The EC's Budget in the Move to a Single Market

This article will consider the approach of 1992 and the single market from the perspective of the community budget. It will begin by recalling the distinctive characteristics of that budget and the way in which argument about it dominated the EC agenda throughout the 1980s up until the Brussels European Council meeting held between 11 and 13 February 1988. It will then consider the relationship between the decisions taken in Brussels and the wider issue of the creation of a single market. In particular, it will examine the issue of resource availability and will argue that the budgetary framework established in Brussels significantly contributed to modifying the extent and nature of community policies in a way which will continue to be felt after 1992. It will conclude by arguing that the process initiated in Brussels has widened the acquis communautaire and altered the balance between autonomy and interdependence in the community in the run-up to the creation of the single market.     

Sovereign Immunity in an Economic Theory of Government Behavior

The Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946 put government on an equal footing in tort law with private individuals. It also provides a very broadly defined immunity for any public function of a discretionary nature. While economists argue that immunity does not minimize social costs, this analysis outlines a theoretically optimal mix of liability and immunity. Discretionary governmental policy must be immune as it establishes principles of government conduct. Tort liability then insures cost-minimizing policy execution. This theory of state behavior links a number of leading/controversial immunity cases that otherwise exhibit no consistent thought.     

COMMITTEE SCRUTINY WITHIN A CONSOCIATIONAL CONTEXT: A NORTHERN IRELAND CASE STUDY

This article considers non‐legislative committee scrutiny at the Northern Ireland Assembly. The core question is: How is such committee scrutiny diminished through the consociational/power‐sharing context? The question is assessed in terms of three phases – selection, obtaining evidence, and evaluative – and through eight specific claims. Consideration is also given to the context of the absence of a formal opposition, ways in which politicians can circumvent consociational constraints, and connections to the current reform agenda at the Assembly. Overall, the study identifies significant support for the claims in terms of practice at the Assembly and suggests that these findings offer opportunities for other scholars to develop further the literature on consociational governance. There is also a clear association with wider issues of the balance of power between legislatures and executives more generally.     

The Process Is the Message: The IMF Leadership and Global Governance

The further we get from the crisis moment of the global financial meltdown in 2008–2009, the weaker the momentum to establish an effective system of global governance. Gordon Brown, the former prime minister of Great Britain who hosted the most successful G‐20 conclave in London at the apex of the crisis, laments the complacency that has taken over. With the scandalous departure of Dominique Strauss‐Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund, a global debate has opened up over whether the emerging economies should have a greater voice in that institution. Nobel laureate Michael Spence comments.     

From Iron Bowl to Iron Stomach

A few decades ago, Iron Bowl referred to not having to go hungry in China if you were employed by the Agovernment. The government gave you a job that secured the filling of one's rice bowl. This concept and practice did create loyalty, as the times were hard. China has moved far past those times to become the     

The Venture State

The Blair governments deployed several public service reform strategies. Although many have been effective, they have had limited traction at the 'hard end' of disadvantage: entrenched deprivation remains a stubborn feature of the social landscape. Reforms have had limited impact on this deprivation because they expect users to behave either as eager recipients or as informed consumers. But disadvantaged groups rarely emulate the active middle class; instead, they are distrustful of public institutions—even hostile. We need a different reform strategy that does not presuppose these behaviours and which generates new ideas. This 'venture state' approach would go beyond commissioning and invest in services that demonstrate the greatest social returns with disadvantaged groups. Like the eponymous capitalist, it would identify a portfolio of high-impact providers that can be scaled or sustained; and it would provide the resources required to do so. Rather than seeking to target its own services with ever greater precision, the venture state would focus on structuring innovation in those services most important for the hard end of disadvantage.     

The “Totality of Circumstances Test” in Section 2 of the 1982 Extension of the Voting Rights Act: A Social Science Perspective*

We discuss uses of social science definitions and research methods in judging compliance with the recently modified language of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That Act now specifies a “totality of circumstances” effects lest for the existence of racial vote dilution. There are seven “typical” factors listed by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in its report on the 1982 Voting Rights extension as among those which may be used to establish a Section 2 violation. Because of the nature of these factors, extensive (and often conflicting) testimony by social scientists has now become an inescapable feature of Section 2 litigation. We focus particular attention on one of the seven factors, racially polarized voting, because measurement of it is, as judged by recent litigation, the most controversial, the most complex, and the most important. We also discuss at some length another factor, racial campaign appeals, which also raises issues of appropriate definition and measurement. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a standardization of terminology and operationalization in an important public policy area, and to show how social science methodology can assist legal fact-finding.     

The Edi Festival at Ile Ife

This account of a major ritual at Ife in Nigeria is of particularinterest at the present time, in view of the tension, undernew forms, between the Yoruba and the Ibo (Igbo). The originalarticle has been slightly shortened, in particular by omittingmost of the veracular versions of the songs whose translationsare given. Not all the diacritical marks are included.