Congo Co: aid and security

Northern donors manage the Democratic Republic of Congo as though it were a company. Through aid, these donors identify and respond to key weaknesses in Congo's ability to operate economically within the global market. As it is a country that poses high threats (from infectious diseases, economic misconduct and a volatile political situation) and high opportunities (in terms of political influence over, and sale of, vast resources) decisions on aid are taken in accordance with Northern concerns, which dominate the definition of global security. In this way, economic decisions are incorporated into the pursuit of global security. Most aid goes to the health sector and is characterised by surveillance, not prevention or treatment, and a set of governance interventions that grant strategic influence in shaping the political economy of the country. These responses have functions in terms of global security; they also grant some returns to Congo, but neglect much and aggravate some forms of insecurity at a domestic level.     

Repraesentatio identitatis : l’idée de représentation politique en débat dans la République de Genève lors de la crise de 1707

In the Republic of Geneva, the Small Council and the Great Council considered themselves to be representative of the people, although they were not elected by citizens, but were mutually co-opted instead. There were still elections by the General Council, the assembly of all burgesses and citizens, but they were only meant to promote the members of these co-opted councils to particular magistracies. During the political crisis of 1707, government thinkers tried to justify in theory this conception of representation, which is similar to what the German legal philosopher Hasso Hofmann called repraesentatio identitatis. For them, the Small and the Great Councils were inherently representative of the people owing to their large numbers and their concern for the public interest. The main thinkers of the ‘popular party' not only rejected this argument, but also advocated an alternative political model, with a redistribution of powers between the Councils and the restoration in practice of the sovereignty of the General Council, which it should directly exert. On either side, no project of representative government – in the sense that the Small and the Great Councils would be elected by the people – was ever put forward in these debates.     

Towards an Integration of Distributive Justice,Procedural Justice,and Social Resource Theories

The aim of this paper is to formulate new and more precise predictions regarding behavioral reactions to distributive and procedural injustice via insights from resource theory. The three theories share focus on discrepancies between actual and ideal states of existence as well as on psychological and behavioral reactions to discrepancy. But they also differ from each other in their conceptualizations and theorizing about these matters. Equity theory conceptualizes discrepancy as a perceived mismatch between inputs and outcomes; multiprinciple distributive justice and procedural justice theories view discrepancy as a mismatch between expected and applied distribution and procedural rules, respectively. Resulting feelings of inequity/injustice may trigger attempts to restore justice. Within the framework of resource theory, discrepancy concerns an inappropriate match between the nature of the provided and received resources. This leads to frustration which, in turn, may trigger attempts at retaliation. Limitations of the theories are discussed, with particular focus on their inability to match specific discrepancies with appropriate behavioral reactions. Behavioral predictions are based upon established congruence between behavioral reactions and violated procedural rules as well as type of inequity, as determined via their respective resource isomorphism. Limitations of the present integration attempt are discussed.     

Introduction: Continuing the Effort to Understand the Relationship Between Positive and Negative Resource Allocations and How They Affect Our Justice Conceptions

Social Justice Research -     

Revitalizing the Antique War Crime of Pillage: The Potential and Pitfalls of Using International Criminal Law to Address Illegal Resource Exploitation during Armed Conflict

This article explores the potential of international criminal law in addressing the problem of illegal exploitation of natural resources in conflict areas, with a specific focus on the war crime of pillage and the prospective role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It discusses whether the war crime of pillage can adequately capture the phenomenon of illegal exploitation of natural resources during armed conflict, or whether alternative tools or crime definitions might be more useful to address this negative phenomenon. The article examines the practice of international courts in relation to pillage charges and explores their role in prosecuting the illegal exploitation of natural resources. It concludes with some thoughts on whether the revival of the crime of pillage should be perceived as the panacea to the problem of “resource conflicts” or whether it is rather an empty shell.     

Agglomeration Advantages and Capability Building in Industrial Clusters: The Missing Link

Accumulation of technological capability is crucial for industrial growth and competitiveness of firms, particularly in the context of liberalisation and increasing international economic integration. The article sheds new light on the forces driving capability-building by complementing the micro-economic perspective on learning with a meso-economic perspective that takes account of interaction effects arising from firms' embeddedness in regional networks. The missing link at the interface between the two levels is explored by means of a taxonomy linking various agglomeration advantages to investments in technological effort. The framework results in new policy-relevant insights about the factors underpinning the acquisition of capabilities in comparison to conventional studies. A case study about farm equipment manufacturing in Pakistan's Punjab province is used as an empirical illustration.     

Press articles and influence processes: the different effects of incriminating information and crime story information on judgments of guilt

The present study examines how potential jury members' judgments are affected by two types of information provided by the media: (1) information that is directly incriminating for the accused and (2) crime story information, that is, information about the events of the crime but not directly pertaining to the defendant's innocence or guilt. Although the influence of directly incriminating information has been widely researched, the effect of crime story information has never been studied. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that incriminating information affects judgments directly, whereas crime story information affects judgments indirectly via the arousal of negative emotions. We did this by coding the two types of information in 78 press articles about a criminal trial heard in France. Participants (N = 312) were asked to read the articles and then indicate their anger arousal and give their judgment about the accused. The results support our hypothesis. We conclude by discussing the contribution of our findings to research into the media's influence on legal cases.