Reverse onus: An effective and efficient risk management strategy for chemical regulation

Abstract: This article discusses the role of the precautionary principle within risk management systems for controlling the risks associated with chemical substances. The diversity of interpretation of the precautionary principle is highlighted in a comparative analysis between two divergent approaches to the principle: Canada's Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) and the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). The author suggests that, if appropriately applied, reverse onus – a stronger approach to the precautionary principle – is a more effective and efficient risk management tool for chemical regulation.     

The Punctuated Origins of Senate Polarization

This article uses a new dynamic ideal‐point estimation method that incorporates smoothing techniques to construct a more detailed account of Senate polarization. The results reveal that the Senate polarized in two distinct phases. Member replacement accounts for nearly all of the increase from the early 1970s through the mid‐1990s after which ideological adaptation emerges as the dominant force behind polarization. In addition, I find that a few brief periods of intensified partisanship account for most of the increase in polarization since the mid‐1990s, suggesting that these episodes have had significant and lasting effects.     

Globalization,inequality, and the legal services industry

Borrowing from sociology, this paper uses a ‘commodity analysis approach’ to discuss key developments in the legal services industry. The paper argues that globalization may lead to considerable restructuring in the legal business. These changes seem to indicate the likelihood of continued concentration of economic power, a trend that seems to mirror changes in the broader economy.     

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO POLICY TRANSER AND DIFFUSION

This article reviews the existing literature on policy transfer and diffusion and offers a more integrated theory for examining the spreading of policy. Typical studies have treated each as separate, yet they are similar in many respects. For example, both involve many of the same agents and processes involved in the spreading of policy. This article integrates the two literatures by developing a theoretical continuum upon which varying degrees of policy diffusion occur.     

Comparative Public Health: The Political Economy of Human Misery and Well-Being

Nearly 10 percent of the world's economic resources are devoted to health care. But why do certain countries devote more resources to public health? Why are some countries better than others at achieving tangible health outcomes using the same level of economic resources? Surprisingly, political scientists and public health scholars have done only limited systematic research on these important questions. We address them by developing and testing an analytical framework of domestic and international political influences on public health. We use new data from the World Health Organization to examine cross-national variation first in the level of public expenditures on health, and then in the level of achievement of health outcomes. We measure these influences and their relative impact in terms of dollars and years of health, respectively. Dictatorship, severe income inequality, ethnic heterogeneity, and persistent international hostilities substantially depress the amount of public resources allocated to health care. Moreover, we analyze the extent to which, given the same level of resources allocated to public health, overall national health performance suffers further from unequal provision of services, rapid urbanization, and civil conflict.