Indonesia: The politics of inclusion

Much commentary on Indonesian politics since the fall of President Suharto in May 1998 has suggested that Indonesia's political system has remained just as exclusionary as it was prior to his fall, despite becoming much more democratic and decentralised. In contrast to this view, we argue that Indonesia's political system has become more inclusive, if only somewhat more so. The fall of Suharto and the subsequent process of democratisation have removed key obstacles to organisation by poor and disadvantaged groups and their NGO allies, making it easier for them to engage in collective action aimed at achieving pro-poor policy change. By making attainment of political office dependent on the support of the voting public, many of whom are poor and disadvantaged, these developments have also created an incentive for politicians to pursue policy changes that favour these groups or at least that appeal to them. At the same time, however, we argue that poor and disadvantaged groups have not become major players in the policy-making process. Despite the fall of Suharto and democratisation, these groups continue to lack the resources possessed by other participants in the policy-making process. Whereas the politico-bureaucrats and well-connected business groups have been able to exercise influence over policy by buying support within representative bodies such as parliament and mobile capital controllers, the IFIs and Western governments have been able to exercise influence by virtue of their structural power, poor and disadvantaged groups have had to rely on less potent ways of exercising influence such as holding demonstrations, engaging in lobbying activity and participating in public debates. We illustrate these points with reference to two policy issues: land reform and mining in protected forests. The article concludes by considering the future prospects for inclusive policy-making in Indonesia.     

The Hofstadgroup Revisited: Questioning its Status as a “Quintessential” Homegrown Jihadist Network

Despite the Dutch Hofstadgroup's status in the literature as a prime example of a homegrown Salafi-Jihadist terrorist network, the authors, using newly available primary sources, argue that this classification is to a large extent unwarranted. The lack of a rudimentary organizational structure, the existence of divergent views on the legitimacy and desirability of political violence, and the absence of collective action in pursuit of a violent goal rule out labeling the Hofstadgroup as a terrorist organization or network for the largest part of its 2002–2005 existence. A smaller subgroup of extremists did begin developing into a proto-terrorist inner circle from late 2003 onwards. In 2004, this extremist core brought forth the murderer of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. But it was only in 2005, when the remnants of the inner circle tried to resuscitate the Hofstadgroup in the wake of the arrests that had followed Van Gogh's death, that these individual actions were replaced by the communal efforts necessary to warrant the “jihadist network” label often ascribed to the Hofstadgroup. Arguably the most archetypical aspect of the Hofstadgroup case is its ability to illustrate the deleterious effects of the ongoing scarcity of primary sources-based research on terrorism.     

The functioning and regulation of escrow accounts

Abstract

About 40 million Americans have mortgages serviced by escrow accounts. Yet escrow accounts are rarely covered by an explicit agreement between borrower and lender and are often poorly understood. As a result, escrow accounts have become the subject of growing controversy. Federal regulation of escrow accounts has become increasingly detailed and intrusive during the past two decades, and the subject is under almost continuous regulatory review. In the 1990s, the attorneys general of at least 10 states have sued large escrow account servicers over administration of accounts.

The purposes of this article are to explain briefly how escrow accounts work, benefit relevant parties, and are regulated by federal agencies, and to evaluate alternative regulatory programs. Most of the legitimate social goals of federal regulation could be achieved by requiring an explicit escrow agreement at the time of closing on a mortgage. A second‐best requirement would be that interest be paid on escrow balances.     

Introduction: negotiating the promotion of democracy

ABSTRACT

This article makes the case for why we should turn to studying democracy promotion negotiation, outlines the research questions guiding this special issue, identifies overarching findings and summarizes the individual contributions. After outlining the rationale for more attention to the issue of negotiation, which we understand as a specific form of interaction between external and local actors in democracy promotion, we outline three basic assumptions informing our research: (1) Democracy promotion is an international practice that is necessarily accompanied by processes of negotiation. (2) These negotiation processes, in turn, have an impact upon the practice and outcome of democracy promotion. (3) For external democracy promotion to be mutually owned and effective, genuine negotiations between ‘promoters’ and ‘local actors’ are indispensable; the term ‘genuine’ here being understood as including a substantial exchange on diverging values and interests. The article, then, introduces the three research questions for this agenda, concerning the issues on the negotiation table, the parameters shaping negotiation processes, and the results of democracy promotion negotiation. We conclude by presenting an overview of the overarching findings of the special issue as well as with brief summaries of the individual contributions.     

