Globalization through the Lens of Palace Wars: What Elite Lawyers' Careers Can and Cannot Tell Us about Globalization of Law

Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth's three studies—Dealing in Virtue (1996), The Internationalization of Palace Wars (2002), Asian Legal Revivals (2010)—trace the globalization of law through “palace wars” among elites for positions in the “fields of state power.” They conclude that globalization occurs through links among elites engaged in their domestic palace wars, which independently establish the symbolic power of law in each state. The article argues that while Dezalay and Garth provide an invaluable new starting point for further research, they do not adequately consider an emerging field of research documenting alternative pathways of legal development pursued by local activists inside and outside the new states of the Global South.     

Ready to leave the ivory tower?: Academic scientists’ appeal to work in the private sector

This study investigates the factors that shape the attitudes of scientists toward starting their own business or working in a private sector firm. The analysis is based on data collected from scientists working in the German Max Planck Society, a research institution devoted to basic science. We find that the scientists’ attractiveness of working in a private sector firm or of starting their own business differ considerably according to their academic discipline and the self-reported commercial potential of their research. The ability to take risks, prior work experience in private firms, and personal experience in cooperating with industry lead to a positive attitude towards switching to private sector employment or entrepreneurship. Strong willingness to freely distribute research findings is related to a low appeal of private sector work.     

Detecting Feigned PTSD Using the Personality Assessment Inventory

Research generally supports the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey 1991) to detect feigned PTSD, although this support has been somewhat mixed. There is also evidence that coaching individuals on the presence of PAI validity indicators may not affect their ability to avoid detection as feigners (Bagby et al. in Journal of Personality Assessment 78:69–86, 2002), although this question has not been specifically addressed with regard to PTSD. Additionally, a new PAI validity indicator, the Negative Distortion Scale (NDS), was developed that may have utility in detecting feigned PTSD, but this has not been tested. The purpose of this study was to further test the operating characteristics of the PAI validity indicators to detect feigned PTSD among naïve and coached respondents and to examine the newly developed NDS for this purpose. Individuals with genuine PTSD were compared to individuals instructed to feign PTSD on PAI validity indicators. Results suggest that: (a) coaching had minimal influence on the ability of the PAI to detect feigned PTSD, (b) the PAI validity indicators all significantly differentiated genuine from feigned PTSD, and (c) the NIM and NDS indicators were particularly effective for detecting feigned PTSD.     

TOPICAL ISSUES IN CROSS BORDER DISCOVERY： RECONCILING PERSONAL DATA REGULATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES

This article will consider the following questions： What is the current state of the European data privacy and transfer regime？ What are the challenges the regime is facing and what are the modifications being considered to address them？ What role can the Sedona Conference play in reconciling personal data regulations and cross border discovery？ We will explore the following critical issues： 1. The position taken by the European Commission （EC） in its proposed General Data Protection Regulation （2012） that the current regime, as embodied in the European Union （EU） Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, has not fully achieved the harmonization of its member state＇s legal systems that was originally envisioned; 2. How the regime can adapt to the challenges and be driven by dynamic legal, technological and economic environments？ The paper will conclude by examining key provisions of the EC＇s proposed regulation within the context of the Sedona Conference＇s International Principles and offer recommendations on implementation.     

Measuring the autonomous influence of an international bureaucracy: the Division for Sustainable Development

International bureaucracies influence global governance processes as independent agents. Biermann and Siebenhüner (Managers of global change: the influence of international environmental bureaucracies. MIT Press, Cambridge, 2009) have developed an analytical framework to measure and explain the degree of autonomous influence of bureaucracies. We test the validity of the causal claims in the framework by applying it to the Division for Sustainable Development, the bureaucracy that services the Commission on Sustainable Development and compare the results with existing applications of the framework to the United Nations Environmental Program and the Climate Secretariat (UNFCCC). The test shows that the framework is comprehensive and captures the main elements of bureaucratic influence. The structure of the explanatory variables, however, as well as some causal claims, needs to be improved. For instance, the framework includes too many explanatory variables, and interplay between the variables is not taken into account. The article suggests five concrete measures to improve the framework by, for example, creating protocols, collapsing variables, and introduce weightings to the variables.     

Positive Effects in Detecting Lies from Training to Recognize Behavioral Anomalies

We examined whether training in both the verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying would have positive effects on Law Enforcement Officers’ (LEOs) ability to evaluate truths from lies. College course-level training on empirically validated verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying was provided to mid- to advanced-career level LEOs, whose accuracy in detecting lies from truths was assessed pre- and post-training using truthful and deceptive videos of mock crimes and opinions. A marginally significant truth bias existed at pre-test; training, however, resulted in a significant improvement in accuracy rates for both truth and lie videos, and the truth bias that existed at pre-test was eliminated. Additional analyses indicated that accuracy rates improved for videos of mock crimes but not for opinions. These findings add to a small but growing literature that indicates that training on validated verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying has positive benefits.     

The paradox of grading systems

We distinguish between (i) voting systems in which voters can rank candidates and (ii) those in which they can grade candidates, using two or more grades. In approval voting, voters can assign two grades only—approve (1) or not approve (0)—to candidates. While two grades rule out a discrepancy between the average-grade winners, who receive the highest average grade, and the superior-grade winners, who receive more superior grades in pairwise comparisons (akin to Condorcet winners), more than two grades allow it. We call this discrepancy between the two kinds of winners the paradox of grading systems, which we illustrate with several examples and whose probability we estimate for sincere and strategic voters through a Monte Carlo simulation. We discuss the tradeoff between (i) allowing more than two grades, but risking the paradox, and (ii) precluding the paradox, but restricting voters to two grades.