long. This evidence fits best with a theory of loyalty as non-contractible behavior.     

Validation of the 4‐aminophenol color test for the differentiation of marijuana‐type and hemp‐type cannabis

The analysis of cannabis plant material submitted to seized‐drug laboratories was significantly affected by the signing of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, which defined hemp and removed it from the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act. As a result, field law enforcement personnel and forensic laboratories now are in need of implementing new protocols that can distinguish between marijuana‐type and hemp‐type cannabis. Colorimetric tests provide a cost‐effective and efficient manner to presumptively identify materials prior to submission to a laboratory for analysis. This work presents the validation of the 4‐aminophenol (4‐AP) color test and demonstrates its utility for discriminating between marijuana‐type and hemp‐type cannabis (i.e., typification). Validation studies included the testing of numerous cannabinoid reference materials, household herbs, previously characterized cannabis plant samples, and real‐case samples. The 4‐AP test reliably produces a pink result when the level of Δ⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is approximately three times lower than the level of cannabidiol (CBD). A blue result is generated when the level of THC is approximately three times higher than that of CBD. Inconclusive results are observed when the levels of THC and CBD are within a factor of three from each other, demonstrating the limitations of the test under those scenarios.