Publish or Paris? Evidence of How Judges Allocate Their Time

A utility-maximizing model of judicial behavior predicts that,all else equal, judges who have stronger preferences for publishingopinions, who have lighter workloads, or who are able to writepublishable decisions more efficiently are more likely to publishtheir decisions. Using federal district court judges' decisionsregarding the constitutionality of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines,this article presents empirical support for these predictions.Many judicial, institutional, and other characteristics areexamined that should be correlated with a judge's workload orwith a judge's taste for, or efficiency in, publishing opinions.These analyses find that, all else equal, judges who held priorpolitical positions, who received higher American Bar Association(ABA) ratings, who had lighter caseloads, who had longer tenures,who struck down the guidelines, or who had a greater chanceof promotion to a U.S. court of appeals were more likely topublish their decisions. In addition, judges' publication decisionswere significantly affected by the prior decisions of judgesin the same district, but little affected by those of judgesin other districts.     

The creation of multi-ethnic nations with or without a?core region

What holds a multi-ethnic nation together? To answer this question, we take region as the unit of analysis and focus on factors such as the size of a region, its geographical location, and its external factors. A large region or a ??core state?? can enhance a coalition by providing more public goods, but it can also deter a coalition from forming by discouraging the existing members from accepting new members. When the net impact is positive, the large region acts like Huntington??s ??core state,?? i.e., it helps to sustain the coalition. External effects induce coalition formation when the externality is negative, while positive externality discourages formation by encouraging free-riding.     

Firing distance estimates with pellet dispersion from shotgun with various chokes: an experimental, comparative study

There are several studies suggesting models for firing distance estimation due to pellet dispersion, but few of them consider the degree of choke of a shotgun. The purpose of this research is to suggest some models for estimation of the firing distance for choked and cylinder bore shotguns. Twelve gauge with full chokes, and 12 and 16 gauge with cylinder bore shotguns were fired with #2 and #5 shots from 75, 100, 300, 500, and 1000 cm distances. Statistically significant pellet dispersion values were found for each shotgun by using #2 and #5 shots for different firing distances. All the data obtained were analyzed with linear regression and four models were constituted. Investigators should use special formulae for each shotgun, degree of choke, and pellet type while determining the firing distance. Therefore, more experimental and comparative studies should be designed for each type.     

Indigenous languages and Africa's development dilemma

Most African states like The Gambia use European languages for state activities and formal education. Africa has been a global pilot site for “transplanted” development initiatives with apparently consistent outcomes: failure, medium triumph, or unsustainable “success stories”. Its natural resources have been fully exploited, perhaps at the expense of resources like mother-tongue languages. Sidelining mother-tongue languages as the medium for the translation of the voice of the state, explains the gap in cultural relevance of many borrowed development initiatives, but also the neglect of workable endogenous practices. Africa must look inwards and exploit its indigenous language assets to benefit sustained development.     

Ageing with Dignity: Old-Age Pension Schemes from the Perspective of the Right to Social Security Under ICESCR

The ‘dignity and worth of the human person’ emphasised in international human rights instruments resonate strongly in relation to the world’s ageing population, which is projected to be the fastest growing population group in the world and often among the most vulnerable. While elderly persons as a group are heterogeneous and their socio-economic life situation varies significantly between individuals, the need for universal support mechanisms such as non-contributory old-age benefits have been recognised by many states, and currently, over 100 countries around the world provide some form of social pension targeted towards the elderly populations. This article appraises a sample of these old-age pension schemes from the perspective of the right to social security, with particular emphasis on the dignity and worth of the human person as espoused within the international human rights regime.     

Gaspirali v. Il'minskii: Two identity projects for the muslims of the Russian Empire

As “music of commitment,” in the period from the late 1970s to the late 1980s rock music in Yugoslavia had an important purpose of providing a popular-cultural outlet for the unique forms of socio-cultural critique that engaged with the realities and problems of Yugoslav society. The three “music movements” that embodied the new rock’n’roll spirit – New Wave, New Primitives, and New Partisans – used rock music to critique the country's “new socialist culture,” with the purpose of helping to eliminate the disconnect between the ideal and the reality of socialist Yugoslavia. This paper examines the New Partisans as the most radical expression of music of commitment through the works of its most important rock bands: Bijelo dugme, Plavi orkestar, and Merlin. The paper's argument is that the New Partisans' socio-cultural engagement, animated by advocacy of Yugoslavism, was a counter-logic to the nationalist dissolution of a distinctly Yugoslav fabric of a socialist community in crisis. Thus, the movement's revolutionary “spirit of reconstruction” permeating its “poetics of the patriotic” was a mechanism of socio-cultural resistance to political, cultural and moral-ethical de-Yugoslavization of Yugoslav society. Its ultimate objective was to make the case that the only way into the future – if there was to be any – rested on strategic reanimation of the Partisan revolutionary past as the only viable socio-cultural foundation of the Yugoslav socialist community.     

Some Neglected Aspects of Performance in Field Administration in Bangladesh

Performance of public service personnel does not depend solely upon their qualifications and level of training. Rational organization of activities and division of work with effective work processes are important, and it is necessary to ensure that employees have appropriate qualifications and training for performing the tasks assigned to them. Rules and procedures help facilitate their work and provide flexibility to innovate. Attractive terms and conditions of service, and other intangible rewards such as opportunities for contribution to the mission of the organization, participation in decision-making, and recognition by the employer and the clients of public service are also important. Based on data collected from sub-district level public agencies in Bangladesh, this article argues that performance at the field level is affected by a number of additional organizational, political, and social factors. They include personnel turnover, procedural delays, multiplicity of tasks, decision pattern and behavior, politician-administrator interaction, dual loyalty of officials, inadequate facilities for fulfilling family obligations, and attachment to major urban centers for health and educational services. These elements need to be integrated in the framework for assessing performance of public service personnel in developing countries. It is necessary to look beyond the commonly known causes for dealing with performance problems.