From Protection to Competition — The Politics of Trade Practices Reform in Australia

From Protection to Competition — The Politics of Trade Practices Reform in Australia. By Kerrie Round and Martin Shanahan (Sydney: The Federation Press, 2015), AU$125.00 (hb).     

Tertiary institutions and capacity building in Ghana: challenges and the way forward

The last two decades have seen tremendous growth in tertiary education in Ghana. The prevailing consensus is that universities play a crucial role in development by making it possible to generate human capital in key areas such as health, agriculture, and engineering, also contributing to the attainment self-sufficiency. Whilst contributing to capacity building, this paper argues that universities in Ghana have had to contend with a number of challenges: low female access to universities, especially in science and technology-related courses; inadequate funds; poor research activity; and large class sizes. Making research a priority, designating strategic planning teams with appropriate institutional and financial support, developing cooperation with private universities, expanding access through the use of external degree centres and distance learning, and deepening universities’ relevance to societal needs, are identified as central to the enhancement of capacity building in Ghana.     

First Things First: R2P Starts with Direct Negotiations

Abstract

Public debates on R2P one-sidedly focus on its forcible aspects. They should, however, also focus on R2P’s non-coercive aspects, which include the legal obligations to cooperate and to pursue peaceful conflict resolution, notably the obligation to undertake meaningful attempts at negotiation before coercive means are taken into consideration. After the Arab Spring erupted in Libya and Syria, other countries did not exhaust reasonable efforts to deal and negotiate with the incumbent powers, and to assist and encourage them to meet their obligations under R2P, even though negotiations are part and parcel of the R2P framework and constitute the very first step to be taken whenever a state seems to ignore its obligations under that framework.     

Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the eastern front: ideas,political-social norms and emotions as mobilization mechanisms

Abstract

Following the outbreak of the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, thousands of volunteers joined pro-Kiev battalions. Although they have fiercely fought against pro-Kremlin forces, very little is known about them. The article will investigate why individuals have engaged in such a risky endeavour for no obvious material reward. It will claim that ideas, political-social norms and emotions have functioned as mobilization mechanisms that can explain individual decisions. Based on interviews, the article will argue that the mobilization of Ukrainian volunteer fighters has a strong cognitive-normative-emotional dimension that cannot be ignored and should be further explored.     

Electoral Security as a Determinant of Legislator Activity, 1832–1918: New Data and Methods for Analyzing British Political Development

We consider the relationship between a Member of Parliament's electoral environment and his strategic choice of legislative activities between the First and Fourth Reform Acts in Britain. We argue that voters and party institutions put cross‐cutting pressures on members during this time, and that legislators calibrated their behavior in accordance with the marginality of their seat. We gather a massive new dataset documenting MPs’ biographical information, electoral records, roll calls, and speeches. The extent of MPs’ speech making and voting (our measures of legislative activity) vary with electoral security in ways consistent with our theoretical priors for Westminster systems.     

A New Tool for Coding and Interpreting Injuries in Fatal Airplane Crashes: The Crash Injury Pattern Assessment Tool Application to the Air France Flight AF447 Disaster (Rio de Janeiro–Paris), 1st of June 2009

For investigation of air disasters, crash reconstruction is obtained using data from flight recorders, physical evidence from the site, and injuries patterns of the victims. This article describes a new software, Crash Injury Pattern Assessment Tool (CIPAT), to code and analyze injuries. The coding system was derived from the Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS). Scores were created corresponding to the amount of energy required causing the trauma (ER), and the software was developed to compute summary variables related to the position (assigned seat) of victims. A dataset was built from the postmortem examination of 154/228 victims of the Air France disaster (June 2009), recovered from the Atlantic Ocean after a complex and difficult task at a depth of 12790 ft. The use of CIPAT allowed to precise cause and circumstances of deaths and confirmed major dynamics parameters of the crash event established by the French Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority.     

Walking the line: Specialized and standard probation officer perspectives on supervising probationers with serious mental illnesses

Specialized probation programs were developed to more effectively address the unique needs of probationers with serious mental illnesses. Probation officers are tasked with serving both law enforcement and rehabilitative functions, and officers play an important gatekeeper function in helping probationers with serious mental illnesses avoid long incarceration sentences. The purpose of this paper was to explore specialized and standard probation officers' work in supervising probationers with serious mental illnesses. Twenty-one probation officers (11 specialized and 10 standard) participated in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative analyses examined: 1 — beliefs on the relationship between mental illness and crime; 2 — purpose of specialized and standard probation units; and 3 — approaches to supervising probationers with serious mental illnesses. Implications for developing more effective probation supervision programs are discussed.     

The Rights-Asserting Contemporary Public Service Customer in Botswana

This article discusses an often-ignored subject in Botswana-specific literature: the emergence of rights-asserting contemporary public service customers. These customers unflinchingly demand their rights. Given this situation, this article argues that there is a need for a paradigm shift on the part of public servants. Among other things, this will entail the crafting of a new internally created customer service charter which puts a high premium on service delivery. Thus, the charter should beget a public service that respects customers' inviolate right to quality public service. Although the case study is about Botswana, there are general lessons — e.g., an internally created public service charter.     

Mayors in Seven European Countries: Part I. Selection Procedures and Statutory Position

Abstract

Western European countries differ according to the ways in which they organise local government, not least in the manner in which mayors are selected and in the mayors’ statutory positions and responsibilities. The question is to what extent is mayoral performance affected by selection procedures and the statutory position of the mayoral office? In two exploratory articles, the results of a number of comparative empirical studies will be presented. In this first part the focus will be on the theoretical and methodological framework of the study, and on the variations in selection procedures and statutory positions. In the second part (to be published in the next issue of this journal) we will relate these findings to evidence on mayoral performance.     

Books received

The Politics of Local Expenditure, K. Newton and T.J. Karran, Macmillan, 1985, pp. 165, £5.95 paperback.

Welfare Bureaucracies, David Billis, Heinemann, 1984, pp. 252, £11.50 paperback.

Paying for Welfare, Howard Glennerster, Black well, 1985, pp. xi + 273, £7.50.

School Governing Bodies, M. Kogan, D. Johnson, T. Packwood and T. Whitaker, Heinemann Educational Books, 1984, pp. 210, £18.50 hardback, £8.50 paperback.

Something in the Air, Andrew Blowers, Harper and Row, 1984, pp. 359, £6.95.

Controlling the Constable: Police Accountability in England and Wales, Tony Jefferson and Roger Grimshaw, Frederick Muller/The Cobden Trust, 1984, pp. 205, £18.95 hardback, £7.95 paperback.