Leaders,the Economy or Iraq? Explaining Voting in the 2004 Australian Election*

Following the 2001 “border security” election, it was assumed that the 2004 federal election would revert to the traditional campaign battleground of socio‐economic issues. This prediction proved to be only partly true, and while economic and social issues did figure in the election campaign, much more important were popular perceptions of the leaders. Indirectly, the Iraq War also had some impact, mediated through evaluations of John Howard. Analysis of leader effects suggests that Mark Latham was not the electoral liability for Labor that many have subsequently claimed. Ultimately, the Coalition won the election because they had a highly popular leader who had presided over a period of sustained economic growth. The election emphasizes the central role that the party leaders play in modern election campaigns.     

Sporting Justifications under EU Free Movement and Competition Law: The Case of the Football ‘Transfer System’

Governing bodies have significant autonomy in the organisation of professional sport in the EU, a situation now supported by Article 165 TFEU. However the post‐Lisbon competence for sport does not grant any exemption for practices that infringe fundamental freedoms or competition law; such infringements can only be justified where they are a proportionate response to an inherent need in that sport. The football ‘transfer system’ has been the subject of a series of EU law challenges, but continues to place obstacles in the way of the free movement of players between Member States and may restrict the ability of most clubs to compete for the elite players. Court of Arbitration for Sport decisions in transfer dispute cases have entrenched this situation, and recent evidence casts doubt on both the ability of the authorities to justify the current system and the 2001 decision by the European Commission to sign it off as being an acceptable balance between the rights of the stakeholders.     

EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATIONS: APPLICATIONS TO CUSTODY AND PARENTING TIME CASES PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION IN HENNEPIN COUNTY,MINNESOTA

A program to apply Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE), a confidential, settlement‐oriented and accelerated alternative dispute resolution technique, to child custody and parenting time cases has been cooperatively developed by Hennepin county Family Court Services and the Minnesota Fourth Judicial District Family Court. Parties are referred by the court to a male/female team of experienced neutral evaluators for early feedback on the probable outcome of a full evaluation and an opportunity to negotiate a settlement. It has proven to be a highly successful program in its first 2 years, with the majority of cases reaching an early settlement. The ENE program reduces the stress and expense of custody disputes for clients, expedites judicial case management, maximizes Family Court Services staff efficiency, and focuses subsequent evaluations on critical issues.     

On tort as an implicit insurance system with state-dependent utility: The case of child mortality risk

Parents deriving utility from children and their material standard of living will equate neither marginal utilities of consumption nor of income across states of the world and, contrary to claims in the literature but according with the historical record, will sometimes purchase fair insurance against child mortality risks even if a child's death reduces the marginal utility of consumption. Thus criticism of tort as an implicit insurance system should be refocused. It is not inefficient per se because it leads to payouts in death-contingent states but, rather, because the implicit third-party insurance which it provides crowds out more cost-effective first party insurance which households would and did purchase prior to the expansion of suppliers' liability under tort.     

Interest groups and lobbying in Latin America: theoretical and practical considerations

The major purpose of this Special Issue is to provide the first comprehensive treatment of interest groups in Latin America. This first article provides background to this end by defining key terms and concepts; explaining the ubiquity of power groups, interests and interest groups in politics and government, and the fundamental elements of an interest group system, relating all this to past characteristics of Latin America's politics. Additionally, the article identifies the reasons for the dearth of studies of interest groups in the region and makes the case for the value of such studies. Drawing on this background, the article also sets out a heuristic for approaching the contributions to this volume and for developing a theoretical framework for the analysis of Latin American interest group systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.