The state and rural development in Tanzania: The village administration as a political field

The Village Administrations (VAs) created by the Tanzanian state in the 1970s have been regarded as new state apparatuses intended to facilitate control over a recalcitrant peasantry. Field research in Dodoma revealed two kinds of factions competing for their control: Christians, who co‐operated with higher level state apparatuses in establishing working institutional structures, and Traditionalists, who sought to reconstruct the VA as an entity performing predominantly ritual functions and, by tactful non‐compliance, to insulate households from the demands of the state. If the VA is to be regarded as a state apparatus then it must be recognised that it has substantial autonomy, conditioned by its internal constitution as a political field.     

European integration assessed in the light of the ‘rules vs. standards debate’

The interplay of various legal systems in the European Union (EU) has long triggered a debate on the tension between uniformity and diversity of Member States’ (MS) laws. This debate takes place among European legal scholars and is also paralleled by economic scholars, e.g. in the ambit of the ‘theory of federalism’. This paper takes an innovative perspective on the discrepancy between ‘centralized’ and ‘decentralized’ law-making in the EU by assessing it with the help of the rules versus standards debate. When should the EU legislator grant the national legislator leeway in the formulation of new laws and when should all be fixed ex ante at European level? The literature on the ‘optimal shape of legal norms’ shall be revisited in the light of law-making in the EU, centrally dealing with the question how much discretion shall be given to the national legislator; and under which circumstances. This paper enhances the established decisive factors for the choice of a rule or a standard in a national setting (complexity, volatility, judges’ specialization and frequency of application) by two new crucial factors (switching costs and the benefit of uniformity in terms of information costs) in order to assess law-making policies at EU level.     

Where tradition meets public sector innovation: a Rwandan case study for Results-Based Approaches

Abstract

The acknowledgement of politics and institutions in developing countries is well in line with debates not only in the area of development effectiveness but also regarding new public management. Results-Based Approaches (RBApps), conceptually framed within these two debates, are designed to support outcome- and impact-oriented development goals. They link the achievement of results to monetary and/or non-monetary reward mechanisms. However, so far, development cooperation partners have mainly applied RBApps in the form of Results-Based Finance and Results-Based Aid. Through the provision of a conceptual framework, this paper embeds RBApps between different tiers of government within the discussion and applies Rwanda as a case study to it. Along the lines of Rwanda’s Domestic Performance Approach Imihigo, the article argues that development co-operation should be more proactive in considering these approaches, as they might be crucial in terms of sustainability and serve as a promising entry point for programmes supported by development partners.     

The European Parliament’s shifting perspectives on climate justice with regard to China and India

Asia Europe Journal - Justice and responsibility are central notions shaping the international climate negotiations. However, countries have different perspectives on how to translate these...     

Eliciting Cues to False Intent: A New Application of Strategic Interviewing

This article examined how to elicit cues to deception when a suspect is asked both about his/her intentions and his/her corresponding past planning, and when the investigator holds evidence on the suspect’s planning activities. In a new experimental set-up accommodating the main characteristics of intent, participants (N = 120) either planned a criminal or a non-criminal act. They were intercepted before completing the planned act. Each participant was interviewed in accordance with one of three interview techniques: Early Evidence disclosure or one of two versions of the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique. All the interviews were transcribed and scored for consistency. As predicted, the liars were perceived as having a higher degree of inconsistency for two of the three relevant comparisons (Statement on Planning–Evidence on Planning; Statement on Intent–Evidence on Planning). Furthermore, using the evidence strategically resulted in differences between liars and truth tellers being magnified, as predicted. This article advances previous findings in showing that by interviewing strategically with respect to the evidence, it is possible to elicit reliable cues to deception when a suspect is asked about intentions and corresponding planning activities.