South Atlantic relations: from bilateral trade relations to multilateral coalition building

South Atlantic relations, under the leadership of Brazil and South Africa, have recently received a fresh breath of life. This article provides a general overview of developments and assesses aspects such as preferential trade agreements, multilateral coalition building and security cooperation in the context of South–South relations. The renewed impetus has resulted in improved influence and leverage from less developed Southern countries over the global political and economic agenda. New initiatives that have helped place the leaders of the South at the centre of the decision‐making process have emerged and are widely regarded as viable options for future progress in the developing world. These initiatives, which are driven by the growing strength of South Atlantic relations, are looked at in the broader context, from a practical perspective where tangible results are required over and above the ideals of solidarity to ensure sustainable socioeconomic development.     

The new architects: Brazil,China, and innovation in multilateral development lending

Recent academic works have shed light upon the motives and negotiation dynamics leading to the creation of the New Development Bank (NDB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). We know less about their day‐to‐day activities and if (and if so why) they are being innovative in the field of multilateral development lending. This article evaluates novelty in the two banks. It uncovers and suggests an explanation to the puzzle of why the NDB appears more innovative (in terms of institutional design, staffing, and lending policy guidelines) than the AIIB by exploring the cases of China and Brazil. The two countries played central roles in the set‐up of each the AIIB and NDB. Drawing on extensive field research, the article proposes that their preferences and capability to engage in institutional innovation depend on interests, status, economic power, and regulatory capacity.     

Target Selection Models with Preference Variation Between Offenders

Objectives

This study explores preference variation in location choice strategies of residential burglars. Applying a model of offender target selection that is grounded in assertions of the routine activity approach, rational choice perspective, crime pattern and social disorganization theories, it seeks to address the as yet untested assumption that crime location choice preferences are the same for all offenders.

Methods

Analyzing detected residential burglaries from Brisbane, Australia, we apply a random effects variant of the discrete spatial choice model to estimate preference variation between offenders across six location choice characteristics. Furthermore, in attempting to understand the causes of this variation we estimate how offenders’ spatial target preferences might be affected by where they live and by their age.

Results

Findings of this analysis demonstrate that while in the aggregate the characteristics of location choice are consistent with the findings from previous studies, considerable preference variation is found between offenders.

Conclusions

This research highlights that current understanding of choice outcomes is relatively poor and that existing applications of the discrete spatial choice approach may underestimate preference variation between offenders.

     

Automatic Judgment and Reasoning About Punishment

Several studies provide evidence that judgments on punishment are influenced by variables that are more or less independent of guilt considerations. It is postulated that these so called extralegal variables, such as the victim’s reputation or outcome severity that occurs accidentally and without intention by the offender, in particular influence judgments that are made under restricted cognitive capacity (low processing depth). Two studies, using a vignette methodology, explore whether participants are able to correct the biasing influences of extralegal variables if they are motivated to elaborate their judgments under the most optimal conditions (high processing depth). Study 1 investigates the influence of victim’s reputation, and Study 2 the combined influence of victim’s reputation and accidentally occurring outcome severity under either low or high depth of information processing. Results show that the influence of extralegal variables can be corrected. However, corrections are either limited or excessive, and are sometimes even inappropriate.     

“Internationalizing the curriculum:” challenges to public administration

It is tempting to “internationalize the curriculum” in professional graduate programs by adding courses and units that deal with strategies to improve the international competitive position of the United States. The study considers three strategies for dealing more credibly with international and global issues. The more difficult and challenging are those that attempt to incorporate multi- and interdisciplinary activities. The study describes several topics with global implications that would benefit from interdisciplinary study. In the meantime, the traditional perspective of Public Administration is not very relevant to global concerns because of the close connection to nation-states and hierarchical organizations. There are, however, a number of trends in the field that could enhance its ability to contribute to a global perspective such as a growing attention to new institutional arrangements, more emphasis on consultations rather than regulatory controls, and more interest in the role of managers.