The Sovereignty Dispute over the Falklands/Malvinas: What Role for the Un?

Netherlands International Law Review - On 2 April 2012, it was thirty years ago that an armed conflict between Argentina and the UK erupted. The conflict lasted two and a half months and was fought...     

The long march: the lessons of China's economic transition

It is widely known that Chinese transition to market economy was influenced by the newly industrialized Asian countries—Malaysia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong—but it is not as much evident that Chinese reform was also influenced by the economic reforms of Hungary. Hungary started market-oriented reforms in the late 1960s by introducing market-orientated measures in agriculture, in manufacturing, in retail trade, and in finances, which made Hungarian economy more flexible and efficient than other European socialist countries. It could be shown that the first market-oriented reform measures applied in China during the 1980s and 1990s have large similarities to the Hungarian reform introduced earlier. In that respect, we can say that Chinese economic reform has adapted lots of elements of the early Hungarian economic reform. At the same time, Hungarian reforms have died away, but after the “lost decade of the 1980s,” there was an extremely rapid transition to market economy, which—in spite of the seemingly successful beginning—could not contribute to a long-term and healthy economic development. Meanwhile in China, economic reform was rather successful, resulting in an unprecedented economic development at the end of the twentieth century. Authors of the present article analyse similarities of the Hungarian and Chinese reforms and try to explain the causes of the Hungarian failure and the Chinese success. “Let China Sleep, for when the Dragon awakes, she will shake the world.” The saying is attributed to Napoleon and he seems to have been right. Now that China has reversed the process of globalization and has become the winner, we should resignedly accept that China is wide awake. The country's economy has followed a rapid growth path thus China's economic dominance is felt in the entire Far East; moreover, the country with the highest population in the world the country is taking steps to emerge as a world power. The dragon is awake, and she is not going to take a great leap forward but instead it is now on the long march. In lieu of her specific tools, China is about to win: she is already one of the winners, if not the only winner of globalization.     

Analysis of Bone Healing in a Postoperative Patient: Skeletal Evidence of Medical Neglect and Human Rights Violations

This study highlights complexities associated with postsurgical trauma interpretation of a 76‐year‐old female patient from a psychiatric institution in Mexico. The skeletal analysis identified complications from an unsuccessful surgical operation for an intertrochanteric fracture of the femur. An improperly placed surgical plate resulted in nonunion due to limited contact between fracture margins. However, it is unclear whether this resulted from surgical complications, ineffective postoperative care, or from the decedent's limited ability to follow postoperative care instructions. Additionally, failure of the plate resulted in degenerative changes to the acetabulum. These complications, associated with degenerative changes to upper limb joints, suggest significant mobility issues. The pattern of antemortem trauma and contextual information support a conclusion of postoperative medical neglect, a documented problem in psychiatric institutions in Latin America. This study provides insight into the relevance of detailed trauma assessment of skeletal remains in cases where neglect and human rights violations are suspected.     

A cross‐cultural comparison of the self‐concepts of imprisoned young offenders by country,race, and parental status

The Tennessee Self‐Concept Scale (TSCS) was administered to 193 imprisoned male youthful offenders in a southern U.S. state and to 161 male young offenders in one of Her Majesty's young offender institutions in England. The purpose of the study was to determine if the self‐concept scores of the subjects differed significantly according to the subject's ethnicity (Country), whether the youth resided with one or both parents or separate from either parent (Parental Status Residence) at the time of imprisonment, and Race. Analyses reveal the Total Self Concept scores of the U.S. and English offenders, as well as the sub‐scale scores, which together make up the Total Self Concept score, are significantly lower than for normal subjects. The U.S. offenders’ scores were more abnormal than the English offenders, often falling below the lowest normal range score, in some instances so low as to suggest serious psychopathological conditions. Discriminant function (DF) analysis was used to analyze the effects of the 12 self‐concept measures in distinguishing subjects by Country, Race, and Parental Status. Analyses correctly classified group membership more than two thirds of the time for each of the three variables and produced moderate to strong correlation coefficient values for various sub‐scales on each of the three variables. Black subjects in both cultures were found to score significantly lower than their White counterparts, a finding that contradicts numerous earlier studies. Findings also question the labeling theory proposition that the stigma of delinquency and subsequent imprisonment with other delinquents exacerbates one's negative regard of self. And perhaps more important, the findings suggest that cultural influences in both countries, rather than the effects of the stigma of the delinquent label and imprisonment, operate to cause low‐self‐concept long before one becomes involved in the justice system. Findings also reveal that delinquent youths from intact families have significantly higher self‐concepts than those from fragmented families.     

CEO qualities and codes of ethics

Ethical issues have received growing attention recently, after corporate scandals and during the current economic crisis. Several initiatives have been adopted to restore confidence and trust in businesses, such as ethics codes. In addition, as a result of those scandals and financial frauds, several rules have focused on the role played by Boards of Directors in the planning and monitoring of codes of ethics. However, the empirical evidence is still scarce and needs some degree of extension. The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of several corporate governance features—particularly, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)—on the decision of developing an ethics code, among Spanish companies. Our main findings point out the lack of influence of the CEO’s characteristics (except for CEO reputation) on the likelihood of having a corporate code, indicating that this decision has to do with a choice made by the company overall, perhaps because of regulatory reasons or stakeholders’ expectations. Also, we have checked how other variables, such as the extent of a firm’s participation in defence or other government contracts or multiple listings of the company in different financial markets, can influence the decision of developing an ethics code.     

Evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of the Spanish security forces

This work aims to study the efficacy and effectiveness of Spanish police forces concerning major crimes—differentiating those against property, public safety, the person, and sexual liberty and indemnity—in the 2001–2006 period, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). To study their efficacy we will consider both operational efficacy, defined as the ratio between solved crimes and tasks, and goals efficacy, intended to show the effect of operational efficacy on the level of crime in the subsequent year, which is measured by the annual variation in major crimes. The analysis of the effectiveness of Spanish police forces attempts to measure the impact of goals efficacy on how people perceive local security. To determine their effectiveness we will also consider the tourism variation index, population and economic activity and their influence on the variation in the number of crimes. The results show that the average operational effectiveness of police during the period analysed reaches 96%, with optimal behaviour in 19% of the stations analysed. Additionally, our findings show that the average goals effectiveness is 89% and the average effectiveness turns out to be 89%.