Constitutionality of ‘bride price’ in Nigeria: echoes from the supreme court of Uganda

The practice of bride price is a distinctive and established feature of African customary law marriage. In Nigeria, the practice has received statutory and judicial approval. However, the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Uganda on the practice of bride price in Uganda has disturbed the assumption of its constitutionality. This article envisages legal and ideological influence; consequently, it examines the validity of the decision against the background of Nigerian constitutional law. It agrees to a nuanced change in the practice but argues that the change must be authentic and not dictated by Western liberal typology.     

Diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder and criminal responsibility

The present study empirically investigates whether personality disorders and psychopathic traits in criminal suspects are reasons for diminished criminal responsibility or enforced treatment in high security hospitals. Recently, the tenability of the claim that individuals with personality disorders and psychopathy can be held fully responsible for crimes has been questioned on theoretical bases. According to some interpretations, these disorders are due to cognitive, biological and developmental deficits that diminish the individual's accountability.The current article presents two studies among suspects of serious crimes under forensic evaluation in a Dutch forensic psychiatric observation clinic. The first study examined how experts weigh personality disorders in their conclusions as far as the degree of criminal responsibility and the need for enforced forensic psychiatric treatment are concerned (n = 843). The second study investigated associations between PCL-R scores and experts' responsibility and treatment advisements (n = 108).The results suggest that in Dutch forensic practice, the presence of a personality disorder decreased responsibility and led to an advice for enforced forensic treatment. Experts also take characteristics of psychopathy concerning impulsivity and (ir)responsibility into consideration when judging criminal accountability. Furthermore, they deem affective deficiencies sufficiently important to indicate suspects' threat to society or dangerousness and warrant a need for forensic treatment.     

Raman spectroscopy and laser desorption mass spectrometry for minimal destructive forensic analysis of black and color inkjet printed documents

Inkjet ink analysis is the best way to discriminate between printed documents, or even though more difficult, to connect an inkjet printed document with a brand or model of printers. Raman spectroscopy and laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) have been demonstrated as powerful tools for dyes and pigments analysis, which are ink components. The aim of this work is to evaluate the aforementioned techniques for inkjet inks analysis in terms of discriminating power, information quality, and nondestructive capability. So, we investigated 10 different inkjet ink cartridges (primary colors and black), 7 from the HP manufacturer and one each from Epson, Canon and Lexmark. This paper demonstrates the capabilities of three methods: Raman spectroscopy, LDMS and MALDI-MS. Raman spectroscopy, as it is preferable to try the nondestructive approach first, is successfully adapted to the analysis of color printed documents in most cases. For analysis of color inkjet inks by LDMS, we show that a MALDI matrix (9-aminoacridine, 9AA) is needed to desorb and to ionize dyes from most inkjet inks (except Epson inks). Therefore, a method was developed to apply the 9AA MALDI matrix directly onto the piece of paper while avoiding analyte spreading. The obtained mass spectra are very discriminating and lead to information about ink additives and paper compositions. Discrimination of black inkjet printed documents is more difficult because of the common use of carbon black as the principal pigment. We show for the first time the possibility to discriminate between two black-printed documents coming from different, as well as from the same, manufacturers. Mass spectra recorded from black inks in positive ion mode LDMS detect polyethylene glycol polymers which have characteristic mass distributions and end groups. Moreover, software has been developed for rapid and objective comparison of the low mass range of these positive mode LDMS spectra which have characteristic unknown peaks.     

Preventing repeat incidents of family violence: a randomized field test of a second responder program

This field test, conducted with the cooperation of the Redlands, California, Police Department, sought to vary one of the parameters thought to affect the impact of second response programs Victims who called the Redlands police with a domestic abuse complaint were randomly assigned (1) to receive a second response within 24 hours, (2) to receive a second response within seven days, or (3) to receive no second response. An examination of police records and surveys with victims six months after the initial complaint was called did not indicate any reduction in new abuse resulting from any second response condition. The current findings, coupled with earlier research results, strongly suggest that second response programs are at best ineffective in reducing the potential for new abuse and at worst may increase the likelihood of new abusive incidents.