China's impact on forests in Southeast Asia

Many developed countries have gained control of their forest-exploiting industries through advanced regulatory regimes. But stricter regulation usually displaces forest exploitation into developing countries with weaker regulatory regimes. The most important current example is the shift of forest exploitation for the Chinese market from China into Southeast Asia following the logging ban in China in 1998. In this article we describe and document the impact in Southeast Asia: rapidly increasing, unsustainable, and often illegal production and export for the Chinese market. We also note the growth in exports of furniture and plywood from China to the EU, UK, and elsewhere using imported and often illegally harvested timber from Southeast Asia. It is argued that it will be very difficult to interrupt the continuing deforestation in Southeast Asia because: (i) the profits from exporting forest products from Southeast Asia to the China market and the profits for Chinese firms which use these forest products to produce plywood and furniture for export to developed countries are substantial; and (ii) there is a lack of political will at all levels to interrupt these chains of trade and flows of profit.     

Citizenship,Multiculturalism and Cross-National Muslim Minority Public Opinion

Do institutions of citizenship shape public opinion among Muslims in the West? Pitched debates about the future of multiculturalism give strong theoretical reason to think that institutions would cause cross-national variation in minority opinion. Institutions set rules for national integration and communal recognition and send signals regarding social views of diversity. Testing these theorised links, however, requires two steps. First, careful conceptualisation of citizenship, both in individual and communal dimensions, categorises states’ citizenship regimes. Second, unique cross-national polling of Muslim minorities in France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States permits analysis of the relationship between institutions and minority political attitudes. Findings demonstrate strong institutional effects on attitudes. However, these effects vary depending on the question asked. Institutions impact on cross-national variation in opinion regarding national identification and women’s place in society. There is no evidence of institutional roots of support for suicide terrorism.     

The Priority of Legitimacy in Times of Political Transition

This paper interprets the relation between justice and legitimacy found in John Rawls's Political Liberalism and then applies it to the field of transitional justice. The author argues that transitional mechanisms can be better defended in terms of “legitimacy” than in “justice,” because the circumstances of transitional justice admit of reasonable disagreement over “just” public policy. In such circumstances, policy recommendations can always be construed as falling short of justice, thus raising plausible concerns over their normative justification. This paper attempts to answer such concerns by justifying transitional mechanisms as morally appropriate yet less than fully just. The author explains how the concept of legitimacy facilitates such a justification and how such a justification can secure the normative grounds that are ironically threatened by investigations relying on a concept of justice.     

Mortgage credit risk in EU countries: Constraints on exploiting the single currency market

The adoption of a single EU currency market raises questions about how individual country mortgage policies are likely to affect the gains that can be realized from this larger market. We use an option pricing model to provide some perspective on this issue. We address questions such as how does the risk exposure of a mortgage guarantee program in one country compare with those in other countries? What kind of effects do any such differences or varying legal restrictions on lender recourse have? Do the programs help complete financial markets? That is, are the programs structured as unsubsidized financial intermediaries which help allocate risks? Or, are the programs essentially wards of the state which encourage risk taking? In short, we aim to provide a simple, tractable way to think about how individual country policies affect the ability to exploit the potential offered by the larger market. Our conclusions are three. First, when correctly structured, mortgage default insurance can be expected to reduce non-price rationing at an actuarially fair price. It follows that to the extent that such programs lead to more complete markets without subsidies they are also more efficient than are the many schemes now used which rely on subsidies to address mortgage market incompleteness. Second, considerable care must be exercised in the development of such instruments. In a number of countries the pricing policies do not appear to be prudent. The program terms imply either that regulators often expect a much safer economic environment than seems likely, or, alternatively, the programs have been conveying either unbudgeted subsidies or incurring contingent liabilities. Such liabilities have already been realized in Sweden, and the current exposure in the Netherlands as well as with the restructured program in Sweden, appear to be large. Finally, we find that the potential geographical risk diversification provided by the single currency market can be expected to reduce mortgage rates and improve risk allocation. However, legal, fiscal, and regulatory issues with respect to credit risk limit the ability to exploit this larger market.     

Could the system work better? Scale and local knowledge in humanitarian relief

This article analyses the international humanitarian response to the earthquake in Jogjakarta, Indonesia in May 2006. It also compares it with a small but very successful local initiative. It identifies inherent weaknesses in the international system, and argues for the possibility of scaling up lessons learned from the local example.     

Impossible Jobs or Impossible Tasks? Client Volatility and Frontline Policing Practice in Urban Riots

Various public administration jobs are described as “impossible,” meaning that they have an unpopular or illegitimate client base, stakeholders have conflicting values, and leaders and their agency's mission are continually questioned. Although this framework is widely used, it has also become overgeneralized. The authors propose three theoretical extensions to understanding impossible jobs based on findings from a three‐year multimethod study of riot policing. First, a distinction can be drawn between impossible jobs and impossible tasks. Second, the relationship between impossible jobs and street‐level bureaucracy is clarified; the case of riot police shows that some street‐level bureaucrats face impossible tasks. Third, the authors show that the conceptualization of the client base has been overly static—in some situations, the client base fractures, or grows rapidly, and legitimacy can change in real time.     

‘Lenin Lives’: Or Does He? Symbols and the Transition from Socialism

Symbols play an important role in the politics of all societies, especially at times of regime change when the symbols of the former regime are subject to three types of process: co-optation, contestation, and disavowal. An important symbol in post-communist Russia has been the body of Vladimir Lenin and, in particular, debate over whether it should remain in the mausoleum where it currently lies or whether it should be buried. Public opinion poll data throw some light on this, and enable us to evaluate the role that Lenin's body plays in contemporary politics in terms of notions of identity, legitimation, chronology and morality.     

Engaging in Small Talk: Nanotechnology Policy and Dialogue Processes in the UK and Australia

This article discusses the phenomena of nanotechnology, and notes that despite high investment levels for global research and development, the public presently understands neither the implications of this emerging technology nor how it might be best governed. It considers the notion of the public interest and its place in the public policy cycle, and notes some of the specific challenges posed by this new technology. Adopting a comparative jurisdictional approach, this article maps a range of policy and dialogue activities currently underway within the United Kingdom and Australia and concludes that policy dialogue is an essential component of public policy development for all emerging technologies. While the Australian government is currently beginning this process, compared to countries such as the United Kingdom, such efforts here are still embryonic. A fuller engagement in wide‐ranging public debate is suggested as a part of protecting the public interest.