The Pension Trust: Fit For Purpose?

The law of trusts plays an integral and multi‐faceted role in the regulatory scheme shaping the occupational pensions arena in Australia and the United Kingdom. It facilitates the operation of private law modalities, such as innovation and competition. However, that openness also renders members’ interests vulnerable and the lack of transparency and emaciated accountability mechanisms within trust law undermine the powerful normative force exerted by the language in which trust doctrine is so often couched. That said, the regulatory regimes buttress, and rely upon, the protections offered by trust law. The result is a compelling illustration of the nuanced way in which private law is employed in a modern regulatory state.     

“At That Time We Were Intimidated on All Sides”: Residues of the Malayan Emergency as a Conjunctural Episode of Dispossession

ABSTRACT:

This article proposes that the Emergency counterinsurgency campaign of the British colonial state should be viewed as a conjunctural episode of dispossession of Malayan laboring people. Conjunctural episodes of dispossession of working people through state violence and racialized rhetoric emerge as a response to crises in capitalist accumulation occurring at multiple and overlapping scales of capitalist systems – the imperial, the national/colonial, and the local/regional. During these episodes state and capitalist strategies destroy political organizations and solidarities among laboring people and demoralize them over long periods of time, through processes simultaneously material and semiotic. Employing new theorizations of the global anthropology of labor, this article first examines the postwar and Emergency years when the multiethnic and industry-wide bases of Malayan trade unions were destroyed while an estimated half a million working people were forcibly concentrated in so-called New Villages. This had the effect of suppressing a discourse of class and class struggle in favor of a dominant discourse of ethnic conflict. In an effort to articulate class struggle despite the presence of this dominant discourse of essential ethnic difference this essay examines the formation of a new working men's “society” in 1978–1980 and a dispute between truck drivers and truck owners in northern Malaysia.     

Susceptibility to manipulation

All positional voting procedures can be manipulated, so it is natural to question whether some of these systems are more susceptible to being manipulated than others. In this essay, this susceptibility factor is measured for strategic action involving small groups. It is shown that the system least susceptible to micro manipulations for n = 3 candidates is the Borda Count (BC). The optimal choice changes with n, but the analysis shows that the BC always fares fairly well. On the other hand, the plurality and anti-plurality vote as well as multiple voting systems, such as approval voting and cumulative voting, always fare quite poorly with respect to susceptibility. Finally, it is shown why it is possible to justify any voting method by choosing an appropriate measure of susceptibility and imposing the appropriate assumptions on the profiles of voters. This statement emphasizes the importance of the basic assumptions of neutrality used throughout this essay.     

Cause and consequence in public policy theory: Ethnic policy and system transformation in Malaysia

Considering public policy as both a dependent and an independent variable, this article undertakes a systematic assessment of the sources and systemic consequences of policy. It begins with a statement of contrasting theories of the sources of policy. One strand of comparative theory emphasizes national cultures and elite beliefs as the main sources of policy; another stresses the cross-national imperatives of particular policy programs, of international diffusion, and of common policy processes. Drawing on longitudinal data on an array of ethnic policies in Malaysia, the study highlights the limits of cultural-determinist theories of policy. It shows that elite beliefs change over time, often creating layers of policy based on varying premises; that one set of beliefs can overcome another, inconsistent set; that critical events can alter the balance of authoritative beliefs; and that, where beliefs are in conflict, organized interests have room for maneuver. Moreover, the interaction of a mix of operative beliefs can produce outcomes very much at variance with what policymakers wish or anticipate. Finally, on the systemic effects of policy, the study shows that interests created by earlier policy can be decisive actors in the shaping of later policy. Policy itself can change the entire structure of the political system - an outcome rather clearly demonstrated in the case of Malaysia.     

La gouvernance des sociétés d‘État au gouvernement fédéral: un bilan

Sommaire: Les sociétiés d'État ont pu s'inspirer des efforts entrepris récemment par les entreprises du secteur privé dans le but de renforcer leur gouvernance. Toutefois, ces deux secteurs présentent des différences importantes, qui sont examinées dans le présent article. En comparaison des entreprises priviées, les sociétés d'État doivent appliquer un processus de reddition de comptes plus complexe comportant un nombre beaucoup plus important de centres de décisions et de consultation. Des praticiens et des groupes de réflexion ont produit récemment d'importants documents sur la gouvernance des entreprises publiques, qui proposent des idées et recommandations sur la façon de renforcer la régie des sociétés d'État. Cet article fait état de ces travaux. En 1996, le gouvernement du Canada a produit des Lignes directrices sur la régie des sociétés d'État et autres entreprises.Nous examinons en détail le contenu de ces orientations et la réponse des sociétés d'État à leur égard. Nous avons envoyéà tous les présidents et premiers dirigeants des sociétés d'État fédérales un questionnaire sur les récents changements apportés à leur mode de régie. Le sondage a révélé qu'un bon nombre de sociétés d'État ont apporte des changements importants qui sont exposés dans l'étude. Quelques‐uns de ces changements sont tout aussi ambiticux et profonds que les transformations apportées à la régie des sociétés privées. Enfin, l'auteur conclut son article en formulant diverses observations et suggestions sur la façon de renforcer la gouvernance des sociétés d'État. Abstract: Governance has recently become a priority in federal Crown corporations. Crown corporations have been able to borrow from recent private‐sector efforts to strengthen their governance practices. Still, there are important differences between the two sectors and this article reports on them. Crown corporations have to deal with a more complex accountability process and with many more decision‐making and consultation centres than do private firms. There have been a number of important documents on corporate governance in public enterprises produced recently by practitioners and think‐tanks that provide insights and recommendations on how to strengthen governance in Crown corporations. The Government of Canada issued in 1996 guidelines, “Corporate Governance in Crown Corporations and Other Public Enterprises.” This article reports in some detail on the contents of these guidelines and how Crown corporations have responded to them. A questionnaire was sent to all the chairs and president‐csos of federal Crown corporations asking them to report on recent changes in their governance approach. The survey revealed that there are a number of Crown corporations that have introduced important changes to their governance practices. This article reports on these changes. Some of the changes are as ambitious and as sweeping as any corporate governance changes introduced by private firms. The article concludes with a number of observations and suggestions on how to strengthen further corporate governance in federal Crown corporations.