La satisfaction des ministres envers leurs hauts fonctionnaires: le cas du gouvernement du Québec 1976–1985

Sommaire: Malgré I'abondance des écrits sur la haute fonction publique, une question aussi simple que le taux de satisfaction des ministres envers leurs hauts fonctionnaires n'a guère été traitke. Afin de contribuer à combler cette lacune, une série dentrevues auprès de 20 ministres de I'ancien gouvernement du Parti qutéebAcois a été conduite. Il a été demandéà ces anciens ministres s'ils avaient été satisfaits de leurs sous-ministres, et pourquoi. Au total, ils se sont déclarés satisfaits dans 43 cas et insatisfaits dans 10 cas, ce qui donne un taux de satisfaction de 81%. L'objectif du texte est dexpliquer ce taux de satisfaction. Il met en lumière les qualités que les ministres recherchent chez leurs hauts fonctionnaires, les causes des con flits et les raisons pour lesquelles la grande majorité des relations se vivent dans I'harmonie. La conclusion dégage les enseignements généraux pour une meilleure comprèhension de la relation entre le ministre et son haut fonctionnaire. Abstract: In spite of the abundance of literature dealing with the senior civil service, an issue as simple as the ministers' satisfaction rate regarding their senior civil servants has not been dealt with at all. A series of interviews with twenty ministers of the former Parti Québécois government was conducted in order to fill this gap. These former ministers were asked whether they had been satisfied with their deputy ministers and why. Overall, they said they had been satisfied in forty-three cases and dissatisfied in ten cases, which yields a satisfaction rate of 81 per cent. The purpose of the paper is tb explain this satisfaction rate. It highlights the qualities the ministers are looking for in their senior civil servants, the causes of conflict, and the reasons why the overwhelming majority of relationships are harmonious. The conclusion states the general principles for a better understanding of the relationship between the minister and his senior civil servant.     

Gacaca Courts: Between Fantasy and Reality

Faced with an overflowing caseload and imperatives of nationalreconciliation, Rwandan authorities have established a systemof justice, meted out through gacaca courts under the legalframework created by organic laws. The following contributionanalyses this framework, within the context of national andinternational legal systems, and pinpoints the shortcomingsof the proposed form of justice. These include legal issuessuch as the problem of retroactivity, as well as the definitionof crimes and concerns over due process and the right to a fairtrial for defendants. Practical and material obstacles arisein implementing the organic laws, alongside broader implicationsowing to the traditional nature of such courts and possibleinterference by political authorities. In this respect, thegacaca courts may be victims of their own ambitions, by seekingto respond to judicial, societal and philosophical concernsalike.     

Property and the Interests of Things: The Case of the Donative Trust

Within a liberal, ‘law of things’ understanding of property, the donative trust is seen as a species of gift. Control over trust property passes from the hands of settlors to beneficiaries, from owners to owners. Trust property, like all other property, is silent and passive, its fate determined by its owners. This article questions this understanding of the trust by showing how beneath the facade of ownership, the trust inverts the relation between owner and owned, person and thing. It analyses the relation that trustees, beneficiaries and settlors have to the trust property and argues that the role of each of these parties can be shown to consist in furthering the interests of the trust property rather than their own. It claims that this protects things from their owners at the same time as it ensures these owners’ ongoing care towards the things they own. This raises questions about the trust’s status within the institution of private property, justified as it is by the human autonomy it is said to enable.

     

Forensic Analysis of Digital Dynamic Signatures: New Methods for Data Treatment and Feature Evaluation

This study explored digital dynamic signatures containing quantifiable dynamic data. The change in data content and nature necessitates the development of new data treatment approaches. A SignPad Omega digitizing tablet was used to assess measurement reproducibility, as well as within‐writer variation and the occurrence of correctly simulated features. Measurement reproducibility was found to be high except for pressure information. Within‐writer variation was found to be higher between days than on a same day. Occurrence of correct simulation was low for features such as signature size, trajectory length, and total signature time. Feature discrimination factors combining within‐writer variability and the occurrence of correctly simulated features were computed and show that signature size, trajectory length, and signature time are the features that perform the best for discriminating genuine from simulated signatures. A final experiment indicates that dynamic information can be used to create connections between simulation cases.     

Book reviews

Stuart M. Kaye. International Fisheries Management. Kluwer Law International, The Hague, Netherlands, 2001. 606 pp. (hard cover). $172.00

Rosalee Love. Reefscape, Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C., 2001. 264 pp. (hard cover). $24.95

Olav Schram Stokke (ed.), Governing High Seas Fisheries: The Interplay of Global and Regional Regimes, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. 365 pp. (hard cover). $95.00

Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft (eds.). Environmental Policy: New Directions for the Twenty‐First Century. 4th ed. Congressional Quarterly Press, Washington D.C., 2000. 416 pp. (paperback). $39.95

Joseph Franke and Teresa M. Telecky. Reptiles as Pets: An Examination of the Trade in Live Reptiles in the United States. The Humane Society of the United States, Washington D.C. 2001. 146 pp. (paperback). $10     

From Quarantine to Exploration: Space Agencies and the Ethical Challenge of Astrobiology

Astrobiology, as its prefix suggests, is inextricably linked to space exploration. From the onset of the space age, space agencies discovered the need to take into account the question of protection: protection of planetary bodies; protection of the samples brought back from space; protection of spaceflight crews; and the extent to which spaceflight crew members should be treated as samples. Astrobiology also provides for the renaissance of space exploration and serves as a manner for our societies to confront a fundamental unknown of the cosmos: how we can prepare for encountering extraterrestrial life forms.     

How to use Lire le Capital

Abstract

This article contributes to a pragmatist analysis of pricing and valuation through an account of the production of closing prices at the Paris Bourse. The Paris Bourse is an electronic stock exchange and the actors in charge of its technological configuration often need to face concerns about the quality of the prices that the configuration produces. Closing prices are particularly important because they constitute references that circulate widely. The author analyses how a problem of representativeness of closing prices was raised in the late 1990s and how several techniques aimed at solving it. In order to deal with this problem of representativeness, the author proposes the consideration of prices as signs in a pragmatist manner. Adapting Charles S. Peirce's theory of the sign to the study of prices, the author concentrates attention on the material display of prices, on their capacity to stand as traces of some event, and on the way they may suit a set of calculative conventions.     

Male and Female Suicide Bombers: Different Sexes,Different Reasons?

This article analyzes the motivations and recruitment of female suicide terrorists. Biographical accounts of 30 female and 30 male suicide terrorists were coded for method of recruitment, motivation for attack, and outcome of attack. A log-linear analysis found that female suicide terrorists were motivated more by Personal events, whereas males were motivated more by Religious/nationalistic factors. Females were equally likely as males to be recruited through peer influence, exploitation, or self promotion, whereas males were more likely to be recruited as a result of religious persuasion. The results highlight the need for continued research into female terrorism.