Effect of family rupture and recomposition on the children of New France

Using the biographies of nearly 10,000 children born in New France during the seventeenth century, this study looks at the phenomenon of single parenthood from the children's point of view. Since separation and divorce were uncommon during this period, marital disruptions only occurred through the death of one of the partners. In New France, half of all children witnessed the disruption of their parents' marriage before having reached emancipation. The article examines the impact on family characteristics (family size and number of emancipated children), as well as the contribution of age-ranking within the family to the likelihood that the children would live in a reconstituted family.     

ASEM’s role for co-operation on security in Asia and Europe

This article argues that the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process of multidimensional dialogue plays a prominent role in addressing issues of transnational security in both regions mainly in the field of soft and non-traditional security affairs. Furthermore, this significance and effectiveness of ASEM as a tool for mutually enhancing security could be further enhanced through such measures as greater co-operation between the UN and regional organizations, greater complementary efforts from Civil Society, pro-active engagement of ASEM in a changing security environment, greater convergence with other regional security groupings, opening of avenues for track 2 contributions, and heightened consistency in the commitment of the European Union to the process. Despite questions and challenges that ASEM may face, ASEM is now a clear reference in Europe and in Asia – and in Southeast Asia in particular-for security issues.This text reflects the personal views of the author.     

Testing for GHB in hair by GC/MS/MS after a single exposure. Application to document sexual assault

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, is a substance naturally present within mammal species. Properties of neurotransmitter or neuromodulator are generally given to this substance. GHB is therapeutically used as an anesthetic, but can be used for criminal offenses (date-rape drug). It appears that the window of detection of GHB is very short in both blood and urine, and therefore its presence is very difficult to prove after a rape case. In order to document single exposure, we investigated the use of hair. Hair was collected one month after the allegated event in order to sample the corresponding period after regular growing. After rapid (2 min) decontamination with dichloromethane, the hair shaft was cut into 3-mm segments. They were overnight incubated in 0.01 N NaOH in the presence of GHB-d6, followed by neutralization and extraction in ethyl acetate under acidic conditions. GHB (precursor ion m/z 233, product ions m/z 147 and 148) was tested by GC/MS/MS (Finnigan TSQ 700) after derivatization with BSTFA + 1% TMCS. Physiological concentrations (n = 24) were in the range 0.5 to 12.0 ng/mg, with no influence due to hair color. No variation of concentrations was observed along the hair shaft in controlled subjects, except for the proximal segment, due to an incorporation through sweat. This demonstrates that endogenous levels for each single subject are constant during hair growth. A controlled human administration of 25 mg/kg to a volunteer demonstrated that a single exposure to GHB is detectable in hair after segmentation. In a case of rape under influence, a clear increase of the corresponding segment (about 2.4 ng/mg) in time was observed, in comparison with the other segments (0.6 to 0.8 ng/mg). This study demonstrates that a single exposure to GHB in a case of sexual assault can be documented by hair analysis when collected about one month after the crime.     

First Movers,Democratization and Unilateral Concessions: Overcoming Commitment Problems and Negotiating a “Nationwide Cease-Fire” in Myanmar

ABSTRACT

The article argues that “first movers” and the bandwagoning effect they trigger can undermine the dynamics that perpetuate civil war and enable a multiparty cease-fire agreement. It looks at the unprecedented “nationwide” cease-fire in Myanmar reached between the government and several ethnic armed organizations in 2015. It shows that democratization and unilateral concessions by the Myanmar government were instrumental in overcoming the commitment problem and provided the necessary incentives for “first movers” to set the stage for a broad cease-fire agreement.     

The Struggle Against Corruption: Progress at a Snail's Pace. Why?

In 2010 the author, in an article for this journal, questioned the methods put forward by the international donor community to overcome corruption in the transitional and developing countries of the world. Five years on, the progress against this scourge has been minimal. In this article the author explores some of the reasons why. Apart from the obvious reason, namely the failure of political will in the countries themselves, he outlines some of the policy and practical errors that continue to hinder the progress that could be made.

Most of these errors are laid at the door of the international donor community, which perpetuates the remedies it advocates in spite of the evidence of failure. They range from a national anticorruption strategy that addresses corruption only in the public sector, to a policy of pursuing “grand corruption” but not “petty corruption” to insisting on an asset declaration system aimed at catching the corrupt and deterring others instead of aiming the system at identifying conflict of interest.

These egregious errors, among others described in this article, are the direct cause of lack of progress against a problem internationally recognized as destructive of everything the affected countries are striving to build. In the author's view the errors can and should be corrected. The remedies are relatively simple.     

Missing in Amazonian Jungle: A Case Report of Skeletal Evidence for Dismemberment*

Abstract: This case study presents the results of the recovery and analysis of three sets of disarticulated and incomplete human remains found in Ecuador, within the Amazonian jungle. Recovered body parts sustained extensive sharp force trauma situated on different aspect of the skeleton. The anthropological examination (bone reassembly, biological profile) was followed by a detailed analysis of cut marks, including a basic experimental study on pig bones to demonstrate that dismemberment may have occurred within a certain amount of time after death. Despite the location (deep into the Amazonian jungle) and the perpetrator’s actions (dismemberment and dispersion of body parts in a river), forensic work both on the field and in laboratory allowed identification of the victims and the reconstruction of the sequence of events.     

Bankruptcy law: a mechanism of governance for financially distressed firms

This paper explores the various governance models for financially distressed firms. We offer a new typology of major bankruptcy models and provide a connection between this bankruptcy law puzzle and the variables depicting the governance of healthy firms in order to shed light on two topics: (1) the factors that the lawyer should consider before changing its national bankruptcy law, and (2) the risks associated with each bankruptcy model according to the economic literature on bankruptcy law. Our final aim is to test whether the various bankruptcy models detailed in the paper perform in separate economic and legal environments.

On the optimal complexity of law and legal rules harmonization

This paper analyses the determination of the complexity of legal rules in a context of harmonization between different countries. We first assume that there are no harmonization gains. We show that if the optimal complexity levels of legal rules are equal across countries, their common level will stick when legal rules are harmonized. When these levels are different, one nation-state may lose to the determination of a uniform level of complexity. However, when there are harmonization gains we show that if these harmonization gains are large enough, complex legal rules are optimal. Moreover, we show that each nation-state could gain from the determination of a uniform level of complexity, even if this level is not its preferred one.

Terrorism, key assets, and critical infrastructures: to protect or to rebuild? That is the question

Both the choice between “stick” and “carrot” and the tension between “control” and “preservation of civil liberties” characterize the policy debate over counterterrorism. Arguing for the “carrot and preservation of civil liberties” viewpoint, Frey and Rohner (Def. Peace Econ. 18(3):245–252, 2007) propose strategic reconstruction as an alternative to protection. Our paper provides a comparative analysis of these two policies. First, we study the rationality of the public’s expectations, and we show that credible strategic reconstruction may deter terrorist attacks. Next, we derive conditions under which strategic reconstruction is more efficient than protection. Finally, we show that strategic reconstruction may reinforce the efficiency of protection.     

Access to Legal Services in Women’s Shelters

This study examines access to legal services among clients of three Calgary-area domestic violence shelters. The study samples the views of staff and clients at three domestic violence shelters with the goals of improving understanding of clients’ legal service needs, understanding the challenges clients attempting to access legal services encounter and making recommendations for improvement. The authors conclude that clients’ service needs are complex and often involve legal problems, yet shelters face specific organizational barriers to coordinating legal services. The authors recommend that a further analysis be undertaken to examine the legal access patterns of women experiencing domestic violence, to assess the prevalence of the barriers identified in the study and to determine whether further barriers are present in other shelters.